Isolation and The American Experience

Americans are an individualistic people. The earliest European settlers of what would eventually become British colonies were explorers seeking wealth and adventure and Christian Puritans seeking a break from the Church of England in order to practice their faith in freedom.

If you paid attention in an American history class, you probably heard the term “rugged individualism” batted around as a sort of distinctively American ideal. It was that pioneer spirit that pushed people westward in the late 18th and early 19th century and ensured that when a person staked…