Desmond King
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195306439
- eISBN:
- 9780199850617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306439.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
One rhetorical feature of American nationalism has been a constant: that the United States is composed of “one people” sutured by shared loyalty to the polity. The political upshot is that American ...
More
One rhetorical feature of American nationalism has been a constant: that the United States is composed of “one people” sutured by shared loyalty to the polity. The political upshot is that American nationalism is built on a community of groups, more than individuals, despite the national ideology to the contrary. Membership and international influences are the two terms that serve as a guide about how American political leaders historically and at present balance the contested claims of individualism and group politics. The story of American nationhood is not over. Political leaders present new demands about inclusion and membership, and there are continuing international pressures on the United States.Less
One rhetorical feature of American nationalism has been a constant: that the United States is composed of “one people” sutured by shared loyalty to the polity. The political upshot is that American nationalism is built on a community of groups, more than individuals, despite the national ideology to the contrary. Membership and international influences are the two terms that serve as a guide about how American political leaders historically and at present balance the contested claims of individualism and group politics. The story of American nationhood is not over. Political leaders present new demands about inclusion and membership, and there are continuing international pressures on the United States.
Desmond King
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195306439
- eISBN:
- 9780199850617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306439.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Challenging hierarchy was a politically necessary step towards reforming and revising the content of the one-people nationalism philosophy. However, as this chapter explains, a first tentative step ...
More
Challenging hierarchy was a politically necessary step towards reforming and revising the content of the one-people nationalism philosophy. However, as this chapter explains, a first tentative step in this direction—to establish a racial equality clause in the League of Nations' constitution—failed in large part because of America's opposition. The United States government established a national committee to orchestrate loyalty even if the nationhood was weakly established among many Americans. It is shown that the United States was unwilling to break with the hierarchical view of the world's peoples in its foreign policy. When Americanization interacted with patriotic needs, such as during World War I, the dynamics of nation-building were most intense. To secure the cause of one-people nationalism, political leaders disparaged ethnic loyalty as incompatible with American politics.Less
Challenging hierarchy was a politically necessary step towards reforming and revising the content of the one-people nationalism philosophy. However, as this chapter explains, a first tentative step in this direction—to establish a racial equality clause in the League of Nations' constitution—failed in large part because of America's opposition. The United States government established a national committee to orchestrate loyalty even if the nationhood was weakly established among many Americans. It is shown that the United States was unwilling to break with the hierarchical view of the world's peoples in its foreign policy. When Americanization interacted with patriotic needs, such as during World War I, the dynamics of nation-building were most intense. To secure the cause of one-people nationalism, political leaders disparaged ethnic loyalty as incompatible with American politics.
