Two-Column Video Script Format

SHAPING AMERICA FINAL SCRIPT

Lesson 5: “Diversifying British America”

PREPARED FOR: Dallas Telelearning

WRITER: Gretchen Swen

PRODUCER: Julia Dyer

DRAFT: Final

DATE: February 9, 2001 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  1

V I S U A L A U D I O

INTRODUCTION (1:00-2:00): 1 2

1 WICK HOUSE B-ROLL (6705, 3 ACTOR, Folksy Older Male 6706) 4 2 LAYER WITH QUILT IMAGE “Everyone lives in a tidy, warm house, has 5 plenty of good food and fuel, with whole 6 7 cloths from head to feet, the manufacture 8 perhaps of his own family.”

3 LAYER IN AN IMAGE OF 9 NARRATOR: A view through rose-colored EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS 10 glasses? Perhaps, but to an immigrant from the

11 lower classes of European society, life in the 12 middle American colonies must have seemed 13 like paradise enough. New York, New Jersey, 14 4 WICK GARDEN Pennsylvania and Delaware, with their fertile 15 5 MAP 5-1 OF MIDDLE COLONIES 16 river valleys and flourishing towns, supported a 6 IMAGES OF COLONISTS, 17 population explosion. People of different social LANDSCAPES AND FARMSCAPES (6695, 6696, 6778, 18 and ethnic backgrounds were able to benefit 6779, 6802, 6814, 6819) 19 7 IMAGES OF SCHUYLER from the fertility of the land as well as the relative MANSION (6817, 6818) 20 tolerance of the Middle Colonies. This is why 21 they became known not only as the “bread 22 basket of North America” but also “the best poor 23 24 man’s country” in the world at that time. SEGMENT ONE 25 “NEW AMSTERDAM” 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  2

8 MIKE WALLACE ON CAMERA 1 MIKE WALLACE

2 We’ve got a peculiar notion about the Dutch in 3 our popular culture. We tend to think of them as 4 a people who go around sticking fingers in dikes 5 TH TH 9 IMAGE OF 16 OR 17 and wearing wooden shoes; but in fact the Dutch CENTURY DUTCHMAN 6 were no shrinking tulips in the 16th century. They 7 8 were in essence an internal colony of Spain.

9 And in the 1580’s, they declared their

10 independence and they embarked on what was 11 going to be an 80-year war of independence. 12 But the way they did it was not to directly attack 13 10 IMAGES OF SPANISH POWER: Spain because Spain was in fact far too KING AND QUEEN, SHIPS 14 CARRYING GREAT WEALTH, powerful. But what they did was they went to the ETC. 15 16 outer limits of Spain’s empire. 11 MAP 5-2, SHOWING SPANISH 17 New Amsterdam was at the very outer EMPIRE AROUND 1620—ALSO SHOW NEW AMSTERDAM 18 penumbra. So it was a great place from which to

19 make an imperial struggle effective. They had 20 two missions. One, attack the Spanish. Two, 21 12 IMAGES OF DUTCH WEST INDIA make a lot of money. And they managed to COMPANY 22 conjoin those things, partly by ripping off Spanish 23 treasure fleets and the like. 13 SPANISH GALLEONS 24 14 IMAGES OF 17TH CENTURY 25 By the 1640’s, the Dutch empire had begun to DUTCH MERCHANTS AND SHIPS 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  3

1 peak; and in an odd way that peak was reached

2 when they finally won independence from Spain 3 in 1648. And by signing that treaty, they meant 4 they were not allowed to in fact continue to 5 attack the Spanish, and that was a big source of 6 their income. So the empire hits its height in the 7 8 late 1640’s and begins to decline. And it’s at just

9 that time that they say, “You know, New

10 Amsterdam is this kind of backwater area before 11 but now actually looks good. Maybe we should 12 think about fixing this place up.” 13 15 IMAGE OF PETER STUYVESANT And they send Peter Stuyvesant. And he’s sent AND NEW AMSTERDAM 14 in with a mission, you know like Marshall Dillon, 15 “This is Dodge City and we want you to clean up 16 HISTORIC MAPS OF NEW 16 AMSTERDAM 17 this town.” He builds up the church, he builds up

18 the schools, lays out roads, fixes up the docks,

19 terrific! He gets this place all spiffed into shape. 20 The second thing that he does is, he comes up 21 with a rationale for how this can be a real profit 22 center for the Dutch and in a word the answer is 23 24 slavery. And the vision is that New Amsterdam 25 will be a depot, a transfer point for slaves coming

26 in. We tend, in fact, to be amazed for some Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  4

1 reason when we think about New York City as

2 being a slave society but of course in fact it was 3 from this very moment. 17 BRITISH SHIPS 4 No sooner had, in fact, he gotten the place all set 5 to go, tidied up, than the British come in and take 6 it. Now why? Well, on the one hand, this was 7 18 MAP 5-3, SHOWING EXPANSION really almost an inevitable development. New OF BRITISH COLONIES (NEW 8 ENGLAND TO CAROLINA) 9 England had been expanding downward. People 10 had been moving down along the coast. They

11 were in Virginia. They were expanding upward, 12 so there was this kind of chunk in the middle. 19 IMAGE OF BRITISH KING 13 And basically the King said to his younger (CHARLES II?) AND BROTHER 14 (JAMES) brother, “You know Jimmy, I got a present for 15 you. The only slight trouble is that the Dutch 16 17 think that they own it, so you’re gonna have to

18 take it.” 20 IMAGES OF BRITISH TAKING 19 When they get there, they train their guns on the POSSESSION OF NEW YORK? 20 city which is utterly indefensible; but they very 21 21 MIKE WALLACE ON CAMERA cleverly sent a message and said, “Listen, tell 22 you what. We won’t blow the place to kingdom 23 come. We won’t burn it down, won’t rape all the 24 25 women. In fact, you can keep your language. 26 You can keep your shipping. You can keep Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  5

1 everything. All you’ve got to do is switch

2 allegiance. And why not? Where’s your 3 loyalty?” And, in fact, they had no loyalty. They 4 were interested in commerce and moneymaking. 5 So while Stuyvesant – whose you know, career, 6 job and reputation was on the line – stormed and 7 8 peg-legged around, in the end the town gave up

9 without a shot, and they lowered the Dutch flag

10 and up goes the English flag. SEGMENT TWO 11 “NEW YORK” 12 22 NY circa 1664 13 NARRATOR 14 By the time Great Britain acquired New York in 15 1664, it was arguably the most diverse city in the 16 North American mainland. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  6

1 23 MIKE WALLACE ON CAMERA 2 MIKE WALLACE 3 24 IMAGES OF DIVERSE I think it goes back to the fact that very few Dutch POPULATION IN EARLY NEW 4 YORK: EUROPEAN were willing to come. So what happened was in IMMIGRANTS, NATIVE 5 AMERICANS, AFRICAN SLAVES 6 this desperate need for people to do the trading, 7 to man the port, to be in the military, to defend

8 the place, they kept opening the doors. So 9 people came but they came from all over, the 10 flotsam and jetsam of the North Atlantic world, 11 so there were dozens of nationalities. And on 12 the streets, there were dozens of languages 13 14 spoken. It was like a Babel already. 25 JAMES MERRELL ON CAMERA 15 JAMES MERRELL (BELOW 11:03:17:26) 16 Add to that the fact that Dutch New York was a 17 center for African-Americans, or Africans, to 18 come to America to be brought as slaves. So 19 20 you had a rather large black population in early

21 New York City. It was also very diverse with

22 American Indians because you had a variety of 23 groups, such as the Iroquois, the Delaware, 24 and a lot of other refugee groups who came 25 from various places to the South and West, 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  7

1 such as the Shawnees and the Tutelos and

2 Tuscaroras moving through. So it wasn’t just a 3 complicated place for European colonists but 4 also for Native Americans. 5 26 IMAGE OF EARLY NEW YORK NARRATOR 6 Life in Manhattan didn’t change that much after 7 the British takeover. The city continued to grow 27 IMAGE OF WEALTHY DUTCH 8 “PATROONS” 9 as a center for international commerce and a 10 magnet for immigrants. And although they no

11 longer owned the island, the Dutch residents still 12 retained a sizeable share of wealth and power. 13 28 IMAGE OF PETER STUYVESANT; After losing his job as the colony’s director, Peter LAYER WITH SHOT OF SIGN IN 14 NYC TODAY IDENTIFYING “THE Stuyvesant took up farming on the lower east BOWERY” (6819 or 6820) 15 side of Manhattan Island on an estate known as 16 “The Bouwerie.” 17 18 29 EARLY HISTORIC MAP OF NEW NARRATOR/ACTOR: Dutch Male YORK SHOWING THE BOWERY 19 20 His accented voice became just one among 21 many in the colorful town, recently renamed 22 “New York”. Stuyvesant had resisted the 23 diversification of the colony—protesting the 24 arrival of the first Jews in 1654, who sought 25 26 asylum from persecution in Brazil. Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  8

30 JON BUTLER ON CAMERA 1 JON BUTLER (2:02:23:00; 2:03:18:01) 2 Certainly by comparison to what was happening 3 in Europe, Jews were relatively well received in 4 th 5 the 18 century colonies. The law did not treat 6 them well. Jews could not vote. They couldn’t

7 hold public office. They couldn’t sit on juries. But 8 their social life was certainly a distinct 9 improvement over what it was in the old world. 10 31 PAINTING DEPICTING NARRATOR: Most of the Jews who arrived in SEPHARDIC JEWS FLEEING 11 EUROPE, OR IMAGES OF New York during the colonial period were of JEWISH IMMIGRANTS TO NEW 12 Eastern European origin and immigrated in YORK 13 14 hopes of escaping poverty and persecution. But

15 a few colonial-era Jewish immigrants came from

16 families who had achieved financial success in 17 England. Among these was Jacob Franks. 18 32 PORTRAITS OF ABIGAIL FRANKS NARRATOR/ACTOR: Yiddish Male 19 20 Franks was the son of an English broker. He

21 maintained commercial ties with England and

22 soon became a successful merchant and a 33 B-ROLL OF 81 PEARL STREET 23 (6819 or 6820) major figure in New York’s first synagogue. 24 In 1712 Jacob Franks married Abigail Levy, 25 daughter of another Jewish immigrant. 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  9

1 Together they moved to 81 Pearl Street.

34 PORTRAIT OF BRADFORD, 2 NARRATOR/ACTOR, British Male. BRADFORD’S NEWSPAPER 3 In that same building on Pearl Street, William 4 Bradford, an English Quaker, had set up New 5 6 York’s first printing press. Bradford had 7 come to New York in 1691 from Pennsylvania,

8 after the authorities there had come down 9 hard on him for a book he had published. In 10 1725, he began publishing the city’s first 11 newspaper, the New York Gazette. 12 35 PORTRAIT OF ZENGER NARRATOR: Earlier Bradford had taken on an 13 apprentice, fourteen-year-old John Peter Zenger, 14 15 a German immigrant. 36 IMAGE OF PRINTING PRESS 16 NARRATOR/ACTOR: German Male 17 Zenger eventually set up his own print shop

18 and began a rival paper, the Weekly Journal. 19 Zenger’s paper accused New York’s political 20 leadership of corruption, incompetence, 21 influence peddling, election fraud and 22 tyranny. 23 NARRATOR: Zenger was arrested for “seditious 37 PAINTING OF ZENGER TRIAL? 24 OR, B-ROLL OF COURTROOM FROM SALEM OR ST. MARY’S 25 libel,” and was imprisoned for ten months. But,

26 in a trial argued by one of the best English Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  10

1 lawyers in the colonies, Zenger won his landmark

2 case on the extraordinary grounds that his 3 paper’s accusations were true. 4 38 MICHAEL JOHNSON ON MICHAEL JOHNSON CAMERA (ABOVE 5:19:11:08) 5 6 Freedom of the press is not well established in 7 the 18th century. This is an early case in which it

8 is achieved in one trial. And so the Zenger case 9 is a precursor of what becomes one of the 10 fundamental foundation stones of American 11 freedom. 12 39 IMAGE OF AFRICAN SLAVES IN NARRATOR NEW YORK 13 But not all residents of colonial New York had the 14 15 benefit of powerful lawyers to defend their

16 freedoms.

40 POSTER OFFERING REWARD 17 NARRATOR/ACTOR: African-American FOR RUNAWAY SLAVES 18 Female 19 In 1699 Mando, a Black woman, petitioned the 20 21 court of Queens County, New York for her

22 daughter’s freedom as well as her own.

23 Mando claimed that her former owner had 24 promised to free her at the time of the 25 owner’s death. When the courts failed 41 B-ROLL OF MOHAWK VALLEY 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  11

(6802, 6814) 1 Mando, she escaped from her new owner and

2 fled into Indian territory. American Indians 3 rarely returned escaped slaves. In 1705, the 4 New York Assembly passed a law calling for 5 the death of any runaway slave found more 6 than forty miles north of Albany. Luckily for 7 8 Mando, she was never found. 42 IMAGE OF HOUSEHOLD SLAVES 9 NARRATOR: Soon after the time of Mando’s 10 escape, wealthy New Yorkers began to acquire

11 slaves to work as domestic servants. 12 By 1721, Cadwallader Colden, a Scottish doctor, 13 14 had become sufficiently established to instruct

15 his agent to…

43 ADVERTISEMENT FOR SLAVE 16 NARRATOR/ACTOR: Scottish Male SALE WITH PORTRAIT OF CADWALLADER COLDEN CUT 17 “…buy me two Negro men about eighteen IN 18 years of age. Please likewise to buy me a 19 20 Negro girl about thirteen years old. My wife

21 has told me she designs her Chiefly to keep

22 the children and to sew.” 23 44 B-ROLL OF OLD BOOKS (FROM NARRATOR: MONTICELLO OR LIBRARY OF 24 CONGRESS) 25 In addition to his work as a doctor, Colden 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  12

1 published copiously, including works on

2 ethnography, physics, botany and history. He 3 also wrote advice to his daughter, Elizabeth. 4 45 PAINTING OF A YOUNG GIRL OF ACTOR: Young Female THE PERIOD READING A 5 LETTER 6 “Let your dress, your conversation and the 7 whole business of your life be to please your

8 husband and to make him happy and you 9 need not fail of being so yourself.” 10 46 DELANCEY STREET SIGN NARRATOR: Elizabeth’s husband was a 11 member of the wealthy Delancey family. The 12 patriarch of this family, Steven Delancey, was a 13 French Huguenot, who had immigrated to New 14 15 York in 1685 to escape religious persecution. 47 PORTRAIT OF DELANCEY 16 NARRATOR/ACTOR: French Male 17 In New York, Steven Delancey prospered in 48 IMAGE OF FRENCH 18 HUGUENOTS the mercantile business. He also helped 19 establish New York’s French church and 20 49 DELANCEY STREET SIGN 21 served as a member of the state senate. In

22 1719, he built a large house at the corner of B-ROLL OF STREET SIGNS AT PEARL AND BROAD STREETS 23 Pearl and Broad Street that served as a 24 symbol of his success in the New World. 25 50 REPRISE RELEVANT IMAGES NARRATOR: The Delancey mansion was just 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  13

1 down the street from the Bradford print shop,

2 which kept its presses busy publishing the works 3 of Cadwallader Colden. The Franks family were 4 neighbors as well, and in due time the daughter 5 of Abigail Franks eloped with young Oliver 6 Delancey, much to her mother’s dismay. Thus 7 8 did the lives of New York’s diverse immigrant

9 communities naturally grow entwined, even as

10 they sought to maintain their cultural identities in 11 the New World. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  14

51 MIKE JOHNSON ON CAMERA 2 MIKE JOHNSON (5:21:57:12) 3 It’s striking that different ethnic groups do

4 continue to maintain their ethnic identity; and the 5 question is, “Why?” I think the answer to that 6 question is, first of all, they very much want to. 7 And they live together, they live in communities, 8 9 whether they are separate communities or 10 separate neighborhoods of small towns or

11 villages or some cities. And secondly, they 12 maintain that kind of identity around language 13 and religion. However, each of those 14 communities is also in constant contact, 15 principally through trade, with other people and 16 17 so all of them, ultimately, are in the process of

18 assimilating and becoming in a sense more

19 American. 20 SEGMENT THREE 21 “NEW JERSEY” 22 52 A DIVERSE ARRAY OF PERIOD NARRATOR: The ethnic diversity of the RELIGIOUS ICONS OR 23 immigrants who flocked to the Middle Colonies CHURCHES (6696, 6697, 6778) 24 25 reflected religious diversity as well. 53 JON BUTLER ON CAMERA 26 JON BUTLER Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  15

(1:17:31:17) 1 The Middle Colonies proved particularly adept at

2 encouraging religious pluralism. Because all of 3 them, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 4 Delaware even Maryland, encouraged wide- 5 scale immigration from Europe and all those 6 colonies also imported fairly large numbers, 7 8 indeed surprisingly large numbers, of African

9 slaves.

54 IMAGES OF RELIGIOUS 10 Society moved from one composed primarily of DIVERSITY 11 Protestant English men and women, largely 12 centered around the Church of England or 13 Dissenting Protestantism, Congregationalism 14 and Presbyterianism. It was a society that 15 contained African-Americans, Africans who 16 17 practiced or attempted to practice traditional

18 African rituals, German immigrants, Lutherans,

19 Calvinists, Mennonites, Moravians, French 20 Huguenots and this society by the 1750s made 21 religion in the new world markedly different than 22 it was in any other European society. 23 55 IMAGES OF TRADITIONAL NARRATOR/ACTOR, Slight Dutch Male 24 DUTCH IMMIGRANTS 25 William Covenhoven’s ancestors had been in 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  16

1 the middle colonies since his great-great-

2 grandfather, Wolford Covenhoven, had 3 immigrated to New Amsterdam in 1630. By 4 the 18th century, the Covenhovens had moved 5 to New Jersey where William Covenhoven 6 was born. As a child, Covenhoven was 7 56 B-ROLL OF THE COVENHOVEN HOME (6695) 8 surrounded by the language, religion,

9 traditions, diet and dress of his Dutch

10 ancestors, who had kept apart from their 11 English and Scottish neighbors. As a young 12 adult, Covenhoven maintained strong ties 13 with the Dutch Reformed Church. But in the 14 15 1720s, as he made plans to build a spacious 16 home on 180 acres of farmland in Monmouth

17 County. He increasingly encountered

18 neighbors of different religious affiliations. 19 57 IMAGES OF IRISH IMMIGRANTS NARRATOR/ACTOR, Irish Male 20 21 Among Covenhoven’s neighbors was 22 William Tennent, an Irish Protestant, who

23 had come to New Jersey as part of a wave

24 of Scots-Irish immigration that continued 25 through the 18th century and beyond. 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  17

1 Disturbed by the version of the

58 B-ROLL OF NASSAU HALL AT 2 Presbyterian church he found in America, PRINCETON (6695) 3 Tennent began preaching independently. In 4 1746 he established the College of New 5 Jersey where he hoped to train like-minded 6 ministers. Tennent’s detractors called the 7 8 school the “Log College”; but, eventually, it

9 became known as Princeton University.

59 PORTRAIT OF JOHN WOOLMAN 10 NARRATOR: Around the same time another

11 New Jersey resident, John Woolman, took up a 12 different kind of ministry. Woolman was a devout 13 Quaker and a pioneer of the abolitionist 14 movement. 15

60 LAYER WITH B-ROLL OF 16 NARRATOR: Woolman’s convictions were QUAKER MEETING HOUSE 17 (6699) confirmed when as a young man, he was hired to 18 write a will in which slaves were to be 19 bequeathed. 20 21

61 Images of slaves 22 ACTOR, Quaker Male 23 “But as I looked to the Lord, he inclined my 24 25 heart to his testimony, and I told the man that 26 I believed the practice of counting slavery to Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  18

1 this people was not right and desired to be

2 excused.”

62 B-ROLL NEW JERSEY 3 NARRATOR: Woolman traveled throughout LANDSCAPE (6695) 4 New Jersey crusading against slavery, and his 5 sermons inspired many Quakers to begin 6 63 B-ROLL OF OLD TENNENT liberating their slaves. Meanwhile Reverend CHURCH (6696/97) 7 Tennent collected funds to build a Presbyterian 64 COPYSTAND OF “HISTORY OF 8 OLD TENNENT CHURCH” AND 9 meeting house in Monmouth; one of his large INTERIOR PLAN OF PEWS, HIGHLIGHTING THE 10 donors was William Covenhoven, whose COVENHOVEN PEW 11 contribution was recognized with a family pew. 12 In joining this church of British origin, 13 Covenhoven was apparently leaving his Dutch 14 identity behind. The family eventually anglicized 65 OLD TENNENT CHURCH 15 EXTERIORS AND GRAVEYARD their name, also. In the graveyard of the Old WITH COVENHOVEN AND 16 CONOVER GRAVES (6697) 17 Tennent Church, the headstones of the

18 Covenhovens’ descendents read “Conover.” 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  19

66 JON BUTLER ON CAMERA 2 JON BUTLER (1:18:41:16) 3 As colonists lived with men and women who

4 thought in ways other than the ways they 5 thought, they learned to think that these people 6 didn’t lead such bad lives. These people could 7 have legitimate views about the nature of the 8 9 supernatural, morals and ethics that weren’t 10 quite the same as the views that they held. And

11 therefore, they learned through practice to 12 develop notions about the legitimacy and the 13 propriety of religious tolerance. 14 SEGMENT FOUR 15 “PENNSYLVANIA” 16 67 PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM PENN NARRATOR: In 1682 William Penn described 17 his colony as… 18

19 ACTOR’S VOICEOVER: “…a collection of 20 diverse nations: French, Dutch, Germans, 21 Swedes, Danes, Finns, Scotch and English; 22 and of the last, equal to all the rest.” 23 68 IMAGES OF PENNSYLVANIA NARRATOR: Pennsylvania’s economy soon FARMERS, CRAFTSMEN, 24 grew as diverse as its population. A strong work MERCHANTS 25 B-ROLL OF INDUSTRY AT SAUGUS 26 ethic and a desire to prosper were two things that Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  20

IRON WORKS (6640) 1 most colonists, no matter what their ethnic

2 background, had in common.

69 JON BUTLER ON CAMERA 3 JON BUTLER (2:14:18:03) 4 Americans developed their own material culture. 5 On the one hand, they did continue to import 6 wide ranges of goods from the old world society, 70 B-ROLL FROM ELFRETH’S 7 ALLEY, CHAIRMAKER’S SHOP there is no doubt that that happened. But 8 (6700) 9 American woodworkers, furniture-makers, clock- 10 makers, watch-makers, all developed in the new

11 world. One could find chair-makers from Maine 12 to South Carolina, all making widely different 13 varieties of chairs, using local woods, using, 14 developing local production techniques. Those 15 cabinet-makers could, by the 1750’s and 60’s, 16 17 compete in quality of goods with cabinet-makers

18 to be found in London and that occurred in part

19 because of the fabulous economy that was 20 developing. 21 71 IMAGES OF BEN FRANKLIN, OR NARRATOR STATUES OF BEN FRANKLIN 22 (6702) The success of Benjamin Franklin, who rose 23 from a printer’s apprentice to become a famous 24 25 publisher, scientist and statesman, epitomized 26 the unprecedented opportunity that working white Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  21

1 men enjoyed in Pennsylvania.

72 LAYER IN AN IMAGE OF POOR 2 ACTOR: BEN FRANKLIN RICHARD’S ALMANAC 3 “At the working Man’s house, Hunger looks

4 in but dares not enter.” 5 73 IMAGE OF AN 18TH CENTURY NARRATOR: And in 18th-century Philadelphia, WOMAN SEWING, OR B-ROLL 6 OF MARY SMITH’S HOUSE AT working women could also find their place. ELFRETH’S ALLEY (6700/6701) 7

74 INTERIORS OF ELFRETH’S 8 NARRATOR/ACTOR, British Working-Class ALLEY HOME AND SEWING 9 ROOM Female 10 11 Mary Smith moved to Philadelphia from New

12 Jersey some time after her father’s death in

13 1737. In his will he had left his daughter 5 14 pounds sterling and instructions that she 15 become bound to an “appropriate” trade. 16 Mary was not yet eighteen at the time, but 17 18 she soon found a way to support herself as a 19 seamstress. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  22

75 FOOTAGE OF ELFRETH ALLEY 2 NARRATOR/ACTOR, Working-Class British AND SMITH’S HOUSE 3 Female 4 In 1762, Mary Smith was able to buy her own 5 6 home at #126 Elfreth Alley in Philadelphia. 7 She paid 280 pounds sterling, and arranged

8 to buy fire insurance from a company 9 established by Benjamin Franklin. 10 76 IMAGE OF EUROPEAN NARRATOR: As the occupants of the Middle COLONISTS, LAYER WITH 11 WIDESHOT LANDSCAPE Colonies prospered, the population grew. And 12 as in New England and the Chesapeake, 13 increasing numbers of colonists began moving 14 15 west into Indian lands. 77 JAMES MERRELL ON CAMERA 16 JAMES MERRELL (12:04:38:16) 17 Pennsylvania does have a different history

18 than most of the other colonies along the 19 eastern seaboard; that most of those 20 colonies had an Indian war within the first 21 generation or so of their existence. Part 22 of it is William Penn and his vision for the 23 24 colony and his determination to show

25 respect for the native peoples in the lands 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  23

1 that he was moving into.

78 IMAGE OF THE FRONTIER 2 NARRATOR

3 One man who worked to maintain a peaceful

4 frontier was a German immigrant named Conrad 5 Weiser. 6 79 B-ROLL OF MOHAWK VALLEY NARRATOR/ACTOR: German Male (6802, 6814) 7 8 At age sixteen, Weiser had settled on the New

9 York frontier with his family where he 10 immediately made a point to befriend the 11 local Mohawks. Weiser learned the language 12 of all the Iroquois Nations and began acting 13 as an intermediary between the German 14 15 settlers and the Native Americans in the

16 region.

80 B-ROLL OF WEISER 17 NARRATOR HOMESTEAD (6703) 18 In 1729 Weiser moved with his wife and their 19 children into Pennsylvania, settling on two 20 hundred acres of farmland in the Susquehanna 21 river valley. 22 23 24 25 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  24

81 JAMES MERRELL ON CAMERA 2 JAMES MERRELL (11:15:55:20) 3 Conrad Weiser is one of those fascinating and 4 82 B-ROLL OF EPHRATA CLOISTER almost forgotten figures in American history. (6778) 5 6 Weiser was a spiritual wanderer. He was 7 something of a mystic. He was a local

8 magistrate. He was many things, but I think his 83 IMAGE OF EUROPEANS AND 9 INDIANS TOGETHER central identity was as a go-between, a man who 10 can straddle two worlds, Indian and European 11 and remain friends and on good terms with both. 12 84 MERRELL ON CAMERA We think of Indians and Europeans and they (11:19:07:18) 13 either got along or they didn’t get along. But not 14 15 much attention is paid to, “Well, how do they talk

16 to each other? How do they know what to say?

17 How do they know where to go in order to meet 18 the proper people that they needed to say 19 something to?” All of these things were the very 20 stock-in-trade of go-betweens. 21 85 IMAGES OF INDIANS AND NARRATOR 22 COLONIALS MEETING Go-betweens carried messages between Indian 23 24 leaders and colonial officials. They helped

25 negotiate trade treaties and land transfers. 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  25

1 Perhaps their most crucial work came when they

2 were called on to handle a crisis.

86 JAMES MERRELL ON CAMERA 3 JAMES MERRELL (11:17:03:20) 4 A colonist has been killed by unknown Indians in 5 some unknown place on the frontier. Send 6 Conrad Weiser out to investigate this to find out 7 what happened, to make sure that the Indians 8 9 aren’t too upset, to invite the Indians to a council 10 so that this matter can be settled amicably.

87 IMAGE OF COLONISTS AND 11 NARRATOR INDIANS MEETING; PUSH IN ON INDIAN 12 European go-betweens didn’t operate on their 13 own. Rather, they worked with and through their 14 Native American counterparts. 15 88 JAMES MERRELL (11:26:01:04) JAMES MERRELL 16 89 STATUE OF SHIKELLAMY (6703) 17 Shikellamy, this Oneida leader, was among the

18 go-betweens that Weiser most relied upon; that 19 they were paired for a long time, from about 20 1730 until Shikellamy’s death in 1748. They 21 were seen as a matched set. They were, I think, 22 true friends. They did not, however, see eye-to- 23 24 eye on the way America should look in the

25 immediate future or in the distant future.

90 JAMES MERRELL (12:00:39:18) 26 Shikellamy was a fascinating figure in his own Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  26

SHIKELLAMY STATUE 1 right. He is a figure who really helped to grease

2 the wheels of intercultural affairs until his death 3 in 1748. It is no coincidence that after 4 Shikellamy died, Conrad Weiser started 5 complaining about how he couldn’t figure out 6 what was going on in Indian country. Things 7 8 began to get very tangled and troubled in

9 relations between the Indians and colonists on

10 the Pennsylvania frontier.

91 WEISER HOMESTEAD 11 NARRATOR 12 And when Conrad Weiser died in 1760, the 13 Iroquois, too, lamented his passing. 14 92 RELEVANT FOOTAGE AND ACTOR, Native American PORTRAIT 15 16 “We are at a great loss and sit in darkness.

17 As since his death we cannot so well 18 understand one another.” 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  27

SUMMARY 2

“I AM NOT AS YOU ARE…” 3 4 5 93 JAMES MERRELL ON CAMERA JAMES MERRELL (11:04:34:22) 6 Most of the continent was Indian country until at 7 8 least 1800 and so Europeans couldn’t simply 9 come in and announce that this was the way

10 things were going to be and expect the Indians to 11 give in to that. They had to work out ways to 12 accommodate one another and they did so 13 through trade and treaties and other forms of 14 diplomacy. But there were limits to this middle 15 16 ground. I think even from the beginning – that

17 while they learned to get along, they learned

18 each other’s language, they learned how to trade 19 items back and forth – there was still a sense of 20 difference between Indian and European. And it 21 was a sense of difference that became even 22 23 more pronounced over time. 94 JAMES MERRELL ON CAMERA 24 Indians began to say, more and more often on (BELOW 12:18:15:10) 25 the Pennsylvania frontier, things such as, “I am

26 not as you are. I am of a quite different nature Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  28

1 from you.” 2 There is a growing identity among Indians as 3 Indian people in contra-distinction to European 4 5 colonists, and I think something similar is 6 happening among the colonists. For all the

7 diversity in Colonial America, and especially 8 among those middle colonies, they do begin to 9 see themselves as different from their European 10 cousins and counterparts. Part of American 11 identity was forged in this relationship with 12 13 Indians, that they began to see themselves as a

14 collective in opposition to the Indians. And so

15 you see two forces, two collective groups here. 16 Many, many Indian tribes and many, many 17 different European colonists coming, in the 18 relations with the other side, to think of 19 20 themselves more as one people. 95 REPRISE FOOTAGE 21 NARRATOR 22 The ethnic, religious and economic diversity that

23 flourished in the Middle Colonies had long-term

24 consequences in the shaping of America. 25 96 MIKE JOHNSON ON CAMERA MIKE JOHNSON (5:24:15:08) 26 Final Script Program 5 “Diversifying America”  29

1 The principal way that diversity has long-term

2 consequences is on the one hand it prevents any 3 one group from feeling completely in control of 4 the situation and feeling that they are the sole 5 possessors of whatever it is that America means 6 or that they control everything. So it creates a 7 8 circumstance of competition and a sense that

9 what is at stake is at stake for lots of different

10 people, not just for one. I think if you look at 11 America in the context of the world at the time in 12 the 18th century or the 19th century or even today, 13 we live in one of the most diverse and 14 15 competitive societies in the world. It influences 16 us in every way, I think. And part of that is

17 because there isn’t the sense that there is only

18 one group that sets all the rules and makes 19 everything happen and knows what should be 20 done. Those are debatable issues in the United 21 States and they were debatable in the 18th 22 23 century. 24 25 26