In his new book “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution,” law professor and media presence Jonathan Turley again and again echoes this question first raised by Frenchman Michel Guillaume de Crèvecoeur. In 1765, de Crèvecoeur became a citizen of colonial New York, and to symbolize his new status, he changed his name to J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur. He won renown both at home and abroad for his book of essays, “Letters From an American Farmer.”
In one essay, de Crèvecoeur asks “What then is the American, this new man?” He responds with answers like this one: “Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.”…