Shallow Americanism, or Not

One of the comments on YES WE CAN blog was "Shallow Americanism". I was perplexed by it because I did not really understand what it meant. Shallow, the word, is easy to understand: in the physical realm, it means an object that lacks the physical depth or would otherwise mean a lacking of depth in intellect or knowledge.

Americanism (noun) means a custom, trait, or tradition originating in the US. The SUV is an Americanism, the Hamberger is an Americanism, and the Superball is also an Americanism. This leads me to the questions, is a video about a political figure or movement an Americanism? Most of you would say NO, because such tradition is prevalent worldwide and more so in the Anti-American camps of the world. I therefore doubt that a custom is what the comment meant.

Americanism also means allegiance to the United States and its customs and institutions. The opposite of which these days is Anti-Americanism that is to be opposed or hostile to the government, official policies, or people of the United States. So "Shallow Americanism" might mean allegiance that has little intellectual depth. This is also not likely because we do not really know how to measure the depth of allegiance and if one could meter such attitude, the lyrics of the video are deep and touch on the suffering of many in this country.

To try to better understand what "shallow Americanism" means, I googled it and got 467 hits. That is not much compared with typing "aaaaa" that results in 555,000 hits. Some of the hits were however interesting:

• A Quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship, or the sale of goods through pretending that they sell, or power through making believe you are powerful, or through a packed jury or caucus, bribery and “repeating” votes, or wealth by fraud."
  
• Lillian D Wald in Americanization Policies published 1920 has this story: An Irish child wanted to kill a Jewish classmate on Easter because he killed his "Gawd". When the teacher explained, "Christ was a Jew", the boy responded, "I know. He was then, but he is an American now". The author comments, "Great is our loss if such shallow Americanism is accepted by newly arrived immigrants and their national traditions and heroes."
  
• Bernard Cohen in his book Sociocultural Changes in American Jewish Life published 1972 describes that "many of the grandchildren of Jewish immigrants, raised in the 1920s and 1930s in homes detached from ideals and values of faith of their, were assimilated to a shallow Americanism which resulted in a feeling of "emptiness" and "marginality"."
  

It seemed to me, and to my surprise, after reviewing these and many other hits, that the usage of the term “shallow Americanism” was most frequently associated with immigrants rejecting assimilation with America. So could it be that the reader might be telling us that he rejects assimilation into America.

Possible!

To help myself understand Americanism, I looked up the founding documents. These are the documents in which we find the origins of the ideas about governments, law, and rights on which the USA was founded. The be an American (with allegiance to its government, official policies, or people) is probably to commit to the essence of these documents.

Chronologically listed, these are the foundings documents and how each of them begins:

1215 A.D.
Magna Carta. English liberty charter decreed by King John:
"JOHN, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his officials and loyal subjects, Greeting. "

November 11, 1620
Mayflower Compact. Agreement drafted by the settlers of the first New England colony: "In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."

June 12, 1776
Virginia Declaration of Rights. Drafted by George Mason, this declaration of rights later became a model for other state constitutions and the Bill of Rights.
"A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS made by the representatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free convention which rights do pertain to them and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of government . Section 1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. Section 2. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants and at all times amenable to them. "

July 4, 1776
The Declaration of Independance.
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. "

1781
The Articles of Confederation Charter or first "Constitution" adopted by the 13 states following the American Revolution.
"To all to whom these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting. Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
I. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be "The United States of America".
II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.
III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever.
IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State shall free ingress and regress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively........ Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to the records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other State.
V. For the most convenient management of the general interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislatures of each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, ........ Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Congress, and the members of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests or imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendence on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.
VI. No State, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance or treaty with any King, Prince or State; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under the United States, or any of them, accept any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever from any King, Prince or foreign State; ...."

October 1787 - August 1788
The Fedralist Papers. A series of newspaper articles drafted by Alexander Hamilton along with collaborators John Jay and James Madison, urging ratification of the new Constitution. They are the primary source for the interpretation of the constitution as they discuss the ideas befine the proposed system of government. The first document begins:
"To the People of the State of New York:
AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind. This idea will add the inducements of philanthropy to those of patriotism, to heighten the solicitude which all considerate and good men must feel for the event. Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected. The plan offered to our deliberations affects too many particular interests, innovates upon too many local institutions, not to involve in its discussion a variety of objects foreign to its merits, and of views, passions and prejudices little favorable to the discovery of truth."

1788
The Constitution.
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

1791
The Bill of Rights.
"Ammendment I:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Ammendment II:.."

1865 (13th Amendment), 1868 (14th Amendment), 1870 (15th Amendment).
The Reconstruction Amendements. Amendments abolished slavery and guaranteed equal protection of the laws and the right to vote.
"13th Amendment to the US Constitution
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."