Scots and the “New Man”: Crèvecœur’s Literary Vision of Scottish Migration in 18th-Century America

This paper explores the migration of Scottish and Scotch-Irish settlers to America during the eighteenth century, with a particular focus on their literary representations in the works of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur. Crèvecœur devoted several of his sketches to Scottish migrants, portraying them as industrious and resilient settlers who sought new beginnings in America after escaping poverty and the harsh conditions of their homeland. This study examines three such portrayals: the well-known episode of “Andrew the Hebridean” from Letters from an American Farmer (1782), a narrative that reflects “the story of many an immigrant who penetrated to the hospitable backcountry” (Parrington 2017, 145); the lesser-known depiction of a Scotsman in the sketch “Socialburg” (1787), which depicts the decision to found, along with other British and European migrants, an egalitarian community; and the account of Mr. J.U. in Voyage dans le Haute Pensylvanie et dans l'ètat de New York (1801), who recounts his personal emigration experience from poverty to a bountiful new life. Collectively, these depictions reveal Crèvecœur’s forward-looking understanding of the Scottish settler as playing a major role in the texture of backcountry and Appalachian settlement. Given that the Scottish and Scots-Irish constituted one of the most significant groups of the American backcountry, Crèvecœur’s sustained attention to them reflects both his personal experience among Scottish migrants as “a resident of Pennsylvania and of Ulster County in the province of New York” (Parrington 2017, 141) and his recognition of their vital contributions to the formation of American society. A close reading of these texts offers deeper insight into Crèvecœur’s oeuvre and into the broader cultural role of Scottish migration in shaping eighteenth-century American identity.