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Originally Posted by pbradley
There was a nation called the United States of America before the realization of the Manifest Destiny. While you are arguing for a more inclusive American identity, which is not without merit, you still cannot deny that fact. A nation by the people and for the people is, by that phrase, defined by the people who populate it. Therefore as the nation grew larger, so has its identity changed. But as a matter of history, the United States began as thirteen English colonies. This entire discussion has been one of me arguing for the actual historic origin of the USA verses what I can only suppose of yours and pheonix points as the USA as a global power. Two very different times and two very different Unions. I deny that any hispanic population was significant in the first, but not the second.
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I accept your point about mexicans and the first colonial period of the United States, however I can't accept that particular time as being limited as the formative period of US history. My arguement is simple, not some global geopolitical one, it is a logic based one. If there are other states in the US, then their origins also contribute to the formation of the United States. In california for example, indians and mestizos then called mexicans after mexican independence are a crucial formative people of the state. There was a lot going on before thousands of white people showed up to loot the mountains for gold.. their experiences are equally an American experience, equally formative, and should be included in the cannon of American formative experience. You can not discriminate in this regard, because America is bigger then the history of the WASP.