In Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s essay “What is an American?” he attempts to describe American’s as a diverse people from many different walks of life. He describes how people came to this country to find freedom from an oppressive caste-like system. Europeans came to this country to find a new life far away from their kings, churches, and countrymen. Here, they found tolerance and a new way of life… and a new and ever-changing identity.

This new race of people was strong, hardworking, and risk-taking. They had a real need to leave Europe. The countries they left were stagnant and unchanging. Their kings were oppressive. The rich got richer and the poor stayed poor. These people had nothing in the countries they left:

“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, whose fields procured him no harvest, who met with nothing but the frowns of the rich, the severity of the laws, with jails and punishments; who owned not a single foot of the extensive surface of this planet? No! Urged b

These people had nothing to lose and everything to gain by coming to this country.

“Here there are no aristocratical families, no courts, no kings, no bishops, no ecclesiastical dominion, no invisible power giving to a few a very visible one; no great manufacturers employing thousands, no great refinements of luxury. The rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe.” (p 59)

The attitudes of the new Americans, with their new blood and lack of “ancient prejudices,” gave rise to the country we live in today. That speaks for all immigrants who come to this country today. America opens itself to people of all walks of life. This is a practice that has not changed from the beginning of our history.

The people that came to this country were more than just English, French, and Dutch. They were a diverse mix of many people, from many lands, with many different values and beliefs. “…they are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes. From this promiscuous breed, that race now called Americans have arisen.” (pp 59-60)

Some topics in this essay:
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