If I Was Born In America Research Paper

Being an American to me means more than just loving watching baseball and eating apple pie. It's about following the American Dream. The dream of always striving to achieve something better. I once heard a quote from Edward L. Hudgins that reads “An American is anyone who loves life enough to want the best that it has to offer. Americans look to more than the next meal; they look to the future, the long term, a better tomorrow.” To me this quote means that Americans aren't here to settle, they are here to achieve their dream, the American dream.

The Constitution tells us that if you are born in America you are an American. Any immigrant naturalized in this country is an American. But what characteristics do you think make up a true, real American? Real Americans, by my definition, are not defined by their race, religion, whether they served their country or not, and not by which political party they belong to. They are defined by their great love, respect, and loyalty for this country’s greatest treasure, freedom and the ideals that set America apart from any other country.

Unlike most people, I did not get to be a carefree child for long. Even though I always said that I could not wait to grow up, now I wish that it all did not happen so fast and early in my life. From eleven to twelve years old—that would be the period I describe as the time I had to put my big-girl pants on and face the real, cruel and unwelcoming adult world. In that time period, I can specifically pinpoint two major events that ended my childhood: my move from Russia to the United States and the birth of my baby sister Toma. To some those might not seem significant enough to change someone’s life to the extent that they changed mine; however those events molded me into the person I am today.

What kind of an American am I? To summarize it up into one word, I'm a proud American. To explain the characteristics that the word proud means to me, I took each letter in the word and made a new word. The new words represent the kind of American I am.

Identity is officially defined as the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another. A person’s identity can be shaped by many factors, like family and culture. The graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is a book that really focuses on identity and who someone actually is. In American Born Chinese, all the characters struggle with their identity and accepting that they are unique and different because other people judge them for being who they are.

Religion is a necessity to life, as backed up by Thomas Paine’s “American Crisis.” Paine has had quite the history revolving around the American government, as he wrote “Common Sense,” a best seller that offered a rhetorical view about why the colonies should split from Britain. However, he then decided to write “American Crisis” in order to offer his unique but logical view on religion and how everyone should go about deciding what they worship. His idea was that religion is necessary in order to live and keep one’s morals straight, however widespread religion are corrupting and brainwashing everybody, so everyone should have their own religion in the church of their mind.

Today our theology is changing. We are less tolerant to religion. An academic scholar believes, “Tolerance is a uniquely human phenomenon, construct and concept. It is therefore of import that the inculcation of (religious) tolerance in terms of culture, religion, habits, customs, clothing, cuisine, manners et cetera should start at an early age” (Potgieter et al. 6). Americans, as a whole, seem to be in a race of religious dominance. Americans, and people in general, do not like believing or thinking our perceptions are incorrect. We corner and judge others who do not share our ideology. This comes from fear. People fear being wrong and fear unfamiliar thought and actions. A teacher of mine, Mr. Carter, believes we live with “blinders” over our eyes. When the majority of us see a woman wearing a hijab or a man of Indian descent we automatically assume they are a terrorist. We know absolutely nothing about the person except that they follow a religion that is assumed to be consisted of terrorists. Isn’t our country supposed to be founded on religious freedom? This is not the only case of religious misjudgment. Our country experiences a multitude of these infractions daily; however, many of these infringements do not require federal action. Unknown or misinterpreted moral issues are resolved in

Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution states that no person except a natural-born citizen shall be eligible to run for President of the United States. This was due to John Jay, the presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention, who wrote a letter to George Washington in 1787 arguing that the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army should not be anyone but a natural-born American (Schneider 6). The Founders were concerned that subversive enemies could force the fledgling republic back to foreign monarchical rule. Delegates did not want the United States to suffer the same fate as Poland, which in 1772 had been partitioned among Austria, Prussia and Russia after agents of those countries bribed Polish

Gene Luen Yang presents a graphic novel, it talk about three different stories that are separate and yet related to each other. The way he presents the characters helps him to show his audience stereotypes in American born Chinese. The author uses the three stories and revolves around people working towards their cultural identity. He successfully creates a story about racial identity, and he does not merely concentrate on stereotypes that define the American-born Chinese.

What does it mean to be an American? From my point of view, an American is anyone who understands how to achieve the best in life for a better tomorrow. Someone who understands that achieving the best in life requires risks, hard work, and dedication. Overall, someone who does not give up throughout the difficulties and gives it their all to accomplish their goals in

The question, what does it mean to be American, is a very loaded question. It doesn’t just mean where you were born, but also the traditions that you follow. The challenges that Americans face from living harmoniously are many as just because someone is an American does not mean that they are more or less American than his or her neighbor. But there has to be a way for everyone to come together as a nation to overcome our challenges and differences.

Although nearly 88% of the United States population believes that there is a God, this does not make them all religious people (Religious Beliefs and Practices). Religion is defined as being the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. The reason why many people might believe in a god or gods is because God is a social construction; the talk of a god is in all forms of media and everyday life, including the Pledge of Allegiance in the United States. For many people who are religious, like myself, they are taught that there is a God from an early age by various social institutions, including their family, peers, media, and in some cases, private schools.

My generation describes that to be an American today you have to be born in America. My generation believes that you can't be an American if you were born in another country. You can be that's what makes America it's the ability to be able to come from where ever and try to get citizenship for our country. Some people of my generation even believe that you don't just have to be born in America to be an American you have to be white. That's why there are so many problems with building walls and keeping immigrants out and other things because people don't want them to be here.

Religion, whether we realize it or not, is a major element of American society (and also worldwide history). For many, religion is a significant part of their cultural identity. Religion plays a part in all levels of politics and is often an aspect of community events and organizations. Everyday, we all interact with people who have different religious backgrounds and personal beliefs. Children born into religious families are very connected with their religions from birth and this affects the way they will see the world for the rest of their lives. Even those who later explore other faiths or convert to other religious ideas will be affected in

The thought of being born in a different country terrifies me, a country besides America. I can imagine how different my life would be, the changes I’d have to make, the thought of it is all too much for me, but to someone like my father, this situation is a norm. Vietnam-born and raised, my dad knows all about the struggle of not having food, water, or an education. My dad is an amazing parent who raised me so my life would be much better when I reach his age.