From Empire to Law: Customs Collection in the American Founding

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (02) ◽  
pp. 554-584
Author(s):  
Aaron T. Knapp
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
American Founding ◽  
Early American ◽  
The Federalist ◽  
Archival Source ◽  
The Us ◽  
Administrative Change ◽  
Federal Administration

This essay investigates the eighteenth-century origins of the federal administrative state through the prism of customs collection. Until recently, historians and legal scholars have not closely studied collection operations in the early federal custom houses. Gautham Rao's National Duties: Custom Houses and the Making of the American State (2016) offers the most important and thoroughly documented historical analysis to date. Joining a growing historical literature that explains the early development of the US federal political system with reference to imperial models and precedents, Rao shows that the seductive power of commerce over the state within eighteenth-century imperial praxis required the early federal customs officials to “negotiate” their authority with the mercantile community. A paradigm of accommodation dominated American customs collection well into the nineteenth century until Jacksonian centralizers finally began to dismantle it in the 1830s. The book brings welcome light to a long-neglected topic in American history. It offers a nuanced, historiographically attentive interpretation that rests on a broad archival source base. It should command the sustained attention of legal, social, economic, and constitutional historians for it holds the potential to change the way historians think about early federal administration. This essay investigates one of the central questions raised in National Duties: How were the early American custom houses able to successfully administer a comprehensive program of customs duties when their imperial predecessors had proved unable to collect even narrowly tailored ones? Focusing on the Federalist period (1789–1800), I develop an answer that complements Rao's, highlighting administrative change over continuity and finding special significance in the establishment of the first federal judicial system.

Women, Politics and the Public Sphere

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Public Intellectuals ◽  
The Public ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Radical Intellectual

This book is a socio-historical analysis of the relationship between women, politics and the public sphere. It looks at the legacy of eighteenth-century intellectual groupings which were dominated by women such as members of the ‘bluestocking circles’ and other more radical intellectual and philosophical thinkers such as Catherine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft. These individuals and groups which emerged in the eighteenth century established ‘intellectual spaces’ for the emergence of women public intellectuals in subsequent centuries. Women public intellectuals in the US examined in the book include Samantha Power, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Elizabeth Warren, Condoleezza Rice, Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton, and Sheryl Sandberg. The implications for the political representation of women in the West and globally is considered, highlighting how women public intellectuals now reflect much more social and cultural diversity. The book is about the fault-lines established in the eighteenth century for later developments in social and political discourse.

Holism, Chinese Medicine and Systems Ideologies: Rewriting the Past to Imagine the Future

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Scheid
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Us ◽  
Shared Objective ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter explores the articulations that have emerged over the last half century between various types of holism, Chinese medicine and systems biology. Given the discipline’s historical attachments to a definition of ‘medicine’ that rather narrowly refers to biomedicine as developed in Europe and the US from the eighteenth century onwards, the medical humanities are not the most obvious starting point for such an inquiry. At the same time, they do offer one advantage over neighbouring disciplines like medical history, anthropology or science and technology studies for someone like myself, a clinician as well as a historian and anthropologist: their strong commitment to the objective of facilitating better medical practice. This promise furthermore links to the wider project of critique, which, in Max Horkheimer’s definition of the term, aims at change and emancipation in order ‘to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them’. If we take the critical medical humanities as explicitly affirming this shared objective and responsibility, extending the discipline’s traditional gaze is not a burden but becomes, in fact, an obligation.

Building America

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean H. Baker
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Early Republic ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Water System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Early American ◽  
Transatlantic Exchange ◽  
The Us ◽  
Private Homes

Building America: The Life of Benjamin Henry Latrobe is a biography of America’s first professionally trained architect and engineer. Born in 1764, Latrobe was raised in Moravian communities in England and Germany. His parents expected him to follow his father and brother into the ministry, but he rebelled against the church. Moved to London, he studied architecture and engineering. In 1795 he emigrated to the United States and became part of the period’s Transatlantic Exchange. Latrobe soon was famous for his neoclassical architecture, designing important buildings, including the US Capitol and Baltimore Basilica as well as private homes. Carpenters and millwrights who built structures more cheaply and less permanently than Latrobe challenged his efforts to establish architecture as a profession. Rarely during his twenty-five years in the United States was he financially secure, and when he was, he speculated on risky ventures that lost money. He declared bankruptcy in 1817 and moved to New Orleans, the sixth American city that he lived in, hoping to recoup his finances by installing a municipal water system. He died there of yellow fever in 1820. The themes that emerge in this biography are the critical role Latrobe played in the culture of the early republic through his buildings and his genius in neoclassical design. Like the nation’s political founders, Latrobe was committed to creating an exceptional nation, expressed in his case by buildings and internal improvements. Additionally, given the extensive primary sources available for this biography, an examination of his life reveals early American attitudes toward class, family, and religion.

History Has Begun

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Maçães
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
American Culture ◽  
Static Model ◽  
Early American Republic ◽  
Us History ◽  
New Model ◽  
Early American ◽  
Slow Decline ◽  
The Us

Popular consensus says that the US rose over two centuries to Cold War victory and world domination, and is now in slow decline. But is this right? History's great civilizations have always lasted much longer, and for all its colossal power, American culture was overshadowed by Europe until recently. What if this isn't the end? This book offers a compelling vision of America's future, both fascinating and unnerving. From the early American Republic, it takes us to the turbulent present, when, it argues, America is finally forging its own path. We can see the birth pangs of this new civilization in today's debates on guns, religion, foreign policy, and the significance of Trump. Should the coronavirus pandemic be regarded as an opportunity to build a new kind of society? What will its values be, and what will this new America look like? The book traces the long arc of US history to argue that in contrast to those who see the US on the cusp of decline, it may well be simply shifting to a new model, one equally powerful but no longer liberal. Consequently, it is no longer enough to analyze America's current trajectory through the simple prism of decline vs. progress, which assumes a static model—America as liberal leviathan. Rather, the book argues that America may be casting off the liberalism that has defined the country since its founding for a new model, one more appropriate to succeeding in a transformed world.

scholarly journals Examining Political Change and Presidential Power in the US

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN DUMBRELL
Keyword(s):  
Historical Analysis ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
New Haven ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Paperback Edition ◽  
The Us ◽  
American Liberalism ◽  
Duke University ◽  
Level Of Analysis

H. W. Brands, The Strange Death of American Liberalism (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, paperback edition, 2003, £9.95). Pp. 200. ISBN 0 300 098 24 3.Michael J. Gerhardt, The Federal Appointments Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis (Durham NC and London: Duke University Press, revised and expanded paperback edition, 2003, £18.50). Pp. 406. ISBN 0 8223 3199 3.William G. Howell, Power without Persuasion: The Politics of Direct Presidential Action (Princeton NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003, cloth £29.95, paper £12.95). Pp. 239. ISBN 0 691 10269, 0 691 10270 8.Drew Noble Lanier, Of Time and Judicial Behavior: United States Supreme Court Agenda – Setting and Decision-Making, 1888–1997 (Selinsgrove PA: Susquehanna University Press and London: Associated University Presses, 2003, $42.50). Pp. 276. ISBN 1 57591 067 5.Byron E. Shafer, The Two Majorities and the Puzzle of Modern American Politics (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003, cloth $35, paper $19.95). Pp. 356. ISBN 0 7006 1235 1, 0 7006 1236 X.One does not have to be an especially sophisticated philosopher of explanatory method to appreciate that, in explaining change in human affairs, much depends on the situation of and level of analysis adopted by the would-be explainer. Do the dots connect or are they mostly what they appear to be – just dots? Reality, according to Bertrand Russell's famous aphorism, is either a bowl of connected jelly or a bucket of disconnected shot. It all depends on the observer, who, of course, is also part of the reality being considered.

Revealing the Fugitive Palette of the Early American South: A SERS Study of Eighteenth-century Oil Paintings

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Marisa A. Choffel ◽  
Carolyn G. Farling ◽  
Kristen A. Frano ◽  
Mary K. Matecki ◽  
Zhaoyun Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
American South ◽  
Oil Paintings ◽  
Early American

Transatlantic and Transpacific Connections in Early American History

2012 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kariann Akemi Yokota
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
American History ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Early American History ◽  
Economic Opportunities ◽  
Early American ◽  
The Pacific

This article explores America’s earliest engagement with the transpacific world and in particular with China. From the mid-eighteenth century, Americans seeking new economic opportunities considered Asia and the Pacific region important to their development. Taking advantage of their geographical proximity to both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Americans developed ways to connect the two regions. These transoceanic networks of trade proved crucial to the economic and political development of the young United States and set the stage for its future influence in the region.

Transatlantic and Transpacific Connections in Early American History

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kariann Akemi Yokota
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
American History ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Early American History ◽  
Economic Opportunities ◽  
Early American ◽  
The Pacific

This chapter explores America’s earliest engagement with the transpacific world and in particular with China. From the mid-eighteenth century, Americans seeking new economic opportunities considered Asia and the Pacific region important to their development. Taking advantage of their geographical proximity to both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Americans developed ways to connect the two regions. These transoceanic networks of trade proved crucial to the economic and political development of the young United States and set the stage for its future influence in the region.

The Old World Meets the New

2018 ◽  
pp. 22-46
Author(s):  
Craig Bruce Smith
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
French And Indian War ◽  
Early American ◽  
Mother Country ◽  
Indian War ◽  
American Society ◽  
Southern Colonies ◽  
American Concept ◽  
Original Concept

This chapter stretches from the early eighteenth century to the end of the French and Indian War. With a focus on how European ideals permeated early American society, Chapter 1 traces Washington and Franklin’s individual definitions of honor and virtue and how they changed over time. It discusses how their mindsets were largely the result of self-education and personal experience, allowing for a comparison between the northern and southern colonies. It also illustrates the extremely early emergence of an American concept of honor, highlighted by Franklin’s 1723 original concept of merit-based “ascending honor”. The chapter shows Americans as first moving closer to Europe ideologically, before a transformation in ethical ideals saw a greater divergence from the mother country. It also frames the Revolution as being sparked by these preexisting ethical changes.

Wanostrocht’s Practical Grammar and the grammar-translation model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Coffey
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Translation Model ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Intended Purpose ◽  
The Us ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Background Detail

Wanostrochts’s Practical Grammar was first published in London in 1780, then in the US from 1805.1 It was one of the most successful pedagogical grammars of its time, appearing in revised forms for almost a century. It was probably the first grammar to include ‘exercises’ in the same volume and represents a prototype of what would become known as the ‘grammar-translation’ manual that provided a template for most language schoolbooks throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. The analysis in this chapter considers the content of Wanostrocht’s primer as an example of late eighteenth-century language epistemology, and provides broader background detail to help better understand the context of the publication, its intended purpose, and the reasons for its enduring popularity.

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