Church and Nation: A Credal Nation, Part I
What sort of "national" identity did the citizens of the United States have in the 18th and 19th centuries? Was it one based on a common English patrimony? Common Christian belief? If they thought of themselves as "Americans," was this identity based upon being a member of a federal union, through being a citizen of their states? Was this a mediated identity/membership, and not a direct one? Hence, as Americans have lost touch with the ethnic/cultural/religious roots of this identity (along with a proper understanding of the Federal system, which was supplanted by a national conception*), nationhood must be defined in some other terms?
*Instead of being a group of nations joined together through the Constitution, we are now One Nation. Is American mobility of the past different from the mobility we have today? Did those who leave their states in the 18th and 19th centuries to settle elsewhere retain something of their former identity? If settlers came from the same state or region and so on, something might be preserved. In contrast, most Americans today bring very little culture with them when they resettle, and there is very little integration required, since most major communities lack deep social and cultural cohesion.
Mr. Richert's about.com profile.
Dr. Fleming has a new post up: Nationalism, Patriotism, and Internationalism I
Two Versions of "Spirit of '76" Painted by Archibald Willard (1836-1918)
Archibald Willard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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