American Identities and Constitutional Values
Starter 1 [How to Use Starters]
Part
I:
In the Middle Ages the link of religion alone was enough to unite
all the various races of Europe in one civilization. The English
of the New World [Americans] have a thousand other links between
them, and they live at a time when there is a general tendency toward
equality in human affairs…. Therefore the time must come when there
will be in North America, one hundred and fifty million people all
equal one to the other, belonging to the same family, having the
same point of departure, the same civilization, language, religion,
habits, and mores, and among whom thought will circulate in similar
forms and with like nuances. All else is doubtful, but that is true."
Excerpted from Democracy
in America by Alexis de Tocqueville,
1835
Part II:
What Is an American?
By Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
An American is, technically, one who is born in the United States
or who, if born elsewhere, has sworn to support and defend the
Constitution and the laws of the United States. American citizenship,
in other words, does not rest, at least in theory, on common ethnic
origins. It rests on common legal standards and common political
ideals.
For too much of American history, practice has fallen behind
theory. The full rights of citizenship at first were restricted
to adult white males. Black Americans were slaves until 1865;
women could not vote until 1920. But a basic theme of American
history has been the movement, uneven but steady, from exclusion
to inclusion.
This movement has been fueled by the egalitarian political principles
enshrined in our fundamental political documents-principles that
constantly goad Americans to live up to their own proclaimed ideals.
It has been fueled by a Constitution and Bill of Rights that give
people who are wronged the means of claiming their rights. And
it has been fueled by the demand of excluded groups to secure
the rights due them as American citizens.
The entry of new groups into full membership in the national
community both enriches and modifies the content of American nationality.
Though American society remains inescapably English in language,
ideals and institutions, the infusion of non-Anglo stocks has
reconfigured the British legacy and reconstituted the American
culture. The result is to diversify the internal content of Americanness-but
always within the framework of the overriding national identity
based on the Constitution. In the American scheme civic principles
outweigh ethnic loyalties."
This excerpt from "What Does It Mean to Be an American?" by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., published in "Scholars' Essays: A National Conversation on American Pluralism and Identity (1995)" by the National Endowment for the Humanities, is used with permission of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Focus Questions
- Writing in 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville saw a future American
democratic culture characterized by people who possessed "the
same civilization, language, religion, habits, and mores." What
do you think of his vision of America?
- Do you think Arthur Schlesinger shares Tocqueville's vision
of Americans and America? Would Schlesinger and Tocqueville
agree on the answer to the question, "What is an American?"
Why or why not?
- When Schlesinger writes, "In the American scheme civic principles
outweigh ethnic loyalties," what do you think he means? Do you
agree with this statement? How would you answer the question,
"What is an American?"
Suggested Resources
Suggested resources are not found within the Dialogue on Freedom site; clicking on the following links will launch a new browser window.
In Search
of Tocqueville's Democracy in America
C-SPAN resource on Alexis de Tocqueville. Includes famous passages
from Democracy in America.
Biography
of Alexis de Tocqueville
Additional Resources
Suggested readings
for this topic
Starters: 1 2 3 4
Note: The views expressed here have not been
approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of
the American Bar Association, and accordingly, should not be construed
as representing the policy of the American Bar Association.
