Eric Foner and History - Us Constitution

Siovan El-Amin

Hist 1302-2431

Prof. Sinclair

May 12, 2011

Eric Foner seeks to prove that throughout history a great injustice has been made in account to certain historical events. Foner wants to show how our past can influence our present. He wants one to understand that your connection with history is can in turn sway your understanding of the future. He states that "We as people have long been obsessed with definitions of Americanness" thus proving that over the course of history the founding fathers definition is no longer viable.

The founding fathers wrote the Constitution on the basis of freedom and equality however, they never lived up to their own laws. His argument is that Americanism does not rest solely on what history has taught us. He challenges us to take a deeper look into what the true meaning is. Our definition of Americanism is what each individual deems it. To most American scholars there is a universal definition of what an true American is to be.

According to some scholars, all you have to do to be considered an American is to commit to the ideology liberty, equality, and democracy. America is a nation that speaks of liberty but rests on enslavement of others. Foner goes on to express that our Constitution does not hold any true meaning of what it takes to be an American and that we only use the system created by men to define what it is. Congress limited who was to be an American in the Naturalization Act of 1790 by stating that only "free white persons" could be included as Americans. African Americans and other races had long fought for their place in the "white society". The two groups to be disqualified from becoming naturalized were European aristocrats and nonwhites. Thomas Jefferson looks upon blacks as degenerates and ones who lacked the ability to be loyal to what he felt was a "great nation".

According to history, women are unfit for naturalization of America because of their natural gift of being submissive. For years women, blacks, and other races have never had a place in the American society. They have always been pushed away and overlooked. They were inferior to the supreme "white male race". It wasn't until 1900's that women were even acknowledge at all.

Throughout history, America has thus made it hard for any race other than white males to gain citizenship and to recognize in the civilization. This same country founded on freedom and equality excluded people from its citizenships yet still called itself the "land of the free". In reality it shows that the so called superior "white race" was worried that the other races would band together and over power the superior race.