American National Identity

Colonial America, settled by Western Europeans, initially displayed social and cultural characteristics similar to the group by which it was founded. As America grew, population density increased, government was established, and a notion of ‘civilization’ was embedded into the American mindset. The previous influences, in combination with other factors, such as America’s distance from Europe, helped the United States wage and win the Revolutionary war. The US, gaining it’s Independence, inevitably was to …

…pursuit of good government and freedom. Despite, the overpowering general beliefs of colonial America, some did see the hypocritical role America was assuming. Franklin saw it in the subjective definition of ‘civil,’ Gould observed in nineteenth century Polygeny and Craniology, and Irving elucidated to the noble traits of the Native American using a dialect, which despite being taken with a traditional ideology of the time, displayed an objective truth. Thankfully these writings still prevail today.