It is true that my ancestors came to America nine generations ago. but I am still a Pennsylvania Dutchman and I pride myself upon it. My identity as such is only a part of my complete identity as an American. of course. But this is equally true of the newly naturalized citizen. He may speak accented English. he may read a newspaper printed In his native language. he may affiliate himself with a group made up of other Americans sprung from the same stock. he may preserve his language. his customs. and his inheritance of national culture and folk wisdom. But he is still as much an American as I am. or anybody else is. This is as it should be. After all. our pride in our origin does not disqualify us as Americans. All of us. whether naturalized or nativeborn. are Americans and citizens. and even those of us whose families came here hundreds of years ago spring from immigrant stock. The thing that counts is the actuality of citizenship. Now traditionally.
Keywords matched
immigrant naturalized