Being an American cannot simply be defined by skin color, culture, or religion. This nation cannot be defined in a simplistic manner like many other nations. For instance, other countries define themselves by their accent or by the types of food they consume. According to Sarah Song, “To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be any particular national, linguistic, religious, or ethnic background. All he had to do was to commit himself to the political ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality, and republicanism” (31). Therefore, being American simply means having the same views about equality, liberty and republicanism as our American ancestors.
Being an American is clearly stated in the Declaration of
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The idea of equality is usually defined by everyone as the state or quality of being equal. However, according to Thomas Jefferson, in The Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal” (n.p). The thought of all men being created as equal is a simple ideology of the past. Now, in America, equality consists of having equal rights and opportunities whether the individual is a male or female. However, today in America, equality has not fully been fully achieved. For instance, we are still experiencing income inequality. According to Peter Finocchiaro, “Income inequality has grown dramatically since the mid-'70s—far more in the US than in most advanced countries” (n.p). Furthermore, “The top 10 percent of Americans earn nearly three-quarters of all income in the country, leaving the poor with whatever is left” (Finocchiaro n.p). Another inequality in America is racial inequality. For instance, Arizona passed the SB 1020 bill. Nicholas Riccardi stated, “The bill directs police to determine the immigration status of non-criminals if there is a 'reasonable suspicion' they are undocumented. Immigrant rights groups say it amounts to a police state” (n.p). Therefore, the abstract idea of equality in America is not one that is truly fulfilled. Equality for me is more accurately defined as a fairytale, were we as Americans only dream about it, yet never fully turn it into a realization. The last thing one needs in
What it means to be an American has nothing to do with race, gender, size, origin, etc. Being an American solely relies on how far we have came as a country to call the United States of America a home, how we have fought through blood, sweat, and tears; depressions, wars, and movements for rights. Being an American means there is freedom of religion so you have the right to believe in whatever suits you. Americans work with the opportunities given to us to not only better, as well as protect our homeland and retrieve knowledge to better our future, but Americans give up their own lives to help do the same thing for other countries as well.
Equality is something Americans strive to provide and maintain. It has become an integral and necessary part of our mosaic culture. Even now to the point that when people think of America, they naturally think of freedom and equality. People of many different races, disabilities and creeds have come to the United States seeking the impartiality upon which this country was founded. The institutions of this country have relied upon it, just as it was the created by the events in the laying of moral foundations. The expression of America's citizens plays an extremely significant role in the history of equality in American society. In the pursuit of equality and the "American Dream," people have authored inspiring
What means to be an American? About everywhere in the societies and the people in it have diverse opinions to be an American especially when they are from different country. Being an American means to have a willing to accept others from different culture, freedom to do anything, and to have opportunities in terms of relaxed atmosphere.
An American is someone who doesn't rely on others for their individual happiness. Someone with the freedom to independently make decisions towards becoming a better person without conforming to society's standards/sentiments. Americans have equal rights no matter where they come from. “Of every hue and caste I am, of every rank and religion... I resist anything better than my own diversity,” (Whitman) Walt Whitman is saying that no matter the color of your skin, your rank/wealth in society, or your religion, you are just as equal as everybody else. We are all so different and diverse yet so equal. Although we are equal, we cannot rely on one another for our own happiness. “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in
Conversely, many believe that being an American comes only from an emotional standpoint and that no other classification is needed. As declared by Jose Antonio Vargas of the Huffington Post, “What it means to be an American is less about who you are than what you are about— how you live your life, how you contribute to this country, how you pledge allegiance to a flag hoping and praying it will make room for you.” Albeit this emotion may contribute to Americanism, it cannot operate by itself. Without citizenship, one cannot be considered American. Going back to the original definition, to be an American is to be, “a native inhabitant of the U.S.: a U.S. citizen.” Anything past this denotation is simply an opinion and cannot be used when coming up with an unambiguous definition of the
What does it mean to be an American? Being an American means a multitude of different things. It depends on who the person is and what is the most important to them. It may be that they are free, or that they are proud, or simply because they appreciate the country’s history. This country has so many privileges that other countries do not have, and this sets it aside from them.
To be an American can mean a lot of things to others, but one thing everyone has in common on what they think it means is to be free. It means you can vote for who and what you want. It means you can say “The Pledge of Allegiance.” It means you can have a good education and the job you want. It means to be proud in living in the United States of America. Being an American is having freedom and being able to do things with that freedom. It’s about having freedom of religion, rights, and justice. It also means having equality. To be an American means you have the right and freedom to do what you want. It means having the freedom of speech. It means you can be yourself. To be an American mainly means having freedom.
How does our generation define what it means to be “American”? Being in America gives us the freedom to become who we want to be and, to do what we want to do. We are using technology to get places or to make a point. We want to support things we don’t know anything about. For example, Black Lives Matter. I’m not saying I know everything about it but I know enough. So one day as I was scrolling through Facebook I came across a post. The post was about a 9/11 “Never Forget” picture. A teen one or two older than me had said something along the lines of “When is our never forget day?” along with the hashtag “#Blacklivesmatter”. I got pretty upset by that. Not to mention it was said on 9/11. I was thinking about how they have a whole month to
Throughout the life span of the United States, from its infancy after the Revolution to the present, people have asked, “What is an American?” This question goes far beyond asking who is a citizen or who resides in this land. No, it asks what the identity of an American is? Through popular, art, film, and literature, the American image is defined as being based on embracing our individual identities.
What it means to be American is a definition that people have not taken the moment to realize what being American means to them the most. The founding fathers introduced the revolutionary idea that each person's desire to pursue their idea of happiness was not a self indulgence. They also created a government to defend the right for everyone. Such as the pursuit of happiness became the driver of business spirit that also defined the American free market. The meaning of the American dream to me is something that everyone should keep in memorable to themselves because it is good to keep the good things in mind no matter what.
Being an American “For the land of the free”, do these words sound familiar? Of course they do they are the lyrics from the United States of America’s national anthem. Now earth has countries that stretch from coast to coast. But few of the countries have the freedom that the United States of America. Being born American is an honor to many of the citizens, because this country has plenty of things to be proud of.
What does it mean to be an American? To be an American means many different things. In some cases, people think to be an American only means you get to have the right to vote, buy whatever you want, and do whatever you please. Which is true, but not exactly what it means to be an American. To me, being an American means having the privilege to go to school and get my education, and having teachers who are willing to help you achieve your goals in life.
What does it mean to be an “American”? To each individual person it means something very different. For the writer Bharati Mukherjee, who wrote the essay, “American Dreamer”, to be a true American someone has to want to be an American, not just prove that they merited citizenship. Her essay “American Dreamer” goes in depth into this idea and her opinion that as an American one should believe in bringing together the cultures in America. “We must think of American culture and nationhood as a constantly reforming, transmogrifying “we” (Mukherjee 438). For the author James Baldwin, who wrote the essay “Stranger in the Village”, an American is a person who is integrated with other cultures, and
“We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.” - Kofi Annan. Based on the Constitution, equality in the American society is achievable. In the Constitution, there are many amendments that promote equality. Some may argue that equality in America is unachievable, because people can be using some of the freedoms, given by the Constitution, in order to harm and offend others; while others believe that, by correctly following the Constitution, equality is achievable in America. Although the Constitution isn’t always followed, the history of our nation and with the help of the American people’s change in their mindset; equality is achievable.
American Equality to me is treating people in America equal no matter the circumstances. There’s so many different ways people can be different from each other now. I feel as if America is never going to be truly equal between each other, because there’s too many other things going on that we think are more important. This might have just been developed from the time of slavery and never completely went away. We just found new and different ways to make this country unequal with each other and this always includes how we don’t consider immigrants as equal either.