|
|
|
Review
| Revolutionary Generation: Harvard Men and the Consequences of Independence, by Conrad Edick Wright. Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts in association with Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2005. 299 pages. $34.95, cloth.
|
| Revolutionary Generation is a group biography of 204 men, members of the Harvard College classes of 1771-1774. This study approaches its subject from the perspective of life-course and life analysis. The author, Conrad Wright, makes use of the transitional events in the lives of the individuals investigated, and with information from letters, diaries and other primary sources, to reconstruct the interior lives and activities of these Harvard students "from birth and childhood through their college years to maturity, careers, marriage and parenthood, then to old age and death," The result is a fine social history of Harvard's revolutionary generation which provides a window into the community life of New England (98 percent of the members of the Harvard classes of 1771-1774 came from Massachusetts and coastal New Hampshire) from the eve of the revolution to the new nation era. Wright demonstrates that most Harvard students in the late eighteenth century were the sons of leading citizens of what he describes as "mature agricultural" communities and market towns. Their fathers were often farmers, merchants, and artisans. The families were traditional, with mothers performing the conventional tasks of eighteenth-century homemakers. Many in this generation were the first in the family to attend college, for "fewer than one of four students followed his father to Harvard." Social status mattered, however, for eighteenth century Harvard students were still ranked by their social class, rather than academic performance. |
1
|
|
Wright also presents a detailed portrait of Harvard College during the era of the revolution. When it was founded in the 1630s, soon after the Puritans settled New England, the primary objective of the school was to train ministers. However, by the late eighteenth century, while continuing to educate the clergy of the Congregational Church, the major role of Harvard was to prepare men for leadership in an increasingly more secular and less Congregational world. Although the college provided a solid academic foundation, the aim was not to produce intellectuals. In addition to education, the school imparted refinement in the social graces, skills regarded as essential for those who would occupy the positions of influence and power expected of Harvard graduates. Harvard alumni like the rest of the population during this crucial stage of the American experience underwent major changes. They were of course impacted by the war ("fully half of the students bore arms at least briefly, and one-quarter put in extended military or naval duty") and the revolution generally. Most were patriots although a few were Loyalists, some of whom became permanent exiles and settled in Canada, the Caribbean and England. Those who remained in the United States found greater opportunities available in the new American republic, particularly in the area of politics and government. Young men rose more easily in local office and a few, notably William Eustice, who served as the Secretary of War during James Madison's presidency, acquired high offices. Others played a pivotal role in the creation of a distinct American culture. The most important example in this respect was the artist John Trumball, who achieved immortality through his depiction of leading figures and momentous events of the American Revolution. |
2
|
|
Revolutionary America is a very good text for upper division undergraduate courses in American history, particularly classes focusing on the American Revolution, the history of education, and the social history of the 18th century and American religious history. The lives of the men illustrate the impact pact of the revolution on American society. The information on Harvard, as well as the rise of Bowdoin College, Philips Academy, Andover Theological Seminary, and the Wheaton Female Seminary (later Wheaton College), all founded by Harvard graduates of the 1771-1774 classes, present insight into the status of higher education (especially in regards to class and gender). The transition of Harvard from a bastion of Calvinism to the proponent of liberal Christianity (as manifested by changes in Congregationalism and the emergence of American Unitarianism) in the early nineteenth century illuminates the transformation of the religious landscape of New England during this era. Conrad Wright has very successfully accomplished his goal of contributing not only a very important study of the revolutionary generation of Harvard graduates, but also one that illustrates significant consequences of the War for Independence. |
3
|
| | |
| University of North Florida |
Carolyn Williams |
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|