Previous
Letter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Letters from an American Farmer, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Government
Farming, Land, and Love of Nature
Emigration, Hard Work, and Success
Religion in America
Colonization, Atrocity, and Apathy
Summary
Analysis
James will leave it up to historians to record America’s political history and the stories of its founding; he is interested in less weighty stories. So he presents here the story of a simple Scottish man, even though there’s nothing amazing about it. He simply wants to show how a poor man moved “from oppression to freedom,” not by remarkable means, but simply through emigration and virtue.
In this brief appendix to Letter III, James provides a specific example of the kind of emigrant success story he championed earlier. He shares this story precisely because, in his view, there’s nothing unusual about it—in other words, European readers should consider emulating this Scottish emigrant because they can easily achieve the same level of success.
Themes
Thinking about emigrants in general reminds James of his own grandfather, which prompts him to praise William Penn, “thou best of legislators,” whose laws gave men dignity and set an example for other colonists. Returning to his story, in 1770, James purchased some lands intended for one of his sons and went to make sure they’d been properly surveyed. While in the woods, he encountered a group of Indians who’d just killed a bear. He had some peach brandy, so they all shook hands and settled around a fire to share a feast.
James’s letter-writing tends to ramble, but he generally chooses his details purposefully. Quaker Englishman William Penn, the founder of the colony of Pennsylvania (1681), was known for his religious tolerance and for amicable relationships with the land’s Lenape or Delaware people. His choice to describe a friendly feast with local Native hunters might be intended to suggest that James follows in Penn’s tolerant footsteps.
Themes
James then had to travel to Philadelphia to have the land deeds properly recorded. Though this was a journey of over 200 miles, James didn’t mind, because he had so many friends along the way. On the third night, he stayed with Mr.--- (friend B.), whom Mr. F.B. has met before. He thinks B.’s family is the finest he knows. While complimenting B.’s wife’s wonderful hospitality, James learns that her grandmother was the first female child born after the arrival of William Penn, so she was named Philadelphia, and B.’s wife is named the same. After this friendly visit, James travels on to the city.
In this section, James hints at a few things that European readers might find intriguing or attractive about American life. First, America is a massive land, but it’s possible for settlers to maintain networks of meaningful friendships across the miles. Second, despite its youth, America already passes down a distinctive heritage—illustrated by James’s friend’s wife, “Philadelphia.” The city’s name means “brotherly love,” and the fact that the name has been passed down for generations in this woman’s family suggests that William Penn’s benevolent Quaker values are still thriving.
Themes
While there, James hears that a vessel filled with Scottish emigrants has arrived. James goes with his friend Mr. C. to watch the newcomers disembark. Most of them are pale and thin but appear vigorous. The people of the city give them lodging and provisions; Mr. C. brings one emigrant, with his wife and teenaged son, back to his house. The man feasts his eyes on everything and remarks that it’s nicer than Glasgow or Greenock, Scotland. He comes from the island of Barra.
Implicitly, the arrival of an emigrant ship was enough of a novelty at this time to draw a crowd. Notably, Philadelphians going out of their way to welcome newcomers isn’t portrayed as unusual—supporting James’s claim that America is a great place for emigrants. Barra is one of the most remote islands of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.
Themes
Get the entire Letters from an American Farmer LitChart as a printable PDF.
James asks him questions about Barra, and the man, Andrew, describes the island’s barren soil and how everybody but the laird (landlord) was poor, which is why he’s come to America. He has brought nothing with him but a letter of introduction from his minister and a little bit of money. James explains that Andrew will have to prove himself in America. He promises to teach Andrew how to handle an axe and to set up him, his wife, and their son with work and lodging for the time being. Andrew weeps with gratitude.
Andrew describes a situation where a tenant like himself would be very limited in his ability to improve his lot in life—a situation so poor that he’s willing to risk the move to America despite having very little to his name. Though James emphasizes each emigrant’s need to prove themselves in America, he also shows that this expectation doesn’t mean denying anyone a helping hand.
Themes
James asks Andrew lots of questions about life in the Hebrides. Andrew explains that everyone survives by means of subsistence farming, and that just barely. While they weren’t oppressed by their rulers, they simply couldn’t grow enough food to survive. James admires Andrew’s simple religion and morals, but figures they will transform on American soil, since “we are machines fashioned by every circumstance around us.”
Andrew and emigrants like him might not be escaping situations of crushing oppression, but they had to be content living on very little—a situation that could only be changed by moving to a land of greater opportunity. James emphasizes his frequently-made point that people are shaped by their environment, and that includes people’s deepest values. He takes it for granted that becoming an American means leaving old convictions behind, especially when they don’t fit one’s new context.
Themes
At James’s farm, Andrew proves to be teachable, soon becomes proficient, and eventually begins earning a living on another farm. After a year at Mr. P.R.’s farm, Andrew tells James that he wants to buy his own land, and James agrees to help him a little later in the spring.
By tracing Andrew’s progress in America, James suggests that the average emigrant can emulate Andrew’s hard work and achieve similar success. The standard path to success includes learning from settled Americans until, after a year or two, one is ready to become a landowner oneself.
Themes
A few days later, Andrew is sitting and reading the Bible in his employer’s house when nine Indians arrive. Not knowing the Indians are Mr. P.R.’s friends, Andrew thinks they’re a group of lawless robbers and runs for his Scottish broadsword. The visitors are unimpressed by the sword and refuse to leave, eventually frightening Andrew with a war whoop. They laugh uproariously at him. Eventually, Andrew finds Mr. P.R., who calms him down and explains that the Indians are welcome in his house, just as he is welcome in their wigwams. P.R. explains the situation to his friends in their language, and they shake hands with Andrew and smoke peaceably with him.
This humorous story gives an interesting perspective on relationships between colonists and Native people in the Revolutionary period. As James tells it, it wasn’t too unusual for a farmer to have a friendly and mutually hospitable relationship with Indian neighbors. The fact that Andrew is frightened of the visitors is played for humorous effect, suggesting that fear of Native Americans is a common but naïve weakness that newcomers must eventually overcome, since they live side by side with indigenous neighbors and ideally cooperate with one another.
Themes
Soon after, James goes to visit his friend Mr. A.V., praises Andrew’s virtues, and persuades Mr. A.V. to lease Andrew 100 acres to start his own farm. As a condition of the lease, Andrew must also make certain improvements to the land, like planting trees and clearing a swamp. Mr. A.V. also reassures Andrew that no king’s or minister’s men can come to take the land away from him. Andrew is astonished and overwhelmed by all this.
James’s actions on Andrew’s behalf demonstrate that an emigrant’s hard work wasn’t simply a matter of rugged individualism, but of integration into one’s new community. Andrew proves his mettle to a sympathetic farmer who, in turn, speaks favorably of him to a potential lender. As lessee, Andrew must also do work benefiting the landowner. Yet this is a far more mutually beneficial agreement than Andrew’s former situation in Scotland, since it’s based on a contract instead of a king’s assumed privileges.
Themes
So, now, Andrew is a freeholder, a voter, a resident, and a citizen of Pennsylvania. James gives him some supplies to start out with, and Andrew rents a room in a neighboring settler’s house. He begins by clearing a swamp, and soon his hard work earns admiration from his neighbors. Within two months, he is proficient at ploughing his land. When it’s time for him to build a house, James invites the whole neighborhood to a “frolic,” to which about 40 people show up. The people sing and tell stories as they work. While all this goes on, Andrew, overjoyed, goes from person to person, offering drinks. No rich man could have been happier with his mansion than Andrew was with his humble log dwelling. Everyone cheers for him and wishes him well, and a week later, he moves in.
By listing the new privileges Andrew enjoys in America, James impresses his reader with just how drastically Andrew’s situation has improved within a few short years. He also emphasizes that this improvement has much to do with Andrew’s own efforts to gain new skills and the respect of his neighbors. As a tangible sign of his success, Andrew gets plenty of willing help when it’s time to establish his own dwelling in the community. James suggests that this kind of success—because it’s earned, and embedded in a community of equal peers—is more satisfying than the affluence of a self-made millionaire.
Themes
Before long, Andrew begins raising animals and crops, fulfilling civic duties, and helping neighbors in his turn. Nowadays, he enjoys independence and ease, no longer having to worry about debts or rents. He is an example of “the happy effects” of “sobriety and industry, when united with good land and freedom.”
As Andrew gains greater economic stability, he also develops the capacity to contribute to his community. For James, Andrew’s hard work and eagerness to seize what his new land has to offer make him the epitome of an American farmer.
Themes
