EARLY AMERICAN STUDIES
Daniel K. Richter and Kathleen M. Brown, Series Editors
Exploring neglected aspects of our colonial, revolutionary, and early national history and culture, Early American Studies reinterprets familiar themes and events in fresh ways. Interdisciplinary in character, and with a special emphasis on the period from about 1600 to 1850, the series is published in partnership with the McNeil Center for Early American Studies.
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
Liberty on the
Waterfront
American Maritime Culture in the Age of Revolution
Paul A. Gilje
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
Philadelphia
Copyright © 2004 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gilje, Paul A., 1951-
Liberty on the waterfront : American maritime culture in the Age of Revolution /
Paul A. Gilje.
p. cm. - (Early American studies)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8122-3756-0 (alk. paper)
1. United States. Navy-History-18th century. 2. United States. Navy-History-
19th century. 3. Sailors-United States-History-18th century. 4. Sailors-United
States-History-19th century. 5. Seafaring life-United States-History-18th
century. 6. Seafaring life-United States-History-19th century. 7. United States-
History, Naval-18th century. 8. United States-History, Naval-19th century.
E182.G55 2003 2003062756
305.9'3875'097309033 22
To Ann
All that is told of the sea has a fabulous sound to an
inhabitant of the land, and all its products have a certain
fabulous quality, as if they belonged to another planet, from
sea-weed to a sailor's yarn, or fish-story.
Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod
We must come down from our heights, and leave our
straight paths, for the byways and low places in life,
if we would learn the truths by strong contrasts; and in
hovels, in forecastles, and among our own outcasts in
foreign lands, see what has been wrought upon our
fellow-creatures by accident, hardship, or vice.
Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast
Contents
3 A Sailor Ever Loves to Be in Motion
5 Brave Republicans of the Ocean
6 Free Trade and Sailors' Rights
7 Proper Objects of Christian Compassion
8 The Ark of the Liberties of the World
Preface
Few words are more central to understanding the American past than “liberty.” But few words have been more contested and ambiguous. Nonetheless, the Founding Fathers believed that the purpose of government was to ensure each man his liberty through protection of the individual and his property. In exchange, each individual had to concede a certain amount of his own liberty to government. Liberty could be endangered in two ways. First, if government amassed too much power, the people could lose their liberty. In 1776 revolutionary leaders argued that King George III and Parliament were guilty of this type of usurpation and that their rule threatened to lead to tyranny. But liberty could also be challenged from below through excess and licentiousness. Granting too much liberty could lead to a world where everyone pursued their own interests regardless of the rights of others, a situation which was akin to savagery. The leaders of the Revolution therefore sought a middle ground between tyranny and anarchy.
“Liberty” also came to epitomize the American cause. Slogans like “Sons of Liberty,” “the Liberty Tree” or “give me liberty or give me death” have come down to us as the very essence of the American Revolution. During the years of the early republic the concept of liberty became deeply embedded in American culture, associated with the concepts of equality, civil rights, and the protection of property. Americans turned to their sacred documents of nationhood—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States—and, conflating the two, proclaimed that they guaranteed American liberty.
We know a great deal about the ideology of the leaders of the American Revolution and how they sought to protect liberty. We also know that Americans have become transfixed by the word “liberty.” But what did those further down in society—such as sailors—think about liberty? How did they apply this word to their everyday lives? And, how did they react to the reification of “liberty” in the years after independence as the phrase became so central to national identity?
This book examines the meaning of “liberty” to those who lived and worked in ports and aboard ships. The people of the waterfront themselves used the word “liberty” in several ways. Sometimes they referred to the higher ideals of the age, but often they referred to a more immediate and individual liberty