Wentworth Stewart was an American Evangelical Methodist pastor whose views on Americanization were greatly influenced by his religious beliefs. In his book The Making of a Nation: A Discussion of Americanism and Americanization (1920), Stewart argues that the process of ‘becoming (or being) a true American’ requires a deep emotional commitment to an ill-defined state of mind rather than a compact in which the citizen (native-born or naturalized) understands and benefits from the basic principles of a constitutional democratic republic and expects equal opportunities to enjoy the ‘fruits of liberty.’ Stewart’s conception of Americanism, as represented in his writing, relies on assumptions about the founding of the United States that entail particular and constructed ‘American values,’ along with myths about the Founders and their heirs, that simply do not hold up under close scrutiny. Stewart’s commentary constructs an idealized version of American exceptionalism as the ‘soul of the nation’ that is precious, not universally available nor easily obtainable, and that requires Americanization programs that will take a very long time for proper indoctrination in Americanism to be completed, if ever.