Theodore Roosevelt on Citizenship

The Strenuous Doctrine of Citizenship

From the greatest to the smallest, happiness and usefulness are largely found, and the joy of life is won in its deepest and truest sense, only by those who have not shirked life’s burden.

— “The Key to Success in Life,” 1916 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Roosevelt rejected the notion that citizenship was comfortable or easy. The joy of life, as he saw it, belonged to those who carried their share of its burdens rather than shirking them.

The welfare of a state depends upon the character of its citizenship.

— Remarks at Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 4, 1903 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Speaking from a hotel balcony in Minneapolis, Roosevelt reduced his civic creed to a single sentence: the republic rises or falls on the character of its ordinary citizens.

On Civic Duty and the Arena

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

— “Citizenship in a Republic,” speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

This passage, from Roosevelt’s 1910 “Citizenship in a Republic” speech at the Sorbonne, stands as perhaps his most powerful statement on the duty of citizenship. The citizen in the arena—the one who votes, who serves, who speaks, who acts—deserves respect. The critic on the sidelines, comfortable and safe but useless, deserves contempt.

We live in a rough world and good work in it can be done only by those who are not afraid to do their part in the dust and smoke of the arena.

— Address at the Exposition Building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 3, 1903 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Citizenship demands participation. The work of self-government belongs to those willing to step into the dust and smoke, not to those who watch from a safe distance.

On Voting and Democratic Participation

In our government we cannot permanently succeed unless the people really do rule. We have tried the other experiment. The present system means the rule of the powers of political and industrial privilege, and for that we propose to substitute the right of the people to rule themselves and their duty to rule so as to bring nearer the day when every man and every woman within the boundaries of this great land of ours shall have fair play, equal rights, shall receive and shall give justice, social and industrial, justice for every man, for every woman within our borders.

— Speech at St. Louis, Missouri, March 28, 1912

Roosevelt insisted that democratic citizenship required active participation in governance—the people’s right to rule themselves, and their duty to use that power to secure fair play and equal rights.

All young men should take an active part in our political life and should do their full duty as citizens in the exercise of their rights of self-government; they should rank action far above criticism and should understand that he is deserving who actually does things and not he who confines himself to talking about how they ought to be done; they should have a high ideal and strive to realize it; they should show the virtues of uprightness and tolerance and gentleness but they should also show the sterner virtues of courage, resolution and hardihood and the desire to fight unceasingly against the existence of wrong.

— Letter to Floyd Bartholomew, May 18, 1904 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Writing to a young correspondent, Roosevelt set out what participation demanded: action ranked far above criticism, high ideals joined to the sterner virtues of courage, resolution, and hardihood.

On the Moral Foundation of Citizenship

It is sometimes very attractive and very pleasant to make any kind of promise without thinking whether or not you can fulfill it; but in the after event it is always unpleasant when the time for fulfilling comes; in the long run the most disagreeable truth is a safer companion than the most pleasant falsehood.

— Address at Columbia Gardens, Butte, Montana, May 27, 1903 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Citizenship required moral grounding. For Roosevelt, the disagreeable truth always outranked the pleasant falsehood—in public life as in private life.

Honesty is not only the best, it is the only policy that can win anything anywhere that is lasting and beneficial.

— Letter to Mrs. Nicholson, July 18, 1916 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Roosevelt saw honesty as both moral imperative and practical necessity. A republic cannot function when its citizens are liars.

On Active Citizenship and Justice

Just as in battle it is the man behind the gun who counts most, so in civil life it is the average citizen back of the law who counts most.

— Address at Newcastle, Wyoming, April 25, 1903 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Citizenship was not hierarchical. The health of the republic depended on the ordinary person—the average citizen standing back of the law—being treated fairly and keeping faith with it in return.

The man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic—the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done.

— New York, Historic Towns series, 1891

This became Roosevelt’s constant refrain, two decades before the Sorbonne speech made it famous: doing is what matters. The citizen who votes for reform, who serves in local government, who takes a stand on principle—that citizen deserves honor. The person who merely complains deserves nothing.

On Rights and Obligations

In a democracy it is essential that each man should think of his rights but it is even more essential that he thinks of his duties.

— Speech at Boston, Massachusetts, May 2, 1918 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Roosevelt understood that citizenship was reciprocal. Citizens had rights, but also obligations. A strong nation required both protections for ordinary people and a willingness by those people to contribute. This balance—between individual rights and community responsibilities—ran through all of his politics.

On Resisting Corruption and Standing for Principle

…and there will be some fool who will say: “Well, yes, may be he is a little crooked; but he is ‘dreadful smart.'” That kind of praise speaks ill for the man praised and ill for the man who praises him. We cannot afford, as citizens of this republic, to tolerate the successful scoundrel any more than the unsuccessful scoundrel. Other nations with other forms of government may be able to get along after a fashion without the average citizen being straight and decent. We cannot.

— Address at Boise, Idaho, May 28, 1903 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Roosevelt demanded civic courage from citizens. A republic that tolerates the successful scoundrel because he is clever, he warned, corrupts itself—wrongdoing survives on the willingness of ordinary citizens to excuse it.

On Service Beyond Oneself

…patriotism means service to the nation; and only those who render such service are fit to enjoy the privilege of citizenship.

— Speech at Lincoln, Nebraska, June 14, 1917 · Theodore Roosevelt Center

Roosevelt saw citizenship as a form of service. You were a citizen not merely to enjoy rights, but to contribute to something larger than yourself. This philosophy informed his major initiatives: conservation was service to future generations, trust-busting was service to ordinary workers, preparedness was service to the nation itself.