>>By the way, our settlers came here and became US Citizens (once there was a US). They didn't apologize for the US. They didn't bend over for every other nation. They fought for this country and were proud of it.
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>>They also learned English (common language that helped greatly to make this country the once great country it was).
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>Actually, many of the immigrant generation never learned English. Their children tended to and their grandchildren were fluent. I'm pretty sure the same pattern holds for immigrants from Mexico and other parts of Latin America.

And they tended to settle in communities with others who spoke the same language. On my father's side, they settled in a community (in the middle of the Wisconsin woods) where everyone spoke Norwegian. Eventually Danes and others started to move there as well and to accommodate them the church was even renamed :o) Of course, it wasn't long before they began teaching English in school - even the small and religious schools.
On the other side I have a great-grandparent who lived on the reservation her entire life until she married my great-grandfather (an Englishman). After marriage they went back and forth to living on/off the res. I still have cousins who were born and raised and continue live on the reservation. They are taught many languages in school. I also have a grandmother whose parents came from Germany and they learned some English from their daughters (one being my grandmother). When I was young and visited all of my grandparents would talk to me and yell at me in different languages.
One thing though. When most settled here (granted not all), they were very aggressive about appearing "American." Mostly it was for appearances sake and wanting to rise above their station in life (the attitude that came over with them). However some were ridiculed for trying to be "something they are not" and others for being "what they were in their home country." Amazing the old world attitudes back then.