In Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Brink, the Woodland family is faced with a dilemna.  They can choose to stay in wild Wisconsin as pioneering homesteaders, or return to an unexpected large inheritance as Lords and Ladies of an English manor.  The children are allowed to discuss before voting in the matter:
         "Father's the kind of man that likes to do things for himself and be at the front of things," said Caddie.  "He likes to be free and help build new places.  I think he'd rather go on West than go back to an old country where everything is finished."
         "I would, too," said Tom.  "I'd rather build a new mill in America than live in a castle in England that somebody who'd died hundreds of years ago had had the fun of building."

         A great testament to the American spirit their father infused into their lives is shared in this dialogue.  This is a glimpse into what it meant to be an American, and still should.  What are you doing to build the American Spirit in your family?  Is your face turned to the "west?"  Are you building and striving and living like freemen....Americans?