ABSTRACT
The United States developed as a nation of immigrants seeking freedom from religious and political persecution, greater economic opportunity and relief from rigid and unforgiving systems of social inequality. The emphasis on freedom and equality appears early in the history of the country (for example in the works of Thomas Paine, the pamphleteer of the American revolution, such as Common Sense and The Rights of Man) and is enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The endurance and continuity of this cultural focus is evident in many contemporary sources, including that insightful study of current America done by Robert Bellah and his associ ates, Habits of the Heart (1985).
