Examining the American Identity “Americans aren’t idyll daydreamers; they take the initiative.” (Cato.org) In his statement, Edward Hudgins, the director of regulatory studies at the Cato Institute, captures the essence of “Americaness.” Since the publishing of Ben Franklin’s Autobiography in 1790, this definition of Americans as go-getters and self-made-men has become stock. While Franklin’s life story helped define the American identity, the discussion of what an American is began decades before, as can be seen through J. Hector St. John de Crevoeur’s Letters of an American Farmer. Franklin and Crevecoeur both touch on American archetypes including the Yeoman Farmer Ideal, the free, self-made man, and the noble savage. These authors also set the stage for how Americans should act in regards to fellow Americans, religion and the “old world.” The house of American identity built by Franklin and Crevecoeur was not one built on shifting ground with a weak foundation, but one built sturdily and carefully. It is a house that still stands in American society today. In their writings, Franklin and Crevecoeur make use of several examples of what an American is. Among those archetypes is the “Yeoman Farmer Ideal,” which portrays America as “every person’s country,” (666) and supports the idea of humans being nurtured by the earth, instead of being the care takers of it. Crevecoeur also mentions that in America, “…the rewards of his industry follow with equal step the progress of his labor.” (660) Like Crevecoeur, Franklin emphasizes the importance of a strong work ethic and becoming free through one’s own labor. Though Franklin puts more stress on the “American” ideal than that of the Yeoman Farmer, he nonetheles... ... middle of paper ... ...ended any Public Worship.” (590) Crevecoeur also contributes to a sense of religious apathy in his belief that as long as his neighbor “…is a sober, peaceable good citizen…” it does not matter what his religion is. To Crevecoeur, the impact lies in “the visible character,” because the “invisible one is only guessed at and is nobody’s business.” (663) Crevecoeur’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” philosophy toward religion and Franklin’s method of practicing it have become the bricks and mortar of the American identity. The walls built by Franklin and Crevecoeur’s attitudes toward religion have stood strong throughout America’s development. The banning of prayer in schools, the discussion of removing the phrase “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance and an entirely secular social atmosphere can attest to the long-lasting influence of early definitions of American.
"To prohibit a great people from making all that they can of every part of their own produce advantageous to themselves, is a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." These views of Adam Smith were very much supported throughout the mid-18th century. Throughout this time, many new developments were made regarding American colonists view's of their sense of identity and unity as Americans. Due to an over controlling British government and a need for individuality as a country, colonists became Americans through their great fight to highly develop their sense of identity and unity as Americans.
Founding Brothers is a rather problematic title for this collection of essays by Joseph Ellis, since his group of “brothers” includes Ben Franklin who was old enough to the father of the other well known members of the founding generation of America and also a strong cameo appearance by Abigail Adams. Despite this and the author's overtly neoconservative bias leanings, this remains a worthwhile read for both scholars and the more casual reader of history as well. The arm-chair historian will likely not notice the lapse in chronology in the chapters and will surely enjoy the flowing narrative as it relates a half dozen intimate tales from the lives of the most enshrined of this legendary generation.
Jon Butler, a William Robertson Coe Professor of American Studies and History and Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University, wrote the book, Becoming American: The Revolution Before 1776, which was published in 2000 by the Harvard University Press. Butler is an accomplished and respected historian who has won multiple awards as a professor and a writer. In Becoming American, Butler analyzes the impacts the colonists had on the New World during the years 1680 to 1770. Butler argues that in the British Mainland Colonies, colonists went through many changes during the 1680’s to 1770’s to form a “modern” and uniquely America.
To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution?
In his essay titled, “The Transformation of European Society”, Gary Nash argues how seventeenth and eighteenth century United States (U.S.) witnessed the birth of a distinct “democratic personality”. This personality had numerous effects on American society. Mr. Nash believed a society having democratic personalities exhibited the following qualities: individualization, competitiveness, and opportunity. Many factors led up to the creation of each of these traits. Americans wanted their own, distinct life, where they were not told how to act and what to think. Unfortunately, this was idealistic thinking. Reality was that they were swaying from the original goal of working towards the better of community, the Puritan way. Through the traits mentioned above in many ways could help society, they constantly went against it also. For example, many businesses, even parts of the government, were accused of being corrupt, and performing illegal acts in order to get ahead. U.S citizens were given so many options in life, many learned they could do better than what they were born to. The immense amount of land in the West led to many of these options. The land was cheap and unoccupied, meaning that it was relatively easy to gain success and achieve a higher social standing through the land. This was followed by the mindset of the “me” personality in much of American history. This also led to how competitiveness became ingrained into daily rational and overall life. A multitude of people were motivated to achieve more and become the vision of success that was driving their fellow man. Many of their visions were of owning land, and of being able to live a comfortable lifestyle. As Nash states, “living in a place where the ratio of people to ...
In John Smith’s A Description of New England he portrays early American life as a place for great opportunities to start over, live easily, and to turn small fortunes into a great wealth. Smith earned credibility for making these statements by leading many expeditions in America such as Jamestown. An example of Smith attempting to persuade the reader into believing that America was a place for rebirth he stated “What please could be more than recreate themselves before their own doors.” Smith obviously believes that the potential settlers would find it easy to drastically adjust their lifestyle in this new world. Another common theme in Smith’s piece is that he states America is an easy place to live. “... is it no pretty sport to pull up two pence, six pence, and twelve pence as fast as you can haul and veer a line?” Smith stated when describing how easy it would be to take in money by being an angler in this ...
Defining the American character is quite difficult because American identity is vaguely founded on shared values and ideologies, more so than a particular creed, race, or culture. In order to describe the American character, we will consider the dominate and distinctive qualities of Americans as interpreted by J. Hector St. Jon De Crèvecoeur and Thomas Paine. First, we will examine how Crèvecoeur illustrates Americans as industrious, prideful, and political in “Letters from an American Farmer.” Then, we will analyze from Thomas Paine's “Common Sense” how he depicts the prevalent qualities of Americans to be driven by justice, liberty, emotions, and individualism. Also, because both authors consider the American character and culture different
Religion in May 1966. It was reprinted with comments and a rejoined in The Religious Situation.
Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur was a French born citizen who moved to New York and became a naturalized citizen of Great Britain. After living in America as a citizen for a while, Crevecoeur decided to write an essay titled “Letters from an American Farmer”. During this time, tensions in America between the colonists and loyalists were increasing, and because of this the idea of America as a sovereign nation and territory was becoming popular. Crevecoeur wrote this essay in order to discuss what it means to be an American, and why people should be honored to be called an American. Crevecoeur believes that America is a melting pot of the world, and is full of opportunities for anyone who lives there. In order to back up his claim, Crevecoeur uses rhetorical devices, especially pathos, while he does also use ethos and logos as well.
Boyer et.al. The Enduring Vision: A history of the American People Vol. 1 Houghton Mifflin 2006
The United States as a country has always been an entity unique amongst the world’s myriad of nations: a conglomeration of cultures, ethnic groups and religious backgrounds from around the planet, all fused together to yield something entirely new. Since its very inception, those who dwell within its borders have attempted to ascertain the makeup of the American identity, in order to pin down how exactly one can come to be considered as an American themselves. This is inherently quite a subjective issue, but the conversation primarily boils down to three core factors that make the American people who they are: a dedication to preserving the natural rights of every human being, a belief in the importance of the individual in deciding their own
Thus, here in the new land, they view as useful, not as in their home where they were viewed as useless. This tells us that to be an American is to look for one’s happiness. Here they have the opportunity to grow. In this new land, they learn to grow and become better than yesterday. As Crevecoeur states, “The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore, entertain new ideas, and form new opinions” (Crevecoeur 290).
The conception of America, like Jesus Christ, was believed to be immaculate. Illustrations depicting biblical images show how early Americans romanticized their origin. In Benjamin Franklin’s reverse design
What is an American these ideas are fully expressed from the start as Crevecoeur states, “a modern society offers itself to his contemplation, different from what had hitherto seen.” (605), thus showing that America is a new land never seen before that is worthy of contemplation and admiration. This belief shows the idea of a better place free of old European social divides and stratification and the promise of a better place. Crevecoeur further expands on this going as far as to call America an asylum, a true place of recovery and safety, for European immigrants and their descendants. These early ideas bring forth the foundation for modern beliefs of moral superiority and thus the right for the United States to encourage and push their own ideals upon others. This supremacy is explicitly expressed by the author as seen in, “we are the most perfect society now existing in the world.” (Crevecoeur 606), and displays “James” view that America is indeed better than other cultures and should be treated as such. It is important to note however that the idea of moral superiority does not only come from a utopia of ideas and freedom, but effort, hope, and the ability to push forward in the face of
The American Scholar is one of the speeches given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837 to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge (World Largest Essay, 2014). People are not born with perfection, everyone learns through trials and errors. Mistakes are lessons not yet learnt. Therefore, you should try and make use of the knowledge and wisdom. Emerson’s speech tries to determine the real American culture and ask his citizen to prevent the essence of the real American culture. Sixty years after declaring independence, American culture was still heavily influenced by Europe. The main purposes of Emerson’s speech are to create their own American identity through writers, artists, and philosophers, without regard to European because America was colonized by European till July 4, 1776 (Happy Birthday America, 2014).