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Topic Brief
American Industriousness
GOVT 329
Liberty University
February 5th, 2017
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Abstract
In this research paper we will be examining the topic of American Industriousness as it
contributes to the concept of American exceptionalism. Personally, I chose this trait for two
reasons. First, growing up, I can remember watching those around me with strong work ethics,
including my father who worked as a commercial truck driver. The second reason, I decided to
focus on this trait was that it seems that on the whole we are losing it as a country. There is still
plenty of hard work that keeps this country going, but we don’t celebrate it. As a culture we’ve
actually gone in the opposite direction, we put celebrities on a pedestal, there are teenagers on
youtube making a living by posting mindless videos, and we look down on the working class
such as garbage men and other blue collar workers as something lesser.
Defining Terms
It is appropriate to define a few terms for the purposes of the rest of this paper. For this
task, we will rely on definitions provided by Merriam-Webster dictionary since its founder, Noah
Webster, is an important player in the American experience and is discussed later in this paper.
Let’s break down the phrase American Exceptionalism. Merriam-Webster offers this definition of
American: “Of or relating to America.” Exceptionalism can be defined as, “the condition of
being different from the norm.” When combined, we can understand the phrase American
Exceptionalism to refer to a simple concept of America’s condition of being different from the
norm. As we focus on the virtue of industriousness, we will define that as, “constantly, regularly,
or habitually active or occupied.” Merriam-Webster goes onto to provide a synonym discussion
to say that the word industrious can imply a “characteristic or habitual devotion to work.” 1
1. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com.
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Spirit of Industriousness
This devotion to hard work is a key theme to the founding and ultimately to growth of
America into a major world power. This work ethic set us apart from the rest of the world as our
country was formed. Every other nation had previously been born based off of geo-ethnic groups
and religions. As Benjamin Franklin said, “America is the only country that was born from a
creed.” There is a lot packed into this statement. It shows that ours is a country that came into
existence with a chip on its shoulder. Oppressive taxes from Britain caused colonists to have a
rallying point. Around that rallying point, the spirit of industriousness was born, knowing full
well that this fledgling country would be entitled to nothing. The freedom that we enjoy today
would even have to be earned by those early colonists. Later Alexis de Tocqueville would
comment that Americans had a “kind of spiritual energy coursed through America’s mechanics
and artisans, farmers and carpenters, men and women of every station who felt charged to make
their own world.”2
What makes this virtue (and others relevant to the American experience) different is that
it is necessary to keep developing it. Much like any useful skill, these virtues must be practiced
or else they begin to slip and fade. One of our founders, John Adams understood the danger of
losing a key thread like this and cautioned, “we must be a virtuous people for self-government to
succeed.”3 This virtue of industriousness is simply the idea that problems can be solved through
hard work and ingenuity of a free people. If we ever lose sight of this virtue or begin to believe
the answer to our problems lie in bigger government or more welfare programs, then we will
2. Gingrich, Newt. A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters.
Washington DC: Regnery Publishing, 2011
3. Lukens, Jeff. Why America is Exceptional. Retrieved from
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2013/12/why_america_is_exceptional.html
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begin to drift further and further from the type of government our founders set out to create.
Early Examples
The story of Edwin Drake is one that isn’t talked about a lot, but he was one of the
country’s early entrepreneurs in the energy industry. In the 1850’s, the world ran on whale oil for
heating and light purposes, but huddled in a Pennsylvania saloon, Drake found himself speaking
with a group of wealthy men speaking about something they termed “rock oil” that had been
found in the countryside of Pennsylvania. A chemist had confirmed for this group of men that
this oil could be refined into kerosene and it had all sorts of useful applications. Drake and his
backers bet big on themselves that they could find enough of this rock oil to make a fortune. So
Drake went to Titusville, Pennsylvania. A year and half later, the bills were piling up and the
financial backers had all pulled their support save for one backer. Actually, that backer,
Townsend, had mailed Drake a letter telling him that they were going bankrupt and that Drake
needed to cease operations. American Industriousness had already been at work though, Drake
had begun to partner with a local blacksmith by the name of “Uncle Billy” Smith and together
they rigged up a drill bit encased in an iron pipe and using a steam engine and a derrick, their
drill was able to go deeper than ever before. The day before Townsend’s letter informing Drake
to cease operations, Drake and Smith struck barrels and barrels of black gold. The oil rush was
on and America became a world power in the energy industry.4 The concept of private property
fueled these men’s ambitions and stoked their industriousness. Their success was squarely on
4. Jindal, Bobby. American Will: The Forgotten Choices That Changed Our Republic. New
York: Threshold Editions, 2015
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their shoulders and their ingenuity. This concept of merit is something naturally American
and it comes only through hard work.
American industriousness comes in many shapes and sizes, one such example has been the
American response during wartime situations. The virtue of industriousness was evident in the
War of 1812, dubbed the “shipbuilders war,” which showcased the ingenuity and manufacturing
prowess of a galvanized, motivated, and unified American people. With an early advantage,
owing to their immense navy, British forces controlled the Great Lakes between the Canadian
and United States borders. This fleet posed a continual threat and harassment of U.S. ports was
common. Upon declaring war, though and the appointment of Isaac Chauncey to lead the war
effort for the United States, American industriousness and ingenuity began to take the spotlight.
Larger and more powerful British ships were harassed and outmaneuvered by lighter and quicker
American vessels that navigated the choppy Great Lakes weather with ease. Logistically,
Americans reaped the benefits of a geographical advantage using rivers to easily transport
supplies to and from the Great Lakes region resulting in a definitive advantage in ship production
on the Great Lakes.5
Another example of American industriousness is Noah Webster. It was during the formative
years of our nation that a desire for an alternative to the British produced ‘spellers’ was made
apparent. These were grammar and vocabulary textbooks used in schools at the time. The need to
severe from all things so overtly British paved way for Noah Webster to publish his dictionary.
The popularity of this dictionary would lend credibility to American literature. Webster would
5. Morris, Charles. The Dawn of Innovation. New York: PublicAffairs, 2014.
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also dabble in the newspaper industry, spearheading the Minerva, a Federalist paper, which was
the first daily paper to run in New York. This gave daily commentary on what it meant to be an
American during those early years.6
Criticisms to American Industriousness
Godfrey Hodgson challenges the concept of American exceptionalism and
industriousness. Hodgson contends that there were many factors that lead to the growth and
development of the United States and those factors are merely many pieces to a puzzle, rather
than something generated by anything in and of itself exceptional. Simply, there was a new land
and resources to be had, so it stands immigrants would make their way to claim their fortunes.
The expansion and development of the American West was due in large part to financing from
Europe. The transcontinental railroads in particular were paid for mostly by British and European
capital.7 In terms of America’s historical standing with European powers, much of that can be
attributed to Europe’s numerous wars that left countries devastated and playing catch up
economically. Hodgson notes the lack of foreign invasion as a key driver of America’s ascent as
a global power.
Looking closely at the history of the United State, you can see that the elements of
industriousness were planted early on since there were many needs for the early immigrants.
Many had left their entire lives and most (if not all) accumulated wealth to that point. In 1840,
Tocqueville noted that “the number of large fortunes is quite small and capital is still scarce.”
6. Kendall, Joshua. The Forgotten Founding Father. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2010
7. Hodgson, Godfrey. The Myth of American Exceptionalism. New Haven and London:
Yale University Press, 2009
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It was in this environment that land became so cheap and agriculture grew in importance.8 This
would lead to economic growth for the United States as more and more farmers began to export
their goods for European capital. In the years after the Civil War, America’s best exports were
agricultural in nature. 9 This view calls into question the idea of American industriousness by
striking at the idea of America as an ingenious and inventive people, but rather and agrarian one
like much of the rest of the world, dependent on European capital.
Industriousness Today
Work ethic has seen a steady decline over the past half century. Entitlement programs
have allowed Americans to choose between jumping into the workforce and riding the coattails
of bigger government. Medicine has improved the quality of life for so many, but also yet at the
same time, more and more workers have convinced the government that they are unable to work.
In 1960, the number of people receiving disability benefits was 0.7% contrasted with the 2010
figure of 5.3%. This is especially significant when you consider the number of desk jobs
available now with the booming digital industry. Even more to the point is the number of
households where no one holds a college degree where no member of the family works at least
40 hours a week. In 1960, 81% of such households had a member of the family working fulltime
or 40 hours per week. By 2008, the same household participation had dropped to 60%. As of
2010, the same segment could boast just 53% having a full time worker in the house.10
8. Piketty, Thomas. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press, 2014
9. Hodgson, Godfrey. The Myth of American Exceptionalism. New Haven and London:
Yale University Press, 2009
10. Murray, Charles. Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. New York:
Crown Publishing, 2012
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Conclusion
Industriousness has been a huge part of American Exceptionalism. Taming a new land
and unifying people from different backgrounds and heritages required a common mindset. One
of those rallying points was a dedication to hard work. In those early days, immigration was not
an easy choice. Leaving behind one’s wealth and everything you knew to start anew in a brand
new land was a daunting task. This is where the virtue of American Industriousness was really
born. Now years removed from these foundational days has begun to erode at our virtues as a
nation. Bigger government has shielded vast portions of our population and stunted our growth.
There is still evidence of our hard work, but it is becoming more difficult to see by the day.
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Bibliography
Gingrich, Newt. A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters. Washington
DC: Regnery Publishing, 2011
Hodgson, Godfrey. The Myth of American Exceptionalism. New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 2009
Jindal, Bobby. American Will: The Forgotten Choices That Changed Our Republic. New York:
Threshold Editions, 2015
Kendall, Joshua. The Forgotten Founding Father. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2010
Lukens, Jeff. Why America is Exceptional. Retrieved from
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2013/12/why_america_is_exceptional.html
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com.
Morris, Charles. The Dawn of Innovation. New York: PublicAffairs, 2014.
Murray, Charles. Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. New York: Crown
Publishing, 2012
Piketty, Thomas. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 2014
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