After America was found by Columbus, the land had been developed and people became more civilized. In the beginning, Americanness referred to the Europeans who settled to this land of opportunities to leave behind their old way of living and start a new life. America had the ideology of “the city upon the hill” and “American dream” which mean it was a place with equality and that other people should look up to. It is the melting pot of different people and culture from all around the world. Now, America is a land that has the most variety of people from different origin and America became a superpower. Equality is what has shaped America the way it is now. Three authors; Crèvecoeur, Paine, and Tyler, described Americans as hard-working and independent people and also showed other perspectives of Americanness through the characters.
Americans are happy working people. From Letters from an American Farmer, the author, J.Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur offered the ideal of What it is to be American. European thought of America as a rich country and they are ignorant of all the science. At the beginning of the American civilization, Benjamin Franklin suggested that people who would remove to America should be “heartly young laboring men” who are willing to work in minimum wages and people who are industrious. They thought the aristocrats would be highly esteemed and well paid. However, America was a country for the middle class or working people. They called it “a happy mediocrity” which means a material equality. They looked for people who have skills, especially in mechanic arts. “American is the land of labor,” Franklin said. From the passage from The Letters from an American Farmer, “Here are no aristocratical families, no courts, no kings, no bishops, no ecclesiastical dominion, no visible power giving to a few very visible one; no great manufacturers employing thousands, no great refinements of luxury,” when European people move to America, they started fresh and they are all equal. The gap between rich and poor was smaller than in Europe. There was no hierarchy. It was different from Europe. Crèvecoeur was an Englishman who had settled in America. He described that most people lived comfortably in a modest house.
The industriousness of new settlers from different places helped the country growing. Wherever they were from, they were equal and can be successful through hard work. People from different cultures and countries such as England, France, Holland, or, Germany gave up their origin and embraced the new life, new country, new government, new land, and a new race of men. “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.” (Crèvecoeur, 638) The country is a melting pot of each culture that makes what America is. In addition, Crèvecoeur defined an American as a European who came to American with skills to have a good life. They are hard-working people. “Americans are the western pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that great mass of arts, science, vigor, and industry which began long since the east…The American ought, therefore, to love this country much better than that wherein either he or his forefathers were born.” (Crèvecoeur, 638) Crèvecoeur also described where the settlers lived influenced their behavior. For example, people who lived in the middle tended to be more civilized than people who lived in the forests. People who lived near the woods were remote from the government and they were considered in a perfect state of war. “…where men are wholly left dependent on their native tempers and on the spur of uncertain industry… There, remote from the power of example and check of shame, many families exhibit the most hideous parts of our society.” (Crèvecoeur 640) Crèvecoeur thought people who live in the woods are the worst kind of people.
Thomas Paine described that America was a place of freedom, free of the government and royal hierarchy. The American society, in Paine’s view, did not need government as long as people are working together. People were born to have equal rights and no segregation in social status. This reflected the view of the American dream that Americans are free and have equal opportunities to succeed. In the beginning, American still under the power of Great Britain. Some people thought it was good to be a part of Britain while Paine thought it was a bad idea. Paine believed that Americans can live without the government. Pained convinced that being a part of Britain would give Americans no advantage. “Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imposed goods must be paid for buy them where we will.”(Paine 686) This shows that Americans wanted independent. Staying with Britain did not reflect the image of the city upon the hill. “The Reformation was preceded by the discovery of America: as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety” Moreover, Pained gave emotional reasoning to people who wanted to stay with Britain. “Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your face?… But if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, then you unworthy the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever maybe your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward and the spirit of a sycophant.”
From the characters in The Contrast, they reflected what Americanness looked like and show who would succeed in the society. The Contrast was the first play written by an American, Royall Tyler. In the Prologue of The Contrast, it was written about celebrating the Americanness. America is the land of freedom and they should have its own art or play. It said that we could have as good plays as in Europe and if we failed, at least we tried. The character that reflected the typical American women in the past the most is Maria. In the past, women had little or no right to do what they want. In this case, Maria was forced to marry the rich, Dimple. Maria had to obey her father’s order no matter what. The accuse that her father said was “be a good girl, mind the chance, and never mind inclination” (Tyler 808) which meant marrying the rich would give Maria the financial advantage and her father did not care about her happiness. Women were seen as weak and soft creatures that always need protection from men. If women were strong, they would be considered disgusting. “Reputation is the life of women; yet courage to protect it, is masculine and disgusting; and the only safe asylum a woman of delicacy can find, is in the arms of a man of honor.” (Tyler 807) If the women were seduced, they would have no place in the society. People would judge them even though it was or was not the women’s faults. Since most of the rich characters like Dimple were portrayed as a bad person or a player, most women liked “the man in a uniform” who was strong and able to protect and respect them. Manly, another main character who was a minister, was a complete opposite to Dimple. He was a kind of person that really loved his own country and was willing to work without worrying about money. He would fight for the right thing. He was one of the representations of the Americanness while Dimple was not as he criticized American play, worshiped the European arts, and viewed Manly as “an unpolished, untraveled American.”(Tyler 840) However, in the end, Tyler showed that Manly got marriage with Maria and he was the kind of American that usually succeeded in life. Another Americanness in The Contrast is how Americans followed European fashion or sometimes tried to be too civilized. For example, Maria strived fashion without thinking about the appropriateness just because someone said it was the most fashionable while Manly was still an old-fashion man criticizing that Americans were not good at embracing European-ness. “In America, the cry is, what is the fashion? and we follow it, indiscriminately, because it is so.” (Tyler 814) America needed to set their own example for the world.
From these three authors, we have seen the growth of America and what is the Americanness. Since America is a place of freedom, American people seem to be independent and hard-working. Having no king made Americans all equal. The settles came and achieved American dream since they had a place to stay and there was no big financial difference in each person. Therefore, People had equal opportunities and those who are more hard-working have better chances to succeed.