Amerikanere

Amerikanere er statsborgere i USA.^[1] Landet er hjemsted for folkeslag af mange forskellige nationale oprindelser. Som et resultat deraf ligestiller amerikanerne ikke deres nationalitet med etnicitet, men med statsborgerskab og loyalitet.^[1] Til trods for at statsborgerne udgør størstedelen af amerikanerne, så kan indbyggere uden statsborgerskab, dobbelte statsborgere og udlændinge også hævde at de har en amerikansk identitet.^[2]

Brugen af udtrykket "American" i det engelske sprog, i den sammenhæng, hvor det udelukkende betyder folk fra USA, er udviklet fra dets oprindelige betydning, hvor det blev benyttet til at adskille englændere fra folk fra de britiske kolonier i Amerika^[3] på trods af dets flertydige sproglige betydning. Ordet amerikaner kan også være en generel betegnelse for folk i Amerika.^[4] Se navne for amerikanske statsborgere.

Der er omtrent 320 mio. amerikanere.^[5]

Amerika blev først for alvor koloniseret, efter Christopher Columbus' ekspedition i 1492. Før da var det beboet af Amerikas oprindelige folk

1. ^ ^{a b} Christine Barbour; Gerald C Wright (15. januar 2013). Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics, 6th Edition The Essentials. CQ Press. s. 31-33. ISBN 978-1-4522-4003-9. Hentet 6. januar 2015. Who Is An American? Native-born and naturalized citizens
   Shklar, Judith N. (1991). American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion. The Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Harvard University Press. s. 3-4. ISBN 9780674022164. Hentet 17. december 2012.
   Slotkin, Richard (2001). "Unit Pride: Ethnic Platoons and the Myths of American Nationality". American Literary History. Oxford University Press. 13 (3): 469-498. doi:10.1093/alh/13.3.469. Hentet 17. december 2012. But it also expresses a myth of American nationality that remains vital in our political and cultural life: the idealized self-image of a multiethnic, multiracial democracy, hospitable to differences but united by a common sense of national belonging.
   Eder, Klaus; Giesen, Bernhard (2001). European Citizenship: Between National Legacies and Postnational Projects. Oxford University Press. s. 25-26. ISBN 9780199241200. Hentet 1. februar 2013. In inter-state relations, the American nation state presents its members as a monistic political body-despite ethnic and national groups in the interior.
   Petersen, William; Novak, Michael; Gleason, Philip (1982). Concepts of Ethnicity. Harvard University Press. s. 62. ISBN 9780674157262. Hentet 1. februar 2013. To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be of any particular national, linguistic, religious, or ethnic background. All he had to do was to commit himself to the political ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality, and republicanism. Thus the universalist ideological character of American nationality meant that it was open to anyone who willed to become an American.
   Charles Hirschman; Philip Kasinitz; Josh Dewind (4. november 1999). The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience. Russell Sage Foundation. s. 300. ISBN 978-1-61044-289-3.
   David Halle (15. juli 1987). America's Working Man: Work, Home, and Politics Among Blue Collar Property Owners. University of Chicago Press. s. 233. ISBN 978-0-226-31366-5. The first, and central, way involves the view that Americans are all those persons born within the boundaries of the United States or admitted to citizenship by the government.
2. ^ Petersen, William; Novak, Michael; Gleason, Philip (1982). Concepts of Ethnicity. Harvard University Press. s. 62. ISBN 9780674157262. Hentet 1. februar 2013. ...from Thomas Paine's plea in 1783...to Henry Clay's remark in 1815... "It is hard for us to believe ... how conscious these early Americans were of the job of developing American character out of the regional and generational polaritities and contradictions of a nation of immigrants and migrants." ... To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be of any particular national, linguistic, religious, or ethnic background. All he had to do was to commit himself to the political ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality, and republicanism. Thus the universalist ideological character of American nationality meant that it was open to anyone who willed to become an American.
3. ^ (abonnement nødvendigt) "American". Oxford English Dictionary. Hentet 27. november 2008.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1-vedligeholdelse: url-status (link)
4. ^ Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, p. 87. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
5. ^ "U.S. and World Population Clock". U.S. Census Bureau. Hentet 22. maj 2015.