Unit 1: American Beginnings

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Crevecoeur

What is an American? This has become a classic question asked not only by foreigners visiting the United States, but more often by Americans themselves. When Americans feel confused or when they are in a crisis, they ask who they are and try to find out what being an American means. In fact, this famous question was first asked by a Frenchman called J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur who settled in Pennsylvania in the 18th century. In 1782, this French farmer published a book in London entitled Letters from an American Farmer in which he posed the question and answered it himself: "What then is the American, this new man? He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American, who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds.… Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.… The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions.… This is an American." According to Crevecoeur, the American in those days had the mixed blood of Europeans or their descendants without taking into consideration other nationalities such as American Indians and blacks. Today, the picture of an American is more complex. In American families, there may be sons—in—law or daughters—in—law with European descendants or Afro—Americans or Asian immigrants although these mixed blood families of whites with other blacks or Asians are in the minority. To understand this American, let us go back to American past.

Boston Harbor

A New Land

The American continents were peopled as a result of two long-continuing immigration movements, the first from Asia, and the second from Europe and Africa. The first movement began probably 25 000 years ago when Siberian tribes, in search of new hunting grounds or of refuge from pursuing enemies, crossed over the Bering Strait to Alaska. By 1492, over 10-20 million people, mistakenly called Indians by Christopher Columbus, inhabited the Americas. They developed their own aboriginal cultures, which ranged

Alaska	Columbus

from the simple to the complex, from those of the primitive tribes to the brilliant civilizations of the Aztecs, the Incas and the Mayas. But their technological development had lagged behind that of Europe and Asia.

Aztecs	Incas	Mayas

The second migration to the Americas began with the expansion of Europe at the start of the modern period from the 16th century. In 1492, Columbus persuaded the king and queen of Spain to finance his voyage. He believed that by sailing west from Europe, he could reach the Far East. He never succeeded, but instead he landed on one of the Bahama Islands in the Caribbean Sea and "discovered" the New World. Based on Columbus' discovery, the Spanish king could claim the territory in the Americas and later Spain conquered the new land and established a huge empire and grabbed enormous wealth from the Indians. In 1497, another Italian sailor, John Cabot who was in the service of the English king, arrived in today's Canada and the English king claimed that the whole of the territory of North America belonged to England. Enforcing this claim, the Englishmen began to establish permanent settlements in North America by the beginning of the 17th century.

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