Laudator Temporis Acti

John Jay, Federalist Papers 2 (October 31, 1787):

With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people — a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.

Herodotus 8.144.2 (tr. Aubrey de Sélincourt):

Again, there is the Greek nation — the common blood, the common language; the temples and religious ritual; the whole way of life we understand and share together — indeed, if Athens were to betray all this it would not be well done.

αὖτις δὲ τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ἐὸν ὅμαιμόν τε καὶ ὁμόγλωσσον καὶ θεῶν ἱδρύματά τε κοινὰ καὶ θυσίαι ἤθεά τε ὁμότροπα, τῶν προδότας γενέσθαι Ἀθηναίους οὐκ ἂν εὖ ἔχοι.

I don't know if Jay was consciously aware of Herodotus, but note the similarities:

• "a people descended from the same ancestors" (Jay) ~ "the common blood" (Herodotus)
• "speaking the same language" (Jay) ~ "the common language" (Herodotus)
• "professing the same religion" (Jay) ~ "the temples and religious ritual" (Herodotus)
• "very similar in their manners and customs" (Jay) ~ "the whole way of life we understand and share together" (Herodotus)

As for Americans "fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war" to establish "general liberty and independence," cf. the war of the Greeks against the Persians.