When President Obama addressed the joint session of Congress he cited the moral issue inherent in the current health care reform struggle. Quoting the late Senator Ted Kennedy, he said:

“What we face,” he wrote, “is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.”

Just what is the “character of America?”

There are, I think, two views: How do we see ourselves? How do others see us? Like art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We who live here see the American character in one light. Others, who live elsewhere, see it differently. Objectivity can be questioned because of the different cultural and life experiences of the individual viewer.

The American Studies at the University of Virginia is as good a starting point as any to begin exploring the character of America.

Alexis de Tocqueville was a European tourist who traveled the United States in the 1830′s. (See also Wikipedia on de Tocqueville) de Tocqueville, a Frenchman, authored Democracy in America, regarded as a classical account of the democratic system of the United States. (You can find a number of sources to obtain the book on Google.)

Thomas Hamilton visited America from Scotland, also in the 1830’s. Hamilton wrote Men and Manners in America. (Find the book on Google)

Margaret Hall came to America from England in 1827. An Aristocratic Journey is a collection of Hall’s letters to her sister, Jane, about her travels in the United States.

George Combe was an English phrenologist who traveled to the United States to conduct lectures from 1838-1840. His views of the United States can be read in Notes on the States of North America During a Phrenological Visit. The University of Virginia site states “…he does not only pinpoint the peculiarities of the Americans and their society, but he also makes great efforts to discern their cause.”

Harriet Martineau traveled from England to the United States where she would spend two years touring with the intent of publishing her work. The products of that journey were Society in America, published in 1837, and its more informal companion, Retrospect of Western Travel, published in 1838.

Alexander Boloni Farkas, the son of a Hungarian nobleman, Farkas came to the United States from Transylvania in 1831. His book, Journey in North America was published in Hungary in 1834, a year before Democracy in America. Farkas’ account is not the typical travel narrative, but was written to ignite political reform in his native Hungary.

Frederick Gustorf traveled in the western United States in 1835. Gustorf’s notes were kept in the bottom of a desk drawer for 130 years. Cherished but unread, the papers were known to family members as “The Diary.” Finally, in the 1960′s, the papers were given to his great-grandson, also named Frederick Gustorf, who, with the help of his wife Gisela, translated, edited, and finally published them in 1969 as The Uncorrupted Heart, the Journal and Letters of Frederick Julius Gustorf 1800-1845.

Charles Lyell, well-known English geologist, traveled to America from 1841-42. His book is Lyell’s Travels in North America in 1841-42.

Francis Kemble came to America in 1832, writing Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation, 1838-39.

There is a lot to read on the University of Virginia website. Far more than I can justify putting here.

Happily there is a summary of the characteristics. [Character of the Americans] I’ll highlight those that stand out to me.

It is impossible to draw a complete character sketch of “the typical American.” The following is a collection of the overarching impressions of Americans from all regions that were repeatedly observed by the travelers. This rendition of how an American appeared to European travelers in the 1830′s is not a completely synthesized picture, but a group of traits some that are related to one another and others that stand curiously alone.

Without exception, travelers to the United States found the most striking feature of the American character to be the obsession with business and wealth. The travelers cite this preoccupation with money as the reason for other “American” traits, such as their hurried manner, serious expression, and even their loose morals. Some writers attribute the quest for riches and commitment to hard work to their puritan roots while others found the business practices of Americans completely sacrilegious. Surprisingly, many travelers also see a dependable, honest kindness running through this severity and downright greed. Another curious observation is that despite their personal stiffness, in regards to decorum in social situations, Americans are very informal. This is a discrepancy none of the travelers recognize or account for. Lastly, in physical appearance, the Europeans find the women ugly and Americans in general of a gray and sallow complexion. They also suffer from bad posture.

The American preoccupation with money cuts across regional and class lines and inevitably leads to dishonesty. Thomas Hamilton goes so far as to contend that Americans chose the dollar sign over the cross. “Whenever his love of money comes in competition with his zeal for religion, the latter is sure to give way…The whole race of Yankee peddlers…are proverbial for dishonesty” (131)

The German teacher Frederick Gustorf denounces Americans as “repulsive” and explains his experience with boarding house keepers in Cincinnati. “They have no character, money is their only objective…They have no friendship, hospitality or respect for anyone” (29).

The travelers saw this greed not only as the cause for immorality, but also as the root of the coldness of Americans and their inability to indulge in recreation or relaxation. “To a New Englander, business is pleasure–the only pleasure he cares about” (Hamilton, 120). Hamilton found this austerity not only in the North, but also in the “furrowed and haggard countenances” of Southern workers (365). Margaret Hall is not quite so severe in her appraisal, but she does express her shock at finally finding a “Yankee who could joke” and then realizing it was indeed an Englishman (26). This somberness is noticed universally by the travelers, and goes hand in hand with the Americans’ disdain for relaxation. Gustorf observes “The German type of mineral baths will never succeed in this country unless the Americans find a need for relaxation and recreation” (32).

Some of the journalists see in the stiffness of the Americans the ties to their religious roots and an unwavering commitment to honesty and civil service. Underlying these traits is also a genuine, heartfelt kindness that is frequently complimented by all the travelers. Combe observes: “We have found the servants and landlords in the inns of New England cold and reserved in their manners” (38). However, he goes on to attest to their intrinsic amicability and overall kindness and sees their serious manner as a remnant of their Puritan origins. In the same way, Alexander Farkas sees the removal of artificiality and the political responsibility that is part of being a citizen in a democratic nation as the main reasons for the Americans’ stiffness.

“They are unschooled in the nuances of etiquette, their bodies are stiff, unbending; they do not know how to express joy or sorrow in their facial expression. But in spite of coldness or awkwardness there is something in their eyes and demeanor which hints at a simple inner dignity. The kindness one senses is the kind of genuine sentiment that cannot be acquired by artifice” (89).

Juxtaposed to this personal austerity is a pervasive social informality. The travelers recognized the lack of decorum as the direct result of a pragmatic, democratic society. However, they never saw its conflict with the stern personalities of the Americans. Alexander Farkas is astonished and pleased with what he regards as a lack of “surface veneer.” When he pays a visit to President Jackson he is overwhelmed with the absence of decorum. “His simple manners and friendly behavior made us forget we were talking to the chief executive of thirteen million people” (183).

The other upper class travelers, even though they wish that the Americans were more loose and jovial, are disturbed by the lack of formality in American society.

“It is the invariable custom in this country for all the passengers of a stage-coach to eat at the same table, and the time allowed for meals is so short, that unless John dines with his master, the chances are that he goes without dinner altogether. I had already learned that, in the United States, no man can put forward pretensions to superiority of any kind, without exciting unpleasant observation” (Hamilton, 226).

“One of the greatest discomforts of a boarding house, to me at least, is the difficulty of finding fault when the lady sits at the head of the table as one of the company” (Hall, 255).

Physical appearance may not seem like a subject worthy of mention, but as stated above, there topics have been induced by the traveler’s journals and not an external force. Since almost all of the tourists feel it necessary to mention the appearance of the Americans, then it merits inclusion. Most of the travelers found American women to be coarse and ugly, but more consistently, they found the whole population to have a sallow look about them. These observations come from different classes, nationalities and sexes and yet, they are surprisingly similar. While Gustorf simply states that American women are ugly, the others try to pinpoint why.

“The greater sallowness of complexion here is attributed to the want of humidity in the air” (Lyell, 108).

“The women here, like those of most warm climates, ripen very early and decay proportionately soon” (Kemble, 30).

“But the climate is deadly and pestial; they are worn and sallow” (Hamilton, 331).

Another marked observation on physical appearance is the bad posture of American men that both Margaret Hall and Thomas Hamilton notice at West Point.

“I might also observe, that in the carriage of the cadets was less soldier like than might be wished. In most of them I remarked a certain slouch of the shoulders…in truth the remark is applicable to the whole population” (Hamilton, 389).

“They hold themselves precisely inverse from the carriage of English Militiamen. Their chests one and all are concave instead of convex and this applies to every American of the male species that I have yet seen” (Hall, 37).

These comments were not just the result of the two travelers viewing the same set of sorry cadets, as their visits were separated by three years.

Returning to President Obama’s speech to Congress we can find similar remarks which indicate his assessment of America’s character in his portrayal of the health care reform struggle. He presents a more positive view of the American character than those visitors of some two hundred years ago. During his speech he used the following phrases:

“We came here to build a future.”

“We are the only democracy — the only advanced democracy on Earth — the only wealthy nation — that allows such hardship for millions of its people.”

“self-reliance, our rugged individualism, our fierce defense of freedom and our healthy skepticism of government.”

“large-heartedness — that concern and regard for the plight of others”

“is part of the American character — our ability to stand in other people’s shoes; a recognition that we are all in this together, and when fortune turns against one of us, others are there to lend a helping hand; a belief that in this country, hard work and responsibility should be rewarded by some measure of security and fair play”

“when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American”

“We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.”

“That is our character”

As I view the American character I see our nation as a materialistic country devoted to accumulation of wealth and power. Making money is the driving force in our everyday lives. It is a measure of our worth.

From a Christian theological point of view we were admonished “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” [Mark 10:25]