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Change, the Town, and the Wilderness in Timothy Dwight's "Travels in New England and New York"

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Change, the Town, and the Wilderness in Timothy Dwight's W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2010 The Search for a New England Character: Change, the Town, and the Wilderness in Timothy Dwight's "Travels in New England and New York" Nicolette Gable College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Recommended Citation Gable, Nicolette, "The Search for a New England Character: Change, the Town, and the Wilderness in Timothy Dwight's "Travels in New England and New York"" (2010). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539626611. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-t2ed-tn92 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Search for a New England Character: Change, The Town, and the Wilderness in Timothy Dwight’s Travels in New England and New York Nicolette Gable Charlottesville, Virginia Bachelor of Arts, Haverford College, 2007 A Thesis presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts American Studies Program The College of William and Mary August, 2010 APPROVAL PAGE This Thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Nicolette Gable Approved by the Committee, May 2010 / ? / ' ' Committee Chair Associate Professor Chandos Brown American Studies, College of William and Mary Professor Christopher Grasso, History College of William and Mary Professor Adam Potkay, English^ College of William and Mary ABSTRACT PAGE At first glance, Timothy Dwight, descendent of Solomon Stoddard and Jonathan Edwards, wrote verbose theological treatises, gave moralizing sermons, and tightened discipline at Yale. His posthumously published Travels in New England and New York chronicle the changes taking place at the turn of the 19th century. The traditional means of forming character was crumbling, and proving inadequate to create both the visible saint and the good republican citizen who could exist in this rapidly changing world. In the process of observing this change, Dwight attempts to find glimmers of hope for positive transformation and practical solutions to curtail the worst of the damage. In the Travels Dwight moves beyond the traditional space of the town to the wilderness and the lives of Indians in search of how to define and control this change. Although the town was perfect for restricting men’s passions, in an age more concerned with forming than restricting, the town fell short. Moreover, the changes occurring in New England bode ill for the survival of the town system. Dwight makes he case that a number of factors, environment, society, temperament, and divine ordinance, go into the development of character. If the town system is doomed to destruction and cannot create the ideal republican citizen, then, ultimately, keeping America from the decadence of Europe rests with the ability of the regenerate man to see and understand the wilderness as God meant it to be understood. Unable to fully articulate a new paradigm, the only solution Dwight can advocate involves reenergizing those institutions that New England is famous for. Ultimately, Dwight gives up on the question of individual identity, at least in the Travels. His longings for romantic freedom, for himself and New England, are impossible within the bounds of a universe constrained either by heredity or environment. The solution lies, as it always did, in the transformative power of God’s grace. Only in that way can town and the wilderness be properly understood and used, and only with that is the only way that Americans create a republic that resists European decadence and that can adapt to change without collapsing into degeneracy. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii Introduction 3 Part I: The Changing Times 8 Part II: The Town 21 Part III: The Wilderness 32 Part IV: The Indians 44 Conclusion 51 Bibliography 56 i Acknowledgments I would like to thank my advisor Chandos Michael Brown for his guidance, support, and patience as I made my way through this project in fits and starts. I would also like to thank the other members of my thesis committee, Professor Christopher Grasso and Professor Adam Potkay for their insightful comments. The constant support of my cohort and the entire American Studies Program was invaluable. Finally, I thank my mother Alexia and sister Leah for not asking too many questions. 3 At first glance, Timothy Dwight appears the very epitome of stodgy Puritan cleric. His poor eyesight makes characterizations of him as near-sighted and myopic seem especially apt.1 A descendent of Solomon Stoddard and Jonathan Edwards, he wrote verbose theological treatises, gave moralizing sermons, and tightened discipline at Yale. His four volume travel narrative begins with the disclaimer that the trips were not taken for pleasure, but in consideration of his fragile health, which denied him the ability to study all day. Yet, a careful reading ofTravels in New England and New York belies this figure of Dwight as a latter day Puritan bitterly lamenting man’s depravity and decrying the modem world. 2 The Travels are certainly concerned with change, and the passing of a way of life. If New England was changing then so would the New Englander. Moreover, the traditional means of creating people were cmmbling, and proving inadequate to create both the visible saint and the good republican citizen who could exist in this rapidly changing world. In the process of observing this change, 1 By the time o f Dwight’s travels his eyes were ruined, he could only read or write for a few hours a day. In early biographies this is explained by a tendency when he was young to read beyond the point of health. It is likely that Dwight had myopia and suffered from ocular migraines. See, John R. Fitzmier, New England's Moral Legislator: Timothy Dwight, 1752-1817. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998. 9 2 The Travels received the most critical attention after Barbara Solomon published a new edition in 1969. Much of the scholarship has been focused on landscape and its connection to aesthetic theories. See, for instance. Vincent Freimarck, “Timothy Dwight’s Brief Lives in Travels in New England and New York,”Early American Literature (1973) 44-58; John F. Sears "Timothy Dwight and the American Landscape: The Composing Eye in Dwight’s Travels in New England and New York." Early American Literature 11.3 (1976): 311 -321; Peter M. Briggs Timothy Dwight 'Composes' a Landscape for New England American Quarterly 40: 3 (Sep., 1988) 359-377; Timothy B. Spears " Common Observations: Timothy Dwight's Travels in New England and New York." American Studies 30.1 (1989): 35-52; Jane Kamensky, “In These Contrasted Climes, How Chang'd the Scene': Progress, Declension, and Balance in the Landscapes of Timothy Dwight”New England Quarterly: A Historical Review of New England Life and Letters, 63:1 (1990 Mar), pp. 80-108. All these work make the point that landscape is not merely observed, but constructed, and in so doing, Dwight aimed at social and cultural control. 4 Dwight attempts to find glimmers of hope for positive transformation and practical solutions to curtail the worst of the damage. In the Travels Dwight moves beyond the traditional space of the town to the wilderness and the lives of Indians in search of how to define and control this change. Although the town was perfect for restricting men’s passions, in an age more concerned with forming than restricting, the town fell short. Moreover, the changes occurring in New England bode ill for the survival of the town system. Dwight made the case that a number of factors go into the development of character. Environment, society, natural temperament, and divine ordinance all work on people. If the town system is doomed to destruction and cannot create the ideal republican citizen, then, ultimately, keeping America from the decadence of Europe rests with the ability of the regenerate man to see and understand the wilderness as God meant it to be understood. Dwight, bom in 1752, was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards on his mother’s side, and the inheritor of a long line of prominent citizens on his father’s. His precocious feats of learning at an early age led to matriculation at Yale at thirteen. After graduating and becoming ordained, he served as a chaplain during the Revolutionary war. He then held the position of minister at Greenfield Hill and established Greenfield Academy where he experimented with female education and non-corporal discipline. In 1795 he was elected president of Yale College and served as professor of theology. It was here 3 The earliest biographies of Dwight are the “Biographical Hints” composed by his son Benjamin. They are of little critical value. The authoritative biography o f Dwight is Charles E. CunninghamTimothy 5 that his influence made a lasting impression. He lobbied for funding, reformed and modernized Yale’s curriculum by adding science and literature to the classics, and changed the culture of the college, setting it on the path of becoming a major university.4 His major poetry, The Conquest o f Canaan, Greenfield and Hill,The Triumph o f Infidelity, though not regarded as brilliant, is nevertheless important in the literature of the early Republic.5 His Theology, Explained and Defended, lacking any stylistic or theological innovation, has been relegated to obscurity.6 Dwight, 1752-1817, a Biography New York: Macmillan, 1942. Though excessively panegyric, Cunningham offers the most detailed narrative of Dwight’s life.
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