There are multiple definitions of what it means to be an American. These definitions are as diverse as the people that call America their home. Many American authors shared what is believed to be an American like Maureen Dowd’s “Liberties; Drill,Grill  and Chill” which talks about how Americans go big with everything, including our ignorance. Americans can replace anything that they want, and the only thing that we lose is the natural beauty of what was once there in its place. Edward L Hudgins’s “What is an American”  talks about the positive side of being an American, and how Americans are from all ethnic backgrounds, yet still united under the same country, and  de Crevecour’s “What is an American?” which explains how the Pilgrims who entered a new land were treated and welcomed into a land they would now call home. An American has no limits, with a new and unique identity who will live to the fullest and happiest with “liberty and justice for all.”

With a wave of new technology and privileges, came a wave of ignorance by Americans as well. Many Americans would agree, “We don’t have limits. We have Liberties.” Or at least that’s how Maureen Dowd explained it in her article, “Liberties; Drill, Grill and Chill.” Americans are commonly known to “go big or go  home,” but is bigger always better? Bigger burgers, bigger buildings, faster advancements in technology, and even more stupidity. As our society grows, we no longer wish to look out our windows and see the mountains, but we’d rather have a gym and a McDonalds just a little closer to home.As Americans, we have the liberty to create whatever we want, but we lose all of the natural beauty. Americans are a new identity of pure creation, but with great creativity comes ignorance.

When the Pilgrims first came to America, Edward L Hudgins wrote about the positive sides of becoming an American his work “What is an American?” Americans came from pilgrims and immigrants who were looking for a better life, and when they got there, that is what many received. Hudgins talks about how Americans come from all around the world, yet they are united under the same country. This is unique especially in America.Edward L. Hudgins claims that “An American is anyone who loves life enough to want the best that it has to offer.”

De Crevecour’s work, “What is an American?” talks about how the Pilgrims felt as they were welcomed into America. The Pilgrims were welcomed by Native American colonies and they traded goods for knowledge of the land. Their engagement with the Natives proved to be welcoming and many wrote home to their families about the wonderful place they would now call home. De Crevecour explained an American as “a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore, entertain new ideas and form new principles.” After all many ancestors came to America to get away from poverty and discrimination and that is exactly the freedom they have created for Americans today.

With new immigrants and new land, came new opportunities and responsibilities. Americans became some of the most powerful inventors, some of the happiest, and some of the most ignorant human beings. Many descriptions describe Americans as a man with new identities and ideas; more liberties and even stupidity. But even though the majority are descendants of immigrants, we are all  human.

Works Cited
Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation. 1630. The Language of Literature. Ed. Arthur Applebee. Evanston: McDougal Littell, 1997. 90-95. Print.
Chief Joseph. I Will Fight No More Forever. 1877. The Language of Literature. Ed. Arthur Applebee. Evanston: McDougal Littell, 1997. 527. Print.
De Creveceour, Michel. What is an American? 1782. The Language of Literature. Ed. Arthur Applebee. Evanston: McDougal Littell, 1997. 224-25. Print.
Edwards, Rev Jonathon. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. 1741. The Language of Literature. N.p.: McDougal Littell, n.d. 160. Print.
Franklin, Ben. Poor Richard’s Aphorisms. 1739. The Language of Literaure. Ed. Arthur Applebee. Evanston: McDougal Littell, n.d. 226. Print.