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72-636: Colonel Nicholas Spencer, Jr. (1633–1689) was a merchant, planter and politician in colonial Virginia . Born in Cople , Bedfordshire , Spencer migrated to the Westmoreland County, Virginia , where he became a planter and which he twice briefly represented in the Virginia House of Burgesses . Spencer later served as the colony's Secretary and on the Governor's Council, rising to become it President and on

144-930: A Whig Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire. William Spencer, the son of the Virginia emigrant Nicholas, married Lady Catherine Wentworth, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Cleveland . (Following the early death of William, his brother Nicholas Jr. returned to England to succeed to the family estates.) Nicholas Spencer left five sons: William, Mottrom, Nicholas Jr., John, and Francis (to whom his father left Mount Vernon). Spencer probably had at least two daughters, Elizabeth Spencer and Lettice Barnard to whom Mottrom Spencer referred to in his will as "my sister Mrs. Lettice Barnard" Nicholas Spencer died in Virginia in 1688. In his will in April 1688, Spencer styled himself "of Nominy in Westmoreland Co. in Virginia." In his will, filed with

216-571: A Puritan Idea (1963) restored the intellectual respectability of the Puritans , and exposed their appetite for healthy sex, causing a renaissance in Puritan studies, partly because both Morgan and his mentor Miller were Ivy League atheist professors, which added to their credibility. Visible Saints, dedicated to Miller, was a reinterpretation of the Puritan ideal of the "Church of the Elect." Morgan argued that

288-448: A black walnut coffin with a gravestone of English black marble (to be imported for the purpose) and a tombstone whose epitaph read: "Heere lies Dick Cole a grievous Sinner, That died a Little before Dinner, Yet hopes in Heaven to find a place, To Satiate his Soul with Grace." Spencer married Frances, the daughter of Col. John Mottrom of Coan Hall of Northumberland County, Virginia . Mottrom

360-582: A devotion to the equality that English republicans had declared to be the soul of liberty . " That is, according to Morgan, white men in Virginia were able to become much more politically equal and cohesive than would have been possible without a population of low-status black slaves. Anthony S. Parent commented: "American historians of our generation admire Edmund Morgan's American Slavery, American Freedom more than any other monograph. Morgan resuscitated American history by placing black slavery and white freedom as its central paradox." In 2002 Morgan published

432-497: A formidable influence on academic and popular audiences." Jill Lepore called Morgan "one of the most influential American historians of the 20th century." According to Joseph Ellis , Morgan was "revered" by other members of the profession. Historian and author William Hogeland affirms Morgan's success in enshrining a "consensus approach" to U.S. history, where colonists' ideas, rather than their possible economic interests, were worthy of inspection by 20th century historians. "He

504-514: A glutted tobacco market which had depressed prices. Even the wives, Spencer wrote, took up hoes laid down by their husbands and continued to rip out the plants. Such civil disobedience, Nicholas Spencer saw, was the price paid by colonial administrators acting the foil for the empire's merchants back home. When taken with symptoms of illness, Spencer wrote to his brother in England outlining his pains, and asked him to consult an English doctor and send him

576-433: A group to become more politically equal: ("Aristocrats could more safely preach equality in a slave society than in a free one"). In a controversial passage, Morgan suggests Virginia 's poor whites felt no racial superiority to poor blacks. He does this by providing evidence that, in 17th-century Virginia, poor white indentured servants and black slaves frequently cooperated with each other and worked together. Morgan cites

648-550: A habit of taking what people have said at face value unless I find compelling reasons to discount it... What Americans said from the beginning about taxation and just government deserved to be taken as seriously as the Puritans' ideas about God and man. Morgan's many books and articles covered a range of topics in the history of the colonial and Revolutionary periods, using intellectual, social history , biographical, and political history approaches. Two of his early books, The Birth of

720-579: A member of a church. Morgan described the Puritan as "doing right in a world that does wrong...Caught between the ideals of God's Law and the practical needs of the people, John Winthrop walked a line few could tread." In The Stamp Act Crisis (1953) and The Birth of the Republic (1956) Morgan rejected the Progressive interpretation of the American Revolution and its assumption that the rhetoric of

792-485: A military contract with a sovereign. The colonel purchased the regimental contract—the right to hold the regiment—from the previous holder of that right or directly from the sovereign when a new regiment was formed or an incumbent was killed . As the office of colonel became an established practice, the colonel became the senior captain in a group of companies that were all sworn to observe his personal authority—to be ruled or regimented by him. This regiment, or governance,

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864-610: A pacifist, Morgan became convinced after the fall of France in June 1940 that only military force could stop Hitler , and he withdrew his application for conscientious objector status. During World War II , he trained as a machinist at the MIT Radiation Laboratory , where he turned out parts for radar installations. In 1939, he married Helen Theresa Mayer, who died in 1982. Morgan died in New Haven, Connecticut on July 8, 2013, at

936-476: A pragmatic administrator, Spencer was also a hard-nosed capitalist. When it came to slavery, for instance, Spencer weighed the benefits of enslaved labor in a strictly cost-benefit way. "The low price of Tobacco," Spencer wrote, "requires it should bee made as cheap as possible, and that Blacks can make it cheaper than Whites." Spencer's rationale for slavery was probably as succinctly heartless as any committed to paper. Spencer's role as an aristocratic bureaucrat in

1008-404: A professional military rank that was still held typically by an officer in command of a regiment or equivalent unit. Along with other ranks, it has become progressively more a matter of ranked duties, qualifications, and experience, as well as of corresponding titles and pay scale, than of functional office in a particular organization. As European military influence expanded throughout the world,

1080-916: A surprise New York Times Bestseller , Benjamin Franklin , which dispels the myth of "a comfortable old gentleman staring out at the world over his half-glasses with benevolent comprehension of everything in it", revealing his true mental makeup. With a wisdom about himself that comes only to the great of heart, Franklin knew how to value himself and what he did without mistaking himself for something more than one man among many. His special brand of self-respect required him to honor his fellow men and women no less than himself. After examining his writings, University of North Florida historian wrote David T. Courtwright wrote that: They are based on exhaustive research in primary sources; emphasize human agency as against historicist forces; and are written in precise and graceful prose. This combination of rigor, empathy, and lucidity

1152-612: A winner of the Bancroft Prize . In 1925, the family moved from Washington, D.C. , to Arlington, Massachusetts , when their father was appointed a professor at Harvard Law School . Morgan attended Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Massachusetts , and then enrolled at Harvard College , where he initially intended to study English history and literature. But after taking a course in American literature with F. O. Matthiessen , he switched to

1224-402: A writer who could well have commanded a larger nonacademic audience than I suspect he received. He characteristically took on big issues and had a knack for conveying complex, sophisticated truths in a way that made them seem, if not simple, at least easily understandable. Brooklyn College history professor Benjamin L. Carp describes Morgan as "one of the great historians of early America, with

1296-432: Is intended for, and has succeeded in capturing, a broad audience. Morgan is read by secondary school students, undergraduates, and graduate students, as well as by his specialist peers – some sixty of whom were trained in his seminars. Massachusetts Institute of Technology American history professor Pauline Maier wrote: As a historian of colonial and revolutionary America, he was one of the giants of his generation, and

1368-489: Is linked to the word column (from Latin : columna ; Italian: colonna ; French: colonne ) in a similar way that brigadier is linked to brigade , although in English this relationship is not immediately obvious. With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the 17th century, a colonel (normally a member of the aristocracy) became a holder (German Inhaber ) or proprietor of

1440-601: Is the highest rank . Equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain . In the Commonwealth 's air force ranking system, the equivalent rank is group captain . By the end of the late medieval period, a group of "companies" was referred to as a "column" of an army. According to Raymond Oliver, c.  1500 , the Spanish began explicitly reorganizing part of their army into 20 colunelas or columns of approximately 1,000–1,250 soldiers. Each colunela

1512-725: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1966. In 1971 Morgan was awarded the Yale chapter of Phi Beta Kappa 's William Clyde DeVane Medal for outstanding teaching and scholarship , considered one of the most prestigious teaching prizes for Yale faculty. In 1971–1972 Morgan served as president of the Organization of American Historians . In 1972, he became the first recipient of the Douglass Adair Memorial Award for scholarship in early American history, and in 1986 he received

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1584-456: The 1676 Bacon's Rebellion as evidence of a surprising racial egalitarianism among the poor, since Bacon incorporated runaway black slaves into his army. Despite the assertions of such writers as Michelle Alexander, however, Morgan does not state that Bacon's Rebellion was the reason that rich landowners stopped purchasing white indentured servants and started increasing their purchase of black slaves; rather, regional changes in labor economics

1656-511: The 16th century, the French army adopted this organizational structure, renaming colunelas regiments. Even so, they simply Gallicized colunela to the French colonel and pronounced it as written. The English then copied the unit and rank from the French. However, for reasons unknown, the English adopted the Spanish pronunciation of coronel , and after several decades of use shortened it to its current two-syllable pronunciation "kernel". Colonel

1728-646: The 5,000-acre (20 km) land grant at Mount Vernon with his cousin Lt. Col. John Washington in 1674, with Spencer acting as the go-between in the sale. The successful patent on the acreage was due largely to Spencer, who acted as agent for his cousin Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper, who controlled the Northern Neck of Virginia, in which the tract lay. When John Washington died in 1677, his son Lawrence, George Washington's grandfather, inherited his father's stake in

1800-534: The April 1684 arrival of Francis Howard, 5th Baron Howard of Effingham . Because of the early deaths of his brothers, Spencer was the only surviving son of his father Nicholas, and so inherited extensive family estates in Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire . Spencer also was left land by other early prominent settlers in Westmoreland County. In a deposition of 1674 by Lt. Col. John Washington, for instance, who

1872-549: The Colepeper interests). Spencer and his neighbor and longtime burgess John Washington jointly held the post of customs collector on the Potomac. (After Washington died in 1677, Spencer was sole customs collector on the Potomac.) He also won his own land grant. But Spencer was, unlikely as it sounds, apparently an efficient administrator on his own, later being appointed to additional posts in Virginia by virtue of his abilities. Apparently

1944-504: The Commonwealth of Kentucky bestows the honor of a colonel's Commission, by issuance of letters patent. Perhaps the best known Kentucky colonel is Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. The rank of colonel is also used by some police forces and paramilitary organizations. Edmund S. Morgan Edmund Sears Morgan (January 17, 1916 – July 8, 2013) was an American historian and an authority on early American history . He

2016-638: The Country where he resided, and as wee are credibly informed, by his Correspondence here is much Impaired in his Estate by the late Rebells." Westmoreland County voters twice named Spencer as one of their representatives in the House of Burgesses, and each time he served alongside his neighbor John Washington. In 1682 Spencer wrote to London in the wake of the events roiling Virginia. "Bacon's Rebellion," Spencer told colonial overseers in London, "had left an itching behind it". It

2088-593: The Distinguished Scholar Award of the American Historical Association. He has also won numerous fellowships and garnered a number of honorary degrees and named lectureships. In 1965 he became a Sterling Professor , one of Yale's highest distinctions. Morgan was awarded the 2000 National Humanities Medal by U.S. President Bill Clinton at a ceremony for "extraordinary contributions to American cultural life and thought." In 2006 he received

2160-504: The Duke of Bedford’s estate at the start of the 19th century." Colonel In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army. Modern usage varies greatly, and in some cases, the term is used as an honorific title that may have no direct relationship to military. In some smaller military forces, such as those of Monaco or the Vatican , colonel

2232-523: The English courts at Canterbury , Col. Spencer named his "singular good friends Coll. Isaac Allerton of Matchotick, Capt. George Brent of Stafford Co. (former Governor of Maryland ), and Capt. Lawrence Washington" to serve as trustees of his estates. Capt. Washington, named by Spencer as a trustee, was the younger brother of Lt. Col. John Washington and was born in 1635. He and the other trustees named by Col. Spencer in his will received forty shillings for mourning rings . Following Nicholas Spencer's death,

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2304-634: The Mount Vernon property. (Following Col. Nicholas Spencer's death, the Washingtons and the Spencers divided the land grant, with the Spencer heirs taking the larger southern half of the Mount Vernon grant bordering Dogue Creek, and the Washingtons the portion along Little Hunting Creek. The Spencer heirs paid Lawrence Washington 2,500 pounds of tobacco as compensation for their choice.) Later the Washingtons bought out

2376-467: The Patriots was mere claptrap. Instead Morgan returned to the interpretation first set out by George Bancroft a century before that the patriots were deeply motivated by a commitment to liberty. Historian Mark Egnal argues that: The leading neo-Whig historians, Edmund Morgan and Bernard Bailyn , underscore this dedication to whiggish principles, although with variant readings. For Morgan, the development of

2448-721: The People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America (1988), which won Columbia University's Bancroft Prize in American History in 1989. Morgan has written a biography of Benjamin Franklin of which he made extensive use of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin and has written about at length. He has also written biographies on Ezra Stiles and Roger Williams . Morgan's trio The Puritan Family: Religion and Domestic Relations in 17th-Century New England (1944), The Puritan Dilemma (1958), and Visible Saints: The History of

2520-530: The Regiment (to distinguish it from the military rank of colonel) continues to be used in the modern British Army. The ceremonial position is often conferred on retired general officers , brigadiers or colonels who have a close link to a particular regiment. Non-military personnel, usually for positions within the Army Reserve may also be appointed to the ceremonial position. When attending functions as "Colonel of

2592-494: The Regiment", the titleholder wears the regimental uniform with rank insignia of (full) colonel, regardless of their official rank. A member of the Royal Family is known as a Royal Colonel . A Colonel of the Regiment is expected to work closely with a regiment and its Regimental Association . Some military forces have a colonel as their highest-ranking officer, with no 'general' ranks, and no superior authority (except, perhaps,

2664-615: The Republic (1956) and The Puritan Dilemma (1958), have for decades been required reading in many undergraduate history courses. His works include American Slavery, American Freedom (1975), which won the Society of American Historians ' Francis Parkman Prize , the Southern Historical Association 's Charles S. Sydnor Prize and the American Historical Association 's Albert J. Beveridge Award , and Inventing

2736-483: The Spencer interest at Mount Vernon. Aside from acting as agent for the Colepeper interests, Spencer was frequently involved in Virginia Colony business, and he often corresponded with English administrators in London, as well as family members in Bedfordshire and elsewhere. When his cousin Thomas Colepeper departed Virginia in 1683, Spencer was named Acting Governor , in which capacity he served for nine months until

2808-584: The age of 97. His cause of death was pneumonia . He was survived by two daughters—Penelope Aubin and Pamela Packard—from his first marriage; his second wife, Marie (née Carpenter) Caskey Morgan, a historian; six grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. In 1946–55, Morgan taught history at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island before becoming a professor at Yale University , where he directed some 60 PhD dissertations in colonial history before retiring in 1986. As an undergraduate at Harvard, Morgan

2880-465: The colonel of the division. Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky . Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation. This is the equivalent to a full colonel in the militia. The sitting governor of

2952-403: The criterion for church membership was not fixed in England. Soon after their arrival, the Puritans changed membership to a gathered church composed exclusively of tested Saints. Morgan's 1958 book The Puritan Dilemma raised his notability, and the book became the most assigned textbook in U.S. history survey courses, documenting the change in understanding among Puritans of what it means to be

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3024-599: The departure of his cousin Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper in 1683, was named Acting Governor (1683–84), in which capacity Spencer served until the arrival of Governor Lord Howard of Effingham . Spencer's role as agent for the Culpepers helped him and his cousin Lt. Col. John Washington , ancestor of George Washington , secure the patent for their joint land grant of the Mount Vernon estate . Nicholas Spencer

3096-534: The diagnosis as quickly as possible. Nor was Spencer's role as his Colepeper cousins' agent an easy job. As landlords of an almost-feudal domain eventually encompassing over five million acres (20,000 km²) in the new colony, the Colepeper Northern Neck grant, eventually passed on to their Fairfax heirs, came to be seen by some colonists as an onerous reminder of English aristocratic privilege. In Colepeper's absence, it fell to their relation Spencer to do

3168-406: The enslavement of more than 20 percent of us at that time. How republican freedom came to be supported, at least in large part, by its opposite, slavery, is the subject of this book. Morgan claimed that large Virginia plantation owners exerted an outsized influence on poorer white Virginians and their attitude toward the racial divide (color line) which made it possible for Virginian white men as

3240-587: The era was, as the eminent colonial historian Edmund S. Morgan wrote, "the volatile society." There were popular uprisings such as Bacon's Rebellion , as well as the tobacco plant-cutting riots. A communication to the Crown in 1674 noted that his opposition to the Bacon Rebellion, for instance, had taken a toll on Spencer's estates. Having done the country "very good service against the Rebells, in that hee affected part of

3312-607: The family continued to live in Bedfordshire, where members of the family served in Parliament and were large landowners. The Spencer family continued to hold its land at Cople , Bedfordshire, until the nineteenth century. "The Spencers' Cople estates," according to the Bedfordshire County Council, "were bought by Francis Brace for the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough , and the manor still was known as Rowlands when part of

3384-404: The family estates but died childless after making his heir his nephew, also William, son of his next-brother Nicholas who had moved to Virginia. Another brother, Robert Spencer later removed from Surry County, Virginia , to Talbot County, Maryland , where his descendants long lived at Spencer Hall, the family plantation. Nicholas Spencer sailed from London to Westmoreland County, Virginia, during

3456-507: The family's 6,000-acre (24 km) plantation at Nomini in Westmoreland was sold. In 1709 Robert Carter purchased the Spencer property from the heirs of Col. Spencer for £800 sterling, marking the end of the Spencer family's residence in Westmoreland, and delineating the future site of Nomini Hall, the Carter family seat in Westmoreland occupying the former Spencer estate. The English branch of

3528-575: The groundless Imaginacon (sic) that the few Papists in Maryland and Virginia had conspired to hyre the Seneca Indians, to ye Cutting off, and totall distroying of all ye Protestants." At the same time, the forces that were propelling the Virginia Colony into the forefront of American economic and social might – primarily the raising of tobacco based on slavery – were simultaneously making Spencer's administrative role tricky. The Virginia colony of

3600-567: The head of state as a titular commander-in-chief) other than the respective national government. Examples include the following (arranged alphabetically by country name): The term colonel is also used as a title for auctioneers in the United States; there are a variety of theories or folk etymologies to explain the use of the term. One of these is the claim that during the American Civil War goods seized by armies were sold at auction by

3672-571: The heavy-lifting of collecting rents and taxes on the Colepeper barony. Nicholas Spencer was prominent in the affairs of the Virginia colony, residing at his plantation on Nomini Creek . Westmoreland County's Cople Parish, the Anglican parish which embraced half the county, was renamed in 1668 to honor Spencer and his English birthplace at Cople. The Spencer family were related to the Washington family in England, and later in Virginia. Col. Spencer patented

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3744-478: The new colony proved tricky. While simultaneously attempting to rationalize slavery, Spencer was also writing to the Privy Council in England about the Virginia Colony's precarious place on the edge of Catholic Maryland. "Unruly and unorderly spirits lay hold of ye motion of affairs," Spencer wrote, "and that under the pretext of Religion, soe as from those false glasses to pretend to betake themselves to Arms... from

3816-545: The new major of American civilization (history and literature), with Perry Miller as his tutor. He received his bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1937. Then, at the urging of the jurist and family friend Felix Frankfurter , Morgan began attending lectures at the London School of Economics . In 1942, Morgan earned his Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization from Harvard University with Miller as his adviser. Although

3888-546: The patriots' beliefs was a rational, clearly defined process. In his 1975 book American Slavery, American Freedom , Morgan explored "the American paradox, the marriage of slavery and freedom": Human relations among us still suffer from the former enslavement of a large portion of our predecessors. The freedom of the free, the growth of freedom experienced in the American Revolution depended more than we like to admit on

3960-421: The position of the colonel as the figurehead of a regiment is maintained in the honorary role of "colonel-in-chief", usually held by a member of the royal family , the nobility, or a retired senior military officer. The colonel-in-chief wears a colonel's uniform and encourages the members of the regiment, but takes no active part in the actual command structure or in any operational duties. The title Colonel of

4032-410: The rank of colonel became adopted by nearly every nation (albeit under a variety of names). During the 20th century, with the rise of communism , some of the large communist militaries saw fit to expand the colonel rank into several grades, resulting, for example, in the unique senior colonel rank, which was found and is still used in such nations as China and North Korea . In many modern armies,

4104-407: The regiment has more importance as a ceremonial unit or a focus of members' loyalty than as an actual battle formation. Troops tend to be deployed in battalions (commanded by a lieutenant colonel ) as a more convenient size of military unit and, as such, colonels have tended to have a higher profile in specialist and command roles than as actual commanders of regiments. However, in Commonwealth armies,

4176-459: The subject of slavery, they feared that it would magnify the danger of insurrection in the colony." As events evolved, however, the rising number of black slaves and the virtual end to the importation of indentured servants did stabilize Virginia society. And as time went on, according to Morgan, Virginia politicians learned to further pacify poor whites by fostering a sense of white superiority. "Racism made it possible for white Virginians to develop

4248-836: The tobacco boom ended in a bust prompted by wars with the Dutch and French and the Navigation Act of 1660. Nicholas Spencer had sailed to Virginia to help oversee his cousin John's investment, helping to colonize the frontier during the English Civil War in the mother county, and would survive Bacon's Rebellion . On arriving in the colony, Spencer secured a lucrative appointment as customs collector, in addition to administrator of his cousin's Virginia estates. (Spencer's job as agent for his Colepeper cousins included such functionary tasks as seizing 'winter beaver skins' or casks of tobacco for debts owed

4320-663: The tobacco boom of the 1650s, and became agent for his cousin John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper . Colepeper had inherited his father's share of ownership in the Virginia Company in 1617, and was subsequently knighted and afterwards raised to the peerage. He became the one-seventh proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia under the charter of 1649. Colepeper never lived in the colonies, and his son Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway , who lived at Leeds Castle , did not arrive in Virginia until 1680, twenty years after

4392-461: Was "plaine" that the class tensions stirred by the Rebellion had lingered, with a "mutinous mob" subsequently engaged in "wild and extravagant" rioting, going from farm to farm, tearing tobacco plants out by their roots. The Virginia government reacted harshly with militia patrols and the promise of steep fines. The "frenzy," according to Spencer, destroyed crops on over 200 plantations, and was driven by

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4464-517: Was born in Minneapolis , Minnesota , the second child of Edmund Morris Morgan and Elsie Smith Morgan. His mother was from a Yankee family that practiced Christian Science , though she distanced herself from that faith. His father, descended from Welsh coal miners, taught law at the University of Minnesota . His sister was Roberta Mary Morgan (later Wohlstetter) , also a historian and, like Edmund,

4536-488: Was born to an aristocratic English family long seated at Cople , Bedfordshire . The family was related to the Spencer family of Northamptonshire , with whom they shared a coat of arms . In 1531 the Spencers bought the manor of Rowlands at Cople, which they owned for several centuries. Nicholas Spencer, Sr., father of the Virginia emigrant, and his wife, the former Mary Gostwick, second daughter of Sir Edward Gostwick, 2nd Baronet , had several sons, of these William inherited

4608-487: Was commanded by a cabo de colunela or column head. Because they were crown units who are directly under the control of the monarch or sovereign of a country, the units were also confusingly called coronelas , and their commanders coronels . Evidence of this can be seen when Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba , nicknamed "the Great Captain", divided his armies in coronelías , each led by a coronel , in 1508. Later, in

4680-408: Was likely the first white settler of the Northern Neck in the early seventeenth century. He later served as the first Burgess for Northumberland in 1645, and presided over the county court for four years. Mottrom's daughter and her husband Nicholas Spencer named one of their sons, Mottrom, after John Mottrom. Another Spencer son, William, returned to England for schooling and remained there, serving as

4752-476: Was out to define something essential in the American character and thereby create a new master narrative, and to achieve that end, he concocted a false portrayal of the colonists’ petitions," Hogeland wrote. The essayist Ta-Nehisi Coates credits Morgan with greatly influencing his own views about race in American history. Morgan was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1964 and

4824-405: Was profoundly influenced by historian Perry Miller , who became a lifelong friend. Although both were atheists, they had a deep understanding and respect for Puritan religion . From Miller, Morgan learned to appreciate: The intellectual rigor and elegance of a system of ideas that made sense of human life in a way no longer palatable to most of us. Certainly not palatable to me... He left me with

4896-516: Was related to the Pope family of Popes Creek , Washington testified that in his will of 24 June 1674, Washington's kinsman Richard Cole had left all his Virginia lands to Nicholas Spencer. Washington "declareth that hee hath heard Mr. Richard Cole Deceased declare that hee had made a will, and given his whole estate to younge Mr. Nicholas Spencer and further saith not." The controversial Richard Cole had also specified that his body be buried on his plantation in

4968-580: Was the Sterling Professor of History at Yale University , where he taught from 1955 to 1986. He specialized in American colonial history , with some attention to English history . Thomas S. Kidd says he was noted for his incisive writing style, "simply one of the best academic prose stylists America has ever produced." He covered many topics, including Puritanism , political ideas, the American Revolution , slavery, historiography , family life, and numerous notables such as Benjamin Franklin . Morgan

5040-494: Was the colonel general , and, in the absence of the sovereign or his designate, the colonel general might serve as the commander of a force. The position, however, was primarily contractual and it became progressively more of a functionless sinecure . The head of a single regiment or demi-brigade would be called a ' mestre de camp ' or, after the Revolution , a ' chef de brigade '. By the late 19th century, colonel had evolved to

5112-481: Was the reason black slaves began to replace white servants: during the early 1600s, white servants cost less per unit labor than black slaves did; but by the latter 1600s, the situation reversed itself, and black slaves became the more economical investment. And, as Morgan states, "The planters who bought slaves instead of servants did not do so with any apparent consciousness of the social stability to be gained thereby. Indeed, insofar as Virginians expressed themselves on

5184-423: Was to some extent embodied in a contract and set of written rules, also referred to as the colonel's regiment or standing regulation(s). By extension, the group of companies subject to a colonel's regiment (in the foregoing sense) came to be referred to as his regiment (in the modern sense) as well. In French usage of this period, the senior colonel in the army or, in a field force, the senior military contractor,

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