What Is An American? - Crevecoeur's Letters

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews and discusses the life and history of Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur. The paper focuses primarily on his essays 'Letters From An American Farmer'. According to the paper, this masterpiece provided useful information and perception of the "New World", and indeed, it helped to create an American identity in the minds of Europeans, by portraying an entire country rather than any local colony.

From the Paper:

"Obviously, the transformation is complete, and the American character is now shaped in all its facets. Maybe Crevecoeur was influence by John Locke's ideas, that is to say, the praise for freedom and democracy. This distinct identity, however, must be put into its historical context, since at that time, they were lots of Royalists, faithful to England, in New York. In this respect, we may wonder if Crevecoeur's views are not a bit generalizing. Indeed, everything seems to be portrayed in an extreme way: a utopian America is opposed to a tyrannical Europe. We will see in our last part that Crevecoeur's text has some limitations, and that maybe, the author does not take into account certain historical truths that would be interesting to mention."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer.
• Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History.

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