24 January 2014

The American Character

The American who emerges from these pages is already - as St. John de Crevecoeur wrote at the time - a new man. He is independent; he is impatient of discipline; he hopelessly mixes up military, economic and social activities. He is equalitarian, and has little patience with those who claim to be his superiors. He is ambitious and avaricious, and much given to speculation and to getting ahead. He is literate, takes an active part in the business of politics, and carries into camp the habits of self-government. He does not like fighting for its own sake, but fights well when he has to; he has little use for the military hierarchy, and bucks like a colt against taking orders.

He is ingenious and practical; prefers a stone wall to an open field, and a timely retreat to a foolhardy advance. He is young and tough, survives hardships and diseases that would wipe out his more vulnerable descendants; he lives simply and unaffectedly. He is on the whole cheerful and good-humored, decent and honest; commits few crimes against person (unless they are Indians [native Americans in this context - Ed.]) and, unless our sources deceive us by prudish silence, has a relatively high standard of sexual morality. He is vaguely religious, and already certain that there is a benign Providence whose chief concern is with him and his country.
~ Introduction, The Spirit of 'Seventy-Six, Commager & Morris, referring to  writings, letters and pamphlets of the pre-Revolutionary War period.

Remarkably similar, in many respects, to contemporary conservative Americans, although an unbiased observer might also note that they were ahead of us in a couple of areas. Certainly they endured hardship that most of us would not like to face.

What say you?

11 comments:

Stephen said...

I say that is a fine piece of writing and I agree with you.

Rev. Paul said...

Thanks, Stephen. I know it describes my life-long attitude pretty well, too, except for the "vaguely religious" part. I know God has a much bigger job than just concern about America, too. :)

ProudHillbilly said...

I think the hardships they endured were not something they liked to face any more than we do. It's just that it was so much a part of their lives and they accepted that and just got on with it rather than whinging on about their lot or trying to get someone else to take care of them.

Rev. Paul said...

Agreed. They spent a LOT more time just getting what they needed to survive than we do. Making do for themselves was hard work, and we've forgotten in two generations.

PioneerPreppy said...

Too bad they had to ruin it with the Native American schtick. I would also take exception to the Indians being an exception. On the contrary historically speaking and despite a number of underhanded dealings (not all one sided BTW) Americans treated Indians better overall than most other expanding peoples ever treated the different tribes they ran into along the way. Why we still are treating them better.

Rev. Paul said...

I understand what you say, Preppy. The book was written 55 years ago, give or take, but they were taking their notes from period publications. Of course, that doesn't mean they didn't assign their own opinion of what they read, to what they wrote.

PioneerPreppy said...

55 years ago is about when all that started more or less especially among the early progressive professors and the like so that makes sense.

Cathy said...

Just those introductory paragraphs make me proud to be an American. And a little sad . . that so many, now-a-days . . fall so short of this heady appraisal of the those early Americans.

Rev. Paul said...

I'm right there with you, Cathy. I fit so well into most of that description, and have to work hard not to despise those who have forsaken our heritage.

Cathy said...

" . . . have to work hard not to despise . . ."
really, really hard . . .
and I fear I've failed . . .

Rev. Paul said...

Cathy, I didn't say I'd succeeded, either.