Why is America the melting pot for the world.
Crevecoeur was born in France and he then came to America, so he knew what it was like to live in America especially New York City were people from all over came for work and a good life. Throughout his essay “What is an American”, Crevecoeur explains his thoughts on America and the idea of it being a melting pot for all different kinds of people since he could see all kinds of people come together in this city of New York for work. He writes his essay to get across the point that America has many promises to living there, and how free America was. He wants to express to people that the ideal of America was the starting point for hard work, dreams, new life. Crevecoeur wants people to understand that America was not a land as Europe, of kings, nobles, lords, etc., and that it was a land of hard work, new experiences, and many possibilities. He wants to explain that America turns people from their old tradition ways of doing things to a new redesigned way by new laws, new ways of living, new views of success, and ultimately hard work, but they do hold on to some early America traditions because it made America what it is today. He says that America is a nation of good work, good living, freedom, pride, selfishness, industry, and religious indifference and religious freedom. Most of all he, Crevecoeur, wants to explain why America is the “melting pot” of the world.
In an article written by James Bishop, he discusses Crevecoeur’s letter he wrote while he was in America. He talks about how great America’s nationalism and that it is so much different than other parts of the world. For example, he says “The clash between “refined” Europe and “rude” America, the disunity of pastoralism and frontier ideology, and the vexed relationship between reason and emotion” (Bishop). He explains the idea to us that America is seen as different to other parts of the world, but how America has such different views. “Cruel Nature” is the primary creative force in human a airs, and human interaction and structures of feeling are merely its derivatives” (Osborne). He points out America is known as a rude nation not by what American is, but more of the people in America.
Bishop talks about how in Crevecoeur’s letters talks about what it means to be a man in America. Not only does Crevecoeur’s letters talk about the identity of men in America, Crevecoeur also carries that idea over in his essay. Crevecoeur said, “The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions” (Crevecoeur). For example, he is saying that by living in America you get a new start to life, and new sense of living. As in his essay, “What is an American” he discusses that America is made up of all kinds of working people. For example, Crevecoeur says “Americans are “tillers of the earth,” “a people of cultivators,” where “each person works for himself” (Crevecoeur). He discusses how America is a working nation which is why he writes his letters from the view of an American farmer. Crevecoeur said America is an agricultural land; America is the hard working because of people working that is what got it to be the great nation it is today.
America is not only a hard working nation, but the American people and people from other parts of the world saw America as a nation of change. Crevecoeur explains how there is three groups of different people in America and one idea that is keeping America from being able to change, there are the Natives Americans, Frontier people, Slaves and Factories. He explains how each of these ideas are part of America’s ideology, and there are also other ideas like wars that are now part of America’s ideology. In an article written by Fichtelberg, he says “For a generation now, the reigning causal view of the war has been involved in a particular use of ideology” (Fichtelberg). He is saying that because of the American Revolution that happened; Americans have held that war as part of who they are as Americans and because of the war it has changed the nation as a whole. In his essay, Crevecoeur points this out by saying that America has grew away from the European rule that were once under and began their own nation. He said that Americans have new rules while making a new form of living for the people who settle here in America. Fichtelberg also points out that the ideology of America cannot be summed up by a few simple words in has a bigger meaning. This is also clear in what Crevecoeur points out in his essay that America is a place of unlimited possibilities.
With being a nation of change people, like Crevecoeur, need to understand some of the basic traditions in the early history of America. In an article the author, Lamore, points out that Crevecoeur writes these letters based on views from an American farmer James. In the article Lamore points out that “Crevecoeur was steeped in the ancient classical tradition” (Lamore). He points this out because he is trying to tell people that Crevecoeur looked back on early American history to find these ancient traditions. Crevecoeur talks about how his farmer, James, does his farming based on these traditions of early American farming while he said James also does new ways of farming. This is yet another reason for America being a melting pot for the world because America still has early American traditions the nation uses.
Ultimately, America is a melting pot because of the freedom America gives the people that live there. In an article by Rice he talks how Franklin tried to figure out why people wanted to live here in America. Rice said, “Franklin turned to Crevecoeur as a representative voice of the American agrarian” (Rice) He explains how he turns to Crevecoeur letters to understand the freedoms that America gives its people. In Crevecoeur’s essay, he says “The American ought therefore to love this country much better than that wherein either he or his forefathers were born” (Crevecoeur). For example, he is saying that the American people should have a sense of pride for the land they live in because of the freedom the land gives. Crevecoeur also states that “The laws, the indulgent laws, protect them as they arrive” (Crevecoeur). He means that America does not play around when it comes to protecting their citizens. This is yet another reason why America is known as the melting pot because of the way it protects its people.
America is the melting pot for people to come, live, and start a new life for many reasons. Many scholars note that America is a nation that has changed over the years as a whole nation. It is a nation rich in ancient history, a nation of changing society, a place that has a strong ideology, a place where people can come to have a new start, a place a work, and a place of freedom and protection. Crevecoeur wrote this essay “What is an American” because he knew what it was like to experience change, and that people needed to be thankful and have a sense of pride it what they have here in America. Crevecoeur wrote this whole essay to try to get people to understand the reasons why America was a melting pot for the whole world. The essay is best summed up in the sentence that an American should be full of new starts, new beings, and new life.