The Making of America’s Identity

Colonial America was first settled by Western Europe starting back in 1620 when the Mayflower first arrived in Cape Cod, but it was Christopher Columbus who accidently rediscovered the land in 1492 while on, what he thought to be a shortcut to the East Indies. When word got back to Western Europe of Columbus’s rediscovery, dozens of ships took sail to explore this new world. As more and more ships made the voyage, the number of colonies increased and the populations of these colonies became denser.

With each new ship arriving brought with them ideas, philosophies, knowledge, and beliefs with them that first established America’s national identity. As this identity evolved, it caused America to be labeled with titles such as, the city on the hill, but as a result of the lack of civil rights, the land did not seem that way to all people of the world.It can be argued that the prosperity of the United States was founded on the hard work ethic exemplified by the puritans. It was puritan belief that idle hands were the devil’s tools and those who worked hard would be rewarded by God.

In his story, “Of Plymouth Plantation”, William Bradford writes about the hard work that his crew and he had to do for years out of necessity in order to survive. He describes and proclaims that their hard work is the reason God allowed them to survive. He saw God’s hand in times of hardship, such as when they first encountered the Native Americans he states “Their men ran with all speed to recover their arms, as by the good providence of God they did.” (79), and also claims that “it pleased God to vanquish their enemies, and give them deliverance; and by His special providence so to dispose that not any one of them were either hurt, or hit.

” (79). While in this time period, the puritans believed their hard work was rewarded by God, a few hundred years later, Benjamin Franklin believed that his success (although he never flaunted it) was a result of his hard work.Benjamin Franklin is marked down in history for his accomplishments as an inventor business man, editor and publisher. Benjamin Franklin cemented the Puritan work ethic into America’s national identity by it being well know that his accomplishments are accredited to his work ethic. In Benjamin Franklin’s written work “The Autobiography” he reveals he “sometimes carried his own paper in a wheelbarrow through Philadelphia streets to assure prospective customers that he is hardworking and not above doing things for himself.

”(234), which he shows that his hard work led him to become “the sole owner of a successful printing shop and was editor and publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette.”(234), Not only did Benjamin Franklin work hard, but he made sure others knew how hard he worked, and in doing so proved that success can only be achieved through having hard work ethic."A Model of Christian Charity" is a 1630 sermon by John Winthrop, who delivered it on board the ship Arabella sailing to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. John Winthrop stated the phrase “City upon a hill”, in his sermon to his crew in which he points out “we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.”(101).

This means that every person in Western Europe is watching America under a microscope to see how they will develop and if they succeed with God’s help in further developing America, then they will be remembered forever. America’s standing among the world as a “City upon a hill” stays current throughout history. As the world looked on, America worked hard to become the fastest developing nation in the world and setting an example for the onlookers of the world to take after.With America’s identity being reconfigured, the lack of civil rights was an issue overlooked for the longest time for it led to the unfair treatment of (most notably) the Indians, and the blacks that all started with the prejudices developed towards Native Americans, as a result from popular written works such as Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration, in which she describes her captivity from a puritan point of view. She describes the Native Americans as being “ravenous beasts” (129), “barbarous creatures” (130) and further states that “the roaring, and singing and dancing, and yelling of those black creatures in the night, which made the place a lively resemblance of hell.

” (130). While these statements were inaccurate, they were further supported by another famous work of this time, The General History of Virginia, written by John Smith, where he exaggerates the account of his captivity. He takes a step further than Mary Rowlandson by making the accusation that one of the Indians was “more a devil than a man” (67). With nothing to go by but the words of these writer’s accounts, the Europeans developed a strong prejudice against Native Americans which led to their mistreatment and them being taken advantage of.The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written by Olaudah Equiano, is an account of his upbringing as a slave.

The narrative exploits the cruelty of slavery and the effects it has on a child’s upbringing. Olaudah Equiano captures the audience’s hearts most when he brings God into his argument stating “O, ye nominal Christians! Might not an African ask you learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you?” (366), following this point with statements such as “Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends, to toil for your luxury and lust of gain?” ”Why are parents to lose their children, brothers their sisters, or husbands their wives?” (366). No slave before Frederick Douglass spoke so “movingly to American readers about inhumanity, and no work before Douglass’s own Narrative had such an impact.” This work and others played a crucial part in the eventual passing of civil rights, which was drafted by Thomas Jefferson as stated in his work written of his own life titled The Autobiography in which he describes drafting the Constitution and in doing so made the phrase “all men created equal” a part of the American identity.America’s national identity has been constantly changing in some aspects, but in others it has been the same for the past 300 years. The American work ethic is still present in today’s world along with civil rights.

America is still seen as a “city upon a hill” to most other countries because of the fact that even though we have not existed as a country for long, we are a world power, that still holds the ideals on which we were founded upon.