In this essay, Baldwin ruminates on the idea of a majority in a country. He argues that it is difficult to identify the majority, because it has nothing to do with numbers. In the history of the United States, the majority was a class—the white aristocracies of Virginia and New England. This group created a foundation of American principles: (1) a series of manners that promote individualism over community and (2) the fostering of an interior life. When the aristocracies dissolved, their standards remained. However, Baldwin explains that these principles were based upon an old way of living that no longer exists. Migrants flooded to the United States with no intention to assimilate. They moved here for a better life and the desire to live according to their own principles and beliefs.

Contemporary minorities and majorities are defined by color. The suggestion of an “American boy” conjures the image of a white young man, despite the failure of this image to capture the reality of America’s population. White fear dominates the political and economic decisions of the country. The removal of Black people through segregation and discriminatory practices and the treatment of Black people as statistics allows white people to continue to manipulate and avoid the truth about their own evil.