HST296E: Reading Notes, 17-Feb-2005
Barron, Hal S. Those Who Stayed
Behind; Rural Society in Nineteenth-century New England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1) After the
frontier: theory, historiography, and the social history of settled
rural America
rural and city life developed differently in late 19th cent. One should
not conflate the two. "Condition in settled rural communities stand in
marked contrast to our prevailing perception of rapid growth in
nineteenth-century American society as well as to our theoretical
presuppositions about the relationships between economic and social
change." (p. 15)
2) The storm
before the calm: growth and conflict in a developing rural community
"For the first 50 years of its history, then, Chelsea grew rapidly and
was dominated by social conflicts that manifested themselves in the
arenas of religion and politics." (p. 25)
Early conflict: mixing different people; later conflict: social
differences in economy.
1800s: aging population, smaller families, railroad bypasses, older
sons leave, younger sons inherit farm and parents. Less population but
number of farms remains steady (p. 29)
3) The different
meanings of rural decline in nineteenth-century America
Agricultural periodicals in New England, for example, expressed
relatively little anxiety about the nature of country life in the
region as it lost population...instead...agricultural societies [were
formed] to promote better farming practices and other economic
improvements." (p. 31)
Out-migration was high, in-migration low. In-migration from close
communities. Soil was not old and worn out, there were just not as many
people there to work it.
"Agriculturists regarded population loss mainly as the result of an
imbalance of economic opportunities between rural New England and the
West, which they sought to redress through specific agricultural
reform." (p. 36)
"Later, eugenicists such as Charles B. Davenport formalized this
impression and viewed feeblemindedness and sexual immorality as the
hereditarian hallmarks of declining and degenerating rural
communities." (p. 39) The pioneers are the cream of the crop--what gets
left behindis the dregs.
Country Life Movement: let's go fix the country scientifically
Rural Church Movement: the church is a good useful institution - don;t
abandon it.
Schools: professionalize them, centralize them
Socialization: teach them the benefits of
Response to reformers? just say no
But wait: city and country need each other - we'll take your surplus
population and your food!
3) Quitting the
farm and closing the shop: the economy of a settled rural community
6) Their town: the
emergence of consensus and homogeneity in a settled rural community
"Chelsea at the turn of the century was a remarkably homogeneous and
like-minded community. . .[embodying] a settled rural respectability."
(p. 112)
Late 19th: Protestant, Republican, temperate, social, little
in-migration, stable population (so familiar thought patterns)
1830, 40s: Second Great Awakening (1833: West Hill Union Meeting House,
auctioned pews)
1842: Congregational Church revival, large and mostly male artisans and
tradesmen, but also single women. In wake of depression of late 1830s
many of these would soon move on, but affinity with church (and letters
of recommendation to new churches) brought feeling of stability and for
businessmen, good business contacts. But, 1840s revival: no balls,
dancing, circuses, theatres or liquor. Number of Congregationalists was
still minority, but these practices were adopted by many in community.
"The most intriguing hypothesis argues that temperance and evangelical
religion in general offered a substitute for the traditional social
bonds that had been destroyed by the emergence of free wage labor and
translocal economic relationships." (p. 117) most converts were
tradesmen/professionals/merchants
Still, temperance was OK if voluntary but resisted in face of attempts
to impose it
"Temperance reform began in Chelsea during the 1830s and 1840s as an
individual strategy for coping with economic uncertainties, but during
the course of the century it became a means for defining the local
community with sobriety as the most visible social boundary." (p. 120)
Republican party: 1855, 75-85% of vote for rest of century. Idealogy
was progressive, optimistic, identified with farmers and small
entrepreneurs.
Civil War also acted to cement unity, while voluntary associations
helped: Agricultural Society, temperance societies, veterans, Ladies
Aid, Band, Baseball, Debating, drama, sewing. Churches became more like
clubs, denominational lines blurred.
(He also sees the dwindling number of lawsuits as a sign that people
got along better--but couldn;t it be that lawsuits no longer were felt
to resolve issues and other means were tried...)
"Elsewhere, images of vicious gossip and enduring quarrels permeate
literary depictions of settled rural life, albeit by authors who
usually chose to leave town rather that those who stayed behind." (p.
130) Hey! The Gossips of Rivertown. He footnotes #44 - check it out.
Conclusion: Those who stayed behind
"two major configurations of values that emerged from the great social
and economic transformations of the second half of the nineteenth
century: laissez-faire individualism and the spirit of progressive
reform." (p. 133)
Successful Chelseans combined competance in farming/business with
stability in kinship ties--not profit-maximizing entrepreneurs.
Ironically, what they did paralleled what the Country Life Movement
wanted them to do, but they did it not out of reforming zeal but out of
building stability.
"Although society in Chelsea became more homogeneous and although life
within the boundaries of community was rarely marred by social
conflict, those boundaries eventually became rigid and anachronistic
and excluded new people and outside ideas." (p. 136)
hope.greenberg@uvm.edu,
created/updated: 17-February-2005
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