Includes bibliographical references (p. [207]-227) and index.
Contents
Ch. 1. Immigrants to Paradise: White Women in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake -- Ch. 2. Goodwives and Bad: New England Women in the Seventeenth Century -- Ch. 3. The Sisters of Pocahontas: Native American Women in the Centuries of Colonization -- Ch. 4. In a "Babel of Confusion": Women in the Middle Colonies -- Ch. 5. The Rhythms of Labor: African-American Women in Colonial Society -- Ch. 6. The Rise of Gentility: Class and Regional Differences in the Eighteenth Century -- Ch. 7. "Beat of Drum and Ringing of Bell": Women in the American Revolution -- Epilogue. Fair Daughters of Columbia: White Women in the New Republic.
Summary
The Indian, European, and African women of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century America were defenders of their native land, pioneers on the frontier, willing immigrants, and courageous slaves. They were also - as earlier scholars tended to overlook - as important as men in shaping American culture and history. First Generations is one of the first books to examine these women's experiences, to look at them not only as wives, mothers, household managers, laborers, rebels,
but, invariably, as active participants in the creation of their societies. In fascinating biographical portraits and analyses of collective experiences, Carol Berkin conveys the varieties of female lives, separated by class, region, and race but linked by laws and presumptions that defined them by gender.
Exploring Local Business History -- Learning the Internal History of a Business -- Developing the History of a Business in its Environment -- Local Business History:Internal Sources -- Local Business History: External Sources -- Presenting Local Business History.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-310) and index.
Summary
Although the United States has always portrayed itself as a sanctuary for the world's victim's of poverty and oppression, anti-immigrant movements have enjoyed remarkable success throughout American history. None attained greater prominence than the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, a fraternal order referred to most commonly as the Know Nothing party. Vowing to reduce the political influence of immigrants and Catholics, the Know Nothings burst onto the American political scene in 1854, and by the end of the following year they had elected eight governors, more than one hundred congressmen, and thousands of other local officials including the mayors of Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago. After their initial successes, the Know Nothings attempted to increase their appeal by converting their network of lodges into a conventional political organization, which they christened the "American Party." Recently, historians have pointed to the Know Nothings' success as evidence that ethnic and religious issues mattered more to nineteenth-century voters than better-known national issues such as slavery. In this important book, however, Anbinder argues that the Know Nothings' phenomenal success was inextricably linked to the firm stance their northern members took against the extension of slavery. Most Know Nothings, he asserts, saw slavery and Catholicism as interconnected evils that should be fought in tandem. Although the Know Nothings certainly were bigots, their party provided an early outlet for the anti-slavery sentiment that eventually led to the Civil War. Anbinder's study presents the first comprehensive history of America's most successful anti-immigrant movement, as well as a major reinterpretation of the political crisis that led to the Civil War.
