Introduction to and Translation of Hector St. John de Crevecoeur's "Origin of the Settlement at Socialburg''

This is the first English translation of Hector St. John de Crevecoeur's "Origine de l'e'tablissement de Socialburg,'' 1 from the third volume of the second French edition of Lettres d'un Cultivateur Americain (1787). This original utopian sketch imagines five immigrants to British North America-a Frenchman, a German, a Scot, an Englishman, and an Irishman-planning a settlement in New York; it may be read as a fascinating revision of the famous "What is an American?'' letter from the 1782 edition.