Nicholas P. Cushner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195307566
- eISBN:
- 9780199784936
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195307569.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This book tells the story of how the 16th-century religious conquerors of America attempted to change the belief systems of the Native Americans. To what degree did they succeed or fail? And why? The ...
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This book tells the story of how the 16th-century religious conquerors of America attempted to change the belief systems of the Native Americans. To what degree did they succeed or fail? And why? The European protagonists and frontline representatives of the new religion in the spiritual struggles were the Jesuits (members of the Society of Jesus) who, although latecomers to America, soon became the most vocal and visible spokespersons. Invasion and military power are nothing new to minority societies. But how did they handle the waves of spiritual conquerors that came ashore in the 16th century? “Why have you come here?” are the words of a Florida Indian chief to a Jesuit missionary. The reply enlightens and at the same time demonstrates the renaissance certainty of the Europeans. From their first encounters with the Indians of La Florida, through Mexico, New France, the Paraguay Reductions, Andean Peru, to contact with Native Americans in pre-revolutionary Maryland, the Jesuits were ubiquitous in North and South America, with missions, preaching, and public theater, with the goal of changing what the Native American thought about God. Drawing on an abundance of primary material, the book also integrates the latest in published scholarship. The Jesuit Archives of Rome, the Archivo de Indias, Seville, besides those in Madrid and South America, have been tapped to throw light on the spiritual conquest of America.Less
This book tells the story of how the 16th-century religious conquerors of America attempted to change the belief systems of the Native Americans. To what degree did they succeed or fail? And why? The European protagonists and frontline representatives of the new religion in the spiritual struggles were the Jesuits (members of the Society of Jesus) who, although latecomers to America, soon became the most vocal and visible spokespersons. Invasion and military power are nothing new to minority societies. But how did they handle the waves of spiritual conquerors that came ashore in the 16th century? “Why have you come here?” are the words of a Florida Indian chief to a Jesuit missionary. The reply enlightens and at the same time demonstrates the renaissance certainty of the Europeans. From their first encounters with the Indians of La Florida, through Mexico, New France, the Paraguay Reductions, Andean Peru, to contact with Native Americans in pre-revolutionary Maryland, the Jesuits were ubiquitous in North and South America, with missions, preaching, and public theater, with the goal of changing what the Native American thought about God. Drawing on an abundance of primary material, the book also integrates the latest in published scholarship. The Jesuit Archives of Rome, the Archivo de Indias, Seville, besides those in Madrid and South America, have been tapped to throw light on the spiritual conquest of America.
Leslie Tuttle
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195381603
- eISBN:
- 9780199870295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195381603.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Political History
The government of Louis XIV extended pronatalist policy to New France, hoping to use marriage and prolific procreation to implant settled, French‐style civilization in North America. This chapter ...
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The government of Louis XIV extended pronatalist policy to New France, hoping to use marriage and prolific procreation to implant settled, French‐style civilization in North America. This chapter reviews attempts to promote marriage and population growth in New France. The first part examines the role of marriage in French Jesuits' quest to convert the indigenous population from about 1630 to 1660. Strict Catholic Reformation standards for monogamous, indissoluble marriage proved difficult to maintain in the colonial environment. The chapter then surveys the royal government's investments to promote population growth in the period from 1663 to 1690, including its export of French females to Canada for marriage, financial support for the formation of settler households and use of censuses to monitor population movement. Settler households were marked by high fertility, but the active promotion of settled domesticity failed to “civilize” New France in the ways that royal officials had anticipated.Less
The government of Louis XIV extended pronatalist policy to New France, hoping to use marriage and prolific procreation to implant settled, French‐style civilization in North America. This chapter reviews attempts to promote marriage and population growth in New France. The first part examines the role of marriage in French Jesuits' quest to convert the indigenous population from about 1630 to 1660. Strict Catholic Reformation standards for monogamous, indissoluble marriage proved difficult to maintain in the colonial environment. The chapter then surveys the royal government's investments to promote population growth in the period from 1663 to 1690, including its export of French females to Canada for marriage, financial support for the formation of settler households and use of censuses to monitor population movement. Settler households were marked by high fertility, but the active promotion of settled domesticity failed to “civilize” New France in the ways that royal officials had anticipated.
Robert T. Handy
- Published in print:
- 1976
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269106
- eISBN:
- 9780191683572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269106.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
The seven decades from the mid-point of the 17th century to 1720 were marked by the termination of two of the smaller colonial efforts in North America and by the continuation and expansion on a vast ...
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The seven decades from the mid-point of the 17th century to 1720 were marked by the termination of two of the smaller colonial efforts in North America and by the continuation and expansion on a vast scale of the rivalry between two of the other nations for domination of the continent. The Christian churches sought to fulfil their mission within the outlines of the geographical and political realities presented. The expansion of New France, religious diversification in New England, Rhode Island and the middle colonies, and establishment versus dissent in the southern colonies are specifically described. From 1650 to 1720, the Christian churches in North America had increased greatly in number and size, and played significant roles in their cultural settings. In the earlier period of the European settlement of North America, those who initiated Christian life often exhibited a determination to provide fresh models of true Christian commonwealths.Less
The seven decades from the mid-point of the 17th century to 1720 were marked by the termination of two of the smaller colonial efforts in North America and by the continuation and expansion on a vast scale of the rivalry between two of the other nations for domination of the continent. The Christian churches sought to fulfil their mission within the outlines of the geographical and political realities presented. The expansion of New France, religious diversification in New England, Rhode Island and the middle colonies, and establishment versus dissent in the southern colonies are specifically described. From 1650 to 1720, the Christian churches in North America had increased greatly in number and size, and played significant roles in their cultural settings. In the earlier period of the European settlement of North America, those who initiated Christian life often exhibited a determination to provide fresh models of true Christian commonwealths.
Ryan André Brasseaux
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343069
- eISBN:
- 9780199866977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343069.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Bayou Country’s musical terrain and the cultural and historical undercurrents that expanded the genre’s repertoire, stylistic range, and instrumental conventions are outlined in this chapter. Three ...
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Bayou Country’s musical terrain and the cultural and historical undercurrents that expanded the genre’s repertoire, stylistic range, and instrumental conventions are outlined in this chapter. Three factors encouraged heterogeneity in the Louisiana’s musical traditions: a musical network that stimulated exchange between musicians, thereby diversifying Louisiana’s soundscape; the historical idiosyncrasies and ethnic variation shaping cultural production in rural enclaves; and the tension between traditional and innovative tendencies within the genre. Residual colonial song structures performed by guitarist Blind Uncle Gaspard, Dennis McGee’s enigmatic fiddling that crossed stylistic and racial boundaries, the friction between conservative and progressive inclinations in regional Cajun popular culture, as performed by Leo Soileau and Moïse Robin, and Cajun readings of American popular culture as interpreted by accordionists Lawrence Walker and Nathan Abshire are used as points of departure in this discussion of heterogeneous musical expression on 78 rpm record.Less
Bayou Country’s musical terrain and the cultural and historical undercurrents that expanded the genre’s repertoire, stylistic range, and instrumental conventions are outlined in this chapter. Three factors encouraged heterogeneity in the Louisiana’s musical traditions: a musical network that stimulated exchange between musicians, thereby diversifying Louisiana’s soundscape; the historical idiosyncrasies and ethnic variation shaping cultural production in rural enclaves; and the tension between traditional and innovative tendencies within the genre. Residual colonial song structures performed by guitarist Blind Uncle Gaspard, Dennis McGee’s enigmatic fiddling that crossed stylistic and racial boundaries, the friction between conservative and progressive inclinations in regional Cajun popular culture, as performed by Leo Soileau and Moïse Robin, and Cajun readings of American popular culture as interpreted by accordionists Lawrence Walker and Nathan Abshire are used as points of departure in this discussion of heterogeneous musical expression on 78 rpm record.
Helen Dewar
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814771167
- eISBN:
- 9780814708316
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814771167.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Imperialism and Colonialism
This chapter examines the role of legal pluralism in the construction of sovereignty in New France. More specifically, it considers how courts established colonial sovereignties in the French Empire. ...
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This chapter examines the role of legal pluralism in the construction of sovereignty in New France. More specifically, it considers how courts established colonial sovereignties in the French Empire. After providing a historical background on French attempts at colonization in North America during the sixteenth century, the chapter turns to struggles for power in New France and the French admiral's extension of his authority to New France. It then considers the interplay between a legally and politically plural order in France and the solidification of French claims in North America. It also discusses six specific legal conflicts among parties active in the colony: the first two involved the selective use of law, personal authority, and force, while the remaining four consider the role of New France in interjurisdictional rivalries in France, especially over the consolidation of maritime authority. It suggests that the ununified political and legal order in the imperial center influenced claims to governance and trade in New France.Less
This chapter examines the role of legal pluralism in the construction of sovereignty in New France. More specifically, it considers how courts established colonial sovereignties in the French Empire. After providing a historical background on French attempts at colonization in North America during the sixteenth century, the chapter turns to struggles for power in New France and the French admiral's extension of his authority to New France. It then considers the interplay between a legally and politically plural order in France and the solidification of French claims in North America. It also discusses six specific legal conflicts among parties active in the colony: the first two involved the selective use of law, personal authority, and force, while the remaining four consider the role of New France in interjurisdictional rivalries in France, especially over the consolidation of maritime authority. It suggests that the ununified political and legal order in the imperial center influenced claims to governance and trade in New France.
Christian Ayne Crouch
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452444
- eISBN:
- 9780801470394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452444.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter outlines the various interpretations of legitimate violence in the French Atlantic world and describes the stakes that induced European and indigenous men to conduct campaigns or ...
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This chapter outlines the various interpretations of legitimate violence in the French Atlantic world and describes the stakes that induced European and indigenous men to conduct campaigns or undertake violent actions in the years between 1748 and 1756. It also provides an overview of the different goals and concerns that military elites in France drew from their prior war experience, thereby providing insight into how multiple noble, martial masculinities could coexist in the French Atlantic empire so long as they did not come into direct contact. The year 1748 brought about different results for martial elites in both France and New France. Louis XV’s peace in Europe returned French military nobles to a world of anxiety over their future position, status, and opportunity. New France, on the other hand, experienced no peace at all, making a sixteen-year war in North America, not a seven-year war. Conflict among Native nations, British colonies, and the French regime in Canada carried on after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle went into effect and flowed seamlessly into the “new war” in 1756. Onontio, the indigenous name for both the governors of New France and the king of France, remained at war, continuing a pattern of borderlands conflict more than a half century old.Less
This chapter outlines the various interpretations of legitimate violence in the French Atlantic world and describes the stakes that induced European and indigenous men to conduct campaigns or undertake violent actions in the years between 1748 and 1756. It also provides an overview of the different goals and concerns that military elites in France drew from their prior war experience, thereby providing insight into how multiple noble, martial masculinities could coexist in the French Atlantic empire so long as they did not come into direct contact. The year 1748 brought about different results for martial elites in both France and New France. Louis XV’s peace in Europe returned French military nobles to a world of anxiety over their future position, status, and opportunity. New France, on the other hand, experienced no peace at all, making a sixteen-year war in North America, not a seven-year war. Conflict among Native nations, British colonies, and the French regime in Canada carried on after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle went into effect and flowed seamlessly into the “new war” in 1756. Onontio, the indigenous name for both the governors of New France and the king of France, remained at war, continuing a pattern of borderlands conflict more than a half century old.
Saliha Belmessous
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794850
- eISBN:
- 9780199919291
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794850.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History, World Modern History
The aftermath of the Treaty of Utrecht was a colonial site where natives and Europeans voiced their claims to territory using similar legal arguments (rights of discovery, cession, purchase, ...
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The aftermath of the Treaty of Utrecht was a colonial site where natives and Europeans voiced their claims to territory using similar legal arguments (rights of discovery, cession, purchase, conquest). By looking at how the Wabanaki negotiated their disputes over land and forced the Europeans to take seriously their claims, this chapter shows that dispossession was not a legally silent process for indigenous peoples nor was it a straightforward one for European colonisers.Less
The aftermath of the Treaty of Utrecht was a colonial site where natives and Europeans voiced their claims to territory using similar legal arguments (rights of discovery, cession, purchase, conquest). By looking at how the Wabanaki negotiated their disputes over land and forced the Europeans to take seriously their claims, this chapter shows that dispossession was not a legally silent process for indigenous peoples nor was it a straightforward one for European colonisers.
Christian Ayne Crouch
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452444
- eISBN:
- 9780801470394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452444.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter focuses on the homecoming of military veterans of New France from both the marine service and the army, which tells us much about how the French Crown interpreted and dealt with its ...
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This chapter focuses on the homecoming of military veterans of New France from both the marine service and the army, which tells us much about how the French Crown interpreted and dealt with its reversal of war fortune, and about how New France proved to have been a colony worth giving up and erasing from the nation’s memory. The stunning first blow to the veterans was the suppression of the compagnies franches de la marine as a separate military service in November 1761. Then, a commission impaneled on December 18, 1761, one month after the disbanding of la marine service, began investigating the reasons for the loss of New France, in particular the officers accused of “corrupt practices, embezzlement, and robbery in the fulfillment of their duties in Canada.” When the court rendered judgment, it closed the royal book on two hundred years of imperial aspirations in the North Atlantic.Less
This chapter focuses on the homecoming of military veterans of New France from both the marine service and the army, which tells us much about how the French Crown interpreted and dealt with its reversal of war fortune, and about how New France proved to have been a colony worth giving up and erasing from the nation’s memory. The stunning first blow to the veterans was the suppression of the compagnies franches de la marine as a separate military service in November 1761. Then, a commission impaneled on December 18, 1761, one month after the disbanding of la marine service, began investigating the reasons for the loss of New France, in particular the officers accused of “corrupt practices, embezzlement, and robbery in the fulfillment of their duties in Canada.” When the court rendered judgment, it closed the royal book on two hundred years of imperial aspirations in the North Atlantic.
Christian Ayne Crouch
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452444
- eISBN:
- 9780801470394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452444.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter argues that the sacrifice of 150 years of North American colonization was assuaged by colonial experiments in the 1760s and the hope for a more positive experience that would reinforce, ...
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This chapter argues that the sacrifice of 150 years of North American colonization was assuaged by colonial experiments in the 1760s and the hope for a more positive experience that would reinforce, rather than challenge, the mission civilisatrice. When the Crown suppressed the compagnies franches de la marine in 1761 and limited the mobility and influence of elite Canadians who had returned to the metropole, their North American colonial experience was silenced. Until peace was established in 1763, almost all of the Canadian notables in France had hoped for the restoration of their colonial homes so that they would not be obliged to undertake new ventures. France used both innovative, “enlightened” colonialism in the Kourou Colony (1763–1765) and the tightly framed voyages of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville’s expeditions to search for and install a new Atlantic paradigm. Neither strategy referenced New France as an archetype for future colonial encounters, effectively excising it from memory.Less
This chapter argues that the sacrifice of 150 years of North American colonization was assuaged by colonial experiments in the 1760s and the hope for a more positive experience that would reinforce, rather than challenge, the mission civilisatrice. When the Crown suppressed the compagnies franches de la marine in 1761 and limited the mobility and influence of elite Canadians who had returned to the metropole, their North American colonial experience was silenced. Until peace was established in 1763, almost all of the Canadian notables in France had hoped for the restoration of their colonial homes so that they would not be obliged to undertake new ventures. France used both innovative, “enlightened” colonialism in the Kourou Colony (1763–1765) and the tightly framed voyages of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville’s expeditions to search for and install a new Atlantic paradigm. Neither strategy referenced New France as an archetype for future colonial encounters, effectively excising it from memory.
Christian Ayne Crouch
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452444
- eISBN:
- 9780801470394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452444.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This introductory chapter sets out the book’s main themes. This book explains the conflict between France and New France by exploring the meanings of violence and empire during the 1750s. It offers ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the book’s main themes. This book explains the conflict between France and New France by exploring the meanings of violence and empire during the 1750s. It offers new insights into the French imperial experience and the legacy of the Seven Years’ War. At the heart of the narrative are the events that informed and followed the multiple meetings from May through June 1756—events that reveal the profound ramifications of the encounter between the Canadian, Indian, and French cultures of war. The book offers a fresh look at the French Seven Years’ War by juxtaposing the experiences of the remarkably diverse individuals who fought in it and by examining the elite combatants’ perceptions of it. It argues that it is impossible to consider the war in France or that in Canada without connecting the two.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the book’s main themes. This book explains the conflict between France and New France by exploring the meanings of violence and empire during the 1750s. It offers new insights into the French imperial experience and the legacy of the Seven Years’ War. At the heart of the narrative are the events that informed and followed the multiple meetings from May through June 1756—events that reveal the profound ramifications of the encounter between the Canadian, Indian, and French cultures of war. The book offers a fresh look at the French Seven Years’ War by juxtaposing the experiences of the remarkably diverse individuals who fought in it and by examining the elite combatants’ perceptions of it. It argues that it is impossible to consider the war in France or that in Canada without connecting the two.
Christian Ayne Crouch
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452444
- eISBN:
- 9780801470394
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452444.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This book is a cultural history of the Seven Years’ War in French-claimed North America, focused on the meanings of wartime violence and the impact of the encounter between Canadian, Indian, and ...
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This book is a cultural history of the Seven Years’ War in French-claimed North America, focused on the meanings of wartime violence and the impact of the encounter between Canadian, Indian, and French cultures of war and diplomacy. The book highlights the relationship between events in France and events in America and frames them dialogically, as the actors themselves experienced them at the time. It examines how codes of martial valor were enacted and challenged by metropolitan and colonial leaders to consider how those acts affected French–Indian relations, the culture of French military elites, ideas of male valor, and the trajectory of French colonial enterprises afterwards, in the second half of the eighteenth century. The book shows the period of the Seven Years’ War to be one of decisive transformation for all American communities. Ultimately the augmented strife between metropolitan and colonial elites over the aims and means of warfare, raised questions about the meaning and cost of empire not just in North America but in the French Atlantic and, later, resonated in France’s approach to empire-building around the globe. The book shows how the lessons of New France were assimilated and new colonial enterprises were constructed based on a heightened jealousy of French honor and a corresponding fear of its loss in engagement with Native enemies and allies.Less
This book is a cultural history of the Seven Years’ War in French-claimed North America, focused on the meanings of wartime violence and the impact of the encounter between Canadian, Indian, and French cultures of war and diplomacy. The book highlights the relationship between events in France and events in America and frames them dialogically, as the actors themselves experienced them at the time. It examines how codes of martial valor were enacted and challenged by metropolitan and colonial leaders to consider how those acts affected French–Indian relations, the culture of French military elites, ideas of male valor, and the trajectory of French colonial enterprises afterwards, in the second half of the eighteenth century. The book shows the period of the Seven Years’ War to be one of decisive transformation for all American communities. Ultimately the augmented strife between metropolitan and colonial elites over the aims and means of warfare, raised questions about the meaning and cost of empire not just in North America but in the French Atlantic and, later, resonated in France’s approach to empire-building around the globe. The book shows how the lessons of New France were assimilated and new colonial enterprises were constructed based on a heightened jealousy of French honor and a corresponding fear of its loss in engagement with Native enemies and allies.
Christian Ayne Crouch
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452444
- eISBN:
- 9780801470394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452444.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter details the eruption of violence in the Ohio borderlands in the early 1750s as indigenous peoples, French, and English all sought to impose their authority there. Though ownership of ...
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This chapter details the eruption of violence in the Ohio borderlands in the early 1750s as indigenous peoples, French, and English all sought to impose their authority there. Though ownership of this region had long been disputed, this renewal of conflict resulted directly from the incomplete conclusion to the War of Austrian Succession in 1748. The European struggle to determine the Habsburg succession promoted the long territorial dispute between British New England and New France’s claims to the north and west. The peace treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle did not resolve European sovereignty over the Ohio River lands, nor did it take into consideration indigenous Americans’ perspectives as the peace was hashed out. Instead, the treaty restored colonial boundaries to their 1744 limits. With the return of the Louisbourg fortress in Cape Breton to Quebec, the treaty of Aix reversed Britain’s most significant gain in North America. New France once more seemed to be as strong and threatening to Britain’s North American interests as before 1748. Appearance, however, belied reality.Less
This chapter details the eruption of violence in the Ohio borderlands in the early 1750s as indigenous peoples, French, and English all sought to impose their authority there. Though ownership of this region had long been disputed, this renewal of conflict resulted directly from the incomplete conclusion to the War of Austrian Succession in 1748. The European struggle to determine the Habsburg succession promoted the long territorial dispute between British New England and New France’s claims to the north and west. The peace treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle did not resolve European sovereignty over the Ohio River lands, nor did it take into consideration indigenous Americans’ perspectives as the peace was hashed out. Instead, the treaty restored colonial boundaries to their 1744 limits. With the return of the Louisbourg fortress in Cape Breton to Quebec, the treaty of Aix reversed Britain’s most significant gain in North America. New France once more seemed to be as strong and threatening to Britain’s North American interests as before 1748. Appearance, however, belied reality.
Saliha Belmessous
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199579167
- eISBN:
- 9780191750717
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579167.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History, Cultural History
Assimilation was an ideology central to European expansion and colonization, an ideology which legitimized colonization for centuries. This book shows that the aspiration for assimilation was not ...
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Assimilation was an ideology central to European expansion and colonization, an ideology which legitimized colonization for centuries. This book shows that the aspiration for assimilation was not only driven by materialistic reasons but also motivated by ideas. The engine of assimilation has to be found in the combination of two powerful ideas, namely the European philosophical conception of human perfectibility and the idea of the modern state. Europeans wanted to create, in their empires, political and cultural forms which they valued and wanted to realize in their own societies but which did not yet exist. This book examines three imperial experiments—seventeenth- and eighteenth-century New France, nineteenth-century British Australia, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century French Algeria—and reveals the complex interrelationship between policies of assimilation, which were driven by a desire for perfection and universality, and the greatest challenge to those policies, namely, discourses of race, which were based upon perceptions of difference. Neither colonized nor European peoples themselves were able to conform to the ideals given as the object of assimilation. Yet, the deep links between assimilation and empire remained because at no point since the sixteenth century has the utopian project of perfection—articulated through the progressive theory of history—been placed seriously in question. The failure of assimilation pursued through empire, for both colonized and colonizer, reveals the futility of the historical pursuit of perfection.Less
Assimilation was an ideology central to European expansion and colonization, an ideology which legitimized colonization for centuries. This book shows that the aspiration for assimilation was not only driven by materialistic reasons but also motivated by ideas. The engine of assimilation has to be found in the combination of two powerful ideas, namely the European philosophical conception of human perfectibility and the idea of the modern state. Europeans wanted to create, in their empires, political and cultural forms which they valued and wanted to realize in their own societies but which did not yet exist. This book examines three imperial experiments—seventeenth- and eighteenth-century New France, nineteenth-century British Australia, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century French Algeria—and reveals the complex interrelationship between policies of assimilation, which were driven by a desire for perfection and universality, and the greatest challenge to those policies, namely, discourses of race, which were based upon perceptions of difference. Neither colonized nor European peoples themselves were able to conform to the ideals given as the object of assimilation. Yet, the deep links between assimilation and empire remained because at no point since the sixteenth century has the utopian project of perfection—articulated through the progressive theory of history—been placed seriously in question. The failure of assimilation pursued through empire, for both colonized and colonizer, reveals the futility of the historical pursuit of perfection.
Catharine Randall
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823232628
- eISBN:
- 9780823240449
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823232628.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Two letters written by Father Paul Le Jeune in 1636 are presented, which report back to Old France on what was going on in New France. When Father Le Jeune first arrived in Quebec, he was greeted ...
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Two letters written by Father Paul Le Jeune in 1636 are presented, which report back to Old France on what was going on in New France. When Father Le Jeune first arrived in Quebec, he was greeted with great joy and relief by Madame Hébert, widow of Monsieur Hébert, and their children. They had been the first family to settle there. They were devout Catholics and had been frightened and greatly concerned when Quebec had been evacuated by the English in 1634. Le Jeune and Father De Noue reassured them of France's continued concern for her colony, and they reinstated a Catholic presence.Less
Two letters written by Father Paul Le Jeune in 1636 are presented, which report back to Old France on what was going on in New France. When Father Le Jeune first arrived in Quebec, he was greeted with great joy and relief by Madame Hébert, widow of Monsieur Hébert, and their children. They had been the first family to settle there. They were devout Catholics and had been frightened and greatly concerned when Quebec had been evacuated by the English in 1634. Le Jeune and Father De Noue reassured them of France's continued concern for her colony, and they reinstated a Catholic presence.
Nancy Toff
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195170160
- eISBN:
- 9780199850372
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195170160.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines the career development of Georges Barrère during the period from 1917 to 1918. In the fall of 1917, xenophobia reached fever pitch in the U.S., which affected concert stages. To ...
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This chapter examines the career development of Georges Barrère during the period from 1917 to 1918. In the fall of 1917, xenophobia reached fever pitch in the U.S., which affected concert stages. To take advantage of anti-German hysteria and gain American support for the post-war reconstruction of France, American supporters of France founded a magazine called New France. This magazine helped stabilize the status of French musicians in the U.S., including Barrère. During this period, Barrère engaged in a series of fund raising projects and his student William Kincaid was awarded a silver medal on the completion of the artists' course at the Institute of Musical Art.Less
This chapter examines the career development of Georges Barrère during the period from 1917 to 1918. In the fall of 1917, xenophobia reached fever pitch in the U.S., which affected concert stages. To take advantage of anti-German hysteria and gain American support for the post-war reconstruction of France, American supporters of France founded a magazine called New France. This magazine helped stabilize the status of French musicians in the U.S., including Barrère. During this period, Barrère engaged in a series of fund raising projects and his student William Kincaid was awarded a silver medal on the completion of the artists' course at the Institute of Musical Art.
Gina M. Martino
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469640990
- eISBN:
- 9781469641010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469640990.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter focuses on women’s military roles in France’s attempts to colonize Canada and Acadia. It argues that political and religious officials in New France were more likely than their ...
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This chapter focuses on women’s military roles in France’s attempts to colonize Canada and Acadia. It argues that political and religious officials in New France were more likely than their counterparts in New England to incorporate women’s social rank into their understanding of those women’s martial activities. Elite French and some Indigenous women were seen as performing roles similar to those of a lady defending a castle or a woman of high rank acting as a diplomat. (Prominent examples include Madeleine de Verchères, Jeanne Mance, and Marie de l’Incarnation.) Jesuit and Ursuline missionaries’ accounts of nonelite French and (allied) Native women more often described those women as informally joining battles with the blessing of their husband or God.Less
This chapter focuses on women’s military roles in France’s attempts to colonize Canada and Acadia. It argues that political and religious officials in New France were more likely than their counterparts in New England to incorporate women’s social rank into their understanding of those women’s martial activities. Elite French and some Indigenous women were seen as performing roles similar to those of a lady defending a castle or a woman of high rank acting as a diplomat. (Prominent examples include Madeleine de Verchères, Jeanne Mance, and Marie de l’Incarnation.) Jesuit and Ursuline missionaries’ accounts of nonelite French and (allied) Native women more often described those women as informally joining battles with the blessing of their husband or God.
Gina M. Martino
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469640990
- eISBN:
- 9781469641010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469640990.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter marks the beginning of the book’s study of the second phase of these conflicts. Beginning around 1700, Britain and France became increasingly involved in their colonies’ affairs. This ...
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This chapter marks the beginning of the book’s study of the second phase of these conflicts. Beginning around 1700, Britain and France became increasingly involved in their colonies’ affairs. This growing imperial control resulted in the increased militarization of New England and New France, as regular troops joined provincial forces with greater frequency. These imperial military societies also depended more on highly fortified structures to defend their colonial territory. The chapter examines how these changes influenced women’s participation in war and how colonists and imperial officials perceived women’s war making. In New England, women received land grants and compensation as veterans even as changes in ideas about women’s gender roles as private, rather than public, actors in separate spheres resulted in colonists describing women as inhabitants of an emerging homefront. At the same time, officials in New France worried about the potential for treasonous activities between Canadian women and French soldiers involved in sex scandals in the crowded fortified towns along the coast. Despite these fears, Canadian women continued to serve in the colony’s growing military bureaucracy, financing fortifications and supporting the war effort through commerce.Less
This chapter marks the beginning of the book’s study of the second phase of these conflicts. Beginning around 1700, Britain and France became increasingly involved in their colonies’ affairs. This growing imperial control resulted in the increased militarization of New England and New France, as regular troops joined provincial forces with greater frequency. These imperial military societies also depended more on highly fortified structures to defend their colonial territory. The chapter examines how these changes influenced women’s participation in war and how colonists and imperial officials perceived women’s war making. In New England, women received land grants and compensation as veterans even as changes in ideas about women’s gender roles as private, rather than public, actors in separate spheres resulted in colonists describing women as inhabitants of an emerging homefront. At the same time, officials in New France worried about the potential for treasonous activities between Canadian women and French soldiers involved in sex scandals in the crowded fortified towns along the coast. Despite these fears, Canadian women continued to serve in the colony’s growing military bureaucracy, financing fortifications and supporting the war effort through commerce.
Catharine Randall
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823232628
- eISBN:
- 9780823240449
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823232628.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter sets out the basic history of the Jesuit missions in New France and provides insight into the Ignatian tradition and how it informs the composition of the Relations. When the first ...
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This chapter sets out the basic history of the Jesuit missions in New France and provides insight into the Ignatian tradition and how it informs the composition of the Relations. When the first Jesuits arrived in New France, they came with the usual European mind-set: to bring Christ to the natives, shape them up, and provide them with the benefits of civilization. Only a few years later, in the letters they wrote home (called relations), these Jesuits were admitting that the Native Americans possessed virtues of which they had been unaware, and that the two cultures shared some similarities in their worldviews that might allow for the translation of concepts necessary to the success of the Jesuits' spiritual enterprise in New France. The Jesuits learned to respect the natives, rather than condescend to them, and they wanted to convince other Europeans of the merits of their encounters. The Jesuits had begun to discern that these “barbarians” might just wear their own sort of breeches.Less
This chapter sets out the basic history of the Jesuit missions in New France and provides insight into the Ignatian tradition and how it informs the composition of the Relations. When the first Jesuits arrived in New France, they came with the usual European mind-set: to bring Christ to the natives, shape them up, and provide them with the benefits of civilization. Only a few years later, in the letters they wrote home (called relations), these Jesuits were admitting that the Native Americans possessed virtues of which they had been unaware, and that the two cultures shared some similarities in their worldviews that might allow for the translation of concepts necessary to the success of the Jesuits' spiritual enterprise in New France. The Jesuits learned to respect the natives, rather than condescend to them, and they wanted to convince other Europeans of the merits of their encounters. The Jesuits had begun to discern that these “barbarians” might just wear their own sort of breeches.
Robert Bothwell
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780195448801
- eISBN:
- 9780190279660
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195448801.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History, Political History
Between 1600 and 1763 two empires, two religions and two contending political doctrines competed for supremacy in northern North America. The triumph of the British Empire in 1763 and the expulsion ...
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Between 1600 and 1763 two empires, two religions and two contending political doctrines competed for supremacy in northern North America. The triumph of the British Empire in 1763 and the expulsion of France from America confirmed the supremacy of British conceptions of liberty embodied in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and a deep suspicion of tyranny associated with the would-be tyrant James II and his Stuart dynasty. More practically, Britain’s ascendancy rested on an expanding economy and sound finance, and in America on its populous, prosperous colonies, which heavily outnumbered the feeble French colonies and their native allies. Colonial (provincial) troops served in the climactic battles of the Seven Years’ War, at Louisbourg and Quebec, and the colonies rejoiced in their empire’s victory.Less
Between 1600 and 1763 two empires, two religions and two contending political doctrines competed for supremacy in northern North America. The triumph of the British Empire in 1763 and the expulsion of France from America confirmed the supremacy of British conceptions of liberty embodied in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and a deep suspicion of tyranny associated with the would-be tyrant James II and his Stuart dynasty. More practically, Britain’s ascendancy rested on an expanding economy and sound finance, and in America on its populous, prosperous colonies, which heavily outnumbered the feeble French colonies and their native allies. Colonial (provincial) troops served in the climactic battles of the Seven Years’ War, at Louisbourg and Quebec, and the colonies rejoiced in their empire’s victory.
Karen L. Marrero
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479874545
- eISBN:
- 9781479876419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479874545.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter explores how French and Native American women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries challenged European gender norms. Women from New France families that engaged extensively in ...
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This chapter explores how French and Native American women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries challenged European gender norms. Women from New France families that engaged extensively in trade with Native American nations mimicked the expanded economic and political power of Iroquoian and Algonquian women and used the French legal system to empower themselves. Karen L. Marrero shows how Native American women defied French imperial efforts to control their bodies and mobility, participated in trade and political negotiations, and at times challenged the French state militarily.Less
This chapter explores how French and Native American women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries challenged European gender norms. Women from New France families that engaged extensively in trade with Native American nations mimicked the expanded economic and political power of Iroquoian and Algonquian women and used the French legal system to empower themselves. Karen L. Marrero shows how Native American women defied French imperial efforts to control their bodies and mobility, participated in trade and political negotiations, and at times challenged the French state militarily.
