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.

从弗雷德里克·杰克逊·特纳（Frederick Jackson Turner）开始的历史学家在世纪末的著作中，已经认识到边疆在塑造一个独特的美国社会方面所起的作用，这个社会既不同于欧洲的祖先，也不同于北美的其他社会。所有历史学家对边疆社会的定义的核心是边疆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繁发生，但他们几乎没有试图了解这种暴力的原因或性质。事实上，许多边疆研究都隐含着这样一个假设，即边疆社会就其本质而言是暴力的。然而，最近的研究，特别是对早期宾夕法尼亚州的研究，揭示了美国边境不一定是暴力的，但可以促进定居者之间以及定居者和美洲原住民之间的和谐关系。最近对早期美国边疆的研究大多集中在特定的地方性研究，或者说是区域性研究，很少有广泛的比较研究。少数对边境进行过广泛研究的历史学家将他们对暴力的解释主要植根于边境定居者的种族。特别是，历史学家解释说，边境暴力无处不在的苏格兰和阿尔斯特苏格兰定居者在边境的存在。他们假定这些定居者把暴力传统带到了大西洋彼岸，尽管这种地方性暴力传统几乎不可能在不列颠群岛找到，这个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，而在其他地区却不普遍，并将确定边境暴力的程度、性质和原因。这个项目的一个首要前提是，边境地区暴力和混乱的蔓延不仅仅是由边境社会的内在性质决定的，而是由每个地区特有的社会和文化力量的结合决定的。事实上，每个地区的边疆社会都有明显的不同，每个地区都有不同的暴力和犯罪模式。该研究还将考察暴力的结果，特别是暴力产生个人主义或促进社区凝聚力的程度。该项目将考察研究四个独立的“边疆”：世纪上半叶的宾夕法尼亚州东南部早期; 18世纪中叶至19世纪中叶的北卡罗来纳州西部; 19世纪中叶至19世纪中叶的北卡罗来纳州西部。1740-1800;宾夕法尼亚州西部从CA。1760年至1810年，加拿大北部。1770-1820.通过研究存在不同形式的边境暴力的四个地区，将有可能研究产生暴力的力量的影响，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，枪支所有权的程度，以及土地和贸易的经济竞争。该项目的核心内容是对早期加拿大和美国边境的比较研究。通过对18世纪末19世纪初美国边境地区的几个相关地区的比较研究，我们可以进一步了解北美边境地区暴力事件的起因和性质，从而加深我们对美国早期社会暴力行为的作用和目的的理解。通过对暴力的原因和结果提供一个新的视角，并通过解释暴力如何在边境运作，该项目将提供新的方法来接近和理解美国早期历史的一些核心问题，如印第安人与白人的关系，战争和土地的获得，也许最重要的是，边境在塑造美国身份中的作用。

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