Research Paper about American Identity

📌Category: History, History of the United States, Identity, Sociology
📌Words: 957
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 19 March 2022

In present times American Identity for the average United States citizen is something that is instilled in us; It is a part of our heritage as soon as we are born but at what cost was this sense of American Identity brought upon the population of colonists in America during the early/mid 1800s? The beginning of the formation of what we call America was not always founded on the collection of ideals and freedom we have today. Through time and war colonists began to consider what it truly means to have a sense of individualism, which was soon to be a reflection of their American Identity. Whether they had considered the thought of this or if it had never crossed their minds the foundations of an american identity as a whole transcribed from wars, the formation of the United States government, and westward expansion.

With war came death and with death came revenge. Before America began seeking independence, they were under Monarch rule in which they did not have independence as a nation, rather virtual representation in Parliament. The original colonies that were under this British rule were forced to fight in a war against French Catholics not as Americans but as colonists of Great Britain, and this was to be known as The Seven Years War. During this war colonists fought for the British, not with them, and it was a huge factor for Great Britain to uphold and obtain an empire that so far, the colonists could not control. However, after colonists won this war, it set a new precedented idea that the colonists no longer had to be under British rule, and since it was very clear they could fight and win a war without the British then one day they could soon fight for independence on their own. While this new sense of independence came to light, colonists knew this would come with a price. The American Revolution was fought to stop a British Empire from controlling colonist’s independence. This war had built a new sense of identity for the colonists and new ideals that can “define Americans’ image of themselves” post revolution (Introduction Paragraph 1). This war not only gave colonists the independence that they wanted but it “dictates how one defines what it means to be American” presenting the idea that colonists can share a collective “American political identity” (The Causes of the American Revolution paragraph 7 & Conclusion paragraph 2). Even post revolution the colonists reinforced American Identity. The War of 1812 American poet Francis Scott, created the verses to what was to be known as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” forever creating an anthem that unites citizens of America today and truly a big foundation of American identity.

What once was colonies under monarch rule was now a newly independent country. Avoiding tyranny at all costs Americans were compelled to continue to build a foundation where they can truly feel the sense of American identity, and this happened with the formation of the United States government. They wanted to position themselves to be a country in which it has some form of democracy that can protect rights of its citizens. Rights that would guarantee them liberty and freedom which in this time and day not found in neighboring countries such as Great Britain and France. While this new addition did spark the interest of many Americans it also brought controversy because citizens in the colonies did not want to see the new nation go back to a strong tyranny, especially with this new system of government. For those who were agreeing with the addition of a new United States government and for those who were against it had both brought senses of American identity. They both contradict each other and are two completely different ideals for how America should be governed, but even if one group is more “correct” then the other it should not be an ultimate factor that all citizens of American be on the same page as to how the government shall be ran. It takes a collective group of citizens to share new ideas on how to form a government that can be for the people. The new rules of law and how citizens view them is their own sense of individualism that adds on to their own sense of what it means to be American.

Throughout the course of early U.S. history there were also major threats to American identity. One of which was known as the Manifest Destiny or the expansion towards the west.  With the expansion towards the west invited new immigrants to the pool of citizens in America who had an already established ideal for how a society should run both politically and economically.  Most of these immigrants were Native Americans but it was a pretty set and stone that the removal of Native Americans was for the purpose to expand the states and was a justified power of America. Unfortunately, that agreement came with an already pre-established disagreement on whether these new states shall be either free or a slave states. Even though until this point America has laid down a strong foundation for themselves as Americans, there was still a strong disconnection between the North and the South. Fortunately, these different cultures had introduced a new world to the American colonists. It would allow the colonists and America to expand on their Ideals and shape a new sense of identity now that different cultures would eventually be mixed within the population. The United States could now become one collected culture and really move on from their past with other European nations.

Colonists began considering themselves as Americans when they gained their independence through war against Great Britain, when they formed the United States government, and finally when they made their expansion towards the west . Through their collection of ideals and opinions for each experience they had gained a sense of American identity showcasing both how and why this came to be in the first place. Differing opinions may have apprehended the process of knowing what it means to be American, but regardless of it allowed each citizens individualism to form what is to be known as American identity.

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