Research Abstract: Colonial Botany

[Blake's Abstract #1]

Andrew J. Lewis.  “Gathering for the Republic: Botany in Early Republic America.”  Colonial Botany: Science, Commerce, and Politics in the Early Modern World. Eds. Londa L. Schiebinger, and Claudia Swan. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2005. 66-80. Print.

 Andrew J. Lewis explains how correspondence between early American naturalists and aspiring entrepreneurs reveals an ideological shift in colonial botanical thought and practices from an imperialistic paradigm to a capitalist, democratic philosophy.

After the American Revolution, botanists such as Benjamin Smith Barton envisioned their new role as assisting the new nation in classifying and categorizing its natural resources, which would serve as the economic base for America.  To achieve this end, naturalists recruited armature specimen collectors with advertisements in many forms of print media, including books magazines and newspapers.  America was advertised as a land of endless diversity; recognition and rewards were offered for discoveries of new and valuable plant species or other specimens.  The promises of monetary rewards were not always honored.  Though, discoveries of items such as mastodon skeletons were highly publicized and the individuals were treated like celebrities.

 One area of conflict for promulgators of the new capitalist, democratic botanical ideology was with locals who argued against the naturalists’ authority.  With local economies and folk medicine promoting different practices from botanists, early Americas had to choose to support the old ways or those espoused by the newly emerging capitalist economy and scientific community.

 Early American naturalists saw themselves as collectors of facts that when examined as a whole could lead to discoveries about the world and natural laws.  They also believed they had a special duty to research anything that might help America thrive economically.  In an effort to discover unknown species or uses for plants, botanists recruited every citizen to collect specimens.  Then they confirmed or dismissed these reports, and defined the resources available using Linnaean classifications in an effort to replace any folk definitions.  Next, they educated the public about these resources through printed texts, which stressed that knowledge of natural resources was a patriotic duty. Finally, naturalists explained to the public how these resources could be used to generate financial profit and economic independence for the fledgling nation.  In this effort to collect knowledge of “American” national resources, reports of Native American medicinal uses of local plants were disregarded.    Though early American botanists sought to remake their ideological foundations, they still accepted the European separation of emotions from rational, scientific enquiry. Therefore, although they were solicited, reports from citizens with no scientific training were mostly dismissed by naturalists for their non-intellectual nature.    

Though early American naturalists never succeeded in cataloging all of America’s resources, they made the most progress studying ores, coal, and gold.  As a result of the emerging early republic’s economy and subsequent value of specimens, botanical sciences allied itself with a democratic, economic ideology, which replaced the colonial paradigm.