Tuesday, October 15, 2002

WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?

Read J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur's essay, What is an American? The author grasped the true essence of the American sense-of-life. Here is a great quote:

"The American ought therefore to love this country much better than that wherein either he or his forefathers were born. Here the rewards of his industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labour; his labour is founded on the basis of nature, self-interest; can it want a stronger allurement? Wives and children, who before in vain demanded of him a morsel of bread, now, fat and frolicsome, gladly help their father to clear those fields whence exuberant crops are to arise to feed and to clothe them all; without any part being claimed, either by a despotic prince, a rich abbot, or a mighty lord."

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