From: Joan Bristol <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2020 11:05 AM

Subject: Early Americas Workshop Spring schedule

Please grab your lunch and join us for the Spring 2020 series of the Early Americas Workshop. The details for each presentation vary so please make a note of locations and times.

Monday, February 24, Sara Collini will present “Rachael: Enslaved Midwives and the Business of Birth on Early Southern Plantations.” Sara will present this at the History Ph.D colloquium at 5:30 pm in Merten Hall 1204.

Thursday, March 5, Zachary Schrag will present “Fires of Philadelphia: Immigrants, Mobs, Militia, and the Fight to Be Called an American,” at 12 pm in Fenwick 3001. This is pre-circulated. Please see the description below.* For a copy of the paper please email Zach at [log in to unmask]. He will send out the paper on February 17.

Wednesday March 25 Randolph Scully will present “Religion, Household, and Slavery in Seventeenth-Century Barbados,” at 12 pm in Fenwick 3001.

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*FROM ZACHARY SCHRAG regarding the March 5 presentation:

Zachary Schrag will present a draft chapter from his work in progress, currently titled Fires of Philadelphia. Immigrants, Mobs, Militia, and the Fight to Be Called an American. The chapter will attempt to describe, in 5000 words, the growth of nativist parties in New York City and Philadelphia, 1835-1844. Professor Schrag asks that workshop attendees read the draft chapter in advance. Please email him at [log in to unmask]. He will send out the paper on February 17. Please do not cite or circulate it without the author’s permission.

Summary:

To dilute Catholic power, while maintaining the fiction that they were tolerant of all religions, anti-Catholics called for a 21-year naturalization period. Because so many Catholics were recent immigrants, this measure would disproportionately strip them of votes and the right to hold office, and thereby maintain the power of American-born citizens. Nativism, as the movement became known, attracted ambitious men in both New York City and Philadelphia, including many who had washed out of the older Democratic and Whig parties. By early 1844, they were ready to challenge the established order.