Rebels, heathen, and heretics: The problem of settler identity in printed accounts of English colonial crises, with a particular focus on Ireland, New England, and Virginia, 1640--1700.
Date
2000
Authors
McClelland-Nugent, Ruth Estella Bernadette.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Dalhousie University
Abstract
Description
This study examines accounts of crisis in English colonial regions in the mid-to-late-seventeenth-century, including two areas in North America (Virginia and New England) and one in Europe (Ireland). It is particularly concerned with the differences between settler and English writers in describing settler societies during those crises. Far from being portrayed as imperial agents, settlers were often described as untrustworthy and disorderly in English accounts. By contrast, in the early part of the period, settler writers described themselves as very much like those living in England, invoking a shared Protestantism and civility, and contrasting themselves with native peoples. Over the course of the seventeenth century, however, the gulf between these two perspectives widened dramatically, reaching revolutionary proportions as historians in the eighteenth century looked back and recounted tales of these crises once again.
The study begins with an account of the anonymous pamphlets and other works which described atrocities in Ireland during the 1641--42 rebellion. These publications emphasize Irish brutality and settler civility. Descriptions of New England's Antinomian Crisis are considered next, with a particular focus on discussions of Anne Hutchinson's heresy. Accounts of King Philip's War and Bacon's Rebellion are then considered together, looking at the very different ways settlers and English writers envisioned the role of native peoples in those wars. This is followed by an examination of descriptions relating to the Glorious Revolution, primarily in Ireland and secondarily in New England. These considerations of crisis literature are followed by a look at the way historians re-examined the role of settlers and imperium in the past, as settler writers emphasized their own efficacy and British historians lauded Whitehall's rule.
Finally, the study concludes with a consideration of the possible influence of these accounts, examining the surviving records of their purchase and collection by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century readers. Access to accounts of Ireland in particular seems to have been particularly great; surviving records suggest that readers in England had ample opportunities to read at least a little about colonial ventures. These differences in perspective on the role of settlers in colonial ventures, as found in these publications, may well have contributed to the growing discontent of English-speaking societies in both Ireland and North America during the latter part of the eighteenth century.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 2000.
The study begins with an account of the anonymous pamphlets and other works which described atrocities in Ireland during the 1641--42 rebellion. These publications emphasize Irish brutality and settler civility. Descriptions of New England's Antinomian Crisis are considered next, with a particular focus on discussions of Anne Hutchinson's heresy. Accounts of King Philip's War and Bacon's Rebellion are then considered together, looking at the very different ways settlers and English writers envisioned the role of native peoples in those wars. This is followed by an examination of descriptions relating to the Glorious Revolution, primarily in Ireland and secondarily in New England. These considerations of crisis literature are followed by a look at the way historians re-examined the role of settlers and imperium in the past, as settler writers emphasized their own efficacy and British historians lauded Whitehall's rule.
Finally, the study concludes with a consideration of the possible influence of these accounts, examining the surviving records of their purchase and collection by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century readers. Access to accounts of Ireland in particular seems to have been particularly great; surviving records suggest that readers in England had ample opportunities to read at least a little about colonial ventures. These differences in perspective on the role of settlers in colonial ventures, as found in these publications, may well have contributed to the growing discontent of English-speaking societies in both Ireland and North America during the latter part of the eighteenth century.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 2000.
Keywords
History, European., History, United States., History, Modern.