[southern rock]

It would have to be one hell of a wall that encompasses internet and media.

America's cultural values were founded, basically by puritans in the 17th century. Their influence shaped this country, and is still felt today in many areas (blue laws, dry counties etc..) . But puritans were a tiny, tiny minority of European society. Most people were not puritanical in England, Europe, and certainly not the rest of the word.

Once large scale immigration began, in the 19th century, and population growth exploded, it was over. A minority belief system cannot keep hold on a nation this big, even if your wall existed.

[Fiji Hill]

puritans were a tiny, tiny minority of European society. Most people were not puritanical in England, Europe, and certainly not the rest of the word.

Puritans were quite influential in England during the seventeenth century, especially during Oliver Cromwell's republic of 1649-1660. The Huguenots, their Calvinist counterparts in France, were also influential, as were Calvinist sects in Scotland, Switzerland and Germany.

[familyop]

"But puritans were a tiny, tiny minority of European society. Most people were not puritanical in England, Europe, and certainly not the rest of the word."

See the English Civil War. Granted, northern European Protestants (from Huguenot locales in France, northward) eventually became tired of fighting in Europe and moved to America. In early and revolutionary America, they were the majority by far.

In 1785, a Catholic bishop named John Carroll reported on the state of Catholicism and numbered Catholics in America then at about 25,000. That was about 6/10ths of a percent (0.6%) of the population of the thirteen original colonies in 1790 (about 25,000 out of 3,939,000).

http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html#y1790

"Once large scale immigration began, in the 19th century, and population growth exploded, it was over. A minority belief system cannot keep hold on a nation this big, even if your wall existed."

True, and that trend led to what we see in politics, business and academia in America today.