Joanna Mäki-Valkama Loyalist and patriot political discourses in the American Revolutionary War 1773–1783 A comparative discourse analysis of power, representation and justification Master’s Thesis Department of History and Ethnology University of Jyväskylä 18.02.2018 JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta – Faculty Laitos – Department Humanistis-yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta Historian ja etnologian laitos Tekijä – Author Joanna Mäki-Valkama Työn nimi – Title Loyalist and patriot political discourses in the American Revolutionary War 1773–1783: A comparative discourse analysis of power, representation and justification Oppiaine – Subject Työn laji – Level Historia Pro Gradu Aika – Month and year Sivumäärä – Number of pages Helmikuu 2018 126 Tiivistelmä – Abstract Yhdysvallat itsenäistyi vuosina 1775–1783 käydyssä sodassa. Monet aikalaiset käsitteellistivät nämä tapahtumat sisällissodaksi, sillä sodan molemmat osapuolet kuuluivat Britti-imperiumiin, sekä jakoivat saman kielellisen, poliittisen ja kulttuurillisen taustan. Tästä johtuen monia samoja poliittisia ja politisoituja käsitteitä jouduttiin uudelleenmäärittämään tehtäessä eroa sodan osapuolten välille. Analysoin pro gradu -työssäni vertailevasti Amerikan vallankumouksen osapuolten, lojalistien ja patrioottien, poliittisia diskursseja. Selvitän työssäni sitä millaisia käsitteitä, termejä, metaforia ja kielikuvia käytettiin käsitteellistämään sotaa. Temaattisesti työ on jaettu kahteen osaan. Ensimmäisessä osassa keskitytään siihen, miten sodan osapuolet tulkitsivat valtaan, vapauteen, edustuksellisuuteen, alamaisuuteen, monarkiaan, tasavaltalaisuuteen ja demokratiaan liittyviä käsitteitä. Toisessa osassa puolestaan rakennetaan yleiskuvaa siitä, miten sodan osapuolet käsitteellistivät, rakensivat ja kuvailivat omaa tai vastustajan puolta sodasta, ja millaisia käsitteitä, kielikuvia, vertauksia ja viittauksia tähän käytettiin. Yhteisen anglo-amerikkalaisen taustansa vuoksi sekä lojalistit että patriootit käyttivät hyvin samankaltaista kuvastoa, viitauksia ja metaforia. Näitä kuitenkin hyödynnettiin eri tavoin ja eri tarkoituksiin. Tämän kielellisen ja käsitteellisen prosessin aikana amerikkalaiset erottivat itsensä ja identiteettinsä brittiläisistä, samoin kuin brittiläisten tuli erottaa itsenäistyvä Amerikka itsestään. Metodologisesti tutkimus yhdistelee käsitehistoriaa, poliittista historiaa ja diskurssianalyysia. Lähdeaineisto sisältää painettua lehdistö- ja pamflettimateriaalia vuosien 1773–1783 ajalta, ja lähteissä usein esiintyviä teemoja ja käsitteitä analysoidaan ja vertaillaan alkuperäislähteistä nostettujen, kontekstualisoitujen lainausten avulla. Asiasanat – Keywords Yhdysvallat, United States, Iso-Britannia, Great Britain, 1700-luku, 18th century, Amerikan vallankumous, Yhdysvaltain vapaussota, American Revolutionary War, loyalist, patriot Säilytyspaikka – Depository JYX Muita tietoja – Additional information Abstract The United States of America gained independence in a war between the years 1775–1783. Many contemporaries conceptualized these events as a civil war because not only were both sides constituent parts of the British Empire, but they also shared a common linguistic, political and cultural background. For this reason many of the same political and politicized concepts had to be redefined in differentiating between the two sides of the war and creating two separate identities. In my Master’s thesis I present a comparative analysis of the political discourses on both the loyalist and patriot side in the American Revolutionary War. I seek out, compare and contrast commonly occurring concepts, terms, metaphors and similes used to conceptualize the ongoing war. Thematically this thesis is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on how the two sides of the war interpreted concepts related to power, freedom, liberty, representation, subjection, monarchy, republic and democracy. The second part presents an overview on how the warring parties conceptualized, constructed and described their own and the opposing side, as well as which concepts, metaphors, similes and references were used for this. Because of their common Anglo- American background both the loyalists and the patriots used similar imagery, references and metaphors but for different purposes. During this conceptual process the Americans came to separate themselves and their identities from the British in the same way that the British had to separate the independence-seeking America from herself. Methodologically this research combines conceptual history, history of ideas and discourse analysis. The source material for this thesis includes printed periodicals and pamphlets from the years 1773– 1783. From these sources frequently occurring themes and concepts are analyzed, compared and contrasted through contextualized primary source quotations. The American Revolution is a popular topic for historical research. However research that compares the loyalists and the patriots or focuses on the linguistic and conceptual scope has been pushed to the sidelines, and a large volume of existing research literature is comprised of narrative or descriptive war histories. Along with a lack of a European conceptual-historical point of view the field lacks research that takes into account the loyalist and British side of the war. A majority of existing research is focused on the United States, the Founding Fathers, a specific state or the genealogy of a specific person. This research aims to fill in some of these existing gaps in the history of the United States. ABBREVIATIONS AND FOOTNOTES For clarity and uniformity in the footnotes all pamphlets and newspapers are cited by their title rather than the author. This is because many of the pamphlets are either pseudonymous or completely anonymous. Pamphlets with a long name have been shortened in the footnotes for clarity, especially if the footnote itself is very long. Full biographical information regarding the pamphlets is found in the primary sources section of this thesis. Publication dates of the periodicals are footnoted in the American format of M/D/Y. The names of the periodicals used for this thesis are abbreviated in the footnotes as follows: PJaWA Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser RNYG Rivington's New York Gazetteer or The Connecticut New Jersey Hudson's River and Quebec Weekly Advertiser DPP Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet or The General Advertiser SCGaCJ South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal TNYGaWM The New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury FJotNAI Freeman's Journal or The North-American Intelligencer Contents 1. Introduction, research questions and sources ................................................................................ 1 1.1 Mapping out the field and methodology ................................................................................... 4 1.2 Background to the Revolution .................................................................................................. 11 2. Views on power and the people .................................................................................................... 19 2.1 Liberty, Constitution and Representation ................................................................................ 19 2.2 Republic, Monarchy and Democracy ....................................................................................... 27 2.3 Power, subjection and slavery.................................................................................................. 37 2.4 From true Englishmen to Americans ........................................................................................ 46 2.5 Overview ................................................................................................................................... 60 3. Justification and describing the other............................................................................................ 63 3.1 Loyalist or patriot, rebellion or revolution ............................................................................... 64 3.2 Duty, history and posterity ....................................................................................................... 71 3.3 Naturalness, filiality and body politic ....................................................................................... 79 3.4 Religion and justification from God.......................................................................................... 89 3.5 Overview ................................................................................................................................... 97 4. Timeline of the discursive process ............................................................................................... 100 Sources ............................................................................................................................................. 106 Primary sources ................................................................................................................................ 106 Biographies ....................................................................................................................................... 118 Research literature ........................................................................................................................... 118 1. Introduction, research questions and sources This is now the 28th day since the siege of Boston began; and notwithstanding our accumulating differences, the inhabitants continue to exhibit that calm firmness