Many Twain researchers believe "The American" quote is a misattribution that began with the Ken Burns documentary. See Jim Zwick's essay on this topic along with Twain's notebook entry containing the phrase at: http://www.historyillustrated.com/twain/essays/american0111.html However, Twain was fond of emphasizing the word "The" -- See: http://www.twainquotes.com/TheWordThe.html Barb