Introduction

The question of American identity is a highly contested one. Broadly speaking, there are two camps which differ markedly in how they confront the question. In one camp are those who are inclined towards an ethnocultural view. They tend to regard some of their fellow countrymen and women as more truly American than others. In other words, for them, there is a prototypical American who is White, of English (or at least Western European) ancestry, and protestant Christian.^[1] We can call this the nativist camp.

In the other camp are those who more closely align themselves with a civic view of American identity. For them, neither ethnicity, nor race, nor religion, nor the nationality of one’s ancestors confers any special privilege with respect to a person’s claim on American identity; instead, that identity is rooted in a set of shared principles and values, which would include beliefs in individual liberty, equality, adherence to the rule of law as underpinned by the U.S. Constitution, and a commitment to civic participation, irrespective of race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin.^[2] We can call this the pluralist camp.

Although the above characterizations greatly oversimplify the views of both camps, I believe they adequately capture in broad outline the historical debate over American identity. To the extent that there is an argument running through this book, it is that only pluralism does justice to the American story and has the potential to promote a just society.

The book is divided into three major parts. Part I—Foundations—consists of four chapters, each of which deals with a significant group with roots that reach back to the founding of the nation, or before. The first two groups covered in Part I are, historically speaking, elements that pre-dated the first English colonies, namely America’s indigenous peoples (Ch. 1) and the first Hispanic settlers (Ch. 2). After that, we turn our attention to the Anglo and the African strands of the American tapestry (Chs. 3 and 4).

Part II covers what has been called the Old Immigration, which includes the stories of the Germans (Ch. 5), the Irish (Ch. 6), and the Chinese (Ch. 7). Although the Germans actually had a significant presence in early colonial America, they, along with the Irish participated in the great waves of immigration which began in the early 19th century. And beginning in the mid-19th century, the Chinese, too, established a presence in the United States, although a much smaller one than that of either the Germans or the Irish.

Part III covers the so-called New Immigration, namely the immigration that began in the last third of the 19th century and stretched into the early 20th century. During these years, the old immigration from northern and western Europe began to wane as the center of gravity shifted to southern and eastern Europe. Chapters 8 and 9 highlight additions to the American tapestry from groups hailing from southern Europe: the Italians and the Greeks, while Chapters 10 and 11 cover two groups from Eastern Europe comprising mostly Russian Jews and Poles.