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Grazing the Modern World: Merino Sheep in South Africa and the United States, 1775-1840

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Grazing the Modern World: Merino Sheep in South Africa and the United States, 1775-1840 GRAZING THE MODERN WORLD: MERINO SHEEP IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE UNITED STATES, 1775-1840. by Benjamin Hurwitz A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy History Committee: ___________________________________________ Director ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Department Chairperson ___________________________________________ Program Director ___________________________________________ Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Date: _____________________________________ Summer Semester 2017 George Mason University Fairfax, VA Grazing the Modern World: Merino Sheep in South Africa and the United States, 1775- 1840. A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at George Mason University by Benjamin Hurwitz Master of Arts College of William and Mary in Virginia Bachelor of Arts College of William and Mary in Virginia Director: Benedict Carton, Robert T. Hawkes Professor Department of History Summer Semester 2017 George Mason University Fairfax, VA Copyright 2017 Benjamin Hurwitz All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who deserve my thanks for their help in the completion of this project. I will begin by thanking my supervisor, Dr. Benedict Carton for his relentless enthusiasm and engagement from the very beginning of this project, for always asking difficult questions and pushing for confident responses. Dr. Rosemarie Zagarri and Dr. Jane Hooper made this dissertation infinitely stronger by helping to situate this story within the Atlantic and Indian Ocean Worlds. Their commitment and encouragement provided me with great comfort throughout this process. Stephen Kane read many drafts of this work and lent many hours of conversation to discussing it. His suggestions sharpened the writing and allowed me to tell this story more effectively. I will be forever in the debt of library and archive professionals in both South Africa and the United States, without whom I could never have conducted this research. The staff at the Western Cape Archives and Records Depository, especially Erika le Roux and Thembile Ndabeni, were attentive to my many needs during months spent poring over the Colonial Office papers. It was always a joy to speak with them. The staff of the National Library of South Africa were, likewise, beyond helpful. I must thank Gys Vermeulen at Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry for a tour of that wonderful institution and the Dohne Merino flocks maintained there. Leon de Beer of the National Wool Growers Association generously shared his research on Merino sheep raising in South Africa, as well as information on the current state of the Merino industry. Dr. Gretha Snyman and Elana Kitching at the Grootfontein Agricultural Development Institute supplied helpful information and photographs related to South African sheep breeds. On this side of the Atlantic, I would like to thank the staff of the New Haven Museum, the Connecticut Historical Society, the Baker Library at Harvard Business School, The Rhode Island Historical Society, and the Vermont Historical Society. I am particularly grateful to Jennifer Galpern of RIHS for her help in supplying rare images and to Paul Carnahan and Marjorie Strong at VHS for their guidance. Jason Byrd, Dr. George Oberle, and others at the George Mason University Library worked tirelessly to gain access to digital collections used in this dissertation. Finally, I must thank the staff of the Library of Congress and the George Washington University Library, where so much of this dissertation was written. Thanks also to the World History Association, the Agricultural History Society, The Forum on European Expansion and Global Interaction, and the Georgetown Institute for Global History, who provided venues for me to share this work with more senior scholars and benefit from their commentary and criticisms. Through these conferences, I met many wonderful colleagues, made great friendships, and received precious advice on how to pursue this project. Dr. Laura Jane Mitchell was kind enough to share her iii discoveries about Robert Jacob Gordon's first forays into Merino sheep. Through a chance meeting, Dr. Seth Rockman pointed me toward particularly rich records in the Baker Library. Dr. Cynthia Kierner first alerted me to Robert Livingston's Essay on Sheep. These are but a few incidents among an endless stream of helpful advice that guided me in my research. I would never have pursued a doctoral degree without encouragement from my most respected mentors. Dr. Robert Vinson at The College of William and Mary first introduced me to South African history and to comparative history. His tireless work ethic as a teacher and a scholar is still an inspiration to me. Dr. Dan Cristol convinced me that a graduate degree would make me a better teacher, perhaps knowing all the while that I would fall farther into the academy. Even as a high school student I was blessed with a trio of mentors, John Kirkendall, Richard Moreland, and the late Jim Schofield, who truly loved history and encouraged me to do the same. And I would never have completed a doctoral degree without the love and support of my friends and family, who kept me sane and happy through most of the process. I especially want to thank my parents, Jeff and Patty Hurwitz, for trusting that there was a story to be written about Merino sheep. I should also thank them for the many hours spent before and after work feeding, herding, shearing, and lambing our small flock of Border-Leicester sheep. If I had not spent my childhood and adolescence around those frustrating and beautiful creatures, I doubt I would have chosen this line of research. Finally, I could not have completed this project without my wonderful partner, Diana Huaman. I cannot imagine a more positive, patient, and supportive ally. To all these people and so many others, my most sincere thanks. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................. vii Abstract .................................................................................................................... viii Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Grazing the Modern World: Empire, Industry, and Enlightenment ....................................... 4 South Africa and the United States Compared: a Historiography ........................................ 14 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 27 Chapter Summaries ............................................................................................................ 30 Chapter One: A Most Improved Breed: Science, Agriculture, and Merino Sheep ........ 32 The Spanish Merino: Origins and Significance ..................................................................... 35 Parallel Revolutions: Science and Agriculture ..................................................................... 48 The Language of Wool ........................................................................................................ 55 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 65 Chapter Two: Fat Tails and Fine Wool: Merino Sheep in South Africa, 1779-1810 ...... 67 Robert Jacob Gordon: Glory, Tragedy, and Spanish Sheep .................................................. 78 The Van Reenen Family: Kaapse Patriots or Crony Capitalists? ........................................... 82 Politics of Wool: The First British Occupation (1795-1803) .................................................. 87 Politics of Wool: The Batavian Government (1803-1806) .................................................... 92 The Cape Gentry and the Batavian Administration ............................................................. 97 Politics of Wool: The Second British Occupation (1806-1810) ........................................... 104 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 111 Chapter Three: Founding Fathers of Wool: Merino Sheep in the United States, 1793- 1810 ........................................................................................................................ 114 Founding Fathers of Wool ................................................................................................ 118 Speaking the Language of Wool ........................................................................................ 132 The Politics of Wool ......................................................................................................... 141 Merino Mania .................................................................................................................. 150 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 158 Chapter Four: A Pastoral Frontier? Merino Sheep in South Africa, 1810-1840 .......... 160 Wool Barons: Reitz,
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