Identifying ten values that have inspired and defined the American national consciousness, a history names the leaders who presented each ideal and explains how they shaped the nation's intellectual heritage.

City on a hill : John Winthrop, 1630 -- Common sense : Thomas Paine, 1776 -- E pluribus unum : Pierre Eugène de Simitière, 1776 -- Self-reliance : Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841 -- Manifest destiny : John L. O'Sullivan, 1845 -- Progress and poverty : Henry George, 1879 -- The sphere of action : Jane Addams, 1902 -- The melting-pot : Israel Zangwill, 1908 -- The Negro in our history : Carter G. Woodson, 1922 -- The Marshall Plan : George C. Marshall, 1947.