Conclusion
There would be several other aspects than the one - let us call
it intellectual or cultural - that I have presented here which
would help us understand the first decades of American
mentality. One would be the relationship between high and
popular culture, another one the North/South/West division of
the United States, still another one the ethnic and racial
factor, etc. But no matter which aspect we would take, I
believe, that the search for national identity is the best
common denominator explaining the mentality of the Americans
during the first 60 or 80 years of their independence.
Practically every American had to be interested in it or was -
to say the least - influenced by its practices and
interpretations.
