The log cabin: from the pioneers' hardship of life to the fulfilment of the American dream. A brief sketch of the history of the American people through one symbol: the log cabin.

Résumé du document

It may be the Appalachian icon which is a log cabin on a hillside with wood-smoke rising from a stone chimney. This is part of American culture associated with President Abraham Lincoln and the frontiersman Davy Crockett. Many questions arise with regard to the log cabin such as what is so American about the log cabin, what is the significance of the log cabin in the American culture, the origin of the log cabin, how did it turn out to be the symbol of the Nation and finally, how and why has it been used since the 60s?

Extraits

[...] They were in constant danger of floods or droughts, storms, fires, accidents, and disease. By the 1890s, many towns had grown into cities, boasting of such modern luxuries as electric lights, telephones, paved streets. Most of the pioneers who had come to the West did so to distance themselves from city life, yet they were filled with pride as they saw they accomplishments and dreams fulfilled. So much of the land had been settled by the 1890s that the government declared that the West was no longer a "frontier". [...]

[...] The log cabin : from the pioneers' hardship of life to the fulfilment of the American dream brief sketch of the history of the American people through one symbol : the log cabin) It may be the Appalachian icon: a log cabin on a hillside with wood-smoke rising from a stone chimney. It's a part of American culture associated with Abe Lincoln and Davy Crockett. What's more American than a log cabin? Many questions arise: - Why is the log cabin so important in the American culture? [...]

[...] But the origin of the log cabin isn't American at all: it was a Scandinavian invention. Log cabins made their first American appearance around 1640, in one tiny colony called, rather optimistically, New Sweden. That Swedish experiment in the New World didn't last long, conquered by the Dutch, and then by the English. But several of those handfuls of Swedes stayed, and so did their building habits. It was apparently not until well into the 18th century that log cabins spread into the American wilderness. [...]

[...] From the building of a cabin to the building of a nation The log cabin has since come to represent the quintessential American folk dwelling. The log house was adopted by every European nationality that settled in early America. The log cabin also became a popular choice of the American Indians. By 1810 most members of the Cherokee tribe living in Georgia and Tennessee had log cabins. A cabin-raising was a special social gathering that brought the settlers together in a spirit of community. [...]

[...] The log cabin was so strongly associated with so-called American qualities that it used to be a political asset to have lived in one. Presidents Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln gained popular advantage from the fact that they were born in log cabins. II The new Frontier to reach is now individual success This dark and very Abe Lincoln log cabin is back in the US, only now you could call it a log palace: they're huge, gorgeous and very, very expensive. [...]