=========================================================================
Date:         Sun, 1 Nov 1998 09:35:04 -0600
Reply-To:     American Revolution Forum
              
Sender:       American Revolution Forum
              
From:         "B. Rice Aston" 
Subject:      How a highly differentiated society holds itself together.
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Re: Halloween Thought:  In historical research on the Revolutionary period,
that researchers will select projects emphasizing the unity/assimilation of
cultures in America. It's scary to think otherwise.

Roland Downing

Reply from: B. Rice Aston

Arthur Schelssinger, Jr's ssay "The Disuniting America" states the case
well, it is the alpha-omega, the Genesis-Malachi, on the subject. A few
excerpts follow:

"A]merica was a multiethnic country from the start. Hector St. John de
Crevecoeur emigrated from France to the American colonies in 1759, married
an American woman, settled on a farm in Orange County, New York, and
published his Letters From An American Farmer during the American
Revolution. This eighteenth-century French American marveled at the
astonishing diversity of the other settlers - 'a mixture of English,
Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes,' a 'strange mixture of
blood' that you could find in no other country. [such a mixture within the
boundaries of anyone country would have been a prescription for national
disater].

He recalled one family whose grandfather was English, whose wife was Dutch,
whose son married a Frenchwoman, and whose present four sons had married
women of different nationalities. 'From this promiscuous breed', he wrote,
'that race now called Americans have arise.' (The word as used in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries meant what we mean by nationality
today; thus people spoke of the 'English race', 'the German race', and so
on.).  What, Crevecoeur mused, were the characteristics of this suddenly
emergent American race.

Crevecoeur gave his own question its classic answer: 'He is an American,
who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new
ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he
obeys, and the new rank he holds. The American is a new man, who acts upon
new principles. . .  'Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new
race of men.'

E pluribus unum. The United states had a brilliant solution for the
inherent fragility of a multiethnic society; the creation of a brand-new
identity, carried forward by individuals who, in forsaking old loyalties
and joining to make new lives, melted away ethnic differences. Those
intrepid Europeans who had torn up their roots to brave the wild Atlantic
wanted to forget a horrid past and to embrace a new hopeful future. They
expected to become Americans. Their goals were escape, deliverance,
assimilation. They saw America as a transforming nation, banishing dismal
memories and developing a unique national character based on common
political ideals and shared experiences. The point of America was not to
preserve old cultures, but to forge a new American culture.

One reason why Canada, despite all its advantages, is so vulnerable to
schism is that, as Canadians freely admit, their country lacks such a
unique national identity.  Attracted variously to Britain, France, and the
United States, include for generous reason a policy of official
multiculturalism, Canadians have never developed a strong sense of what it
is to be a Canadian.  As Sir John Macdonald, their first prime minister,
put it, Canada has 'too much geography and too little history.'

The United States has had plenty of history.  From the Revolution on,
Americans have had a powerful national creed. The vigorous sense of
national identity accounts for our relative success in converting
Crevecoeur's 'promiscuous breed' into one people and thereby making a
multiethnic society work.

        . . . Today many Americans disavow the historic goal of a 'new race of
man.'  The escape from origins yields to the search for roots, The 'ancient
prejudices and manners' disowned by Crevecoeur have made a surprising
comeback. A cult of ethnicity has arisen both among non-anglo white and
among nonwhite minorities to denounce the idea of a melting pot, to
challenge the concept of 'one people', and to protect, promote, and
perpetuate separate ethnic and racial communities.

Implicit in this philosophy is the classification of all Americans
according to ethnic and racial criteria.  But while the ethnic
interpretation of American history, like the economic interpretation, is
valid and illuminating up to a point, it is fatally misleading and wrong
when presented as the whole picture.  The ethnic interpretation, moreover,
reverses the history theory of America as one people - the theory that has
thus far managed to keep the American society whole.

Instead of a transformative nation with an identity all its own, America in
this new light is seen as a preservative of diverse alien identities.
Instead of a nation composed of individuals making their own unhampered
choices, America increasingly sees itself as composed of groups more or
less ineradicable in their ethnic character.  The multiethnic dogma
abandons historic purposes, replacing assimilation by fragmentation,
integration by separatism. It belittles unum and glorifies pluribus.

...The militants of ethnicity now contend that a main objective of public
education should be the protection, strengthening, celebration,
perpetuation of ethnic origins and identities.  Separatism, however,
nourishes prejudices, magnifies differences and stirs antagonisms. The
consequent increase in ethnic and racial conflict lies behind the
hullabaloo over 'multiculturalism' and 'political correctness', over the
iniquities of the "Eurocentric" curriculum, and over the notion that
history and literature should be taught not as intellectual disciplines but
as therapies whose function is to raise minority self-esteem.

The historic idea of a unifying American identity is now in peril in many
areas - in our politics, our voluntary organizations, our churches, our
language.  And in no arena is the rejection of an overriding national
identity more crucial than in our system of education.

The impact of ethnic and racial pressure on our public schools is more
troubling. The bonds of national cohesion are sufficiently fragile already.
Public education should aim to strengthen those bonds, not to weaken them.
If separatist tendencies continue on unchecked, the result can only be the
fragmentation, resegregation, and tribalizaton of American life.

Watching ethnic conflict tear one nation after another apart, one cannot
look with complacency at the proposals to divide the United Sates into
distinct and immutable ethnic racial communities, each taught to cherish
its own apartness from the rest. One wonders: Will the center hold or will
the melting pot give way to the Tower of Babel?

I don't want to sound apocalyptic about these developments. Education is
always in ferment, and a good thing too.  Schools and colleges have always
been battle grounds for debates over beliefs, philosophies and values.  The
situation in our universities, I am confident, will soon right itself once
the great silent majority of professors cry 'enough' and challenge what
they know to be voguish nonsense.

The American population has unquestionably grown more heterogeneous than
ever in recent times. But this very heterogeneity makes the quest for
unifying ideals and a common culture all the more urgent. And in a world
savagely rent by ethnic and racial antagonisms, it is all the ;more
essential that the United States continue as an example of how a highly
differentiated society holds itself together."



=========================================================================
Date:         Tue, 3 Nov 1998 10:17:48 -0500
Reply-To:     American Revolution Forum
              
Sender:       American Revolution Forum
              
From:         John Moore 
Subject:      Re: How a highly differentiated society holds itself together.
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Bravo to B. Rice Ashton. =20
Americans, educators in particular, seem to be fostering an attitude of =
disunion by concentrating on ethnic backgrounds instead of developing how =
American culture is a blend of all these cultures. =20
Perhaps if we concentrated on what unites us, rather than what divides us, =
perhaps we could cure the nation of some of our ills. =20
This would, of course, require that politicians and national leaders =
appeal to broad constituencies rather than their own narrow interest =
groups.
Once bravo, bravo, bravo.
regards,=20
jrm

John R. Moore
Tidewater Community College
Norfolk, VA 23510
e-mail: tcmoorj@tc.cc.va.us
tel: 757-822-1308

>>> "B. Rice Aston"  11/01 10:35 AM >>>
Re: Halloween Thought:  In historical research on the Revolutionary =
period,
that researchers will select projects emphasizing the unity/assimilation =
of
cultures in America. It's scary to think otherwise.

Roland Downing

Reply from: B. Rice Aston

Arthur Schelssinger, Jr's ssay "The Disuniting America" states the case
well, it is the alpha-omega, the Genesis-Malachi, on the subject. A few
excerpts follow:

"A]merica was a multiethnic country from the start. Hector St. John de
Crevecoeur emigrated from France to the American colonies in 1759, married
an American woman, settled on a farm in Orange County, New York, and
published his Letters From An American Farmer during the American
Revolution. This eighteenth-century French American marveled at the
astonishing diversity of the other settlers - 'a mixture of English,
Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes,' a 'strange mixture of
blood' that you could find in no other country. [such a mixture within the
boundaries of anyone country would have been a prescription for national
disater].

He recalled one family whose grandfather was English, whose wife was =
Dutch,
whose son married a Frenchwoman, and whose present four sons had married
women of different nationalities. 'From this promiscuous breed', he wrote,
'that race now called Americans have arise.' (The word as used in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries meant what we mean by nationality
today; thus people spoke of the 'English race', 'the German race', and so
on.).  What, Crevecoeur mused, were the characteristics of this suddenly
emergent American race.

Crevecoeur gave his own question its classic answer: 'He is an American,
who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives =
new
ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he
obeys, and the new rank he holds. The American is a new man, who acts upon
new principles. . .  'Here individuals of all nations are melted into a =
new
race of men.'

E pluribus unum. The United states had a brilliant solution for the
inherent fragility of a multiethnic society; the creation of a brand-new
identity, carried forward by individuals who, in forsaking old loyalties
and joining to make new lives, melted away ethnic differences. Those
intrepid Europeans who had torn up their roots to brave the wild Atlantic
wanted to forget a horrid past and to embrace a new hopeful future. They
expected to become Americans. Their goals were escape, deliverance,
assimilation. They saw America as a transforming nation, banishing dismal
memories and developing a unique national character based on common
political ideals and shared experiences. The point of America was not to
preserve old cultures, but to forge a new American culture.

One reason why Canada, despite all its advantages, is so vulnerable to
schism is that, as Canadians freely admit, their country lacks such a
unique national identity.  Attracted variously to Britain, France, and the
United States, include for generous reason a policy of official
multiculturalism, Canadians have never developed a strong sense of what it
is to be a Canadian.  As Sir John Macdonald, their first prime minister,
put it, Canada has 'too much geography and too little history.'

The United States has had plenty of history.  From the Revolution on,
Americans have had a powerful national creed. The vigorous sense of
national identity accounts for our relative success in converting
Crevecoeur's 'promiscuous breed' into one people and thereby making a
multiethnic society work.

        . . . Today many Americans disavow the historic goal of a 'new =
race of
man.'  The escape from origins yields to the search for roots, The =
'ancient
prejudices and manners' disowned by Crevecoeur have made a surprising
comeback. A cult of ethnicity has arisen both among non-anglo white and
among nonwhite minorities to denounce the idea of a melting pot, to
challenge the concept of 'one people', and to protect, promote, and
perpetuate separate ethnic and racial communities.

Implicit in this philosophy is the classification of all Americans
according to ethnic and racial criteria.  But while the ethnic
interpretation of American history, like the economic interpretation, is
valid and illuminating up to a point, it is fatally misleading and wrong
when presented as the whole picture.  The ethnic interpretation, moreover,
reverses the history theory of America as one people - the theory that has
thus far managed to keep the American society whole.

Instead of a transformative nation with an identity all its own, America =
in
this new light is seen as a preservative of diverse alien identities.
Instead of a nation composed of individuals making their own unhampered
choices, America increasingly sees itself as composed of groups more or
less ineradicable in their ethnic character.  The multiethnic dogma
abandons historic purposes, replacing assimilation by fragmentation,
integration by separatism. It belittles unum and glorifies pluribus.

...The militants of ethnicity now contend that a main objective of public
education should be the protection, strengthening, celebration,
perpetuation of ethnic origins and identities.  Separatism, however,
nourishes prejudices, magnifies differences and stirs antagonisms. The
consequent increase in ethnic and racial conflict lies behind the
hullabaloo over 'multiculturalism' and 'political correctness', over the
iniquities of the "Eurocentric" curriculum, and over the notion that
history and literature should be taught not as intellectual disciplines =
but
as therapies whose function is to raise minority self-esteem.

The historic idea of a unifying American identity is now in peril in many
areas - in our politics, our voluntary organizations, our churches, our
language.  And in no arena is the rejection of an overriding national
identity more crucial than in our system of education.

The impact of ethnic and racial pressure on our public schools is more
troubling. The bonds of national cohesion are sufficiently fragile =
already.
Public education should aim to strengthen those bonds, not to weaken them.
If separatist tendencies continue on unchecked, the result can only be the
fragmentation, resegregation, and tribalizaton of American life.

Watching ethnic conflict tear one nation after another apart, one cannot
look with complacency at the proposals to divide the United Sates into
distinct and immutable ethnic racial communities, each taught to cherish
its own apartness from the rest. One wonders: Will the center hold or will
the melting pot give way to the Tower of Babel?

I don't want to sound apocalyptic about these developments. Education is
always in ferment, and a good thing too.  Schools and colleges have always
been battle grounds for debates over beliefs, philosophies and values.  =
The
situation in our universities, I am confident, will soon right itself once
the great silent majority of professors cry 'enough' and challenge what
they know to be voguish nonsense.

The American population has unquestionably grown more heterogeneous than
ever in recent times. But this very heterogeneity makes the quest for
unifying ideals and a common culture all the more urgent. And in a world
savagely rent by ethnic and racial antagonisms, it is all the ;more
essential that the United States continue as an example of how a highly
differentiated society holds itself together."
=========================================================================
Date:         Tue, 3 Nov 1998 18:29:45 PST
Reply-To:     American Revolution Forum
              
Sender:       American Revolution Forum
              
From:         Sara Elisabeth Paulson 
Subject:      Re: How a highly differentiated society holds itself together.
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain

In Neil Postman's book __The End of Education: Redefining the Value of
School_ ,he addresses the need for an unifying narrative in order that a
public be a public (without which, can public education exist?), and
suggests five broad themes around which curriculum can be organized: (1)
We are all on this planet together, "Spaceship Earth"; (2) The history
of human error (a fascinating topic!!)--"Fallen Angel"; (3) "The
American Experiment"--or the history of America through its arguments
and democratic experiments....In focusing on arguments, he emphasizes
the continuity of thought and expression in discourse (What is freedom
of the press? What is individualism?  Is it possible to have a cohesive
society? What do we do about the "persistent effects of the legacy of
slavery"? Discrimination? And of course, technology--what have been the
arguments and doubts surrounding its effects? How are these arguments
alive today??) He lists very pertinent pieces of American history...;(4)
"The Law of Diversity"--studying archaelogy and anthropology ("different
people tell different stories" or What are the stories of the world??;
and, (5)"The Word Weavers/The World Weavers" the conscious study of
language--not grammar.

These ideas breathe life into the curriculum and are some of the most
fascinating strands of culture. The book works in mysterious ways asking
more questions than giving answers, and tapping into our deepest beliefs
about homo homo sapiens. I hope there is more emphasis on how things
happen and continue to happen, and how we know what we know; or
discussion of metaphors, argument and storytelling in the classrooms.

I do hate the title though, and would not have read it had it not been
mentioned in "The Computer Delusion" handed out in the Goals 200
workshop!

Your comment about politicians is quite true--but there are some
blossoming parties which address diverse constituencies. (I'll add
another bravo!)




>Date:         Tue, 3 Nov 1998 10:17:48 -0500
>Reply-To:     American Revolution Forum

>From:         John Moore 
>Subject:      Re: How a highly differentiated society holds itself
together.
>To:           AMERICANREVOLUTIONFORUM@ASHP.LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
>
>Bravo to B. Rice Ashton. =20
>Americans, educators in particular, seem to be fostering an attitude of
=
>disunion by concentrating on ethnic backgrounds instead of developing
how =
>American culture is a blend of all these cultures. =20
>Perhaps if we concentrated on what unites us, rather than what divides
us, =
>perhaps we could cure the nation of some of our ills. =20
>This would, of course, require that politicians and national leaders =
>appeal to broad constituencies rather than their own narrow interest =
>groups.
>Once bravo, bravo, bravo.
>regards,=20
>jrm
>
>John R. Moore
>Tidewater Community College
>Norfolk, VA 23510
>e-mail: tcmoorj@tc.cc.va.us
>tel: 757-822-1308
>
>>>> "B. Rice Aston"  11/01 10:35 AM >>>
>Re: Halloween Thought:  In historical research on the Revolutionary =
>period,
>that researchers will select projects emphasizing the
unity/assimilation =
>of
>cultures in America. It's scary to think otherwise.
>
>Roland Downing
>
>Reply from: B. Rice Aston
>
>Arthur Schelssinger, Jr's ssay "The Disuniting America" states the case
>well, it is the alpha-omega, the Genesis-Malachi, on the subject. A few
>excerpts follow:
>
>"A]merica was a multiethnic country from the start. Hector St. John de
>Crevecoeur emigrated from France to the American colonies in 1759,
married
>an American woman, settled on a farm in Orange County, New York, and
>published his Letters From An American Farmer during the American
>Revolution. This eighteenth-century French American marveled at the
>astonishing diversity of the other settlers - 'a mixture of English,
>Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes,' a 'strange mixture
of
>blood' that you could find in no other country. [such a mixture within
the
>boundaries of anyone country would have been a prescription for
national
>disater].
>
>He recalled one family whose grandfather was English, whose wife was =
>Dutch,
>whose son married a Frenchwoman, and whose present four sons had
married
>women of different nationalities. 'From this promiscuous breed', he
wrote,
>'that race now called Americans have arise.' (The word as used in the
>eighteenth and nineteenth centuries meant what we mean by nationality
>today; thus people spoke of the 'English race', 'the German race', and
so
>on.).  What, Crevecoeur mused, were the characteristics of this
suddenly
>emergent American race.
>
>Crevecoeur gave his own question its classic answer: 'He is an
American,
>who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives
=
>new
>ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he
>obeys, and the new rank he holds. The American is a new man, who acts
upon
>new principles. . .  'Here individuals of all nations are melted into a
=
>new
>race of men.'
>
>E pluribus unum. The United states had a brilliant solution for the
>inherent fragility of a multiethnic society; the creation of a
brand-new
>identity, carried forward by individuals who, in forsaking old
loyalties
>and joining to make new lives, melted away ethnic differences. Those
>intrepid Europeans who had torn up their roots to brave the wild
Atlantic
>wanted to forget a horrid past and to embrace a new hopeful future.
They
>expected to become Americans. Their goals were escape, deliverance,
>assimilation. They saw America as a transforming nation, banishing
dismal
>memories and developing a unique national character based on common
>political ideals and shared experiences. The point of America was not
to
>preserve old cultures, but to forge a new American culture.
>
>One reason why Canada, despite all its advantages, is so vulnerable to
>schism is that, as Canadians freely admit, their country lacks such a
>unique national identity.  Attracted variously to Britain, France, and
the
>United States, include for generous reason a policy of official
>multiculturalism, Canadians have never developed a strong sense of what
it
>is to be a Canadian.  As Sir John Macdonald, their first prime
minister,
>put it, Canada has 'too much geography and too little history.'
>
>The United States has had plenty of history.  From the Revolution on,
>Americans have had a powerful national creed. The vigorous sense of
>national identity accounts for our relative success in converting
>Crevecoeur's 'promiscuous breed' into one people and thereby making a
>multiethnic society work.
>
>        . . . Today many Americans disavow the historic goal of a 'new
=
>race of
>man.'  The escape from origins yields to the search for roots, The =
>'ancient
>prejudices and manners' disowned by Crevecoeur have made a surprising
>comeback. A cult of ethnicity has arisen both among non-anglo white and
>among nonwhite minorities to denounce the idea of a melting pot, to
>challenge the concept of 'one people', and to protect, promote, and
>perpetuate separate ethnic and racial communities.
>
>Implicit in this philosophy is the classification of all Americans
>according to ethnic and racial criteria.  But while the ethnic
>interpretation of American history, like the economic interpretation,
is
>valid and illuminating up to a point, it is fatally misleading and
wrong
>when presented as the whole picture.  The ethnic interpretation,
moreover,
>reverses the history theory of America as one people - the theory that
has
>thus far managed to keep the American society whole.
>
>Instead of a transformative nation with an identity all its own,
America =
>in
>this new light is seen as a preservative of diverse alien identities.
>Instead of a nation composed of individuals making their own unhampered
>choices, America increasingly sees itself as composed of groups more or
>less ineradicable in their ethnic character.  The multiethnic dogma
>abandons historic purposes, replacing assimilation by fragmentation,
>integration by separatism. It belittles unum and glorifies pluribus.
>
>...The militants of ethnicity now contend that a main objective of
public
>education should be the protection, strengthening, celebration,
>perpetuation of ethnic origins and identities.  Separatism, however,
>nourishes prejudices, magnifies differences and stirs antagonisms. The
>consequent increase in ethnic and racial conflict lies behind the
>hullabaloo over 'multiculturalism' and 'political correctness', over
the
>iniquities of the "Eurocentric" curriculum, and over the notion that
>history and literature should be taught not as intellectual disciplines
=
>but
>as therapies whose function is to raise minority self-esteem.
>
>The historic idea of a unifying American identity is now in peril in
many
>areas - in our politics, our voluntary organizations, our churches, our
>language.  And in no arena is the rejection of an overriding national
>identity more crucial than in our system of education.
>
>The impact of ethnic and racial pressure on our public schools is more
>troubling. The bonds of national cohesion are sufficiently fragile =
>already.
>Public education should aim to strengthen those bonds, not to weaken
them.
>If separatist tendencies continue on unchecked, the result can only be
the
>fragmentation, resegregation, and tribalizaton of American life.
>
>Watching ethnic conflict tear one nation after another apart, one
cannot
>look with complacency at the proposals to divide the United Sates into
>distinct and immutable ethnic racial communities, each taught to
cherish
>its own apartness from the rest. One wonders: Will the center hold or
will
>the melting pot give way to the Tower of Babel?
>
>I don't want to sound apocalyptic about these developments. Education
is
>always in ferment, and a good thing too.  Schools and colleges have
always
>been battle grounds for debates over beliefs, philosophies and values.
=
>The
>situation in our universities, I am confident, will soon right itself
once
>the great silent majority of professors cry 'enough' and challenge what
>they know to be voguish nonsense.
>
>The American population has unquestionably grown more heterogeneous
than
>ever in recent times. But this very heterogeneity makes the quest for
>unifying ideals and a common culture all the more urgent. And in a
world
>savagely rent by ethnic and racial antagonisms, it is all the ;more
>essential that the United States continue as an example of how a highly
>differentiated society holds itself together."
>


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
========================================================================= 
>>Date:         Tue, 3 Nov 1998 10:17:48 -0500
>>Reply-To:     American Revolution Forum
>
>>From:         John Moore 
>>Subject:      Re: How a highly differentiated society holds itself
>together.
>>To:           AMERICANREVOLUTIONFORUM@ASHP.LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
>>
>>Bravo to B. Rice Ashton. =20
>>Americans, educators in particular, seem to be fostering an attitude
of
>=
>>disunion by concentrating on ethnic backgrounds instead of developing
>how =
>>American culture is a blend of all these cultures. =20
>>Perhaps if we concentrated on what unites us, rather than what divides
>us, =
>>perhaps we could cure the nation of some of our ills. =20
>>This would, of course, require that politicians and national leaders =
>>appeal to broad constituencies rather than their own narrow interest =
>>groups.
>>Once bravo, bravo, bravo.
>>regards,=20
>>jrm
>>
>>John R. Moore
>>Tidewater Community College
>>Norfolk, VA 23510
>>e-mail: tcmoorj@tc.cc.va.us
>>tel: 757-822-1308
>>
>>>>> "B. Rice Aston"  11/01 10:35 AM >>>
>>Re: Halloween Thought:  In historical research on the Revolutionary =
>>period,
>>that researchers will select projects emphasizing the
>unity/assimilation =
>>of
>>cultures in America. It's scary to think otherwise.
>>
>>Roland Downing
>>
>>Reply from: B. Rice Aston
>>
>>Arthur Schelssinger, Jr's ssay "The Disuniting America" states the
case
>>well, it is the alpha-omega, the Genesis-Malachi, on the subject. A
few
>>excerpts follow:
>>
>>"A]merica was a multiethnic country from the start. Hector St. John de
>>Crevecoeur emigrated from France to the American colonies in 1759,
>married
>>an American woman, settled on a farm in Orange County, New York, and
>>published his Letters From An American Farmer during the American
>>Revolution. This eighteenth-century French American marveled at the
>>astonishing diversity of the other settlers - 'a mixture of English,
>>Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes,' a 'strange mixture
>of
>>blood' that you could find in no other country. [such a mixture within
>the
>>boundaries of anyone country would have been a prescription for
>national
>>disater].
>>
>>He recalled one family whose grandfather was English, whose wife was =
>>Dutch,
>>whose son married a Frenchwoman, and whose present four sons had
>married
>>women of different nationalities. 'From this promiscuous breed', he
>wrote,
>>'that race now called Americans have arise.' (The word as used in the
>>eighteenth and nineteenth centuries meant what we mean by nationality
>>today; thus people spoke of the 'English race', 'the German race', and
>so
>>on.).  What, Crevecoeur mused, were the characteristics of this
>suddenly
>>emergent American race.
>>
>>Crevecoeur gave his own question its classic answer: 'He is an
>American,
>>who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners,
receives
>=
>>new
>>ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he
>>obeys, and the new rank he holds. The American is a new man, who acts
>upon
>>new principles. . .  'Here individuals of all nations are melted into
a
>=
>>new
>>race of men.'
>>
>>E pluribus unum. The United states had a brilliant solution for the
>>inherent fragility of a multiethnic society; the creation of a
>brand-new
>>identity, carried forward by individuals who, in forsaking old
>loyalties
>>and joining to make new lives, melted away ethnic differences. Those
>>intrepid Europeans who had torn up their roots to brave the wild
>Atlantic
>>wanted to forget a horrid past and to embrace a new hopeful future.
>They
>>expected to become Americans. Their goals were escape, deliverance,
>>assimilation. They saw America as a transforming nation, banishing
>dismal
>>memories and developing a unique national character based on common
>>political ideals and shared experiences. The point of America was not
>to
>>preserve old cultures, but to forge a new American culture.
>>
>>One reason why Canada, despite all its advantages, is so vulnerable to
>>schism is that, as Canadians freely admit, their country lacks such a
>>unique national identity.  Attracted variously to Britain, France, and
>the
>>United States, include for generous reason a policy of official
>>multiculturalism, Canadians have never developed a strong sense of
what
>it
>>is to be a Canadian.  As Sir John Macdonald, their first prime
>minister,
>>put it, Canada has 'too much geography and too little history.'
>>
>>The United States has had plenty of history.  From the Revolution on,
>>Americans have had a powerful national creed. The vigorous sense of
>>national identity accounts for our relative success in converting
>>Crevecoeur's 'promiscuous breed' into one people and thereby making a
>>multiethnic society work.
>>
>>        . . . Today many Americans disavow the historic goal of a 'new
>=
>>race of
>>man.'  The escape from origins yields to the search for roots, The =
>>'ancient
>>prejudices and manners' disowned by Crevecoeur have made a surprising
>>comeback. A cult of ethnicity has arisen both among non-anglo white
and
>>among nonwhite minorities to denounce the idea of a melting pot, to
>>challenge the concept of 'one people', and to protect, promote, and
>>perpetuate separate ethnic and racial communities.
>>
>>Implicit in this philosophy is the classification of all Americans
>>according to ethnic and racial criteria.  But while the ethnic
>>interpretation of American history, like the economic interpretation,
>is
>>valid and illuminating up to a point, it is fatally misleading and
>wrong
>>when presented as the whole picture.  The ethnic interpretation,
>moreover,
>>reverses the history theory of America as one people - the theory that
>has
>>thus far managed to keep the American society whole.
>>
>>Instead of a transformative nation with an identity all its own,
>America =
>>in
>>this new light is seen as a preservative of diverse alien identities.
>>Instead of a nation composed of individuals making their own
unhampered
>>choices, America increasingly sees itself as composed of groups more
or
>>less ineradicable in their ethnic character.  The multiethnic dogma
>>abandons historic purposes, replacing assimilation by fragmentation,
>>integration by separatism. It belittles unum and glorifies pluribus.
>>
>>...The militants of ethnicity now contend that a main objective of
>public
>>education should be the protection, strengthening, celebration,
>>perpetuation of ethnic origins and identities.  Separatism, however,
>>nourishes prejudices, magnifies differences and stirs antagonisms. The
>>consequent increase in ethnic and racial conflict lies behind the
>>hullabaloo over 'multiculturalism' and 'political correctness', over
>the
>>iniquities of the "Eurocentric" curriculum, and over the notion that
>>history and literature should be taught not as intellectual
disciplines
>=
>>but
>>as therapies whose function is to raise minority self-esteem.
>>
>>The historic idea of a unifying American identity is now in peril in
>many
>>areas - in our politics, our voluntary organizations, our churches,
our
>>language.  And in no arena is the rejection of an overriding national
>>identity more crucial than in our system of education.
>>
>>The impact of ethnic and racial pressure on our public schools is more
>>troubling. The bonds of national cohesion are sufficiently fragile =
>>already.
>>Public education should aim to strengthen those bonds, not to weaken
>them.
>>If separatist tendencies continue on unchecked, the result can only be
>the
>>fragmentation, resegregation, and tribalizaton of American life.
>>
>>Watching ethnic conflict tear one nation after another apart, one
>cannot
>>look with complacency at the proposals to divide the United Sates into
>>distinct and immutable ethnic racial communities, each taught to
>cherish
>>its own apartness from the rest. One wonders: Will the center hold or
>will
>>the melting pot give way to the Tower of Babel?
>>
>>I don't want to sound apocalyptic about these developments. Education
>is
>>always in ferment, and a good thing too.  Schools and colleges have
>always
>>been battle grounds for debates over beliefs, philosophies and values.
>=
>>The
>>situation in our universities, I am confident, will soon right itself
>once
>>the great silent majority of professors cry 'enough' and challenge
what
>>they know to be voguish nonsense.
>>
>>The American population has unquestionably grown more heterogeneous
>than
>>ever in recent times. But this very heterogeneity makes the quest for
>>unifying ideals and a common culture all the more urgent. And in a
>world
>>savagely rent by ethnic and racial antagonisms, it is all the ;more
>>essential that the United States continue as an example of how a
highly
>>differentiated society holds itself together."
>>
>
>
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>


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========================================================================= 
> >>Date:         Tue, 3 Nov 1998 10:17:48 -0500
> >>Reply-To:     American Revolution Forum
> >
> >>From:         John Moore 
> >>Subject:      Re: How a highly differentiated society holds itself
> >together.
> >>To:           AMERICANREVOLUTIONFORUM@ASHP.LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
> >>
> >>Bravo to B. Rice Ashton. =20
> >>Americans, educators in particular, seem to be fostering an attitude
> of
> >=
> >>disunion by concentrating on ethnic backgrounds instead of developing
> >how =
> >>American culture is a blend of all these cultures. =20
> >>Perhaps if we concentrated on what unites us, rather than what divides
> >us, =
> >>perhaps we could cure the nation of some of our ills. =20
> >>This would, of course, require that politicians and national leaders =
> >>appeal to broad constituencies rather than their own narrow interest =
> >>groups.
> >>Once bravo, bravo, bravo.
> >>regards,=20
> >>jrm
> >>
> >>John R. Moore
> >>Tidewater Community College
> >>Norfolk, VA 23510
> >>e-mail: tcmoorj@tc.cc.va.us
> >>tel: 757-822-1308
> >>
> >>>>> "B. Rice Aston"  11/01 10:35 AM >>>
> >>Re: Halloween Thought:  In historical research on the Revolutionary =
> >>period,
> >>that researchers will select projects emphasizing the
> >unity/assimilation =
> >>of
> >>cultures in America. It's scary to think otherwise.
> >>
> >>Roland Downing
> >>
> >>Reply from: B. Rice Aston
> >>
> >>Arthur Schelssinger, Jr's ssay "The Disuniting America" states the
> case
> >>well, it is the alpha-omega, the Genesis-Malachi, on the subject. A
> few
> >>excerpts follow:
> >>
> >>"A]merica was a multiethnic country from the start. Hector St. John de
> >>Crevecoeur emigrated from France to the American colonies in 1759,
> >married
> >>an American woman, settled on a farm in Orange County, New York, and
> >>published his Letters From An American Farmer during the American
> >>Revolution. This eighteenth-century French American marveled at the
> >>astonishing diversity of the other settlers - 'a mixture of English,
> >>Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes,' a 'strange mixture
> >of
> >>blood' that you could find in no other country. [such a mixture within
> >the
> >>boundaries of anyone country would have been a prescription for
> >national
> >>disater].
> >>
> >>He recalled one family whose grandfather was English, whose wife was =
> >>Dutch,
> >>whose son married a Frenchwoman, and whose present four sons had
> >married
> >>women of different nationalities. 'From this promiscuous breed', he
> >wrote,
> >>'that race now called Americans have arise.' (The word as used in the
> >>eighteenth and nineteenth centuries meant what we mean by nationality
> >>today; thus people spoke of the 'English race', 'the German race', and
> >so
> >>on.).  What, Crevecoeur mused, were the characteristics of this
> >suddenly
> >>emergent American race.
> >>
> >>Crevecoeur gave his own question its classic answer: 'He is an
> >American,
> >>who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners,
> receives
> >=
> >>new
> >>ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he
> >>obeys, and the new rank he holds. The American is a new man, who acts
> >upon
> >>new principles. . .  'Here individuals of all nations are melted into
> a
> >=
> >>new
> >>race of men.'
> >>
> >>E pluribus unum. The United states had a brilliant solution for the
> >>inherent fragility of a multiethnic society; the creation of a
> >brand-new
> >>identity, carried forward by individuals who, in forsaking old
> >loyalties
> >>and joining to make new lives, melted away ethnic differences. Those
> >>intrepid Europeans who had torn up their roots to brave the wild
> >Atlantic
> >>wanted to forget a horrid past and to embrace a new hopeful future.
> >They
> >>expected to become Americans. Their goals were escape, deliverance,
> >>assimilation. They saw America as a transforming nation, banishing
> >dismal
> >>memories and developing a unique national character based on common
> >>political ideals and shared experiences. The point of America was not
> >to
> >>preserve old cultures, but to forge a new American culture.
> >>
> >>One reason why Canada, despite all its advantages, is so vulnerable to
> >>schism is that, as Canadians freely admit, their country lacks such a
> >>unique national identity.  Attracted variously to Britain, France, and
> >the
> >>United States, include for generous reason a policy of official
> >>multiculturalism, Canadians have never developed a strong sense of
> what
> >it
> >>is to be a Canadian.  As Sir John Macdonald, their first prime
> >minister,
> >>put it, Canada has 'too much geography and too little history.'
> >>
> >>The United States has had plenty of history.  From the Revolution on,
> >>Americans have had a powerful national creed. The vigorous sense of
> >>national identity accounts for our relative success in converting
> >>Crevecoeur's 'promiscuous breed' into one people and thereby making a
> >>multiethnic society work.
> >>
> >>        . . . Today many Americans disavow the historic goal of a 'new
> >=
> >>race of
> >>man.'  The escape from origins yields to the search for roots, The =
> >>'ancient
> >>prejudices and manners' disowned by Crevecoeur have made a surprising
> >>comeback. A cult of ethnicity has arisen both among non-anglo white
> and
> >>among nonwhite minorities to denounce the idea of a melting pot, to
> >>challenge the concept of 'one people', and to protect, promote, and
> >>perpetuate separate ethnic and racial communities.
> >>
> >>Implicit in this philosophy is the classification of all Americans
> >>according to ethnic and racial criteria.  But while the ethnic
> >>interpretation of American history, like the economic interpretation,
> >is
> >>valid and illuminating up to a point, it is fatally misleading and
> >wrong
> >>when presented as the whole picture.  The ethnic interpretation,
> >moreover,
> >>reverses the history theory of America as one people - the theory that
> >has
> >>thus far managed to keep the American society whole.
> >>
> >>Instead of a transformative nation with an identity all its own,
> >America =
> >>in
> >>this new light is seen as a preservative of diverse alien identities.
> >>Instead of a nation composed of individuals making their own
> unhampered
> >>choices, America increasingly sees itself as composed of groups more
> or
> >>less ineradicable in their ethnic character.  The multiethnic dogma
> >>abandons historic purposes, replacing assimilation by fragmentation,
> >>integration by separatism. It belittles unum and glorifies pluribus.
> >>
> >>...The militants of ethnicity now contend that a main objective of
> >public
> >>education should be the protection, strengthening, celebration,
> >>perpetuation of ethnic origins and identities.  Separatism, however,
> >>nourishes prejudices, magnifies differences and stirs antagonisms. The
> >>consequent increase in ethnic and racial conflict lies behind the
> >>hullabaloo over 'multiculturalism' and 'political correctness', over
> >the
> >>iniquities of the "Eurocentric" curriculum, and over the notion that
> >>history and literature should be taught not as intellectual
> disciplines
> >=
> >>but
> >>as therapies whose function is to raise minority self-esteem.
> >>
> >>The historic idea of a unifying American identity is now in peril in
> >many
> >>areas - in our politics, our voluntary organizations, our churches,
> our
> >>language.  And in no arena is the rejection of an overriding national
> >>identity more crucial than in our system of education.
> >>
> >>The impact of ethnic and racial pressure on our public schools is more
> >>troubling. The bonds of national cohesion are sufficiently fragile =
> >>already.
> >>Public education should aim to strengthen those bonds, not to weaken
> >them.
> >>If separatist tendencies continue on unchecked, the result can only be
> >the
> >>fragmentation, resegregation, and tribalizaton of American life.
> >>
> >>Watching ethnic conflict tear one nation after another apart, one
> >cannot
> >>look with complacency at the proposals to divide the United Sates into
> >>distinct and immutable ethnic racial communities, each taught to
> >cherish
> >>its own apartness from the rest. One wonders: Will the center hold or
> >will
> >>the melting pot give way to the Tower of Babel?
> >>
> >>I don't want to sound apocalyptic about these developments. Education
> >is
> >>always in ferment, and a good thing too.  Schools and colleges have
> >always
> >>been battle grounds for debates over beliefs, philosophies and values.
> >=
> >>The
> >>situation in our universities, I am confident, will soon right itself
> >once
> >>the great silent majority of professors cry 'enough' and challenge
> what
> >>they know to be voguish nonsense.
> >>
> >>The American population has unquestionably grown more heterogeneous
> >than
> >>ever in recent times. But this very heterogeneity makes the quest for
> >>unifying ideals and a common culture all the more urgent. And in a
> >world
> >>savagely rent by ethnic and racial antagonisms, it is all the ;more
> >>essential that the United States continue as an example of how a
> highly
> >>differentiated society holds itself together."
> >>
> >
> >
> >______________________________________________________
> >Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
> >
>
> ______________________________________________________
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