EUH5934 Atlantic History and Beyond
Matthew Delvaux
AMH2010: Document Analysis Assignment 1
Due: October 1
In 1768, Dr. Andrew Turnbull recruited 1403 settlers from throughout the Mediterranean to establish a settlement in
British East Florida on a land grant near modern Daytona Beach. The colony, which he named New Smyrna, was among
the largest single settlements of colonists, and it immediately rivaled St. Augustine as the largest settlement in East
Florida. By 1777, the colony had failed, and the remaining 419 settlers were allowed to move elsewhere.
Florida History Online has prepared an anthology of letters and documents relating to the failed settlement. Read the
handout (Bernard Bailyn, Voyagers to the West, pp. 451-461) for context. Then check out the links below. The first link
contains correspondence to and from Dr. Turnbull as he recruited settlers and gathered supplies in 1767-68. The second
link contains documents and letters from 1776-77 regarding the American Revolution, disputes between Dr. Turnbull
and Governor Patrick Tonyn, grievances of the settlers, and a report of New Smyrna’s failure to the British Secretary of
State for America, Lord George Germain.
With this assignment, you get to exercise your skills as a historian looking at documents and linking causes and effects.
Write a 3-5 page paper using at least two documents from each link. Some documents are highlighted below for your
benefit, but all are fair game. Your paper must meet all writing, citation, and formatting standards described in the course
syllabus. Exception: cite documents from Florida History Online with only the full header and date, e.g. Andrew
Turnbull to Sir William Duncan, (Leghorn, June 26, 1767); or Grievances against Doctor Andrew Turnbull, Deponent
14 (May 7, 1777). All other citations must meet syllabus standards. Do not simply narrate or summarize the documents.
Craft a thesis statement and structure your essay as a historical argument. Answer one set of questions below:
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What did Dr. Turnbull expect from his settlement? How did this guide his preparations? What were the results?
What were the settlers moving away from or trying to escape? How did those conditions compare with what
awaited them in East Florida? What were the results?
What problems did Dr. Turnbull and New Smyrna cause for Governor Tonyn? How did these problems arise
from conditions in the Mediterranean and Dr. Turnbull’s choices there? How did Governor Tonyn respond?
How did different groups react to the American Revolution? What conditions created these groups? What was
the outcome?
Preparations and Recruitment: http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/Turnbull/letters/3.htm
John Graham to James Grant (Savannah, June 13, 1767): high mortality rates among slaves in Florida
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan (Port Mahon, July 11, 1767): describes recruits and terms of service
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan (Minorca, February 21, 1768): difficulties of life in the Mediterranean
Andrew Turnbull to the Earl of Shelburne (February 27, 1768): difficulties of life in the Mediterranean
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan (Port Mahon, March 5, 1768): recruiting wives
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan (Port Mahon, March 16, 1768): financial difficulties but hopeful outlook
Andrew Turnbull to Sir William Duncan (Port Mahon, March 30, 1768): total emigrating
The Failure of New Smyrna:
http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/Turnbull/letters/8.htm
David Yeats to James Grant (St. Augustine, February 27, 1776): Dr. Turnbull offends Governor Tonyn
Robert Bisset to Patrick Tonyn (Palmerina, September 1, 1776): threat of invasion and insurrection
Governor Patrick Tonyn to Lord George Germaine (St. Augustine, May 8, 1777): problems with New Smyrna,
expectations of the Revolution
Grievances against Doctor Andrew Turnbull: settlers complain of injustices
Governor Patrick Tonyn to Lord George Germaine (St. Augustine, December 29, 1777): end of the settlement
EUH5934 Atlantic History and Beyond
Matthew Delvaux
Undergraduate Assignment
6 February 2012
This assignment is designed for a general survey course such as AMH2010: The United States to 1877. It is best suited
for a course model based on several shorter writing requirements such as document analyses and response papers. 1
Ideally, a shorter response paper would precede this assignment to establish writing standards. Additional guidance on
crafting a thesis and structuring historical arguments would be given during the lecture period when this assignment is
distributed.
To encourage a broader-than-nation perspective, this assignment requires students to use documents originating from
both the Mediterranean and Florida. Since this still puts a huge amount of material before the student, the handout
outlines the major events and players, provides a brief synopsis of the available materials, and recommends students look
at some specific documents. Students looking for additional context could refer to the section on New Smyrna from
Bernard Bailyn’s Voyagers to the West, most likely made available on ARES.
Students may choose between four sets of questions. The first two focus on conditions or decisions made in the
Mediterranean and their results in East Florida whereas the second two focus on problems in East Florida and how they
relate to activity in the Mediterranean. Two questions focus on individuals (Dr. Turnbull and Governor Tonyn) and two
focus on groups (resulting from emigration or developed after immigration). Each set of questions encourages students
to link conditions and events across the Atlantic but remains open to a wide array of answers.
Some possibilities for the Dr. Turnbull question include discussing his idealism, his expenses and relations with his
creditors, or his targets for recruitment and terms of indenture. Among other things, these result respectively in
continuing maneuvers for political power despite failures of foresight, increasing demands on settlers and gross
injustices, and a volatile population prone to division and rebellion.
Possibilities for the question about settlers groups include looking at religious and ethnic subgroups, the recruitment of
differing skill sets, and hierarchies among the laborers. Results include ready sources of political instability within the
settlement, differences in settlers’ expectations or terms of indenture, and the development of the role of the overseers.
Governor Tonyn confronted problems such as the political machinations of Dr. Turnbull, jurisprudence over runaway
settlers from New Smyrna, and eventually the care of incapacitated survivors. These problems could connect with many
aspects of the colonization process, including absentee land speculation, the drive for profit, and ideals of the colony as
an enlightened place free from oppression.
Looking at the American Revolution from the perspectives peculiar to East Florida challenges students to reassess
standard textbook narratives. Considerations include how economic oppression contributed to the revolutionary
movement, how political quarrels between aristocrats such as Dr. Turnbull and Governor Tonyn could encourage
revolution, and how Governor Tonyn attempted to keep rebellion out of East Florida through arrests and irregular
militia. These documents encourage students to tie these considerations to the process of colonization, the differing
considerations and motives of settlers and proprietors, and the demands upon crown officials receiving and controlling
colonists.
These topics leave the student with a large amount of freedom, so emphasis will have to be made on crafting a thesis
and supporting it with a historical argument. For the purposes of this assignment, I would provide two examples of a
thesis: “X happened in East Florida because of the Mediterranean was like Y” or “East Florida was like X because Y
happened in the Mediterranean.” Depending on whether papers had been assigned previously or the level of success on
those papers, I would also work through one or two clearly spurious examples of developing an outline to support a
thesis.
I referenced an old syllabus from Fall 2002 for AMH2020: The United States since 1877 as a course model. Course
requirements included two reaction papers (each 5% of total grade), two document papers (each 10%), and two exams
(25% each), with participation accounting for the remainder of the grade. Syllabus online at
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/mjacobs/Amh2020Fall02/Syllabus.html.
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