Event Description
A talk by Donald F. Johnson, Northwestern University and 2013-2014 Friends of the MCEAS and Society of the Cinncinnati Dissertation Fellow: "Ambigous Allegiances: Questioning Loyalties in Revolutionary Cities Under British Military Rule."
This essay, based on the forth chapter of my dissertation, "Occupied America: Everyday Experience and the Failure of Imperial Authority in Revolutionary Cities Under British Rule," re-conceptualizes personal loyalty during the American Revolution. Moving away from static categories of loyalist and patriot, I argue that men and women living under military rule maintained deliberately vague and ambiguous allegiances in order to survive under the harsh social and material conditions brought on by British occupation. Loyalties changed early and often, depending on circumstance and survival, and very often people took on both loyalist and patriot characteristics at the same time. Further, far from being merely opportunistic, these people's experiences had a direct effect on the outcome of the Revolution. By appropriating for their own advantage a carefully crafted language of loyalism intended to sway civilians to return their allegiance to the king, these people undermined the effectiveness of British occupation regimes, frustrated attempts to restore imperial rule, and ultimately hastened the failure of the British Empire in America. Everyone attending this seminar should read the paper in advance. To obtain access to an online copy, contact mceas@ccat.sas.upenn.edu. |
