Which two sentences support the claim that Americans have greater equality than people in other countries? adapted from "What is an American7" in Letters from an American Farmer
by J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur
I wish I could be acquainted with the feelings and thoughts which must agitate the heart and present themselves to the mind of an enlightened
Englishman, when he first lands on this continent. He must greatly rejoice that he lived at a time to see this fair country discovered and settled;
he must necessarily feel a share of national pride, when he views the chain of settlements which embellishes these extended shores. When he
says to himself, this is the work of my countrymen, who, when convulsed by factions, afflicted by a variety of miseries and wants, restless and
impatient, took refuge here. They brought along with them their national genius, to which they principally owe what liberty they enjoy, and what
substance they possess.
Here he sees the industry of his native country displayed in a new manner, and traces in their works the embryos of all the arts, sciences, and
ingenuity which flourish in Europe,
Here he beholds fair cities, substantial villages, extensive fields, an immense country filled with decent houses, good roads, orchards, meadows,
and bridges, where an hundred years ago all was wild, woody and uncultivated!
What a train of pleasing ideas this fair spectacle must suggest; it is a prospect which must inspire a good citizen with the most heartfelt pleasure.
The difficulty consists in the manner of viewing so extensive a scene. He is arrived on a new continent; a modern society offers itself to his
contemplation, different from what he had hitherto seen. It is not composed, as in Europe, of great lords who possess everything and of a herd of
people who have nothing. Here 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. Some few towns excepted, we are all tillers of the earth, from Nova Scotia to West Florida.
We are a people of cultivators, scattered over an immense territory communicating with each other by means of good roads and navigable rivers,
united by the silken bands of mild government, all respecting the laws, without dreading their power, because they are equitable
We are all animated with the spirit of an industry which is unfettered and unrestrained, because each person works for himself.
if he travels through our rural districts he views not the hostile castle, and the haughty mansion, contrasted with the clay-built hut and miserable
cabin, where cattle and men help to keep each other warm and dwell in meanness, smoke, and indigence.
A pleasing uniformity of decent competence appears throughout our habitations. The meanest of our log-houses is a dry and comfortable
habitation. Lawyer or merchant are the fairest titles our towns afford; that of a farmer is the only appellation of the rural inhabitants of our
country.
We have no princes for whom we toil, starve, and bleed: we are the most perfect society now existing in the world. Here man is free; as he
ought to be; nor is this pleasing equality so transitory as many others are
Many ages will not see the shores of our great lakes replenished with inland nations, nor the unknown bounds of North America entirely
peopled
Who can tell how far it extends? Who can tell the millions of men whom it will feed and contain? For no European foot has as yet travelled half
the extent of this mighty continent