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What is An American? by Jean-Michel de Crevecouer
This piece was written at the time when most of the Americans were living in the 13 British colonies before the War of Independence. The Author was not an American himself, but was visiting the new continent, travelling around, meeting people and writing about what he saw. The extract you have here is from an essay in which he described the types of people he found there. He started of by pointing out the similarities and differences between the American colonists and their European ancestors. He describes how the Americans originated in Europe, brought their skills and culture with them, are merging into a new culture, and have a far better and easier life in many ways than the Europeans. He describes the difficulties of living in Europe at that time. He also predicts that the Americans will cause great changes in the world, although he doesn't say if he thinks these changes will be for the better or worse. A very interesting question to ask is "Are the Americans still the same as they were and are they still more fortunate than the Europeans? Another question is whether his prediction was accurate. |
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