Review of 'The First American Frontier: Transition to ...

University of Washington Tacoma Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences

UW Tacoma Digital Commons

Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Publications

11-1-1996

Review of "The First American Frontier: Transition
to Capitalism in Southern Appalachia,
1700-1860,"by W.A. Dunaway

Mike Allen

University of Washington - Tacoma Campus, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/ias_pub
Part of the Economic History Commons, and the United States History Commons

Recommended Citation

Allen, Mike, "Review of "The First American Frontier: Transition to Capitalism in Southern Appalachia, 1700-1860,"by W.A.
Dunaway" (1996). Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Publications. Paper 40.
http://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/ias_pub/40

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at UW Tacoma Digital Commons. It has been
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ReviewosfBooks 665

TheFirstAmericaFnrontierT:ransitiotnoCapitalismin SoutherAnp-
psiatlyacohfiaN,o1r7t0h0-C1a8r6o0l.inBayPWrielsms,a1A9.9D6u. nxavwiia+y4. (4C8hpappe. l$H49il.9l,5Ucnliovtehr,-
$21.95 paper)

WilmaA. DunawaywritesthattheTurnerianmythof self-
sufficient"happy yeoman" farmershas fostereda fundamental
smtoisoidntsetrilpl"raentdatciaopnoiftasloisumthdeirdnnAoptpraaliascehitisahaesaadruengtioilnth"we thwerenettiimeteh
century.(p. 4). Using "world-systemasnalysis"and a vastand im-
patnurrdesesbfiurvsoeiamnrertshasyarotefccoponrrvidmesn,astrhiyoesnooauflrwfceierssds,aion"mcrl"aud(dpici.na5lg)aq.nuIdnanpTtuihfrepiFeodisrtesaftxAu,cmldeneeprsiaucrsa-,n
FrontierDunaway reaches twomajor conclusions. First,capitalism
came to Southern Appalachia before,not after,the CivilWar.Sec-
ond, this antebellum Appalachian capitalismcreated a "landless
semiproletariat"of "coerced workers,"which included African-
American slaves,Cherokee Indians,tenantfarmers,and othervic-
cropttoiifiaomvmlncaeicaprTszphlhevoiiidfstaiashlAanlalmebpinsyopetemsolaeneklb(amtacelciwrolsehlunnuihiclgatmelinarctvlhhfesiaoaxoehnutlletkgoetrhnhwe(eepseet.irCirhvs9nusee0tmtdA)whr.opbeeacpteyuicramnwhllacaeeecnlsnuhotdstfhi,iaaioA.tTnnipDekonpnuaoabnfnoloefaaauscwntshtheaiyesea"e,''uessleraamnrcnbtlaadayevnjdosiO"gtrpahaAgoabipcorel-e-s-
River cities of Nashville, Chattanooga, Louisville, Cincinnati,
Wheeling, etc.). However, because Dunaway's first thesis is
mMrgthiroouoedrcudehnooafdtvleeeepssdrrs,ioftncnhiorotnimshuvanerilnycgosecuundibmndtgieainttnadlasteufforsorfetrogratmainharttlidihsezsbbeatoJethloialoekucnukmaapnsrAopdenepresipaocanromleenaraecocwahmhi(haeaianscftoceomfaxrppitssiyaotlneua-asyltdiihseoimaennprreg)in,s-.
Appalachia's major navigable rivers,much less the tributaries,
creeks, and tuipt-lecooufnfitcreys,htaoxllocwolsleocftoArsp,paanldaccheinansusritvaekrevraslwleeyrse.
There, land
rnCeuolnmia-bbelxeerispltarenend-t1c.8Fo5mo0rseeescxoiamnmommpeleidc,iadTtaeetnlayntiesosnmsoenien'-sdexaanissjdtuesKntteoA.nnnteudcpiklnayct'eshUewpahnpeterere-
bthelelruemweUrpepmerostCcuemrtbaeirnllaynndo,Aafsriincamn-oAstmofersiocuasntlhaverensoArpCphaelarcohkieae,
Indians to comprise a victimized"semiproletariat."
This second thesisof an Appalachian "semiproletariat"cer-
tainlydeservesclose scrutinyS.ince thedaysof Charles Beard,eco-

666 PacificHistoricaRl eview

nomic and social historianshave searched forand constructedsta-
tistical"proletariats"on the NorthAmericanfrontierT. heir work
has veryoftenprovenpolemical and tedious. Dunawayveersaway
fromtheworstexcesses of thiskindof politicizedscholarship,and
itnersipnegcitfhieccTausersnhereirandaytaeoamndanarmguymthewntitsharheesrtroownng.nYeeot-iMn acroxuins-t
myth,she tellsonlypartof thestoryF. irst,more common folk(in-
cluding Appalachian folk) owned land in antebellum America
than in any other place on the planet. Moreover,while material
wpaellalc-hbeiainngfowlaks,suontdooouwbetreedtlhyeoirfimgrmeeadt iiamtepaonrdtaenxtceentdoedthfeasme iAlipes-,
neighbors, religion, oral traditions,folk medicine, drink and
floodways,recreation,materialculture,music, and much, much
more. Since Dunaway does not aim to address these folkwaysin
this book, her economic determinisminevitablyoverlooks the
heart and soul of southernAppalachian folkculture.

Like much of thenewsocial history,TheFirstAmericanFrontier
will findits audience among a fewhundred specialists.Had the
"new"westernhistoriansnot eliminatedcolonial Americaand the
concept of a "frontier"fromtheirpurview,thisbook mighthave
served them well in trainingfreshtroops. All graduate libraries
should possess a copy.As an antidote,readersshould keep close at
hand the works of FrederickJackson Turner, Frank L. Owsley,
Thomas D. Clark,ArthurK. Moore, MalcomJ.Rohrbough,Grady
McWhiney,and John Mack Faragher.

UniversiotfyWashingtoTna,coma MICHAELALLEN

FrenchFur Tradersand Voyageurins theAmericanWestT: wenty-fiBvie-
ographicalSketchesE. dited by LeRoy R. Hafen. (Spokane. Wash.,
ArthurH. Clark Company.1995. 333 pp. $26. 50)

This is a collection of twenty-twuonrevisedbiographies
by fifteendifferentauthors, originallypublished between 1965
and 1972 in LeRoy Hafen's ten-volumeseries, TheMountainMen
eadnidtotrh,eJFaunreTtrLaedceoomftphteeF,airdeWnetsiftI.inestthheesitnetrreoodtuycpteisownh,tihche vhoavluemidee's-
alized, denigrated,and otherwisemisrepresentedthe understud-
cieodnFstrietnucthedrannene,sFtrimenacthecdrfeooulres-,fFifretnhocsfht-hCeanfaudritarnasdane dlabmo6rtfisowrhceo;
sttthhreeessneegsettsesharoyefoss,tsoyhuperecwse,trshiatenesdes,wbrieiocrgherncahepsohssioeefns acfrooenrtatehcxoetmi"r(p"pqe.ul9lai)ln.itgCyrhoefaplwrleernsiegtniinntgag-,