Personal Identity : The Basics Of The American Identity

America is commonly characterized as the greatest country in the world, the glorious “land of the free and the home of the brave”, “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. This idealization of the American identity conveniently focuses on what people want to hear and blurs out most everything else. In reality, Americans do not live up to the dreamscape created by our views, and we never really have. America is no longer characterized by its freedom and democracy, nearly every first world country can afford that luxury. Nor are we set apart by the great opportunities given to our people, for those are far from universal. We aren’t equal, we aren’t unified, we aren’t kinder or smarter or richer than any other country across the board. It’s easy to find the shortcomings of American culture, all the things we aren’t, but the things we are have proven to be more elusive. First, let’s examine the nots.

An American can be defined by a variety of things. A natural born citizen is just as American as an immigrant searching for a new life, just like in “America and I” by Aniza Yezierska. An American can be a rich businessman or it could be a dedicated soldier like in “Veteran’s Day: Never Forget Their Duty” by John McCain. An individual’s definition of being an American is shaped by their life experiences. A person’s view on being an American is different because of experiences, such as being a veteran, being an immigrant, or living in poverty, all of which affect one’s perspective.

The American Identity, one that defines us all, would therefore be our courage and devotion among all other emotions to stand up for our rights, independence, and our freedom.

From the very birth of the nation, the “American Identity” has been here. It has changed as we grew as a nation, slowly starting to represent not only American born citizens, but to represent the immigrants who moved here with their own hopes and dreams. The American Identity can be defined as a fluid, ever changing idea that has changed over time to represent the ideals of immigrants, as well as people we perceive as different.

What it means to be American? Everybody you ask this question to will have a completely different response. Some responses might have similarities but none will be exactly the same. In the beginning of the year my response was “To be an American means having a rich history, having opportunities to better ourselves, and having freedoms.” Unfortunately not everyone has had the same opportunities or freedoms. Native Americans, who are indigenous, dealt with having their freedoms taken away, less opportunities even though they had rich history in this land before it was taken away from them. Look at what Zitkala-Sa endured. Not only that, but African Americans have fought long and hard for freedom and equality as well. W.E.B. Du Bois stood for

The concept of American identity is different for everyone. Though the definition differs from person to person it is based on the same idea of nationalism. In the late 1890s, every American was proud of what their nation had accomplished thus far, but after the Spanish-American War, the opinions of supporters and non-supporters showed a clear difference in their meaning of their American identity. Supporters, also known as imperialists, used beliefs such as the New Manifest Destiny, Darwinism, the Monroe Doctrine, and racial supremacy to support their wanting to archive islands and territories around the word. Non-supporters, also known as anti-imperialists, used documents such as the Declaration of Constitution and the Constitution to express their feelings of disapproval.

What does it mean to be an American? In today's day and age, the general perception of an American is to be free, free to practice any religion, free to speak your mind, free in general. However, America has only been able to be perceived as a promised land due to the obstacles and barriers that have been challenged by early Americans. From having to accept others religious beliefs to the abolishment of slavery. A good example is J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer (1782). Letters from an American Farmer is a collection of twelve letters written from the perspective of a fictional character. These letters do a magnificent job at emphasizing on how America is similar to the environment and the people who feed

Americans have not only defined themselves by their religious, ethnic and racial identity, but also by their individual freedom and common values. America has become a nation where its people can fight for what they believe in. Our founding fathers have formed America to be “the land of the free and the home of the brave”. Being apart of the American culture and living on the land founded by our leaders specifies the meaning of the American Identity.

Additionally, America is also known for being a free place. It is known that everyone must be treated equally and have their own rights. For example, part of the American identity is being known for practicing democracy. People being free, having their rights protected, and having equal treatment is what makes up the American identity. Those three factors are still going on meaning that the American identity is still alive and nothing has changed it at all. Another reason why the American identity is still alive because part of someone’s identity is again being know for something or influencing something. Another example, is that many people have immigrated to the United States for the American dream. That is a huge contributor to the American identity because it has influenced many people to come. The American dream is still alive so the American identity is still

American identity is the way a person experiences the American culture. However, that is not always the case. American identity is often confused with how someone physically appears or where they came from. Examples of this confusion can be seen in Dwight Okita’s poem, “In Response to the Executive Order 9066” and Sandra Cisnero’s short story, “Mericans.”

Being an American means to have opportunities that are available to us that others don’t get in other parts of the world. The United States of America is a country that is based on being a free country for citizens to have more freedom than anywhere else. It is one of the only countries that give rights to people of different diversities and genders. To be an American means to have opportunities, rights, and freedom.

American identity has been created by many events throughout the course of history. This country was founded on the clashing and mixing of many different cultures and lifestyles. One of the most important periods of time for this country was during the period of conflict between Americans and Native Americans over land rights. Americans had an idea of manifest destiny and that this land was theirs for the taking. The Americans were going to walk through anyone who opposed them in this quest for land. The treatment of the Indians during this time period was harsh, cruel, and violent to say the least. It is in this treatment that Americans came to view the Indians as a ?racialized other? and

The American Ideological Consensus is that “…the American people have shared much of the same ideals, the same basic principles, and the same patterns of belief” (McClenaghan 104). When America filled itself with ideologically homogenous people, their beliefs started to define our nation and became American identities. If asked what they think of America, peoples of other nations would say that the roads are made of glass, opportunity is in the air, and civil rights are plentiful. These accounts maybe accentuated; however, the underlying message is that the American people have more freedoms then the peoples of other nations do. The most widely known American identity is freedom, and even though that American identity has been tried and

American identity can mean different things for different people. It depends on our age because I wasn’t around for the JFk or any event back then. Im my life span I have had some interesting things happen. We have had a president named Obama, a new president named Trump. I mean for as long as I have lived here, which is only fourteen years now there has been big scenarios. Another example is ISIS. They are most likely the worst terrorist group in the country. Honestly for my age, I believe that our identity is more now based off racism and anything that can ruin our country.

The American identity can drastically be different from person to person, after all, creating your own identity is the core of the American dream in itself. I attribute American identity as living on the land that was founded by our political and religious leaders, and being part of the ever