“The term American refers to what a man is, not to what his birth place was...”
Roosevelt’s essay, “Americans Past and Present and the Americanization of Foreigners,” appeared as the lead article in the second issue of the Chicago publication, America: A Journal for Americans, on April 14, 1888. The correction Roosevelt requested in this letter was made, and the sentence appeared in print as “In the first place, ‘American,’ as a political term, has to do with what a man is, not with what his birthplace was; for many of the most honorable names in our history are those of men born outside of our limits.”
