Citizenship In A Republic By Theodore Roosevelt

In “Citizenship In A Republic” by Theodore Roosevelt, he makes a speech to French students about how the quality of the citizens and the ruler in a republic determines whether a nation will succeed or fail and that everyone should go above and beyond what they are asked to do on a daily basis. The purpose of his speech is to not only encourage the students and whoever listened to his speech to be better people in their daily lives, but to go out and participate in life rather than sit back and criticize others on their work as well as help others who are in need. He mentions how the “average citizen must be a good citizen if our republics are to succeed.” Roosevelt is able to make an emotional connection with his listeners because he makes it personal. For example, in the quote mentioned above, he uses the word “our” instead of “your” or “my.” This allows his audience to feel as if they are at the same level as Roosevelt, instead of him being more superior than them. …show more content…
He uses the words “average citizen” a lot to emphasize how important each citizen is, even if they believe that they are only “average citizens.” The quality of the citizens reflect on the quality of their ruler. If the quality of the ruler is high, then that will lead to a great nation because the standards of the citizens will be kept high. Theodore also makes claims about democracies as a whole because he mentions how under the rule of one superior ruler, the quality of the citizens does not matter, but in democracies the quality of the citizens is just as important as the quality of the ruler. To become successful as a nation, it is critical for the citizens to participate and not sit back and criticize, and for the ruler to keep his standards