From Common Origins

The Cultural Fabric of America

“With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people--a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.”

- John Jay, Federalist No. 2

America is not a propositional nation. The United States was not founded as an experiment in cosmopolitan democracy but as a European, or more accurately an English, experiment in republicanism.

Men may have been created equal, but this equality said nothing of their abilities. Men were equal in the eyes of God and equal in their dignity; no man had the right to enslave another as a permanent political subject. This was the founders' understanding of men being “created equal.” In all other respects, such as physical attributes, natural talents, inclinations, dispositions, abilities, and opportunities, men are unequal.

Proponents of the “propositional nation” would have you believe that America is an abstraction—a set of principles that anyone can adopt if they so choose, and in doing so, become as American as anyone else. They point to America’s long history of immigration as evidence of this belief.

To be fair, there is some truth to this. America has a long history of successfully welcoming waves of immigrants into her arms. However, what they fail to mention is that the immigrants of the past often shared a common culture. They were Europeans, with whom we shared similar customs and beliefs, and whose histories were tied to ours through a common origin. In short, they were family.

And that is what a nation is, a family. The word “nation” comes from the Old French “nacion,” meaning birth, rank; descendants, relatives; and homeland. Nacion comes from the Latin word “nationem,” which means “birth, origin; breed, stock, tribe or race.” Nationem translates directly to “that which has been born,” or in Old Latin “gnasci.” And “gnasci” traces its origin to the Proto-Indo-European root gene- meaning “give birth, or beget.”

A nation is a family, and any addition to a family from the outside, regardless of relation, can be challenging. Anyone who is married knows that each family possesses its own idiosyncrasies—unspoken customs and ways of doing things that remain unseen until someone from outside the family points them out. These peculiarities are easily overcome when husband and wife share the same culture, but they become more challenging as the cultures become more alien.

America was able to thrive with the illusion of the propositional nation because she was adopting her cousins. She was welcoming her extended family, and although the particulars of their cultures caused tensions, they shared the same origin, and the same spirit, and this made integration possible. Catholic immigration from Italy, Ireland, and Germany presented challenges, but they were challenges that could be overcome. Protestants and Catholics might argue about how to celebrate Christmas, but at the end of the day, they both celebrate Christmas.

In addition to a shared cultural origin, the influx of immigrants was often slow and diffused over a wide area. German, Jewish, and Catholic immigrants to the South arrived slowly and in small numbers and as a result, were absorbed into the culture. They became Southerners, distinguished only by where they went to church on Sunday. This assimilation stands in stark contrast to large cities like New York where ethnic enclaves became the norm, allowing immigrants, despite a shared root culture, to wall themselves off and avoid integration.

Despite a shared cultural origin, the adoption of Western European immigrants still altered the nation. Change is an inevitable result of immigration and America understood the danger this posed to the soul of the nation, especially the danger posed by large numbers of unassimilated immigrants. The Immigration Act of 1924, placed a permanent numerical limit on immigration, added a national-origin quota system, and limited annual immigration to 150,000 persons.¹ According to the Department of State, the purpose of the act was "to preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity.²

There were numerous changes to U.S. immigration policy in the following years, but it was the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act) that would dramatically alter the face of America.

The Hart-Celler Act removed the National Origins Formula that was established in 1924 to preserve American homogeneity. Before Hart-Celler, the U.S. was 85% White, with Blacks making up 11%, and Latinos less than 4%.³ If the bill and its subsequent immigration waves had not been passed, it is estimated that the U.S. would have been in 2015: 75% Non-Hispanic White, 14% Black, 8% Hispanic, and less than 1% AsianAmerican.⁴

In America today, Whites make up 58% of the population, Blacks 12.4%, and Hispanics 19%. This massive demographic change represents a shift in the soul of the nation. America was born out of the English tradition, with values of private property, freedom of speech, and religious liberty tracing their origins to English Common Law. English Common Law itself was born of the Magna Carta and Roman Law. America is a nation deeply rooted in these historical and cultural foundations, and this foundation is a result of the people from which it was built.

As Hamilton wrote,

“the safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common National sentiment; on a uniformity of principles and habits; on the exemption of the citizens from foreign bias and prejudice; and on that love of country which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education and family.”

The founders understood that America was what she was because of who she was. People are not interchangeable; they are not isolated beings that can be molded to fit any system. A culture presupposes a people because the culture is the expression of the soul of a people. Just as each individual’s soul differs, so too does the soul of each people. This is not a value judgment but a statement of fact. Does anyone truly believe that if you replaced the Chinese with Englishmen, they could have built the Han Dynasty? Or that if the Founding Fathers were Peruvian, America would look anything like it does today?

Changing a people fundamentally changes a nation because the collective identity, values, and traditions of a society are deeply rooted in its populace. The unique experiences, historical contexts, and intrinsic characteristics of a people shape their social structures, governance, and cultural expressions. When a different group with its own distinct heritage and worldview takes the place of the original inhabitants, the nation inevitably transforms to reflect the new group's identity. This shift alters everything from laws and institutions to art and customs, because the essence of a nation is inseparably linked to the people who reside within it.

America is not the same because the people are not the same. In the past, we adopted members of our extended family and while we differed in expression we shared the same cultural soul.

Today we invite the world into our home and act shocked when they turn it into a hotel. They do not care about our monuments or our heroes, they do not understand our traditions, or respect our laws. You will not find their names among the dead at Gettysburg or Belleau Wood, and when the barbarians descend upon this once great nation you will not find them standing by your side, because they will not fight what they let in.

-TJS

“…foreigners will generally be apt to bring with them attachments to the persons they have left behind; to the country of their nativity, and to its particular customs and manners. It is unlikely that they will bring with them that temperate love of liberty, so essential to real republicanism.”

-Alexander Hamilton

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1. https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/43/STATUTE-43-Pg153a.pdf

2. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act

3. https://sites.utexas.edu/contemporaryfamilies/2014/02/05/changes-in-americas-racial-and-ethnic-composition-since-1964/

4. https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2015/09/28/modern-immigration-wave-brings-59-million-to-u-s-driving-population-growth-and-change-through-2065/