The Contest for the Delaware Valley

Allegiance, Identity, and Empire in the Seventeenth Century

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book The Contest for the Delaware Valley by Mark L. Thompson, LSU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Mark L. Thompson ISBN: 9780807150603
Publisher: LSU Press Publication: June 3, 2013
Imprint: LSU Press Language: English
Author: Mark L. Thompson
ISBN: 9780807150603
Publisher: LSU Press
Publication: June 3, 2013
Imprint: LSU Press
Language: English

In the first major examination of the diverse European efforts to colonize the Delaware Valley, Mark L. Thompson offers a bold new interpretation of ethnic and national identities in colonial America. For most of the seventeenth century, the lower Delaware Valley remained a marginal area under no state's complete control. English, Dutch, and Swedish colonizers all staked claims to the territory, but none could exclude their rivals for long -- in part because Native Americans in the region encouraged the competition. Officials and settlers alike struggled to determine which European nation would possess the territory and what liberties settlers would keep after their own colonies had surrendered.
The resulting struggle for power resonated on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. While the rivalry promoted patriots who trumpeted loyalties to their sovereigns and nations, it also rewarded cosmopolitans who struck deals across imperial, colonial, and ethnic boundaries. Just as often it produced men -- such as Henry Hudson, Willem Usselincx, Peter Minuit, and William Penn -- who did both.
Ultimately, The Contest for the Delaware Valley shows how colonists, officials, and Native Americans acted and reacted in inventive, surprising ways. Thompson demonstrates that even as colonial spokesmen debated claims and asserted fixed national identities, their allegiances -- along with the settlers' -- often shifted and changed. Yet colonial competition imposed limits on this fluidity, forcing officials and settlers to choose a side. Offering their allegiances in return for security and freedom, colonial subjects turned loyalty into liberty. Their stories reveal what it meant to belong to a nation in the early modern Atlantic world.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In the first major examination of the diverse European efforts to colonize the Delaware Valley, Mark L. Thompson offers a bold new interpretation of ethnic and national identities in colonial America. For most of the seventeenth century, the lower Delaware Valley remained a marginal area under no state's complete control. English, Dutch, and Swedish colonizers all staked claims to the territory, but none could exclude their rivals for long -- in part because Native Americans in the region encouraged the competition. Officials and settlers alike struggled to determine which European nation would possess the territory and what liberties settlers would keep after their own colonies had surrendered.
The resulting struggle for power resonated on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. While the rivalry promoted patriots who trumpeted loyalties to their sovereigns and nations, it also rewarded cosmopolitans who struck deals across imperial, colonial, and ethnic boundaries. Just as often it produced men -- such as Henry Hudson, Willem Usselincx, Peter Minuit, and William Penn -- who did both.
Ultimately, The Contest for the Delaware Valley shows how colonists, officials, and Native Americans acted and reacted in inventive, surprising ways. Thompson demonstrates that even as colonial spokesmen debated claims and asserted fixed national identities, their allegiances -- along with the settlers' -- often shifted and changed. Yet colonial competition imposed limits on this fluidity, forcing officials and settlers to choose a side. Offering their allegiances in return for security and freedom, colonial subjects turned loyalty into liberty. Their stories reveal what it meant to belong to a nation in the early modern Atlantic world.

More books from LSU Press

Cover of the book Moses Levy of Florida by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book Rites of August First by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book Conjure in African American Society by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book Carnival in Louisiana by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book To the North Anna River by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book John Bankhead Magruder by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book Earl K. Long by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book Preservation Hall by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book From Chaos to Continuity by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book Radical Spiritual Motherhood by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book Lee's Tigers Revisited by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book Southern Outcast by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book A Journalist's Diplomatic Mission by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book An Artisan Intellectual by Mark L. Thompson
Cover of the book Cosmos by Mark L. Thompson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy