Letters From An American Farmer Analysis

In the two early American texts, Letters from an American Farmer and Petition of the People of Colour both address what America fundamentally is, and what is possible to be done; one text views America through rose colored glasses, while the other posits that one can only do so much without the proper education.
The question of what America is constantly changing, to this day America is still changing. America as a concept is as fluid as the great oceans on both sides and the mighty rivers that flow through it. An Englishman wrote the Letters from an American Farmer, under an assumed named he took after arriving in North America (Belasco & Johnson 374). America to the farmer is where, “A man is as free as he ought to be;” freedom is the key

to understanding exactly what America is in the eyes of the farmer (St. John de Crèvecoeur 375). Along with this sense of freedom, the farmer goes onto say that America is also a place where everyman helps build up the country and that Englishmen steeping off the ship for the first time have no choice but to be proud of the colony that their homeland has built (St. John de Crèvecoeur 376 & 375). Absalom Jones, a minister who authored the Petition of the People of Colour, had a starkly different view as to what America was. As a freed African-American Minister born into slavery, Jones saw a completely different America (Jones 407). He petitioned for his, “afflicted brethren,” the slaves in the southern states (Jones 409). After having been being born into slavery and becoming a free man Jones would obviously have a much different, perhaps more accurate view of what America was: a place of freedom and liberty as long as one was of the correct race and social class. If one did not have the correct prerequisites, then they could never hope to enjoy the freedom and liberty that the farm told of.
Without the help of being born at the right place and the right time, an early American was limited in what they were able to do in the fledgling nation. In a place where every man works to build the country and freedom is a god given right, anything seems possible in America. The farmer believes that the finest titles that can be given are merchant and lawyer (St. John de Crèvecoeur 376). A merchant in specific is able to take advantages of the numerous business opportunities that America had to offer. The only thing needed to take advantage of the plethora of opportunities is a good education either by birth or by hard work. Jones too saw America as the land of infinite opportunity; born a slave and turned a free minister he authored a petition the executive and legislative branches of government. Jones sought not instant freedom for slaves, but rather education. Through education Jones believed that the opportunities for a slave would increase. Education would be the start line for a more enlightened population; hopefully enlightened enough to one day realize the horrors of slavery (Jones 408). One could argue that Jones and the farmer believed that if someone worked hard and diligently, that anything was possible in America.