Profit and Power: the Revolutionary Forces Behind American Middle Class Ideology

Profit and Power: The Revolutionary Forces Behind American Middle Class Ideology Senior Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Undergraduate Program in History Winston Bowman, Advisor In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts by Noah Alexander Sackton Coolidge May 2016 Copyright by Noah Alexander Sackton Coolidge Committee Members: Name: Winston Bowman Signature: _____________________________ Name: Mark Hulliung Signature: _____________________________ Name: George Hall Signature: _____________________________ Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii Introduction: War and Opportunity 1 Financing the Revolution 5 Historiography 11 Outsiders: Abraham Yates and the Middle Class Politicians 18 The Military Bureaucracy 33 Hugh Hughes: The Mechanic as Supply Officer 44 Begging for Supplies: Ephraim Blaine’s Story 47 Military Proto-Industrial Complex: The Case of the Iron Industry 51 Constitutional Politics: Evaluating the Universal Ideology 62 Conclusion: Middle Class Nationalism 71 Works Cited 78 i Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the support of many wonderful people and institutions. The Brandeis University Library was where much of this thesis was written and provided most of the books and papers cited. I also visited the Massachusetts Historical Society, the New York Public Library, and the New-York Historical Society to conduct research. Professor Michael Willrich was a useful sounding board for early ideas and generously took the time to give advice and feedback, despite being on sabbatical. The entire faculty and staff of the History Department were all incredibly helpful and supportive. I also owe a great deal of thanks to my fellow History thesis writers. Together we have become an excellent group, working together to help with each other’s papers and to work to improve the Department in the long term. We have learned so much from each other about the study of history. I owe my committee a great deal of thanks: my advisor, Professor Winston Bowman, for reading several drafts, commenting extensively, and helping me to bring my ideas to paper. Professor George Hall, for engaging me in this topic originally, getting me to learn Python, and giving me access to transcribed data. While the data does not feature prominently in the final product, it is what led me to most of my subjects in the first place. Professor Mark Hulliung, for serving as a remarkable committee member and for giving helpful guidance. Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks to my friends and family for being so incredibly supportive. Ilana Kruger and Mitchell Mankin both read drafts and were extremely helpful throughout the process, mainly for forgiving me when I couldn’t hang out and had to go to the library. Elisabeth Sackton, Elizabeth Coolidge, and Emma Coolidge all provided loving support, without which I would not be completing college, much less completing a senior thesis. ii Introduction: War and Opportunity In order to be properly deemed a “revolution,” a war must bring about dramatic social or extreme change to society.1 Few historians have argued that the American War for Independence was not a revolution, yet there is a debate as to the nature of the change that the war, and subsequently independence, brought. John Adams referred to it as “a change in their [the peoples’] religious sentiments of their duties and obligations.”2 As historian Gordon Wood wrote in his classic on The Radicalism of the American Revolution, “Most importantly, it made the interests and prosperity of ordinary people—their pursuit of happiness—the goal of society and government. The Revolution… released powerful popular entrepreneurial and commercial energies that few realized existed and transformed the economic landscape of the country.”3 Significantly, Wood implicates the “ordinary people” at the heart of the revolution. Overlooked by too many historians, the non-elites developed values of economic independence, social improvement, and political power directly as a result of the Revolution. This thesis looks to the origins and impacts of that development. The “middle class,” or “middling sorts” as it was more commonly called at the time, requires some definition. I include in this term the small artisans, independent merchants, yeoman farmers, and other working people who despite their lack of inherited wealth and social status were able to live reasonably comfortably. In particular, my focus is on the great “American Dream” of the middle class that they have the ability to advance in social standing. While the term “American Dream” itself would not have been used in the Revolutionary era or for several decades after, this ideological myth, I argue, originated in the way that the war effort 1 “Definition of REVOLUTION,” accessed April 21, 2016, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revolution. 2 John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 10 (Boston: Little, Brown and company etc, 1850), 282. 3 Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, 1st Vintage Books ed. (New York: Vintage Books, 1993), 8. 1 was organized and paid for.4 Its greatest impacts are the expansion of the ability of Americans born to poor or immigrant parents to obtain political, social, and economic power. The logistics of financing the war and supplying the Continental Army influenced a broader transformation in American culture during the war by contributing to the emergence of republican beliefs that the views of the “middling sort” should be heard at least as loudly as the views of the old elite. As these beliefs began to influence policy and change informal barriers, those with little family background or inherited wealth began to enter political life at higher rates. Joyce Appleby argues that this change in worldview marked a dramatic departure from the traditional narrative that held that birth implied social status.5 The immense spending of the military bureaucracy transformed American industry by promoting domestic manufacturing, especially of iron. Finally, the national debt was highly influential on the Federalist and Antifederalist sides of the debate over the ratification of the Constitution and had a substantial influence over the document’s development. The Constitution effectively solidified many of the socioeconomic gains made by the middle classes during the war, yet also created barriers to prevent lower class groups from overtaking the authority of traditional elites. These seemingly contradictory notions can be explained by the fear, held by some, of falling back to the bottom and being replaced by someone else from below, an idea at the core of what I term “American middle class ideology.” While not strictly universal, the American Dream’s huge influence on most American middle class ideologies is apparent. In an era when original intent of the “Founding Fathers” has become an important part of 4 For a good discussion of the origins and history of the idea of the American Dream and a good definition as well, see Jim Cullen, The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003). 5 Joyce Appleby, “The Social Consequences of American Revolutionary Ideals in the Early Republic,” in The Middling Sorts: Explorations in the History of the American Middle Class, ed. Burton J. Bledstein and Robert D. Johnston, Kindle (Routledge, 2013), 1. 2 contemporary legal debates, understanding the diversity of their perspectives and their political context has critical impact on the present.6 The long-term impact of the century-long war between Great Britain and France, culminating in the Seven Years’ War (also known as the French and Indian War) was the development of further republican and anti-aristocratic tendencies among the colonists of British North America. The war itself brought initial military experience to many who would go on to fight in the American Revolution, including Major Generals George Washington and Horatio Gates. The British victory created the possibility of expanding colonial land, but the Proclamation of 1763 blocked colonists from moving westward. It also led to Parliament establishing taxes on it colonial subjects, who, in turn, resisted because their liberties as Englishmen were not respected. Continued taxation of sugar, paper products, and most famously tea let to more protests, which resulted in the Coercive/Intolerable Acts and further deprivation of liberties. In June of 1775, the Continental Congress began the task of creating an army with which to defend America. One of the most immediate tasks facing Congress and the Commander-in- Chief of the Continental Army, Washington, was the task of financing the rebellion. Congress formed a committee to work out the details of a financial plan, but it could scarcely proceed before other details were worked out. Congress paid great attention to this issue because many members of Congress, including Massachusetts delegate John Adams, were adherents of “Commonwealth ideology,” a popular Whigish mindset from the late seventeenth to the mid- eighteenth century which believed that centralized government and a standing military indicated 6 Jack N. Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (Vintage Books, 1997), 5. 3 an unhealthy democracy, and led to corruption.7 This ideological context shaped the way that Congress would manage the Continental Army. Initially regarded as radical by landed seventeenth century

Load more