> This American identity was forged through centuries of migration and assimilation I think it was forged during the civil war, when "States Rights" essentiall

> This American identity was forged through centuries of migration and assimilation I think it was forged during the civil war, when "States Rights" essentially ceased to be meaningful. Quite literally, the civil war was started because Lincoln declared he was not going to allow states to leave. Post civil war, after the horrible destruction of the south (in part by Sherman[1]); there was then a ~15 years following the civil war where the U.S. "reconstructed" (or reeducation) of the south[2]. The point being, it was really the centralization of power that removed people from feeling any/minimal association with their state. > While the elite of Europe may have a stronger European identity than that of their country of citizenship, what you are seeing with the recent polls and movements in Europe is that for many of the common people, their national identity is stronger than their European identity. My argument here is that, of course they feel stronger with their current country; their country has not been centralized. I would also argue, that overall the centralization of the U.S. has helped very little and infact has harmed more than provided good. That being said, it might be better than the EU collapse IMO. [1] http://atlantaforward.blog.ajc.com/2014/06/13/was-sherman-a-war-criminal/ http://atlantaforward.blog.ajc.com/2014/06/13/was-sherman-a-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era