The self motivation and desire to better oneself morally and financially are two qualities that define what it means to be an American, according to two prominent writers from the time of our nation's conception. Benjamin Franklin's "Autobiography" J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur's, "Letters from an American Farmer," both depict Americans as ethical people and as people who are driven to meet their goals. Franklin and Crevecoeur both share the belief that the willingness of the American citizen to better their lives and their desire to seize opportunities for prosperity are two qualities that help to distinguish the American citizen from the rest of the world's inhabitants.
             Ben Franklin was proud to learn as a result of his many journeys in life that Americans displayed many of the virtues of a good man that other cultures don't. Upon his arrival at a Printing House in London, Franklin is paired with a man who enjoyed the consumption of alcohol to the point where Franklin felt it diminished the quality of the man's life. "I endeavour'd to convince him that the Bodily Strength afforded by Beer could only be in proportion to the Grain or Flour of a Penny-worth of Bread, and therefore if he would eat that with a pint of water, it would give him more Strength than a quart of beer. He drank on however, and had 4 or 5 shillings to pay his Wages every Saturday Night for that muddling liquor; an Expense I was free from" (833). It is apparent by his closing remarks he makes that he feels this man's excessive and unnecessary spending is a sign of weakness, and by saying he is free from it, he suggests the man is inferior to himself. He later speaks highly of an American man named Mr. Denham, whom he worked with in London, who had acquired vast riches in America, and made a generous gesture to his former creditors, who had previously caused the man's business to fold. ...