A.Ham Book Club discussion
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It's interesting discussing Rhode Island's eccentric ways because that is something my family always talked and laughed about as we travelled through the state. When travelling, we would play games in the car to pass the time. For example, we would list unusual facts about the states we travel through. We have often travelled to, and through RI and would talk about RI having to be threatened with being treated as a foreign government to convince them to ratify the Constitution and being the first colony with a mixed race militia.
I can think of eccentric people in the revolution such as Thomas Paine and Charles Lee; however, when I think of eccentric, independent, or unique places and people in our history, I think of Nantucket. Because Nantucket is an island, it has resulted in eccentricity and independence in its history and people. The primary industry in Nantucket was whaling, and because of this, men were often away at sea. Many of the islanders were also Quakers and opposed to slavery. Women ran the day to day activities on the island, they held positions in local government, they ran businesses. Essentially, they were progressive and independent, and being islanders, they were hearty. The first American female astronomer, Mariah Mitchell was from Nantucket. She discovered a comet and became the first female Professor (Vassar). Nantucket women were involved in the abolitionist movement early on and created an anti-slavery society. In addition, some well known suffragettes hailed from Nantucket including Lucretia Mott and Lucy Stone. One more interesting thing is that Ben Franklin's mother was part of the Folger family in Nantucket and was said to be strong, intelligent and practical. Folgers coffee and Macy's Department store were started by Nantucketers. For such a small island, they had a significant impact on modern day US. I often think this was because they were such a hearty, independent people with strong women in leadership roles.
I'm not sure if this really answers the question, and it is unrelated to the Revolution but it is what comes to my mind when thinking of being eccentric in their independence. Maybe something else will come to me tomorrow....
Wow, Nancy, thank you for sharing all that interesting stuff about Nantucket -- something I wouldn't have had any idea about. Island communities definitely inspire that kind of independent spirit and local identity; I see it even right here near where I live, on Bainbridge Island. (Which is always "the island" in local parlance.)
I learn so much from you all. My Rhode Island knowledge is pretty limited, and I knew even less about Nantucket, so thank you, Nancy for that information! I've always been fascinated by islands (I suppose having lived on one as a child contributed to that?)... I'm reminded now of the Gullah culture (SC) and Geechee culture (GA) that developed on the Sea Islands off our coast, developing individual dialects (independent languages, really) from African and English roots.
Mod
I think, in general, islands lead to eccentricity and independence. Having said that, I'm not really sure why RI was so eccentric. Perhaps it was because RI was settled by religious dissidents, even amongst dissidents (e.g. Manhattan Bay Colony).BTW, my sister-in-law owns one of the original homes in Nantucket that has been in her family for 300 years. Her family came over on the Mayflower. I've been fortunate to have vacationed there, it''s the only reason I know so much about Nantucket.
Mod
That's really interesting that she owns such a historic home. (Yes, "a historic" and not "an historic." I'm not a mad man)
1. Rhode Island is described as having a "long-standing tradition of independence that sometimes verged on eccentricity." There are some interesting examples of this in history like their lax debtors laws before the Revolution and had a mixed race regiment during the Revolution that defied the bigoted Southern politicians who feared armed blacks. Because of this eccentric independence, they rejected the proposed impost by Robert Morris because RI valued states' sovereignty over a central authority. Do you think that that is "eccentric independence"? We still have that argument today. Are there other examples of eccentric independence today or during the Revolution that you can think of?
2. Joseph Ellis said that if Hamilton had taken the presidency, he would have been an authoritarian dictator (ha!). Do you think this opinion comes across in Ellis's description of him?
3. Compare Ellis's description to that of McCullough's in John Adams. We've seen McCullough's bias in his book, do you think either of these authors has done him justice? Is the bias overwhelmingly strong that it takes you out of the book?
4. Ellis describes Ron Chernow's book, Alexander Hamilton, as "magisterial." Do you think that it is? Is there danger from only looking at secondary sources for information? (Not that Ellis has done this. He did use quite a few letters from Hamilton and other primary sources.)
5. Is there a particular passage from the reading you liked or disliked? Why?