James's letters take the reader on a tour around the American colonies in the 18th century—from James's own farm in Pennsylvania to the seafaring communities in Nantucket to the wilds of the American frontier at the western edge of the colonies and the grand cities of the American South. These areas exhibit an unusual degree of splendor, tarnished by the wealth generated from enslaved labor.
De Crèvecoeur worked on Letters from an American Farmer from the 1760s into the early 1770s, and the novel is set in this same period—a critical moment in American colonial history, during which the colonies began to lay the foundations of nationhood. Bubbling on the horizon was the American Revolution, which would erupt a few years after de Crèvecoeur had finished his writing (although he wouldn't publish his work until the closing years of the war).
This historical context is vital to understanding the novel: the reader can clearly perceive, as James's letters progress, the deterioration of the initial tone of boundless optimism for the potential of the American project. By the final letter, Letter 9, with revolution immanent, the tension becomes too much for James to bear. Stuck between American and English interests, he finds he cannot align with either side and plans, instead, to abandon his farm and join an indigenous community in the wilderness.
