Ebony and Ivy Chapter 5
Race and the Rise of the Rise of the American College
Synopsis
This chapter covers the time period in the 1700s before the French & Indian War and after the American Revolution. If you ever wondered where White Supremacy took hold in this country it would be during this period. The mix between religion (mostly Evangelical versus other religions), anti-immigrant feelings (German Immigrants), Racism (towards the slaves) and Native American genocide and trading and commerce all collided
Some key players were Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. And although a lot of what was discussed in this chapter was directly tied to the Ivy League Colleges, a lot also had to do with how the colonies were taking on all of the above factors.
This chapter also focused a lot on events in Pennsylvania but jumped around to other parts of the colonies.
Whitening the Promised Land Colleges and the Racial Destiny of North America
This part of the chapter deals with events that took place in Pennsylvania from 1763 and on. The Paxton Boys, a gang of 50 or so Irish and Scottish Immigrants Killed and scalped a company of frontier people (mostly Susquehannock Indians) in Conestoga, a backcountry town, with a big population of immigrants. Immigrants had pressed into Indian country to form towns like this and it had brought up the value of the property. News came through a letter written by Edward Shippen, an associate of the Governor of Pennsylvania John Penn, who objected and filed warrants against them.
There was a delicate balance between the Local Native Americans and town locals that was disrupted because of this. The Paxton Boys were encouraged by Evangelical Pastors like John Eldon who believed that it was the racial destiny of white Christians to possess the earth.
The Paxton Boys retaliated and headed to Philadelphia to wipe out another Native Tribe called the Lenape but met military resistance in Germantown. This demonstrates views on Native American during this period. There was a definite feeling that Native Americans were mistreated and could somehow be saved or reformed by religion and education, but those that thought that (Like Benjamin Franklin) also admitted that they thought they were going to eventually be extinguished. These attitudes changed as the French American War happened. Once it was clear that some Native tribes aligned with the French against the colonies-still under British rule. The prevailing rule was that the Native American could not be trusted and those in power like General George Washington found ways to manipulate relationships with Native tribes to get them to fight amongst themselves to help eliminate them.
The fate of American Colleges had been intertwined from the beginning with the social project of dispossessing Indian People. Philadelphia rose on the interdependence of the slave trade, European Immigrants, and Native lands. Shippen and Penn amongst others, were both affiliated with the College of Philadelphia (U of Penn) as they sat on the board and owned land in the backcountry settled by immigrants and owned slaves. Trustee Richard Peters helped perpetrate the infamous Walking Purchase of 1737 which swindled Lenape people off their land, helped by the Iroquis (this was only one of a few examples listed). Governor John Penns family owned most of the backland that included Pennsylvania and Delaware and took more than 1000 square miles of Lenape land during the Walking Purchase of 1737. This was a huge money making business selling or leasing land to many European Immigrants including Jewish and Germans. Many on the board of the Philadelphia College were in the indentured servant trade, as well as bringing immigrants to this part of the colonies.
Purely White People
Christianity provided a spiritual compliment to an emerging economic and political entitlement. Mid Century white colonists claimed a divine right to North America. (Manifest Destiny). Provost William Smith We are become a great and growing people. The growing of the colonies was now more important than colonizing Indians. This would show that Protestantism won! (He also had a crazy theory that England was in Western Europe because God wanted it to claim America!). Colleges bought into this line of thinking as well. Unify the colonies and manifest destiny.
Ben Franklin Founder of the College of Philadelphia knew the number of white people in the world was proportionally very small. He didnt believe in massacring Indians was right (And preferred them over black slaves and Germans) and publicly condemned it, but did accept that Indian populations were doomed and would diminish continually as they interacted with white colonists. (Basically the same thing). His antislavery sentiments came from the fear that black slaves would darken the complexion of America. Franklin like the possibility of purifying North America. He was a slaveholder, businessman and land speculator. He worrie
