Learning one's native tongue : citizenship, contestation, and conflict in America
Bibliographic Information
Learning one's native tongue : citizenship, contestation, and conflict in America
Tracy B. Strong
University of Chicago Press, 2019
Available at / 2 libraries
Note
Summary:"Tracy Strong explores the development of the concept of American citizenship and of what it means to belong to this country, beginning with the Puritans in the 17th century and continuing to the present day. He examines in detail the conflicts over what citizenship means as reflected in the writings and speeches of America's leading thinkers and leaders ranging from John Winthrop and Roger Williams, to Thomas Jefferson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Franklin Roosevelt, among others who have participated in our cultural and political debates. We see how the requirements and demands of citizenship have been discussed and better understand how groups are defined into and out of the American nation"-- Provided by publisher
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Citizenship is much more than the right to vote. It is a collection of political capacities constantly up for debate. From Socrates to contemporary American politics, the question of what it means to be an authentic citizen is an inherently political one.
With Learning One's Native Tongue, Tracy B. Strong explores the development of the concept of American citizenship and what it means to belong to this country,
starting with the Puritans in the seventeenth century and continuing to the present day. He examines the conflicts over the meaning of citizenship means in the writings and speeches of prominent thinkers and leaders ranging from John Winthrop and Roger Williams to Thomas Jefferson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Franklin Roosevelt, among many others who have participated in these important cultural and political debates. The criteria that define what being a citizen entails change over time and in response to historical developments, and they are thus also often the source of controversy and conflict, as with voting rights for women and African Americans. Strong looks closely at these conflicts and the ensuing changes in the conception of citizenship, paying attention to what difference each change makes and what each particular conception entails socially and politically.
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