“Rather Than Be Suffered To Perish”/The Gendered Language Of Revolution

“Rather than be Suffered to Perish:” James Oglethorpe, the Founding of Georgia, and Capitalism in the Early Modern British Atlantic This paper examines the foundation of the Georgia colony through the lens of early capitalism. It argues that Georgia was founded both as a response to the expansion of capitalism in the British Atlantic, as well as a possible solution to the societal ills caused by said expansion. This paper argues that James Oglethorpe both feared the deleterious effects of capitalism, yet he still recognized the need to foster the legitimacy of the Financial Revolution on which the legitimacy of the British government post-Glorious Revolution rested. As a colony intended for debtors, but focused on relieving the suffering of those who lost their wealth due to the vicissitudes of the market, Georgia’s founding represented a move by the state to assume the responsibility of secular welfare administration. At the same time, it represented an understanding of the dangers of capitalism’s growth. Courage & Cowardice, Virtue & Vice: The Gendered Language of Revolution in Philadelphia, 1793-1800 This paper reveals how the discourse on the French Revolution in the United States was gendered to reinforce traditional roles for men and women. It argues that both supporters and opponents of the French Revolution used gendered language to advocate for traditional gender roles despite their vast political differences. Taken in the context of the early United States, where revolution at home and abroad opened up the possibility of reimagining all aspects of society, Americans debated the French Revolution to finalize their own social questions. Men on both sides of the debate cast their opponents as effeminate and charged them with perceived negative feminine traits. At the same time, they cast themselves as manly and possessing perceived positive masculine attributes. In so doing, both supporters and opponents of the French Revolution used that event to advocate for an exclusively male political environment, in contrast to the expansion of women’s political potential in Europe