Early manufacturing centered in rural areas because of the available water power, and a new enterprise could begin with sweat equity and borrowed seed money from family and friends. Old wealth stayed in the city and benefited from the rise in the prices of urban real estate. In advance of the “What It Means to Be American” event “ Are Americans Risk-Takers?” we asked scholars and people who dabble in risk for a living: What is it about American culture that encourages risk-taking?Ĭrucial for risk-takers in the early national period was the fact that old colonial wealth withdrew from speculative economic ventures, leaving many opportunities open to ordinary men and women.
And many of the world’s elite rock climbers-including the one considered the world’s best, Alex Honnold-are Americans. When Caldwell and Jorgeson made it to the top with their bloodied, bandaged, and superglued fingers, it was such a quintessential moment of American optimism that even President Obama sent his congratulations, tweeting, “You remind us that anything is possible.”Ĭould anyone other than Americans have scaled this incredibly difficult granite face with so scant a safety net? Of course-but it was Americans who made the seemingly impossible climb. In recognition of their arduous and potentially fatal quest, one of them even called this climb his Moby-Dick, after that white whale that taunted-and destroyed-Captain Ahab. The pair had trained for more than five years and encountered serious injuries on previous attempts.
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