Who Should Rule at Home?: Confronting the Elite in British New York City

by Joyce D. Goodfriend

Overview

In Who Should Rule at Home? Joyce D. Goodfriend argues that the high-ranking gentlemen who figure so prominently in most accounts of New York City's evolution from 1664, when the English captured the small Dutch outpost of New Amsterdam, to the eve of American independence in 1776 were far from invincible and that the degree of cultural power they held has been exaggerated. The urban elite experienced challenges to its cultural authority at different times, from different groups, and in a variety of settings.

Goodfriend illuminates the conflicts that pitted the privileged few against the socially anonymous many who mobilized their modest resources to creatively resist domination. Critics of orthodox religious practice took to heart the message of spiritual rebirth brought to New York City by the famed evangelist George Whitefield and were empowered to make independent religious choices. Wives deserted husbands and took charge of their own futures. Indentured servants complained or simply ran away. Enslaved women and men carved out spaces where they could control their own lives and salvage their dignity. Impoverished individuals, including prostitutes, chose not to bow to the dictates of the elite, even though it meant being cut off from the sources of charity. Among those who confronted the elite were descendants of the early Dutch settlers; by clinging to their native language and traditional faith they preserved a crucial sense of autonomy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501708039
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	03/07/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joyce D. Goodfriend is Professor of History at the University of Denver. She is the author of Before the Melting Pot: Society and Culture in Colonial New York City, 1664–1730, editor of Revisiting New Netherland: Perspectives on Early Dutch America, and coeditor of Going Dutch: The Dutch Presence in America, 1609–2009.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Pan-ethnic Elite and the Problem of Cultural Authority

Part I. The Indigestible Dutch

1. The Crystallization of an Anti-Dutch Narrative

2. From Nation to Linguistic Community

Part II. Pious Commoners

3. George Whitefield Awakens New York City

4. Becoming Religious Consumers

Part III. Defiant Dependents

5. "Master of the House"?

6. Attached to the Household

7. Sabotaging the Civilizers Conclusion: Tipping the Cultural Scales

What People are Saying About This

Simon Middleton

The beautifully written Who Should Rule at Home? demonstrates Joyce D. Goodfriend's deep and rich engagement with the primary sources. Her coverage of religious and devotional culture and Dutch New York are especially valuable.

Billy Smith

"Who Should Rule at Home? promises to become the definitive book about early New York City. It is beautifully written and well and convincingly argued. Joyce D. Goodfriend redefines power and the struggle over it in cultural terms. She also digs deeply in the primary sources to paint a picture of how common folks were able not only to challenge the elites but also to carve out space for full lives within families, neighborhoods, and churches. Goodfriend's emphasis on ethnicity and race is most welcome because of the enduring relevance of the ways in which Americans negotiate cultural power."

Patricia U. Bonomi

Joyce D. Goodfriend's deeply researched book teems with instances of ethnic, religious, and social unrest among colonial New York City’s lower ranks, who vigorously challenged the authority of those higher up. A fascinating read.

Editorial Reviews

Besides using standard sources, the author effectively made use of various religious accounts. These include Moravian journals to illustrate aspects of women's history. Outstanding.

Choice

In her well-researched study, Goodfriend situates herself in the historiography of early America as well as of the American Reovlution by uncovering what, other than political ideology, motivated New Yorkers to confront authority and try to rule themselves.

American Historical Review

Goodfriend shows that in some ways individual endeavours had greater impacts than more spectacular events.

The English Historical Review

Goodfriend's overarching thesis is elegant yet subtle.... Careful social analysis provides historians with fresh incentives to connect the historiographical and narrative dots.

William and Mary Quarterly

Elegantly written and exhaustively researched.... Goodfriend effectively undercuts older, simplistic views of New Yorkers as grasping merchants or a 'factious people.'.... Historians of British New York will appreciate [Who Should Rule at Home?]'s deep research; its attention to Christianity, race, and ethnicity; and its discovery of the subtle forms of resistance to authority.

The Journal of American History

Besides using standard sources, the author effectively made use of various religious accounts. These include Moravian journals to illustrate aspects of women's history. Outstanding.

-- "Choice"

Elegantly written and exhaustively researched.... Goodfriend effectively undercuts older, simplistic views of New Yorkers as grasping merchants or a 'factious people.'.... Historians of British New York will appreciate [Who Should Rule at Home?]'s deep research; its attention to Christianity, race, and ethnicity; and its discovery of the subtle forms of resistance to authority.

-- "The Journal of American History"

Goodfriend shows that in some ways individual endeavours had greater impacts than more spectacular events.

-- "The English Historical Review"

Goodfriend's overarching thesis is elegant yet subtle.... Careful social analysis provides historians with fresh incentives to connect the historiographical and narrative dots.

-- "William and Mary Quarterly"

In her well-researched study, Goodfriend situates herself in the historiography of early America as well as of the American Reovlution by uncovering what, other than political ideology, motivated New Yorkers to confront authority and try to rule themselves.

-- "American Historical Review"

From the Publisher

"The beautifully written Who Should Rule at Home? demonstrates Joyce D. Goodfriend's deep and rich engagement with the primary sources. Her coverage of religious and devotional culture and Dutch New York are especially valuable."

Simon Middleton

"Joyce D. Goodfriend's deeply researched book teems with instances of ethnic, religious, and social unrest among colonial New York City’s lower ranks, who vigorously challenged the authority of those higher up. A fascinating read."

Patricia U. Bonomi

"Who Should Rule at Home? promises to become the definitive book about early New York City. It is beautifully written and well and convincingly argued. Joyce D. Goodfriend redefines power and the struggle over it in cultural terms. She also digs deeply in the primary sources to paint a picture of how common folks were able not only to challenge the elites but also to carve out space for full lives within families, neighborhoods, and churches. Goodfriend's emphasis on ethnicity and race is most welcome because of the enduring relevance of the ways in which Americans negotiate cultural power."

Billy Smith

"In her well-researched study, Goodfriend situates herself in the historiography of early America as well as of the American Reovlution by uncovering what, other than political ideology, motivated New Yorkers to confront authority and try to rule themselves."

AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW

"Goodfriend's overarching thesis is elegant yet subtle.... Careful social analysis provides historians with fresh incentives to connect the historiographical and narrative dots."

WILLIAM AND MARY QUARTERLY

"Besides using standard sources, the author effectively made use of various religious accounts. These include Moravian journals to illustrate aspects of women's history. Outstanding."

Choice - L. M. Hauptman