project guidelines

Project # 3
Compose a 1-2-page document in which you lay out your grievances against Britain and argue for independence. It may be in the form of a manifesto, a proclamation, an official letter, etc. You may write it from the perspective of an actual colony or make up a colony that is seeking freedom from British rule, but be sure to include the date and be as specific as possible. Please include a list of sources consulted.

This assignment may be completed in groups of up to four people. If you would like to be in a group but don't know enough people in the class, please contact me, and I will assign you to a group.

We will read as many documents as possible in class.

Project #2
Compose a 1-2-page letter (handwritten or typed) in which you imagine yourself as a British (English, Irish, Welsh, or Scottish) man or woman who has migrated to some part of the British Empire during the nineteenth century. You are writing to someone "back home." What year is it? Who are you and where are you from? Why did you leave the British Isles? Did you receive some form of emigration assistance? What have been your experiences in the empire? What have you encountered? Please provide a bibliography listing the primary and secondary sources you used to compose the letter.

Assignment variation (for extra participation credit): Choose a partner and work on the assignment together. One person is in the empire, the other is back home. One of the letters will be written in response to the other. NB: If you want to do this with a partner, but don't know anyone in class, just let me know.

We will read as many letters as possible in class.

Helpful sources:
Ruth-Ann M. Harris, "'Come you all courageously': Irish women in America write home," Eire-Ireland: Journal of Irish Studies (Spring Summer 2001)

Elizabeth Webby, Colonial Voices: Letters, Diaries, Journalism and other Accounts of Nineteenth-century Australia
-available from the instructor

David Fitzpatrick, Oceans of Consolation: Personal Accounts of Irish Migration to Australia
WEST BOOK -- DU122.I7 O25 1994-Regular Loan

http://history-nz.org/colonisation1.html

Project #1 The British were engaged in a number of remarkable experiments in social engineering in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. These included schemes to settle East Florida with Italian and Minorcan colonists from the Mediterranean, to populate Nova Scotia with Irish Protestants from Ulster, to establish a colony of former slaves and free blacks in Sierra Leone, and to build a penal colony at the edge of the known world in New South Wales.

Imagine you are a group of individuals involved in such a scheme. Write a proposal to King George III (5 pages max) in which you address the following questions:

What do you propose to do?

Who will be involved in the proposed scheme?

In what ways will your scheme benefit the British state?

What kinds of funds are at your disposal?

What do you need from the king?

What challenges, if any, do you anticipate encountering?

You will need to do some research to complete this assignment effectively. Consult general histories of the places involved, as well as studies of the specific schemes. But this research should serve primarily to inform you about the context and give you ideas. Use your imaginations as you construct your proposals: you may come up with variations, as long as they are within the realm of possibility.

Each group will submit one copy of the proposal, a list of works cited, and a one-page description of how you divided the labor. We will read and discuss the proposals in class.

Groups and possible sources:

All groups: Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol II [on reserve]

New Smyrna Colony, East Florida

The Special Collections Department in Library East has an extensive collection of secondary sources by authors such as Corita Corse, Kenneth Beeson, and Patricia Griffin. Note that these are non-circulating, meaning you have to read them in the Special Collections Reading Room. Some titles are also available in the general collection at Library West.

For the broader context, see P. J. Marshall, The Making and Unmaking of Empires: Britain, India, and America, 1750-1780 and Colin Calloway, The Scratch of a Pen.

An excellent and extensive collection of primary sources is available on line: Florida History Online.

Irish in Nova Scotia

Documents provided by Prof H-J and available in the general collection at Library West (e.g. A geographical history of Nova Scotia : Containing an account of the situation, extent and limits thereof. . .. London, 1749)

**see also Grant and Munro, Acts of the Privy Council of England, DA25.A1 Vol. IV [look in the index under "Nova Scotia" and "Alexander McNutt"]

chapter by Peter Marshall in the Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol II

general histories of Canada: Scott See, Desmond Morton, Kenneth McNaught, John Brebner...

Kerby Miller, Emigrants and Exiles

Patrick Fitzgerald and Brian Lambkin, Migration in Irish History

Keith Jeffery, An Irish Empire?

alternative topic: Lord Selkirk's Red River Colony in Manitoba

Note: Since the establishment of Sierra Leone was proposed and undertaken by companies (the St George's Bay Company and the Sierra Leone Company), your petition can take the form of a petition from a company for a royal charter. Or it may be a general proposal from an individual like Henry Thornton, Granville Sharp, or Equiano.

Documents available in the general collection, Library West, including:

Falconbridge, Mrs. Anna Maria. Narrative of Two Voyages to the River Sierra Leone during the Years 1791-2-3. . .. London , 1794. 2nd ed. 1802

Mathews, John, Lt., R.N. A Voyage to the River Sierra Leone. . . an Account of the Trade and Production. . . and of the Civil and Religious Customs and Manners. . . With an Additional Letter on the Subject of the Slave Trade. . .. London, 1788. 2nd ed., 1791.

Smeathman, Henry. Plan of a Settlement to be Made Near Sierra Leone on the Grain Coast of Africa. London, 1786.

Wadstrom, Carl Bernhard. Plan for a Free Community at Sierra Leona. London, 1789 and 1792.

Vincent Caretta, Unchained voices : an anthology of Black authors in the English-speaking world of the eighteenth century

general histories of Sierra Leone (Fyfe, Sibthorpe, Kup, Peterson...)

histories of the Black Loyalists (Clifford, Pybus, Schama...)

Note: Since the colony of New South Wales was a government venture from the beginning, your document may be in the form of an internal government "memo" rather than a petition from an individual. You may also use Van Dieman's Land or Norfolk Island as the basis for your project.

Historical Records of New Zealand [click on the plus signs [+] to get to the documents]: see James Matra's proposal and Sir George Young's Plan, particularly "Heads of a plan" and Lord Sydney to the Lords of the Admiralty