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FRENCH CHARACTER
SOCIOECONOMIC INFLUENCES
7-/
JAMES B.BLACK
French influence in the North American continent
should not be viewed as that of a nation, but that of
a people. France as a nation really had very little success
in establishing a strong nationalistic sphere in the Amer-
ican colonies. France did settle much of the New World,
but it was unable to retain the control necessary to
establish the French national influence. Documents are
available, as well as many commonly known instances of
French input into the growth of this country, but these
generally will result in an acknowledgement that input on
the individual basis is all that remains to testify to the
French contribution in the development of the New World.
It is to this idea that I wish to discuss the French
posture in the early period of the United States and Canada.
Due to the brief period that the French Government actually
controlled portions of Canada, New England, the Mississippi
River Valley, and the Gulf of Mexico coast, little was
retained in the way of a strong nationalistic feeling
amongst the early settlers and explorers. These people did
bring with them their personalities,heritage,and character.
Strength in these areas was what fostered any settlement at
all, in most of the regions of the New World. There was
little if any government support in these first ventures
beyond the monetary investment. The force that gave
strength to these early settlers and explorers, as well
as the later French immigrants is the basis for my
discussion. Using the framework of socioeconomic
development as an organizer for the personalities:and
characters of the French people, some degree of-'piogression
and order will arise from a basis of one of Europes s
major cultural economic and political nations.
This paper--is..not-denying the influence of French
Nation ~nput, as will be discussed in this text, that
influence comes primarily in the later history of the continent;
the greatest portion coming as a result of a highly assimilated
and culturally diverse society. Preceding and as a result
of New World discovery came socioeconomic issues of great
magnitude and controversy; many specifically, directly
shaping the future of entire nations, cultures and individuals.
Individuals, now tied to a national spirit develop out of
these trying issues and conflicts to; form the base for
this study. They become the formulater, guinea pig, and
critic of their own relationship to the expanding world.
I wish to discuss the issues that motivated,
stimulated, and built the French character that was to
become the French influence.
As contemporary events have shown, individual
monetary action is responsible to and generates a greater
national monetary and economic policy. From the time that
man has found the need to organize himself under a form
of government,and develop a dependency for survival,
conflicts have arisen concerning the best action to take
for the ability fo sustain and prosper. From the Middle
Ages and the time of feudal estates through the evolu-
tion of a national organization, economic growth has
generated its development. The national organization
has provided the framework for a proportional stimulus to
the economic growth. This framework, national economics,
rearranges the position of man with relation to his
ability to control his own subsistence. This new body
of control has now established either his submission to
the national economic decisions or his participation in
the development of those national economic decisions.
Social change becomes an obvious development.
From the feudal organization, which was the sociological
as well as economic format, to this new organization of
national control; the individual's role in relation to
the hierarchy of government has been left for drastic
changes. Just as the new national economic posture must
deal with such a diversity of input, so must the indivi-
dual and the nation deal with the social opportunity
and diversity that will self-perpetuate an almost
continuous line of change. "Although it is realized that
national economics is not always the prime mover in
recent history, it is believed that this basic issur
furnished an excellent opportunity to treat economic
development, class interests and conflicts, political
controversies,and international rivalries. A survey of
all these matters provides a veritable "inside story" of
France..."1 and the French people.
The Crusades of the Middle Ages brought back to
feudal Europe a new feeling and appreciation for objects
of different cultures and societies. In desire of the con-
tinual acquirement of these Mid East and Far Eastern
luxuries, the feudal estates established a productive
alliance for common interests in this trade. Out of these
successful and continued accomplishments,grew the national
hierarchy of control. New understandings of economics,
goods and the processing of materials began to change the
previously unaltered importance of the agrarian society.
The growth of the township and merchantile activities are
all common historical knowledge.
Service to the church was the primary cause for the
Crusades. Just as the church was the only European unifier,
its stimulus prompted its own eventual role change and decline.
The church had the European organization to facilitate trade
and the amassing of wealth, and it was so done in its own
name. With the increasing power of monarchs came the threat
to the power of the church. Differences of opinions and
divisions of thought developed with increased awareness
through improved communications. This diversity of thought
and corresponding power struggles were to become the primary
large scale method of social change and economic gain.
The sixteenth century, in the midst of great politi-
cal and economic change, saw a new school of thought
develop out of response to the changing position of the church
in a new and changing social context. John Calvin, a
French theologian and reformer in Switzerland,generated
a doctrine of thought that was to be representative in
magnitude, of man's new power to alter the lives of many
people. Calvin's doctrine enabled the people to feel that
they had the ability to think, question, and act. Religion
had been the earliest unifier in the European sentiment.
Now its strenght was being questioned by the action of
people, responsive to a simple, yet complex new thought;
Calvanism. This change was to become an-issue of very deep
political realignments, constant bitterment and eventually
the population of a new world.
France was one of the early national bodies to develop
in Europe as a result of the Crusades but it did not take
one of the formative positions among national interests,
that were developing a very active sea trade and exploration
with the East Indies. A great deal of energy was needed to
maintain the national structure and develop the structural
hierarchy throughout the country, Each of the major countries
established their priorities. Seldom could all areas be
covered. Security and protection of the people and national
boundaries, internal domestic development, sea trade and/or
domestic trade and theological choice were representative of
the areas of conflict and decision making.
The development and growth at the national (state)
level was at least representative of progress and problems
at the level of the people. Development beyond the subsis-
tance level economics was pretty wide spread by this time.
There were of course.cycles to prosperity:and famine but
generally the entire nation felt the bad times as well as
the good. Periods of economic slump brought periods of
peasant uprisings and merchant bitterness. As different
periods passed so did different rulers. Those interested in
maintain their positions at the top took measures to try and
control the amplitudes of the cycles.
This examination resulted in the serious thinking out
of economic alternatives. Trade agreements regional policies
represented a degree of loss of personal freedom in the econo-
mic decision making but hopefully the restrictions brought
assurances of commitment' and concern on the part of the govern-
ment. Representationsand security of national backing also
strengthened the relationship between the peasant, shopkeeper
and rulers. Exploitation of the working people and lack
of concern for national strength and prosperity, was often
a problem as the growing number of wealthy people at the top
of the economic hierarchy, sought to ensure their own wealth
at the expense of everyone else. In a period of growing
awareness all action established the background for some
form of either positive of negative reaction on the part of
those directly affected.
If the reaction was not in the form of an actual
physical revolution at least the pen would account for the
action, As individuals were released from the fields of
physical labor they took their place recording the events of
the time with the thought and reaction that was reflective
of the times. Previously only the clergy had been in a
capacity to produce such records amd generally with a heavy
handed religious sentiment. Writers' exposure to the clas-
sical ideas of Rome, Greece, Mid East and Far East provided
the philosophical base for the European's growing relation-
ship to mankind's history. The Renaissance man's discovery
of conditions that were beyond his own personal experience
and the introduction of ideas and concepts beyond his own
rational, formulated the European man that was to exert him-
self beyond his previous limitations. A new conceptual ration-
al reacting to a source of changing conditions, generated
the foundation for oceanic exploration and discovery of
the New World. "This discovery of America came at an epoch
of great and profound changes in the European world. With
the invasion of Italy in 1494 by Charles VIII of France, the
Renaissance spread more rapidly from Italy to northern
Europe...The old closed European world was shattered into
fragments, as a new epoch of restless intellectual curiosity
began." 2
This discussion is at best a brief description of the
heritage that was to formulate the sixteenth century French-
man. This is a view of, the general level of development, of
the Frenchman that was to discover and explore the North
American continent.
Although, he was predominantly from the same ancient
lineage as his other European neighbors, he was also a pro-
duct of the geography and geology. Beyond his control yet
in control of his very existence and tradition,,was his
monarch, an individual, distinguishable from all other mon-
archs in Europe. This Frenchman was in a position of depend-
ing upon a system of national security and serving in that
very system so that his future generations would have more
of the benefits of a nation than even he had enjoyed. If
there wasn't total religious freedom there was the environment
for new thought. The Reformation at least stimulated him to
have new thoughts.
"When New France was founded France stood upon the
threshold of its greatest age. Its population of some four-
teen million was three times as large as that of England and
Wales. Gibbon bears wittnes that Louis XIV.was the master
of a military establishment as great as that of the Roman
Empire in its prime. And then, as Macaulay puts it,"France
had, over the surrounding countries., at once the ascendency
which Rome had over Greece, and the ascendency which Greece
had over Rome,' for French civilization was the model of all
Europe. Latin at last yielded to French as the language of
scholarship and diplomacy;..." 3
All of these attributes of the French system repre-
sented the basis for a growing sence of tradition. A system
that generated and stimulated economic growth would be a tool
for a tradition of change. This tool would be representa-
tive of a system that gave promise, to one generation after
another, of continued growth and prosperity. The Frenchman
was able to take pride in his tradition and believe in his
past and his future, due to the relative success of each
previous known generation, as a Frenchman. At this time
Divine power was still a basis for the social hierarchy.
Without this belief in a Divine order the Frenchman of the
sixteenth century would have been unable to live under the
wealthy rulers, that ruled,more often than not, to serve only
their own needs. In the midst of all this wealth,glory, and
prosperity, poverty still dominated a large proportion of
the French people.
Trouble created by and for the working classes seemed
an obvious turn of events. Over time there had developed an
extremely complex society. Policies made at the national
level couldn't respond to every person in the social hierarchy.
National economics had become the economic base for everyone
life. As a matter of historical record, states were highly
empirical in adopting economic plans. Their policies varied
greatly; they were not systematic; the merchantile, that is,
the commercial aspect of them was not always.dominant. The
crux of the whole phenomenon was the desire to strengthen
the political organism and to aid the capitalist class." 4
To this end the new national economic machine was failing
to continue the initial progress that was experienced.
France's position in the sixteenth century differed from
most of the other nations due to the absolute power that
the monarch held. Though the number of wealthy aristocrats
grew in France up to this time, any differing or opposing
suggestions to the monarch seldom recieved any consideration.
Unfortunately those individuals concerned with explor-
ation of the New World had a difficult time trying to convince
the advisors and Bourbon kings of any potential for an in-
creased European position from New World progress. France
had lacked influencial involvement in the East Indies
trade of the fifteenth and.sixteenth centuries. It was hoped
by many that the New World could help to improve France's
position.
"Within :the space of threelhundred years can be found
nations that were struggling for supremacy by following wide-
ly opposed policies. Some stressed bullionism, others pro-
ductivity; the ones placed emphasis upon free trade, the
others, upon protectionism. But whatever the course adopted,
it is erroneous to believe that the state-economic-building
aspect of mercantilism came to an end at the beginning of the
nineteenth century." 5 Assuredly producing such a radical
change, any philosophy that was to pass through generations
in France would influence those people settling and develop-
ing the New World for many generations.
As France concentrated development primarily on inter-
nal domestic economics, other countries in Europe developed
national economic policies on different as well as similar
guidelines. One or even several descriptions of European
economics would not properly cover the diverse conditions.
"Portugal sought wealth and prestige in Oriental trade..." 6
Despite a well established trade Portugal was forced by great-
er military forces to submit to intervention by the Spanish,
Dutch, and English on the high seas. Spanish polical inter-
vention constantly disrupted strong national development.
"Spain strove for economic glory in hoarding the gold,
and silver fo the Americas."7 Spain went to all economic,
political, and social means for control by a policy of
bullionism. Unfortunately there was a lack of economic under-
standing as to the best use of the precious metals. The
people soon found that they could not eat the gold and silver.
With so much restriction placed upon foreign purchasing of
goods with bullion, little effort was put into production of
goods. The huge concentration of gold and silver in Spain
only inflated the economy and made the bullion worthless
throughout most of Europe. Foreign wars backed by only
wealth and no useable goods, drained Spains resources and
forced the end of Spanish dominance abroad. This example
was to be a very valuable learning experience for the other
European nations. It reinforced, the policy of trade, com-
merce, and production of goods; not always as quickly by
some as by others.
The Dutch attained the heights on trade; England
rose first on production, then on commerce and finally on a
combination of the two; and France, after attempting to ride
both horses, got astride one and rode it for all it was
worth." 8 This European areana for occasional exchange and
learning resulted in the development of substantially sounder
and more productive economic policies. Variables beyond the
control of the individual, introduced very high and low points
to those people that were part of a large system and still
represented. In a development stimulated and stiffled by a
trial and error procedure, at least experience could now
lead to more definite policy making.
"the Dutch adopted free trade to encourage shipping;
the English, after employing a careful system of protection
and shipping regulation, resorted to Laisser Faire when
there was no longer any danger of completion; and the French
throughout their history pursued a policy of paternalism
toward agriculture, commerce, and industry...Fundamently
they (each nation) sought to effect statewide economic unifi-
cation and to achieve economic strength." 9 New France's
economic impact was to be short lived but sociologically
very formative.
French influence in the New World went through several
phases of conflicting, contradictory and seldom complementary
periods. Like the early Spanish interests, which eventually
failed, the French backing was almost entirely dependent
upon support from the absolute stste rule. Individual endea-
vor and stimulation was almost nan existant as were personal
goals and personal rewards. In contrast, though the English
and Dutch were slow to settle their East coast claims, in
North America, they were better represented and trading com-
panies with private interests were the main stimualtor of
productivity. Individual effort and investments were sought
and rewarded.
Early French economic policy restricted any kind of
free trade activities; thus restricting any private companies
interested in seeking raw materials that would bolster the
French, production oriented economy. Preconceptions by the
explorers also affected the lack of early positive feedback
from the new world efforts. Those administrators and aris-
tocrats that lobbied for and sponsored the explorations had
major interests in the sea trade industry, rather than the
production industries that could use the raw materials of
New France. The monarchs wanted the precious metals that
were generating the initial prosperity and wealth in Spain.
The possibilities for an abundant fur trade was completely
overlooked by the initial French discoverers and explorerers.
The fur industries had to be generated from individual effort
and sacrifice, much like the early French fishermen that had
been fishing off the Canadian coast for some time before any
kind of diligent French exploration. The fur traders were
at first without government aid of any kind. When those in
France saw the value of the fur trade, absolute government
control and intervention ruined the industry for the indivi-
dual that had made it his personal gain. His success in the
name of France had made an increase in the French power but
the negative actions of the governmentireduced support avail-
able from,the Frenchman in New France.
By the sixteenth century, France, had established her-
self, if not at the top economically,at least sociologically
and religiously as a leader in Europe. The Protestant Refor-
mation introduced a serious line of division between all the
people at every class interest. For the first time, since
national establishment, there was to be a major division of
the French subjects. This sociological issue became major
distraction and concern for the monarchs; periods of tolerance
and turmoil dominated both the domestic and European actions.
Economic and political differences and conflicts manesfested
themselves to all during this period. The state religion,
Catholicism, became the image of everything wrong with the
nation. Peasant uprisings, and economic depressions found
relief through new religious foundations and security. There
evolved two distinct religious interests in Europe. These
two intellectual developments were to shape the degree of
interaction between all people in the Americas. "Bloody
religious strife was carried across the sea from the Old
World to New Spain, New France, and New England... While
the French excluded Protestants from Canada, and the Puritans
of New England barred Catholics from their colonies."11 Later
developments by Henry IV altered this early religious posi-
tion of France and New France. "Henri gave patents to develop-
New France to both Protestant and Catholic alike; if his
example had been followed by later monarchs, the colony-&
might have provided a refuge for the industrious Huguenots..."
and profitted thereby;..." 12 Fortunately for the Huguenots
the protestant colonies of the English were tolerant enough
to allow the settling of the Huguenots and over time these
Frenchmen set the pattern for foreign assimilation into the
colonial environment.
One reason France had grown so very quickly compared
to her neighbors, was the importance of the monarch and the
weight of decision. Little development had taken place at
the higher decision making administrative level. As matters
became more complex an increase in administrative complexity
did not always occur. Matters beyond the monarch's understand-
ing received only basic attention, "The absolutism and auto-
cracy of the mother country affected every aspect of the life
of the colony, but the needs of New France were often neglect-
ed by a monarch more concerned with Europe than America."
The French colonist was under absolute control of a monarch
so far detatched from his position that he was unable to
represent himself. From a background of such European domi-
nance the Frenchman found it difficult if not totally forbid-
den to try and establish a hierarchy of administration. This
was the major reason that the French were unable to defeat
the English during the French and Indian Wars. Direct sup-
port from the monarch was too little to generate a strong
organization for the opposition of the English Army.
It would be best now to describe, more specifically,
those groups of people that were directly representative of
the Frenchman in New France and New England. The French
people can be broken down into eight major categories of
influence,with impact varing according to location and time.
There are many cross connections of influence and internela-
tionships, as well as distinctly separate spheres of influence.
The eight major groups are the explorer, discoverer, the -,
clergyman, the catholic settlers the Huguenots, the French
administrators, the French Revolutionary War refugee and
two groups of Frenchmen, one that quickly assimilated into
the American way of life and the one that resisted assimila-
tion and retained many of the characteristics from France.
Each of these groups were Frenchmen with varing degrees of
national spirit and awareness, as well as various desire to
promote the French spirit or reject it. For the most part
names have little meaning in the understanding of the motives
of these people their background and their influence.
The early explorers and discoverers represented the
romantic influence of the Crusades, and this was a mission
for God and country. His intentions were generally of single
purpose and conviction, based entirely upon his hope for
conquest and glory. Preconcieved notions stimulated his
decision making process and led him to misinterpret val-
uable new information. Unquestionably the conditions were
the worst that a civilized man could endure. The general
lack of information and the inability to communicate with
the natives made his search for the Eastern trade route one
of constant hardship and disappointment. ...the relics of the
vessel which Cartier was obliged to leave in the Canadian
river, because so many of his men had died of scurvy and ex-
posure, that he had not sufficient crew to man the three
ships home." 14
The most plaguing problem was the aggrevation of know-
ing that with more support from France and the establishment
of good national backing, settlements could have been set up.
If a trade route couldn't be found to the East, at least France
could reap the treasures in raw materials and natural resources.
Generally the explorer had neither the ability or the author-
ity to establish large settlement in the name of France; so
without any conclusive discovery his mission was a failure.
Constant failures did little to help further funding of
exploration, by the French government.
To the aid of the explorers came the Jesuit priests.
They saw the pagan New World as a frontier that could not
be left without their most desperate acts of salvation. "At
that time the spirit of propaganda was very strong among the
Jesuits; they aimed at nothing short of the conversion of
the world, and displayed in the work such energy such
ability, such unalloyed devotion as the world has never
seen surpassed."15 Aside from the nearly impossible work that
the Jesuits did in developing relations with the Indians
their records and testimony carried a great deal of impact
in France. The church was still a great influence, in France,
and its power to generate activity had only begun as of
late, to be questioned by the new growing national state. The
exploration carried out by the clergy and development of re-
lations with the Indians, came as a major stepping stone
for the New French colonies.
The need for administrative control was of course
realized in France but the function of the New French govern-
ment worked in an only superficial and unproductive manner.
The major hierarchial development came during the reign of
Louis XIV. He was an absolute despot with all the state
power possible in his hands. With all f his major socio-
economic concerns in France,,and with out an effective way
to delegate power, the colonies suffered. "the corruption
and disorder that had been feared from division of power
flourished when absolutism was applied at long range
thruogh a series of subordinates."17 The environment for
productive government was hardly possible. These appointed
affluent men were led out of civilization into a massive
wilderness to administer to settlers, they couldn't relate
to;. Basically they held little more than a feudal position
over the settlers.
No matter how many people came to the Americas for
the representation of a-nation in Europe, the greatest num-
bers of people came for the religious freedom and new fron-
tier. *At the out set we are confronted by the fact that,
in the main, these settlers fall into two groups: the French
Protestants, mostly refugees from persecution at home, who
came to the Atlantic colonies; and the French Catholics,
who, coming for purposes of traffic or sent by a paternal
government, founded settlements in the'old northwest'and the
Mississippi Valley." 18 These two groups of people represent
primarily the farmers, woodsmen, and settlers; the catholics
and the Huguenots made up both these groups ,but the Huguenots
were most influencial as the newly rising merchantile class.
Many generalizations have been made concerning these two
groups of people and though they are general descriptions,
the influence was more often than not a general influence.
It becomes valuable to compare the two groups of people, to
show just how they acquired the attitudes that were to estab-
lish them in the New World.
The French Catholic came very early in the settlement
of New France and they were still unfamiliar with any kind
of selfgovernment. They represented in many ways the primi-
tive feudal catholic society. They were generally uneducated
and lacked any initiative in working to assimilate themselves
with the English after the loss of French control in New
France. Their impact is not to be denied as geographically
obvious. The French believed in themselves, saw themselves
for little more than they were at that moment and they
sought towork hard for prosperity and retain what they had.
The Huguenot was by origin a person convicted to
change, from what was accepted. He was representative of
a group persecuted for their beliefs and willing to overcome
all obstacles. The strong character, a testimony to change,
conviction and production was easily assimilated in the
English system of government in the New England colonies.
Their impact on the American colonies is one primarily one
of an educated people responding to the needs and stimulus
of the new American Colonies.
The French Revolution was responsible for the gener-
ation of one of history's most elite group of refuges.
Desperation forced many of these French Royalists to re-
establish their fortunes in the new American nation. Unscrupu-
lous land speculators took advantage of these people by
selling them properties, in the untamed wildernesses of New
England. Not only did most find the wilderness unlivable,
but many lost their fortunes and were forced to concentrate
in the larger cities df New York and Philadelphia. Many
of the Royalists were content with life in the.New World,,
while others returned to France at the close of hostilities
there. No matter how long they stayed they brought them and
established a very high cultural societies' influence. Many
invested their wealth in businesses, in the Americas and aided
the young United States. These highly educated people as-.
similated quickly into the selfgoverning process and contibut-
ed to its prosperity on many levels.
The French and Indian Wars as well as the American
ECONOMIC
FEUDAL
TRADE
COMMERCE
DOMESTIC
POLICY
TRADE
COMMERCE
PRODUCTION
NEW WORLD
POLICY
POLICY
POLICY
BOURGEOISIE
CRUSADES
NATIONAL STATE
RENAISSANCE
PROTESTANT REFORMATION
MIDDLE CLASS
:SCOVERY
EXPLORATION
SETTLEMENT
FRENCH/INDIAN WARS
UNITED
STATES
AM. REVOLU.
FRENCH REVOLUTION
JAMES B. BLACK
3-13-78
Revolution were only periods testing the stamina of French
character, in so far as it didn't radically change the basic
beliefs and principles of the Frenchman newly established
in the colonies. The Frenchman of the colonies developed,
changed and contributed based on what he was and from the
stimulus of his new surroundings.
Economic policy and economic theory,though it shaped
France's prosperity and depressions its development beyond
the seventeenth century only instituted change and social
mobility to a greater range of people. It provided the wild
cycles of prosperity and loss, that stimulated the class
struggle for power. The bourgeoisie's rise to power was
the response to the inadequate monarch's control over the
economic foundation of France.
The French Revolution's sociological impact on its
people connot go with out discussion or placement of its
importance. Most importantly the French Revolution was the
result of a development. It was a manesfestation of a long
evolution and representative of a start towards a New France
in Europe. New freedoms and new policies generated from the
Revolution were merely the foundation for the changing of
France by continued growth. In comparison to the Protestant
Reformation the bourgeoisie's rise to power and influence
established an entirely new concept of social order based
on middle class economics, industry, and technology.
Looking at a review of French contributions to the
formative years of the United States, it is clear that there
are two levels of French influence. One level is the influence
that differs little from the influence of the many nations
that have been represented here by immigrants. The other
level,and most critical source of contributions,was that of
the earliest settlers and immigrants. It is necessary to
look at the origins of the later example to seek out the
French character. The character of'the Frenchman was most
profoundly affected by the national-state building of the
post crusade period, the period of Renaissance discovery,
and the Protestant Reformation. All other events are sub-
sequent to and of these major periods. These periods .also
mark events for all the European area. The distinction of,
one progression of a group,` from another comes at the examina-
tion of the people during and as they progress from one climax
to the next.
V / ...-.
The hoped for condition did not ensue. For when modern
architecture became proliferated throughout the world,
when it became cheaply available, standardized and basic,
as the architect had always wished it to be, necessarily
there resulted a rapid devaluation of its ideal content.
The building became no longer a subversive proposition
about a possible Utopian future. It became instead the
acceptable decoration of a certainly non-Utopian present.
The ville racieuse- that city where life would become
intelligent, educated and clean, in which social justice
would be established and political issues resolved--
this city was not to'be built. Compromise and accommoda-
tion were therefore in order; and hence, with deflation
of conviction there followed divergence of interest.
'Colin Rowe
Introduction
Five Architects
Oxford University Press
New York 1975
My analytical conclusion developed as a comparison
of the French people, their socioeconomic positions and
our contemporary position, in the United States. There
are many different factors that guide our lives but the
human factor remains constant. Man is still basically the
same animal that he was, but does he still represent the
same relative quality of human being?
Does he make his culture and society a crutch or
does it act as a tool for his further advancement?
Does he really progress or does his technology relieve
him of his responsibility?
An answer is most difficult.
Perhaps it lies within the immigration and changing
of a person's character. The very nature of immigration, as
it has been studied and observed, involves the realignment
of what one is, to conform to what appears obvious. Perhaps
the problem lies in how deep this change takes place. Does
the character lose its deepest unconscious foundations in the
process of this assimilation?
I think that the American needs to build and retain
a character of principle and quality based on what he is now.
Perhaps our present period is one of hidden charac-
ter development. Hopefully,the character to arise out of
this technocratic age, which has been described by some as
decadence at its highest, will be comparable to the charac-
ter of the Frenchma that arose from the feudal age.
O II, \
V ^^.^t^ f
FOOTNOTES
1. Clough,Shepard Bancroft France: A History of National
Economics 1789-1939, P.v.
2. Wade,Mason The French Canadians-1760-1945, p.2.
3. Ibid., p.9.
4. Clough,Shepard Bancroft France: A History of National
Economics 1789-1939, p.8.
5. Ibid., p.9.
6. Ibid., p.31.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Wade,Mason The French Canadians-1760-1945, p.3.
11. Ibid., p.2.
12. Ibid., p.3.
13. Ibid.
14. Finley,John The French in the Heart of America, p.11.
15. Fiske,John New France and New England, p.75.
16. Finley,John The French in the Heart of America, p.27.
17. Wade,Mason The French Canadians-1760-1945, p.33.
18. Avery,Elizabeth The Influence of French Immigration on the
Political History of the United States, p.9.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Avery,Elizabeth The Influence of French Immigration on
the Political History of the United States. R and E
Research Associates, 1972.
2. Bowers,David Foreign Influences in American Lifet
Essays and Critical Bibliographies. Princeton
University Press, 1944 (pp.1-93).
3. Childs,Frances Sergeant French Refugee Life in the
United States, 1790-1800. The Johns Hopkins Press,
1940 (pp.1-102; 186-202).
4. Clarke,T. Wood Emigres in the Wilderness. Macmillan, 1941.
5. Clough,Shepard Bancroft France: A History of National
Economics 1789-1939. Octagon Books, 1964 (pp.1-90).
6. Drury,John Midwest Heritage. A.A.Wyn,Inc., 1948.
7. Dunn,William Edward Spanish and French Rivalry in the
Gulf Region of the United States, 1678-1702.
University of Texas Bulletin, 1917.
B. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 9, Chicago, Ill. (pp.864-
879).
9. Finley,John The French in the Heart of America. Scribner's,
1915.
10. Fiske,John New France and New England. Houghton and
Mifflin, 1902.
11. Glassie,Henry Pattern in the Material- Folk Culture of
the Eastern United States. University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1968.
12. Oliver,Nola Nance The Gulf Coast of Mississippi.
Hastings House, 1941.
13. Rioux,Marcel and Martin,Yves French-Canadian Society-
Volumel. McClelland and Stewart Ltd.,1964(pp.1-201).
14. Wade,Mason The French Canadians-1760-1945. Macmillan,
1955(pp.1-151).
15. Whitbourne,Richard A Discourse and Discovery of
New-Found-Land. DaCapo Press,1971.
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JAMES B. BLACK
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