Where did the early settlers come from and what were some of the influences on their "overcoming adversity" and "building new societies"... i.e. what were their ethnic identies??
The greatest numbers came from England, Scotland, with lesser numbers from the Netherlands, Ireland, France (Huguenots), etc.. The principal influences on their overcoming adversity, etc., were in their own strengths of character, rather than any fixed ideas they brought with them--although many were sustained by a strong religious faith (not necessarily the same faith). They were not representative of the over-all populations from which they came so much as of people with particular, rather hard nosed traits that stood out among those older populations. The building of societies from the ground up reflected the fact that they came in relatively small numbers--those boats in that era couldn't carry that many at one time, for that matter--and had to clear a wilderness, and set up their own social institutions. (It was a slow trip, and uneconomic in the 17th Century, for any of the mother countries to even try to interfere too effectively in what they were doing, anyway.)
It was when this pattern changed, dramatically, with the French & Indian War, and the greater British military presence, and attempts at a new level of control, etc., that the new breed which grew out of a lot of parallel settler experiences, among some very differently oriented settlers, reacted with the American Revolution, and the birth of a true American ethnicity.
This is a very fragmentary outline, but it will suggest my drift.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site