It’s weird. Someone once told me her husband was German after I mentioned I lived there for a while. So I asked where they’re from, maybe I knew. “From Mississippi…”
I don’t live in America but I think most would consider themselves Americans. They are proud of the flag and the constitution and stuff. In the 1600s, you wouldn’t have figured a white person when someone said “American”. The whites were Brits or Germans or French, but not American. The natives were Americans.
Americans consider themselves Americans, but especially in the early days of the melting pot, cultural identity, and specifically that heritage was important. That’s why Americans are always saying they are Irish or Italian or whatever. The actual people from those countries laugh or get defensive about Americans who have never left the US claiming that heritage, but there’s a reason behind it.
They were. The American identity came later. Until the war of independence, settlers identified with the European countries of their heritage
…still do
It’s weird. Someone once told me her husband was German after I mentioned I lived there for a while. So I asked where they’re from, maybe I knew. “From Mississippi…”
I don’t live in America but I think most would consider themselves Americans. They are proud of the flag and the constitution and stuff. In the 1600s, you wouldn’t have figured a white person when someone said “American”. The whites were Brits or Germans or French, but not American. The natives were Americans.
Americans consider themselves Americans, but especially in the early days of the melting pot, cultural identity, and specifically that heritage was important. That’s why Americans are always saying they are Irish or Italian or whatever. The actual people from those countries laugh or get defensive about Americans who have never left the US claiming that heritage, but there’s a reason behind it.