Dan'l Webster's brow looked dark as a thundercloud. "Pressed or not, you shall not have this man!" he thundered. "Mr. Stone is an American citizen, and no American citizen may be forced into the service of a foreign prince. We fought England for that in '12 and we'll fight all hell for it again!"
"Foreign?" said the stranger. "And who call me a foreigner?"
"Well, I never yet heard of the dev----of your claiming American citizenship," said Dan'l Webster with surprise.
"And who with better right?" said the stranger, with one of his terrible smiles. "When the first wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for the Congo, I stood on her deck. Am I not in your books and stories and beliefs, from the first settlements on? Am I not spoken of, still, in every church in New England? 'Tis true the North claims me for a Southerner and the South for a Northerner, but I am neither. I am merely an honest American like yourself ---- and of the best descent --- for, to tell the truth, Mr. Webster, though I don't like to boast of it, my name is older in this country than yours."
http://www.gckschools.com/vhs/eng3/fall/romantic/danwebread.htm
And why? Well . . . the thing is, no country is perfectly innocent, just as no country is perfectly guilty. British patriotism was as much a sin as a virtue in what it produced. Being "unAmerican" is dependent on what being "American" is.