Letters from an American Farmer Essay

Arguing that the majority of farmers during the Great Depression benefitted from the government policies produced through President Roosevelt’s New Deal is an inaccurate claim. While history textbooks highlight the improvement of finances for people in rural areas in the United States of America, the personal experiences of family farmers contradict those textbooks. Writers of textbooks about American history should consider looking further into the delicate topic of how the Great Depression effected common farm families. In the West, farmers endured the Dust Bowl. In the North, people in rural areas competed to make a profit. Although statistics show the most economic damage of the Great Depression beginning at the end of 1929, small farm families refer to the effects of the Depression dating back as early as 1925 since government policies mostly benefitted large farm industries as small farms were forced to foreclose.

Although the present day American is a totally a different person, at the close of the Revolutionary War the same individual was a European immigrant impacted by the nature of the American continent. In St. Jean de Crevecoeur’s perspective, an American is a race that results from a mixture of Swedes, Dutch, French, Irish, Scotch, and Englishmen (48). This race consists of unique type of people who are not governed by laws as strict as they experienced in Europe. They are a breed of people who had no home and no country in Europe. This paper discusses what the American was thought to be, in view of St. Jean de Crevecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer.

As the population of the young United States increased more and more people hungry mouths were asking for food. Farmers had to keep up with new technology but there were also many setbacks in government policy and economic conditions. In the period of 1865-1900, there were many ways in which technology, government policy, and economic conditions changed early American agriculture.

For my journal, I am examining the second and third paragraphs on page two of J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s essay, “What is an American.” Using persuasive strategies, de Crevecoeur examines “that race now called Americans” (2), juxtaposing their former experiences in Europe with those upon arrival “on a new continent” (1). In this passage, de Crevecoeur anticipates the notion of America as a “melting pot,” while establishing the foundation of the concept of the American Dream.

Within the written piece “What is an American?” by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, the reader is introduced to an unique perspective of an American. Written in 1781, it offers a surprising amount of insight into the times and the realities of a poor immigrant, while still being comprehensible for those who have never had to experience the struggle of immigrants. The ever complex definition of an American is given by those who do not abide by the typical American standards.

The turn of the century was perhaps one of the most interesting times in the agricultural scene of America. The turn from the 1800s to the 1900s sparked a technological revolution that extended not just to urban environments, but to rural areas and farmers. Farmers found the majority of this revolution in the 1920s and 1930s, a time when machinery was revitalized in order to make the farming industry easier. Before this time, farmers will still using horses to do their farm work, so the introduction of machines was absolutely life-changing for the farming industry.

J. Hector St. John de Crévecoeur, a French aristocrat who traveled across the American colonies and purchased a farm in New York, defines Americans in a passage from his 1782 collection of essays entitled Letters from an American Farmer. To the readers of this passage from Letters, Crévecoeur argues for colonial American society and handles this topic with a subjective and passionate tone.

The definition of what America is, and furthermore what an American is, has been eternally elusive. However, it can be reasonably said that the vision of America rests upon freedom of expression, the right to property, and self-determination. These ideas are explored in one European’s examination of American agricultural society in the late 18th century. Letters from an American Farmer by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur illustrates the gilded nature of the early vision of America; one that appears to be simplistic and based in freedom, but lies on a foundation of oppression and greed.

The California Future Farmers of America (FFA) is an organization “committed to the individual student, [by] providing a path to achievement in premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education (“National FFA Organization, 2016). These goals are the driving force behind the California FFA as they reveal their most important assets: people and relationships. The structure of the California FFA is extremely organized, operating like an efficient machine, the key components of this student-run organization are their complex combination of vertical and lateral structuring, as well as their philosophy to create a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their leadership skills.

What does it mean to be an American? In today's day and age, the general perception of an American is to be free, free to practice any religion, free to speak your mind, free in general. However, America has only been able to be perceived as a promised land due to the obstacles and barriers that have been challenged by early Americans. From having to accept others religious beliefs to the abolishment of slavery. A good example is J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer (1782). Letters from an American Farmer is a collection of twelve letters written from the perspective of a fictional character. These letters do a magnificent job at emphasizing on how America is similar to the environment and the people who feed

willing to have low marginal cost or make absolutely nothing. Another reason was storage, the owners of these companies dominated the industry allowing them to charge whatever prices they want. For many it was too high and they were not able to afford it given they were already struggling to keep their property, “Changes in the Midwest farming between the earl 1800s and the present day are numerous, for example 90% of Americans lived and worked on the farms in the 1800s, then by the early 1900s that number had dropped to forty percent. Today, only two percent of Americans live and work on farms” (Arago, Web). The effect was that all farmers that could not keep up with the cost had to move away into urbanization. Due to the harsh conditions

During the past 239 years there have been major events that have converted the commonly named American to what they are known as today. Throughout time it can be easily observed that the term “An American” has been altered quite extensively. With major events happening, it is obvious the term has transformed. Nevertheless, do the people of the United States truly know what their identity has developed into? Major events such as the Civil War and the modified respect for some genders and immigrants have all converted the way an American is viewed by different countries and by how Americans view themselves.

The issue of immigration in America has caused a major controversial uproar, such as whether or not immigrants have the right to become legal citizens of America and participate in what most citizens take advantage of, like voting and have a driver’s license. Some Americans believe that no one should be allowed to come to America to live because of the fear of minorities trying to take over. While others believe there is nothing wrong with the idea, and that should be given the right to become a citizen of America. Issitt (2016) said, “Immigration refers to the movement of persons from one nation or region to another with the purpose of seeking permanent residence.” According to this view immigrants deserve rights as a citizen if the desire

“Hey mom, what is for supper tonight?” “Oh I don’t know son, what do you feel like eating?” “Well, I think I would really like to eat some steak and mashed potatoes and maybe some green beans; but first off we could start with a nice fresh salad and finish up with a rhubarb pie.”

I woke up before my alarm. A distant square of eerie half-twilight from the window held the familiar outline of the locust tree. In the dark, I fumbled to dress without waking my parents. I slipped outside.