Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Thoughts on Edmund Morgan
I have to say that I really liked this book! There were a few chapters that I found myself straight out reading through like a novel. One of the sections I found really interesting was when Morgan compared how England handled the poor and homeless to how Virginia handled those same issues. This would have been the chapter "Toward Racism" I believe when he addresses how even though there were those in England looking to enslave the poor and homeless for profit that the government would not allow it of its citizens but it was allowed in the colonies, and only on those who were foreign such as the Indians and the African that were later purchased from Barbados. I am continuously thinking of the different arguments in this book and am looking forward to class discussion.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I, too, found Morgan's scholarship very readable, especially considering how much detail he packs into his narrative; instead of serving as distractions, these details made his history more vivid. Morgan's portrayal of behavior also struck me as unusual for a text like this. No other history I've read stays so carefully focused on this very human element of history as it concerns prejudice, whim, and other behavioral factors that can be the wildcards of history. I did wonder, however, about the reliability of some of Morgan's descriptions of the behavior of some of the groups he discusses and would like to know more about the research involved in documenting historically such a mercurial thing as behavior. On a similar note, I wondered if such characterizations bordered on generalities--for instance, were all Indian tribes more focused on leisure time than working time? Morgan does make a number of seemingly brave (maybe that's not the word I am looking for) assertions, not the least of which is his paradoxical link between freedom and slavery. These are more questions than criticisms--I am certain that without such strong stances, Morgan's book would not have been nearly as engaging.
ReplyDeleteI can not answer all of your questions however I might(hopefully)be able to answer your question on the possible over generalization of Indian "laziness". The different tribes or groups of Indians in the, now, Virginia area would have been growing corn etc for sustenance maybe small scale trade. It would have been nothing like what the colonists intended for their colony. The Indians had a way of life that worked for them and supported them this did not however resemble anything that the colonist would have recognized as productive so in their eyes the Indians are lazy.Not to mention that the British that came over wanted food and profit with as little effort as they could manage, according to Morgan.
ReplyDelete