The New Nationalism (Speech, August 31, 1910)
Theodore Roosevelt
Roosevelt's New Nationalism speech arrived during an era when America was grappling with its own identity amid rapid industrialization and international emergence. The speech rejects peace that masks complacency or worse, masks tyranny. Roosevelt demands more than passive peace—he insists righteousness must guide nations. The "stern and virile virtues" he evokes stand in stark contrast to the indulgent comforts of the Gilded Age, which he saw as threats to the nation's moral and civic vigor.