The Rise of “Heritage American” Ideology and Its Historical Roots

A faction of the contemporary American right is promoting a “Heritage American” narrative that equates U.S. citizenship with ancestry tracing back to early Anglo-Protestant and Scotch-Irish settlers. The movement invokes the Nazi-origin phrase “blood and soil” to argue that only people of European descent constitute the true nation. Vice President JD Vance articulated this view at the 2024 Republican National Convention, asserting that America is a “homeland” tied to a shared lineage rather than abstract principles. Lawsuits in several red states aim to bar naturalized citizens from holding public office, a strategy that could reach the Supreme Court.

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Nine years ago, a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, marketed as “Unite the Right,” featured chants of “Blood and soil!” The chant originates from the German völkisch movement that underpinned Nazi eugenics. Since then, elements of the alt-right have rebranded the slogan, embedding it in a broader nativist agenda that seeks to redefine American identity along ethnic lines.

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• JD Vance — Vice President; promoted the “Heritage American” concept at the 2024 convention.

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• Neil Gorsuch — Supreme Court Justice; defended the United States as a creedal nation.

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• Gordon Wood — Historian; argued the nation has never been defined by a single lineage.

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• Toluse Olorunnipa — Journalist reporting on state legislation restricting naturalized citizens from office.

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Vance emphasized that America’s “homeland” is rooted in his own forebears buried in Eastern Kentucky, framing citizenship as a matter of bloodline. Justice Gorsuch responded that the United States is founded on ideas, reaffirming its creedal character. Olorunnipa reported that multiple red-state legislatures are drafting bills to prevent naturalized citizens from holding elected positions.

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• The 2017 Charlottesville rally attracted a large contingent of white nationalist participants displaying the “blood and soil” slogan.

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• Legislative efforts reported involve at least three red-state proposals to restrict office-holding by naturalized citizens.

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• “That’s not just an idea, my friends, that’s not just a set of principles. Even though the ideas and the principles are great, that is a homeland. That is our homeland. People will not fight for abstraction, but they will fight for their home.” — Vance

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• “Our nation is not founded on a religion,” — Justice Neil Gorsuch

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No source provides definitive data on how many states have enacted or are poised to enact the proposed restrictions, nor on the likelihood of Supreme Court review. The influence of “Heritage American” rhetoric on broader public opinion remains unquantified.

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Legal challenges to the state restrictions are expected to advance toward the Supreme Court, where interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment and citizenship rights will be pivotal.

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