Synopses & Reviews
Remaking the British Atlantic focuses on a crucial phase in the history of British-American relations: the first ten years of American Independence. These set the pattern for some years to come. On the one hand, there was to be no effective political rapprochement after rebellion and war. Mainstream British opinion was little influenced by the failure to subdue the revolt or by the emergence of a new America, for which they mostly felt disdain. What were taken to be the virtues of the British constitution were confidently reasserted and there was little inclination either to disengage from empire or to manage it in different ways. For their part, many Americans defined the new order that they were seeking to establish by their rejection of what they took to be the abuses of contemporary Britain. On the other hand, neither the trauma of war nor the failure to create harmonious political relations could prevent the re-establishment of the very close links that had spanned the pre-war Atlantic, locking people on both sides of it into close connections with one another. Many British migrants still went to America. Britain remained America's dominant trading partner. American tastes and the intellectual life of the new republic continued to be largely reflections of British tastes and ideas. America and Britain were too important for too many people in too many ways for political alienation to keep them apart.
Review
"[An] important book on the American Revolution and Articles of Confederation. The author presents a plethora of information on an amazing variety of subjects...The book will appeal to researchers, professional practitioners, and graduate students, all of whom should be prepared to read and reread this significant monograph...Highly recommended." --CHOICE
Review
andldquo;Pond was a significant figure in early mapping and the northern fur trade, and bridged a very important period in its history while contributing to his contemporariesandrsquo; understandings of northwestern North America. Freshwater Passages draws together a wide range of sources and information to present a fresh, multidimensional portrait of Pond that greatly enhances our understanding of this complex and rather mysterious personality.andrdquo;andmdash;Jennifer S. H. Brown, professor of history emeritus at the University of Winnipeg and coeditor of A. Irving Hallowellandrsquo;s Contributions to Ojibwe Studies: Essays, 1934andndash;1972
Review
andldquo;As an American engaged in the Canadian fur trade, Peter Pond contributed to the development and expansion of fur trade commerce among the native people of the Great Lakes region and the Canadian Northwest. There is nothing of its depth and breadth available and it especially brings to life the earliest days of the North West Company.andrdquo;andmdash;Theresa Schenck, associate professor of life sciences communications and American Indian studies and folklore at the University of Wisconsinandndash;Madison and editor of The Ojibwe Journals of Edmund F. Ely, 1833andndash;1849
Review
andquot;Chapin crafts the engaging story of how this forgotten voyager, cartographer, and entrepreneur mapped the Great Salt lake and dreamed of being the first to cross the continent to the Pacific.andquot;andmdash;Will Bagley, True West
Review
andquot;Chapinand#39;s biography is wonderfully written and enjoyable.andquot;andmdash;S. Matthew DeSpain, Western Historical Quarterly
Review
andquot;I suspect that this will be the definitive biography of the man for a long time to come.andquot;andmdash;Claiborne A. Skinner, Annals of Iowa
Synopsis
Peter Pond, a fur trader, explorer, and amateur mapmaker, spent his life ranging much farther afield than Milford, Connecticut, where he was born and died (1740and#8211;1807). He traded around the Great Lakes, on the Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers, and in the Canadian Northwest and is also well known as a partner in Montrealand#8217;s North West Company and as mentor to Alexander Mackenzie, who journeyed down the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Sea. Knowing eighteenth-century North America on a scale that few others did, Pond drew some of the earliest maps of western Canada.
In this meticulous biography, David Chapin presents Pondand#8217;s life as part of a generation of traders who came of age between the Seven Yearsand#8217; War and the American Revolution. Pondand#8217;s encounters with a plethora of distinct Native cultures over the course of his career shaped his life and defined his reputation. Whereas previous studies have caricatured Pond as quarrelsome and explosive, Chapin presents him as an intellectually curious, proud, talented, and ambitious man, living in a world that could often be quite violent. Chapin draws together a wide range of sources and information in presenting a deeper, more multidimensional portrait and understanding of Pond than hitherto has been available.
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About the Author
P. J. Marshall received his first degree and doctorate from Oxford University. His working life between 1959 and 1993 was spent at King's College, London, where he became Rhodes Professor of Imperial History. He is a fellow of the British Academy.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part I: TRANSATLANTIC POLITICS
1. Ending the War
2. Making Peace
3. The Challenge of Revolutionary America
4. The Challenge of Great Britain
5. The Politics of Trade
6. Imperial Frameworks
7. Ireland
8. The British Empire in North America after 1783
9. The Swing to the South
10. Empires of Righteousness: Native Americans, Enslaved Africans, and Indians
Part II: TRANSATLANTIC COMMUNITIES
11. Crossing the Ocean
12. British Communities in North America after 1783
13. The Course of Trade
14. Customs in Common
15. Transatlantic Protestants
Conclusion
Bibliography