CARVED OUT OF WOOD: EXPLOITING THE FORESTS IN THE ANGLO-ATLANTIC AND THE ...

160 Pages·2015·0.7 MB·English

CARVED OUT OF WOOD:

EXPLOITING THE FORESTS IN THE ANGLO-ATLANTIC

AND THE SPLINTERS THAT FOLLOWED, 1583-1776

A Thesis

Presented to the faculty of the Department of History
California State University, Sacramento

Submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

in

History

by

Timothy A. Tadlock, Jr.

SPRING
2015
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© 2015

Timothy A. Tadlock, Jr.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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CARVED OUT OF WOOD:

EXPLOITING THE FORESTS IN THE ANGLO-ATLANTIC

AND THE SPLINTERS THAT FOLLOWED, 1583-1776

A Thesis

by

Timothy A. Tadlock, Jr.

Approved by:

__________________________________, Committee Chair
Jeffrey Wilson, Ph.D.

__________________________________, Second Reader
Christopher Castaneda, Ph.D.

____________________________
Date

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Student: Timothy A. Tadlock, Jr.

I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University
format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to
be awarded for the thesis.

__________________________, Department Chair ___________________
Aaron Cohen, Ph.D. Date

Department of History

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Abstract

of

CARVED OUT OF WOOD:

EXPLOITING THE FORESTS IN THE ANGLO-ATLANTIC

AND THE SPLINTERS THAT FOLLOWED, 1583-1776

by

Timothy A. Tadlock, Jr.

This work demonstrates the consequences of conflict over timber between the
British imperial government and Anglo-Atlantic colonies. English colonists in the North
Atlantic quickly turned to the available forestlands to meet their needs for survival and
desire for profit, but later commercial growth in the empire placed at odds the colonists’
immediate intentions for the forests and the strategic purposes outlined by the English
government. This study divides timber use into three broadly defined categories:
domestic, commercial, and strategic. Expanding upon related historical scholarship, this
thesis compares these uses in a way that most current historical literature does not,
allowing analysis of conflict over timber in the early modern Anglo-Atlantic. Using
government documents and contemporary accounts of explorers, colonial leaders, and
travelers in the Anglo-Atlantic, the perception, utilization, and consequences of timber
harvesting to the political economy and environment of the colonial Anglo-Atlantic are
traced. This thesis shows that many colonists and merchants operated with veritable
economic impunity for over a century despite British policies that should have restricted
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their actions. However, British attempts to control the use and sale of timber contributed
to mainland colonists’ feelings of oppression. Timber exploited from North American
forests laid the foundations for the early Anglo-Atlantic economy, and the strategic
demands on these forests created tensions within the empire that contributed to the
American Revolution.

_______________________, Committee Chair
Jeffrey Wilson, Ph.D.

_______________________
Date

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DEDICATION

For Stephanie, Gabriel, and Anastasia
Thank you for making this entire endeavor possible.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. Jeffrey Wilson. Dr. Wilson
presided over my first introduction to academic history after being absent from college
for nearly a decade. I learned the art and challenges of teaching history while serving as a
Teacher’s Assistant in one of his courses, and later, as the First Reader on my thesis
committee, he helped to provide direction in my academic career while challenging me to
reach further in my research and improve as an academic writer. His continued guidance
and support into and through the graduate program at California State University,
Sacramento, has proved invaluable to my academic growth. Thank you, Dr. Wilson, for
the countless conversations about both school and life.
I would like to thank Dr. Christopher Castaneda for introducing me to the nuances
of both economic and environmental history, historical perspectives that play a crucial
role in this thesis. Dr. Castaneda helped me to sharpen my interest in environmental
history, and led me to develop my interest in the intersection of the environment and
economics. Dr. Castaneda was the first of my professors to suggest I could successfully
write a thesis and encourage me to do so.
I would also like to thank Dr. S. Max Edelson from the University of Virginia
who took the time to answer questions and provide direction for advanced graduate study
and the subject of timber in colonial America. Dr. Edelson’s own research initially
inspired my interest and research into resource management in the colonies and the
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conflict that arose therefrom. For paving the way and encouraging my own research
direction, I am grateful.
The readers and attendees of the Phi Alpha Theta Northern California Regional
Conference at California State University, Sacramento on April 20, 2013, deserve special
thanks. The paper I presented there was an ungerminated seed for this thesis and became
an early draft of what are now parts of chapters three and four. Their positive reaction to
my paper helped encourage me to believe the subject of conflict over timber in the
colonial Anglo-Atlantic could be an interesting and viable research topic.
I offer my thanks to the History Department at California State University
Sacramento. I would like to mention the faculty and staff in the department who helped in
a variety of ways to provide the foundation for my thesis and my academic success. I
would like to thank Dr. Aaron Cohen for helping develop a plan to return to school, Dr.
Jim Rose for encouraging me to believe that I could go farther in graduate studies, and
Dr. Michael Vann for teaching me the fundamental role colonialism and imperialism
plays in the modern world, with the conflict therein forming the basis of my thesis. I
would also like to thank Dr. Nikolaus Lazaridis, Dr. Carol Gregory, and Dr. Joseph
Palermo for their support and encouragement through the program. In addition, LoriAnn
Rodriguez and Julie Cahill helped keep the department running while answering
countless questions, pointing me in the right direction, and sometimes facilitating
communication with faculty when busy schedules prevented meeting directly.
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There are others I must also mention whose role were integral to helping me get
into a graduate program and succeed once I arrived. I would like to start with thanks to
the person who has had arguably the greatest impact on my academic career, Dr. Robin
Datel. Dr. Datel was a long-time Chair of the California State University, Sacramento
Department of Geography, where I earned my undergraduate degree. I count myself
fortunate to have had the opportunity to know and befriend Dr. Datel. Her support and
direction in my undergraduate career continued as an open door in the subsequent years
to discuss career, research, ideas, and just as often, life. I would like to thank my graduate
student colleagues Eugene Boyd and Lorraine Herbon. Gene provided excellent editorial
assistance with the paper that grew into this thesis and helped me to manage and later
take over our university’s history journal Clio, and our chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the
national history honor society. Lorraine’s support was endless, cheerleading and
encouraging when things got tough and always challenged me to do even better the next
time.
And I’d like to thank all of the many friends and family who, over the last two
years, have asked about my thesis and learned probably more than they anticipated about
timber in the Anglo-Atlantic colonies. I would like to thank my close friend Kylie
Prymus, whose acute awareness of my interests coupled with his own experience in
graduate school suggested it might be what I was looking for. I am eternally grateful to
my grandfather Max Tadlock and father, Tim Tadlock, both of whom taught me the
importance of understanding history. I especially appreciate my father’s persistent
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