Historiography Notes

Historiography and Early American History

What is History?

  • History is not merely about the past, but its interpretation.

  • Historiography: The study of historical writing and scholarship.

  • Various schools of thought exist in interpreting American history.

Whig School

  • Timeframe: Mid to late 1800s.

  • Prominent Figure: George Bancroft.

    • From New England, studied in Germany, influenced by romanticism.

    • Authored a 10-volume work, History of The United States (up to 1789).

  • Interpretation:

    • Conservative, focusing on the "march of liberty."

    • America as the protector of liberties against British subversion.

    • Advancement of democracy.

    • Emphasis on nationalism and American exceptionalism.

  • Criticism: Lack of objectivity.

Empirical School

  • Timeframe: 1900s to 1930s.

  • Approach: Studying colonial America from the British perspective.

  • Prominent Historian: Charles McLean Andrews.

    • Authored a four-volume work, Colonial Period of American History (1934-1937).

  • Interpretation:

    • America understood in the context of imperial expansion.

    • Studying colonies from London (center and periphery).

    • Understanding colonies as part of an empire.

Ideological (Neo-Whig) School

  • Timeframe: 1950s and 1960s.

  • Prominent Historians:

    • Edmund Morgan (The Stamp Act Crisis, American Slavery, American Freedom).

    • Bernard Bailyn (Harvard University).

      • The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.

  • Interpretation:

    • Reemphasis on ideology, patriotism, and American exceptionalism.

    • Showing the mindset of early Americans.

    • Complex and long-held political ideology common to British Americans.

New Social History School

  • Emphasis: Material culture, the role of the market.

  • Extension of the Progressive School (Charles Beard, Arthur Schlesinger Sr.).

  • Flourished in the 1960s and 1970s.

  • Arguments:

    • Economic determinism.

    • Grassroots resistance.

    • Material culture.

  • Introduction of Common Voices:

    • Women in colonial America.

    • Average consumer buying patterns.

    • Education and labor.

    • Slaves (individual stories).

    • Native Americans.

Philosophies of Interpreting History

Continuity

  • History as a study of the continuous past.

  • Connecting the past with the present.

  • Present is a product of the past.

  • Past is relevant.

  • Example: David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed.

    • Connection between people groups in England and their settlement in the New World.

Change

  • History is about change, sometimes abrupt.

  • Studying lost social and cultural norms.

  • Colonial history is the study of a lost world.

  • Example: Brendan McConville's The King's Three Faces.

    • History is about change.

    • Studying colonial America is like studying a foreign, lost past.

Complexity of History

  • Herbert Butterfield: History is complex, not a straight line, but a "labyrinthine network."

  • Purpose: Find meaning and relevance.

  • Challenge: Pick up on different interpretations and understand the value of diverse perspectives.