The New American

It was suggested by De Crevecoeur’s ‘Letters of an American
farmer’ that American’s were hard workers and this is supported by the point
that; “they have no wages; each draws a certain established share in
partnership with the proprietor of the vessel; by which economy they are all
proportionably concerned in the success of the enterprise, and all equally
alert and vigilant”[1] therefore,
this demonstrates the point they are hardworking because the citizens are happy
to work hard because they know they have to in order to have a better quality
of life.
Furthermore, this view of American’s is still recognisably
seen across the globe, which is one of the reasons many immigrants are moving
there and American’s still look at themselves as hardworking citizens; “Despite the stress, despite the lack
of time for family, friends and other interests, millions of American
professionals are working harder and putting in longer hours than ever.”[2]
Another aspect that
De Crevecoeur suggests is that in the eighteenth century they were working hard
for survival as well as the prospects of a better life; “the fathers of
numerous families can afford: as the wife’s fortune consists principally in her
future economy, modesty, and skilful management, so the husband’s is founded on
his abilities to labour, on his health, and the knowledge of some trade or
business.”1 Therefore, this demonstrates that
they were working hard to help provide for their families, which is still the
case today for many families; “One powerful force behind the changes is
technology, which has blurred the line between time at work and time away — in
many cases creating the expectation that employees should be working all the
time: On their cell phones commuting to work, on their laptops and home
computers in the evenings and on weekends.”2 More over
this merely indicates that people are not just working during the week, but
even after they have finished their shifts they are still expected to work or
at least be on call during their own time as well. Thus allowing them to try
and provide for their families as they are putting in extra hours to enable
them to earn enough money to buy not only food but other necessities as well.
However, it wasn’t
just hard work that De Crevecoeur stated about American’s as he also mentions
them to be very religious people; “A clergyman settled a few years ago at George-town,
and feeling as I do now, warmly recommended to the planters, from the pulpit, a
relaxation of severity; he introduced the benignity of Christianity, and
pathetically made use of the admirable precepts of that system to melt the
hearts of his congregation into a greater degree of compassion toward their
slaves than had been hitherto customary.”1 Religion
is still a very important aspect of the American’s life as it allows various
people to come together as a group: “The USA is a very religious
society. Evidence abounds demonstrating Americans' deep and abiding religious
convictions.”[3]
From this I can see that even in today’s society the same values
and principles that American’s had in the eighteenth century are still applied
and are still core values in the way the American lives in the twenty first
century.
[1]
Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer, Oxford World’s Classics, 2009
[2]http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93398&page=1
[3]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wtwtgod/3518221.stm