The Curious Affair of the Horsewhipped Senator: A Diplomatic Crisis That Didn’t Happen
“The Greatest Eloquence”: James Cathcart and the Power of Words in Eighteenth-Century Barbary
Fleeing from the Shores of Tripoli: America’s First Messy Retreat from a Foreign War and the Backlash it Engendered
When Johnny Comes Marching Home…from the Bank
The Role of Anti-Catholicism in the U.S.-Mexican War
The Jamaica Maroons and the Dangers of Categorical Thinking
An American Flag in Japan: Townsend Harris and the materials of diplomacy, 1857-58
Indian Treaties Redux
According to Custom: Building a Nation on Negotiation
Chinese Market; Global Trade
The Indians’ Hidden World
Think Globally, Reform Locally
Selling Misery Abroad
Mapping History: Reflections on the Globalization of the United States, 1789-1861 Digital Project
Along the Lenapewihittuck: Reframing Delaware Valley History
“Go West, Young Man…Far, Far West”
Quapaw Diplomacy and Osage Empire
North American Monetary Union?
Doctrines of Discovery
Creative Writing
Reviews
ABOUT
Welcome to Commonplace, a destination for exploring and exchanging ideas about early American history and culture. A bit less formal than a scholarly journal, a bit more scholarly than a popular magazine, Commonplace speaks—and listens—to scholars, museum curators, teachers, hobbyists, and just about anyone interested in American history before 1900. It is for all sorts of people to read about all sorts of things relating to early American life—from architecture to literature, from politics to parlor manners. It’s a place to find insightful analysis of early American history as it is discussed in scholarly literature, as it manifests on the evening news, as it is curated in museums, big and small; as it is performed in documentary and dramatic films and as it shows up in everyday life.
In addition to critical evaluations of books and websites (Reviews) and poetic research and fiction (Creative Writing), our articles explore material and visual culture (Objects); pedagogy, the writing of literary scholarship, and the historian’s craft (Teach); and diverse aspects of America’s past and its many peoples (Learn). For more great content, check out our other projects, (Just Teach One) and (Just Teach One African American Print).
How to cite Commonplace articles:
Author, “Title of Article,” Commonplace: the journal of early American life, date accessed, URL.
Sophie White, “Trading Looks Race, Religion and Dress in French America,” Commonplace: the journal of early American life, accessed September 30, 2019, https://commonplace.online/article/trading-looks-race-religion-dress-french-america/
Joshua R. Greenberg, editor
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