Originally Posted by CarlosTheGaucho

Well, since the American history is almost a hobby of mine.

The USA actually did have a very strong national and racial identity since its inception, and the dismantling of this didn't really occur until the 1960's.

The declaration of independence, the Federalist papers, these all include a great deal of very detailed information and a rigorous vision about what kind of country the US should be and what kind of people were supposed to live there. The founding fathers knew very well that only people of the same origin, same values could hold loyalty to their new country, and it was supposed to stay that way.

There are several conveniently spread misconceptions:

The US for example never was intended to be a "nation of immigrants":

In 1790, in the very first naturalization law, it was set that the future citizenship should have been reserved to "Free white persons of good character" aka the country should have been inhabited and inherited by the people of European origin.

So to answer the race question - the US race according to the constitution are the people of European origin.

Or the famous quotation from Thomas Jefferson - that "All men are created equal" - this originally meant that the US settlers had the right to pursue life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, to invoke the spirit of equality and independence from the colonial rule of the British crown. Jefferson never intended to hint at equality of abilities or outcomes to which this is quite often misused today when hardcore egalitarians try to paint an utopia.

The only sizable ethnic minority that infamously made it to the states were the Africans, this is a lasting painful issue for all the sides involved. Not only is it estimated that it actually held the development of the Southern states back and lead to a horrendous civil war that cost over 600 000 lives, it also continues to make life difficult for all sides involved by this day.

However, and this is another misconception - contrary to the popular opinion, while the concept of slavery was held as morally reprehensible, and the slaves were supposed to be freed, there was never any intent to keep them in the US. They were supposed to receive land and live freely in Africa. This is well summed up by another quote of Thomas Jefferson that stands on the wall of his memorial:

"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than these people are to be free"

however in the original, Jefferson didn't stop there, the quote continues:

"Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government"

James Madison wanted the government to buy out every single slave and arrange a life for them in Africa. The American colonization society has been active with that respect - the capital of Liberia - Monrovia is actually named after James Monroe.

Abraham Lincoln - the great emancipator, had the same view, quote:

".. there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality".

Lincoln too wanted to free the slaves and arrange a life for them in Africa.

The originally intended demographic setup has been more or less upheld up until 1965, when the US population was still from 90 pct. of European origin. Once the immigration restrictions were repealed in 1965, this brought drastic demographic changes.

Today, in 2017 - within just one lifetime, or approximately 50 years - the inhabitants of US of European heritage went from 90 pct. to approximately only 60 pct. And about 40 pct. of the current population was not born in the US.

Since pretty much all the groups that came to the country have their own very strong racial and tribal identity, their interests often contradict each other, and they often push it at the expense of the remaining population of European origin, or other groups, this of course brings more tension and more conflict.

Add into it the absurd "identity politics" with all the self loathing, ethnic masochism, disrespect to the constitution and to the US heritage, and there comes the "diverse" mix we have today, different groups that often wouldn't be able to agree on whether the sun is yellow or if the night is black.