Historians usually look for the origins of American political culture among English-speaking people and British constitutional and legal sources. Yet German immigrants to the colonies also contributed to - and developed for themselves - an American political consciousness. In this book, A.G. Roeber focuses on this neglected subject and explains why so many Germans - when they faced critical choices in 1776 - became active supporters of the patriot cause. Employing a variety of German-language sources, Roeber explores German conceptions of personal and public property in the context of cultural and religious beliefs, village life and family concerns. He follows all the major German migration streams, beginning with the Palatines in New York and including Germans who settled in Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. Roeber's study of German-American ideas about liberty and property provides a unique and new perspective within a growing historiography on the transfer of culture and beliefs from Europe and Africa to America.
- ISBN10 0801844592
- ISBN13 9780801844591
- Publish Date 1 April 1993
- Publish Status Out of Stock
- Out of Print 12 March 1999
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 448
- Language English