American society has traditionally been called a "melting pot," welcoming people of all races, religions, and cultural heritages to enjoy the "freedom" that only America can offer . This was not always the case, as incidents such as the internment of Japanese Americans at Manzanar and Lewis and Clark's voyage down the Columbia River exposed America's racial intolerance and demonstrated the inherent racism of Manifest Destiny, an ideal upon which this nation was founded. . Today, government agencies like the National Park Service (NPS) aim to repair the United States' negative reputation by creating national historic sites, which serve both as a celebration of American history and as an apologetic reminder for events that may never happen again. Regarding these sites, the NPS sees its role as “a powerful shaper of historical images and messages,” capable of “determining, creating, and commemorating history for all Americans” (Hayashi 53). I argue that the single shared story for all Americans suggested by this statement cannot exist. These historic American sites – manifestations of the history that the National Park Service aims to express – present false equations of the indigenous and immigrant experience in this country, representing versions of history and heritage that are not equivalent on past and current time scales. cultural consequences. The construction of two historic sites – Manzanar in California and the Confluence Project along the Columbia River – exemplify the false equation between the immigrant, indigenous, and settler experience in the United States. From the analysis of these sites, we will see that the history represented there cannot be called a shared history due to the truly unbalanced way in which history is actually… medium of paper… that constitutes the American Melting Pot. Bibliography Confluence Project “The Confluence Project”. Last modified 2012. Confluence Project Travel Book"The Confluence Project Travel Book." Last modified 2009.Daehnke, John2012 The Confluence Project (lecture notes). Stanford IHUM 40B Class, May 1.Hayashi, Robert T.2003 Transfigured Models: Conflicting Memories at Manzanar National Historic Site. In The Public Historian 25(4). Pp 51-71. Berkeley: Regents of the University of California and the National Council on Public History. National Park Service “Lewis and Clark National Historic Park.” Last modified: April 23, 2012. "Manzanar" National Park Service. Last modified April 4, 2012. .