Here's a quote from J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer. He came to America in 1754: "...whence came all these people? They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes... What, then, is the American, this new man? He is neither a European nor the descendant of a European; hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. ...The Americans were once scattered all over Europe; here they are incorporated into one of the finest systems of population which has ever appeared."
What are your thoughts? What shapes and makes the American identity stick - then and now?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Whence came all these people?
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I very much enjoyed our first session and am looking forward the next seven weeks.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good start as we looked at Christianity in the Old World. Catholicism has and continues to have a significant impact on the American religious experience. I have not been able to locate "The Mayflower Compact"
Could someone please help?
Aubrey Duncan
What shapes and makes the American identity stick is the same that defines its power and greatness. The secret of America's genius is it's Constitution. It codifies the most progressive ideas for man's existence in the history of humanity. The foundation of her uniqueness is found in the First Amendment of the Constitution which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceable to assembly, and to petition the government for a redress of greviences"
ReplyDeleteCompared to the socio/political environment of Europe, this idea was revolutionary. It advocates, contrary to the status quo in Europe, a system of religious and civil liberty characterized by a church without a pope and a country without a king who persecuted the people on behalf of the pope.
It is not our military might nor our economic prowness that makes us great; but rather the the ideas enshrined in what James Madison called the 'sacred covenant of the people's happiness, our constitution. May we pray and work to safeguard it.
Aubrey Duncan
The shaping of America then and now is the acceptance of people from different nations. We as a nation are diverse in many ways and it has been embraced by the people who live in it.
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