From freedom to slavery: Robert Montgomery Bird and the natural law tradition Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Buffington, Nancy Jane Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 09/10/2021 18:50:02 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282827 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Infonaadon Company 300 North Zedj Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 FROM FREEDOMTOSLA VERY: ROBERT MONTGOMERY BIRD AND THE NATURAL LAWTRADITION by Nancy Jane Buffington A Dissertation Submitted to the Fiaculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGUSH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Gimluate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1998 DMI Number: 9912134 invn Microform 9912134 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Nancy Jane Buffinqton entitled Freedom to Slavery: Robert Montgomery Bird and the Natural Law Tradition and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy I ( MiS- Joan Da:^n " CoQoer-Meit^n Date, . Charles Scruggs ' Dace n 'I / 0^ Date' Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Dissertation ector Date Joan Daya 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in p^al fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Libraty. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in Us or her judgment the propc«ed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation could not have been written without the help of many individuals and institutions. Special thanks to Bird's great-grandson Robert Montgomery Bird and his family for deli^tful letters, permissions, and ongoing generosity to all Bird scholars. Thanks to the staff of the Department of Special Collections, Van Pelt-Dieuich Library' at the University of Pennsylvania, in particular John Pollack, Lauren Richards Williams, Nancy Shawcross and ID^el Traister, for assistance with the Bird Collection. Thanks also to Jennifer Brown of The Wilmington Library and Constance Cooper of the Historical Society of Delaware Library for materials on the Van Dykes and Delaware history, and to Youngstown State University's Jim McTigue and Amy Kyte for help with overdue books and interlibrary loans. Thanks to Marcia Manna of the University of Arizona for leading me, long-distance, through a maze of paperwork and procedures. Of the many professors who influenced and supported my work, I owe most thanks to Joan Dayan. She introduced me to Bird, and has guided me through six years of scholarsUp. Her belief in Bird's significance and my own ability have helped me overcome many obstacles in writing the dissertation. Thanks also to my other committee members and professors at the University of Arizona: to Daniel Cooper-Alaicdn for careful readings and asking just the right questions; to Charles Scruggs for a no-nonsense approach to revision; to Barbara Bab^k for teaching me that "frogs are good to think"; to Tilly Wamock for her friendship and confidence in me. Thanks to Denzell Smith, Steve Smith, and Susan Swetnam of Idaho State University for eariy inspiration. Thanks to Donalee Attardo, Guanjun Cai, Alesia Garcfa, and Dale Harrison for demonstrating that dissertations do get finish^. Thanks to my dear friend Phyllis Ryder for years of sympathy, e-mail, and for lovely visits in PhiladelpUa and Toronto. My family has offered me constant encouragement Thanks to my mother and sisters, Sidney ai^ Betsy, for well-timed phone calls and thoughtful gestures, and to my brother Rob for talking me into going to graduate school. Many, many thanks to my father and stepmother Sandy for years of emotional and financial support; among other things, they mai^ possible my research in Philadelj^a. Most of all, thanks to my husband and best friend, Clyde, for immeasurable help, love and understanding over the last several years: for cooking, childcare and editorial advice, for putting up with my exhaustion and distractedness, and for always believing in me. And to my son Jesse, for cuddles, kisses and silly jokes, and for patiently tolerating so much parental scholarship. DEDICATION For my father, for everything. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 UST OF TABLES 9 ABSTRACT 10 1. INTRODUCTION: "WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES BIRD MAKE?" 13 2. DOCTOR, WRITER, PATRIOT: THE MANY CAREERS OF ROBERT BIRD 24 A Family History 29 Bird's Ea^ly Education 31 A First Career 37 From Physician to Writer 40 The Tragedy of Edwin Forrest 44 A Life of Fiction 59 3. BIRD'S PLACE IN THE NATURAL LAW TRADITION 71 Bird and Natural lights 72 Locke and the Natu^ Law Tradition 87 British Natural Law after Locke 95 Natural Law in the Colonies 97 Natural Law in the Revolution and Early America 101 Natural Law in Nineteenth Century America 109 Slavey and Natural Rights Ill American Indians and Natural Rights 119 American Whigs and Natural Ri^ts 126 4. THE POWER OF ROMANCE: GENRE, POLTTICS, AND RIGHTS IN BIRD'S NOVELS OF MEXICO 131 U. S. Representations of Mexico in the Nineteenth Centuty 134 Contemporary Definitions of History and Romance 136 The Work of History 144 The Horrors of Conquest 148 A Romantic Victor 154 The Power of Inalienable Rights 163 Subjected to Romance 179 5. NATURAL VENGEANCE: THE LAW OF THE FRONTIER 182 Moving to the Frontier 183 Bird's Frontier Ideology 188 Natural Law in Bird's Frontier Novels 200 The Indian on Bird's Frontier 205 The Settler's Revenge 208 The New Law of the Frontier 219 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS ~ Continued Bird's Defense of the Violent Hero 221 6. LAW AND ORDER THE FREEDOM OF NATURAL SUBJECTION IN BIRD'S SATIRES 228 An Overview of Bird's Satires 231 Arbitrary Laws and Honorable Criminals 236 Freedom and Slavery 245 Natural Law as Apology 246 Metaphorical Slavery 248 Black Slaves and Proslavery Ideology 256 White Men in Blackface 259 Freedom Through Slavery 266 7. BIRD'S LAST YEARS, AND A CONCLUSION 269 A Fanning Episode 269 Medicine and Science 273 Bird in Politics 277 The Politics of Journalism 281 The Politics of Slavery 292 Decline and Death 295 Conclusion 303 WORKS CITED 312 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 3.1, "Essays" 77 FIGURE 5.1, "Alabama Creek Boys," 197 FIGURE 5.2, "Watercolor of Native American in Natural Setting" 198 FIGURE 5.3, "Watercolor of Native American in Elaborate Costume" 199 USTOFTABLES TABLE 4.1, "Bird's Continuum of Flights" 10 ABSTRACT This dissertation explicates the rhetoric of liberty and slavery in the novels of Robert Montgomery Bird (1805-54). Bird, now largely forgotten and ignored, was prolific, popular, and at the center of Philadelphia culture and national politics from the 1830s until his death. His work represents a particularly clear intersection of political ideology and fiction at a time of cultural growth and conflict. Like many of his contemporziries. Bird saw his fiction as fulfilling a patriotic mission as he attempted to define and defend the nation's history, emergent identity, and contemporary political agenda. It is this mission, evident in his countless meditations on rights and rebellion, freedom and slavery, captivity and bondage, that I explore.