A Reading of James Carroll's Day Book, 1714-21
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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE SWEETS OF INDEPENDENCE: A READING OF THE “JAMES CARROLL DAYBOOK, 1714-21” Dissertation Directed By: Professor Mary Corbin Sies Department of American Studies This dissertation is a study of the “James Carroll Daybook,” a journal of transactions that a colonial Maryland planter and merchant used between 1714 and 1721. This Irish Catholic partisan’s career is illustrative of early eighteenth century mercantile culture in which one could gain elite status by using intellectual skills to master the market and by owning consumer goods. The dissertation is, thus, a material culture study of the commerce that yielded Carroll a fortune and secured his social standing. The literature of the eighteenth-century consumer revolution provides the intellectual foundation of this study, which uses a method derived from performance theory to analyze sequences of trade as dialogues about value. Carroll’s accounts are organized in topical chapters about domestic furnishings, local trade, Atlantic trade, consumption, and preserving a legacy. Each chapter studies related transactions in the context of scholarship, yielding a case study showing the consumer revolution in action. This study complements quantitative social histories by examining a living network of trade and detailing the differentiated use of goods by people from all social ranks. This dissertation discusses an important era of change in colonial Maryland. It studies the commercial accounts of a merchant and analyzes trade as dialogue about how people valued material items. It examines Carroll’s role as an advocate for Catholic rights in the colony, showing him as a defiant figure who used consumption to assert his status and Catholic interests. It also details his contributions to a Catholic gentry faction in Maryland politics. It presents a close study of Carroll’s local and trans-Atlantic business, to show how local trade, the slave trade, and the import trade worked. It demonstrates the lucrative quality of skilled accounting in managing commercial data and demonstrates the role of a merchant as a credit source in a society without banks. It discusses Carroll’s consumer buying and spending, including his use of consumer goods as forms of payment, and his plans to educate an heir. In sum, this is a study of the commerce that provided opportunities for James Carroll and a study of material culture in colonial Maryland. THE SWEETS OF INDEPENDENCE: A READING OF THE “JAMES CARROLL DAYBOOK, 1714-21” By Charles M. Flanagan Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2005 Advisory Committee: Professor Mary Corbin Sies, Chair Professor Alison G. Olson Professor Jo B. Paoletti Professor Edward C. Papenfuse Professor Nancy L. Struna © Copyright by Charles M. Flanagan 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS LISTS OF TABLES AND IMAGES......................................................................................................... IV CHAPTER 1 THE SWEETS OF INDEPENDENCE ...........................................................................1 I. OVERVIEW..................................................................................................................................1 II. METHOD ...................................................................................................................................14 III. SCHOLARLY CONTEXT..............................................................................................................24 CHAPTER 2 THE STYLE OF HIS PUBLIC LIFE: JAMES CARROLL’S CONTRIBUTIONS AS A PARTISAN IN A LOST CAUSE .....................................................................................................53 I. THE EVENTS THAT INSPIRED DEFIANCE ...................................................................................54 II. A CONTEST FOR POWER...........................................................................................................74 III. A WAR OF ATTRITION ..............................................................................................................99 IV. AFTERWARD...........................................................................................................................121 CHAPTER 3 THE STYLE OF HIS PRIVATE LIFE: READING THE MATERIAL CULTURE OF JAMES CARROLL’S HOME IN 1715 ............................................................................................122 I. AN OVERVIEW OF CARROLL’S PROPERTY IN 1716 .................................................................124 II. FINGAUL.................................................................................................................................126 III. DOMESTIC FURNISHINGS AND SOCIAL USES OF ROOMS .........................................................136 IV. CONTRASTING CARROLL’S POSSESSIONS WITH THOSE OF THOMAS MACNEMARA .................142 V. KITCHEN EQUIPMENT AS EVIDENCE OF A STYLE OF LIVING ...................................................150 VI. BOOK COLLECTIONS AS EVIDENCE OF JAMES CARROLL’S INTELLECTUAL INTERESTS ...........156 VII. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................................168 CHAPTER 4 LOCAL COMMERCE: JAMES CARROLL’S 1715 ACCOUNTS AS A MARYLAND TOBACCO PLANTER AND TAX FARMER...............................................................169 I. WHY CARROLL’S LOCAL COMMERCE WAS SIGNIFICANT .......................................................169 II. A MERCHANT ON HORSEBACK ...............................................................................................171 III. A BUYER OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE AND SERVANTS IN A CREDIT ECONOMY..............................177 IV. A PLANTER’S BUSINESS .........................................................................................................185 V. THE PROFITS OF PROPRIETARY OFFICE...................................................................................196 VI. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................................207 CHAPTER 5 ATLANTIC COMMERCE: JAMES CARROLL’S WORK IN A NETWORK OF TRUST, CREDIT, AND ACCOUNTABILITY......................................................................................209 I. TRUST, CREDIT, AND ACCOUNTABILITY.................................................................................209 II. JAMES CARROLL’S TRADE IN TOBACCO .................................................................................211 III. JAMES CARROLL’S TRADE RELATIONSHIP WITH THOMAS COLMORE .....................................224 IV. JAMES CARROLL’S WORK AS A SLAVE TRADER .....................................................................230 V. JAMES CARROLL’S USE OF HIS CREDIT WITH JOHN HYDE AND THOMAS COLMORE ..............250 VI. JAMES CARROLL’S WORK AS AN AGENT FOR THOMAS COLMORE..........................................263 VII. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................................270 ii CHAPTER 6 SPENDING WEALTH IN MID-CAREER: CONSUMPTION AND GENTILITY 272 I. CONSUMER GOODS AND SOCIAL STATUS ...............................................................................272 II. PURCHASING FROM MERCHANTS............................................................................................279 III. COMPENSATING EMPLOYEES..................................................................................................325 IV. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................................346 CHAPTER 7 COMPILING WEALTH AT CAREER’S END: A LEGACY OF PROPERTY, EDUCATION, AND FAITH ....................................................................................................................348 I. WEALTH INDEPENDENT OF POLITICS ......................................................................................348 II. LOCAL TRADE, 1719-29 .........................................................................................................351 III. CONSUMER BUYING 1715-29 .................................................................................................359 IV. PLANTATIONS AND PEOPLE ....................................................................................................389 V. MANAGING THE AFFAIRS OF THE CARROLL FAMILY ..............................................................393 VI. TESTING THE NEXT GENERATION...........................................................................................401 VII. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................................406 CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................408 A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN JAMES CARROLL’S DAYBOOK ........................................416 BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................................................................................................................418 iii LISTS OF TABLES AND IMAGES TABLE 1 COMPARABLE LOCAL HOUSES AND THEIR FEATURES...................................129 IMAGE 1 FLOOR PLAN OF FRIEND’S CHOICE.......................................................................131 IMAGE 2 EXTERIOR VIEW OF FRIEND’S