Sponsored by the Office for History of Science and Technology
Philip J. Pauly
Rutgers University
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Jefferson's Shrivelled Grapes: Culture and Degeneracy in the Period of the American Revolution
In Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson famously critiqued the argument, associated with such philosophes as the Comte de Buffon and the Abbé Raynal, that living things, including Anglo-colonials themselves, degenerated in America. This talk sketches beliefs of naturalists on both sides of the Atlantic about the North American climate and the consequences of trans-atlantic migration. I argue that within a shared perspective Raynal was right. I suggest, moreover, that evidence for degeneration surrounded Jefferson at Monticello as he composed the Notes in the early 1780s, and as he imagined the future of the United States of America. The anxieties of Revolutionary Era Americans involved not only political geography but also biogeography.
This talk is work in progress for Fruits and Plains: Horticulture and the Meaning of America.
4:00PM
Monday, January 31
Room TBA Office for History of Science and Technology, 543 Stephens Hall #2350
University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-2350
tel: (510) 642-4581, e-mail: Office@ohst7.berkeley.edu
