That is because they know they are free to hold to their religion, their beliefs, their history, as each of them choose." As Professor Ferrara expertly points out, an American is not someone who gives up their culture and replaces it with Americanism rather it is a combination of the two cultures preserving aspects of both. .
There are many in the United States who weren't born there but have embodied what it truly means to be a true American. Philip Gleason a professor emeritus of History at the University of Notre Dame put it this way "To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be any particular national, linguistic, religious, or ethnic background. All he had to do was to commit him-self 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." Philip Gleason in agreeing with Peter Ferrara depicts Americanism as something that all nationalities and ethnicities can aspire to. This is a reflection of the United States today with many different cultural groups self-identifying as American. .
There are those who take a more literal approach to the question of Americanism and make the contention that one must legally be a United States citizen to be considered a true American. However this approach can be seen as unsubstantiated when one takes into account the words of Phyllis Schlafly "ISI administered a very basic test on American history, government and economics to 2,500 Americans age 25 and older. The multiple-choice test asked citizens to identify terms that everybody should know, such as the New Deal, the Electoral College, Sputnik, "I Have a Dream" and progressive tax, The 2,500 adults scored an average of 49 percent that means they get a pitiful F.
