So this discussion was brought up amongst myself and some other people and we were debating what qualifies a person as an "American." Seeing as how there is no such thing as "American" blood, since "Americans" are really just a composition of a variety of different people from all over the world, what is it that qualifies a person to be able to claim themselves as an "American"? Case 1: A Mexican legally crosses the US border and successfully attains citizenship. Is he American? Can he legitimately go out into a large crowd and claim to everyone that he is American? Case 2: Boy is born in the United States. Both his parents are mostly German in blood and were both born in Germany; parents also have citizenship in the United States. Is the boy American? German? Both? What about his parents? Are they just Germans or are they also Americans too? Case 3: A woman is 33% Polish, 33% British, and 33% Chinese. She migrates to the United States and successfully attains citizenship. What is she? Discuss. (notes to self: factors to consider - politically, legally, inherently, genetically ... blood composition, natural born citizen, not-natural-born but citizen, nationality, native tongue.)