You might be thinking of Richard L. Merritt's essay in the American
Quarterly in 1965, "The Emergence of American Nationalism"--Mick
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jon Kukla" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 11:51 AM
Subject: [VA-HIST] "Americans"


> Patrick Henry's declaration in the First Congress of 1774 was that "The
> distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New
> Englanders, are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American."
> (Recorded, if memory serves, in a letter or diary entry by John Adams.)
>
> But I also vaguely recall a journal article, perhaps by Hofstader but
> certainly by someone of his generation, tracking the widespread
> self-referential use of the term 'American' to the 1750s - coinciding as I
> recall with the experience of the (variously named) French and Indian War,
> Seven Year's War, or Great War for Empire......
>
>
> Dr. Jon Kukla, Executive Vice-President
> Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial
> 1250 Red Hill Road
> Brookneal, Virginia 24528
> www.redhill.org
>