What Does It Mean
to Be an American?
Being an American means more than the country in which we are born. Often, “being an American”
signifies the principles and values embedded in our founding documents and legal frameworks.
In commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, members of New Mexico’s
legal community thoughtfully answered the question: “What does it mean to be an American?”
To be an American is to live the answer to a question much of the world still asks in the dark: whether law can bind power.
My father was imprisoned for his politics. I am grateful my daughters will grow up in a country where their futures are earned through education, merit and effort, where private ownership is protected and where rules are applied predictably rather than at the whim of those who hold power.
The Declaration states our values. The Constitution is the framework that carries them, amendable by design. Here, a citizen can advocate to change the system for everyone without fear of prison or worse. The law is a powerful tool for justice, which is why understanding your rights matters.
When I took the Attorney’s Oath, I inherited a share of responsibility for that framework. To be an American lawyer is to hand it forward intact.
— Arslan Umarov
No matter how many Americans you put this question to, the wording from each one would be slightly different – which is sort of the point.
The most important part of being American is that we agree to disagree and do not disturb others in the decisions that comprise their day-to-day lives. This is the essence of liberty.
One might even argue that is why we have a legal system: to determine when one person’s actions have truly impacted the rights of another. This is the essence of responsibility and, as the Statue of Responsibility Foundation tells everyone who visits its website, liberty plus responsibility equals freedom.
—Jason Galbraith
There’s a scene in a popular film written by the child of immigrants that begins, “I believe in America,” and as the fifth-great-grandchild of immigrants from a faraway island, I too share the sentiment.
America is perhaps unique among the world’s powers.
Unlike its foremother, Great Britain, America has known no monarchy. Since its inception, a ragtag group of perhaps the most unlikely associates emphasized a nation governed by its people and for its people - a drastically novel idea at the time.
And while it has taken years for the core principle of its founding, that all men are created equal, to include women and all shades of citizenry, evolution is also a core part of what it means to be an American.
In the land of the free and the home of the brave, origin does not dictate outcome. No caste gives a glass ceiling at birth.
— Avi Aiken Fernandez
Being an American means embracing the rule of law,
our democracy and a commitment to one another.
We are guided by the world’s oldest written Constitution, which has withstood extraordinary challenges. It establishes our judicial system, admired around the globe.
As officers of the court, we should be proud of the vital role lawyers play in upholding our system of justice. It is imperative that we hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards in order to foster trust in our legal institutions and to ensure equal justice for all.
By doing so, we reinforce the enduring values that define our nation and inspire confidence in our collective future.
Let us continue to honor these principles, both in our professional responsibilities and in our daily interactions,
so that the legacy of American justice remains strong
for generations to come.
— Henry M. Rivera
To hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator(s) with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among the people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.
— Erika Pirotte
To Be an American
To be an American is to revel in a beautiful mess
That strives for bigger and better, not smaller or less;
To live amid vast, varied and gorgeous places
To be among diverse groups, interests, creeds and races
To be an American is to pledge allegiance to a beautiful ideal
That we struggle mightily at times to make real
Prejudice, poverty, pollution … yes, plenty of flaws,
But met with self-evident truths and corrective laws
To be an American is to partake in a beautiful dream
In which unparalleled prosperity is mainstream,
As is brotherhood and sisterhood and letting freedom ring
In a way once told by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We Americans are proudly part of this beautiful mix
A blessed place to be on this July 4, 2026.
— Geoff Nims
Participation in the system we prize and preserve as Americans is participation in something greater and more enduring than ourselves.
The founders and framers and those who courageously followed through decades and centuries of American experience, advanced ideas greater than their own -
and vaster than one, several, few or many perspectives.
Care for the nation and its Constitution is what care
for America by Americans is all about.
This is not merely abstract. Indeed, care for America
and Americans is an act, or series of acts, to be practiced every day; action as well as reflection are needed to preserve all our American inheritance: the rule of law, specifically the U.S. Constitution.
This is something far greater than mere care for ourselves.
This is nonpartisan duty, and duty for all who seek to
vivify the core essence of the life of the Constitution:
power yields to the rule of law.
— Alexis H. Johnson
To be an American means to have the right to follow your own dreams, make your own mistakes and share your life with others. We are free to pursue any religious faith or none at all. We believe in the continuing work in process for having life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Americans expect that our government will protect our freedoms as defined in the Constitution and the laws of the land and, if not, we have the right to make a change in that government. We must be doing something right, because millions of migrants from all over the world have scrambled to cross our borders to share in the American experiment.
— Jerry D. Worsham II