Crevecoeur's Impact On American Society

According to Crevecoeur, America is a land for equal opportunity and advancement. Men are no longer enslaved to the king; they labor for their individual prosperity to the good of their new nation. In their former land, citizens were only appreciated for what they can contribute to the church and their ruler. They went without to ensure that the privileged few live a most comfortable life. Their religious obedience was virtually forced and they toiled for generations with no chance of entering a higher socioeconomic class. This predicament does not apply in America; as Crevecoeur explains in Letters from an American Farmer, everyone’s smaller foundations slowly shape a country that prides itself in democracy, free enterprise, and tolerance.

He asserts that man, among other things is “the government we obey, the system of religion we profess, and the nature of our employment” (312, 13). In Britain, citizens submitted to the kingship, and loyalty to the oligarchy returned little but corruption and oppression. Poor citizens remained in squalor while their meager wages helped sustain privileged authorities, including the Church. There was no opportunity to move up in the social order, unless one had funds for an education. Thus, Americans flee from a stagnant existence to one of promise. The sum of differences among the citizens spurs “the embryos of all the arts, science and ingenuity” (310) needed to make a country great. In Letter III, Crevecoeur sees an America inhabited by individuals motivated to see their country prosper on many fronts, particularly in government and

Free enterprise enables corporations to exploit workers, consumers and regulations to their advantage. Employees for large corporations are paid mere wages and given reduced hours; their basic needs are barely met. When corporations make an error, they are rarely held accountable for the damages done beyond monetary settlements. Similar to the America Crevecoeur knew, it continues that “men often eat each other for want of food” (322) or “often starve each other for want of food” (322); but instead of a want of food, it is greed and power which drives them. In addition to capitalist society, Crevecoeur would also be unhappy with America’s regression in the areas of racial and religious tolerance. Candidates for America’s presidency blatantly displaying their prejudices, to the average American either misinformed or misguided on racial equality, immigration and the separation between the church and state. Today, Crevecoeur would see a country still conversing with its past, still trying to instill the ideals written into the constitution, fought and paid for by innumerable