Transatlantic Subjects : Ideas, Institutions, and Social Experience in Post-Revolutionary British North America

A reinterpretation of the place of colonial Canada within a reconstructed British Empire that focuses on culture and social relations. Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction: Theorizing a Colonial Past: Canada as a Society of British Settlement PART ONE: AGRARIAN PATRIOTS The Canadiens and British Institutions of Local Governance in Quebec from the Conquest to the Rebellions “The Plague of Servants”: Female Household Labour and the Making of Classes in Upper Canada Revisiting Feudal Vestiges in Urban Quebec PART TWO: PROVINCIAL BRITONS How the Canadian Methodists Became British: Unity, Schism, and Transatlantic Identity, 1827–54 The Dividends of Empire: Church Establishments and Contested British Identities in the Canadas and the Maritimes, 1780–1850 Monitorial Schooling, “Common Christianity,” and Politics: A Transatlantic Controversy PART THREE: A LABORATORY OF MODERNITY Scottish-Trained Medical Practitioners in British North America and Their Participation in a Transatlantic Culture of Enlightenment The Malthusian Moment: British Travellers and the Vindication of Economic Liberalism in the Maritime Countryside “Deserving of Favourable Consideration”: Crown Land Agents, Surveyors, and Access to Crown Lands in Upper Canada Popular Radicalism and the Theatrics of Rebellion: The Hybrid Discourse of Dissent in Upper Canada in the 1830s “The Original Idea Has Been Considerably Amplified”: Culture, Authority, and the Emergence of a Liberal Social Order in the Central Canadian Mechanics’ Institute Movement, 1828–60 Contributors Transatlantic Subjects dissents from four decades of scholarly writing on colonial Canada by taking the British imperial context - rather than the North American environment - as a conceptual framework for interpreting patterns of social and cultural life in the colonies prior to the 1850s. Anchored in "the new British history" advanced by J.G.A. Pocock, David Armitage, and Kathleen Wilson, this collective work explores ideas, institutions, and social practices that were adapted and changed through the process of migration from the British archipelago to the new settlement societies. Contributors discuss a broad range of institutional and social practices, including education, religion, radical politics, and family life. Transatlantic Subjects offers a new perspective for the writing of Canada's history. A self-conscious response to the plea for a broader British history that includes the overseas settlement colonies, it makes a significant contribution to the new cultural history of the British Empire. Contributors include Bruce Curtis (Carleton), Michael Eamon (Queen's), Darren Ferry (McMaster), Donald Fyson (Laval), Michael Gauvreau (McMaster), Jeffrey McNairn (Queen's), Bryan Palmer (Queen's), J.G.A. Pocock (Johns Hopkins), Michelle Vosburgh (Brock), Todd Webb (Laurentian), and Brian Young (McGill)." Explores ideas, institutions, and social practices that were adapted and changed through the process of migration from the British archipelago to the new settlement societies. This volume discusses a range of institutional and social practices, including education, religion, radical politics and family life.