The American Melting Pot
By Dr. George Grant - Posted at Florilegium:
“Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.”~ John Adams
America has often been described as the world’s great “melting pot.” People from the four corners of the earth came together on these shores in a common pursuit of freedom and opportunity, despite the wild diversity of their social, economic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Eventually they would come from every nation, tongue, and tribe on earth, but even in the earliest days of the colonial settlements very different peoples with very different perspectives and very different aspirations combined their strengths to create a new national character altogether unique in the annals of history. It was a character that would ultimately unite those very different peoples politically and culturally and usher in one of the greatest cultural flowerings the world has ever known.
Great Divides
At first deep divisions marked the character of the emerging colonies, reflecting divergent beliefs and practices. Many of the settlers had left their countries due to the religious conflicts that were then raging throughout Europe—and particularly in Britain—during the 16th and 17th Centuries. The Protestant Reformation, which attempted to restore the old ideals of Christendom according to the pattern of the Bible, provoked a dramatic Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation. The resulting clash of kingdoms, institutions, and ambitions increased tensions across the Continent and unleashed terrible persecutions, purges, and pogroms. The social, cultural, and political tumult convinced many devout believers to flee to the New World where they hoped to find the peace and freedom necessary to realize their vision of a Holy Commonwealth.
Many others came to New World for financial opportunities and social advancement. The rigid aristocracies that dominated virtually every country in Europe made social mobility for ordinary merchant and peasant classes very difficult, if not impossible. Even the old craft guilds and trade societies which had once paved the way for a Medieval middle class now made it difficult for young, energetic workers to enter into new businesses. The vast untapped resources and absence of a hierarchical social structure in the New World made it attractive to these hopeful entrepreneurs who wanted to venture out, take risks and enjoy the fruits of their labors on their own terms. Of course, not all of these opportunists came to the colonies with pure motives. A few who had little or no grounding in Biblical standards of stewardship, were motivated only by their unquenchable desire for riches and status—as a result, conflicts and difficulties would arise in the colonies even in the earliest, halcyon days.
The shifting political tides of Europe also forced many settlers to the New World. Escalating political conflicts—caused by war, succession crises, economic pressure, and civil unrest—created waves of refugees. The English Civil War, fought between Parliament and King Charles I, divided Britain into splintered factions, the Puritans, the Levelers, the Cavaliers, the Covenanters, and the Roundheads. Ultimately, Parliament won the war, executed Charles, and sent his supporters fleeing. But the return of the king’s son, Charles II, to the English throne in 1660 soon sent waves of Parliamentary supporters to the shores of America. The conflict between Crown and Parliament would be replayed a few decades later during the Glorious Revolution of 1688, sending still more settlers across the Atlantic.
And the political turmoil was not confined to Britain. In France, Roman Catholic monarchs squared off against the French Protestants, the Huguenots, and regularly put them to flight to havens throughout Europe, England, Ireland and America. In the various German kingdoms, Protestant and Catholic fortunes teetered back and forth, unsettling families in search of peace and security. Likewise, the struggle for the ascendancy in the Hapsburg Dutch and Spanish realms displaced thousands and added to the stream of immigrants to the New World.
Some came for spiritual concerns. Some came because of economic or social ambitions. Some came to avoid the political disarray. Others heeded the lure of adventure. Others were running from their sordid pasts. Still others simply followed friends and neighbors. Clearly, the people of the developing colonies came from a number of different cultures for a variety of reasons—some good, some bad. But they came. They arrived on the shores of the New World in droves. As the populations swelled, the individual qualities of each colony became more diverse, and soon, the differences between the colonies were all too obvious to even the most casual observers. As communities spread up and down the eastern American seaboard, groups of colonies began to take on a distinctive regional flavor and further developed the cultural diversity that has marked the American existence ever since.
Great Divides
At first deep divisions marked the character of the emerging colonies, reflecting divergent beliefs and practices. Many of the settlers had left their countries due to the religious conflicts that were then raging throughout Europe—and particularly in Britain—during the 16th and 17th Centuries. The Protestant Reformation, which attempted to restore the old ideals of Christendom according to the pattern of the Bible, provoked a dramatic Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation. The resulting clash of kingdoms, institutions, and ambitions increased tensions across the Continent and unleashed terrible persecutions, purges, and pogroms. The social, cultural, and political tumult convinced many devout believers to flee to the New World where they hoped to find the peace and freedom necessary to realize their vision of a Holy Commonwealth.
Many others came to New World for financial opportunities and social advancement. The rigid aristocracies that dominated virtually every country in Europe made social mobility for ordinary merchant and peasant classes very difficult, if not impossible. Even the old craft guilds and trade societies which had once paved the way for a Medieval middle class now made it difficult for young, energetic workers to enter into new businesses. The vast untapped resources and absence of a hierarchical social structure in the New World made it attractive to these hopeful entrepreneurs who wanted to venture out, take risks and enjoy the fruits of their labors on their own terms. Of course, not all of these opportunists came to the colonies with pure motives. A few who had little or no grounding in Biblical standards of stewardship, were motivated only by their unquenchable desire for riches and status—as a result, conflicts and difficulties would arise in the colonies even in the earliest, halcyon days.
The shifting political tides of Europe also forced many settlers to the New World. Escalating political conflicts—caused by war, succession crises, economic pressure, and civil unrest—created waves of refugees. The English Civil War, fought between Parliament and King Charles I, divided Britain into splintered factions, the Puritans, the Levelers, the Cavaliers, the Covenanters, and the Roundheads. Ultimately, Parliament won the war, executed Charles, and sent his supporters fleeing. But the return of the king’s son, Charles II, to the English throne in 1660 soon sent waves of Parliamentary supporters to the shores of America. The conflict between Crown and Parliament would be replayed a few decades later during the Glorious Revolution of 1688, sending still more settlers across the Atlantic.
And the political turmoil was not confined to Britain. In France, Roman Catholic monarchs squared off against the French Protestants, the Huguenots, and regularly put them to flight to havens throughout Europe, England, Ireland and America. In the various German kingdoms, Protestant and Catholic fortunes teetered back and forth, unsettling families in search of peace and security. Likewise, the struggle for the ascendancy in the Hapsburg Dutch and Spanish realms displaced thousands and added to the stream of immigrants to the New World.
Some came for spiritual concerns. Some came because of economic or social ambitions. Some came to avoid the political disarray. Others heeded the lure of adventure. Others were running from their sordid pasts. Still others simply followed friends and neighbors. Clearly, the people of the developing colonies came from a number of different cultures for a variety of reasons—some good, some bad. But they came. They arrived on the shores of the New World in droves. As the populations swelled, the individual qualities of each colony became more diverse, and soon, the differences between the colonies were all too obvious to even the most casual observers. As communities spread up and down the eastern American seaboard, groups of colonies began to take on a distinctive regional flavor and further developed the cultural diversity that has marked the American existence ever since.
