What is an American?

            In some ways I’m not that strict in what I believe qualifies someone as being an American.  I feel that they probably should live/ or have lived here for some time.  But also going back to what we were talking about in class a few days ago, I think being an American means that you can decide where you are from.  Some people like to forget where they came from because it was such a horrible place or for other reasons.  Like how Crevecoeur (Letters from an American Farmer) illustrates how the early emigrants received no care or respect in their previous countries, so were they really their homes?  However, it is interesting that Crevecoeur writes this way since he was actually born into a wealthy French family.  This shows that many people said America was their home, even if they didn’t have a bad experience in their previous country.  But I also believe that it can be the other way as well.  I don’t think it is bad to say “I’m Russian, Polish, Irish etc.”  As an American you can make that decision.  And I feel people say these things because either they have strong connections/traditions with the place they are “from”, or because they are hoping that they will meet others like them.  I think it is no secret that people like to be around people who are like them.  Then you have things in common.  And lets not forget that many times in American history, people grouped (and still group) other people by where they are originally from.  For example during the late 1800s/early 1900s there were always the well known signs in shop windows saying “NO IRISH NEED APPLY”.  For so long people have been grouped by where they were originally from, and maybe that has just stuck.