"The United States is not a nation based upon race, creed, or religion - we are a nation based upon our loyalty and allegiance to our country and her principles"

The statement frames American nationhood as civic rather than ethnic or sectarian, locating belonging in shared commitment to a constitutional order. Differences of race, creed, and religion are not disqualifiers but expected features of a plural society whose unity derives from allegiance to principles: liberty, equality under the law, popular sovereignty, individual rights, and the rule of law. Americanness becomes something one does and defends, not something one inherits.

That vision makes national identity accessible to anyone willing to uphold the Constitution. It echoes e pluribus unum and the naturalization oath, where loyalty is pledged not to a leader or a bloodline but to a framework of rights and responsibilities. Such loyalty is active: voting, jury service, honest participation in civic life, and everyday respect for the dignity and freedoms of neighbors. It also includes the courage to protest and petition when institutions fall short. Dissent aimed at fulfilling constitutional promises is a form of fidelity, not betrayal.

The formulation pushes back against ethnonationalism and sectarian dominance, asserting that no single ancestry or faith defines the polity. It insists that the majority’s heritage cannot become a litmus test for belonging. Yet it also confronts a hard history in which law and practice have contradicted the creed, enslavement, Jim Crow, exclusionary immigration. The gap between ideals and reality underscores the need for allegiance to be principled, not blind: a loyalty that demands accountability and seeks to “perfect the union.”

Symbols like the flag or pledge matter to the extent they embody and remind us of those principles. The personification of the nation as “her” suggests stewardship and care; fidelity is measured by how we treat the vulnerable and uphold equal justice. A nation rooted in shared ideals can welcome newcomers, protect minorities, and maintain cohesion without demanding sameness, unity through common rules and aspirations rather than uniform origins.