The Liberty Bell
In 1755, J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur left his native France for the New World. He eventually became an American farmer in New York. In 1782, he shared his insights into what he believed an American to be in a collection of writings published as Letters from an American Farmer:
What then is the American, this new man? He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. 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. He becomes an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. Americans are the western pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigor, and industry which began long since in the East; they will finish the great circle. The Americans were once scattered all over Europe; here they are incorporated into one of the finest systems of population which has ever appeared, and which will hereafter become distinct by the power of the different climates they inhabit. The American ought therefore to love this country much better than that wherein either he or his forefathers were born. Here the rewards of his industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labor; his labor is founded on the basis of nature, self-interest: can it want a stronger allurement? Wifes and children, who before in vain demanded of him a morsel of bread, now, fat and frolicsome, gladly help their father to clear those fields whence exuberant crops are to arise to feed and to clothe them all; without any part being claimed, either by a despotic prince, a rich abbot, or a mighty lord. Here religion demands but little of him; a small voluntary salary to the minister, and gratitude to God; can he refuse these? 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.
St. John de Crevecoeur uses the word “new” multiple times. When he wrote these words, it was difficult to understand just how different the American way of thinking was from the rest of world history. Various forms of tyranny and its devaluation of the individual had always been the world order of the day.
The focus on the liberty and dignity of the individual was new. Charting your own destiny, free of the arbitrary whims of a distant ruler, was new. The ability to gain economically from your own efforts and risk-taking was new. The ability to speak out against your ruler and practice your chosen religion without fear of persecution was new. The declaration that our rights come from God was not only new but revolutionary.
While our history, culture, and Constitution are some of the factors that unite us, our love of liberty makes us Americans. The belief that freedom belongs to all people.
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