"Gabrielle M. Lanier challenges prevailing characterizations of the region as culturally monolithic and reassesses its role in the formation of a distinctly American identity through the history, geography, and architecture of three of the valley's diverse cultural landscapes. Through narratives of individual lives, aggregate data from tax rolls and censuses, archival research, and close analysis of the built vernacular environment, Lanier examines the unique ethnic, class, and religious constitution of each subregion, as well as its racial diversity, political orientation, economic organization, and cultural imprint on the landscape."--Jacket.
This book seeks to discover when, why, and how Delaware Valley communities, between 1621, when the Dutch West India Company issued instructions for the security and defense of the Delaware River until 1815, as the region abandoned its Committee of Defense of the Delaware at the end of the War of 1812, first used military force to repel invasion in times of war and suppress insurrection in peacetime. It traces how these mid-Atlantic communities confronted constant threats from real or imagined enemies, invasion and insurrection from earliest seventeenth-century settlement, and articulated ideas and built institutions for security, defense, and war. It argues that from the beginning these Delaware Valley communities failed to differentiate between their concert for defense against external attacks or invasion in wartime with that of providing security for their home communities against internal enemies durins peacetime. Though conflicted about using force both to defend against invasion and suppress insurrection, over time as the Delaware Valley communities moved to the center of colonial wars, revolution, and establishment of a republic and constitutional government, their long experience with security, defense, and war that blurred the lines between military defense in wartime and preserving peacetime security eventually fused into Article 1, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution to "empower the congress to use the militia to repel invasion and suppress insurrection." Jeffery M. Dorwart is professor of military, naval, and New Jersey history at Rutgers University.
Early Historical Events in the Delaware Valley is an engaging and informative history of one of America's most important regions. With a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of the forces that shaped the region, the author offers a rich portrait of life in the Delaware Valley from the earliest days of European settlement to the present. Perfect for history buffs and anyone interested in the New World, Early Historical Events in the Delaware Valley is a fascinating and insightful read. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The United States Delaware Valley Tercentenary Commission, created and authorized by Public Resolution No. 102, Seventy-fourth Congress (approved June 5, 1936), as amended by Public Resolution No. 71, Seventy-fifth Congress (approved August 25, 1937), to prepare and carry through a program to celebrate the three-hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the first permanent settlement by white men in the Delaware River Valley, namely, the settlement established by the New Sweden Company on March 29, 1638, and named Fort Christina, on the site of present-day Wilmington, Del.
By 1840, American politics was a paradox—unprecedented freedom and equality for men of European descent, and the simultaneous isolation and degradation of people of African and Native American descent. Historians have characterized this phenomenon as the "white republic." Race and the Early Republic offers a rich account of how this paradox evolved, beginning with the fledgling nation of the 1770s and running through the antebellum years. The essays in the volume, written by a wide array of scholars, are arranged so as to allow a clear understanding of how and why white political supremacy came to be in the early United States. Race and the Early Republic is a collection of diverse, insightful and interrelated essays that promote an easy understanding of why and how people of color were systematically excluded from the early U.S. republic.
Opportunity Valley portrayed the Delaware River valley before 1800 as the most successful seaport of North America, the natural capital for an emerging independent nation, a world-famous haven for flocks of religious refugees and dissenters, and a well-advertised gateway to land ownership. Why write a colonial history of this valley? Don't we already have plenty of colonial histories of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York? We need an early history of the Delaware River's vast valley because such a watershed naturally functions as a unity and because what happened here from 1600 to 1800 was of major importance to the future of this nation and the entire world. The energetic people of this valley developed a world-class seaport. They created a peaceful and cooperative home for diverse peoples. They formed a cradle for the growth of the young United States. They took on the role of a leader in abolishing slavery. They built a center for education, culture and gracious living second only to London. As readers would expect, key areas of the valley are singled out as chapters for detailed exploration: Dutch beginnings, the Swedish colony, West Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware's lower counties and New York's headwater counties. Also, as a surprise to some readers, the Connecticut colony on the upper Delaware River has a chapter. Four topics of regional importance also provide chapters: (1) a new nation evolves, (2) Benjamin Franklin's contribution, (3) the valley's campaign against keeping slaves, and (4)the valley as an outstanding center for American culture. The chapter presenting the evolution of the new nation distinguished between 120 cradle years when peace and collaboration dominated and 80 crucible years resulting from 15 years of actual war and 65 years of the serious threat of war. The actual war years were: (1) the New Sweden and New Amsterdam War, two weeks during 1655;(2) the Seven Years War (French and Indian War), from 1754 to 1763, and (3)the War for American Independence, from 1775 to 1783. Benjamin Franklin was portrayed as a dominant figure throughout the eighteenth century in regional, national and international events. His businesses, inventions, achievements and contributions were presented in the format of the decades of his life, mostly lived in the Delaware Valley. The chapter on the valley's campaign against slavery focused on the Quaker leadership in awakening consciences. The contributions of John Woolman, the abolition societies and colonial and state assemblies were emphasized. The valley's connection with British abolitionists bore fruit in 1807 when the British Parliament abolished the slave trade. The development of the Delaware Valley as a center for culture and learning could be expected to deal with education, architecture, science, medicine, publishing, libraries and the arts. The chapter also gives attention to agriculture, gender equality and opposing cruelty to animals. The valley's cultural achievement was understood to benefit not only from gifted leadership and generous philanthropy but also from a prosperous economy, a favorable natural environment and a receptive public. The final chapter deals with the valley's people working together in fostering major achievements. Examples of such cooperation include island jurisdiction decisions, and settling disputes about shipwrecks, fisheries, ferries and bridges. The greatest contribution of the Delaware Valley to the nation and the world was seen to be the egalitarian view of freedom flourishing here, especially influential in forming a democratic national government and, eventually, in freeing the slaves. This book is alive with appropriate maps and illustrations. One of the most interesting is a number of pages from a standard artillery manual published in 1780 and official in the armies of France, England, Germany and our new
Relatively little attention has been paid to American military history between 1783 and 1812—arguably the most formative years of the United States. This encyclopedia fills the void in existing literature and provides greater understanding of how the nation evolved during this era. This encyclopedia offers a comprehensive examination of U.S. military history from the beginning of the republic in 1783 up to the eve of war with Great Britain in 1812. It enables a detailed study of the Early Republic, during which ideological and political divisions occurred over the fledgling U.S. military. The entries cover all the important battles, key individuals, weapons, Indian nations, and treaties, as well as numerous social, political, cultural, and economic developments during this period. The contents of the work will enable readers at the high school, college, university, and even graduate level to comprehend how political parties emerged, and how ideological differences over the organization, size, and use of the military developed. Larger global developments, including Anglo-American and Franco-American interactions, relations between Middle Eastern states and the United States, and relations and warfare between the U.S. government and various Indian nations are also detailed. The extensive and detailed bibliographies will be immensely helpful to learners at all levels.
In the first major examination of the diverse European efforts to colonize the Delaware Valley, Mark L. Thompson offers a bold new interpretation of ethnic and national identities in colonial America. For most of the seventeenth century, the lower Delaware Valley remained a marginal area under no state's complete control. English, Dutch, and Swedish colonizers all staked claims to the territory, but none could exclude their rivals for long -- in part because Native Americans in the region encouraged the competition. Officials and settlers alike struggled to determine which European nation would possess the territory and what liberties settlers would keep after their own colonies had surrendered. The resulting struggle for power resonated on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. While the rivalry promoted patriots who trumpeted loyalties to their sovereigns and nations, it also rewarded cosmopolitans who struck deals across imperial, colonial, and ethnic boundaries. Just as often it produced men -- such as Henry Hudson, Willem Usselincx, Peter Minuit, and William Penn -- who did both. Ultimately, The Contest for the Delaware Valley shows how colonists, officials, and Native Americans acted and reacted in inventive, surprising ways. Thompson demonstrates that even as colonial spokesmen debated claims and asserted fixed national identities, their allegiances -- along with the settlers' -- often shifted and changed. Yet colonial competition imposed limits on this fluidity, forcing officials and settlers to choose a side. Offering their allegiances in return for security and freedom, colonial subjects turned loyalty into liberty. Their stories reveal what it meant to belong to a nation in the early modern Atlantic world.
