Teaching American History

Leadership in Colonial America

Agenda for the Day

• Intro• Political leadership: William Shirley• Leadership in Native American Communities:

Pontiac & Neolin• Cultural leadership: Benjamin Franklin• [Break for Lunch]• Leading voices against slavery: Venture Smith &

John Woolman• Economic leaders: Eliza Lucas Pinckney

Introduction – 18th Century Colonial British North America

• In what contexts do you currently teach colonial America?

• What do you currently emphasize?

• What are the main points of the Countryman reading?

Political Leadership

William Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts from 1741-58

Questions for William Shirley

• How did he rise to become governor?

• What challenges did he face as governor?

• How did he respond?

Early life in England

• Born 1694• The Shirley family• Education• His patron: the Duke

of Newcastle

Shirley in Massachusetts

• 1731: moves to Boston

• 1733:Judge on he admiralty court

• 1741: becomes governor

Shirley’s challenges

Political Context• Appointed Governors• Elected lower house

– Power to raise revenue

– Sets salary of governor

• Governor’s council• Limited enforcement

mechanisms

Economic Context• Navigation Acts

(1651)• Molasses Act (1763)• Enforcement?

Shirley’s Responses

• What are his possible options in dealing with the legislature?

• Dispenses patronage• Seeks assistance from patrons• Written appeals to responsibility to king and

people• King George’s war provides opportunity• Visits defenses in Harbor & in Maine• Greater defense spending• Assault on French fort at Louisbourg (1745)

Cape Breton Island

Shirley estate in Roxbury

How does political leadership now compare to Shirley’s

experience?

Native American Leadership:

Pontiac & Neolin

Questions

• How was leadership among the Ottawa and Delaware different from leadership in colonial Massachusetts?

• What challenges did Pontiac face?

• How did he respond?

Native American Populations ca. 1740

End of French and Indian War

• Lord Amherst:• Prohibit certain trade

goods to Native Americans

• Refuse to establish new trade posts

• Limit use of gifts to cement alliances

Pontiac (ca. 1720-1769)

• Member of Ottawa nation

• Ottawa culture

• Leadership among the Ottawa

• Role of trade in leadership

• Ogema

• Pontiac’s challenges

Neolin

• Member of the Delaware (Lenni Lenape)

• Delaware compared with Ottawa

• Neolin’s response

Pontiac’s War & its aftermath

• First major pan-Indian uprising

• Ends in stalemate

• Effect on the British Empire

• Effect on Ohio Valley Indians

What is the historical significance of Pontiac and Neolin?

Benjamin Franklin

• 1705-1790• Question: What does

this document tell us about Franklin’s role in shaping & reflecting American culture?

Franklin as an Enlightenment Figure

• Enlightenment Attitudes– The nature of knowledge– Attitude toward God– Worldliness & Urbanity

• Enlightenment Forms– Written Word– Learned Societies

Leaders responding to slavery

Venture Smith & John Woolman

Questions

• What kind of slave societies existed in British America?

• What specific challenges did Smith and Woolman face?

• How did they respond?

Venture Smith

• 1729?-1805• Born in West Africa• Brought to Rhode Island

at age 8• Eventually purchases

freedom for himself and family

• Serves in Continental army

• Writes narrative in 1798

Slavery in the Northern Colonies

• One of 4 slave systems

• Labor• Social life• Change over time

How does the document illuminate the challenges facing

Smith?

John Woolman

• 1720-1772• Born in New Jersey• Prominent Quaker• Writes Journal,

published in 1774• Outspoken antiwar

and antislavery advocate

The Quaker context

• Emerges in mid-17th Century England

• Founded by George Fox

• Radical beginnings– rejection of hierarchy– Emphasis on “inner light”

• More moderate by 1670s

• Migration to colonies

Woolman’s efforts

• Recognition of slavery

• What Woolman was up against

• Woolman’s appeal

• His legacy

Economic Leaders

Eliza Lucas Pinckney

Questions

• How does Eliza L. Pinckney show leadership?

• In what ways was Pinckney representative of women in colonial British America?

• In what ways was she atypical?

Eliza Lucas Pinckney

• 1722-1793

• Early Life in England

• 1738: Moved to South Carolina

• 1744: first successful indigo crop

• 1753: death of husband

Pinckney and indigo

• “I love the vegetable world extremely”

• Experimentation• Limits of SC’s

staples• Indigo’s

problems and promise

• 1744: success

Questions

• How does Eliza L. Pinckney show leadership?

• In what ways was Pinckney representative of women in colonial British America?

• In what ways was she atypical?