Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

"The Palmy Days of Trade": Anglo-American Culture in Savannah, 1735-1835

Coleman, Feay Shellman

Abstract Details

2013, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: History.
This dissertation is a transnational study that traces the religious, economic, and cultural factors that kept the bonds between Savannah, Georgia and Great Britain strong and vital long after the United States achieved political independence. Through an analysis of Savannah’s pre-eminent merchant family, the Boltons, and their associates, this study demonstrates that enduring connections to Great Britain influenced both the built environment and cultural spaces that Savannahians occupied for about a century-- from Georgia’s founding in 1735 until 1835. Evidence drawn from material culture as well as a fresh reading of traditional sources support this thesis. In addition to documents, primary sources that anchor the analysis include buildings and neighborhoods where Savannahians worshiped, lived, and worked in England and America. Because material culture embodies the social meanings of the economic, religious, and domestic purposes it serves, analysis of specific buildings and neighborhoods in Savannah as counterparts to English prototypes proves the case for common culture. Throughout the dissertation, both material culture and a traditional array of documentary sources reinforce the arguments. Since this study embraces material culture and urban spatial relationships as potent sources, resulting insights break boundaries that have limited scholarship in the past. Scholars have long scrutinized Southern rural elites. And, more recently, historians have concentrated on people at the bottom of the social scale. This research is a long overdue examination of Savannah’s prosperous, urban middle class. Historians of the New Republic often think in terms of what set the United States apart from Great Britain in the period of nation building before 1835. This dissertation adds the dimension of continuity to the scholarly conversation. By presenting new insight into the blending of cultures, this study shows how economic, religious, and cultural interdependence sustained transnational relationships and diluted the meaning of politically drawn borders. At the same time it sheds new light on the themes of religion, gender, class, race, enterprise, and urban life in Savannah.
David Stradling, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Wayne Durrill, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Maura O'Connor, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Patrick Snadon, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
269 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Coleman, F. S. (2013). "The Palmy Days of Trade": Anglo-American Culture in Savannah, 1735-1835 [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367936128

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Coleman, Feay Shellman. "The Palmy Days of Trade": Anglo-American Culture in Savannah, 1735-1835. 2013. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367936128.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Coleman, Feay Shellman. ""The Palmy Days of Trade": Anglo-American Culture in Savannah, 1735-1835." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367936128

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)