Victorian views on America

   The three chapters from "Domestic Manners of the Americans" by Frances Trollope detailed a visiting Briton in America, particularly her arrival into the Mississippi River, her time on the River among Americans, and her final stay in New York. It seems the British bias against the Irish was still present; though, it seemed to be more institutionalized rather than at the forefront of their thoughts. The narrator found many of the men on her voyage to be handsome, "except when disfigured with red hair", and praised her hostess in New York, but made sure to point out that said hostess was Irish. The narrator's thoughts on America were not initially benign as she was greeted with the muddy and debris filled Mississippi River and her boat with "Kentucky boat-men" who were described as low-class, drinking, gambling, and perhaps even tempted to steal. Oddly enough, the narrator, despite finding the non-red heads to be noble-looking, did not think they were of European descent, even in looks, but were then convinced that they were European because of preposterous reason. It seems the boat men referred to each other as general, mayor, and colonel, and this convinced the narrator they were European. I have no idea why this would be the case. It makes no sense to me. Despite being convinced for a foolish reason that they were Europeans, the narrator could not believe it because of their atrocious manners. Admittedly, from the narrator's description, the boat men were indeed low class, with little proper manners, whether that be as people and quarreling in front of the narrator or at the dinner table, viciously consuming food and often spitting, much the duress of the narrator and her clothes.
   Later on, upon landing in New York and happily being received by the Irish hostess, the narrator discussed America being a formal British colony filled with former Britons. She did not recognize Americans as British but rather the descendants of British who either abandoned Britain or were exiled from it. It seems she did not see fully understand, or mocked America's reasoning for revolting from the British Empire. The way she spoke of Americans wanting to keep their land to themselves was described satirically in such a way she was calling Americans greedy. This is continued when she mentions that the reason Britain deployed troops to America was to help them defend the frontier, but her satirical response suggested that America was ungrateful and acted like children about a small tax. Because of this foolishness, the narrator suggests that Americans no longer benefit from the glory of Britain, which she finds to be truly great, and is astounded how Americans can be so foolish or otherworldly not to care about all the glorious of the crown they are missing out on. She seems disgusted that Americans find the many glories of the crown to be useless and instead respect successful businessmen, suggesting further the greed of America. She finishes how Britian interacts with the rest of Europe and benefits from it culturally while America just sits back and calls itself the best and forces the opinion on others while doing nothing to prove it. Quite similar to today actually.