From 'Peaceable Kingdom' to 'Wild West': Violence and Crime on the Early American Frontier.

从“和平王国”到“狂野西部”：早期美国边境的暴力和犯罪。

• 批准号: AH/D001633/1
• 负责人: Matthew Ward
• 金额: $ 30.61万
• 依托单位: University of Dundee
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2006 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FD001633%2F1
• 关键词: Peaceable; Kingdom; Wild; West; Violence

Historians from Frederick Jackson Turner, writing at the end of the nineteenth century, have recognised the role of the frontier in shaping a distinctive American society, different both from its European forebears and from other societies in North America. Central to all historians' definitions of frontier society is the propensity of frontier residents to resort to violence. Yet while historians have universally acknowledged the frequency of frontier violence they have made little attempt to understand the causes or nature of this violence. Indeed, underlying many frontier studies is the implicit assumption that frontier societies were, by their very nature, violent. However, recent work, on early Pennsylvania in particular, has revealed that the American frontier did not have to be violent but could foster a harmonious relationship both between the settlers themselves and between settlers and Native Americans. Most of the recent work on the early American frontier has focused on particular local, or at the most regional, studies and there has been little broad comparative work. The few historians who have made broader studies of the frontier have rooted their explanations of violence largely in the ethnicity of frontier settlers. In particular, historians have explained the ubiquity of frontier violence by the presence of Scottish and Ulster Scots settlers on the frontier. They have assumed that such settlers brought traditions of violence with them across the Atlantic, although such traditions of endemic violence are all but impossible to locate in the British Isles.This project will analyse why violence and disorder became so prevalent in certain parts of the frontier but not in others, and will define the extent, nature and causes of frontier violence. An overarching premise of this project is that the spread of violence and disorder on the frontier was not determined solely by the intrinsic nature of a frontier society, but rather by a combination of social and cultural forces which were unique to each region. Indeed frontier society was markedly different in each region, and each region had different patterns of violence and crime. The study will also examine the results of that violence, and in particular the extent to which violence generated individualism or fostered community cohesion.The project will examine study four separate 'frontiers': early south-eastern Pennsylvania in the first half of the eighteenth century; western North Carolina from ca. 1740-1800; western Pennsylvania from ca. 1760-1810 and Upper Canada from ca. 1770-1820. By studying four regions where there were different patterns of frontier violence, it will be possible to study the influence of forces which generated violence such as the nature of the settlers' relationship with Native Americans, the effectiveness of judicial and political authority, the impact of absentee land-ownership, the extent of gun-ownership, and economic competition for land and trade. The central element of this project is a comparative study between the frontier of early Canada and that of the United States. A further comparative element will be added by studying several related regions of the United States' frontier in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.A comparative study of the causes and nature of violence on the frontier will enhance our understanding of how, when and why violence occurred all along the North American frontier, and thus deepen our understanding of the role and purposes of violence in early American society. By providing a new perspective on the causes and results of violence and by explaining how violence operated on the frontier, this project will provide new ways of approaching and understanding some of the central issues of early American history such as Indian-white relations, warfare, and the acquisition of land, and , perhaps most importanly, the role of the frontier in shaping American identity.

来自弗雷德里克·杰克逊·特纳（Frederick Jackson Turner）的历史学家在19世纪末写作，已经认识到边境在塑造一个独特的美国社会中的作用，这与其欧洲前辈和北美其他社会不同。所有历史学家对边境社会的定义的核心是边境居民诉诸暴力的倾向。然而，尽管历史学家普遍承认边境暴力的频率，但他们并没有试图理解这种暴力的原因或性质。的确，许多边境研究的基本是隐含的假设，即边境社会本质上是暴力的。但是，最近在宾夕法尼亚州早期的工作表明，美国边境不必是暴力的，但可以在定居者本身以及定居者和美国原住民之间建立和谐的关系。最近关于美国早期边境的大多数工作都集中在特定的本地研究或最区域的研究上，并且几乎没有广泛的比较工作。对边境进行更广泛研究的少数历史学家将对暴力的解释植根在很大程度上是基于边境定居者的种族。特别是，历史学家通过苏格兰和阿尔斯特苏格兰人定居者在边境上的存在来解释了边境暴力无处不在。他们假设这样的定居者带来了整个大西洋的暴力传统，尽管这种流行暴力的传统几乎不可能在不列颠群岛中定位。该项目将分析为什么暴力和混乱在边境的某些地区如此普遍，而在其他地区则不那么普遍，并且会定义前沿暴力的程度，自然和原因。该项目的总体前提是，暴力和混乱在边境上的传播不仅是由边境社会的内在性质决定的，而是由每个地区独有的社会和文化力量的结合来决定。实际上，边境社会在每个地区都有明显不同，每个地区都有不同的暴力和犯罪模式。该研究还将研究这种暴力的结果，特别是暴力产生个人主义或促进社区凝聚力的程度。该项目将研究研究四个独立的“边境”：宾夕法尼亚州早期的早期宾夕法尼亚州早期。北卡罗莱纳州西部1740-1800;宾夕法尼亚州西部。 1760-1810和上加拿大的加拿大。 1770-1820。通过研究四个区域的边境暴力模式，可以研究产生暴力的力量的影响，例如定居者与美洲原住民关系的性质，司法和政治权威的有效性，缺席土地所有权的影响，枪支持有范围，枪支拥有范围以及对土地和贸易的经济竞争。该项目的核心要素是加拿大早期和美国领域之间的比较研究。将在18世纪末和十九世纪初研究美国边境的几个相关区域来添加一个比较元素。对边境暴力的原因和性质的比较研究将增强我们对北美领域的暴力的理解，从而使我们对早期暴力的角色和目的的理解加深了我们对美国早期社会的作用和目的的理解。通过对暴力的原因和结果提供新的看法，并解释了暴力如何在边境上运作，该项目将提供新的方法来了解和理解美国早期历史的一些核心问题，例如印度白人关系，战争以及对土地的掌握，也许是最重要的，也许最重要的是，在塑造美国身份方面的作用。

项目成果

Laws, Courts and Communities in the Pennsylvania Backcountry, ca. 1750-1800

宾夕法尼亚偏远地区的法律、法院和社区，约。

• DOI: 10.1163/18770703-00601004
• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: Journal of Early American History
• 影响因子: 0.4
• 作者: Ward M

A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire

帝国时代的火器文化史

• 发表时间: 2013
• 作者: Jones, K R