Home Owner Ideals

One main incentive for settlers from Europe in America was the availability of land, to farm and to own. De Crevecouer describes the feeling of land ownership as 'the bright idea of property, of exclusive right, of independence exalt my mind'. He suggests that every American should be a 'freeholder' that it is an integral part of what makes them American, 'on it is founded our rank, our freedom, our power as citizens, our importance as inhabitants'. These views may not be 100% shared still today but the core principles of them are and a good example of it is the website i found for the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America.

https://www.naca.com/index_main.jsp?language=null   

This corporation essentially helps financially struggling people to keep ownership of their homes. It does this by any means possible but primarily through re-negotiation of 'predatory' loan and mortgage rates, it is also a non profit organisation. It has obviously become more prevalent in recent years with the economic depression the world has been suffering helping more people than ever 'made the dream of home ownership a reality for thousands of working people'. These are both ideas critical to De Crevecouers view of Americans, land ownership and industrious hard working citizens. It also shows the contrast though between De Crevecouers America, vast, empty and with cheap land compared with modern America, cramped and expensive for homeowners.

This corporation's work does also conflict with De Crevecouers views in that it is assistance being given to struggling people and he states views such as 'each person works for himself' and 'It is not every emigrant who succeeds' so it could be argued that he may view it as unAmerican. 

I think it is also worth noting that the associations headquarters are in Boston Massachusetts, one of the places settled earliest in America and inhabited by Puritans. Landownership and hard work were integral to their beliefs and it seems that this strength of feeling may still be present today.