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Mata 7 April 2012 A Novel Creed In an excerpt from his letter What is an American? (1782), Michel-GuillaumeJean de Crevecoeur defines the American person as a product created by the development of a society that thrives on a new foundation of meritocracy and unity. Crevecoeur contrasts a stagnant Europe with a boundless American by drawing antithetical comparisons, elaborates on the condition of the American through hypophora, and parallels the rise of the new American creed with that of mankinds progress. Crevecoeur emphasizes the industrious nature and individualistic spirit of Americans in order to signal the rise of a new world order in which ones fate is not controlled by societal confines but determined by ability and will. Crevecoeur reaches out to the masses who feel futile under the immovable caste system of the Old World as an encouraging member of a new society, waiting across the sea for those who dare to change.