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What Is an American

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What Is an American
What is an American? The American Dream... a concept, which is very popular amongst the people who reside within the United States of America. When asked the question “What exactly is the American Dream” the answers most people will get would be quite similar to each other, but the way people interpret that answer differs based on what their values are. The problem is that Americans have many different values due to the fact that most Americans come from different ethnic roots but even despite this a similarity can still be seen throughout all Americans as to what they value. This then brings up the question... “What is an American? if all Americans are different ethnically speaking.” The question “What is an American” is very tricky to answer because statistically speaking America is basically a huge melting pot of different ethnicities. The American population consists of many different races such as Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, Asian American, and Mixed Ethnicities. Not only are there many different races in the American demographic, there are also a lot of religions. Although Christianity is the predominant religion in the United States there are many other religions such as Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and even those who do not believe in religion. With no way to define what is an American in an ethnic point of view, the only real way to define what is an American is to look at their values. American values are the only real way to determine who or what is an American. Many Americans value the same things, these being freedom (both religious and political), family/relationships, the opportunity to always achieve something better than what we currently have, and “The American Dream”. These and many more are some of the things Americans today all value, however some Americans value certain things more than others and the main factor as to what people value more can be


Cited: "What Is an American?" The Cato Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012. <http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/what-is-american>. "The 2012 Statistical Abstract." Religion. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012. http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/population/religion.html CIA World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2010. Print. "Ethnic Groups In America 2011." Ethnic Groups In America 2011. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012. <http://exploredia.com/ethnic-groups-in-america-2011/>. "What 'American Values ' Really Means." LiveScience.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/18154-american-values-state-union-politics.html>. Adams, James Truslow. The Epic of America,. Boston: Little, Brown, and, 1931. Print.
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