Crèvecoeur came to America as a soldier with the French, but chose to remain, and eventually settled in British America. He wrote Letters from an American Farmer in 1782, based on his and his family's experiences in Orange County, New York. Crèvecoeur wrote many sketches and essays in English, under the Anglicized name J. Hector St. John. These writings, collected and published as Sketches of Eighteenth Century Life in 1925, described farm life and work, as well as praising the freedoms and opportunity available for all, including immigrants, in the New World. Crèvecoeur defined the American as a "new man," liberated from the ethnic, socio-economic, and religious divisions that so plagued Europeans. He died in France, at the age of 78.
portrait — Michel-Guillaume Crèvecoeur
Michel-Guillaume Crèvecoeur
1735–1813 · Essayist
Crèvecoeur came to America as a soldier with the French, but chose to remain, and eventually settled in British America. He wrote Letters from an American Farmer in 1782, based on his and his family's experiences in Orange County, New York.