The Insight: What Does it Mean to Be an American?

The US is one of the few places on Earth where citizenship is tied to the ground you're born on, not your heritage. Why does the 'right of the soil' feel so uniquely tied to being 'American,' compared to being from a different nation? What are the other defining characteristics of the American identity?

The Insight provides you the full picture of facts and viewpoints on a top issue for Americans each week, powered by your questions and balanced answers from our multipartisan news team.

The Questions

Did the Supreme Court make the right call on birthright citizenship?

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in June, 55% of people polled opposed ending birthright citizenship, with 72% of Democrats and 38% of Republicans opposing the removal of the right.

President Donald Trump has called birthright citizenship a “magnet for illegal immigration.”

National Review Opinion (Right bias) highlighted some of the doubts that even the dissenting Supreme Court Justices raised in their opinions, including Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote, “The constitutional issue is not straightforward, much as we might want it to be.” The Editorial Board noted that the doubts from even the dissenting justices “are further reason to tamp down outrage at a good Court — one that on the same day rejected radical theories of transgenderism to keep male athletes out of girls’ sports — even if one disagrees with its interpretation of the constitutional text or finds the result of that interpretation appalling.”

Despite supporting, or at least understanding, the court’s decision, National Review editors noted other options for controlling immigration issues and birthright citizenship, writing that they had long argued that “the most effective tool would be for Congress to mandate an E-Verify system to make it harder for illegal aliens to find work.”

Both The Hill (Center) and New York Times (Lean Left) reported on the split within the Republican Party on this issue. The Times noted that “most Republicans who identify with the MAGA movement want to end the practice, but among Republicans who said they did not identify with the MAGA movement, a majority are opposed to ending it,” according to a Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll. The Hill claimed that Republicans are “split on a path forward” after the ruling.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which AllSides rates as Lean Left, called the decision “a major victory for immigrant families across the country.” The ACLU said birthright citizenship is “one of the clearest expressions of our American values,” writing that the 14th Amendment “reflects this country’s commitment to equality, fairness, and the idea that America has no permanent underclasses.”

Read more perspectives on the birthright citizenship ruling.

Has America grown too individualistic?

The United States is considered one of the most hyper-individualistic societies in the world. Americans believe in the necessity of hard work and the pursuit of success more than people from most other countries.

Sure, the legends of the pioneers and the Wild West conjure inspiring images of grit, resilience, and self-sustenance. But has this embrace of individualism led to an “epidemic of loneliness?”

“Marriage rates, fertility, and household sizes have all declined dramatically since the mid-twentieth century,” reads a 2023 piece from City Journal (Right). “Social networks are getting smaller. Time spent alone is rising. Three in ten households consist of one person. Only 30 percent of Americans think that they can reliably trust one another. And 16 percent of Americans feel strongly attached to their local community… the only way to make a change is to address the root of the problem of loneliness.”

Others see more harm than good in trying to suppress America’s individualist values.

“Americans have always prided themselves on their individualism,” argues a 2022 article from The Heritage Foundation (Lean Right). “The distinctly American understanding of individuality is, however, under threat from an ideology of diversity and a widespread emphasis on self-expression. Rehabilitating American individualism requires understanding the origins of diversity ideology and emphasis on self-expression. It also involves recovering the distinct philosophical and historical roots of American individualism, and reconnecting it to the habit of free association, a strong civil society, and the idea of self-government.”

Is America a “melting pot” with a shared national identity, or a “salad bowl” where groups maintain individual cultural identities?

“The melting pot theory and the salad bowl theory both seem extreme,” reads a 2003 column from Iowa State Daily. “On one hand, we are asking people to conform to the common Americanized belief system, while on the other hand we are making ethnicity too separated.

It would be great if America could finally be able to identify itself as a culture where people can come and be accepted as who they are, live intermixed with all cultures and still carry on their own beliefs.”

The melting pot theory’s focus on cultural assimilation is where it divides people. Some think assimilation makes America stronger by creating a shared identity. Others believe it forces minorities to give up their heritage.

The salad bowl theory is championed by proponents of cultural diversity, while drawing concerns from people who fear it leads to social fragmentation.

A 2020 piece from Braver Angels (Mixed bias) says that “neither is as apt and fitting as a dish arguably more delicious than either: the chili bowl.

A chili bowl metaphor encourages individuals and groups to become a full part of a whole American project, while allowing maintenance of unique identities and attributes. In contrast, a melting pot or a salad bowl encourages more extreme behaviors. A melting pot promotes erasure of any differences from the whole. Meanwhile, a salad bowl suggests that relatively close proximity to others is good enough, with little or no encouragement for having any kind of shared American identity.”

So, what food is then most associated with America? A giant pot of soup? Maybe a big bowl of chef salad? A scoop of chili?

According to a recent CBS News (Lean Left) poll, it’s much simpler: hamburgers.