This paper examines attitudes toward wilderness in the Chesapeake from 1650 to 1787. Traditionally scholars have argued that responses to wilderness during this time period were more ideological than pragmatic, but this paper argues the opposite, using as case studies four accounts by Chesapeake residents: The Discovery of New Brittaine (1650), by Edward Bland; The History and Present State of Virginia (1705), by Robert Beverley, The History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina (1728), by William Byrd II; and Notes on the State of Virginia (1787), by Thomas Jefferson. Religious and intellectual views were not the primary influences of these responses; instead, settlers assessed wilderness according to the material value of its resources. This mode of evaluation perhaps stemmed from the pressures of a tobacco economy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-05092008-234936 |
| Date | 07 August 2008 |
| Creators | Green, Katie Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Dan Flores, Kyle Volk, Phil Condon |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-05092008-234936/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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