Commentary: What ‘America’ meant before 1776, and who ‘Americans’ are today

Commentary: What ‘America’ meant before 1776, and who ‘Americans’ are today

Surekha Davies Who gets to be “American”? In the United States, it’s become a fiery political question with life-or-death consequences. On one side is Team MAGA, for whom “America” means the U.S. and “American” signifies a U.S. citizen — in many of their minds, specifically a native-born, white, Christian U.S. citizen. They routinely deny that the category of “American,” even if limited to meaning “individuals born in the United States,” include…