Letters from an American Farmer by Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur provides a perspective on American life in the late 18th century through a series of letters. The letters celebrate the American Dream and idealized vision of America as a land of opportunity but also showcase Crèvecœur's anti-slavery views. One letter contrasts the festivities in Charleston with the unseen misery of slaves who endure hardship, torture, and incessant labor. While the chosen race lives happily, the unfortunate slaves toil under a scorching sun without proper food or drink. Another letter establishes that the writer is a simple farmer, not an expert, who will share his spontaneous impressions of each subject through these letters.

1. Letters from an American Farmer Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur or J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur1735-1813 Published1782

2. Themes Genre- Epistolary; written as a series of letters to un-named recipient. American Dream/Idealized America Anti-Slavery- James, the speaker, gives a negative view on slavery in America Writing of the Common Man

3. “I wish that 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 embellish these extended shores…Here he beholds the 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!”(961) “The American ought therefore to love this country much better than that wherein either he or his forefathers were born.” (964) AMERICA

4. “While all is joy, festivity, and happiness in Charles Town, would you imagine that scenes of misery overspread in the country? Their ears by habit are become deaf, their hearts are hardened; they neither see, hear, nor feel for the woes of their poor slaves, from whose painful labours all their wealth proceeds. Here the horrors of slavery, the hardship of incessant toils, are unseen; no one thinks with compassion of those showers of sweat and tears which from the bodies of Africans daily drop and moisten the ground the till. The cracks of the whip urging these miserable beings to excessive labour are far too distant from the gay capitol to be heard. The chosen race eat, drink, and live happy, while the unfortunate one grubs up the ground, raises indigo, or husks the rice, exposed to a sun full as scorching as their native one, without the support of good food, without the cordials of any cheering liquor. This great contrast has often afforded me subjects of the most afflicting meditations. ANTI SLAVERY

5. COMMON MAN “Remember that you have laid the foundation of this correspondence; you well know that I am neither a philosopher, politician, divine, or naturalist, but a simple farmer. I flatter myself, therefore, that you’ll receive my letters as conceived, not according to scientific rules to which I am perfect stranger, but agreeable to the spontaneous impressions which each subject may inspire.” (958)

6. Related Authors Thomas Jefferson- Crèvecœur shared Jefferson’s opinion of the benefits of having an agrarian economy, with free men who farm and there is an emphasis with working the land. “The Interesting Life of the Olaudah Equiano” by Equiano; Both he and Crèvecœur address an audience on a subject trying to persuade readers, however Equiano’s was more powerful because he was more clear and because of who he was an African American.