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English has a really big advantage over Latin. English has—and Latin lacks—both the indefinite article a and the definite article the. The existence of these is an enormous aid to quickly saying exactly what one means. But it is also a great aid to creating strawmen that you can then light on fire. Here Sean Wilentz uses this linguistic feature. He says not that Holton and Taylor say that white supremacy has been a driving force of American history, but that they say it has been the driving force.
Hijinx ensue:
Sean Wilentz: The Paradox of the American Revolution: ‘Recent books by Woody Holton and Alan Taylor offer fresh perspectives… overemphasize the importance of white supremacy as its driving force…. Descriptions of America’s egalitarian founding principles as covers for white supremacy—“formulated to promote exclusion and oppression”—have gained a sudden currency. By these lights, the Revolution was in large measure a proslavery secession sparked by American fears of British threats to slavery…. Two ambitious new studies, Liberty Is Sweet by Woody Holton on the Revolution and American Republics by Alan Taylor… take up the array of political and social transformations that shaped the nation’s growth…. Yet both books advance claims in accord with interpretations of white supremacy as the driving force of American history. Holton and Taylor are serious scholars, and given the larger stakes involved, the reliability of their conclusions on these matters assumes importance in debates that go far beyond the academy…
Was white supremacy a driving force behind the American Revolution? Let’s look at the Pennsylvania Journal & Weekly Advertiser of December 6, 1775:
Not in the legions of horrid Hell can come a devil more damn’d In evils, to top D*****e.
By His Excellency the Right Honorable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, His MAJESTY'S Lieutenant and Governor General of the Colony and Dominion of VIRGINIA, and Vice Admiral of the same.
A PROCLAMATION.
As I have ever entertained Hopes that an Accommodation might have taken Place between GREAT‐BRITAIN and this colony, without being compelled by my Duty to this most disagreeable but now absolutely necessary Step, rendered fo by a Body of armed Men unlawfully assembled, bring on His MAJESTY'S Tenders, and the formation of an Army, and that Army now on their March to attack His MAJESTY'S troops and destroy the well disposed Subjects of this Colony. To defeat such unreasonable Purposes, and that all such Traitors, and their Abetters, may be brought to Justice, and that the Peace, and good Order of this Colony may be again restored, which the ordinary Course of the Civil Law is unable to effect; I have thought fit to issue this my Proclamation, hereby declaring, that until the aforesaid good Purpofes can be obtained, I do in Virtue of the Power and Authority to ME given, by His MAJESTY, determine to execute Martial Law, and cause the fame to be executed throughout this Colony: and to the end that Peace and good Order may the sooner be, I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to His MAJESTY'S STANDARD, or be looked upon as Traitors to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty the Law inflicts upon such Offences; such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of Lands, &c. &c.
And I do hereby further declare all indentured Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY'S Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His MAJESTY'S Leige Subjects, to retain their Quitrents, or any other Taxes due or that may become due, in their own Custody, till such Time as Peace may be again restored to this at present most unhappy Country, or demanded of them for their former salutary Purposes, by Officers properly authorised to receive the fame.
GIVEN under my Hand on board the ship WILLIAM, off NORPOLE, the 7th Day of NOVEMBER, in the SIXTEENTH Year of His MAJESTY'S Reign.
James Madison’s reaction to Dunmore’s proclamation?
That the rebels’ attachment to slavery was their Achilles’ heel:
James Madison: To William Bradford, 19 June 1775: ‘…It is imagined our Governor has been tampering with the Slaves & that he has it in contemplation to make great Use of them in case of a civil war in this province. To say the truth, that is the only part in which this Colony is vulnerable; & if we should be subdued, we shall fall like Achilles by the hand of one that knows that secret. But we have a good cause & great Courage which are a great support… <https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Dunmore%20AND%20slaves&s=1111311113&sa=&r=21&sr=>
George Washington’s reaction?
That Dunmore with his Emancipation Proclamation would—unless crushed immediately—become the rebels’ most formidable enemy:
George Washington: To Richard Henry Lee, 26 December 1775: ‘If my Dear Sir that Man is not crushed before Spring, he will become the most formidable Enemy America has—his strength will Increase as a Snow ball by Rolling; and faster, if some expedient cannot be hit upon to convince the Slaves and Servants of the Impotency of His designs… <https://founders.archives.gov/q=Dunmore%20AND%20slaves&s=1111311113&sa=&r=29&sr=>
George Washington’s steward at Mount Vernon, Lund Washington’s reaction?
He wrote:
Lund Washington: To George Washington, 3 December 1775: ‘Our Dunmore has at length Publishd his much dreaded proclamation…. I am determined, that if any of them Create any confusition to make & example of him, Sears who is at worck here says there is not a man of them, but woud leave us, if they believe’d they coud make there Escape—Tom Spears Excepted—& yet they have no fault to find. Liberty is sweet… <https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Dunmore%20AND%20slaves&s=1111311113&sa=&r=26&sr=>
Thomas Jefferson’s reaction?
Dunmore’s attempt at emancipation still much more than rankled a decade later:
Thomas Jefferson: I. Comments on Soulés’ Histoire, 3 August 1786: ‘L’humanité des Britons.’… This war… they conducted it… on the most barbarous principles, that the expression here cited will stand in contradiction to the rest of the work…. For their practice, recollect their exciting the savages against us, insurrections of our slaves… <https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Dunmore%20AND%20slaves&s=1111311113&sa=&r=48&sr=>
Yes, white supremacy looks pretty important here—to George and Lund Washington, to James Madison, and to Thomas Jefferson.
So what, given all this that is in the historical record, in the Holy Name of the One Who Is is Sean Wilentz trying to do here, in setting up the strawman that white supremacy is the (not a) driving force of American history, and then setting that strawman on fire?
I think he is trying to paper over the differences between the Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts resonant modes of American nationalism.
Kentucky-style American nationalism is a species of standard blood-and-soil nationalism. People have moved to Kentucky because they want elbow room, and do not like being forced by government and society to conform. Once people are in Kentucky they become the kinds of people who can build a log cabin with their bare hands in 48 hours, and bring down a squirrel for squirrel stew at 300 yards. Thus heredity and environment—blood and soil—produce a special kind of person. And those who come to the U.S. hoping to live in, say, a little Mogadishu or a little Kishinev or a little Cuzco cannot fit. This blood-and-soil Kentucky anti-government nationalism is not exactly hostile to slavery—for those who were not born and raised to bring down squirrels for squirrel stew at 300 years cannot, really belong.
Virginia-style American nationalism is different. People have moved to Virginia because they want elbow room and freedom from government, just as people move to Kentucky. People have moved to Virginia to make a new society free from the mistakes and oppressions of the Old World, yes. But the Virginians are not interested in being hard-scrabble rather-poor self-reliant frontiersmen. The Virginia people are on the make: in the Old World aristocracies and governments would keep them down. In the New World they are free—and one element of freedom is the ability to make other people unfree.
And then there is Massachusetts-style American nationalism. It has its roots in the Puritan settlers of—guess what?—Massachusetts. You are part of a community engaged in an Errand Unto the Wilderness. Your Errand is to build a Utopia:e a City Upon a Hill to shine a light for All Nations. In building this utopia, we are all in this together with no special authorities or leaders because of the Priesthood of All Believers. Never mind that John Winthrop would run screaming from us: we are his children, his bastard children, children he would regard as unworthy, but his children nevertheless. The Massachusetts-style American nationalism of election—that America really consists of those of us who have come here to build a common Utopia—is very powerful. I think it is much more correct, much more sociologically healthy, and something we all can be proud of.
Highlighting slavery and white supremacy in American history focuses attention on, and amplifies, the cleavages and divisions between Kentucky, Virginia, and American nationalism. Kentucky-style is white supremacist—indeed, hard-scrabble rural supremacist, if not focused on exploiting others. Virginia-style is how government is not going to constrain you—how if you are strong, you do what you want (and if you are weak, you suffer what you must). It is more rich- or rather successful-supremacist than white-supremacist, but the political three-card-monte game of keeping the non-successful on your side by paying them the wages of ethnic supremacy.
But if white supremacy is not a major driving force of American history, you can largely elide the differences between the three, and portray the utopia as a utopia of individual choice, freedom, and tolerance. And so, in my view at least, Sean Wilentz finds himself driven to light on fire his strawman that white supremacy is the driving force, in the hope of then persuading people to forget that it is a driving force, and forget that the cleavages between Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts styles of American nationalism are deep and wide.
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Martin Gurri: A Conversation About Liberal Democracy: ‘I don’t believe what matters is this question of professionals or amateurs. What matters is the distance between rulers and ruled, which, under the principle of equality, should never be very great. And professional cliques invariably close ranks against outsiders and resist scrutiny or questioning. Fortunately, it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition… <https://www.liberalcurrents.com/a-conversation-about-liberal-democracy/>
Aaron Rupar: Russia’s Descent into Authoritarianism & What We Can Learn from It: ‘“The opposition has collapsed”: a Q&A with Sarah Hurst, author of The Russia Report…
Adam Gurri: Ending Safety as a Writer & a Reader: ‘James Baldwin’s great essay, “The White Man’s Guilt.” The first time I read that essay, and every time since, I have been drawn to Baldwin’s description of “those who imagine that history flatters them” as being “impaled on their history like a butterfly on a pin” thereby…
Alex Hochuli: The Brazilianization of the World: ‘Brazil is a middle-income country—developed, modern, industrialized. But Brazil is also burdened by mass poverty, backwardness, and a political class that seems to have advanced little since its days as a slaveholding landed elite…. For the better-off societies in the South, now called “emerging markets,” neoliberal development aped the tacit assumptions of modernization theory in assuming these countries were just “late,” but that they would get there eventually—they would become “like us.” Just look at the shopping malls springing up in São Paulo or Bangkok or Cairo!… Mexico, South Korea, and a handful of countries in Eastern Europe joined the OECD in the 1990s, with Chile following in 2010. It was only a matter of time…. [But] Brazil… finds itself stuck… modern but not modern enough…. The Global North… today… not just inequality and informalization of work, but increasingly venal elites, political volatility, and social ungluing. Is the rich world not also becoming “modern but not modern enough,” but in reverse?…
Alvy Ray Smith: The Real Story of Pixar: ‘Pixar, at that point, was still… a lousy hardware company. We failed… ran out of money and couldn’t pay our bills or our employees. If we’d had any other investor than Steve, we would have been dead in the water. But at every failure—presumably because Steve couldn’t sustain the embarrassment that his next enterprise after the Apple ouster would be a failure—he’d berate those of us in management… then write another check…. Then, at last, Moore’s Law saved us. The ever-falling cost of processing power finally made The Movie economically feasible. We said we could make The Movie, and Disney stepped forward to finance it, saving Steve Jobs’s face (and investment) and saving Pixar the company…. Steve Jobs… was a hardware man. The Movie had been our dream and goal since the 1970s…. During the next four years, Pixar completed The Movie—Toy Story—and it premiered in 1995. Toy Story was wildly successful almost as soon as the movie was in the can. Pixar and Disney took it to New York City for a first glimpse by critics, and their enthusiasm was electric…
Eric Topol: The Very Bad Day at the CDC: ‘the CDC performance is disappointing and unacceptable, despite high hopes and a boosted budget to perform well. This was a very bad day. We can ill afford any more of these. The pandemic has a ways to go into 2022. We need this federal agency to “stick to the science” as promised, provide critically important data in a timely way, and avoid publishing alarming and erroneous data based on limited sampling. Let’s hope for a turnaround as fast as one we hope to see with Omicron…
Jeet Heer: The Global Crisis of the Center Right: ‘A splintered right plays out differently in the two party system of the United States…. In a two party system, moderate conservatives are faced with a much starker choice…. Disgusted by Trump… [come] have become moderate Democrats. But that shift has been minor…. Trump mostly held the Republican coalition together… by offering policies (conservative judges, a nationalist foreign policy, tax cuts) that pleased traditional Republican constituencies. Trumpism doesn’t seem to be costing the Republicans enough voters to create an incentive to give it up…. There could eventually be a political cost to Trumpism, but that’s in the far future…. Anti-establishment nationalists are likely to thrive in the United States much more than elsewhere…
Aliette de Bodard: ’A brief thread of my adaptation thoughts, because I see there’s much unhappiness on the series of Wheel of Time not being faithful to the books…. And pragmatically: 14 books, 8 seasons. There’s no way a single book would translate to even 1 season if shot scene by scene…. Asuper faithful adaptation would miss the mark, because it risks becoming soulless. What works in TV doesn’t work in books and vice versa…. What I’m looking for in an adaptation is vision, and keeping to the spirit…. I read the WoT books when I was a teenager, and I’m getting that same vibe from the TV series than I got from them then. And to me that’s enough, and I can’t wait to see what happens with the new material…
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Thank Heaven that at least one of the big scifi-fantasy video adaptations this fall is very good!
I have to count it as an astonishing change that the "Virginia style" would-be-pirate-lord nationalist types have lost their majority in Virginia itself.
The Massachusetts-style "role model" nationalism has always been dominant in most of New England, upstate NY, and Philadelphia's environs.
(Though it took longer to take root in Connecticut and New York City than you might think -- take a look at the troublemakers from Connecticut at the Constitutional Convention, who left us with the disastrous Senate which is still ruining everything. Those Connecticut delegates were very much following the Virginia "pirate lord" model of nationalism, which was also popular in mercantile New York City. Frankly, a bunch of our bucaneering CEOs today still have the same attitude.)
It turns out the Virginia "pirate lord" nationalism is incompatible with public health and safety, incompatible with transportation planning, incompatible with sewer and water systems, and so basically incompatible with modern cities. This has driven the change in Virginia itself, as well as in North Carolina, Georgia, and so on.
The Kentucky "blood and soil" style of nationalism is also incompatible with large cities, which is probably somewhat more obvious.
Of the three, only the Massachusetts model of nationalism works for effective government of cities.
(There are other, less idealistic models which do work for city government -- the patronage / feudal or clan allegiance model is very durable and does get the sewer systems working, and is quite visible in machine politics in the US. Somehow it has rarely been considered part of American nationalism. This is a very transactional model -- your clan may not be "one of us", but we have a deal. Chinatown may keep to itself and Little Italy may keep to itself but we all support the Polish mayor who keeps the sewer system running.)
I have to count it as an astonishing change that the "Virginia style" would-be-pirate-lord nationalist types have lost their majority in Virginia itself.
The Massachusetts-style "role model" nationalism has always been dominant in most of New England, upstate NY, and Philadelphia's environs.
(Though it took longer to take root in Connecticut and New York City than you might think -- take a look at the troublemakers from Connecticut at the Constitutional Convention, who left us with the disastrous Senate which is still ruining everything. Those Connecticut delegates were very much following the Virginia "pirate lord" model of nationalism, which was also popular in mercantile New York City. Frankly, a bunch of our bucaneering CEOs today still have the same attitude.)
It turns out the Virginia "pirate lord" nationalism is incompatible with public health and safety, incompatible with transportation planning, incompatible with sewer and water systems, and so basically incompatible with modern cities. This has driven the change in Virginia itself, as well as in North Carolina, Georgia, and so on.
The Kentucky "blood and soil" style of nationalism is also incompatible with large cities, which is probably somewhat more obvious.
Of the three, only the Massachusetts model of nationalism works for effective government of cities.
(There are other, less idealistic models which do work for city government -- the patronage / feudal or clan allegiance model is very durable and does get the sewer systems working, and is quite visible in machine politics in the US. Somehow it has rarely been considered part of American nationalism. This is a very transactional model -- your clan may not be "one of us", but we have a deal. Chinatown may keep to itself and Little Italy may keep to itself but we all support the Polish mayor who keeps the sewer system running.)
I wouldn't care so much about what happened in 1776 if the Civil War weren't still being fought today.