---
title: 'Appreciate America: Credit Memorandum to Mr. & Mrs. American Citizen'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/appreciate-america-credit-memorandum-1941/
description: Two hands hold open a ledger-style 'credit memorandum' addressed to Mr. & Mrs. American Citizen. Tagged by technique, with source and rights.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Appreciate America: Credit Memorandum to Mr. & Mrs. American Citizen

[![Appreciate America: Credit Memorandum to Mr. & Mrs. American Citizen, 1941 US poster: Two hands hold open a ledger-style](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/appreciate-america-credit-memorandum-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/appreciate-america-credit-memorandum-1941.jpg)

# Appreciate America: Credit Memorandum to Mr. & Mrs. American Citizen

Two hands hold open a ledger-style 'credit memorandum' addressed to Mr. & Mrs. American Citizen. It lists six freedoms (job, speech, ballot, worship, education, assembly) as credits to an account. The tell is the bookkeeping metaphor applied to broad virtue words, which asks readers to value their privileges rather than to do a specific act.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
APPRECIATE ★
AMERICA
CREDIT MEMORANDUM
TO: MR. & MRS. AMERICAN CITIZEN
EVERYWHERE
IN THE U.S.A.
CREDIT YOUR ACCOUNT WITH:
FREEDOM TO SELECT YOUR JOB
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
FREEDOM OF THE BALLOT
FREEDOM OF WORSHIP
FREEDOM OF EDUCATION
FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
Place
Your own
value on
these
Privileges
RED FOR COURAGE
WHITE FOR HONOR
BLUE FOR JUSTICE
[imprint:] COPYRIGHT, 1941, APPRECIATE AMERICA INC., 130 NO. WELLS ST., CHICAGO, ILL.
```

[← Antonescu medal, 'Mareșal al României și Conducătorul Statului' (G. Stănescu, 1941)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/antonescu-conducatorul-statului-medal-1941/) [Do your share: The enemy from within is twice as dangerous →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/appreciate-america-do-your-share-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
