Colonial and Contemporary American Identity (Crevecoeur, "Letters from an American Farmer" and John Steinbeck, "What's Happening to America?")

Should Crevecoeur have been able to come from past America as if just visiting the present, he would have been surprised with many of the changes, but smug about the values and traditions kept, and his own accurate predictions. The last two centuries have changed rapidly in technology, fashion, attitudes, and geography. Many laws that were once the norm back then hardly even exist today; new ones have taken their places. Religion has undergone many …

…of the working American are all things that he would find as positive traits. The social ladder may not be as short and easy to climb as in colonial America, but it still has flexibility. Once the poor, uneducated immigrant is educated, there are many possibilities available at their fingertips. Not only for the immigrant, but for their future generations as well. America still remains a land of many opportunities, something Crevecoeur would approve of.