Strangers are welcome because there is room enogh for them all, and therefore the old Inhabitants are not jealous of them; the Laws protect them sufficiently, so that they have no need of the Patronage of great Men; and every one will enjoy securely the Profits of his Industry. But if he does not bring a Fortune with him, he must work and be industrious to live. One or two Years Residence give him all the Rights of a Citizen; but the Government does not at present, whatever it may have done in former times, hire People to become Settlers, by Paying their Passages, giving Land, Negroes, Utensils, Stock, or any other kind of Emolument whatsoever.
Who then are the kind of Persons to whom an Emigration to America may be advantageous? Land being cheap 2 in that Country, from the vast Forests still void of Inhabitants, and not likely to be occupied in an Age to come, insomuch that the Propriety of an hundred Acres of fertile Soil full of Wood may be obtained near the Frontiers in many Places for eight or ten Guineas, 3 hearty young labouring Men, who understand the Husbandry of Corn and Cattle, which is nearly the same in that Country as in Europe, may easily establish themselves there.
Multitudes of poor People from England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany, have by this means in a few Years become wealthy Farmers, who in their own Countries, where all the Lands are fully occupied, and the Wages of Labour low, could never have emerged from the mean Condition wherein they were born. Tolerably good Workmen in any of those mechanic Arts, are sure to find Employ, and to be well paid for their Work, there being no Restraints preventing Strangers from exercising any Art they understand, nor any Permission necessary.
Also, 4 Persons of moderate Fortunes and Capitals, who having a Number of Children to provide for, are desirous of bringing them up to Industry, and to secure Estates for their Posterity, have Opportunities of doing it in America, which Europe does not afford. There small Capitals laid out in Lands, which daily become more valuable by the Increase of People, afford a solid Prospect of ample Fortunes thereafter for those Children.
The Writer of this has known several Instances of large Tracts of Land, bought on what was then the Frontier of Pensilvania, for ten Pounds per hundred Acres, which, after twenty Years, when the Settlements had been extended far beyond them, sold readily, without any Improvement made upon them, for three Pounds per Acre.
Those who desire to understand the State of Government in America, would do well to read the Constitutions of the several States, and the Articles of Confederation that bind the whole together for general Purposes under the Direction of one Assembly called the Congress. These Constitutions have been printed by Order of Congress in America; two Editions of them have also been printed in London, and a good Translation of them into French has lately been published at Paris.
Such persons on reading the Articles of Confederation will find that the Congress have no Power committed to them, or Money put into their Hands, for such purposes; and that if any such Encouragement is given, it must be by the Government of some separate State.
And when the Governments have being [been] solicited to support such Schemes oy [by] Encouragements, in Money, or by imposing Duties an [on] Importation of such Goods, it has been generally refused, on this Principle, that if the Country is ripe for the Manufacture, it may be carried on by private Persons to Advantage; and if not, it is a Folly to think of forceing [forcing] Nature.
Great Establishments of Manufacture, require great Numbers of Poor to do the Work for small Wages; these Poor are to be found in Europe, but will not be found in America, till the Lands are all taken up and cultivated, and the excess of People who cannot get Land, want Employment. The Manufacture of Silk, they sey [say], is natural in France, as that of Cloth in England, because each Country produces in Plenty the first Material: But if England will have a Manufacture of Silk as well as that of Cloth, and France one of Cloth as well as that of Silk, these unnatural Operations must be supported by mutual Prohibitions or high Duties on the Importation of each others Goods, by which means the Workmen are enabled to tax the home-Consumer by greater Prices, while the higher Wages they receive makes them neither happier nor richer, since they only drink more and work less.
Therefore the Governments in America do nothing to encourage such Projects. And the Case is the same with the Workmen in every other Mechanic Art. Such may therefore remove with Advantage to America.
The Artisans, who fear creating future Rivals in Business, refuse to take Apprentices, but upon Conditions of Money, Maintenance or the like, which the Parents are unable to comply with. Hence it is easy for poor Families to get their Children instructed; for the Artisans are so desirous of Apprentices, that many of them will even give Money to the Parents to have Boys from ten to fifteen Years of Age bound Apprentices to them till the Age of twenty one; and many poor Parents have by that means, on their Arrival in the Country, raised Money enough to buy Land sufficient to establish themselves, and subsist the rest of their Family by Agriculture.
The almost general Mediocrity of Fortune that prevails in America, obliging its People to follow some Business for Subsistance, those Vices that arise usually from Idleness are in a great Measure prevented. Hence bad Examples to Youth are more rare in America, which must be a comfortable Consideration to Parents. To this may be truly added, that serious Religion under its various Denominations, is not only tolerated but respected and practised.
And the Divine Being seems to have manifested his Approbation of the mutual Forbearance and Kindness with which the different Sects treat each other, by the remarkable Prosperity with which he has been pleased to favour the whole Country. Franklin and is the original Rough Draft in his own hand Writing.
He missed several phrases that had been written in the margin, and, not infrequently, he misspelled words. For more information see the List of Illustrations. Because extra pages, in the form of folded sheets, were added in multiples of four, this would have left two blank pages. Written after the installation of the first government under the new Constitution, the essay projects an ebullient vision of where-we're-going and, in its closing words, erupts with optimistic buoyancy and relief.
Crisis Rebellion War Independence Constitution. A Golden Age 6. A New Man: The American 7. A Model for Europe 8. Happy America! Who would remain in Europe, a dependent on the will of an imperious landlord, when a few years' industry can make an independent American freeholder? What distinguished their messages, written eight years apart, although they provided basically the same "information" to Europeans?
How had the nation changed in the years between and ? Why did Rush describe the s as the "years of anarchy" and as "the swelling of the sea which succeeds a storm"? What explains Rush's optimistic buoyancy?
What explains the undercurrent tone of "Whew! We made it"? Note the use of superlatives and hyperbole in Rush's essay, e. How do Franklin's and Rush's appraisals of European class-based norms and codified "manners" compare with the critiques of Noah Webster, Mercy Otis Warren, Royall Tyler, and other commentators in this Theme? What key difference between Americans and Europeans did Franklin highlight with his statement: "People do not inquire.
How was Europe becoming the "other"? How did Rush explain the evolving "American character" to his European readers? How prescient was Rush in his two concluding predictions? Continue this chart for an overview of the "advantages and disadvantages" of the Revolution as seen by the American and European commentators in this Theme, and to compile their recommendations for the new nation's survival and triumph.
What patterns do you find? What issues were stressed as the most urgent? Continue the list of metaphors for the new nation that appear in this Theme's texts they include Rush's "hotbed of industry and genius".
What do the metaphors suggest about Americans' hopes and fears after the war? Framing Questions How did Americans envision independence and nationhood in the first years after the Revolutionary War?
How did they begin to construct a national identity separate from their colonial identity as British subjects?
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