February 2014 – Page 4 – American History to 1877

February 15, 2014

Colonial Origins of the American Dream

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Chronicling the French, English and Indian conflicts that arose in the mid-eighteenth century, Taylor’s Chapter 18, “Imperial Wars and Crisis” clearly explains the origins of the colonies’ desire for independence. Taylor also notes that with the British’s victory over France in the Seven Years War and the subsequent downfall of the North American Indians, the colonies became united under England’s central rule (421). Although we have seen examples of early American ideals forming in the colonies since their origins, it can be argued that the American Dream was truly born out of England’s increasingly repressive colonial rule observed in the aftermath of the Seven Years War.

Through his discussion of colonial life in the mid eighteenth century, Taylor’s main point of comparison lies in his description of colonies before and after the Seven Years War. Ultimately, the greatest change that occurred in colonial America was the huge increase in British influence after the war. Taylor highlights that before the war, “The British posted only a few hundred troops in North America. In 1763, however, the crown decided to maintain ten thousand men in the colonies” (439). Accompanying England’s efforts to garrison the colonies was an increased amount of taxes that Parliament instituted in order to make up for the massive debt they had incurred as a result of the war. Despite new British influence and taxation, it wasn’t until some colonists visited their mother country that they truly realized how well off they truly were. In particular, these traveling colonists were appalled at the huge discrepancy between the rich and the poor seen in England (440). The combined effects of Britain’s heightened colonial involvement eventually led to a stark increase in the number of people who immigrated to the colonies from England (441). With the colonists growing weary of their British masters, tension began to rise as rumors of rebellion gained more and more validity.

At this point in time, when the colonists saw that the liberties they had enjoyed for so long were in danger, we can see the origins of the American Dream. While this dream has changed over the years, its current version involves, as Grey highlights in his blog post about Obama’s most recent state of the Union address, a belief that a certain work ethic and self-restraint entitles Americans to freedom and the ability to openly pursue their goals. By describing the rising sentiments of colonial resistance, Taylor asserts that colonists saw the increased British authority as a hindrance on their ability to achieve this early version of the American Dream.

Finally, Taylor’s illustration of the colonies’ changing sentiments towards their British overlords is both thorough and fair. While some texts will offer nothing but praise for the colonists beginning to part ways with a oppressive government, Taylor qualifies their intentions by stating that in doing so, they were only truly concerned with the rights of wealthy, white, property-owning men. The colonists’ aspirations for freedom therefore excluded the poor, women and minorities, notably African Americans and Indians (443). By identifying the shortcomings of the early American Dream, Taylor subtly highlights that while the colonists’ decision to seek independence from England was an important and brave one, it should not be thought of as morally righteous in nature.

February 12, 2014

Religious Awakening in Colonial America

In his chapter on the religious revivals that transpired in British colonial America during the eighteenth century, Taylor debunks the popular myth that North America was colonized solely for the purposes of religious freedom. Aside from the Quakers, who genuinely sought a plurality of religions in the colonies, the majority of the colonists who settled North America intended to replicate the homogenous religious atmosphere that dominated England during this time period (339). He explains that every region of colonial America was peppered with different congregations, each competing for religious dominance. The Congregationalists primarily dominated New England, the Anglicans largely controlled the South, while the Quakers and the Presbyterians composed the largest denominations of the Protestant faith in the middle colonies (342).

As the author of “Religious Awakening in the Colonies” astutely notes, religion in the colonies was far more complex than numerous denominational divisions. In addition, each congregation was internally divided between rationalists and evangelicals. The rationalists rejected the traditional foundations of Christianity, opting instead to focus their faith on science. They believed that God never interfered with the laws of the natural universe since he had created it. Therefore, rationalists believed epidemics and natural disasters to be “natural” instead of interpreting them as divine anger. Additionally, rationalists preached eternal salvation through good behavior (344 – 345). Evangelicals, on the other hand, believed eternal salvation could only be attained through God’s grace. The evangelicals emphasized emotions and individualism, disturbing listeners with images of terror during their sermons to remind them of “their impending and eternal sentence in hell.” They balanced these depictions however, with images of eternal joy in heaven. The purpose of these “revivals” was to get their listeners to surrender to God and ultimately feel the exhilaration of God’s saving grace (345). Known as the Great Awakening, these series of revivals were led by prominent religious figures such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and Gilbert Tennents.

The evangelicals would eventually be referred to as the New Lights while their opponents – those who dismissed the emotional sermons of the evangelicals and defended the traditional foundations of the Christian faith – became known as the Old Lights (351). In addition to this divide, the evangelicals split into moderates and radicals. The moderates rejected the radicals’ belief in the free flow of divine grace and attack on the establishment of the Christian church. They accepted evangelical preaching, conversions, and most of the professional clergy who supported the revivals, but denounced the emotional outbursts of the poorly educated exhorters in order to maintain their own power and authority in colonial society (353). Overall, I enjoyed and favorably received Taylor’s take on the Great Awakening. His account thoroughly dissected the religious complexity of colonial America that is noticeably absent from traditional American history texts.

February 12, 2014

Sexism in the Salem Witch Trials

As Alex highlights in his blog post regarding Mary Beth Norton’s article, “Witchcraft in the Anglo-American Colonies,” the knowledge that we have on the topic is limited to stories transferred by word of mouth, as newspapers were not yet available. Therefore, Norton identifies many differing viewpoints on the origins of witchcraft accusations in the late 1600s. These theories range from poor economic conditions to Norton’s own idea that the Salem witch phenomenon was attributed to an Indian war that occurred during the same time period.

Given the stereotype that has evolved over the years to portray witches as being female, the theory that I found most interesting was that explained by Elizabeth Reis in her Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England. Norton states that Reis’s work revolves around the question of why so many more women were accused of being witches than their male counterparts. Ultimately, she posits that the “gendered nature of Puritan religious experience” accounted for this situation, meaning that sexism and gender inequality were structurally ingrained in the Puritans’ daily lives.

To further her claim that gender bias was a leading factor in many of the Salem witch trials, Norton cites an argument made by Carol Karlsen in her book, The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. Norton notes that the witches described by Karlsen, “Seem to be early protofeminists or at least women who did not act in conventionally feminine ways.” By identifying a large group of people accused of being witches as women who defied their traditional roles, Karlsen asserts that sexism was apart of the Puritan colonies. While there were most likely more than one cause for the Salem witch trials, Norton’s summarization of two arguments pointing to the Puritans’ gender prejudice shows that their views regarding the role of women likely played a central role in explaining why more women were accused of being witches than men. Furthermore, the Puritan sexism that created a link between women and accused witches helps to explain the historical causes for today’s conventional image of the female witch.

February 12, 2014

Witch Craft and Religion

In Taylor’s chapter about religion and the colonies, he describes the religious revival that took place during this time period. When first learning American history when I was younger, I was taught that Europeans came over for religious freedom, far away from the Church of England and the monarchy. Taylor points out this misconception in the beginning of his chapter, as it was only some colonists that wanted religious freedom. Many colonists observed their respective religions and attended church on a weekly basis. Especially in New England, which as Taylor says, “struck visitors as the most conspicuously devout and religious homogenous region in British North America” (340). The readings on the Salem Witch Trials also capitalize on this highly religious area in the colonies, as well as also dispel myths about these trials.

Like the idea about religious freedom, from a young age I was taught that the Salem Witch Trials persecuted women for being involved with the devil and witchcraft. But like most people, one always asks, how were they persecuted and why were they persecuted? As Elizabeth Reis talks about these frequently asks questions. It was interesting to see the differences between how men and women were treated in this Puritan area. Women were most often persecuted as witches due to their confession, because they were most likely to confess to sinning and being in a covenant with the devil, whereas men would brush off their sins as things that can be changed later.

In his blog post, Mike discusses the Salem Witch trials and the gender roles associated with them. Mike points out how women have always been a social stigma that women are weak, and men were considered strong due to their ability to get rid of the devil. This point is extremely interesting to me, as I never though about the witch trials being a gender divided event.

February 12, 2014

Sensationalism in Salem and Misrepresenting History

Woodward’s exposition on the “Other Witch Hunt” in Hartford does a great job of expanding the commonly held belief that the Salem witch trials are the only and most important of the commonly misunderstood religious dynamic in the New England area. He argues, and quite successfully I believe, that the sensationalism around the Salem trials both through popular imagery as a previous post suggests, but also in the teaching curriculum throughout schools does a disservice to understanding the roots behind the actions of the colonists. It has become so popularized that the other examples of Witch Hunting and vigorous religious prosecution throughout the New England Colonies have become subverted by common thought. The Salem trials, Woodward argues, are a unique experience and create a misinterpretation of the beliefs, social experiences and events that created the situation for witch trials to exist.

In Hartford, there seemed to be a slight dichotomy of beliefs between the common people, the religious accusers and the governor, John Winthrop Junior. The Governor was a doctor who was in charge of adjudicating cases and also, as a doctor, the individual who determined causes for the physical symptoms which many times were blamed on Witchcraft. The judge for most of the cases, he would not allow for an accused “witch” to be put to death on these charges. He established a legal precedent for which to judge other trials and even presided over annulments or reversals of charges that were charged by veracious citizens. The Governor’s training in the sciences and the “magic” of the time (astrology and alchemy), this presents an interesting dichotomy between religion in science. It also shows that the sensationalism of the events in Salem do not always reflect the reality.

There was a “managerial skepticism” in the ruling elites with witch trials, as Woodward points out, only after a long history of eagerness to put accused witches to the gallows. It was not and did not have to be a religious fanaticism and inability to explain natural events that drove the populace into a prosecution and killing frenzy. Only much later was there any intercession, which is not necessarily relevant in the Salem trials and especially not in the popularization of witch trials in modern media and even education. There was a long history of Witch hunts that carried on similarly to Salem’s well before Salem received the reputation it did, and the singular approach of Witch Trial History and religious fanaticism on New England through the eyes of Salem alone hinders our understanding of all the forces at play which led to such an event occurring.

February 12, 2014

It’s a Little More Complicated Than That…

Nuance is always key. In understanding how any system works, one needs to understand the little ins and outs of it that make it the way it is. In class the other day, we touched on the topic of the development of a racialized slavery. In our discussion as a class, we were very careful to include as many factors as we could in our analysis of how race relations in the colonies evolved. This approach is one that Taylor employs in his re-writing of history, and is one I believe is critical to an accurate understanding of history.

In chapter 15, Taylor is very deliberate in his nuanced delivery of how religion developed in The New World. On page 339 he denounces the dominant narrative, which he believes, “…grossly simplifies the diverse religious motive for emigration.” We have heard the story, so plainly told, that dissenters of the Church of England fled religious persecution. This narrative leaves us to assume that all those who left England for religious reasons were under one religious denomination. This could not be further from the truth, According to Taylor, there were multiple denominations, including the Anglicans, Quakers, Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, Dutch Reformed, and German Reformed. Even more important to understand was the competition between these groups. Each group wanted their belief to be the dominant one. This lead to a climate, as Taylor notes, that was not as religiously tolerant as we assume when we think of the New World, especially in New England.

Taylor’s narrative also shows an extremely important discrepancy in the two schools of thought that influenced the above mentioned groups. He pays special attention to the rift between those who were rationalists, and those who took the evangelical route. This is especially important because it holds implications outside of religion. Taylor asserts, “By emphasizing the overwhelming…power of God acting directly and indiscriminately upon souls, radical evangelicals weakened the social conventions of their hierarchical society.” Undoubtedly, religion affected other parts of colonial society, such as economics, and class structure. So if we do not understand the nuances of religion in the colonies, we cannot even get to the point where we realize that different denominations affect social structure in unique ways.

February 12, 2014

Chapter 15: Religious Revival

In Chapter 15 of American Colonies, Taylor describes the resurgence of religion in colonial America during the 18^th century. Known as “The Great Awakening,” widespread religious revival spread across the colonies in response to sweeping religious reform. Religious institutions began to become widespread across the colonies, and many adopted a more compelling form of preaching. Moreover, the evangelists in particular promoted a more “equal” society that accepted all classes of people, and attempted to further the rights of the individual.

As mentioned in the previous post “Religious Awakening in the Colonies,” Taylor does a particularly good job of painting a clear picture of the religious diversity in the colonies. His use of numerical statistics, particularly the number of churches in each specific region, clearly demonstrates the power and prominence of religion within the colonies. Taylor’s decision to discuss religion in a regional context is particularly effective. He discusses religion separately in the northern, southern, and middle colonies, allowing the reader to clearly understand the diverse and various religious differences in each of these geographic regions. By discussing the impact of religion on each separate region, Taylor allows the reader to grasp how religion uniquely impacted the social and political hierarchy of the colonies.

I found religion’s role within the colonies particularly fascinating. Having just discussed the ideas of tolerance and certain freedoms within social class, it was interesting to see that religion was being used to better the colonists lot in life. As Taylor notes, religion allowed women to have a voice that was previously denied to them in the colonies. The Quakers in particular, valued the voice of women in their service. Moreover, the Baptists and other evangelists began to become interested in including African slaves and Indians in salvation, allowing them to attend service and worship as equals with the other members. However, fearful of the Africans unifying under a singular identity, the Anglicans soon put an end to the baptism of slaves. A pattern we see continued from earlier readings.

Overall, I feel as if Taylor has done an exceedingly good job in portraying religion in the colonies. He discusses each religion separately, and narrates a compelling story about the role of each early religion. My one complaint with Taylor comes early in the chapter. Taylor writes that it is a myth that “English colonists fled from religious persecution into a land of religious freedom” (339). However, I feel as if in previous chapters, religion was portrayed by Taylor as a major factor in the emigration of the early English colonists. While he made it clear that economics certainly played a role in people flocking to the new world, I feel as if he almost perpetuates the very myth that he warns us against earlier in our readings.

February 12, 2014

Religion

The first essay, “Witchcraft in the Anglo-American Colonies”, Norton introduces the idea that there are many different views of witchcraft and so many different contexts it is seen in. From different movies, TV shows, and books, the depiction of Witches has been changed so much since Colonial America when the series of witch trials occurred. One of the main causes of these so many varied depictions is many of the records and warrants of these trials was based on gossip and were not written down since many of the population were not fully literate. Newspapers were also much less prevalent so news traveled solely through the storytelling people did from town to town. This unclearness of what happened to cause these trials, how these occurrences happened, and the reasons they happened are all very general and vague, and, in some instances, very flawed. Most accusations were based on a person’s misfortune from weather, illness, etc. and then a neighbor of theirs happened to do something to make them believe it was the neighbors doing somehow.

Mike makes a solid point in his post that education definitely had an impact on how these trials started. People did not logically think about the cause and effect of each situation; if they got sick, which was very common since they were not in the best living conditions, or if there was a bad storm, they did not attribute it to dirty living conditions or a storm simply moving through, but their neighbor who they disliked for some reason and wanted to have the last word.

Norton does a good job of accurately describing how people view and think about these witch trials, as well as describing some of the major causes of the sudden rises in accusations of witchcraft. I enjoyed these reading especially because, from the beginning, it could be related to the present day to things I have actually experienced.

February 12, 2014

Witchcraft in New England

I think “Witchcraft in the Anglo-American Colonies” hit the nail on the head when it stated that the meaning of the witch trials in Salem and much of New England gets lost now do to pop culture characters like the Wicked Witch of the West or Sabrina the Teenage Witch. But what the article goes on to argue is that the witch trials were an important illustration of society and its faults. Living in such close quarters, there were more property disputes and neighborhood fighting, and it was easy to win the fight if you accused your nemesis of being a witch. Also without a clear understanding of the sciences, weather and illness at inopportune times did not have a better explanation that the workings of a witch. Because if the Puritans were God’s people, then only the devil would be the one harming them.

It also illustrates gender roles in New England Society. It goes all the way back to Eve eating the forbidden fruit, during that time society thought women were more prone to making deals with the devil. And these women would admit to it more often than you would think. The punishment for admitting it was rarely death, because they still thought you were strong enough to kick the devil out, where denying it could be a sign the devil has taken over. Women would also admit it because they honestly thought they were a witch, confusing there everyday sin with the devil’s work.

Walter Woodward’s article makes the point of how this problem wasn’t isolated to Salem, but a New England Problem. Witchcraft was deeply entrenched in the culture, and the ministers and magistrates in power were believers. For instance, Governor John Winthrop led his own witch trials in Connecticut. There were also the natives who practiced witchcraft, and had a strong belief in spells and curses. However the natives did not have a gender bias when it came to witchcraft, which I thought was an interesting societal difference that I did not really expect.

As Kurt points out in his post, this kind of crazy fundamentalism made people disillusioned with sects like Puritanism and led to more religious toleration and the “Great Awakening Movement.” I also agree with Thomas, that the use of things like witchcraft were ways to keep the current power structure in line, and keep the ministers and magistrates at the top of the hierarchy.

February 12, 2014

Evangelism: the Spiritual Arena for Liberty

In his blog post, “Religious Awakening in the Colonies,” Kurt points out that traditional American history classes portray the Puritans as conservative dissenters from the Church of England who fled religious persecution in England, and settled in America to seek religious tolerance. Kurt acutely acknowledges that this singular, romanticized narrative does not take into account the complexities of religion in the early American colonies. Contrary to popular belief, America was not settled as a land of religious freedom. Early colonists saw religious practice as black and white; their faith was the absolute word of God, and every other faith was wrong. Further, church and state were interconnected, and religion primarily dictated political alliances. This created a societal climate where religious groups battled for political dominance, fearing their subjugation on behalf of another group’s hegemony.

Chapter 15: “Awakenings, 1700-75” of American Colonies effectively outlines the complexities of religion in early America (as summarized above), which facilitated the spiritual revival of the eighteenth century. Taylor’s analysis exceeds other religious histories I have read, because it does not attempt to depict American religion as a straightforward, uncontroversial narrative. I especially appreciated Taylor’s attention to the denominational divide between the evangelicals and rationalists, and the demographics that characterized each sect. The evangelicals, led by Jonathon Edwards and George Whitefield, provided colonists the opportunity to have a personal, emotional relationship with God—one that was not mediated by the socially stratified institution of the Church and clergymen. Evangelicals preached that in the religious sphere, social status was not indicative of one’s ability to access God and attain salvation. Rather, any sinner who accepted his or her absolute deference to God could experience emotional conversion, and consequently, God’s grace (Taylor 345). Evangelism’s inclusive nature provided a spiritual arena for marginalized members of society to take control of their destiny, despite the political, social, and economic restraints that characterized their position in the community. Women, in particular, used evangelism to assert their personal freedom in a patriarchal, misogynistic world. Taylor affirms that “by claiming utter submission to God’s command, and by speaking his words rather than their own…women claimed a freedom from the social restraints placed upon their gender” (351). In essence, by affirming the absolute authority of God, women bypassed the institutionalized patriarchy of gender oppression, and rejected their inferiority to men. Indians and Africans also utilized evangelism as a space for control, individualism, and freedom that colonial society prohibited. It is crucial to note, though, that the liberty evangelism provided was limited to the spiritual realm. The Great Awakening did not positively impact the status of women, Africans, and Indians in the political and social order of colonial America, but merely offered a temporary recluse for individual control. Unfortunately, marginalized members of society never experienced equality in their lifetime, but clung to evangelism as the key to future salvation and freedom.

Taylor, Alan. American Colonies. New York: Penguin Group, 2001.