American colonists arriving in these shores brought with them ideas of individual liberty and the natural right of property. If you worked hard and put in the time, the thinking goes, you were entitled to the fruits of your own labor. Crevecoeur sketches a convincing tableau that incorporates these philosophies into 18th century life in the New World. Instead of being given dominion over untamed land, the early settlers had to work to push back the woods and make the soil productive. At the same time, however, they were influenced by their surroundings to the point that even man’s basic humanity was at risk. Unlike the earlier Rowlandson, who writes of her stoic stand against wilderness that is enabled by the grace of God, Crevecoeur’s letters suggest that man’s interaction with nature works both ways.

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