Politics & Power Quote by Richard V. Allen

The sentence performs belonging like a legal argument: it piles up proofs of Americanness until refusal feels like the only patriotic outcome. Allen’s “we” is doing heavy labor here, not as a warm embrace but as a gate. “Born and nurtured on this soil” turns citizenship into something near-biological; “habits, manners, and customs” shifts the standard from rights to cultural conformity. It’s assimilation as credential, and the repetition of “we” is a drumbeat meant to drown out dissent and foreclose nuance.

The immediate intent is to reject being used as intermediaries for a reform scheme floated by “that Society” - likely a philanthropic or political organization offering “redress” to an “afflicted” group. The syntax gives the game away: Allen refuses not necessarily the injustice, but the role of “bearers” of someone else’s solution. He signals that the offer is compromised, patronizing, or strategically dangerous. “Redress offered” suggests a remedy that comes with strings: an agenda dressed up as mercy.

The subtext is status anxiety. By insisting their customs match “other Americans,” Allen is both declaring equality and admitting it’s contested. He’s speaking from a border zone of acceptance, where public legitimacy depends on proving you’re not an outsider. That makes the closing phrase - “that much afflicted” - read as distancing sympathy: compassionate enough to sound moral, detached enough to protect the speaker’s place. The rhetoric doesn’t just argue a position; it auditions the speaker for the nation’s approval.