Zócalo Public Square

When Americans took a great leap of faith into popular sovereignty in 1776, they defined themselves in opposition to the culture and politics of Great Britain. Yet nearly 250 years later, Britain holds a grip on the American imagination. Will a more diverse America, with fewer people who trace their ancestry to the British Isles, continue to see itself as connected to Britain? At a Smithsonian/Zócalo "What It Means to Be American" event at the British Museum in London, Companies Editor at the Financial Times Brooke Masters, who moderated the discussion, and four panelists—American-British television presenter Loyd Grossman, That’s Not English author Erin Moore, The Economist editor and columnist Adrian Wooldridge, and London School of Economics Director Craig Calhoun—had no doubt that America owed a great deal to Britain. But the question of the night was how much it remained influenced by its former overlord.