ABSTRACT
At the end of the school year in an eleventh grade U.S. history class, a young man named John gave the following narrative about the course of the nation’s history:
John told a progressive story of U.S. history, one in which people successfully and relatively effortlessly challenged inequality, the
government created and expanded freedom and rights, and civil rights leaders brought equality to all. John held an optimistic view of past and contemporary American society, one which associated a national identity with progress, rights and equality, and one with which he identified personally, as exemplified in his use of “we” and “us” when describing national policy or polity.
