American family

“ The family has always been the cornerstone of American society. Our families nurture, preserve and pass on to each succeeding generation the values we share and cherish, values that are the foundation for our freedoms. ”

“ Even so, the family today remains the fundamental unit of American life. But statistics show that it has lost ground, and I don't believe there's much doubt that the American family could be, and should be, much, much stronger. ”

“ The family and family life are central to our American heritage. Family bonds give us an anchor in the past, as well as hope for the future. It is within the family that tradition is created, individuals grow, and faith is nurtured. Through family living, we discover who we are, how to interact with our fellowman, and the values that make a free society possible. ”

“ The whole contrast between our two civilizations, French and American, is here,—in the family. Thinking on this to-night, I understand Bernoline better. The sense of duty that dominates her life and makes sacrifice so easily possible is the sense of family solidarity. Love of the mother, respect for the authority of the father, companionship with the children,—it is a France in miniature, and that greater love of country is but a tradition of family pride. ”

“ The family relationship between parents and children seems to me particularly beautiful, especially as regards the parents towards the children. The beautiful, maternal instinct is inborn in the American women, at least in all its fervent, heart-felt sentiment; and better, more affectionate, family-fathers than the men of America I have seen nowhere in the world. They have in particular a charming weakness for—daughters. ”

“ Patterns of living and working have changed during our two centuries as a Nation, and the American family has changed with them. Participation in family life is more and more a personal choice, less and less an economic and social necessity. ”

“ A nation built upon decaying homes is bound to perish; a nation composed of normal prosperous families is in a good way to perpetuate itself. It is of the very greatest importance, therefore, that we inquire into the character and tendencies of the American family. ”

“ It is in our families that we learn, develop and practice those attitudes and concepts of right and wrong, of fairness, of charity, and love of country. Neither schools nor the institutions of government can ever replace the American family in the development of responsible and caring individuals. ”

“ Every one of us should think of the family as an institution of dignity, one whose smallest doings have importance, because we belong to a great human family, and because we are bearing on the touch of life to future generations. We are now making history. ”

“ CHAPTER XXIII THE FAMILY 259. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FAMILY.—From whatever angle we approach society, the family is the ultimate unit and basis. The whole fabric of civilization, whether considered from an economic, a social, or a political standpoint, depends upon the integrity of the family, and upon the wholesomeness of the home life centering about the father, mother, and children. The home is the nursery of our fundamental institutions: it is the origin of our physical and mental inheritances; it is the center of our training for private and public life ”

“ The family is the cornerstone of American society. As individuals and as a people, we are nurtured by our families from birth until the ends of our lives. Families link past, present, and future generations. Family members share our joys, comfort us, and help us celebrate life's milestones. ”

“ In this first volume of the series the effort is to show that the American family is a product of European folkways, of the economic transition to modern capitalism, and of the distinctive environment of a virgin continent. ”

“ I call upon Federal, State, and local officials to honor American families with appropriate ceremonies and programs; I encourage educators, community organizations, and religious leaders to celebrate the moral and spiritual strength to be drawn from family relationships; and I urge all the people of the United States to reaffirm their own familial bonds and to reach out to others in friendship and goodwill. ”

“ Such men and women generally have their standing in Europe; in a word, go abroad for the position they can not secure at home. A family now allied to one of the proudest families in Europe had absolutely no position in America previous to the alliance, and doubtless would not now be taken up by some. You will understand that I am speaking [Pg 25] now of the most exclusive American society, formed of families who have age, historical associations, breeding, education, great-grandparents, and always have had "manners." ”

“ There is nothing in your experience—in any American experience—to correspond with that far-reaching family organization, which is itself a part of the larger system, and which encloses a young man of my son's position in a network of accepted prejudices and opinions. ”

“ Tonight I want to speak to you about the challenges we all face as a people.
Strengthening Families
Our first challenge is to cherish our children and strengthen America's families. Family is the foundation of American life. If we have stronger families, we will have a stronger America. ”

“ As for uncles, aunts, and cousins, the average American avoids them with distaste. In Italy and France you get the opposite extreme. Except in the detached, irresponsible and less national aristocracy, family ties are tremendously strong. A family is always closely bound together, even in its obscure ramifications of cousinship. However much its individual members may dislike one another they accept unquestioningly the family duties. ”

“ To all who have known really happy family lives, that is to all who have known or have witnessed the greatest happiness which there can be on this earth, it is hardly necessary to say that the highest ideal of the family is attainable only where the father and mother stand to each other as lovers and friends, with equal rights. In these homes the children are bound to father and mother by ties of love, respect, and obedience, which are simply strengthened by the fact that they are treated as reasonable beings with rights of their own, and that the rule of the household is changed to suit the changing years, as childhood passes into manhood and womanhood. ”

“ He has never allowed his family life to interfere with his service to his country. And, paradoxical as it may seem, he has never allowed his lifework for his state to interfere with the happy and even tenor of his home existence. Children came in due course and the family unit became complete--that quiet, straightforward {57} existence of the family which is the characteristic of American life to-day, as it is of any other well-organized civilized nation. ”

“ My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral. ”

“ The destiny of America is shaped not only by events within the councils of government, industry, and finance, but also by the hand of God and the life and the love in each and every home in our Nation. America's families are a tremendous source of strength and faith and freedom for our children and our country, and during National Family Week we recognize this truth and pay glad tribute to the families of our land. ”

“ Blessed with an extraordinary diversity of people from every culture and nation around the globe, the United States has always drawn strength from our citizens' shared commitment to the importance of family life. The family is society's most basic unit, daily providing the acceptance, love, and reassurance that enable each of us to flourish and succeed. ”

“ It was to honor and magnify the sweetness and dignity of the condition of Motherhood, and of those womanly virtues and graces, which make the Home the cornerstone of the Nation. For it is not with modern Americans, as it was with the old Greek and Roman world. They put the family below the State, and the citizen absorbed the man. On the contrary, we know, that just as the Family principle is strong the heart of the Nation is sound. ”

“ Other ship-loads of maids followed, and with the establishment of these Virginian families was dealt, as is everywhere else that the family exists, a fatal blow at a community of property and interests, but the colony flourished, and the civilization of the new world was begun. For the unit of society may be the individual, but the molecule of civilization is the family. ”

“ The tradition of uncles, aunts, cousins, and especially grandparents sharing a household along with parents and children has roots equally venerable and equally deserving of constitutional recognition. [14] Over the years millions of our citizens have grown up in just such an environment, and most, surely, have profited from it. Even if conditions of modern society have brought about a decline in extended family households, they have not erased the accumulated wisdom of civilization, gained over the centuries and honored throughout our history, that supports a larger conception of the family. ”

“ Just as a nation learns and is strengthened by its history, so a family learns and is strengthened by its understanding of preceding generations. As Americans live longer, more and more families are enriched by their shared experiences with grandparents and great-grandparents. ”

“ Thirty years we have been beneath the opportunities and duties of free manhood, which is to say that for thirty years we have been associated with the family institution as husband, as wife, as parent, as sister, as brother, as son, and as daughter. ”

“ The family is the basic unit of our society, the heart of our free democracy. It provides love, acceptance, guidance, support, and instruction to the individual. Community values and goals that give America strength also take root in the home. In times of change and challenge, families keep safe our cultural heritage and reinforce our spiritual foundation. ”

“ Families are our Nation's lifeblood and strength. No matter its size or composition, it is the source of our ideals and the birthplace of our memories. Connected families in vital communities are essential to this country's future.
The common bonds of family love, sharing, and mutual support have for generations shaped the character of our society. Anchored by strong insights, deeply felt convictions, moral principles, and concern for societal improvement and well-being, families have used their devotion, creative ideals, and energies to define themselves, their communities, and the Nation. ”

“ Today's fast-changing world needs the anchor of values and virtues that families can provide. Strong families instill responsibility and character in our children and teach them the ideals that make us a great Nation. Through their love and sacrifice, America's parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and other family members help prepare our young people to realize the bright future America offers each child. ”

“ The sons and daughters of the family are gentlemen and ladies by birthright—and were the former to be seen at the plough, or the latter at the churn, or the wash tub, the honour of the family would be stained, and the dignity of the house degraded. ”

“ It would lead us too far to insist on the enormous advantage of married life for public morality, for the prevention and repression of crime, and even for the welfare of the State, the soundest foundation of which is family life. Each family is a little community in itself, with the father at the head as king, and the mother as queen. ”

“ Our decisions establish that the Constitution protects the sanctity of the family precisely because the institution of the family is deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition. [12] It is through the family that we inculcate and pass down many of our most cherished values, moral and cultural. ”

“ But I cannot bring myself to believe, that the hereditary principle, or, in more general terms, the sentiment of family, should be entirely excluded from the aristocratical part of the new social order, which, although yet wrapped in uncertainty and mystery, is now struggling into existence on both sides of the Atlantic. The sentiment of family is not becoming extinct. Like all other social institutions, the constitution of the family has undergone various changes, since the beginning of the historical period. ”

“ The United States, moreover, has seen the development of the system of social field-work which has rendered possible a more complete knowledge of family heredity than has ever before been possible on a large scale. ”

“ That is to say, if they were to regard the nation as one family, the condition of unity in that family consisted no less in their having a head, or a father, than in their being faithful and affectionate members, or brothers. ”

“ The religious aspect of ancestor-worship, the political aspect of the building up of great families from which the state could derive its power and the economic necessity of having the industrial system develop more highly all vocations, combined in the patriarchal system to make the family the main expression of social order and the chief heir of social privilege. ”

“ But from the point where we now stand we see clearly that there is a third factor to which these are altogether subordinate—I mean the family. For the family is the immediate agent in the production and rearing of children; and this, as we have seen, is the end of society. ”

“ By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Our families are perhaps the strongest influence in our lives. Anyone who grows up in a strong, nurturing family, grounded in the values of love and responsibility, will have a distinct advantage in achieving the most important tasks of adulthood—living fully, working productively, contributing to society, and forming one's own strong, stable family.
Our Nation, too, draws its strength and character from America's families, so as citizens we must do everything we can to support their well-being and self-sufficiency. ”