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Environmental History Devices Questions for Success 2024
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Environmental History Devices Questions for Success 2024
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Environmental HistoryWilliam Cronon - ANS Trouble with Wilderness
Trouble with Wilderness - ANS What we understand wilderness to be is a part of
cultural history , not just natural history. Things exist in nature but the
understanding of them is a matter of social construction. Modern notion of the
wilderness was created post WWII in 19th century.
The Tempest- Shakespeare The Garden of Eden - ANS 2 important aspects.
1. the sublime- wilderness becoming a cathedral where God can be encountered
2. the fontier- moving west, getting away from civilization and entertaining more
primative way of life
Bounding the Land - ANS o Everything in the native's culture is shared (sovereign),
whereas Europeans have a notion of private property.
o Two definitions of rich: (1) to have very much, (2) to want very little
o Natives take as they need, colonizers exploit all that they can
o The claim by Cronon is not that Natives are completely different, but they have a
different culture
• No ownership of land
• The way we think of the natural world can have very clear implications on how
the land is going to be structured.
o Colonizers think that the natives are failing to cultivate their land
,o The reason we are born free, according to Loche, is because God wants us to be
free
• A failure to accept your freedom is a failure to accept god - one of the reasons
the colonizers ended up looking down upon the natives.
o In the woods of north America, the richest king is worse off than the poorest day
laborer in England/Europe
• This is because the right to ownership and property.
o "Invisible Hand" - if everyone acts to improve self-interest, than the society as a
whole will be better off. This is based off John Locke ideas.
o Natives understand ownership as the things you do to/on the land, not the land
itself.
o Freedom vs. Happiness
Henry David Thoreau - ANS 1855 - Reflecting on how he understands the natural
landscape of New England and how its changed in this essay
• Went back to a book written in 1633 William Wood's book, and in reading this
book he learned a lot about the natural landscape of New England was. Before and
After type stuff
• Attributes changes in the landscape to agriculture
• Also talks about the Native Americans also did have effect on the land
New England Prospect - ANS William Wood writes it but this text influence
Thoreau.
• The idea that the colonist come from Europe to cultivate the land
• Wood has invested in the plantations in New England
,o Trying to entice other people to invest in New England and North America
o Purse or Person to go and help with agriculture
• What they do not want their complexions to change
Two Treaties of Government - ANS John Locke
o This book was an attempt to give a political theory on what justifies any king, or
political entity to have power over its subjects.
o Controversial because England is going through civil war at the time
o People who come in contact both in a state of nature, will result in a state of war
• Property and authority can prevent this from happening
o The common people must be willing to give up some of its power to the higher
authority so as to not fall into a state of war.
Theory of Property - ANS o Justify the "rule of many, by the few"
o Argues in favor of having private property
o People cannot be free unless they own their own land
o Believes humans should be free - meaning having decisional freedom
(ownership) over your own body.
o Locke says initially America is in a state of nature. Once people work with the
land, that state of nature is lost.
• In state of nature, anybody can use the land, once you do something to that
land, you make it your own.
o He acknowledges that eventually there will be no more land, so some people will
not be able to have land
, • But, because we will be making the land better, society is better off, even the
poorest man without land.
The Republic of Nature - ANS Mark Fiege
o There is an importance to the available land to the west.
• The possibility of expansion = "A western "empire of liberty" would allow the
nation to retain, at least for a while, its youthful vitality." Pg. 94
o Jefferson has an idea of the "yomen" farmer, which is the farmer with enough
land to support his family as well as make a small profit to live off of.
o Industrialization of Europe was occurring - people were getting sick and could
not escape to the rural life.
• In the US you could keep escaping, there is clean air enough to avoid
overpopulation and a future decline.
o What happens when you run out of open space? There is an idea that
urbanization, etc. leads to the decline of nations.
o Africa plays a role that is weirdly similar to the USA. Germany takes over eastern
Africa like England moves across the USA.
o Thomas Jefferson seizes onto the features of America's natural fecundity, the
search for the mastodon, and the westward expanse.
The Giant of Claverack - ANS o 1705: Outside of Albany, NY a farmer found a giant
tooth the size of a human fist. The farmer thought it was an awesome production
of nature. He sold it to his neighbor. Neighbor takes it to NYC and gives it to
Senator Edward? The senator takes it to England and it was thought to be the
tooth of a giant human being - the Giant of Claverack
o Many people took this as a religious finding.
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