What Is an American?

What is An American?

The “American Dream” is something wanted by many but gained by few. It is safe to say that many emigrants come to America in search of the “American Dream” because people outside of America see it as the country of opportunities and wealth. Therefore it is also safe to say that many of them do not achieve the status of rich or wealthy because immigrants are most of the time stuck working the minimum wage jobs; sometimes less.

In “What is an American”, Crevecoeur attempts to define an American. First of lets clarify what an American is. Crevecoeur defines an American as “either a European, or the descendant of a European (70).” His definition of an American seems a little boisterous because not all American’s are of European descent. In fact, this country’s strength and prosperity was built on the backbone of non-European immigrants; especially on African American immigrants during the time of slavery. That is why it hard to define what an American is because no one definition can include everyone living in America, unless, the definition is someone who lives in America.

In “What is an American” not only was every minority left out of Crevecoeur’s essay, their point of view and experiences were also left out. Crevecoeur’s idea that an immigrants “country is now that which gives him land, bread, protection, and consequence (70)” does not apply to the majority of the immigrants. Historically, immigrants have come poor to this country and remain poor.