How do you think nativists would have defined a “real” American?

Answer 1

I define a "real" American as someone who would rather be here than anywhere else.

While I'm not suggesting this would happen, the defining point would be if we were openly, seriously, invaded. Those who would refuse to fight are in a catergory that doesn't work for this analogy. Of the people who would fight, a "real" American wouldn't ever consider fighting for the other side, no matter who the other side is.

Living in southern california, I know many, many, people who would fight on the side of Mexico, if it came to that. But most of those people are actually not immigrants themselves. They're the first and second generation of children born to immigrants. The ones who don't understand why their parents chose to come here.