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