Americans Define Identity by Founding Documents
Most people believe that to truly be American, they should agree with the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, not share a similar ancestry or religion.
“Americans overwhelmingly think that true Americans are defined by their embrace of America’s founding ideals, not by their ethnicity or religion,” said John West, Ph.D., vice president of the Discovery Institute.
His organization recently surveyed 2,500 U.S. adults as some commentators debate whether the United States is a creedal nation open to all who share its foundational political beliefs. Respondents to the nationwide poll were asked: “In your view, for someone to truly be an American, which attributes should they have?”
- Six in 10 said “they should agree with the ideas expressed by the Declaration of Independence.”
- Two-thirds said “they should agree with the form of government created by the Constitution.”
- Seventy-one percent said “they should agree with the freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights.”
By contrast, only 3 percent of respondents said people “should be descended from an ancestor from Britain or Europe” to truly be an American and only 17 percent believe true Americans needed to “agree with Christianity.”
“With minor variations, the results are similar for all the major demographic groups,” West said. “Regardless of age, gender, religion, ethnicity or political ideology, most people in the United States think Americans should be defined by their support for the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, not by their ancestry or religion.
“For example, 97 percent of self-identified Christian conservatives reject British/European ancestry as a requirement to be a true American, and 69 percent of Christian conservatives reject the idea that someone needs to agree with Christianity in order to be a true American.”
–Alan Goforth
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