Week 12: Draft

America was a new world where very little about it was known. The Europeans thought that the Americas was a narrow strip of land east of Europe. America was a new world that came out of no where and changed Europe tremendously. From the mini-lectures about Early America, I learned that when the frontier was closed in 1870, Americans were still discovering what it meant to live on this land because there was still so much unknown about America. Although most of the discovering was done back in the 17th and 18th century, we are still discovering new things about America.

Through readings from authors such as Crevecoeur, my writings, and writings from my peers my thoughts on what it means to be an American changed . In de Crevecoeur’s letter “What is an American?”,  he explains his love for America and what it means to be an American. Before reading this letter by Crevecoeur, I use to think that being American meant just being a citizen of the United States. I learned that being American is so much more than just being a citizen.  Just like de Crevecoeur, I got the chance to explain “What is an American?” by writing to a modern day immigrant. I thought that by me being a native of America it would have been easier for me to explain to someone else what it means to be American but I learned that it is harder to explain to someone who has never been here what it means to be an American. "They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes (Crevecoeur)”. In this quote from Crevecoeur essay, I understand that Americans are very diverse. You can’t use a person’s culture or race to identify them as an American. In Belen and Tyler essays, they both talk about how they came from other countries to be an American. Tyler Workman and Belen Selassie essays helped me to realize that Americans aren’t just individuals from America as they came from other countries to be an American and live the American dream.