285 pages

English

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With Sails Whitening Every Sea , livre ebook

Cornell University Press - Brian Rouleau

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285 pages

English

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Many Americans in the Early Republic era saw the seas as another field for national aggrandizement. With a merchant marine that competed against Britain for commercial supremacy and a whaling fleet that circled the globe, the United States sought a maritime empire to complement its territorial ambitions in North America. In With Sails Whitening Every Sea, Brian Rouleau argues that because of their ubiquity in foreign ports, American sailors were the principal agents of overseas foreign relations in the early republic. Their everyday encounters and more problematic interactions-barroom brawling, sexual escapades in port-city bordellos, and the performance of blackface minstrel shows-shaped how the United States was perceived overseas. Rouleau details both the mariners' "working-class diplomacy" and the anxieties such interactions inspired among federal authorities and missionary communities, who saw the behavior of American sailors as mere debauchery. Indiscriminate violence and licentious conduct, they feared, threatened both mercantile profit margins and the nation's reputation overseas. As Rouleau chronicles, the world's oceans and seaport spaces soon became a battleground over the terms by which American citizens would introduce themselves to the world. But by the end of the Civil War, seamen were no longer the nation's principal ambassadors. Hordes of wealthy tourists had replaced seafarers, and those privileged travelers moved through a world characterized by consolidated state and corporate authority. Expanding nineteenth-century America's master narrative beyond the water's edge, With Sails Whitening Every Sea reveals the maritime networks that bound the Early Republic to the wider world.

Sujets

Histoire

USA

Diplomacy

Maritime history

International relations

History of the Americas

États-Unis

Diplomatie (homonymie)

History

Informations

Publié par	Cornell University Press
Date de parution	06 mai 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780801455087
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,7500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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WITH SAILS WHITENING EVERY SEA

A volume in the series

The United States in the World edited by Mark Philip Bradley, David C. Engerman, Amy S. Greenberg, and Paul A. Kramer

A list of titles in this series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

WITH SAILS WHITENING EVERY SEA

Mariners and the Making of an American Maritime Empire

Brian Rouleau

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

ShipMontereyof Boston, H. Crowel Master, Entering the Port of Genoa, May 9th, 1851.Oil painting by unknown artist after 1851. Reproduced with permission of the PeabodyEssex Museum.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, NewYork 14850.

First published 2014 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Rouleau, Brian, author. With sails whitening every sea : mariners and the making of an American maritime empire / Brian Rouleau. pages cm — (United States in the world) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780801452338 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Sailors—United States—Social conditions—19th century. 2. United States—Foreign relations—19th century. 3. Seapower—United States—History—19th century. I.Title. II. Series: United States in the world. G540.R68 2014 331.7'61387097309034—dc23 2014024630

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood ﬁbers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the memory of my mother and father

Hail Land of light and joy! thy power shall grow

Far as the seas, which round thy regions flow;

Through earth’s wide realms thy glory shall extend,

And savage nations at thy scepter bend. Around the frozen shores thy sons shall sail, Or stretch their canvas to the Asian gale. —Timothy Dwight,America, 1790

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: “Born to Rule the Seas”

1. Schoolhouses Aﬂoat

2. Jim Crow Girdles the Globe

3. Maritime Destiny as Manifest Destiny

4. A Maritime Empire of Moral Depravity

5. An Intimate History of Early America’s Maritime Empire

6. Making Do at the Margins of Maritime Empire Epilogue: Out of the Sailor’s Den, into the Tourist Trap

Notes Index

viii

1 16 43 74 102 134 164 195

209 257

Acknowledgments

This book, like most others, owes many debts to many people. First, let me thank the terriﬁc group of scholars who mentored me along the way. Danny Vickers was the original inspiration for what appears here. I walked into his classroom at the University of California, San Diego, a student of East Asia and stepped out an American historian. His boundless enthusiasm for the subject, effortless brilliance, and willingness to nurture students have amazed me. The University of Pennsylvania, meanwhile, introduced me to Mike Zuckerman and Dan Richter. Mike has improved me in many ways, both as a historian and, perhaps more important, as a thinking human being. More than anything, he has never failed to challenge me to become better, to consider more carefully, and to delve deeper, even as he has humored me more than once when I lost my way. It is his special ability to some how approach any issue from all sides at once.That talent has immeasurably sharpened and enriched what appears here. Last, but by no means least, is Dan Richter, to whom I am perhaps most indebted. He does not need me to rehearse the merits of his dazzling and penetrating intellect here, although I have beneﬁted immensely from it. More important, Dan deserves to be commended for taking a chance on a book to which he might never have seen himself contributing. His dedication has been unyielding, and I will

Acknowledgments

always remain most grateful for that. Dan has no doubt been exposed to more of this book’s (and my own) growing pains than anyone else, and yet he somehow always knew just what to say at exactly the right moment to nudge me back on track. It is one of his many gifts as both a mentor and a friend, and I will always feel indebted to him for that reason. Kathy Peiss, Kathy Brown, Steve Hahn, Ron Granieri, Rick Beeman, and many other faculty in Philadelphia also contributed signiﬁcantly to the fantastic educational envi ronment at Penn, out of which this work grew. Jason Colby and Jason Opal provided many insightful comments as the project progressed. Finally, thanks to the series editors, Mark Bradley, David Engerman, Amy Greenberg, and Paul Kramer; Michael McGandy; Max Richman; Susan Specter; and every one else at Cornell University Press who helped make this a better book. Since joining the history department at Texas A&M in 2010, many friends, colleagues, and staff have done much to provide a welcoming and stimulating academic environment. I would like thank everyone in what is a very large department. The members of the Atlantic world and U.S. in the World clusters have provided particular insight and inspiration. Quince Adams, Carlos Blanton, Al Broussard, Walter Buenger, Rebecca Hartkopf Schloss, April Hatﬁeld, Andy Kirkendall, John Lenihan, Brian Linn, and David Vaught have donated generous amounts of time to mentoring a young colleague. Olga Dror, likewise, helped a rookie Texan learn how to twostep. Last but not least, here’s to my fellow assistant professors, Side Emre, Felipe Hinojosa, Lisa Ramos, Dan Schwartz, Katherine Unterman, and Erin Wood. From writing groups to Friday dinners, I feel as though I never could have thrived in Aggieland without your good cheer. Friends from all walks of life have also made the book possible. Though I am sure to forget a few, many come to mind. Josh and Maggie Keegan Gross and their entire family have been a joy in my life. In San Diego, I met and have been glad to know Vitria Adisetiyo, Mike Friedman, Leo Goldbard, Erin Hoppe, and so many others. And in Philadelphia, Greg Ablavsky, Kate Bal danza, Stephanie Corrigan, Ushma Domadia, Lauren Fox, Cassie Good, Kath erine Hill, Matt Karp, Sean Kiley,Will Kuby,Andrew Lipman,Vanessa Mongey, Dael Norwood, Matt and Shelley Schauer, Patrick and Laura Spero, and Karen Tani made my time at Penn not only enriching but downright entertaining. Beyond social debts, however, there are institutional and ﬁnancial debts to be acknowledged. Many institutions have provided funding and other forms of support.The University of Pennsylvania offered invaluable ﬁnan cial assistance in the form of multiple research and writing fellowships. Texas A&M University also allocated signiﬁcant amounts of money and