Demise of the American Dream: The French Experience of
American Life in the Age of the French Revolution
Authors
Catherine Hebert
Abstract
The French negative response to American life in the age of the French Revolution
has been attributed to émigré and refugee disillusionment at the outcome of the social
upheavals in France and America. My paper's thesis is that French negative reactions
were also related to the exiles' day-to-day life experiences. The paper will thus attract
attention to a complex of political, economic, social and psychological factors related to
the country of origin, the process of migration and the receiving country, which affected
the community of exiles in Philadelphia and in the Pennsylvania hinterland.
