'Out of many, one,' says a US national motto. What does that push for unity mean today?

NEW YORK (AP) — The aspirations cut a wide swath through American history since 1776 — from the “All men are created equal” of the Declaration of Independence and the “We the people” of the Constitution, to the “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” of the Pledge of Allegiance.

America 250 The Unity Question

One can find it in the country’s name — the UNITED States of America — and in the sentiment of the motto written in Latin on its coins and one-dollar bills: E Pluribus Unum, or “out of many, one.”

The effort has been optimistic and unrealistic, successful and a failure, enduring as an American ideal during moments when citizens struggled — and struggle today — to practice it.

How has the notion of unity in American society evolved in 250 years and more? What does it mean — and what doesn't it mean, particularly in fraught and troubled moments? “It's a question,” says one scholar, “that every society has to answer.”

I. The beginnings of these ‘United’ States

From the milestone moment of the nation’s beginning, the founders emphasized that unity would be a vital component of the new country, where government would be based not on a king and monarchy as in Europe but instead, as the Declaration says, “on the consent of the governed.”

“It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it … indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest,” George Washington said as he stepped down from two terms as the first American president.

At the start of the experiment, the fabric of a nation first stitched together from 13 original colonies, defining what unity meant was far from settled.

Even as the founders spoke of high-minded ideals, they put limits on who they allowed to take part, who had rights and freedom and who didn't. All these years later, determining the meaning of unity can still be a challenge. Do we interpret that Latin motto to mean a blending of different perspectives to create a country that is greater than the sum of its parts, or does it mean there can only be one, that unity requires sameness?

Either way, here’s the thing about aspirations, as anyone who’s ever quit on a New Year’s resolution can tell you: They don’t turn into reality without effort and commitment, or come out of just a sole moment, no matter how singular.

Our individual lives are built not just from the milestones but from the everydays in between. How could the life of a nation be any different?

II. Aspiration vs. reality

Even as unity has stood among the ideals, the on-the-ground experience of life in America for the last 2½ centuries has reflected the reality that in this created nation, there’s never been just ONE America, where everyone lived in the same way or had the same access to power and prosperity.

It wasn't there at the country's inception. And in the moment the U.S. is living now, it certainly isn't either.

“I think the United State has had a more volatile history in terms of how it deals with questions of inclusion and exclusion, how it draws the line and polices the line of who’s in and who’s out,” says Daniel Immerwahr, a professor of history at Northwestern University.

“It’s a question that every society has to answer … who’s on the inside, who’s on the outside,” he says. “I would say that what’s interesting about the United States in this regard is how changeable and nonobvious some of the answers to those questions are.”

Sometimes the differences have been straightforward — like geography (rural vs. urban, plains vs. mountains) and climate (heat vs. snow, wildfires vs. flooding). Sometimes they were, and remain, cultural — people from different countries of origin, newcomers vs. generations deep, speaking different languages, following different denominations of Christianity or other religions entirely. And of course, the differences have been economic; rich and poor have always lived differently.

But sometimes, the differences have been travesties — like enslaved Africans and their American-born descendants, forced to live under the lash as they worked in the fields and elsewhere for the benefit of white owners. Even after slavery was outlawed, they were subject to discrimination and worse under racism that was legalized in systemic ways into the 20th century and that echoes still.

The Indigenous tribes whose populations were decimated by death and disease as the American experiment moved westward and newly arrived settlers hankered after their tribal lands, and whose cultures were stripped from generations as the U.S. government tried to force “unity” through brutal efforts at assimilation.

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Communities of people barred from possibility because of gender, sexual orientation or other characteristics.

There have also been persistent efforts across eras to create a country where the opportunities available to some — say, voting, economic growth, or access to education — would be made available to all. That came gradually through protest movements, legal action, and callbacks to those same American founding ideals and aspirations of unity and equality.

“It provided a language for the groups that were challenging these exclusions to draw on … invoking the ideals of the Revolution and the Declaration and saying, ‘Look, this is what the nation is supposed to be about,’” says Eileen Cheng, a professor of history at Sarah Lawrence College. “They could challenge the system and yet claim that they were being the true Americans.”

III. What could ‘unity’ even look like?

One of the things about ideals, though, is that they can be somewhat abstract.

What does it mean for a country to be ‘united'? Does unity mean uniform? Is it, to borrow a reference from one of satirist Terry Pratchett's books, that people are on the same side, or can they be on “different sides that happen to be side by side.” Is unity overall even a good thing in the context of a raucous democracy?

A look around the globe and through the history books shows there's no single answer. There have been countries with a single official language, others that have recognized multiple languages, and some, like the United States, that for generations have never officially designated any. At times, countries have chosen official religions. Nations have different standards and processes for naturalizing new citizens.

“There are always tensions between the unity and the separateness,” said Paul Wachtel, a psychology professor at the City College of New York. “There’s no society that is just one or just the other … what’s really most essential is that we learn how to negotiate those tensions.”

The United States experienced that firsthand in its infancy. The Constitution we live under is the second attempt at a framework for government. The first, the Articles of Confederation, kept the federal government weaker and the individual states stronger. It quickly became clear that having such a weak central government — i.e., less unity — wasn't effective for the new country, leading to the Constitution.

For some countries, like many in Europe, those negotiations have taken place under the weight of centuries of history and geography, and other established backdrops like the existing form of government, which impacted the direction they decided to go. The U.S., from the founders' perspective, was a new entity.

“What it is to be of the United States is to adhere to a set of principles rather than to have a certain kind of lineage,” Immerwahr says. “Sometimes that makes the United States remarkably open, and then sometimes that gets the leaders of the United States in all kinds of weird contradictions as they try to explain why they’re doing some forms of inclusion and not others.”

The United States has a decidedly mixed history when it comes to dealing with those tensions. Things have fluctuated.

Take migration, for example. There have been eras when the influx of people coming to these shores was seemingly a never-ending stream, but also times when much of the world was barred. In politics, the idea that there would be different factions represented by different parties was loathed by some, even as it became embedded in the political culture. Groups that were once looked down on are later brought into the fold, and vice versa.

“What have we learned over the last 250 years is that things change,” says Cindy Kam, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. “We are inclined to be social animals, but what those groups are is culturally constructed. So political elites, social elites, cultural elites, they do that work in identifying what the groups are, who is part of ‘us’ and who is a part of the ‘other.'”

By no means is it settled; if anything, the demographic, technological, economic and other changes of the last several decades are making discussions about unity more relevant than ever. In recent years, Americans have lived in a country where polarization is rampant, and serious — sometimes dire — questions abound over what the future holds. That's probably more in line with the country's beginnings than people realize.

“This polarization, people talk about it like it’s a new thing. But I think it’s really a return back to the way that we were at the beginning of the country,” Cheng says. “It’s not like this kind of linear development where we’re growing more and more accepting of difference. I think it’s up and down.”

This story is part of an Associated Press package looking at the United States at age 250. For more stories, clickhere.

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April 16, 2026

'Out of many, one,' says a US national motto. What does that push for unity mean today?

NEW YORK (AP) — The aspirations cut a wide swath through American history since 1776 — from the “All men are created equal” of the Decl...

Read More

Sydney Sweeney back with new American Eagle ad after controversy – 'The world is curious'

It's time to say hello to "Syd."

Months afterconversation – and controversy – erupted over Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle jeans ad campaign, the star is back for a newsummer spin on shortswith the retailer.

"What brand am I wearing?"Sweeneyasks in the commercial, posing in denim shorts against a blue sky backdrop, while smiling and playing with her hair. "Yeah, that one," she says, as the words "SYD FOR SHORT" flash across the screen.

It's a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fervor around the original jeans campaign, which was "born out of the idea that we wanted to work with the No. 1 It girl on the No. 1 jeans campaign of 2025," says Craig Brommers, American Eagle's chief marketing officer.

Syd exemplifies "the true self, the authentic person, the more casual version of thatSydney Sweeneypersona," Brommers says, and the collaboration is part of a "throughline" that "resonates" with consumers.

"Our American Eagle customer base really loved the duality" of the "Euphoria" star, 28, Brommers tells USA TODAY. "Yes, there is the actress on the red carpet with box office hits and Emmy-nominated performances on streaming shows. But there's also this very carefree, casual, real side, the girl-next-door side."

Jeans ad causes backlash:Sydney Sweeney says assumptions of American Eagle ad 'just aren’t true'

The Emmy-nominated star of "Euphoria" and "The White Lotus," Sydney Sweeney, has made a name for herself in prestige television, on silver screens in horror flicks or romantic comedies and as a fashion darling on red carpets like the Met Gala.

Scroll through for more photos of her life and career.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends a Refinery29 event on Dec. 6, 2017, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney starred as Emaline on the Netflix series "Everything Sucks!" in 2018.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the premiere of Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale" Season 2 at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 19, 2018, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney played Eden in the second season of "The Handmaid's Tale" on Hulu.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the 70th Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on Sept. 17, 2018, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Jonathan Davino, left, and Sydney Sweeney attend an InStyle event on Oct. 23, 2018, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Harry Shum Jr. and Sydney Sweeney walk the red carpet at the 25th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Jan. 27, 2019.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends The 2020 InStyle And Warner Bros. 77th annual Golden Globe Awards Post-Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, California.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney received an Emmy nomination in 2022 for her part in the first season of HBO's "The White Lotus."

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends an InStyle event on Nov. 14, 2021, in West Hollywood, California.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney was nominated for an Emmy in 2022 for her role as Cassie on the HBO series "Euphoria."

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party following the 94th Oscars at the The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California, on March 27, 2022.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the 2022 Met Gala.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Maude Apatow and Sydney Sweeney attend the "Bones and All" red carpet at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 2, 2022, in Venice, Italy.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends ELLE's 29th annual Women in Hollywood celebration on Oct. 17, 2022, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the 2022 LACMA ART+FILM Gala on Nov. 05, 2022, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2022 on Nov. 16, 2022, in London.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the 2023 Met Gala.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends a screening of HBO Films' "Reality" at Museum of Modern Art on May 16, 2023, in New York City.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney and Aja Naomi King attend a Miu Miu event during the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2023, in Cannes, France.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends Variety Power of Young Hollywood at NeueHouse on Aug. 10, 2023, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney and her cousin Lucille Hancock attend the Miu Miu fashion show as part of Paris Fashion Week on Oct. 3, 2023, in Paris, France.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends Columbia Pictures' "Anyone But You" New York Premiere on Dec. 11, 2023, in New York City.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Glen Powell, left, and Sydney Sweeney in the 2023 film "Anyone But You."

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the screening of "Anyone But You" at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter on Dec. 18, 2023, in Sydney, Australia.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney greets fans at the screening of "Anyone But You" at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter on Dec. 18, 2023, in Sydney, Australia.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney attend the World Premiere of Sony Pictures' "Madame Web" on Feb. 12, 2024, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the 35th GLAAD Media Awards at The Beverly Hilton on March 14, 2024, in Beverly Hills, California.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the premiere of Neon's "Immaculate" during Beyond Fest at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on March 15, 2024, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends Met Gala celebrating "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024, in New York City.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the premiere of "Eden" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024, in Toronto.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney attend CinemaCon 2025 on April 1, 2025, in Las Vegas.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2025, in New York City.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater on Sept. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney underwent a weeklong transformation before debuting her most shocking hairstyle yet. She arrived at the Oct. 25, 2025, "Christy" premiere during the annual AFI Fest sporting an icy blonde bob, her shortest 'do yet.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> "Sydney was looking for a change and wanted to have a big hair moment for the red carpet to support her new movie," hair colorist Jacob Schwartz told Vogue.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney made headlines after donning a sheer, silver, floor-length Christian Cowandress at Variety's 2025 Power of Women Los Angeles event, where she was an honoree, on Oct. 29, 2025.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney walks onstage during pre-race ceremonies prior to the Nascar Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 2, 2025, in Avondale, Arizona.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Sydney Sweeney attends the 2025 GQ Men of the Year party at Chateau Marmont on Nov. 13, 2025 in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney attend the Los Angeles premiere of "The Housemaid" on Dec. 15, 2025.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney attend W Magazine's annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont on Jan. 10, 2026, in Los Angeles.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

Sydney Sweeney photos: Look back at the 'Euphoria' star's best looks, career

The Emmy-nominated star of"Euphoria"and"The White Lotus," Sydney Sweeney, has made a name for herself in prestige television, on silver screens in horror flicks or romantic comedies and as a fashion darling on red carpets like theMet Gala.Scroll through for more photos of her life and career.

Sydney Sweeney jeans ad sparked backlash – and American Eagle success

Some retailers might have moved on after their first collab generated so much controversy.

Thefall campaign, released last July, was a play on "genes" and "jeans,"proclaiming that Sweeney "has great jeans." "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color," Sweeney said in the commercial. "My jeans are blue."

The internet pounced. Some said the commercial, with a conventionally attractive, white, thin, blonde woman with blue eyes at its center, was upholding Sweeney as the beauty standard. Others said the ad was regressive, highlighting a blonde bombshell and catering to the objectifying male gaze. And some argued out it had references to eugenics, or the belief that some genetic features are superior to others.

PresidentDonald Trumpand Vice PresidentJD Vanceboth added commentary. Sweeney "has the 'HOTTEST' ad out there. It's for American Eagle, and the jeans are 'flying off the shelves.' Go get 'em Sydney!"Trump posted in August.

Trump weighs inon American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad

At the time, the company released a response that said, in part, "Great jeans look good on anyone." And the company CEO said in aWall Street Journalinterview, "We stand behind what we did."

Now, Brommers reveals just how thrilled the company was with the results. American Eagle Outfitters' stock jump by 22%. "A vast, vast, vast majority of Americans understood that the campaign was about jeans," Brommers says. "It was one story, her story."

Sweeney, in a NovemberGQinterview, said "the reaction definitely was a surprise," a sentiment she reiterated toPeoplein December, adding, "I did it because I love the jeans and love the brand. I don’t support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren’t true."

The campaign "certainly drove jeans sales," Brommers says. "American Eagle has a store in all 50 states and during that campaign, we saw new customer acquisition grow in every single county in America. It is a fact that it was the most successful campaign in the history of the American Eagle brand."

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Brommers says the ad had more than 55 billion impressions and was "the most talked about advertising campaign of the year, maybe of the decade – sometimes ChatGPT tells me of the century."

Sydney Sweeney breaks silenceon American Eagle jeans ad backlash

New American Eagle Sydney Sweeney campaign will 'turn the volume down'

Given those results, Brommers says American Eagle consumers were "clamoring for a new chapter to this partnership," focusing on the word "new."

"When we thought about what we could do next together, it wasn't about going backwards – it was about going forward," Brommers says.

"The world is curious and the world will be talking when we launch the campaign," Brommers says. "As we learned in the fall campaign, there is noise, but there are also facts as well, and we're excited to see where this campaign takes our brand."

The new ad aims to lean into joy and away from the previous campaign, Brommers says, though its language directly winks at the controversy.

"The real world is very noisy right now, and sometimes you want to turn the volume down, just be your true self and then live your life in American Eagle jean shorts in the summer," Brommers says.

American Eagle stock upafter 'success' from Sydney Sweeney, Travis Kelce ads

What exactly is that "noise"? "It could mean anything," Brommers says, "It could be geopolitical. It could be the harsh realities of social media. Sometimes it could be pain that someone is going through in their own life, their mental health, whatever it is. I think that it's not for me to define someone's noise.

"This idea that you know yourself and you should embrace yourself and your beliefs and get out there and live your own life is a message that has been with the American Eagle brand for many years now. … In a particularly noisy moment out in the real world, we hope that this campaign brings that hope to to our audience."

Sydney Sweeney 'very involved' in American Eagle campaign

Brommers seems to suggest this won't be the last collaboration between American Eagle and their "It girl."

And for those wondering, Sweeney is "very involved," Brommers says.

"She's in there selecting shots and selecting angles and selecting story lines that she likes the most. So this is not about a payday. This is not about someone showing up and cashing a check," Brommers says. "This partnership is deep. It is authentic, and it's someone who is a very savvy business person and very understanding about her brand."

The new products, like the original, support theCrisis Text Line, which offers free, 24/7, confidential mental health support to anyone in need; 100% of the net proceeds from the shorts and jeans will be donated the nonprofit. The limited-edition denim styles feature a butterfly motif in honor of the philanthropic partnership, a cause close to Sweeney's heart.

"Being in the Sydney Sweeney business has been great for us," Brommers says, adding Sweeney "will always drive conversation" in a "partnership [that] has been so culturally defining."

Contributing: Anna Kaufman, Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad returns after controversy

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in

April 15, 2026

Sydney Sweeney back with new American Eagle ad after controversy – 'The world is curious'

It's time to say hello to "Syd." Months afterconversation – and controversy – erupted over Sydney Sweeney's Amer...

Read More