“The wide
horizons of the vast continent entered the houses of merchants and farmers,
giving them a sense of belonging and pride. The boundless land became the
embodiment of their future” (Wulf, 172).
Andrea Wulf in her book, Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary
Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation explains
Jefferson’s goals with the Lewis and Clark's exhibition detailing there
reactions to America's landscape and the animals, plants, etc. collected and
sent back to Jefferson. According to Wulf, "The horticultural world was
electrified. (Wulf, 169) She highlights the importance of Jefferson’s passion
for gardens and how that correlated into his efforts to expand west. Jefferson
used these newly discovered plants in his own garden as America seemed to have
just started unraveling it's own garden in the great wilderness to the west,
that would define America's patriotism. The town of Auburn and Auburn
University was a result of the legacy of Jefferson and his visions for America.
The Auburn community was founded based on the attempted
execution of Thomas Jefferson’s vision for the United States of America as an
agricultural and slave nation that was influenced by his passion for
horticulture and farming.
The
American patriotism for the west that Jefferson implanted in the minds of the
American people is what began the drive of settlers out west in search of new
land for farming. A Reverend Morgan Turrentine fit that category as he nearly
lost his life to hostile Creek Indians when wondering the American land that
had not yet been charted. (Logue, 11-12) He found a piece of land that he found
so beautiful with its abundant clear water and fertile cotton land that he
encouraged friends from back home to come settle the new land. According to
Auburn historian Mrs. W. B. Frazer, a Judge John Harper was one of the first
planters to come out to the new land where he would purchase it from the
Indians and become one of the first settlers of what would be called Auburn. (Logue,
12). Auburn was discovered with settler’s efforts to move west of their homes
because of the discoveries made by Lewis and Clark’s expedition. Their reports
of fertile land and sublime beauty of landscape motivated settlers to move and
start a new life in the American wilderness. Auburn would come to be the agricultural based community
Jefferson envisioned for the United States that is carried on the labor of
slavery.
Judge
Harper moved his family in Harris County out to the new town of Auburn where it
would begin to flourish. One of the family members he brought to the newly
discovered land was Nathaniel Jackson Scott who would come to build one of the
first major plantations in the Auburn area. A pamphlet published by Auburn
University’s Arts and Humanities center describes the plantation that Nathaniel
Scott built. It was a self-sustaining farmland that was built on high-level
ground with its fields on either side of the house. This magnificent home was
maintained and run on the labor of the 49 slaves that Nathaniel Scott brought
with him from Georgia. Nathaniel Scott was an active member in the community
and was only able to maintain the plantation he had because of the labor force
that Thomas Jefferson not only supported but believed America would be built
upon. Nathaniel Scott was one of the leading founders of the higher education
in Auburn and would be one of the trustees for the East Alabama Male College
also known as the modern Auburn University. Nathaniel Scott was just the
forerunner for the agricultural community in Auburn as later plantations all
around Auburn averaging 640 acres would grow cotton and other crops with 30 to
60 slaves on each, according to historian Meriwether Harvey. (Logue, 16)
The
Auburn community would become a full pledged farming community that was proud
of its agricultural community and the underling slave labor force. John Thomas
Harper Scott, the son of Nathaniel Scott wrote in a letter while serving for
the Confederacy during the Civil War, “There is but one company in our brigade,
(the Greensboro Guards) that represents more slave property than ours. We have
three lawyers and tow physicians and this is all that I know of the
company”(Scott Papers, 1862). This shows the importance of Auburn’s slave labor
and the passion that the locals had had for this type of agricultural lifestyle.
The Auburn community was so enticed with slavery that according to the Auburn Pictorial History just before the
Civil War there were about 1,000 White people and 700 slaves with only
bout six families that owned no slaves. (Logue, 16) Thomas Jefferson’s garden
at Monticello was not created on his own but instead with a major slave labor
force. This vision of how to maintain a farmland/garden was carried over in the
discovery of new settlements such as Auburn where the agricultural lifestyle
flourished on the backs of African Americans.
The two term President Thomas Jefferson was an avid
Gardner who pounced on his chance to discover the west and the magnificent
items that would come along with the on going discovery. Following his purchase
of Louisiana territory that covered a whole of today's Midwest. Jefferson would
be forever enticed with the opportunity to explore the new territory that
extended to the pacific. Jefferson’s efforts at an expedition in the name of
science but according to Wulf would also be the beginning of a distinctly
American glorification of the wilderness. Jefferson's obsession over his
garden seems to be a reflection of not only the type of country that he
envisioned at that time but the America he sees in the future. Auburn was a
result of that vision of the future. The town of Auburn and Auburn University
was founded because of Thomas Jefferson’s legacy and vision for America as an
agricultural society run by an underlining slave labor force.
Bibliography
Logue, Mickey, and Jack Simms. Auburn,
a Pictorial History -- the Loveliest Village. Norfolk, VA: Donning, 1981.
Pebble Hill, Auburn University / Arts & Humanities
Center, Auburn University. Auburn,
AL: Auburn University, 1900.
(accessed September 26, 2013).
Scott, John T. H. Scott, John Thomas Harper Scott Letters (1861-1865). Auburn
University
Libraries. http://content.lib.auburn.edu/cdm/ref/
collection/civil2/id/ 21333 (accessed September 3, 2013).
Wulf, Andrea. Founding Gardeners: The
Revolutionary Generation,
Nature, and the
Shaping of the American Nation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment