Letters From An American Farmer

The differences between European and American society is an important theme in the book. It is the minister who first introduces the issue as part of his argument that James should not be intimidated by Mr. F.B.’s status, and that James should consider himself entirely qualified to write to such a man. The minister compares the vitality of American life favorably to the grand history and ancient ruins of Europe, arguing that while “the half-ruined amphitheatres and the putrid fevers” of Italy “must fill the mind with the most melancholy reflections,” in America, “everything would inspire the reflecting traveler with the most philanthropic ideas” (13). This difference is symbolic of the wider political differences between the two locations, with Europe being structured around archaic class systems, monarchies, and religious oppression, while in America, “everything is modern, peaceful, and benign” (13).

James soon takes this up, too, celebrating the fact that America “is not composed, as in Europe, of great lords who possess everything and a herd of people who have nothing” (39-40). He continues to highlight these differences repeatedly throughout the book, taking almost any opportunity to remind Mr. F.B. of the egalitarian superiority of American, pointing to everything from the way that, in America, “the strict modes of Christianity as practiced in Europe are lost” (48) to the way the inhabitants of