Politics of reproduction : race, disease, and fertility in the age of abolition

276 Pages·2017·3.37 MB·English

by  Paugh

THE PAST & PRESENT BOOK SERIES
GeneralEditor
PETER COSS
The Politics of Reproduction

The Politics of
Reproduction
Race, Medicine, and Fertility
in the Age of Abolition
KATHERINE PAUGH
1
3
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To my parents,
Jon and Roberta Paugh,
who taught me to read and write,
and to my Uncle Phil,
who taught me to gamble...

Acknowledgments
Ihaveincurredmanydebts,bothintellectualandpractical,duringtheyearsIspent
writing this book. I have been fortunate to receive a number of grants and
fellowshipsthatsupportedtheresearchandwritingofthisbook.Fortheirfinancial
support, I should like to thank the University of Pennsylvania, the Library
Company of Philadelphia, the North American Conference on British Studies,
the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the Gilder Lehrman Institute, the
HarvardInternationalSeminarontheHistoryoftheAtlanticWorld,theAmerican
Philosophical Society, the Huntington Library, and the University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee.
Inpreparingthisbook,Ihavebenefitedfromthegenerousassistanceofarchivists
at institutions in the United States, the Caribbean, and Great Britain. I would
therefore like to extend thanks to the archivists at the Library Company of
Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society, the Philadelphia College of
Physicians,theNewYorkHistoricalSociety,theHuntingtonLibrary,theBarbados
Department of Archives, the Barbados Public Library, the University of the West
Indies-Cave Hill, the British Library, the School of Oriental and African Studies
(University of London), the National Archives of Great Britain, the Bodleian and
Rhodes House Libraries (Oxford University), the York Minster Library, the
NationalArchivesofScotland,andtheUniversityofEdinburgh.
This book began as a dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania, and bene-
fited from the guidance of faculty mentors who taught me how history is made:
Daniel Richter, Kathleen Brown, Michael Zuckerman, Drew Faust, and Sheldon
Hackney all deserve special thanks. Daniel Richter, in particular, has offered
unfailingly patient advice over the years on matters both historical and practical,
has helped me immensely as a writer, and has served as a role model of generous
mentorship, not only for myself, but for a generation of early Americanists. I am
also very grateful to Mary Fissell for her sage advice—she was bound by no
institutional obligation, but has nonetheless offered many years of advice and
intellectual guidance during my graduate training and early career, out of sheer
scholarly generosity. Special thanks go also to Kathleen Wilson, who has offered
thoughtful advice and mentoring that was crucial to the evolution of the book
manuscript. A number of scholars have also improved this book immeasurably
with their comments, including Roderick McDonald, Steve Hindle, Philip
Morgan, Chris Brooks, Merry Wiesner-Hanks, Ellen Amster, Bruce Fetter, and
JeromeHandler.
I have presented portions of this book in a number of public venues, including
seminarsandcolloquiaattheUniversityofNewcastle,theUniversityofCalifornia
atDavis,theHuntingtonLibrary,theUniversityofSouthernCalifornia,theState
University of New York at Buffalo, Virginia Commonwealth University, the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the McNeil Center for Early American
viii Acknowledgments
Studies, the University of York, Johns Hopkins University, the University of
Pennsylvania, and the University of California at Santa Cruz, and also at annual
meetings of the Association of Caribbean Historians, the American Historical
Association, the Society of Early Americanists, and the American Society of
Eighteenth-Century Studies. I would like to thank the participants for their very
helpfulcommentsandsuggestions.
Portions of this book have appeared previously as journal articles. An early
meditation on the subject of this book appeared in Past & Present in 2013.
ApreliminaryversionofChapter2appearedinSlavery&Abolitionin2014.Portions
of Chapter4 appeared in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, also in 2014. I am
indebtedtotheeditorsandanonymousreadersatthesejournalsfortheirguidance.
Ihavebaskedintheintellectualcamaraderieofanumberoffellowscholarsover
theyears.Ihadtheopportunitytoengagewithalivelycommunityofscholarsinmy
fieldattheMcNeilCenterforEarlyAmericanstudiesduringtheyearsIhungmy
hat there, including Yvie Fabella, Heather Kopelson, Matthew Garrett, Hunt
Howell,YvettePiggush,LauraSpero,PatrickSpero,AndrewLipman,KyleRoberts,
Michelle McDonald, Catherine Kelly, Brian Connolly, Simon Finger, Jessica
Lepler, Jared Richman, and Ken Cohen, among many others. During the year
IspentrevisingthisbookattheHuntingtonLibrary,Ifoundanequallystimulating
intellectual community with Cynthia Nazarian, Paul Ramirez, Michele Navakas,
Carol Pal, Lindsay O’Neill, and Jason Sharples. I owe a special debt to my fellow
graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania, who inspired me with their
determinationthroughthetrialsofcomprehensiveexamsanddissertationdefenses,
including Julia Rabig, Jen Schaaf, Nick DiLiberto, Todd Wolfson, Vanessa
Mongey, Gregory Wolmart, Paul Burnett, Mate Tokic, Sarah Van Beurden, Joe
Drury,DeirdreBrill,AndrewHeath,TehyunMa,andTinaCollins.Iwouldliketo
express my gratitude, also, to the wonderful students and colleagues I have had the
pleasureofworkingwithattheinstitutionsatwhichIhavetaughtduringthewriting
ofthisbook:theUniversityofWisconsin-Milwaukee,SarahLawrenceCollege,and
the University of Pennsylvania. I am particularly grateful to my cohort in the
Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Christine
Evans, David DiValerio, Winson Chu, Lisa Silverman, and Marcus Filippello
have provided tremendous support and encouragement during the latter stages of
writingthisbook.
This book could not have been written without the encouragement of friends
and family along the way. Thanks to Fatima Patel, Dillon Brown, Maria Landa
Buil, JairoSánchezGalvis,Elisabeth Bladh, Melanie Newton,Alejandra Coy, and
Anthony Matthews for making me feel at home abroad. Thanks to Rachel Steele,
AmyAltmiller,andJohnMcCoy,myoldestanddearestfriends.Ialsoofferheremy
love and thanks to my brother and sister, Jon and Rachel Paugh, my fond remem-
brancetomyparentsJonandRobertaPaughandmyunclePhilZebrakus,maythey
restinpeaceknowingthatIfinallyfinishedthebookthattheydidnotlivetoseebut
alwaysbelievedin,andfinallymygratitudetomysonFelix,whosearrivalgracedme
withadelightfulandnon-negotiableincentivetobringthisprojecttoaclose.
Contents
ListofFiguresandTables xi
Introduction 1
1. “TheOldSettlersHaveBredaGreatQuantityofSlaves”:Slavery,
Reproduction,andRevolution,1763–97 23
2. TheCuriousCaseofMaryHylas:Wives,Slaves,andtheLimits
ofBritishAbolitionism 55
3. ConceivingFertilityintheAgeofAbolition:Slavery,Sexuality,
andthePoliticsofMedicalKnowledge 85
4. AWestIndianMidwife’sTale:ThePoliticsofChildbirth
onNewtonPlantation 122
5. “AnIncreasingCapitalinanIncreasingGang”:Governing
Reproduction,1798–1838 154
6. Missionaries,Madams,andMothersinBarbados 190
Afterword 232
Bibliography 239
Index 255