The Enlightenment of Cadawallader Colden: Empire, Science, and Intellectual Culture in British New York by John M. Dixon is a history of the American Enlightenment from the perspective of one man that is not usually focused on. When most people think of this time period they think of George Washington, Thomas Paine, etc. but Colden’s point of view is very unique take, but as Dixon tries to show, not an unimportant one.
John M. Dixon is an associate professor at the College of Staten Island in the City University of New York. He does work on intellectual history, the Enlightenment, and cultural history. He received his PhD in American history from the University of California in 2007, his M.A. from the University of East Anglia, and his B.A. from the University of Birmingham. He has had works published by Oxford, Cornell, William and Mary Quarterly, and Early American Studies. “His current research explores the history of the early modern Atlantic world through the experience of Jews, crypto-Jews, and conversos.” https://www.csi.cuny.edu/campus-directory/john-m-dixon
Chapter 1 starts the book out with the intellectual backdrop of the Enlightenment. This context better allows us to understand the world that Cadwallader Colden lived in. It describes how the intellectual traditions started to move away from Aristotelian thinking from the re-introduction of the pre-Socratic schools of thought such as the Hermetic, Platonic, and Stoic philosophies. It describes the changing intellectual climate following the Glorious Revolution. It concludes with information about Colden’s parents and early life.
Chapter 2 documents Colden’s medical education and his travels between Europe and America, including places like Philadelphia. It also documents the debates surrounding inoculation at the time. There were also many other medical debates happening at the time between different schools of medical thought. Colden was kept informed of all of these developments and ventured to development an impressive network of medical physicians.
Chapter 3 chronicles Colden’s continuing efforts to grow his network and the beginnings of his political career after his medical practices did not come to fruition. It also mentions that he still had an interest in the medical world, as it documents some experiments he did, including one with a bladder.
Chapter 4 shows Colden’s moving away from medical practices to his focus on economics, geography, and history of North America. It tells the story of how he governed and the troubles he ran into given the New York government’s many cases of corruption. It also describes Colden’s diplomacy with the local Native American populations and his writings on them.
Chapter 5 talks about how Colden moved to a rural farm that was representative of a quiet philosophical retirement advocated by the neo-stoics. It describes the friendship that formed between Franklin and Colden and how it furthered their intellectual developments.
Chapter 6 highlights Colden’s battles with Berkleyan philosophy and the different intellectuals who took each side. It talks about the many books Colden published in this debate, including his self-regarded masterpiece Explication.
Chapter 7 describes the politics of eighteenth century New York and Colden’s fights against partisanship. It focuses on what the author refers to as print culture.
Chapter 8 documents the entrance of a second generation in Enlightenment thinking and Colden’s time as head of the government. They represented a new cultural change and print culture that created the intellectual scene until Colden’s death in 1776 on the eve of the American Revolution.
Unlike books we have read previously in recent weeks, this book does not attempt to cover two hundred or three hundred years between its pages. Instead, it documents the life of one man who’s intellectual explorations made a difference in New York. It chronicles his life and political ambitions in a way that reveals the intellectual culture of New York at the time.
The sources Dixon used seem to be well targeted and focused. He spent most of his time discussing just one city and the time period spanned only a few decades. Far less ambitious that some of the books we have read previously. And this is suitable given the length of this monograph. As any good intellectual ought to do, he cites the intellectual works of each thinker he talks about in the book directly. He spends a good amount of time explaining the arguments of each side if there happened to be a debate. Towards the end of the book he cites pamphlets that were published to illustrate the nature of printing culture and the political climate that existed. He also cites letter correspondents and other primary sources of that nature. There were other times where he cited secondary sources and made sure to explicitly state the names of the historians he was citing. He incorporated their arguments into his research and showed where his work fit into all of this. The only downside when it comes to sources is that the author never stated their limitations in their research. Where were the shortcomings of writing this book and what could it be missing?
I believe this book could be categorized as a history of science, political history, and an intellectual history. From my reading this book focuses the most on politics more so than any other book we have read in class so far. So, I think the intended audience would be intended for people who are interested in these two subjects or anyone who is interested in the history of New York and the Enlightenment.
Colden is an interesting figure as the author argues, because unlike other Scottish thinkers of the Enlightenment he did not believe that things were automatically getting better. Instead, he had a bit of cynicism in his thinking and warned of continuing corruption that he saw occurring in several governments.
I believe that the author was aiming for the reader and other historians to have a reconsideration about the American Enlightenment its relationship with Cadawallader Colden. He is not a very well known figure, let alone is he considered an important part of the Enlightenment. However, Dixon desires to push back against that. He certainly does do a formidable job. He successfully showed that Colden’s intellectual and political influence certainly had an effect on others. The phenomena of print culture is certainly one example. Dixon closes out the book with one of his arguments, “Colden was an important champion of colonial intellect who helped to define the social and ideological contours of moderate, transatlantic enlightenment.” (Page 167)
One question I would have for the class would be similar to what we ask about the Scientific Revolution. Was there an Enlightenment? I have heard it said that instead of there being an Enlightenment, that there were multiple Enlightenments. What does Colden’s story add to this and the Scientific Revolution?