Our Anglo-Saxon Ancestors’
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‘OUR ANGLO-SAXON ANCESTORS’ THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE ROLE OF ENGLISH HISTORY IN THE BUILDING OF THE AMERICAN NATION By Jessica Lorraine Walker, BA (Hons) This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Western Australia School of Humanities 2007 ABSTRACT This thesis contends that Anglo-Saxon studies made a powerful contribution to Thomas Jefferson’s development of public concepts of American identity and nationalism in ways that have been elided by scholars preoccupied with Jefferson’s classicism. Jefferson’s comprehensive survey of Anglo-Saxon grammar, language, law and emigration provided him with a precedent for revolution and helped him develop a model of American nationhood. Jefferson’s detailed study of the Anglo- Saxon era set him apart from writers on both sides of the Atlantic in the period 1750-1860, and this thesis will argue that to generalize his interest as ‘whig history’ or a subscription to a theory of Teutonic superiority is unjustified. Chapter One considers Jefferson’s educational background, his exposure to Anglo- Saxon history and the degree to which he might have been encouraged to pursue it. Previous studies of Jefferson’s Anglo-Saxonism have presumed that there was a ‘Gothic font’ from which American Founding Fathers could drink; the detailed study of Anglo-Saxon historiography in this chapter will show otherwise. Chapter Two is concerned with a detailed examination of the collections of books relating to Anglo-Saxon history and language that Jefferson collected throughout his lifetime. If Jefferson was concerned with whig dialogues, or interested in the Saxons as a product of a passion for Tacitus we should find evidence of it here. In fact, the study of Jefferson’s library in Chapter Two demonstrates that Jefferson was genuinely an expert Anglo-Saxon scholar and regarded that knowledge base as a political tool. Chapters Three and Four constitute detailed examinations of the nationalist use to which Jefferson put his understanding of early English history. Chapter Three considers the problem of shared heritage with Britain confronting the American statesman in the 1760s and 1770s and his employment of pre-Norman history in resolving this conflict. Chapter Four enlarges upon the study of American national identity, with specific reference to the linguistic debates following on the Revolution. This chapter revolves around a reconsideration of Jefferson’s Anglo- Saxon Essay and his attempts to introduce this language into the education of future American statesmen. Jefferson’s examination of Anglo-Saxon history, when considered in this light, seems oddly discordant with the simplistic notion of Jefferson as a founder of Teutonic superiority. Chapter Five is interested in Jefferson’s impact on historical rhetoric in the nineteenth century. Thomas Jefferson used English history as an aid to separating an American nation from the British Empire and he believed that Americans could look to their Anglo- Saxon ancestors for a precedent that would justify their independence from Britain. He saw in Anglo-Saxon studies a means for appropriating those parts of English history that could underpin a national identity defined by freedom, initiative, and perhaps a racial predilection for democracy, while simultaneously rejecting Britain’s authority in his present. For Geoff, Erica, Andrew, Vanessa and Sonya, with my love and gratitude. iv It is very difficult to persuade the great body of mankind to give up what they have once learned, and are now masters of, for something to be learnt anew. Time alone insensibly wears down old habits, and produces small changes at long intervals, and to this process we must all accommodate ourselves, and be content to follow those who will not follow us.1 1 Thomas Jefferson to John Wilson, August 17, 1813 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my thanks to both of my supervisors not only for their tireless support and the quality of their contributions, but for their willingness to accommodate the unusual pacing of my work, and the unusual emotional demands. Also to the history department at the University of Western Australia for the strong support they provide to their postgraduate students, especially Rob Stuart, Muriel Mahony, those senior academics who regularly give up their time to attend the work-in-progress seminars, and those fun-loving larrikins with whom I occasionally share an office. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the American scholarly community, particularly at the University of California San Diego, for their generosity and support while I was so far away from my own institution. Without having any formal ties to any university in the States, I nevertheless found an endless supply of advice and sympathy there. Thank you especially to Cameron Addis for the many useful references on subjects that were unfamiliar to me at the start of this project. There have been certain complications attached to studying American and English history from Australia, and I could not have accomplished as much research as I have in the last four years without the assistance of the librarians at the Huntington and British Libraries. A particular mention must be made of James Stimpert at John’s Hopkins University and of Donna P Barbour, Kathy Harlow, and the rest of the staff of the Alderman Library Lending Section, University of vi Virginia, who made available to me the unpublished theses at their institutions at very short notice. Thanks also to the University of Western Australia history department for supporting the necessary research expeditions. I would not have successfully completed this project without the loving assistance of my immediate family. Thank you especially to all those I live with who have been so undemanding of me while I was trying to meet deadlines, and so generous with their time and energy. My parents and siblings are certainly entitled to more credit than I can give them here, especially Vanessa and Sonya (whose weddings coincided with my busiest periods of study). Thanks also to my new brothers in law Nic Rando and Greg Bennett, both of whom met me while I was in the throes of writing up my thesis and immediately threw their support behind me. Finally, there are a number of friends (some of them also relatives) that I need to thank for sounding ideas, proof reading early drafts, moral support though the emotional trials, and the sometimes unwanted and unpalatable advice which in retrospect I am so very glad I took on board. I pay special tribute to all those whose regular messages of love and sympathy have been unaccompanied by reproofs for being so long buried in my research. vii CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................. 1 ‘EDUCATED IN ROYALISM’: HISTORY FOR THE GOVERNING CLASSES OF ENGLAND AND AMERICA, C1620 – 1770..................................................................... 30 READING JEFFERSON’S LIBRARY.............................................................................. 85 PRECEDENCE AND INDEPENDENCE: THE RIGHTS OF BRITISH AMERICANS ............................................................................................................................................. 128 ‘AN AMERICAN DIALECT’: JEFFERSON’S ANGLO-SAXON ESSAY ................. 153 SAXONS, NORMANS AND CELTS: ENGLISH ANCESTORS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICA ..................................................................................................... 186 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 225 APPENDIX: WATTERSTON’S CATALOGUE............................................................ 231 BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................................. 233 viii Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. 2 INTRODUCTION On July 4 1776, the same day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were assigned to consider an appropriate design for a Great Seal to represent the new nation.3 Adams proposed the figure of Hercules resting on his club, shunning sloth and pleasure, and beckoned by Virtue to ascend her rugged mountain, clearly a classical image. Franklin preferred a Biblical icon: Moses in priestly robes causing the sea to overwhelm mighty Pharaoh, while a pillar of fire in the clouds evoked divine presence. Jefferson liked this, and proposed for the reverse side: Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon chiefs from whom we claim the honor of being descended, and whose political principles and form of government we have assumed.4 This extraordinary statement of American descent from Anglo-Saxon ancestry has provoked surprisingly little analysis from historians, as indeed has 2 Common Sense, printed in Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, Common Sense and Other Political Writings, Edited with an Introduction by Mark Philp (Oxford, 1995) introduction 3 For an excellent discussion of this event see Allen J Frantzen, Desire for Origins: New Language, Old English, and Teaching the Tradition (New Brunswick and London, 1947) p15-17 4 Quoted by John