Crevecoeur Through James The Farmer example essay topic

383 words
The passage is from "Letters from an American Farmer" by John Crevecoeur in a letter entitled "What is an American?" The speaker is James, a fictional American farmer used by Crevecoeur to write these letters to a fictional person. This passage is comparing American society to British / European society. In America everything is so new and undeveloped that people are more equal. No royal family is in charge, or even a powerful form of government.

People in America had to work together to make it, relying on the earth and the farmers to live. Everyone had to work hard, keeping the poor and the wealthy closer together in amenities and lifestyles. Unlike England where a society of class dominated, here everyone was just trying to make it. He says that industry is not a big monopoly company, but anyone could own a business because "each person works for himself". Land ownership was an important part of the American ideal. In America anyone could own land, whereas in Europe only the rich and upper class could own land.

At this time the American dream was being sought by many fleeing or being banished from England. People hoped for a better life, one where they could be accepted, not persecuted, and live life the way they dreamed of. I think Crevecoeur, through James the farmer, describes his own, and many other's dream. A dream of a life where they would be able to be viewed as equals in society, not a lower less humane class. England was a society filled with classes and the rich always seemed to be getting richer while the poor worked hard and never seemed to move up.

In his letter James describes a near perfect society to those in the working classes of Europe. The letter is very ideal and hopeful. America did have social classes; they just were not as defined and obvious as those in Europe. Crevecoeur's James seems to also take on the view of a Northern farmer since much of the work is done by slaves in the south. Through his dreaming Crevecoeur describes his ideal America, one with "no courts, no kings, no bishops... .".