British Convicts Shipped to American Colonies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11730892 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James Davie Butler |
| Year | 1896 |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 12-12 |
| Publication date | 1896-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The American Historical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-8762 • E-ISSN: 1937-5239 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1833611 |
| OpenAlex | W4206603726 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
IN 1769 Dr. Johnson, speaking of Americans, said to a friend, " Sir, they are a race of convicts and ought to be content with anything we may allow them short of hanging."In the latest edition of Boswell, who chronicled this saying, it is explained by the following footnote: " Convicts were sent to nine of the American settlements.According to one estimate, about 2000 had been sent for many years annually.Dr. Lang, after comparing various estimates, concludes that the number sent might be about 5o,ooo altogether."Again, in the Encyclopcedia Britannica, under the article "Botany Bay," we read: " On the revolt of the New England colonies, the convict establishments in America were no longer available, and so the attention of the British government was turned to Botany Bay, and in 1787 a penal settlement was formed there."In keeping with these statements is a conversation related in the autobiography of Dr. Francis Lieber (p.i8o).The scene was a breakfast in I844 at Dr. Ferguson's in London." I remarked how curious a fact it was that all American women look so genteel and refined, even the lowest; small heads, fine silky hair, delicate and marked eyebrows.The Doctor answered, ' Oh, that is easily accounted for.The super-abundance of public women, who are always rather good-looking, were sent over to America in early times.'"These English views of the United States in the colonial period as penal settlements and convict establishments move incredulity and indignation in Americans.with whom Plymouth stands for a colony of conscience, Massachusetts for an asylum of martyrs, and Virginia for the old dominion of high-bred cavaliers.But a student who would nothing extenuate nor set down aught in malicenecfalsa dicere, nec vera reticcre -is bound to ascertain how far a convict element really pervaded our early plantations.In this research he will find little help from our standard histories.Bancroft, in I887, conversing with the present writer, freely admitted that, when speaking of felons among our settlers, he had been very economical in dispensing the truths he had 1 Boswell's Johnson, II.312; Penny Cyclop(edia, XXV.138.(12) 1 Macaulay, Histomy, 1. 602; Mackinitosh, History of lie Revolution of s688, p. 703; Calendar."And like bright metal on a sullen ground, Their reformation, glittering o'er their fault, Shfll show more goodly and attract more eyes, Than that which hath no foil to set it off
| Citations per year | 0.19 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2010 - 2018 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |