Jonno Marlton #7: The Imperial Origins of the Bigoted American Nationalism

American nationalism is a product of the institutions put in place as a reaction to both British rule and the eventual break away from the colonial power.  In chapter seven, Anderson looks at the quantity of pilgrims to the new territory, the administrative response to the growing population, and the use of ‘modern-style education’ in organizing the throngs in order to demonstrate a shift in the mentality of the new colonizers (Anderson 115-6.)  His analysis extends to explain how the social infrastructure designed to accommodate growing and diverse (albeit still European) populations outlasted the English colonial empire and provided a basis for an American National identity.  The newness of the territory’s colonial experience, the infiltration of a uniform language of state, and an administrative interest in privileging European people and values are all factors that combined to influence the picture of American nationalism.

            Britain’s America was located a considerable distance from its imperial center, meaning that a great deal of energy and money had to be invested in order to create an overseas administrative  infrastructure strong enough to maintain the colonies.  As Anderson points out, it was too expensive and difficult and ordeal to include natives in the administrative duties.  Therefore, Europeans and their creoles were relied upon to provide these bureaucratic responsibilities.  The hoards of people arriving were mostly English-speaking Europeans, and their arrival required an influx of services, the demand of which would have created an economic opportunity on both sides of the Atlantic.  Access to trade and business was overseen by the Creole and European administrators.  After the Creole mostly replaced the European, the identity of the America-dweller changed, making the former English at the top of the hierarchy.  As a result, American nationalism evolved to be Euro-centric despite the Revolutionary war.  Natives and non-English-speaking immigrants were looked down upon.

            The shared experience of the pilgrim continued after the process of emigrating.  The institution of educational providers—both church and state—contributed to the breeding of young “Americans” to perform their duties as Creole cogs in the bureaucratic machine.  Thinking back to Amigo, we can see a clear example of the racial prejudice against the natives that fueled the fire of exclusion in administrative capacities.  American nationalism is fully reliant on the hierarchy.  Think back to Who Killed Vincent Chin.  The whitewashed American dream that US car companies shoved onto its American consumers relied on the class hierarchy, as did the colonial economic powers that ultimately molded the modern-day conception of American nationalism.  In terms of national expectation, the hierarchy has remained integral to the identity concocted from the European/ Creole riff that cemented the United States as a nation-state and not an imperial territory.  To leave off, America’s role as a superpower in the second half of the twentieth century has furthered formerly colonial European ideals and has exported the bigoted hierarchy that it clung on to so desperately onto other democratizing nations.