"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right"
About this Quote
The line fuses patriotism with conscience. Carl Schurz, a German-born revolutionary who became a Union general, reform journalist, and U.S. senator, voiced it amid the political turbulence of the 1870s. He was answering a popular slogan that had drifted into jingoism: Stephen Decatur’s War of 1812 toast, “My country, right or wrong.” Schurz keeps the devotion but rejects the moral surrender. Love of country, he argues, is not a blank check; it is a pledge to safeguard its best principles and to repair its failures.
The wording is precise. “Our country” shifts the emphasis from possessive pride to shared responsibility in a republic. “When right, to be kept right” speaks to vigilance, the everyday work of sustaining the rule of law, free elections, and honest administration. “When wrong, to be put right” makes dissent and reform a patriotic duty, not a breach of loyalty. The verbs matter: kept and put demand action, not passive cheerleading or cynical withdrawal.
Schurz’s life gives the sentiment weight. He battled the spoils system and championed civil service reform against Grant-era corruption; later, he opposed U.S. imperial ventures after the Spanish-American War. In each case he treated national honor as inseparable from ethical conduct. The nation is not an idol to be defended at any cost, but a project to be stewarded by citizens who measure policies against constitutional ideals and human dignity.
The statement also draws a boundary between solidarity and complicity. Solidarity gathers people to protect what is right; complicity excuses what is wrong because it is ours. Schurz invites a braver allegiance: one that stands by the country precisely by refusing to let it drift into injustice. At its core is confidence that the republic is strong enough to survive criticism and be improved by it, and that patriotism is proved not by noise or symbols but by the courage to keep right and to put right.
The wording is precise. “Our country” shifts the emphasis from possessive pride to shared responsibility in a republic. “When right, to be kept right” speaks to vigilance, the everyday work of sustaining the rule of law, free elections, and honest administration. “When wrong, to be put right” makes dissent and reform a patriotic duty, not a breach of loyalty. The verbs matter: kept and put demand action, not passive cheerleading or cynical withdrawal.
Schurz’s life gives the sentiment weight. He battled the spoils system and championed civil service reform against Grant-era corruption; later, he opposed U.S. imperial ventures after the Spanish-American War. In each case he treated national honor as inseparable from ethical conduct. The nation is not an idol to be defended at any cost, but a project to be stewarded by citizens who measure policies against constitutional ideals and human dignity.
The statement also draws a boundary between solidarity and complicity. Solidarity gathers people to protect what is right; complicity excuses what is wrong because it is ours. Schurz invites a braver allegiance: one that stands by the country precisely by refusing to let it drift into injustice. At its core is confidence that the republic is strong enough to survive criticism and be improved by it, and that patriotism is proved not by noise or symbols but by the courage to keep right and to put right.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
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