Our nation began with the simple phrase, "We the People." But who were and are "We"? Who were "We" in 1776, in 1865, or 1968, and is there any continuity in character between the "We" of those years and the nearly 300 million people living in the radically different America of today? With this work, the author draws on decades of historical, psychological, and social research to answer that question by tracking the evolution of American character and culture over three centuries. He explodes myths such as that contemporary Americans are more mobile and less religious than their ancestors.