The Past Speaks

That’s the title of a forthcoming book from University of North Carolina Press. The author is Alexandra Harmon.

The book looks fascinating and I’ve already pre-ordered it. Here is a synopsis:

Long before lucrative tribal casinos sparked controversy, Native Americans amassed other wealth that provoked intense debate about the desirability, morality, and compatibility of Indian and non-Indian economic practices…

This wide-ranging book looks at controversies concerning Powhatan economic status and aims during the Virginia colony’s first years, the ambitions of some bicultural eighteenth-century Creeks and Mohawks, prospering Indians of the Southeast in the early 1800s, inequality among removed tribes during the Gilded Age, the spending of oil-rich Osages in the Roaring Twenties, resurgent tribal communities from Alaska to Maine in the 1970s, and casinos that have drawn gamblers to Indian country across the United States since the 1990s. Harmon’s study not only compels us to look beyond stereotypes of greedy whites and impoverished Indians, but also convincingly demonstrates that Indians deserve a prominent place in American economic history and in the history of American ideas through the twentieth century.

The Canadian media have been abuzz about a story in Maclean’s Magazine that alleges that Quebec is the most corrupt province in the country. The lightly researched Maclean’s story includes some anecdotal data about corruption in Quebec and some speculations about why Quebec is corrupt. Alas, no hard data to prove that Quebec is more corrupt is provided. Se here too.

What explains Quebec’s unusual susceptibility to money politics? Deeply entrenched deference to authority? A worldly Catholic tolerance of official vice? There is no grand unified theory: at different times and in different situations, different forces have come into play.

There was even a bit of pseudo-historical analysis in the article:

The roots of corruption run deep in the province. Scrounging for funds to carry him through the 1872 election, the eminently corruptible Sir John A. Macdonald didn’t have far to look: Montrealer Sir Hugh Allan, said to be the richest man in Canada, was even then angling for the contract to build the CPR. Fifty years later, with Prohibition in force and Montreal a flourishing centre of the cross-border smuggling business, Mackenzie King saw fit to put Jacques Bureau in charge of the customs department, with comically debauched results: the scandal that ultimately led to the King-Byng affair.

I hesitate to even dignify this passage with a reply. However, I should point out that both of these examples relate to the federal government. In the case of the Pacific Scandal, all of the major players were Anglophones. Macdonald was from Kingston, Ontario, not Quebec. Upper Canada’s Family Compact and the ruling clique of pre-Responsible Government Nova Scotia were also pretty corrupt as well.

Among other things, Maclean’s suggests that Quebec is corrupt because its people incline towards social democratic values and believe in an activist government.  This argument seems odd because Scandinavian countries are demonstrably among the least corrupt in the world, at least according to Transparency International.

At no point in the Maclean’s article is “corruption” defined, which is odd because before you can measure something you need a definition.

The Maclean’s story would be laughable for its poor research, except that this isn’t a laughing matter any more. Many people in Quebec have taken offense at this article, perceiving it as an xenophobic  attack on Quebec by English Canada. Given that the separatist PQ is in the lead in polls in Quebec, this article seems somewhat irresponsible. It is almost calculated to throw fuel on the fire of French-English discord in Canada.

Corruption is a serious issue, of course, but it is not one that is confined to Quebec. However, we need to put Canada’s level of corruption into perspective. According to the Corruptions Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International, a respected think tank, Canada is one of the least corrupt states in the world.

I’ve stolen this image of the 2008 rankings from an Irish blogger. There wasn’t that much change between 2008 and 2009.

Canadians needs to ask themselves what the top 10 countries on this list have on common, aside from fairly high incomes. (The countries at the wrong end of the list are mostly African). Most of the least-corrupt countries  are Western and, more precisely, Protestant. However, Singapore, a largely Confucian country, is also in the top 10. Switzerland is part Catholic and part Protestant. Some of the countries in the top 10 are ethnically homogeneous, while others are culturally diverse and have large populations of immigrants and their children. Australia, Canada, and Switzerland are among the most diverse large countries in the world.

The United States consistently appears well below Canada in these rankings. I suspect that this have to do with the enormous expenses of running for office in the United States, which leaves politicians feeling indebted to the individuals and firms that finance their campaigns. Perhaps another factor is the absence of a national police force in the United States has sometime to do with this, in part because the British ethos of being a “gentleman” became part of our policing culture.

We need to ask ourselves what makes some countries more corrupt than others before we can even begin to measure, compare, and debate relative levels of corruption within federal nation states.

Sadly, a Canadian magazine desperate to boost circulation and compete with glossy US magazines is not the place for this debate to take place.

HIST 1406

I delivered two lectures in the Canadian history survey course. The lecture on Tuesday was about the establishment of New France. In the first lecture, I focused on the life and times of Samuel de Champlain.

Champlain Statue, Astrolabe Theatre, Ottawa

The second lecture was devoted to outlining my expectations for two assignments that will soon be due. I also used this class to stimulate the students’ thinking about these papers. One of these assignments is about the 1749 visit to Montreal of a Finno-Swedish botanist called Pehr Kalm. Kalm’s diary was translated and published in London in the early 1770s. See here. I have asked the students to read the entries that relate to Montreal and then answer a checklist of questions. The assignment is designed to familiarize the students with the use of primary sources.

The other assignment is based on a website called Torture and Truth. It is about a Black slave in Montreal who was executed in 1734 for arson. The students have to read some (translated) primary sources online then come to their own conclusions about her guilt or innocence.  

HIST 3266

I delivered two lectures in my history of the North American West class. The first lecture was on Sacagawea, the Native American woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804-6. The second lecture was on the life and times of Sir George Simpson of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

HIST 4135

In this week’s seminar, we discussed the following readings:

J.M.S. Careless, The Union of the Canadas; the Growth of Canadian Institutions, 1841-1857

Ian Ross Robertson, “The 1850s: Maturity and Reform” in The Atlantic Region to Confederation : a History edited by Phillip A. Buckner and John G. Reid (University of Toronto Press, 1995)

J. B. Brebner, “Joseph Howe and the Crimean War enlistment controversy between Great Britain and the United States,” Canadian Historical Review 11 (1930): 300–27.
We also listened to four students give “Life and Times” presentations. These presentations typically last 12-15 minutes and involve a Powerpoint Presentation. This week, we heard about the Life and Times of Robert Baldwin,  Joseph Howe, J.W. Johnston, Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine.

In this YouTube video, NYU business historian Prof. Richard Sylla dispels some myths about the 1929 stock market crash.

Historian Matthew Hayday of the University of Guelph will be interviewed tonight for CBC documentary Queen Elizabeth in 3D. This innovative documentary will be shown in 3D: the required glasses are available from all Canada Post outlets.

Professor Hayday will appear on film to provide historical context for the royal tour of 1951 and to explain how Canadians would have reacted to the princess’s visit. At this time, Canada had only recently instituted its own citizenship separate from that of Britain so the royal family was still central to many Canadians conception of their national identity. Hayday’s research is focused on the evolution of Canadian national identity in the period just after the Second World War. He is specifically interested in how a Britain-centred conception of Canadian identity was gradually challenged and to a certain extent replaced by one which incorporated linguistic duality, multiculturalism and diversity, as well as new symbols of nationhood such as a new flag, a new anthem and a national holiday.

Read more here.

QUEEN ELIZABETH IN 3D will air as originally scheduled on CBC Television on Monday, September 20 at 7 p.m. (7:30 p.m. NT) and on CBC News Network on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Read more here and here.

It looks interesting, although personally I prefer my 3D movies to be set on the planet Pandora…

I am teaching three courses this term. They are HIST 1406: Pre-Confederation Canadian History; HIST 3266: The History of the North American West/Canadian West; HIST 4135: British North America and the Road to Confederation.

Today was our first full week of classes.

HIST 1406: Pre-Confederation Canadian History

In my lecture on Tuesday, the subject was First Nations history before Contact.

Linguistic Map of North America

In Friday’s lecture, I spoke about the Norse voyages to North America. I used this user-created map on Google Maps to teach about the Norse voyages.

L'Anse Aux Meadows

HIST 3266: The History of the North American West

My lecture on Wednesday was about the life and times of George Vancouver. I used his life story to explore such themes as: the search for an accurate means of determining longitude; the legacy of James Cook;  the sea-otter pelt trade in the Pacific North West; imperial rivalries in on West coast of North America and the competing claims of Russia, Britain, Spain, and the United States; the Nootka Sound Crisis as an episode in Anglo-Spanish diplomacy; the importance of hydrography in the making of the modern world.

George Vancouver

HIST 4135: British North America and the Road to Confederation

Our readings this week were introductory works designed to set the stage for the more specialized sources we will be reading later in the year.  The readings were designed to ensure that all students in the class were familiar with the outlines of the political history of North America in the period from the Compromise of 1850 to the early 1870s.

R. Douglas Francis, Richard Jones, Donald B. Smith, Origins : Canadian History to Confederation, 6th edition, pages 240-378. [ON RESERVE] To learn the basics about Confederation.
W.L. Morton, “British North America and a Continent in Dissolution, 1861-71” History 47 (1962): 139-56. A great tri-national comparative overview of developments in BNA, US, Mexico in the 1860s.

Alan Brinkley, American History : a Survey, 13th edition. Chapter 12 to 15. [ON RESERVE] To learn about the Civil War’s causes, course, and important personalities.

F. M. Carroll, “The Perils of Mid-Nineteenth-Century Anglo- American Relations” International History Review
16(1994): 304-316. A review essay of five works that place the Civil War in an international context. Pretty useful for a class in which we will be thinking about the Civil War’s impact on British North America.