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> The name of american, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from
by LeifCarrotson 10y ago
> The name of american, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles.
> You’ve gotta be Americans before all else. You’re for the most part the same religion and culture...
It's interesting that Washington acknowledged the binding effect that shared culture has on a nation. I see the Nordic countries praised often on HN, and the counterpoint is always some variety of "but they have little diversity". I wonder what Washington would say about the US and the effects of a variety of ethnic, linguistic, religious, and cultural heritages now?
- ZeroGravitas 10y agoThe US has always had a diverse variety of ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural heritage. I'd guess that's part of the reason he's expressly telling them to ignore the differences.
- LeifCarrotson 10y agoThat's not what Washington thought: > ....you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles...
- ZeroGravitas 10y agoYou left off the start: "With slight shades of difference, ..." Given that egregious quote mining, I guess you'd be immune to subtle arguments about context e.g. does someone stand at the head of an exclusively Lutheran Church and make a speech about how they should ignore their religious differences, no, that would be redundant. Which implies he knows there are differences enough for them to turn on each other if they don't make an effort to pull together.