American Spirit–Yankees
Traditionally Yankee was most often used to refer to a New Englander (in which case it may suggest Puritanism and thrifty values), but today refers to anyone coming from a state north of the Mason-Dixon line, with a specific focus still on New England. However, within New England itself, the term refers more specifically to old-stock New Englanders of English descent. The term WASP, in use since the 1960s, refers by definition to all Protestants of English ancestry, including Yankees and Southerners, though its meaning is often extended to refer to any Protestant white American.
Yankees 重视教育，勤勉，奋斗不息。可以说Yankee在很大程度上是美国精神的代表。Education was always a high priority as typified by Harvard College (1636), Boston Latin School (1635) and Yale College (1701), as well as early advanced schools of law, medicine, theology and engineering. The Yankees pioneered the free public school and, under the leadership of Horace Mann designed a system of public schools and teacher training colleges that formed the national model copied eventually by all the states. By the late 19th century Yankees were creating the first American universities, including Harvard and Yale. Prep schools such as St. Paul’s, Phillips Andover, Phillips Exeter, Choate and Groton, continue to play a leading role in educating the wealthiest families.
In religion New England Yankees originally followed the Puritan tradition as expressed in Congregational churches, but after 1750 many became Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists or Unitarians. The 17th century straight-laced moralism portrayed by novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne faded in the 18th century. The First Great Awakening (under Jonathan Edwards) in the mid-18th century and the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century (under Charles Grandison Finney) emphasized personal piety, revivals, and devotion to civic duty. Theologically Arminianism replaced the original Calvinism. Horace Bushnell introduced the idea of Christian nurture, whereby children would be brought to religion without revivals.
After 1800 the Yankees (along with the Quakers) spearheaded most reform movements, including abolition, temperance, women’s rights and women’s education. Emma Willard and Mary Lyons pioneered in the higher education of women, while Yankees comprised most of the reformers who went South during Reconstruction in the 1860s to educate the Freedmen.
In the 21st century the systematic Yankee ways had permeated the entire society through education. Although many observers from the 1880s onward predicted that Yankee politicians would be no match for new generations of ethnic politicians, the presence of Yankees at the top tier of politics in the 21st century was typified by Presidents George H. W. Bush, Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean and Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Forbes Kerry, scion of the old colonial Forbes family.
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