The American Experience - Term Paper Example

The American Experience Letters from an American Farmer was first published in London in the year 1782, just as the concept of an average “American” was turning into a reality. The “American Farmer” depicted in the title is Crèvecoeur’s own fictional persona named Farmer James, a bumpkin who originated from rural Pennsylvania. During the course of Letters, by the fictional character of James, Crèvecoeur had described how social principles that were framed by the newly established American society operated in the life of an average individual American. The eighteenth-century Americans had ideas that were not similar to our modern idea which said that politics and art forms must not be mixed and be kept separate. Thus, there were some forms in the eighteenth-century writing that did not conform to the general notions about genres and another form. There were many interesting themes which could be found in the text of Letters from an American Farmer. The features included the nature of an American character such as their work ethic, the duties of an individual, anti-intellectualism, the farmer seen as a prototype representing the American character, the treatment of the slaves, the way of viewing new immigrants together with their ethnicity, literary resonances that showed the escape from the civilization as in Letter XII and stereotypical nature of the American characters. The Letter was divided into twelve sections that depict the way American soil, its life, slavery, and culture was perceived by Crèvecœur. He was probably the first writer who described Europeans by employing different American English terms. He emphasized the life seen on the American frontier and tried to explore the idea behind the so-called American Dream. In his writings, he portrayed American society to be characterized by the principles stressing on the equal opportunity as well as self-determination. His work was successful in providing a lot of useful information together with an understanding of the presumed "New World" which helped in creating utopian American identity (Crevecoeur xi). This was done for the prevailing European minds by describing the area as an entire country and not just another regional colony. The writing in The Letters celebrated the American ingenuity and its uncomplicated lifestyle. It was written to describe the inclusion and the acceptance of religious dynamics in a society that was created from several varieties of ethnic as well as cultural backgrounds. The letters that were written by him depicted the rural life of America. He introduced the cultivation of several European crops, notably the alfalfa, in the American country and the American potato in Normandy. He tried to understand America from the purview of a farmer. He tried to find the answer to the question what actually consisted of American, this new American man. "He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds" (Crevecoeur 54). "The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must, therefore, entertain new ideas, and form new opinions. From involuntary idleness, servile dependence, penury, and useless labor, he has passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence. --This is an American" (Crevecoeur 56) Literary analysis Crèvecoeur in his letters portrayed his love for nature from the perspective of a farmer. His respect towards nature and his compassion towards all living beings are obvious and is the principal backdrop of all his letters. Crèvecoeur feels that man and nature are interlinked, and without the right balance in nature, man cannot survive. Similarly, man’s compassion and caring attitude can preserve the sanctity of nature. He also feels that Americans do not display their compassion towards nature in the way that is needed. Crèvecoeur insists that nature in its natural form is the best thing bestowed on mankind, and that man should not attempt to tamper with the essence of nature. He states that man with his superior powers has no right whatsoever to alter the course of nature. He feels that a country that is bestowed with the excellence of nature, fertile lands and green grass for cattle to pasture, that country is filled with happy men. "Happy the country where nature has bestowed such rich treasures, treasures superior to mine, said I: if all this fair province is thus cultivated, no wonder it has acquired such reputation, for the prosperity and the industry of its inhabitants." (Crèvecoeur, 264) Crèvecoeur believes that there is a direct relationship between man and nature, and he has attempted to define this relationship. He has defined nature as both friend and foe of man. He said that nature in its benevolent form can contribute towards enlightenment of mankind by allowing the man to produce and cultivate. There is also another side of nature which can act as detrimental to mankind's progress and add to the struggle of man. "If Nature has given us a fruitful soil to inhabit, she has refused us such inclinations and propensities as would afford us the full enjoyment of it. Extensive as the surface of this planet is, not one half of it is yet cultivated, not half replenished; she created man, and placed him either in the woods or plains and provided him with passions which must forever oppose his happiness; everything is submitted to the power of the strongest." (Crèvecoeur, 236) In his letters, Crèvecoeur has given the readers a much closer view of nature and the life of animals from the perspective of an American farmer in the eighteenth century America. His love, respect and compassion for animals is evident throughout his letters, and he has been essentially generous in expressing his feelings for nature and its creatures. From the perspective of a farmer, he has used strong anecdotes, and has focused on detailed observations to educate and enlighten the readers on the beneficial aspect of animals, the beautiful essence of animals and the part that animals have in preservation of both nature and mankind. Crèvecoeur also used his letters as a platform to indicate the interrelation between man and nature; he has said that the way nature has been benevolent to mankind and has been powerful force of man’s progress, similarly man should also strive to help and respect nature by acting against the destruction of nature. He expresses that nature and animals can also show their gratitude if man can be benevolent towards them: “I draw a great fund of pleasure from the quails which inhabit my farm; they abundantly repay me, by their various notes and peculiar tameness, for the inviolable hospitability I constantly shew them in the winter.” (Crèvecoeur, 31) He even goes on to provide further examples that indicate more direct forms of utility of animals for mankind like owls driving the mice out of farms. As a farmer he feels that every single aspect of nature can prove to be beneficial to mankind. Keeping in mind the destructive aspect of nature and things which can be the contributory factor for man’s struggle, he insists that there are parts of nature on which man can depend on for his progress, and without which humanity cannot survive; more specifically farm life is dependent largely on nature. He strongly criticizes the barbaric behavior of mankind towards animals, and how man takes advantage of animals and nature. He asserts that animals have equal rights like human beings to live and hunt for food according to their needs. In spite of his great compassion for animals, he also stresses that at times interference is necessary. Being a farmer, Crèvecoeur knows that animals must be kept away from crops. He says this is an instance of human struggle with nature. Counter-theories to the Letters from an American Farmer The insights and opinions that were put forward by Crèvecoeur in his letters were countered by the theories and the understanding of many aristocrats such as Alexis de Tocqueville and dignitaries such as Thomas Jefferson. In the book Democracy in America, the main focus of Tocqueville was to analyze why the republican form of representative democracy had succeeded in the United States whereas it had failed in many other places. "The social condition of the Americans is eminently democratic; this was its character at the foundation of the Colonies, and is still more strongly marked at the present day" (Tocqueville 43). Tocqueville had speculated about the future of democracy that would be in America by discussing both the possible forms of threats to democracy along with the possible dangers in democracy thus including the belief that democracy had a possibility to degenerate into the phenomena which he called as mild despotism. He also noted through his works the strong role that religion played in America and that it had arisen mostly because of its separation from the US government (Tocqueville 9). Tocqueville asserts that only true enlightenment is important for the survival of democracy in America, and it is this that the education in the country focuses to prepare the citizens. He said that “although a democratic government is founded upon a very simple and natural principle, it always presupposes the existence of a high degree of culture and enlightenment in society.” (Tocqueville, 156) This is because he says that in the US, “informed popular sovereignty” is required for a prudent government. Tocqueville specifies a difference between civic education and scholastic education, insisting that while the former should be an integral part of American democracy, the latter can be detrimental to the democratic society. Tocqueville emphasized the point that democracy, in general, encourages scholastic education among the masses, and this creates individualism in the minds of Americans which in turn paves the way for dictatorship. So, he feels scholastic education essentially erodes democracy. He claimed that the American political institutions offer the chance of the civic education that can negate the negative effects of scholastic education. Tocqueville looks at democracy and aristocracy as social states rather than political systems. According to him, social states are human communities that are tied together by a bunch of social relations, and more specifically in social states, the individuals have the rights and privileges to work within those communities. Tocqueville focuses on aristocracy and democracy as two forms of states. Aristocracy means rigidity in the social system and belief inconstancy of the world of ideas, while democracy has more liberal views on the world of ideas. Although he has no doubt about the transition from aristocracy to democracy, his concern is about how the transition will happen with or without revolution. The writings by Tocqueville seem to have a life of its own. It acts as a very influential text in the new world countries like Australia. The writing serves as a moral inspiration along with the constitution. The political commentators very often associate the development of American political and social life from Tocqueville's readings. Tocqueville highlighted his concerns about the race relations, despotism as well as the potential of wealth to the corrupt politics of the American society. The neoconservatives replicate their philosophies and political thoughts with that of Tocqueville. Tocqueville emphasized that religion is an apex influence which dominates the mind of people and the political elites. He also reflected a societal structure of the then America where there were smaller producing units along with simpler consumption patterns but still, personal responsibility meant a lot to the society. His piece is recognized for strengthening the position of self-recognition of the people of the United States in a global forefront. He believed that making public charity or welfare creates nothing but increases idleness. This notion is strongly captured within the logical superstructure of the proponents of neoconservatism. In the political expansion of modernity, Tocqueville stated that reconciliation of democracy and freedom is an utmost necessity. He states that for instance, ‘The free institutions which the inhabitants of the United States possess, and the political rights of which they make so much use, remind every citizen, in a thousand ways, that he lives in society' (p. 180). Tocqueville was ahead of his times and conveyed his message at a juncture when the democratic values were at their nascent or embryonic stage. The seeds of liberal democracy can be said to be germinating from his ideas within the West and gradually dispersed among various political cultures of the world. He also connected the attributes of patriotism vehemently with the roots of an individual's birthplace. He states that ancestral traditions of the past infuse within the people the love for their country similarly as they love their mansions of their fathers. The people are infused with awakened feeling and remain pleased within a domain of obedience which they cherish. He also states that patriotism is itself a religion which evolves out from the impulses of faith and sentiments. He stated that this patriotism in this form will actually save the country in critical circumstances and will avoid the state in declining amongst peace (Tocqueville 178). The second of the counter theories to the Letters from an American Farmer was provided by Notes on the State of Virginia, the only published book of Thomas Jefferson, the second president of USA and also one of the founders of the Declaration of the Independence. Thomas Jefferson was provided with a series of questionnaires about his beloved state America. In his Notes, Jefferson had recounted most of the policies which he had implemented while he was an officer in the Virginia Assembly in the later years of the 1770s. In addition to that, he had produced an encyclopedia or a collection on different aspects of the region, highlighting it's environmental, the geographical and the historical aspects. This was done by mixing several architectural, different archeological as well as climatic observations. The defense for agrarianism was the only single feature in the set of the conspicuous social theories which Jefferson had advanced in the Notes. The most striking of these consisted of his remarks about the relative features of the black people, native people and the white populations living in Virginia. While Jefferson had believed in the native and the white populations to be socially and intellectually comparable, he regarded the blacks to be inferior to the whites with regard to the endowments consisting of both the body and the mind (Jefferson 120). Jefferson had viewed these forms of inherent differences seen between the blacks and the whites as sufficient for making abolition impracticable (Jefferson 2-3).He stated that blacks require less sleep. The blacks are hard workers who after a hard labor throughout the day will be induced by the slightest amusement and keep awakened despite they are aware that they will have to be up by morning. The blacks are at least brave and adventurous. But this attitude is not praiseworthy. In case of love also they are more enthusiastic but their love appears to be more of an eager desire rather than a soft amalgamation of sentiments and sensation. According to Jefferson, the existence of the blacks appears to participate more of a sensation rather than reflection. Although he had supported and had even encouraged, the intermixing of the native and the white blood, Jefferson presumed the miscegenation between the blacks and the whites to be sort of a crime committed against nature. For this assumption, Jefferson did not hesitate and also could not see any other form of the solution but to relocate the blacks in any other place away from the American country. This was thought to be a form of massive relocation program that had effectively repopulated the slavery coast of Africa. Comparing the Letters from an American Farmer with the Democracy in America On reading Crevecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer, the most notable thing that would come up is that the opinion from the point of view of a Frenchman for the United States was quite high even if considered form the lowest level of perception. While explaining his love for the American continent, and what he personally felt it meant to be "an American", Crevecoeur had drawn remarkable comparisons between the Europeans and the Americans. One of the first points he brings up is the diversity of your typical American. "They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes." (Crevecoeur 51). Crevecoeur believed that this form of melting pot, and the "strange mixture of blood" (Crevecoeur 54) among the colonists, was somehow responsible in being one of the reasons for making America such a progressive as well as a diverse nation. Crevecoeur provided a clear description of the typical form of colonial town: "Here he beholds fair cities, substantial villages, extensive fields, an immense country filled with decent houses, good roads, orchards, meadows, and bridges..." (Crevecoeur 48). Crevecoeur had also depicted American cultivation as "...in Europe they were as so many useless plants, wanting vegetative mold and refreshing showers; they withered and were mowed down by want, hunger, and war; but now by the power of transplantation, like all other plants they have taken root and flourished!" (Crevecoeur 52). In addition to this, Crevecoeur had much praises for those who lived in the middle settlements in their "indulgences in government" (Crevecoeur 57), knowledge of the religions, and a desire to be the citizens who would be involved with the American government. On the other side, Europe was lacking in all these types. "What do I say? Europe has no such class of men; the early knowledge they acquire, the early bargains they make, give them a great degree of sagacity." (Crevecoeur 57). Crevecoeur had also believed that American culture offered opportunities even to the unlucky fellows a chance to gather wealth and happiness. "Can a wretch who wanders about, who works and starves, whose life is a continual scene of sore affliction or pinching penury, can that man call England or any other kingdom his country?", "a country that had no bread for him...", "who met with nothing but frowns from the rich...", "No! Urged by a variety of motives, where they came." (Crevecoeur 52). Opportunities were, according to Crevecoeur, more in America in comparison to others - and this was the main reason why many people chose to immigrate to the country without any second thought. The book Democracy in America focused on the line that democracy in the government would be established only by allowing sovereignty for the majority. "The very essence of government consists in the absolute sovereignty of the majority; for there is nothing in democratic states which is capable of resisting it" (Tocqueville 186). He stated that the main form of evil in the present democratic institutions of America had arisen from its overpowering strength. "In my opinion the main evil of the present democratic institutions of the United States does not arise, as is often asserted in Europe, from their weakness, but from their overpowering strength; and I am not so much alarmed at the excessive liberty which reigns in that country, as at the very inadequate securities which exist against tyranny." (Tocqueville 191). Instead of this form, Tocqueville had favored a form of government where the legislators would retain a certain level of authority. " If, on the other hand, a legislative power could be so constituted as to represent the majority without necessarily being the slave of its passions; an executive so as to retain a certain degree of uncontrolled authority; and a judiciary, so as to remain independent of the two other powers; a government would be formed which would still be democratic, without incurring any risk tyrannical abuse" (Tocqueville 192). Tocqueville was of the opinion that there were the majority of the people in their perpetual form of practice of self-applause, and certain forms of truths which the Americans could only learn from the strangers or from outside experience. He stressed that there were many reasons as to why democracy was viable in the American continent. "Their ancestors gave them the love of equality and of freedom; but God himself gave them the means of remaining equal and free, by placing them upon a boundless continent, which is open to their exertions" (Tocqueville 211). Comparison of the Letters from an American Farmer with Notes on the State of Virginia Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia was a proposal for the emancipation of the slaves in Virginia. Jefferson claimed that these emancipated people should be sent back to their native colonies as a free and independent people. He was particularly concerned about the differences in their features (Jefferson 120). He thought black people to be inferior to the whites (Jefferson 239). Jefferson's views about slavery and the blacks were composite. At one point he thought the blacks to be naturally inferior to the other races, but later on, concluded that servitude might have made an impact on their capabilities. He had advocated for the private citizens to get them the right to set their slaves free but was unsuccessful. Later he had introduced a bill that barred blacks from living in the state. Jefferson was found to be reluctant in revealing his religious sentiments before the public, but even then he would be speaking on religion reflecting it on public administration (Jefferson 262-263). Jefferson was also based on his notions of slavery which he felt must be separated on the basis of race. "Deep rooted prejudices entertained by whites; ten thousands recollection by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocation; the real distinction which nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsion, which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race" (Jefferson 229). Thomas Jefferson was regarded to act as a negative influence for old America along with the portrayal of being a bad influence as he expanded and had reshaped America with his dubious concepts of slavery and racism. As his reasoning and logic were mostly hypocritical and biased with regard to slavery and racism as well as human intelligence his contributions cannot be taken to be in the positive light for social or political issues. Conclusion On comparing the three writings it can be seen that each of the three authors tried to capture the interests that would be the best for their people. There were certain dissimilarities too. As was apparent in the Letters from an American Farmer where the author Crèvecoeur's idea was that intermixing between the colonies could make the American culture stronger as intermixing would lead to greater form of expansion in thoughts and ideas but in Notes on the State of Virginia Thomas Jefferson presumed the mixing between the blacks and the whites to be unnatural. Crèvecoeur belied that America could provide ample opportunities to the people for their prosperity while Tocqueville in his book Democracy in America opined that there must be limited and controlled power resting with the legislators. Thomas Jefferson was of the idea that the intelligence and capacity of a person are governed by his skin color and race. He was against slavery in all forms but his propagation against slavery was not very appealing. He had also got a bill sanctioned about making the American continent completely free of the black people a move that would be considered to be highly unjustified in today's time. American culture as perceived by Crèvecoeur was very liberal and accepting in nature but the way it had been depicted by Jefferson, it was very unacceptable and hypocritical in its essence. Tocqueville sought the sovereignty for the people of America. He campaigned for a democratic form of government in the country. His comments and his criticisms have become an important piece of work notable in American politics. He highlighted several features that would be achievable forma democratic government. This was also inconsistency with the theories of Crèvecoeur where he had mentioned about a harmonious form of relationship between different people. He had also spoken on the importance of religion in his texts. Thus we can say there are certain similarities and points of dissimilarities on how the "The American Experience" was perceived by Crèvecoeur in comparison with that of Tocqueville and Jefferson. Works Cited Crevecoeur, J Hector St John de. Letters from an American Farmer.J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd, 2007. Print. Jefferson, Thomas, Notes on the State of Virginia. 1787. Print.  Tocqueville, Alexis De, Democracy in America (Volumes 1 and 2, Unabridged). Digireads.com Publishing, 2007 Read More