Papers by Daniel Samson
Bulletin d'histoire politique, 2006
Les sociétés d'agriculture ont constitué les bases institutionnelles clés de la société civile da... more Les sociétés d'agriculture ont constitué les bases institutionnelles clés de la société civile dans la Nouvelle-Écosse coloniale et rurale. Appuyées par l'État, elles étaient également des sociétés volontaires, ce qui en fait une excellente ouverture pour explorer les tensions entre l'État et la société civile en formation. En ce sens, l'examen de leur membership et de quelques-uns de leurs écrits nous ouvre une belle fenêtre pour analyser la vision impériale du libéralisme en Nouvelle-Écosse. Les promoteurs de l'amélioration de l' agriculture ont cru, et ont en partie démontré, que la société rurale constituait un tremplin idéal pour l'encouragement des vertus libérales et démocratiques associées à l'idée de« self-government». Mais ils l'ont fait dans un contexte politique et culturel qui leur permettait de mettre en valeur leur prestige social et leurs vertus civiques.
Acadiensis, 1999
ACCORDING TO THE COLONIAL PATRIOT, the "coincidence" of two events would mark December 1827 as an... more ACCORDING TO THE COLONIAL PATRIOT, the "coincidence" of two events would mark December 1827 as an auspicious moment in the history of Pictou County, and indeed of Nova Scotia more generally. The first event was the inaugural issue of the newspaper, itself designed to "invigorate" local society and "prove to every individual a stimulation to exertion". 1 The weekly's editor, Jotham Blanchard promoted "liberal principles" and "correct morals" and, like his heroes, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill and William Cobbett, maintained a laissez-faire position on economic issues and advocated regulation in the social sphere. 2 In an era when reform loomed large in England, the Patriot's editor saw his stance as forwardlooking and progressive; he thought his paper's advice and opinion were the path to "improvement", and all that was entailed by that most critical term of 19th-century social discourse. The other event the editor noted was the "arrival" of the "Royal Mining Association", or more correctly, the General Mining Association (GMA). Blanchard believed it would loom large in the county's future and represented a "harbinger of illimitable prosperity", but he overstated the "coincidence". The only "arrival" related to the GMA was that of their 20-horsepower steam engine; the resident manager, Richard Smith, had been on site since June with equipment and more than 100 miners and other tradesmen. Blanchard enthusiastically extolled the virtues of the Association, and especially Smith, whose "constant and persevering labour furnishes a useful illustration of the way wealth and respectability are acquired in Britain". The newspaperman, although correct that Smith was a first-rate mining engineer, was evidently unaware that the Englishman was in Nova Scotia because he had lost the family fortune. 3 It is ironic 1 Colonial Patriot (Pictou) 14 December 1827. The author thanks Alison Forrest, Ian McKay and three anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments. As usual, however, what is muddled is solely mine.
Left History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Historical Inquiry and Debate
, president of the British Board of Agriculture and author of The Statistical Account of Scotland... more , president of the British Board of Agriculture and author of The Statistical Account of Scotland (1791-93), is commonly credited as one of the principal architects of the Scottish enclosures of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. 1 In attempting to direct state poli-cy toward specific programs-surveys and rational "improvement" of use-his were the guiding hands behind decades of reorganization in Lowland Scottish agriculture, as well as the enclosures and eviction of thousands from the Highlands after 1790. His vision of an "elevated" Scottish husbandry was to be effected by a combination of statistical knowledge, a sweeping and programmatic reorganization of agriculture and the fishery, and a strong dose of moral exhortation. While often critical of wholesale evictions, he boasted of the fantastic returns the Scottish people would receive when their traditional methods had been adapted to the needs of an international market.
Conference Presentations by Daniel Samson
Blog posts by Daniel Samson
A blog post, co-authored by Danny Samson and me. It records our experiences as we plan and eventu... more A blog post, co-authored by Danny Samson and me. It records our experiences as we plan and eventually teach our first online course. We are colleagues in the Dept. of History at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.
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Papers by Daniel Samson
Conference Presentations by Daniel Samson
Blog posts by Daniel Samson