[thechao]

> same language and the same (shallow) history

Yes! Just Dutch, German, English, Spanish, Algonquin, Nahuatl, ... or, did you mean the European invaders? Native Americans had been doing their thing for a for thousands of years when the Europeans showed up. If you're talking about stuff, I don't think old buildings really means culture? The Saxons squatted in the Roman ruins, but that doesn't mean the luster of Rome wore off on them. Certainly far less than the Byzantines being the real Romans.

Also, Americans seem to have fought an awful lot of wars to build a shared polity in its "easy" process.