THE DIVERSITY OF AMERICANS
Civics and you as an American citizen, did you know you have certain rights as
well as responsibilities? Read to find out what it means to be a citizen of a country.
“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in
democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government
to the utmost.” –Aristotle, Politics
Ancient Roots
Civics is the study of the rights and duties of citizens. The concept of citizenship
dates back more than 2,500 years to ancient Greece and Rome. In those days, only
a few people could be citizens. Only men with property possessed the right to vote
and to take part in government. Today gender and wealth are no longer requirements
for citizenship. Indeed, most people are citizens of the country in which they live.
Citizens have certain rights and duties. They are community members who owe loyalty
to the government and are entitled to protection from it. However, being a citizen
means much more than just living in a country. American citizens who live abroad are
still citizens of the United States. Citizens are a part of a country. They may share a
common history, common customs, or common beliefs. They agree to follow a set of
rules and to accept the government’s authority
A Changing Society
On the back of every American coin, you will find the Latin words E pluribus
unum, meaning “Out of many, one.” This phrase reminds us that the many diverse, or
different, citizens of the United States have joined together to make a single, strong
nation. For all our differences, we are linked by shared values and experiences. More
than 300 million people live in the United States today. All of us are descendants from
families that immigrated at one time or another. Most scholars believe that even the
first Native Americans arrived here thousands of years ago by crossing over a “land
bridge” that once connected Asia and North America.
A Nation of Immigrant
Until the mid-1900s, most immigrants came from Europe. The first Europeans to
settle permanently in North America arrived from Spain during the 1500s. They lived
in what is now Florida, California, and the Southwest. By the time the United States
won its independence from England, the Spanish had founded Tucson, Albuquerque,
San Antonio, and San Diego.
Early Immigration: Beginning in the 1600s, people from France and England
came to North America. The French settled primarily in Canada, but they also
clustered around the Mississippi River. English immigrants settled mainly along the
east coast of North America, creating the thirteen colonies that became the United
States. During the late 1600s and the 1700s, immigrants from Germany, the
Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, and Sweden joined these English settlers.
After Independence: After the United States gained its independence, it
became known throughout Europe as a land of promise. The number of immigrants
grew from 600,000 in the 1830s to more than 2 million by the 1850s. Between 1860
and 1890, more than 10 million Europeans—many of them from Denmark, Norway,
and Sweden—streamed into this country.
A Shift Immigration: Another flood of immigrants—about 22 million—reached
our shores between 1890 and 1924. Most of them came from southern and eastern
Europe, from countries such as Italy, Greece, Poland, and Russia. During the past 50
years, immigration from Europe to the United States has lagged far behind immigration
from the rest of the world. Asia now accounts for the largest share of foreign
newcomers, followed by Latin America.
Enslaved Africans: Among the early immigrants to America were some who did
not come willingly. Western and central Africans were taken by force from their homes,
shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, and sold as slaves in the Caribbean Islands and
North and South America. Between 1619 and 1808, before it became illegal to bring
enslaved persons into the United States, some 500,000 people were brought to the
country in this way. Most African Americans today are descendants of enslaved
persons. Others are immigrants from various countries in Africa and the Caribbean
region.
A Diverse Population
The American population is extraordinarily diverse in terms of ethnic, or racial,
backgrounds. Many Americans today do not identify themselves as members of a
single ethnic group. However, whites of European descent number more than 234
million. There are about 37 million African Americans, over 12 million Asians and
Pacific Islanders, and almost 2.8 million Native Americans. More than 39 million people
are Latinos—people of any race who trace their ancestry to the Spanish-speaking
countries of the Western Hemisphere.
Religious Diversity: Our ethnic diversity is matched by religious diversity. More
than 200 million people practice some form of Christianity. Jews, Muslims, Buddhists,
and many other religious groups are also free to worship according to their conscience.
Those who do not practice any religion are equally at home here.
Many Traditions: As people with different beliefs and backgrounds have made
lives for themselves in the United States, many of their “old country” traditions have
become part of the American culture. The American culture is a rich blend of varied
influences.
Transforming America
Between 1830 and 1930, the nation’s population grew from about 12 million
people to about 120 million people. About 40 million of those new Americans were
immigrants. Over the years, the American population has changed in many ways. In
the mid-1800s, for example, people began moving from rural areas to cities. The
higher wages paid in the cities attracted workers. Many of those moving to the cities
found work in newly opened factories. These workers became known as blue-collar
workers. Others found jobs in offices, schools, stores, and other nonfactory settings
and were called white-collar workers. By 1920 more than half of all Americans lived in
towns or cities. Another significant change was the shift to service industry jobs. In the
past few decades, manufacturing has lost ground to what we call the “service
economy.” Many Americans now earn a living by providing services— practicing law
or medicine, programming computers, teaching, and so forth. There are also more
women and at-home workers in the labor force than ever before.
The places where we live are changing too. For example, shortly after the Civil
War, African Americans, freed from slavery, headed for northern cities, seeking jobs
and a new way of life. The result was a migration, or mass movement, of African
Americans from the South to the North. For much of our history, the Northeast was the
most populous part of the country. Today, the South claims that distinction, and the
population there and in the West is growing faster than in any other regions.
The population is changing in other ways, including the following:
1. The average age of citizens is climbing upward as people live longer and
have fewer children
2. Record numbers of Americans are now earning college and graduate degrees
3. Latinos, commonly referred to as Hispanic Americans, are the fastest-growing
ethnic group
Indeed, if current patterns continue, Latinos and other minority groups, taken as
a whole, will soon be in the majority.
Institutions
Even though American society is more diverse than ever, certain shared ideas
help unite Americans of different backgrounds. Two of these important ideas are our
values and our institutions.
What Are Values?
Do you agree with most of your classmates on what is good and what is bad?
The general principles, or beliefs, you use to make these judgments are your values.
Values are broad ideas about what is good or desirable and are shared by people in a
society. Values are important because they influence the way we act.
Basic American Values
Everyone’s list of basic American values will include different ideas. However,
some values would appear on almost every list. These include freedom, equality,
opportunity, justice, democracy, unity, respect, and tolerance. Some of these values,
such as equality and opportunity, and respect and tolerance, are linked. Can you think
of other values to include on this list?
Shared Values Unite Americans
Another important effect of having a set of shared values is the unity it builds
among Americans. For example, one very important source of American unity is a
common civic and political heritage based on the country’s founding documents.
These key documents include the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution
of 1787, and the Bill of Rights of 1791. American ideals of individual rights to “life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are in these founding documents. So are such
values as popular sovereignty (government by consent of the governed) through
1. Fair, free, and regular elections
2. Equal justice under the law
3. Majority rule through the people’s representatives in government
A second significant source of unity is a single language, English, which generally
is accepted as the primary means of communication in education, government, and
business. Americans are free to speak any language. However, some people think
that the United States is strengthened by the common and public use of one language,
which can be used by diverse groups of Americans to communicate freely with one
another. Can you think of other values that have helped unite Americans throughout
history?
American Institutions
Each society has its own social institutions. These are not buildings or places but
sets of ideas that people have about relationships, obligations, roles, and functions.
As in every society, the most important institution in American life is the family. The
family is the core of social life: it produces new generations, socializes the young,
offers care and affection, and provides economic support. Parents and caregivers are
also transmitters of values, both personal and national, to their children. Other
important institutions in American life, which also reflect our nation’s shared values,
are religious, educational, and social. Religious institutions, such as churches,
temples, and mosques, can promote social unity and provide a sense of meaning and
belonging. Educational institutions at all levels reflect our society’s culture, history, and
learning, create a common identity, and promote personal growth and development.
Social institutions, such as clubs and volunteer service organizations, can be another
way we share our common values.
The different parts of our government are also institutions. Governmental
institutions were created, and have developed over time, based on important shared
American values. As Abraham Lincoln explained in his first Inaugural Address in 1861:
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it.
Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise
their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to
dismember, or overthrow it.”
-Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address
With these words, Lincoln underscored the most important concept of American
government: the people, not the government, are in control.
