To Excite the Feelings of Noble Patriots:” Emotion, Public Gatherings, and Mackenzie’S
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A Dissertation entitled “To Excite the Feelings of Noble Patriots:” Emotion, Public Gatherings, and Mackenzie’s American Rebellion, 1837-1842 by Joshua M. Steedman Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy History ___________________________________________ Dr. Ami Pflugrad-Jackisch, Committee Chair ___________________________________________ Dr. Kim Nielsen, Committee Member ___________________________________________ Dr. Roberto Padilla II, Committee Member ___________________________________________ Dr. Rebecca Mancuso, Committee Member ___________________________________________ Dr. Cyndee Gruden, Dean College of Graduate Studies The University of Toledo August 2019 Copyright 2019, Joshua M. Steedman This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no parts of this document may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author. An Abstract of “To Excite the Feelings of Noble Patriots:” Emotion, Public Gatherings, and Mackenzie’s American Rebellion, 1837-1842 by Joshua M. Steedman Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in History The University of Toledo August 2019 This dissertation is a cultural history of the American reaction to the Upper Canadian Rebellion and the Patriot War. This project is based on an analysis of newspaper articles published by William Lyon Mackenzie and his contemporaries, diplomatic cables between Washington D.C. and London, letters, and accounts of celebrations, toasts, and public meetings which occurred between 1837 and 1842. I argue Americans and Upper Canadians in the Great Lakes region made up a culture area. By re-engaging in a battle with the British, Upper Canadians, and their American supporters sought redemption. Reacting to geographic isolation from major metropolitan areas and a looming psychic crisis motivated many of these individuals to act. And, even though the rebellion and Patriot War were ultimately unsuccessful, the threat of a rekindled conflict with Britain crept into North America while thoughts of the revolutionary Spirit of ‘76 invigorated the masses and served as a litmus test for maintaining peaceful international relations between the U.S. and Britain, a preface to Manifest Destiny, and a testament to the power of the nineteenth-century culture industry. iii To my wife, Katie, and my Grandpa “Papa” Arnie. Katie, your love and support through nearly 10-years of school means the world to me. I love you and you are the best thing about me. Papa Arnie, thank you for introducing me to history at such a young age. Both of you made this possible and I am forever grateful. Thank you! iv Acknowledgements This must be so-called “light at the end of the tunnel” I have heard so much about. However, as a good academic (and a wee-bit of a pessimist), I know it is just another train speeding toward me. Joking aside – I want to briefly acknowledge a few people who helped me through this process, all of whom I am forever grateful. First and foremost, I could not have done this without my advisor, Dr. Ami Pflugrad-Jackisch. Our conversations, your encouragement, and willingness to let me explore different historical frameworks allowed me to grow as an intellectual and mature as an academic. Working with Dr. Roberto Padilla over the past 5-years strengthened my writing skills and led to new interests in East Asian history and popular culture. I can never repay you, Dr. Padilla, for your conversations, well-wishes, countless meals, and your uncanny ability to “Yoda” me! The now Dr. Steve Bare, my brother-in-arms, we did it! We conquered the PhD! I enjoyed my time in the upper catacombs of University Hall and adventures in Ann Arbor, Michigan with my officemate Lei Wang. You are a great friend and the older brother I wish I had. Sean Kirkwood, perhaps my closest friend, if it was not for you, I would not have been introduced to the work of Slavoj Zizek. Oh, and as per many of our conversations, all great scholarship somehow mentions Walter Benjamin. Well, I’m joining the club. Here goes nothing: “Walter Benjamin!” Finally, in 2015, I lost my mother, Julie Steedman, to sarcoidosis. We had differing opinions on my academic career, but I made it here because of you. I wanted to attend UT because of you. I know you watched over me; and, I thank God you did so. I love you, mom, I miss you dearly. I wish you could read this. I know you are proud. v Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi List of Figures vii Chapter One: Introduction 1 1 Chapter Two: Fear and Loathing in North America: The Transformation of the United States and Upper Canada, 1770s-1830s 26 Chapter Three: The Reporter’s Rebellion: William Lyon Mackenzie, the Memory of the American Revolution, and the Upper Canadian Rebellion 58 Chapter Four: The Joy of Rebellion: Mass Gatherings, Upstate New York, and the Upper Canada Question 100 Chapter Five: Lurking Like Thieves in the Night: Patriots, Publishers, and Hunters Respond to the Upper Canadian Rebellion and Patriot War, 1837-1841 135 Chapter Six: Politics, Paranoia, and a Printer: Some Effects of the Upper Canadian Rebellion and Other Lingering Issues with the British into the 1840s 168 Chapter Seven: Conclusion: The Patriot War as a Distant Memory 202 References 209 vi List of Figures Figure 1 The U.S., Canadas, and the Great Lakes Region, ca. 1812 ............................10 Figure 2 Etching of William Lyon Mackenzie in Charles Lindsay, The Life and Times of William Lyon Mackenzie, 1862. ..................................................................66 Figure 3 Etching from the Caroline Almanac ............................................................. 174 Figure 4 Figure 4: Masthead Etching from the first issue of Mackenzie’s Volunteer, April 17,1841 .................................................................................................195 vii Chapter One Introduction In the blustery winter months of late 1837 and early 1838, Louise Sizer, a young woman from Buffalo, New York commented on a number of topics ranging from boys, to the weather, to school in her journal. However, amidst Sizer’s inner-most thoughts, and musings about her day-to-day life, which included arriving to school “20 moments before the bell rang” and waltzing with the dashing Major Lewinski, Sizer, a rebellious soul, remarked on an ongoing struggle for freedom in Upper Canada. Sizer believed the British presence in the region seemed warlike. And, after the Upper Canadian Patriots lost their foothold on Navy Island, Sizer said to her brother in his office: “I am glad of it… and I hope they will get into Canada.” 1 Maybe it is because I have a younger sister, but leafing through Sizer’s diary in the reading room of the Buffalo History Museum’s archive seemed invasive. Diaries, according to historian Jane Hunter, were neutral spaces where young women “charted a middle way between the fiery rebel and the good daughter… [they were] surrogate battlefields upon which girls struggled to blend family with personal impulse.”2 Although an excellent source of first-hand information on life in Buffalo during the 1830s, reading Sizer’s diary felt as if I was at the center of a 1980s sitcom plot. At any moment, Sizer or (more likely) my own sister, would bust in to the archive, catch me in 1 Louise E. Sizer, Journal Belonging to Louise E. Sizer, Buffalo, New York, 1837-1858, Buffalo History Museum, Buffalo New York, A81-11. 2 Jane H. Hunter, How Young Ladies Became Girls: The Victorian Origins of American Girlhood (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002), 47. 1 the act, and I would reflect on the experience with an omnipotent narrator a la Fred Savage’s Kevin Arnold from The Wonder Years. From the late 1830s to the early 1840s, the Upper Canadian Rebellion (December 1837) and the Patriot War (1838-1840s) were at the center of American culture. In fact, in the United States, the excitement that surrounded the rebellion made the Rebellion and Patriot War a form of popular culture. According to the cultural theorist Stuart Hall, popular culture is a “site where ‘collective social understandings are created;’ a terrain on which the ‘politics of signification’ are played out in attempts to in people to particular ways of seeing the world.”3 Supporters of the rebellion used a variety of means (newspapers, pamphlets, rallies, and toasts) to keep the memory of the rebels who lost their lives and the Patriot War alive in minds of American citizens. This project is a cultural history of the American reaction to the Upper Canadian Rebellion and the Patriot War. This dissertation is based on an analysis of articles published by William Lyon Mackenzie (1795-1861) and his contemporaries, diplomatic cables between Washington D.C. and London, letters, and accounts of celebrations, toasts, and public meetings that occurred between 1837 and 1842. Through a close reading of these documents, I argue Americans and Upper Canadians in the Great Lakes region made up a culture area. Reengaging in a battle with the British, Upper Canadians, flanked by their American supporters, sought redemption from tyranny through war. Reacting to geographic isolation and a psychic crisis motivated these individuals to act potentially risking everything. And, even though the rebellion and Patriot War were 3 Stuart Hall’s definition of popular culture is quoted in John Storey’s Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2006), 3. 2 ultimately unsuccessful, the threat of a rekindled conflict with Britain crept into North America while thoughts of the revolutionary Spirit of ‘76 invigorated the masses and served as a litmus test for maintaining peaceful international relations between the U.S. and Great Britain in the nineteenth century. What was the Patriot War? Before continuing, a synopsis of the Upper Canadian Rebellion and the Patriot War will familiarize American readers who may know very little about the two conflicts.