American identity is not concrete. It grows, transforms, evolves, and the American people evolve in parallel. Through voting and politics, media and protests, elections and law, the people dictate the direction of the country and its identity. The identity that has its roots in the revolution. 1776, the United States separates from Great Britain. The people free themselves from oppression, from royalty, and begin the governmental experiment that would dominate the globe for the next two and a half centuries. The experience represents a government so different from that of Britain that no one would guess they once existed together. The American people, desperate to rid themselves of British traces, found this beneficial. They must; they are Americans now. Unfortunately, their British heritage does not allow this. As these new Americans fight for their heritage, it seeps into their policies, their protocol, their social configuration, their military influence, their economic structure, and the very documents with which they broke with their motherland. Ultimately, this legacy creates a perfect image of the British Empire, world domination and everything in between. Yet citizens continue to fight it. The leaders hate him. But, despite its efforts to establish its own identity, America mirrors British society. This American dilemma appears for the first time in political protocol. It started at the end of the Revolution. On May 22, 1782, just months after Britain's final surrender at Yorktown, Colonel Lewis Nicola suggested that George Washington become king of America. Washington responded with a resounding no, stating that he viewed the idea “with horror” (qtd. in “George Washington and the Rule of Law” 2). Washington understood what the Revolution represented. It...... middle of paper ......ast India Company. April 6, 2010. May 1, 2010. Olson, James Stuart, Robert Shadle. Historical Dictionary of the British Empire, Volume 1. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 1996. “The Spanish Armada.” Britishbattles.com. 2010. Britishbattles.com. March 24, 2010. “Talking Points on the No Taxation Without Representation Law.” The Leadership Conference. October 3, 2002. March 24, 2010. “Timeline.” The Life of Theodore Roosevelt. January 2001. Theodore Roosevelt Association. April 10, 2010. “Washington Farewell Address.” » The Avalon Project. 2008. Yale Law School. May 23 2010.