Grizzly @ Adams

This land is her land. Pictured above is new United States citizen Maria Anne Pilgrim, taking the Oath of Allegiance last Friday. Just in case you were wondering... here is the oath:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

The law allows new citizens whose religious beliefs require it to omit the words “so help me God” and the bit about bearing arms.

For your final comment of the semester, pretend that that you have been given charge of a portion of Ms. Pilgrim’s cultural assimilation. You must assign her two texts that you feel will help her understand the “real” America: one an early American work from our course syllabus, the other a song.

What would you choose, and why?

Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images. h/t Andrew Sullivan. Read more!