We’re joined this week by Yale history professor Mark Peterson to talk about his new book The City State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630-1865. In the interview, Professor Peterson will tell us why he believes that, from its settlement a century and a half before the US Constitutional government was founded until the end of the US Civil War, Boston had a political, economic, and social identity completely independent from the rest of what is now the United States. He’ll also tell us surprising stories about money in early Boston, a French-born British army officer who embodied Boston’s relationship with Acadia, and what it meant for Boston to be a slave society where the enslaved people were kept out of sight.
The City-State of Boston
Professor Mark Peterson will be appearing at the Charles River Museum of Industry in Waltham on November 13. Make sure to catch him there.
Here’s how the publisher describes the book:
In the vaunted annals of America’s founding, Boston has long been held up as an exemplary “city upon a hill” and the “cradle of liberty” for an independent United States. Wresting this iconic urban center from these misleading, tired clichés, The City-State of Boston highlights Boston’s overlooked past as an autonomous city-state, and in doing so, offers a pathbreaking and brilliant new history of early America. Following Boston’s development over three centuries, Mark Peterson discusses how this self-governing Atlantic trading center began as a refuge from Britain’s Stuart monarchs and how—through its bargain with slavery and ratification of the Constitution—it would tragically lose integrity and autonomy as it became incorporated into the greater United States.
Drawing from vast archives, and featuring unfamiliar figures alongside well-known ones, such as John Winthrop, Cotton Mather, and John Adams, Peterson explores Boston’s origins in sixteenth-century utopian ideals, its founding and expansion into the hinterland of New England, and the growth of its distinctive political economy, with ties to the West Indies and southern Europe. By the 1700s, Boston was at full strength, with wide Atlantic trading circuits and cultural ties, both within and beyond Britain’s empire. After the cataclysmic Revolutionary War, “Bostoners” aimed to negotiate a relationship with the American confederation, but through the next century, the new United States unraveled Boston’s regional reign. The fateful decision to ratify the Constitution undercut its power, as Southern planters and slave owners dominated national politics and corroded the city-state’s vision of a common good for all.
Peeling away the layers of myth surrounding a revered city, The City-State of Boston offers a startlingly fresh understanding of America’s history.
Here are some related past episodes
- Professor Peterson talked about Sir William Phips and the attack on Quebec, as well as his treasure hunt.
- The book concludes not long after Boston’s renditions of escaped slaves back into bondage.
- We discussed radical abolitionist David Walker.
- Professor Peterson’s book discusses the attack on Louisbourg.
- We talked about the execution of King Charles I, after which two of his regicides escaped to Boston.
- We briefly mention the 1789 Boston Revolt, which was the local expression of the Glorious Revolution.
- Professor Peterson describes Boston’s slave economy.
Upcoming Event(s)
On October 30, the Massachusetts Historical Society will be hosting a Halloween-themed lunchtime talk. The 2015 movie The Witch, sometimes spelled The VVitch, is a favorite of your humble hosts. It takes the beliefs about witchcraft that early Puritans believed were real and treats them literally. The plot follows one deeply observant family, alone on the 17th century Massachusetts frontier, as they begin to wonder whether they have been cursed. Are they falling prey to hysteria, or are the devil’s minions stalking them among the forests and cornfields? Much of the drama centers around teenage daughter Thomasin’s role as an object of shameful desire for her brother and of jealousy for her mother, and the tension is ramped up by the appearance of an increasingly creepy cast of animals, from a rabbit, to a raven, to a goat named Black Phillip.
In her talk “Inhuman Women and Puritanical Legacies in The VVitch 2015,” Amber Hodge of the University of Mississippi tackles this portrayal of animals and women head-on. Here’s how the MHS describes her talk:
The VVitch (2015) visualizes historical oppression as an origin for present-day animalization and concordant disenfranchisement of women who operate outside of proscribed social norms. This talk connects MHS’s archives to The VVitch’s depiction of animality as both feminine and evil to demonstrate the legacy of patriarchal puritanism and possibilities for resistance.
The event will be held at noon on Wednesday, October 30. It’s free and open to the public, just bring a brown bag lunch to enjoy during the talk.
And because we know that not everyone can make it to the Back Bay in the middle of a weekday, we have a bonus event week. Next week, author Nancy Seasholes will be joining us on the podcast to discuss her new book The Atlas of Boston History, which is available to preorder now. By the time you hear our interview with her, the book will be out, and this coming Thursday, you can attend her book launch party at the main branch of the Boston Public Library. It’s like a record release party, but hopefully much, much nerdier. Here’s how the BPL website describes it:
Join us on the evening of October 24 to celebrate the launch of a landmark volume, The Atlas of Boston History: Tracing Boston’s Development through Maps. A reception will be held at 5pm at the Newsfeed Café , followed by a 6:30 presentation from the book’s editor, historian Nancy S. Seasholes, in Rabb Hall. The evening will conclude with a book signing by Nancy and other Atlas contributors. Attendance is free, and no RSVPs are required. We hope you will be able to join us.