Supplementary Reading-The Nation’s Nature: How Continental Presumptions Gave Rise to the United States of America

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

James D. Drake’s work, The Nation’s Nature: How Continental Presumptions Gave Rise to the United States of America, offers a chronological perspective on the evolution of continental thought in the mainland British colonies. In his book, Drake proposes that early British colonists became inundated with continental presumptions that in turn influenced political views, infiltrated political rhetoric, and induced political action.[1] Drake’s essential argument is that the burgeoning idea of the British colonists as a continental people made the American Revolution possible and in the war’s aftermath led to the drafting of the Constitution. In order to make his claim, Drake begins with the mainland British colonies in the late seventeenth century.

The first reason that Drake offers for the development of continental thought in the mainland British colonies is the scientific attacks of Europeans, which were meant to demean the New World and its species, including humans. European intellectuals, among whom Comte de Buffon was one of the most notable, proposed and offered evidence in support of a demeaning attitude toward the North American continent. Buffon and others held that North America was either a new continent or a continent that had undergone a geologic disaster. In both cases, the European intellectuals claimed the result was a degenerating effect on species in the New World. The implications of such a claim were clear to all. If the New World had a degenerative environment, then its inhabitants would never be able to rival the nations of Europe. [2]

Drake compares this crisis to the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union almost two centuries later. The attack of European intellectuals effectively intertwined science and national pride for the mainland British colonists. Such an attack served to bind disparate colonists together.[3] All those with a scientific inclination living in the mainland British colonies sought to find evidence to counter Buffon’s claims. This in turn provided inhabitants of different colonies with a common goal. Rather than viewing themselves as Pennsylvanians, Virginians, or New Yorkers, this inquiry united all colonists as North Americans. Essentially, this newfound scientific trend led colonists to see themselves in a continental light.[4]

Drake highlights the Seven Years’ War as another turning point in fostering continental presumptions among mainland British colonists. Drake claims the Seven Years’ War caused colonists to view themselves as members of a young but inevitably continental society, one fully capable of prospering on its own.[5] Prior to the conflict, colonies had irregular interactions with one another and it could be argued they shared stronger commercial ties to the West Indies, Britain, and Europe than to one another.[6] Each colony seemed more concerned with internal matters than with continental issues. The threat presented by the French and Native Americans served to alter this mindset. As the potential for war increased, so too did the calls for unified action among the colonies. The most prominent example was the Albany Plan of Union, proposed by Benjamin Franklin. If implemented, the Albany Plan would have given control of the colonies’ military defense to representatives elected by colonial assemblies, working with a president appointed by the Crown. Though the Albany Plan was rejected, it demonstrated the continuing shift from the traditional thought of the colonies as independent dominions.[7]

Following the victory in the Seven Years’ War, Britain chose as its spoils of war North American land claims previously belonging to France and Spain, even though the two European powers had more profitable colonies elsewhere. Drake proposes that this decision by Parliament illustrated an overlap of geographical and political thought. The notion that the entire North American continent was suited for rule by one power appeared on its way to becoming reality following the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Adding land in North America only contributed to the British colonists’ sense of importance and increased their desire for continental expansion.[8] Drake argues the colonists interpreted the treaty as a sign of how much Britain valued the North American colonies. In addition, these developments further ingrained a continental awareness among mainland British colonists. Not only did they consider the vast potential of North America, but also the possibility that its future may lay outside the empire of Great Britain.[9]

The emerging idea of North America as a continental society, which is fundamental to Drake’s work, raised questions about representation in Parliament. British North Americans questioned the validity of political representation at a distance, largely because of their unique geographical relationship to Britain. Furthermore, mainland British colonists altered the source of their most cherished rights from their status as Britons to the nature of the continent. This claim inherently challenged whether British North Americans were actually Britons at all.[10] Drake offers further evidence of depictions of colonists as a continental people in the form of British political cartoons at the time. Increasingly, North America was presented as a united continent rather than a motley collection of colonies with differing interests.[11] In addition, Drake claims that memories of sacrifice in the Seven Years’ War added to a feeling of community among the colonists. The war provided just the most recent example of mainland British colonists suffering collectively for a common cause.[12] All of these elements coalesced in Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, which claimed the artificial establishments of the British Empire should be replaced by continental institutions.[13] It was these beliefs that led to the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775.

Following the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Americans were still faced with the challenge of establishing a nation capable of utilizing the vast potential of the North American continent. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia to remedy this situation. Drake notes that proponents of the Constitution constantly referred to the continent’s destiny of political unity, a driving factor in the outbreak of the American Revolution. If America failed to realize this destiny, it would betray the purpose of the Revolutionary War. Additionally, proponents of the Constitution argued that the new federal government would help the nation achieve its continental goals. Furthermore, to ease Anti-Federalist fears, the Federalists contended that the sheer size of North America would prevent the federal government from gaining too much power.[14] Clearly, Drake argues, continental assumptions were a major factor in the ratification of the Constitution. Also, when discussing westward expansion, it was common for American authors to downplay obstacles such as the Appalachian Mountains. At the same time, many authors emphasized the waterway system that connected America. Often times the British, Spanish, and Native Americans were depicted as merely temporary obstructions.[15] With these examples, Drake demonstrates the effort to portray North America as suitable to rule by one nation.

The importance of the land in the development of a civilization is a theme of Drake’s work that is similarly explained by William Cronon in Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. Just as British North Americans recognized the potential of the continent, Cronon claims that in the early 1830s prospectors saw Chicago for its prospective development into a metropolis in the center of the continent rather than for what it actually was.[16] This tendency to look toward the future and imagine the effects of development caused lots in Chicago to increase in value from $33 in 1829 to $100,000 in 1836.[17] This speculation occurred before a canal was constructed or the first railway ties had been laid. While such predictions did not always prove true, they certainly did for the city of Chicago. Thanks to its location between the established eastern cities, such as New York, and the expanding western frontier, Chicago became the gateway between East and West.[18]

Another element present in both books is the importance of waterways in the early Republic. The British North Americans viewed the expansive waterways as a means of connecting the continent. The waterways helped unite the continent and in turn supported the belief that North America was destined for rule by one nation. Without its extensive system of rivers and lakes, North America would have appeared to mainland British colonists as much too vast for the successful rule of one power. Likewise, in Nature’s Metropolis, Cronon references the importance of Chicago’s vicinity to Lake Michigan, the Chicago River, and the fertile Illinois prairie. These factors loomed large in the decision of settlers to establish a city at Chicago. Cronon goes on to argue that people play a significant role in the establishment and rise of a city. For example, humans add canals and railroads to improve transportation. Nevertheless, the natural qualities and resources of the land factor heavily into where people choose to settle and construct cities in the first place.[19] In this sense, both America and the city of Chicago have the land to thank for the developments that made them what they are today.