HIST 103 Journeys to Philadelphia: The New Republic through Travelers' Eyes (1790-1832)
Safier
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
SEM
The ratification of the constitution and the establishment of Philadelphia as the new capital of the United States brought a flood of interest and a deluge of immigrants and travelers to the city during the period immediately following the establishment of the American republic. What might it have been like to walk the streets of Philadelphia during those heady times? Other than the owner Martha Smallwood, what characters was one likely to meet at the Man Full of Trouble tavern or the Merchant's Coffee House, and what might they have been discussing? What interactions might one have had with individuals of the many social classes, religious persuasions, and ethnic groupings that populated the city? French immigrants, African-American slaves and freedmen, fishmongers, merchants, cobblers, constitutional signers, and other participants in the drama of daily life in Philadelphia created a diverse urban panorama which this course will examine through travel accounts penned by foreign observers and magazines and other periodicals published during this period. Using historical maps and visual documents, students will narrate their way through Philadelphia describing the sights, sounds, and smells of life in the capital of a new nation. With contemporary Philadelphia as a backdrop, the class will be able to visit the landmarks of the city and speculate on the cultural customs one might have observed there 225 years ago. And by examining the earliest racial, ethnic, and social stratifications of a city built through the coerced labor of another immigrant class, African slaves and their descendants, the course will attempt to understand—through eyewitness accounts—the roots and legacies of institutionalized social and economic inequality in early American life.
