The Cupola 2011

The Cupola Award is presented students whose research papers rank in the top 5 from the annual Paideia conference. Winners receive $500 and their paper published in this journal CNU’s web based journal for undergraduate research.

"Research is the essential element of the scholar's craft. It is the means by which scholars pay forward into the fund of human knowledge the debt owed to their predecessors. At its best, research honors the past while enriching the future."

Dr. Richard M. Summerville CNU Provost 1982-1995, 2001-2007

By Travis S. Williams

A Force to Transform Society:  The Trauma of Exile for 17  Palestinians Through the Literature of the Nakba.

By Elise Sjogren

By Amory C. Cox

By Heather McGriff

By Amanda Rocamontes

Yachting Diplomacy.  Anglo‐American Relations and the            102 Creation of Nationalism through the America’s Cup and Great Trans‐Atlantic Ocean Races, 1851 – 1914

By Maxwell J. Plarr

Dual-Axis Solar Tracker

Travis S. Williams

Sponsoring Professor: Dr. Dali Wang

Abstract:

This paper is a compilation of the research and development that has taken place over the past eight months in the field of solar engineering. It shows how tracking the sun is more beneficial than not tracking the sun. A device has been created that can successfully track the sun by reading the voltage values of solar cells and using them to command servo motors to turn the turret in order to achieve optimal power output.

The project discussed in this report is designed to maximize the amount of solar energy collected by a set of solar cells or a solar panel by repositioning the panel. Solar cells should be positioned in a place where they can easily access the light source, in most cases this is sunlight. In many areas where solar energy is used to power road-side cameras, houses, or weather stations, solar cells are tilted at an angle that corresponds with the latitude of the planet and the time of year. However, angle is not important for applications like powering calculators because those applications are not designed to capture excess energy. The angle is important when looking at larger scale solar power projects. The purpose behind this project was to maximize the energy output of solar cells. This entails increasing energy collection by optimizing the solar cells's angle.

Since photo-voltaic cells can operate more efficiently when pointed directly into the sunlight, it is important to find the angle or position that would optimize cell output. A study

Figure 1: MACS Lab Inc energy collection graph

from Material Analysis and Characterization Service Lab Inc., found solar cells that track the sun can gather almost 3kwh/m2 more per day on the longest day of the year than cells that are adjusted for the greatest average collection during each of the four seasons.

In order to elaborate on how the angle can affect the amount of energy a cell can absorb, one must understand how a cell is oriented if it doesn't track the sun. Solar panels are almost always oriented towards the south. This is because the sun travels in an arc shaped pattern across the southern sky. Therefore, whenever it is written that a panel is adjusted to a certain degree, this adjustment refers to a change in angle and assumes that the panel is facing south. In the graph above, the "full-year" values are based off of optimal angles that are calculated for the entire year. According to a study that was performed at MACS Lab Inc., the correct angle that a panel should be oriented is

(Latitude * 0.76) + 3.1

For latitudes between 25° and 50°, this simple equation allows for at least 70% of the optimum energy a solar panel could collect if it tracks the sun. If the sun is tracked, the collection percentage would be much greater. With the use of several motors and a micro-controller, a device can be created which would find a solution to this problem.

During the early stages of this project, the goal was to find a robotic arm that was assembled, which could be programmed and controlled by a micro-controller. This would have made the hardware construction for this project easier. However, when searching for a suitable robotic arm, with the current budget of near $100, the arms were either limited to a load of a kilogram or exceeded the budget. Several arms also had five axes of motion which would have been unnecessary for the task at hand. Next, I thought about using RC motors to move a turret

that would house the solar cells. The conflict with using RC motors to turn a turret is that they are high speed motors, and due to their speed, they would not have had the accuracy needed to position the solar cells. My solution was to use servo motors.

The servo motors that were selected for this prototype were D125F Digital servo motors from Hobbypartz USA. They can accurately position a device to a specified degree within its 120 degree operating range. The controller that was chosen was an Arduino Uno, and was an ideal device to harness four analog inputs while driving three separate motors. Four amorphous solar cells, roughly 4"x4", were placed in a quadrant fashion. All of them were facing the same direction. They were attached to a 1/4” x 8”x 8” piece of lexan, a material that resembles plexiglass in many ways, using a compound known as RTV or Room Temperature Vulcanizing. I held the lexan base in place by attaching it to two servos, which were mounted on a U-shaped 1/16” thick 1” wide strip of aluminum which was approximately 18” long. Seen below is a diagram of the turret.

Diagram 1: Turret Design

The aluminum bar was bent into a U-shape in order to provide a frame for the turret. I selected aluminum as a holder for the motors and cells because it is lightweight yet durable. A cardboard-composite base was used measuring approximately 10” x 10”.

The goal of the algorithm was to conserve the most energy, and included a set of functions which would move the turret until it reached its current optimal position. The principal behind setting the solar cells in a quadrant fashion, all facing the same direction, was to be able to use a difference equation. The basic form of this equation is:

E0 = ERight – ELeft

If ERight is equal to ELeft, then they will cancel each other out and equal zero. In the case of this design, the solar cells will be able to obtain the maximum amount of energy when they are perpendicular to the rays of the sun. When it is perpendicular to the sun, the X-axis difference will equal zero and the Y-axis difference will equal zero.

X0 = XRight - XLeft

Y0 = YTop - YBottom

For example, when XRight is greater than XLeft, the vertical servo motor will be turned towards the right side so that XLeft will increase and XRight will decrease. Once X0 = 0, then the vertical motor will cease to move. The same is applied for the Y-axis, which affects the servos that face each other. In order to compare the cells to decide which way the turret moves each side of the device must be averaged. This means that an average must be stored for each edge comprising its two cells. Taking these averages is not absolutely neccessary because both the Yaxis positioning and the X-axis positioning could be calculated by comparing two cells in each direction. However, caculating it gives a more accurate reading positioning the device.

When the first four 4” x 4” solar cells were received, they were taken to the engineering lab. It was during the evening hours when they were tested to see how much voltage they produced. Each cell was turned toward the window and the results are as follows:

It was decided that the voltage readings were too different to be useful for this project. I considered using them and adjusting the readings in the code, but could not be sure that the cells would behave linearly. I ordered four more. When the next four cells arrived, I re-tested the first four as well as the new cells in the lab, in the evening, facing each cell toward the window. The results are listed below with (a) indicating the new cells

Since solar cells 2, 4, and 4a had relatively close readings, I decided that those cells should be used along with 3a which would be corrected linearly in the software.

When actually programming the Arduino Uno, a filtering method known as averaging was used. This method was implemented while I took the analog readings from the solar cells.

The purpose of implementing this filter was to better ensure that there were no stray signals being read into the Arduino board. Eliminating these rogue readings allowed for a more accurate

calculation on where to angle the turret next. The trial and error method was used to determine the number of times the samples had to be taken. The number was set to fifty times.

Below are two graphs; one that shows the results from a stationary set-up of the cells angled parallel to the ground, and one that shows the results when tracking is enabled, and the cells are moving at a rate of 1degreee/250ms. The test that was used for both of these was simply conducted by holding a small flashlight directly above the cells from a two foot distance, and rotating the flashlight 90 degrees towards the ground while keeping the light facing the cells and maintaining the two foot distance. Perhaps, if I had had better test equipment, I would have been able to mount the flashlight on a slide. This would have helped eliminate the random peaks and valleys seen on both graphs. It is important to note that the values on the y-axis of these graphs weakness of the flashlight.are not mV, but are numbers directly correlating 0-5V with 0-1023.

This in turn shows the weakness of the flashlight.

(Actual values for graphs can be found in Appendix A)

As the graphs above prove, it is very beneficial for solar cells to rotate to follow the light source. The difference in productivity is especially true when the light source is not perpendicular to the ground, as when the sun rises or when the sun sets. The ability to follow the sun until it is no longer visible enables the cells to increase their daily power collection.

This experiment is the beginning of a larger project which will result in the construction of a number of tracking devices that will be designed and built to be stronger and more durable than the one used in this project. Although it serves its purpose, the current device would not last long. Its heavy flat surface is hoisted in the air by a light thin frame, and would be ripped apart in a windy environment. Later models will be much closer to the base they are mounted on, and will have stronger frames.

A further extension of this product would be the control over a great number of turrets based off of one turret's readings. Being able to link other motors, with the same signal generated for the three on this single turret, would enable one Arduino to control a whole solar farm by itself, greatly increasing the efficiency of the entire system by eliminating the need for a separate controller for each and every single turret.

Works Cited:

1. The Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy and Sustainable living.

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/AE_solar_cell.html

2. ThinkGeek:Edge Robotic Arm Kit

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/b696/#tabs

3. Netrino-The Embedded Systems Experts: Introduction to Pulse Width Modulation

http://www.netrino.com/Embedded-Systems/How-To/PWM-Pulse-Width-Modulation

4. HobbyPartz:T-Pro MG946R 55G High Torque Digital Servo

http://www.hobbypartz.com/servo-mg946r.html

5. Arduino

http://www.arduino.cc/

6. SurplusShed

http://www.surplusshed.com/

7. Material Analysis and Characterization Service Lab Incorporated

http://www.macslab.com/

8. Society of Robots

http://www.societyofrobots.com/actuators_servos.shtml

9. The Angle of the Sun

http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sunangle.htm

Non-Tracking

Personal Biography:

I am a graduate from CNU who has thrived in the opportunity to study the field of Computer Science and Engineering. My fascination with solar energy has prompted me to promote the use of solar technology and to help reduce the pressures that are asserted by foreign non-renewable resources. Besides my technical background, I also enjoy playing the piano for church and in my Jazz combo classes. Music is a way for me to escape from the pressures of everyday life.

A Force to Transform Society: The Trauma of Exile for Palestinians Through the Literature of the Nakba

Elise Sjogren

Sponsoring Professor: Dr. Jean Filetti

Abstract:

One of the most underrepresented traumas in world history and literature is the Nakba of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were exiled from their land. The Nakba was a founding trauma for Palestinians, since it became a crucial event in the history of the people and “the basis for collective and personal identity” (LaCapra 81). The effects of exile are many, and Palestinian authors post-1948 undertook a project of self definition to overcome the painful repercussions of their exile.

One man who employed literature in such a way is Ghassan Kanafani. Exiled from his home in 1948, Kanafani grew up as a refugee in Lebanon and Syria. Along with teaching and editing newspapers, Kanfani spent his adult years writing. Before his death, he completed several novellas, multiple scholarly works on literature and politics, and over fifty short stories. Although he had his own exilic experiences, he did not write about them. Instead, he created individuals and families and imagined their tragedies. Two of Kanafani’s works worthy of analysis are Men in the Sun (Rijal fi al-shams) and All That’s Left to You (Ma tabaqqa lakum). Written in the 1960s, both novellas are set in the years after 1948 and focus on the struggles of exile for Palestinian refugees.

The trauma of 1948 affected Palestinians in a myriad of ways, and Ghassan Kanafani utilizes fictional trauma narratives to explore a number of the effects of such trauma in his novellas. Both Men in the Sun and All That’s Left to You deal with the Palestinian refugee struggle and utilize a particular narrative style to highlight the dislocating effects of trauma. In particular, four major themes are addressed in the works: identity, the collision of past and present, gender, and the exilic life as a constant journey.

To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.

Simone Weil

One of the most underrepresented traumas in world history and literature is the Nakba of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were exiled from their land. The trauma of the Nakba was a “founding trauma” for Palestinians, becoming a crucial event in the history of the people and “the basis for collective and personal identity” (LaCapra 81). If being rooted is indeed the most important need of the human soul, then being exiled from one’s home is one of the worst forms of trauma. Palestinians experienced this trauma en masse and are still working to overcome the effects, some employing literature as one way to accomplish this.

To the majority of Palestinians, 1948 was the most formative year in their history. Beginning in November 1947 and escalating from May 1948 onwards, over 700,000 Palestinians were exiled from their homeland. This mass exodus, ultimately the result of the establishment of the State of Israel in an area with 46% Arab inhabitants, is best understood in three phases. From November 29, 1947, when the UN Partition Resolution was passed, until mid-March 1948, the first group of Palestinians left their homes. Roughly 30,000 people left during this time, and those who fled were mainly upper and middle-class individuals who were taking temporary “extended vacations” to escape the turmoil (Glazer 104). The second phase lasted from late March until May 1948. During this period, the first main exodus took place, with large numbers of Palestinians fleeing their homes as a result of Israeli terrorism and intimidation. The third phase began on May 15, 1948, with the declaration of Israeli statehood. At this point, the expulsion of Palestinians became standard policy for Israel and was conducted systematically

(Glazer 106). 1948, then, became the year of the Nakba for Palestinians, the year of the catastrophe.

At each phase of this exodus, but especially the second and third phases, the Palestinians fled in terror. Zionists used radio to represent Palestinian resistance as futile and spread rumors that the Israelis possessed the atomic bomb (Glazer 108). Given the intensifying fear and the nature of the fighting, historian Steven Glazer concludes that “it is inconceivable that the exodus would be anything but one of mass panic and uncontrollable fight” (108). Walid Khalidi, a Palestinian historian, describes the exodus of Haifa in horrifying terms: “Hundreds of people blocked the narrow lanes and pushed and heaved against one another, each trying to save himself and his children. Many children, women and old men fainted and were trampled by the surging crowds” (30). Family members were often separated from one another and few left with more than the clothes on their back. Unfortunately, all who left fled under the assumption that they would be able to return after the conflict settled down. Only after the armistices were signed did they realize they were offered no right to return.

What made this exodus so particularly horrifying was the landscape. The Palestinians were both symbolically and literally cast into a desert. Symbolically, they were cast out of their land with no one to receive them. The surrounding Arab nations were not excited about thousands of refugees flooding their countries and did not welcome them warmly. Literally, the Palestinians were cast into a hostile space: blazing, dry, and desolate. Their particular location heightened the trauma of exile and increased the importance of the events of 1948.

According to Edward Said, an American-Palestinian and one of the premier scholars on Palestine, “To say that 1948 made an extraordinary cultural and historical demand on the Arab is to be guilty of the crassest understatement” (46). In his essay on Arabic prose fiction after 1948,

Said argues that Arabs who wrote after 1948 undertook a project of “self-definition” (45). The Zionists had exposed the Arabs’ disunity and ultimately threatened their survival as a people. The Palestinian authors, then, were guaranteeing the survival of Arab culture. After 1948, the Arab novel became a novel of “historical and social development” (Said 48). Novelist Ghassan Kanafani made tremendous contributions toward this goal. Originally from Akka, Kanafani was exiled in 1948 and grew up as a refugee in Lebanon and Syria. Kanafani, a teacher by profession, taught in UN refugee schools before instructing in Kuwait for five years. Upon returning to Lebanon, he worked as a journalist and editor of multiple newspapers. Kanafani was also politically active and served as the official spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Supremely dedicated to the Palestinian cause, Kanafani was assassinated by a car bomb in Beirut in 1972. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli agents were responsible for the assassination (Kilpatrick 15). Along with teaching and editing newspapers, Kanafani spent his adult years writing. Before his death, he completed several novellas, multiple scholarly works on literature and politics, and over fifty short stories. Kanafani believed that “literature is a force to transform society,” yet he did not use his works as mere platforms for political beliefs (Kilpatrick 18). He refused to force his ideologies into his writings and understood the difference between his work as a political journalist and as a writer of fiction. Because of this, Kanafani used his commitment to the cause to create compelling works of literature that give a universal quality to the Palestinians’ experience of exile (Kilpatrick 16).

In his writings, Kanafani was careful to avoid transferring experience directly from reality to his stories (Kilpatrick 16). Although he had his own exilic experiences, he did not write about them. Instead, he created fictional individuals and families and imagined their tragedies.

To Kanafani, literature bore a “particular relationship to reality and [had] a unique function to fulfill in society” (Kilpatrick 18). Two of Kanafani’s works that showcase this unique function of literature to transform society through emotional reactions and universal validity are Men in the Sun (Rijal fi al-shams) and All That’s Left to You (Ma tabaqqa lakum). Written in the 1960s, both novellas are set in the years after 1948 and address the struggles of exile.

Men in the Sun follows the lives of four Palestinians crossing the desert into Kuwait, three of whom are being smuggled into the country as they venture to start new lives there. The ages and situations of the men are all different and Kanafani manages to show the effects of exile on Palestinians of all generations. Abu Qais, the oldest of the three, has left his wife and children in an attempt to provide for them. Assad, a single young man, has borrowed money from his uncle in order to complete the journey and has already experienced hardships being smuggled from Palestine to Iraq. Marwan, the youngest, has been studying to be a doctor but leaves school when his older brother stops sending the family money and their father abandons them. The final character is Abu Khaizuran, a Palestinian who has moved to Kuwait years earlier and makes a substantial living as a lorry driver.

The other novella, All That’s Left to You, captures 24 hours in the lives of a brother and sister, Hamid and Maryam, who were exiled from their village and now live in a refugee camp in Gaza. The rest of their family were killed or separated and now the two live alone. Months earlier, Maryam became pregnant by Zakaria, an acquaintance of Hamid, and the night before the novel takes place she marries Zakaria. Hamid, shamed by the sexual immorality of his older sister, embarks on a journey to Jordan in search of their lost mother; the novella begins with him in the desert.

While recognizing the value of biographical trauma works, Laurie Vickroy argues for fictional trauma narratives. The role of fictional trauma narratives is explored by Vickroy in her book Trauma and Survival in Contemporary Fiction. According to Vickroy, fictional accounts of trauma can complete the gaps in official histories (167). Fiction can offer valuable insights that strict history cannot and can explore the effects of trauma in ways impossible in purely historical accounts. It is important, however, that fictional narratives not offer too much identification with the protagonist. What is necessary is “empathetic unsettlement,” where the reader puts himself or herself in the character’s situation without actually taking the character’s place (LaCapra 78). The reader becomes involved and gains insight while recognizing the difference between their positions. According to Vickroy, this type of testimonial literature has been effective for people who have not traditionally been afforded entrance to public discourse, people who have been politically or socially marginalized (172).

Ghassan Kanafani brilliantly utilizes fictional trauma narratives to explore a number of the effects of the Palestinians’ exile. Both Men in the Sun and All That’s Left to You focus on the Palestinian refugee struggle and utilize a distinct narrative style to highlight the dislocating effects of exilic trauma. In particular, four major themes are addressed in the works: identity, the collision of past and present, gender, and the exilic life as an endless journey.

One of the primary effects of exile is the loss of identity. According to Said, exile is legislated “to deny an identity to people” (175). Exile is greater than simply the loss of home, possessions, or profession; according to adventure travel writer Dervla Murphy, it is “the death of a person one has become in a particular context” (qtd. in Mujcinovic 167). The alienation one feels from one’s native soil often results in an alienation from oneself. This is particularly true for Palestinians, whose special connection to their land is well known. Jabra I. Jabra, a

Palestinian novelist and critic, describes the sense of loss in exile as “a sense of having lost a part of an inner self” (83). Something will forever be incomplete in the life of an exile, even if he or she has every material need satisfied. And for Palestinians, the sense of belonging to Palestinian soil has only been intensified in exile (Jabra 84). An obsession exists in Palestinians’ minds to return to their land; for them, the right to return is sacred.

In Men in the Sun, Kanafani expresses the Palestinians’ loss of identity most clearly through the character of Abu Qais, a Palestinian refugee on his way to Kuwait. Through Abu Qais’ memories, the reader soon discovers that Abu Qais has been exiled from his land for ten years and is married with two sons. The first sentence of the book reveals his attachment to the land: “Abu Qais rested his chest on the damp ground, and the earth began to throb under him, with tired heartbeats, which trembled through the grains of sand and penetrated the cells of his body” (Men 9). Although his neighbor chides him that what he hears is only the sound of his own heart, Abu Qais considers it nonsense; to him, the earth is a living being and he is a part of it.

In exile, however, Abu Qais loses his attachment to the earth. In the opening scene of the book, while Abu Qais is lying on the earth, he dreams he is on his own land and reasons that the damp earth is the result of rain. Yesterday, however, it did not rain. Abu Qais has forgotten that he is in the middle of the Iraqi desert, not back in Palestine. When he realizes this, he is “suddenly filled with a bitter feeling of being a stranger” and almost on “the point of weeping” (Men 9). So attached is he to the land he worked in Palestine, that being separated from it induces the feeling of being a stranger. Beyond just missing his own soil, Abu Qais misses his fervent connection to his trees, “ten trees with twisted trunks which brought down olives and goodness every spring” (Men 13). Many Palestinians’ livelihoods were joined to the land, so to

be uprooted from their homes also meant the uprooting of their means of living. When Abu Qais reflects on all of this, “more than at any time in the past he [feels] alien and insignificant” (Men 13). Abu Qais’ identity as a Palestinian, as a farmer, and as a provider for his family is all stripped away through his exile, and his new identity is only that of being an exile. Hamid, the brother of Maryam in All That’s Left to You, undergoes a loss of identity similar to Abu Qais’. Hamid’s family has been forced from their home in Jaffa and now he and his sister live in a refugee camp in Gaza. Although Hamid is too young to have had land of his own before 1948, he too feels the connection with the land. Clinging to the desert he is crossing on the way to his mother in Jordan, Hamid views the hills of sand as a breathing, living creature. He experiences an “intense, solitary exile” as he crosses by foot, thus experiencing an exile within an exile (All 24). While Hamid is growing exhausted by his toil through the desert, he contemplates his actions: “What a fool you are to move on from one hell to another,” he thinks, “to throw yourself up into the air like this. What do you really want your mother to say?” (All 25). Hamid realizes that all his hopes for his mother are groundless, and he is really just escaping Gaza because he is too cowardly to do violence. With so many factors unaccounted for in the last sixteen years since his exile, however, his identity is lost: “Gaza’s behind you now, erased by the universal blackness. The thread unraveled itself from the ball of wool, and you’re no longer the person wound on to that spool for sixteen years. But who are you?” (All 25). Unable to have anything stable enough in his life with which to define himself, through his loss of home, family, and purpose, Hamid has also lost his identity as anything but an exile.

This new exilic identity, however, is being constructed by Kanafani through the binary opposites of here/not here (Parr 33). Since their identity was lost in the traumatic events of 1948, Palestinians have since been on a journey to reconstruct it. This loss of identity is clearly

revealed in Kanafani’s works, but a reader can also catch a glimpse of his attempt to reconstruct it. This is most evidently seen in Men in the Sun, where Kanafani constructs Palestinian identity as “multiple and diverse” (Parr 24). Since Abu Qais is confused over his actual location and flooded with memories from his life before exile, he “evaluates his ‘not here’ on the basis of ‘here’” (Parr 34). His mind and memories are in one place and his body is in another, thus creating an identity formed on the opposition of here/not here rather than privileging one over the other. His identity is based on both his memories and his current surroundings. This is true for many in exile, since the state of exile is “understanding oneself as part of one place, but . . . actually inhabiting another” (Parr 33). Kanafani reveals his construction of Palestinian identity as a work in progress. Time is required for the Palestinians to recapture the identity that had been lost in 1948, and the inability to distinguish the “here” from “not here” as a result of the trauma experienced only hinders the recreation of their identity.

The inability to separate the “here” from the “not here” is also connected with another effect of trauma: the collision of the past and present in the exiles’ lives. Fundamental to the trauma of exile is that the past remains unresolved, and so the present is unstable and “subject to echoes” from the lingering past (Said 52). New memories occur against the backdrop of old ones, and the two cannot be separated. An exile is forced to live with this constant negotiation between two identities and two lives (Mujcinovic 176). In his or her life, both current and former environments are vivid and occurring simultaneously. Because of this, exile is “nomadic, decentered, contrapuntal . . . life led outside habitual order” (Said 186).

This irrepressible interplay between the past and present is expressed in Kanafani’s narrative structure, which dislocates the reader in the same way the characters have been dislocated. According to Vickroy, nonlinear narratives reveal the effects of trauma. The abrupt

flashes of the past are characteristic of the way memories recur to trauma victims, and the juxtaposition of narrative voices suggests the struggle between remembering and forgetting. In this style, more is communicated through the characters’ involuntary memories, usually containing specific details, than their explanations or thoughts (Vickroy 184).

Both Men in the Sun and All That’s Left to You highlight the interplay of past and present and include sudden scene changes, irrespective of time or location. All That’s Left to You also presents multiple first-person narrators, thus conveying the confusion and dislocation of exile. Maryam and Hamid are narrators in the novel, along with the desert. Since each narrates in first person, it can be complicated for the reader to initially understand who exactly is speaking. In order to help keep the narrators separated, however, the narration of Hamid is in bold text and the narration of the desert is in italicized text on the page. In a preface before the novel, Kanafani explains to the reader that changes in typeface have been incorporated out of necessity; however, he regrets that it “gives the impression of assigning a deliberate order to a world which actually has none” (All xxi).

Since All That’s Left to You occurs over a 24-hour period, flashbacks are a frequent occurrence. As is common to victims of exilic trauma, these memories seem to arise uncontrollably. For Maryam, any moment of the present is subject to echoes of the past. One of the first flashbacks in the novel occurs when Maryam is having sex with Zakaria, the man who impregnated her and now her husband of one night. The narration subtly moves from the present to the past:

All at once the smell “man” spread out as I began relentlessly undulating, up and down, rhythmically, crushed beneath his shoulders, flung, pushed, pulled, crumpled, left quiet and then dragged, squeezed, kneaded and soaked in water in a

terrifying mélange of heat and cold until, floating over a vortex of unconsciousness, it was Hamid who began shaking me with both hands, gripping my shoulders in his small tense hands . . . Beyond the dark beach Jaffa was burning beneath the blazing tails of meteors that thundered down from the sky(1617).

This example shows how quickly the collision of past and present can occur, and how impossible it is for the characters to remove themselves from the past. Elsewhere in the novel, Hamid has a flashback of the death of his father while wandering through the desert, and Maryam has a sudden flashback of receiving news about her mother when Zakaria asks what Hamid will do in Jordan.

The involuntary collision of memories is also demonstrated when Hamid is on his journey through the desert. At one point, while brandishing his knife in front of the Israeli soldier he stumbles upon in the desert, Hamid undergoes an almost violent array of memories, ranging from his interactions with Salim (a fellow Palestinian in Gaza) and Mariam to the deaths of his father and Salim:

Salim had spared him [Zakaria] the full role of traitor by firmly stepping three paces forward and standing there. The desert exploded silently beneath his [the Israeli’s] doomed feet, and the devastating years of silence rained down on me. “Why should they kill you?” [Maryam asked Hamid after Salim’s death]

Salim came and took me by the arm. “No doubt you’ve spent a lifetime hesitating, and saying ‘if only!’ Come now with me.” His bare arm slid out and dangled beneath the two blood-sodden coats while the men were lifting him up the stairs. It swung to and fro as though inviting the watcher to follow. From the other side

of the ruined wall we heard a single shot, and Zakaria kneeled over, as though the bullet had been fired from our eyes which were silently fixed on him (38-39).

Yet again, Kanafani uses his narration to invite the reader into the mind of the exile. Once inside, the readers are not merely told but discover for themselves how disorienting the exile has been for Hamid. It is indeed possible, as Vickroy suggests, for readers to put themselves in Hamid’s position without actually taking Hamid’s place. Through this, readers develop an “empathetic unsettlement” towards the trauma, being able to recognize the difference between their positions and that of Hamid’s yet still attempting to understand the effects of the trauma (Vickroy 172).

In his stunning ending of All That’s Left to You, Kanafani takes the interplay of time to a new level by proposing the interplay of both distance and time. As the ending suggests, not only is there no clear distinction between places and times which are far removed from each other, but there is no such distinction between places and times at a single moment. At the end of the novel, both brother and sister face an enemy: Hamid with the Israeli soldier, Maryam with Zakaria. In parallel fashion, both siblings take up knives:

I felt it plunging into him as we collided together.

He gave out a long moan and tried to draw back, but the blade twitched again and he closed his hands over mine, convulsed around the handle. . . . Then he shuddered and collapsed heavily at the foot of the table. A narrow band of sunlight came through the window, lighting up a thin trail of blood that zigzagged across the brilliant white kitchen tiles.

Suddenly the silence reverberated, as dogs began to bark furiously and continuously outside the window. They were only silenced by the sound of his footsteps, continuing above the noise of the bier hanging on the wall

and hammering with cruel persistence into my head. Remorseless.

Pounding over him, and the bulk of his death heaped there. Pounding.

Pounding. Pounding (49-50).

All throughout the novel, Hamid’s and Maryam’s actions and memories have played off each other. In the tragic ending, however, they become inseparable. Not only are the past and present joined in a unique way because of exile, but individuals who experience exile together also develop an attachment that cannot be undone.

This disorientation and inability to separate memories is also displayed by Kanafani in Men in the Sun. Although the single narration of the novella does not provide the same dislocating effect that is present in All That’s Left to You, Men in the Sun captures the effects of exile on the continuity of past and present through its characters’ memories.

Assad, one of the three traveling men in the novel, has already experienced being smuggled once when he arrives in Basra to negotiate a journey to Kuwait. As he is arguing with the fat smuggler in Basra, memories of his previous journey through Jordan flood his mind, and his conversations with the two smugglers become intertwined in his thoughts:

“You will get there. You will get there.”

“How?”

“I swear to you on my honour that you will get to Kuwait.”

“You swear on your honour?”

“I swear to you on my honour that I will meet you beyond H4. You have only got to walk round that damned place and you will find me waiting for you” (18).

Because the smuggler in Jordan never returned to Assad after leaving him at H4, a place in the Jordanian desert, Assad is unable to trust the honor of the proprietor in Basra. Kanafani again uses this abrupt change of scene in a single conversation to transport the reader into Assad’s mind, where the effects of the trauma are clear: his present is subject to remnants from the past and he is unable to permanently separate them and simply live in the present. Because of this uncontrollable juxtaposition, those living in exile are unable to completely erase the past, even when their new life in exile offers personal security (Mujcinovic 173).

The inability to erase the past is also exhibited in the different effects of exile on men and women. According to Fatima Mujcinovic, a professor of English and Gender Studies, for men

“exile becomes a site of disempowerment because it strips male immigrants of agency and phallic presence” (175). Exile symbolizes emasculation and often feminization, because the conditions of exiles and females in patriarchy are similar. For women, however, exile can offer an opportunity for emancipation. This does not apply in cases where the woman is exiled into a strongly patriarchal society, in which she becomes doubly exiled: both as an exile and as a woman (Mujcinovic 175). The issues of gender in exile are prominent in both of Kanafani’s works. They are even more pronounced in this particular case of exilic trauma because of Palestinian society’s strongly patriarchal culture.

Men in the Sun explores exile as a site of disempowerment for multiple men. The first man to be introduced in the novel is Abu Qais, who has a wife and two sons. The reader quickly learns, however, that because he has been forced off his land, Abu Qais has lost the ten olive trees he once owned and is now unable to provide for his family. His son is out of school and they are living as beggars in a hut they share with another family. Unlike the many men who have already traveled to Kuwait, Abu Qais has quietly waited for ten years. “You have needed

ten big hungry years,” he tells himself, “to be convinced that your have lost your trees, your house, your youth, and your whole village” (Men 13). Abu Qais’ loss of agency is clearly seen is his loss of place in the power structure. In such a patriarchal society it is important for the male of the household to provide for his family, which Abu Qais is unable to do. In addition to losing his place in the familial power structure, he has also lost his place in society’s power structure.

Because of Abu Qais’ age when the exile happened and his decision to wait ten years, Abu Qais believes he is no longer able to make the journey to Kuwait. “I’m an old man;” he tells his friend Saad who has returned from Kuwait, “I can’t walk as you did. I might die” (Men 14). Many younger men have already made the journey to Kuwait and returned, and their so-called “success” has usurped the respect that Abu Qais should be receiving because of his status as an elder. In a society that greatly respects tradition and elders, Abu Qais should be honored for his age, but because of the exilic situation, his age works against him. “You must believe Saad,” he tells himself, “because he knows more than you, although he is younger than you. All of them know more than you, all of them” (Men 13). The exilic condition has symbolized an emasculation of Abu Qais and has become a site of disempowerment for him, both in his family and in society.

A character for whom Kanafani has crafted exile as more than just a symbolic emasculation is Abu Khaizuran, the lorry driver who conveys the three travelers across the Iraqi desert. Although Abu Khaizuran lives and works in Kuwait, he is a Palestinian exiled during the events of 1948. He seems to live a splendid, successful life and the reader knows nothing else until one of the men asks Abu Khaizuran if he is married. Immediately, his expression changes and in his memories the reader discovers the reason. Abu Khaizuran was actually a rebel fighter in Palestine during the 1948 conflict and had been wounded when an explosion occurred in front

of him. He did not wake up again until he was surrounded by doctors and realized that the wound was between his legs and he was being castrated. His only response a scream, Abu Khaizuran remembers the voice of a doctor who tells him, “Be sensible. Be sensible. At least it’s better than dying” (Men 37). The doctor’s words do not calm his nerves, however, because he remembers another voice, “No. It’s better to be dead” (Men 37). Like the recurrence of the past for exiles, the effects of the emasculation refuse to leave him: Now . . . ten years had passed since that horrible scene. Ten years had passed since they took his manhood from him, and he had lived that humiliation day after day and hour after hour. He had swallowed it with his pride, and had examined it every moment of those ten years. And still he hadn’t yet got used to it, he hadn’t accepted it. For ten long years he had been trying to accept the situation? But what situation? To confess quite simply that he had lost his manhood while fighting for his country? And what good had it done? He had lost his manhood and his country, and damn everything in this bloody world (37-38).

Ultimately, it does not matter how much financial security or freedom Abu Khaizuran has found in Kuwait. The effects of his exile still linger in his memory and impact every moment of his life. According to Laurie Vickroy, flesh wounds in trauma literature demonstrate “the intimate, physical way trauma is experienced” (182). This is especially true in Men in the Sun since Abu Khaizuran’s wound becomes a physical representation for the greater symbolic emasculation that happened to millions of Palestinian men through their exile.

This same disempowerment is seen in All That’s Left to You through the character of Hamid. Although ten years younger than his sister Maryam, Hamid serves as the male of the house after the death of their father. Hamid used to be able to protect and provide for Maryam,

but her actions change his role when she becomes pregnant by Zakaria. All of a sudden, Hamid’s place is usurped and he does not have a say in her situation. Hamid does not even receive a dowry from the marriage, the reader learns, as he remembers the words he repeated during the ceremony: “I give you my sister Maryam in marriage I give you my sister Maryam in marriage-for a dowry worth for a dowry worth ten guineas...ten guineas...all deferred...all deferred” (All 2). In their exile, Hamid is stripped of his ability to protect his sister and loses his place in the power structure.

The effect of exile on gender is seen in a woman’s life through Maryam. Since Maryam has been exiled from one patriarchal society to another one, she in essence experiences a double marginalization, once as an exile and once as a woman. Maryam was not allowed to marry when she was of age because her father had prohibited them from speaking of marriage before their national cause had been decided. Since the disruption of the events of 1948, Maryam has become a 35-year-old spinster. In Palestinian society, it is almost impossible for a woman to get married at such an age, and so Maryam’s prospects are very limited. Maryam allows Zakaria to come into her bed and becomes pregnant by him. They wed against Hamid’s will and she is immediately confronted by the gravity of her decision. An irreconcilable divide is created between her and Hamid, the only family she has, and Maryam realizes she will never be free of him: “He’d become part of that undertow which flows beneath our lives and which, unfelt, carries us minute by minute through those meaningless days which float on its surface its power imperceptibly directing us towards an unknown future” (All 42).

In separating herself from Hamid, however, Maryam finds no freedom in her new marriage to Zakaria, who already possessing one wife and five children and is not happy about the prospect of supporting a sixth. He informs Maryam that there is no place for the child. When

she refuses to agree, he makes his meaning explicit: “If you can’t abort him then you’re divorced...divorced...divorced. Do you hear? Divorced” (All 48). For a woman living in a refugee camp who has just lost the only family she has, to be divorced would be catastrophic. Maryam, therefore, is also experiencing a double exile. All the humiliation and horror that came with being exiled from their home in 1948 returns to her through the customs of the patriarchal society into which she fled.

For both men and women in Kanafani’s novels, exile becomes a site of disempowerment. Through Kanafani’s use of personal memories and reactions, the reader is allowed into the mind of those in exile to understand the effects of exile on their perception of themselves as men or women. For the men, exile represents a loss of agency as they are denied both physically and symbolically the ability to fulfill the roles that society has placed on them as men. For the women, exile into patriarchal societies also serves to marginalize them doubly, both as exiles and as women.

Not only does exile affect their gender roles, but through their exile the Palestinians are also thrust into a life of constant journey. The loss of identity, inability to fulfill gender roles, and collision of the past and present leads to an existence of wandering. According to Said, “Exile is never the state of being satisfied, placid, or secure” (186). Palestinians have become wanderers impelled to keep moving (Jabra 83). And in this particular situation, their exile is made increasingly more difficult because of the landscape into which they are thrust. In Men in the Sun and All That’s Left to You, this theme of exilic life as a journey is seen through the symbolism of a clock, road, sun, and desert each one revealing a difference aspect of the exilic journey.

A clock is a pervading symbol in All That’s Left to You, symbolizing that the exilic journey never ends. Maryam’s entire narrative is overwhelmed with the presence of a particular

clock on the wall of her room, placed there by Hamid. She mentions the clock in the opening of her first narration: “You leave me alone to count the cold metallic strokes beating against the wall. Beating, beating insistently, inside the wooden bier opposite the bed” (All 6). Hamid brings the clock into the house one July, and immediately they both notice the strokes sounded like the tapping of a solitary cane. Maryam is soon surprised to learn that he stole the clock. “And ever since it’s been hanging there with its cold metronomic beat. It goes on remorselessly, Zakaria,” she continues, “measuring time without any letup. And now all that’s left to me is you and it” (All 7).

The clock keeps Maryam up all night long as she thinks of Hamid making the journey across the desert to Jordan, which he begun in order to search for their mother. Maryam soon equates the beats of the clock with Hamid’s footsteps and is unable to sleep as the clock beats and beats, never ending. As she slowly realizes the chances of her actually knowing when his journey has ended, whether in safety or death, are slight, she realizes that for her Hamid’s journey will never end and neither will hers. “As far as you’re concerned,” Zakaria tells her, “he’ll never arrive” (All 21). The questions and misfortunes surrounding Maryam’s life will never be resolved, so her journey through them will never end. The clock also reminds Maryam that their former way of life in Jaffa is gone forever, the death of which is symbolized by the bier that the clock inhabits. “It was you who placed that bier in front of me,” she says to Hamid in her thoughts, “to punctuate my days and nights remorselessly with this tragic truth” (All 24). This realization that not only is their past gone forever but their new journey is never-ending is part of the greater exilic narrative to which she and Hamid now belong, expressed in the novel through the clock on the wall.

The same symbolic meaning of the clock is conveyed in All That’s Left to You through Hamid’s watch, but Hamid responds differently. Although he originally wears it into the desert, once night arrives and Hamid notices he can no longer tell time from the watch because of the darkness, he realizes “how insignificant a watch is when compared to the absolutes of light and dark” and throws it into the sand (All 20). The desert, a character in the novel, informs the reader that the watch began ticking with a “sad abandoned sound” and “became lost in the face of that real time which had survived over eons without sound or motion” (All 20). Hamid at first feels like he has cut off a part of himself but then finds freedom without the watch. According to the desert, the watch, however, begins imploring for help and eventually goes crazy in its exile, ticking only to itself. The desert’s interpretation of the watch’s ticking reinforces the notion that the journey is endless for exiles, although Hamid attempts to ignore the constant reminder. He can’t escape it, however, as the ending of the novella ultimately reveals that his exilic journey will never have an end.

This same idea of the exilic journey as continuous is expressed in Men in the Sun through the symbolism of roads. Assad, one of the younger Palestinian refugees, is speaking to a smuggler when the smuggler mentions finding a road. “They all talked about roads . . .” Assad thinks of the smugglers; “they said: ‘You will find yourself on the road!’ And all they knew of the road was its blackness and its pavements” (Men 17). Assad’s original smuggler in Jordan never met him on the promised road, however, so Assad begins to associate roads with ceaseless travels. In a greater moment of symbolism, for the men in the sun the road eventually serves as the conductor of their endless journey. Since the men ultimately die while on the road, it becomes the path with no end. To Edward Said, the Palestinian must now “carve a path for himself in existence,” which is what the men of the novella are attempting but unable to do (52).

Roads then, inherently transitory, serve to remind the reader of the unstable new reality for Palestinians.

This new reality is made even more severe by the landscape of the Middle East. The desert, in this instance, symbolizes the harshness and loneliness of the exilic journey. In All That’s Left to You, the desert actually emerges as a character in the novel. It has its own narration, signified by the words in italics on the page. The desert sees everything that happens to Hamid but does not offer any help. It knows Hamid is alone. It knows Hamid takes the wrong course. It knows Hamid is ignorant and yet it offers nothing. At first, the desert does not seem to care. “I was unconcerned;” the desert mentions of Hamid, “the depth of his feelings was no business of mine. My concern is with direction, and he’d taken the wrong one, to his great disadvantage” (All 12). Later, however, the desert wishes that it could inform Hamid that the night is slipping away but is committed to silence. The desert cannot give Hamid time.

To Hamid, the desert is a living creature, “vast and inaccessible” (All 1). Hamid perceives the desert as alive and breathing, like a body. Hamid’s understanding of the desert as another being, despite its ability to offer Hamid protection or advice, highlights the existence of an exile as lonely. Although Hamid knows the desert offers him no good, he has no choice in his response: “It’s not in my power to hate you,” he concludes, “but how can I love you? In one night you’d swallow up ten like me. I choose your love. I’m forced to choose your love. You’re all that’s left to me” (All 6). The desert then, in its starkness and expansiveness, represents the solitary and hopeless world that is awaiting the exile.

The severity of the exilic journey is further emphasized by the sun, which symbolizes both the bleakness of the journey itself and the harshness of the Palestinian’s reception in other countries. The Palestinians were not at all welcomed by the neighboring Arab countries. Tawfiq

Sayigh, a exiled Palestinian poet who lived in the United States, England, and Lebanon, famously proclaimed: “Worse than exile abroad is exile within one’s own homeland” meaning the Arab world by “homeland” (qtd. in Jabra 83). The men in the sun who are journeying to Kuwait in hopes of finding a new life there have been told that when someone does not return from Kuwait it is because he has died killed by sunstroke. The sun is described as “merciless” (Men 54) and “blindingly bright” (46). To Said, therefore, the sun signifies “the universal indifference” to the Palestinians’ fate (52). Like the blazing sun, no one seemed to take any pity on the Palestinian exiles or assist in their cause.

The sun is ultimately what kills the men. It is a source of heat and death and is “pouring its inferno down on them without any respite” when they begin their journey (Men 36). It is the heat from the noonday sun that causes the death of the three men in the water tanker, and only because of the sun does their exilic condition become fatal. A harsh desert and sun were the conditions that Palestinian refugees encountered, however, so in the novels Kanafani skillfully utilizes the two aspects of landscape to reinforce the arduous conditions of exilic journey, heightened for the Palestinians by their particular landscape.

The trauma caused by exile is both horrific and extensive in Kanafani’s novels. Yet literature of trauma can offer valuable insights into the oppression experienced by those traumatized. For people victimized by trauma, there is a “healing and educational value” to sharing their testimonies (Vickroy 6). The audience finds value as well, however, as they learn not only the importance of trauma as a social issue but are also given the chance to be confronted with their own fears and reflect on them (Vickroy 2).

For Palestinians, the events of the Nakba serve as a founding trauma, and the masses exiled have not resolved their fear or pain. None have been allowed back to their land, and the

injustice has only been continued. As Kanafani reveals, the trauma of exile has affected Palestinians profoundly: their identity has been lost in their exile, their attachment to the land only heightening the loss of identity, and they have been on a journey to reconstruct it ever since.

The trauma of exile has also caused the devastating collision of past and present; Palestinians are no longer able to separate former and current ways of life, and their memories have become confused. The trauma has disempowered both men and women. Finally, the life of a Palestinian has changed from one rooted in the soil of Palestine to an endless, desolate journey.

Ghassan Kanafani knew firsthand the devastating effects of exile and incorporated this knowledge into Men in the Sun and All That’s Left to You. Though the catastrophic results of 1948 still remain, there is hope that his literature will one day be a source for the reconciliation and redemption of a people whose traumatic exile has long gone unnoticed by the world. Perhaps his literature will one day indeed be a force to transform society.

Works Cited:

Glazer, Steven. “The Palestinian Exodus in 1948.” Journal of Palestine Studies 9.4 (1980): 96-118. JSTOR. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.

Jabra, Jabra I. “The Palestinian Exile as Writer.” Journal of Palestine Studies 8.2 (1979): 77-87. JSTOR. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.

Kanafani, Ghassan. All That’s Left to You. Trans. May Jayyusi and Jeremy Reed. Canada: Interlink Books, 2004. Print.

. Men in the Sun. Trans. Hilary Kilpatrick. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1991. Print.

Khalidi, Walid. “The Fall of Haifa.” Middle East Forum 35.10 (1959): 30. Print.

Kilpatrick, Hilary. “Commitment and Literature: The Case of Ghassan Kanafani.” Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies) 3.1 (1976): 15-19. JSTOR. Web. 25. Oct. 2010.

LaCapra, Dominik. Writing History, Writing Trauma. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 2001. Print.

Mujcinovic, Fatima. “Multiple Articulations of Exile in US Latina Literature.” MELUS 28.4 (2003): 167-178. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.

Parr, Nora E. H. “The Construction of Palestinian Identities in the Arabic-Palestinian Novel.” Thesis. McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies. August 2007. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.

Said, Edward. Reflections on Exile and Other Essays. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2000. Print.

Vickroy, Laurie. Trauma and Survival in Contemporary Fiction. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2002. Print.

Personal Biography

Elise's adventures abroad have had the greatest impact on her life thus far. Having gained experience overseas from family trips while young, she decided to spend a year in Jordan before attending Christopher Newport University. During this year she developed a deep interest in the Arabic language, culture, and people. She entered CNU with a desire to return to the Middle East and decided to major in English to fulfill that goal, hoping to return as a teacher. Studying abroad in Oxford and Prague continued to fuel her interest in traveling, and so before her senior year she decided to spend a summer in Bethlehem, Palestine. This trip was perhaps the most influential of them all. While in Palestine, Elise increased her love for the Arab peoples and became especially concerned with the plight of the Palestinians. When she returned to CNU to complete her final year, she was very excited to connect her English senior seminar course on "writing trauma" to her interest in the Palestinians' exile. The paper than resulted was the most personally rewarding piece she has ever written. Upon graduating, Elise will return to Palestine to teach a classroom of 5th grade Palestinians and hopefully work to bring about peace and reconciliation.

Inadvertent Plagiarism: Does Providing Examples Cause Students to Become Cognitively Fixated?

Amory C. Cox

Sponsoring Professors: Gayle T. Dow, PhD. Noah Schwartz, PhD.

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to determine if giving examples causes students to engage in cognitive fixedness thus impairing their creativity. Previous research has found that providing students with examples before a creativity task often hinders their ability to think of novel ideas. The current study hypothesizes that novice (freshmen) engineer students will be more prone to committing inadvertent plagiarism than expert (seniors) engineer students. The second hypothesis states that inadvertent plagiarism will occur more in group administration than in individual administration A creative generation task was administered to 35 students who were all majoring in physics, computer science, or engineering. The first hypothesis was not supported There was no significant difference found between experts and novices and the amount of aspects plagiarized. The second hypothesis was supported. Significant difference was found and inadvertent plagiarism occurred more in group administration than in individual administration.

Keywords: inadvertent plagiarism, creativity task, engineer, cognitive fixedness

Previous research has found that providing students with examples before a creativity task often hinders their ability to think of novel ideas. In a previous study conducted by Marsh, Ward, and Landau (1999), participants were given a task in which they were to create “novel nonwords for English categories” (p.94) Participants were provided with an example containing both a real word and a non-word, for example dress-ating Participants were then given a word within the clothing category and were asked to generate their own novel non-word. Participants were provided with the words shirt, socks, pants, coat, and hat. After analyzing the results, it was found that the participant’s novel creations conformed to the experimenters’ provided example. Participants would generate novel words such as shoe-ating, thus inadvertently plagiarizing the researcher’s example. Marsh, Ward, and Landau (1999) stated that participants will inadvertently use previous knowledge from examples and concepts even when specifically told to avoid doing so.

There are different factors that can often mediate cognitive fixation. In a previous study conducted by Galinsky, Gruenfeld, Magee, Whitson, and Liljenquist (2008), the influence of power was compared to creativity. Half of the participants were primed with words associated with power such as, authority, boss, executive, and influence. The remaining participants were primed with baseline words such as automobile, bass, song, and envelope The researchers hypothesized that “individuals with power are less influenced and constrained by salient information in the environment than are individuals without power” (Galinsky et al., 2008). The participants were to create novel names for nuclear elements, pasta, and analgesics. The examples of nuclear elements provided all ended in on or ium. All of the examples of pasta ended in na, ni, or in. Each of the pain relievers ended in ol or in. If a participant created a novel name but incorporated an ending from the examples, it was classified as inadvertent plagiarism.

The hypothesis was supported, and the participants primed with power generated more novel names compared to those who were primed with baseline words.

A study conducted by Christensen and Schunn (2007) found that providing withindomain examples reduced the number of between-domain analogies engineers made after being exposed to an example. Analogical transfer refers to the distance between the source and the target. For the task, engineers were asked to create a novel door handle for an automobile. When trying to invent a novel door handle for an automobile, the engineer might make an analogy to the other handles already in current automobiles. This would be an example of a within-domain analogy because the “distance” between the novel creation and the current creation is small. However, if an engineer was to make an analogy to a “telephone or oyster” when developing the new door handle, this would qualify as a between-domain analogy because there is a large distance between the novel design and the source (oyster) (Christensen & Schunn, 2007, p.29)

Providing within-domain examples would cause engineers to inadvertently plagiarize aspects contained within the examples. It is hard to create a novel design when previously exposed to within-domain analogies because the same goal has to be achieved but in a new, original way. Researchers hypothesized that providing within-domain examples would case participants to create within-domain analogies (Christensen & Schunn, 2007) Their hypothesis was supported and within-domain analogies shared more characteristics and features than did between-domain analogies. Dahl and Moeau (2002), conducted a similar study which also focused on analogical transfer, found that the larger amount of distant analogies used during design resulted in significantly more novel creations.

A previous study conducted by Smith, Ward, and Schumacher (1993) focused on the question, “does giving examples prior to a creative task inhibit ones creativity in developing a

novel design?” Researchers studied the effects of previous exposure to an example on a creative generation task in two experiments. In the first experiment, participants were to design new toys for a toy company. Researchers hypothesized that if the participants were shown examples which had attributes in common, then a higher proportion of their creative designs would contain those attributes, compared to the control group that was not exposed to examples. The participants in the previous exposure group were shown three toys all which involved using a ball, an electronic device, and would involve a high level of physical activity when played with. The hypothesis was supported and those that were exposed to the examples transferred two of the three attributes into their novel toys: “Overall conformity to the examples was significantly higher for the examples group, indicating a conformity effect” (Smith et al., 1993) Thus, those exposed to examples generated fewer novel creations compared to the control group.

In the second experiment, participants were to create an alien that lived on a planet that was similar to earth. Participants were told to draw the alien, number and label the different parts, and briefly describe it. In comparison with the first experiment conducted by Smith et al. (1993), the hypothesis was supported. Those participants who were exposed to examples before the task transferred more aspects from the example onto their novel creation than did those in the control grou. A significant difference was found in the amount of attributes transferred between the two groups The researchers’ stated, “two of the three critical attributes were found more frequently in the examples group than in the control group” (Smith et al., 1993). The two attributes were the tail and the antennae. Overall conformity to the examples was significantly higher in the examples group compared to the control group.

In contrast to previous research, a recent study conducted by Ishibashi and Okada (2004), reveals that copying artwork can facilitate artistic creativity. Thirty undergraduate students

participated in an artistic creativity test. Half of the participants were in the experimental group and the other half were assigned to the control group. The experimental group was exposed to two pieces of an artist’s drawings and then asked to draw their own original drawing. The control group was simply asked to draw their own original drawings The control group was not previously exposed to any artwork Researchers found that previous exposure to artwork “facilitated subjects’ artistic creativity” (Ishibashi & Okada, 2004, p.6). The study also revealed that when comparing new ideas to other works, students we able to notice their own original expression more frequently. Ishibashi and Okada (2004) believe that no idea is completely original: everything is based on previous existing items and experiences.

Not only has research been conducted on creativity and exposure to previous examples, but also on group administration versus individual administration on a creative generation task Previous research reveals that working in a group decreases one’s ability to think creatively

When one member of the group voices his/her opinion, other group members become cognitively fixated on that example, therefore decreasing their creativity. In a study conducted by Marsh et al. (1999), participants were put into small groups and asked to think of ways to improve their university. A week later individuals from the group were asked to individually generate four new ideas that could improve their university. Participants were told not to base their ideas on previous ideas generated within the groups However, even after being told not to copy previous examples, 20% of their individual “novel” creations were plagiarized from the group in the previous week (Marsh et al., 1999). Participants would have generated more novel creations if the creative task were administered individually rather than in groups. Previous research also reveals, “that a collection of individuals working alone produces more novel ideas than the same number of individuals brainstorming together, because group members block each other’s

generation of novel ideas; one member’s ideas limit and constrain the imagination of other group members. Thus, existing ideas and examples in the environment have shown to limit novel output” (Osborne, 1953).

The current study will focus on engineer students’ creativity when exposed to previous examples. The research of this study answers the following question: Does providing examples cause students to engage in cognitive fixedness thus impairing their creativity? Within this study, creativity is defined as “interaction among aptitude, process, and environment by which an individual or group produces a perceptible product that is both novel and useful as defined within the social context” (Plucker, Dow, & Beghetto, 2004, p.90). Novel is defined as an idea or creation that is completely original and is not based on previous experiences or examples Cognitive fixation is “when knowledge is applied inappropriately, or if ideas are unnecessarily constrained due to prior experience, causing performance to suffer or fail” (Kray, Galinsky, &Wong, 2006). When students base their ideas or novel creations on past experiences or examples they are engaging in inadvertent plagiarism. For this particular study, inadvertent plagiarism will be defined as the transfer of one or more major aspects from the example provided onto the participants “novel” creation. If a participant creates a novel creature but incorporates one or more of the labeled aspects from the example, it will be classified as inadvertent plagiarism This research question is important because according to The National Academy of Engineering, “top paid engineers will be those that are skilled in developing innovative new products and markets” (Hey, Linsey, Agogino, Wood, 2008, p.283). Engineer students need to have the ability to create their own novel creations, without becoming cognitively fixated and inadvertently plagiarizing previous examples.

The current study focuses on engineer students and their ability to create novel products and creations after being exposed to previous examples. The study will address group administration and individual administration on a creative generation task. The first hypothesis states that novice (freshmen) engineer students will be more prone to committing inadvertent plagiarism than expert (seniors) engineer students This hypothesis is based on previous research and the overall findings that exposure to previous examples inhibits one’s ability to think of a novel product or idea. Senior engineer students have had three more years of experience in designing and creating engineering products compared to freshmen; therefore, the researcher predicts that freshmen will engage in inadvertent plagiarism more due to becoming cognitively fixated on examples The second hypothesis states that inadvertent plagiarism will occur more in group administration (Condition 1) than in individual administration (Condition 2). This hypothesis is based on findings in previous research studies, which indicated that group work suppresses one’s ability to generate new ideas and products.

Method Participants

The participants were volunteers from General Physics 201 and Physics 341 Design of Experiments classes at Christopher Newport University. All participants were majoring in physics, computer science, or engineering. There were a total of 35 participants, 4 women and 30 men. Fifteen seniors (experts) volunteered from Physics 341 and 20 freshmen (novices) volunteered from Physics 201. From Physics 201, the participant’s ages ranged from17-19, with an average age of 18. The seniors’ ages ranged from 20-23 with an average age of 21. There were 31 participants in Condition 1, 27 men and 4 women, and 4 participants in Condition 2, all men.

Design

The participants were recruited by the researcher going into the classroom for the last fifteen minutes of class and asking for volunteers to participate in a creative generation task. Participants, both seniors and freshmen, were free to enroll in either Condition 1 (group administration) or Condition 2 (individual administration) All participants in Condition 2 were asked to sign-up for various times outside of class so the experiment could be conducted individually. Condition 1 was administered during the last 15 minutes of each class. Those who signed up for Condition 2 were able to leave class 15 minutes early, and the experiment was conducted at a later time for each individual.

Research was conducted over a four-day period from November 16, 2011 to November 20, 2011 Condition 1 was administered in the classroom and Condition 2 was administered in Einstein’s in Trible Library Cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices were shut off in order to avoid distractions.

Materials

Prior to beginning the task, the researcher first handed each participant an informed consent form. After signing the informed consent form, each participant was given a blank white sheet of computer paper The last piece of paper given to the participant contained the directions and an example from a previous study. The example creature contained six aspects: legs, arms, neck, antennae, eyes, and a tail. A front and side view was displayed (Figure 1).

Procedure

For the creative generation task, participants were asked to sketch and label a novel creature within the allotted time. The participant variable was the academic year and the

dependent variable was the number of aspects inadvertently plagiarized. Prior to the task participants were given a sheet of paper containing instructions and examples. Participants were told not to look at the example until given directions to do so. This guaranteed that each participant would have the same amount of time of exposure to the example Once the researcher gave directions to look at the example, participants were told to follow along while the researcher read the following directions verbally, “Imagine a planet just like Earth existing somewhere in the universe. It is currently uninhabited. Your task is to design a new creature to inhabit the planet. Within the allotted ten minutes draw a creature of your own creative design as you are able. Provide both a front and side view. Duplication of creatures now extinct or living on planet Earth is not permitted After drawing the creature: 1) label each part of the creature and 2) briefly describe and explain the creature” (Smith et al., 1993). Once the researcher finished reading the directions a stop watch was used to keep track of the allotted 10 minutes. The participants were given a one minute warning prior to the end of the task. After the task was completed, participants were asked to write their age, sex, and academic year in the right hand corner of their paper on which they drew their novel creation.

Results

It was hypothesized that novice (freshmen) engineer students would be more prone to committing inadvertent plagiarism than expert (seniors) engineer students. To determine this, a one-way between-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted in SPSS, statistical analysis software, with class standing serving as the independent variable and number of aspects plagiarized as the dependent variable. No significant difference was found F (1, 29) = .004, p = .951. Experts plagiarized more aspects (M = 2.08, SD = .76) than novices (M = 2.06, SD = 1.06) (see Table 1). Novices varied more in the number of aspects plagiarized with the highest being

four aspects plagiarized and zero being the lowest. For the experts, the largest number of aspects plagiarized was three and the lowest number was one.

It was also hypothesized that inadvertent plagiarism would occur more in group administration than in individual administration. To determine this a univariate between-subjects ANOVA was conducted in SPSS with administration as the independent variable and the number of aspects plagiarized as the dependent variable. A significant difference was found F (1, 31) = 7.19, p = .012 (see Table 1). In Condition 2, experts plagiarized less (M = .00, SD = .00) than novices (M = 1.50, SD = .71). In Condition 2, experts did not plagiarize any aspects of the given example. However, novices again varied more in the amount of aspects plagiarized. Two was the largest number of aspects plagiarized and one was the lowest number of aspects plagiarized. There was no interaction between administration and plagiarism (see Figure 2).

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to discover whether or not previous exposure to an example before a creative task would cause inadvertent plagiarism. The researcher hypothesized that novices would be more likely to commit inadvertent plagiarism than experts. This hypothesis was not supported. Experts plagiarized more aspects than novices; however, the difference was not significant The researcher also hypothesized that inadvertent plagiarism would occur more in group administration than in individual administration This hypothesis was supported. Inadvertent plagiarism occurred more when the creative task was administered in the classroom compared to being administered individually. In individual administration, novices plagiarized more aspects than the experts did.

The researcher expected that the results would support previous studies conducted on exposure to an example and committing inadvertent plagiarism. However, in the current study

being exposed to an example did not have a significant effect on the experts or novices and the amount of aspects they plagiarized. In a previous study conducted by Chrysikou and Weisberg (2005), students majoring in mechanical engineering and interior design were given a creative task in which they were to design a bike rack and a coffee cup Half of the students were randomly assigned to a control group where no example was given prior to the task The other half of the students were randomly assigned to the experimental group and they were provided with a pictorial example of a bike rack and a coffee cup prior to beginning the task. The example described the bike rack, the coffee cup, and had all aspects labeled. Also the example clearly identified current problems with the design displayed. For example, the coffee cup contained a lid that was not designed correctly so it was not spill proof The bike rack also had a clearly labeled problem Participants were specifically instructed not to copy any of the aspects from the design. Regardless of the instructions given and the problematic features in the example, students in the experiment group still plagiarized aspects from the example provided in both the bike rack and coffee cup problem. The experimental group reproduced significantly more elements of the example design, “more analogous similar solutions, more unintentional flaws,” and more problematic features (Chrysikou & Weisberg, 2005, p.1138). The contrasting results from the current study could be due to the fact that participants were not actually designing a product, but simply drawing a creature If the participants were given materials to build a creature, then possibly a significant amount of aspects would be transferred from the pictorial example provided. Chrysikou and Weisberg (2005) stated, “recent studies in the field of engineering design have suggested that the presentation of examples with a to-be-solved problem may lead to fixation in design problem solving” (p.1134).

The researcher also expected that results would support previous studies that compare group administration and individual administration. The current study supports previous research. Students often become cognitively fixed on other students around them. A recent study conducted by Kohn and Smith (2010) examined the effects of brainstorming on fixation Researchers hypothesized that “an idea generated in a brainstorming group could cause another group member to become fixated upon this idea.” Participants were given headphones in which they thought they were communicating with another person; however, they were actually communicating with a confederate. There were multiple experimental groups. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of the groups. Each experimental group varied in the number of ideas that the confederate communicated to the participant It was predicted “that increasing the number of typical ideas from the confederate would lead to a higher proportion of participant ideas that belonged to the same categories as the exemplified ideas” (Kohn & Smith, 2010) Overall, results reveal that as the brainstorming session continued, or as participants were provided with more examples or ideas, the amount of novel ideas generated from the participant decreased. The amount of conformity to the confederate’s ideas increased as more examples were provided. In the current study, participants assigned to Condition 1 did not generate as many novel ideas compared to Condition 2. The example provided caused the students to become cognitively fixated Students were sitting next to each other during group administration; therefore, concern about what others would think could have had an effect on generating novel ideas. Kohn and Smith state “group members who worry that their contributions are being evaluated might feel apprehensive about volunteering wild ideas, thus lowering their productivity” (2010).

There were multiple limitations in the current study that could have had an impact on the results. The first limitation was that only Christopher Newport University students were used as participants. Christopher Newport University does not have an engineering program, so the participants’ majors varied. This could have had an impact on the results and allowed them not to be generalized when comparing experts and novices The second limitation was sample size There were only four participants in Condition 2. There was a high rate of attrition. Sixteen students signed up to participate, but only four actually participated in the study. Another limitation is that only students from two classes were asked to volunteer. Also a limitation could have been the small age difference between the novices and experts. All of these limitations should be addressed in future research studies

Future research should be conducted to examine the effects of being exposed to an example before a creative generation task Future research should also address group versus individual administration. Prior to administering the creative generation task, participants should be given a survey or questionnaire assessing their views on plagiarism. Some students may not think transferring aspects from an example (drawing) is technically plagiarism. Most students think of plagiarism strictly in terms of writing papers and copying others’ work. Another suggestion for future research would be to have participants actually design a creature by building it structurally Also, having more of an age range could be beneficial to future research

The age difference in the current research study was a limitation, so comparing college students to engineers who have been in the industry for 10 or more years would be more useful in comparing experts and novices.

The engineering industry can benefit from the results of the current study. Group work should not be administered or encouraged when trying to develop new products. Engineers

would be better off developing ideas individually rather than within a group. Also, according to Christensen and Schunn (2007), engineers should not be provided examples. Christensen and Schunn (2007) state, “research on fixation and exemplar influence in generative tasks supports the notion that having or making examples available will bias people’s creations toward features in those examples” (p.30) Working in a group will make examples available and other ideas could constrain one’s ability to think creatively and develop a novel product.

References:

Christensen, B.T. & Schunn, C.D. (2007). The relationship of analogical distance to analogical function and preinventive structure: the case of engineering design. Memory and Cognition, 35, 1 29-38.

Chrysikou, E.G. & Weisberg R.W. (2005). Following the wrong footsteps:fixation effects of pictorial examples in a design problen-solving task. Journal of Experimental Psychology:Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 5, 1134-1148.

Dahl, D.W. & Moreau, P. (2002). The influence of value of analogical thinking during new product ideation. Journal of Marketing Research, 39, 47-60.

Galinsky, A.D., Gruenfeld, D.H., Magee, J.C., Whitson, J.A., & Liljenquist, K.A. (2008). Power reduces the press of the situation: implications for creativity, conformity, and dissonance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 6 1450-1466.

Hey, J., Linsey, J., Agogino, A.M. & Wood, K.L. (2008). Analogies and metaphors in creative design. International Journal of Engineering, 24, 283-294.

Ishibashi, K., & Okada, T. (2004). How copying artwork affects students’ artistic creativity. In K. Forbus, D. Gentner, & T. Regier (Eds.), Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 618–623). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Kohn, N.W. & Smith, S.M. (2010). Collaborative fixation: effects of others’ ideas on brainstorming. Applied Cognitive Psychology. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.1699/pdf

Kray, L.J., Wong, E.M., Galinsky, A.D. (2006). Thinking within the box: the relational processing style elicited by counterfactual mind-sets. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 1, 33-48.

Marsh, R.L., Ward, T, B., Landau, J.D. (1999). The inadvertent use of prior knowledge in a generative cognitive task. Memory & Cognition, 27, 1 94-105

Osborn, A.F. (1953). Applied imagination. Oxford, England: Scribner

Overbaugh, R.C. & Schultz, L. Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved from: http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm

Plucker, J. A., Beghetto, R., & Dow, G. T (2004). Why isn't creativity more important to educational psychologists? Potentials, pitfalls, and future directions in creativity research. Educational Psychologist, 39, 83-96.

Smith, S.M., Ward, T.B., Schumacher, J.S. (1993). Constraining effects of examples in a creative generation task. Memory & Cognition, 21, 6 837-845.

Table 1

Results of aspects plagiarized in group versus individual administration for both experts and novices

Descriptive Statistics

Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variancesa

Dependent Variable:aspectsplagiarized

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Figure 1

Handout containing the instructions and example provided to students

“Imagine a planet just like Earth existing somewhere in the universe. It is currently uninhabited. Your task is to design a new creature to inhabit the planet Within the allotted 10 minutes, draw a creature of your own creative design as you are able. Provide both a front and side view. Duplication of creatures now extinct or living on planet Earth is not permitted After drawing the creature: 1) label each part of the creature and 2) briefly describe and explain the creature.”

Estimated marginal means of aspects plagiarized

Personal Biography

I am a senior at Christopher Newport University. I transferred to CNU from a community college in Roanoke, VA and deciding to attend CNU to pursue my B.S. in Psychology was a great decision. I have always had an interest in working with and helping children develop. Research is very interesting to me, and I plan on continuing my research at Radford University. I was accepted into Radford’s Experimental Psychology Program and will be attending in fall 2011. I will be doing research under a developmental psychologist and I am very excited. I would not be where I am today if it were not for God, my family, and my friends. They have all been huge supporters and encourage me in everything I do. I also like to spend time outdoors, going swimming, going to movies, and just relaxing. College has been a great experience, and I look forward to what my future brings!

Unsealing an Adoptee’s Past

Heather McGriff

Sponsoring Professor : Dr. Tina Kempin-Reuter

Abstract

Unsealing an Adoptee’s Past discusses the legality of an adoptee’s right to their original birth records being that they are the only U.S. citizens who are not automatically given access to these records, and must generally fight for information about themselves. Adoption is on the rise, and due to this an effort must be made to alter the current legislation in place regarding the access to birth records for adoptees. Through the use of adoption history in the United States, legal cases, the current birth records retrieval processes in specific states, and actual adoption interviews, a proposed legislation argument will be made as to how the adoption record retrieval process should be revised to be in the favor of the adoptees.

Introduction

Adoption has been in existence in many societies for centuries; however, the trends surrounding adoption in the United States have changed over time just as society has expanded and changed. This is especially evident in regards to the manner in which confidentiality is handled in respect to birth parents and the adopted child, or adoptee. Legally, an original birth certificate is created when a child is born containing the biological parents’ information; however, once they are adopted, the original birth certificate is given to the courts and a new one is issued with the adoptive parents’ information rather than the biological parents’. The manner in which an adoptee can retrieve their original birth certificate, if at all, then varies by the state in which they were adopted. The legality of receiving one’s birth certificate should be uniform and regulated federally versus adoptees having different rights to their records based on the state in which they were adopted. In addition, all adoptees should automatically have access to their original birth certificate once they reach twenty-one years of age, because after all those birth certificates are the adoptee’s records not those of the biological parents. Thus a biological parent should not have the right to take away someone else’s original birth certificate, because it is not their decision to determine whether or not an adoptee should have their own records.

Literature Review

There has not been much research in the past on how to change the legislative policies of the sealed adoptive records containing original birth certificates. Many authors describe what the policy has looked liked in the past, many activists argue to change the policy, but few people

describe and argue what exactly this change should look like. Most research focuses on the issues for adoptees themselves and not the policy.

However, a common theme research has shown is the psychological issues adoptees face as children and adults. Studies show that children who are adopted have “greater problems and maladjustments… with a higher incidences of learning and behavioral problems” (Brodzinsky and Palacios 118-119). In addition, adoptees in general are shown to receive counseling much more often than the rest of society because of feelings of rejection and having to deal with indescribable emotions (Pertman 85). This rate is even higher during childhood, and probably correlates to when a child discovers they are adopted (Pertman 85).

Another theme prevalent in most research regarding adoption details the process that comes after adoptees are made aware of their adoption, and that is the search for birth parents. Authors of such studies have not as of yet succeeded in pinpointing a number concerning how many adoptees search for their birth parents, because it is impossible to know how many adoptees are aware that they are adopted or in the manner in which adoptees choose to conduct their search (Adamec and Pierce 252). However, they note that the escalating number of search groups and adoptee registries indicates the growing number of adoptees searching (Adamec and Pierce 252). Not only does research describe the turmoil adoptees face and their need to uncover their background, but they describe how birth parents and extended family need the same connection. The Children’s Home Society of Washington did a study on family other than birth parents who came back in search of their relatives and revealed that 47% of their sample wanted to be in contact with their loved one who had been relinquished (Carp 71). The study showed that 54% of the people returning were women and 27% of the requesters “asked for identifying information… usually… brothers and sisters (Carp 73).

The Adoption Impact

… Adoptees always knew that they had a second background, too, the one that explained their appearance, that accounted for some of their talents and traits. They knew there were people out there from whom they inherited their strong chins or weak hearts, with whom they had shared at least nine months of early life and hundreds of years of history. Some adoptees cared deeply about all of this, while others seldom gave it a second thought. But they all knew (Pertman 78).

Adoptions have been steadily on the incline for decades now, but the general public passively ignores the impact these individuals have on society. Reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the total adoptions alone that occurred in the 2001 calendar year were 127,630 within the United States; California, New York, and Texas having the most adoptions that had taken place respectively (United States 6). That is, 127,630 people who were adopted within one year who do not have access to their own biological information. Interestingly enough, regardless of whether or not an adoptee wants to actually get in contact with their birth parents, once they become aware of the fact that they do not automatically have access to their original birth certificate, “their feelings converge along a high-voltage pathway.

… They’re livid that America’s laws single them out for treatment they consider demeaning; and they’re determined to overthrow the status quo” and gain the right to their original birth certificates for all adoptees, nationwide (Pertman 78).

Throughout this study, there will be a few excerpts and opinions from interviews of people who were adopted, some at birth and others as teenagers, and how they feel the current

policy regarding adoption records affects them and how they would like to see it changed. Four adoptees were interviewed for this study, and all four believed that the adoption records retrieval process needs to be changed to allow all adoptees to receive their original birth certificate with very few limitations (Negri, Waickwicz, McGriff, & Walker).

Also, for purposes of this research, the term “right” and “access” may be interchanged. It is argued that adoptees should have access to their records currently this is not a right that is extended to them. In order to acquire their original birth certificate, the court must grant this access to them which demonstrates that they have no rights to them without a court order or a change of state policy.

The History of Adoption in the United States

Before there were laws regulating adoptions and when having illegitimate children was cause for social stigmatization, there was almost no confidentiality used in adoptions. Most women were so eager to give their children up for adoption that they were advertising their potential adoption in newspapers (Adamec & Pierce xxvi). This method of placing children up for adoption in the newspaper was clearly open to the public, and therefore allowed absolutely no privacy to the birth parents after the adoption took place or to the child. This created very unsafe situations for not only the biological parents but the child depending on what information was disclosed in the newspaper and who responds to the advertisement. One way that this was hazardous was that the birth parents would relinquish their children without properly investigating the people to whom they were giving their children. Some children were relinquished to people who had far too many children, who were financially unstable, and who

were medically unfit, among other things (Breckinridge 412-413). As time passed on and the Progressive Era began, adoption agencies were created and began to be utilized as a safe means of adopting children as well as through private adoptions.

Around the 1970’s adoption was becoming a more acceptable and discussable topic to where adoptees began to speak out publically about their outrage with their sealed records, or as they like to call them secret records (Modell 27-28). Adoptees wrote books, some discussing the “Who am I?” questions, others detailing all the psychological issues associated with being adopted, and others arguing forcibly against the sealed record policy (Modell 28-29) as well as created organizations to support their cause within the adoption network.

Throughout the nineteenth century the demand for children was higher and thus the selection process of the adoptive parents became more rigorous. However, the process became even more grueling after the passage of Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide (Fessler 7), all of the sudden the already limited number of infants that were available to adopt became even more limited. The number of adoptions from inside the United States then shifted to international adoptions. However, these adoptions become even more complex and difficult for the prospective parents the legality of receiving the records of international adoptions is not discussed in the research. Although our Roe v. Wade society has seen a lot more adoptions as what one could identify as a “trend,” there has been little to no other historical occurrences other than the legislative movements in which adoptees have began to gain some rights to their adoption records (this will be discussed in further detail in the Current Record Retrieval section).

Adoption Policy

When adoptions became more widespread in the early 1900’s, especially of infants, the government took notice and implemented new regulations for adoption records. The adoption laws were believed to achieve the following:

…adoption is a means of creating the legal relation of parent and child between a child deprived of the care and protection of his own parents and the person wishing to take the child into his own home. It involves the severance of relationships existing between blood kindered and the voluntary assumption of parental obligation through a legal process… This has been embodied in the legislation of every State in the Union… (Breckinridge 357).

It is important to note that adoption laws are not federally regulated. The States have different laws governing adoption decisions, but the majority of States have very similar policies. Once an adoption is finalized, the original birth certificate which has the biological parents’ information goes into a sealed record and a new birth certificate with the adoptive parents’ information is issued (Adamec & Pierce 81), this process began in the 1930’s (Fessler). At some times, depending on the type of adoption chosen, only an intermediary is aware of the identities of all parties involved whether an adoption agency representative or attorney leaving that privileged information in their confidence and sealed for a lifetime (Cornick 319).

Current Record Retrieval

Although adoption policies vary state to state, most have a generic and very stringent policy. The most common record retrieval policy is that one must have a court order to receive information regarding their adoption, whether the adoptee is requesting a birth certificate, medical information, or just family information (Shalev 42). However, this information is not readily made available to them. They must go before a judge and demonstrate exactly why they need this information, or demonstrate “good cause” (Shalev 42). An example of an undeniably good cause is a needed transplant by a close relative for the adoptee themselves or their child/children (Cornick 319). Some adoptees file court orders numerous times before ever having one issued, if one at all. This is the method enforced by the majority of the States.

Once adoptees began to speak out about their fury in regards to their being denied the right to their original birth certificates and knowledge about themselves, support groups and leagues were formed and creating quite the outcry, for example the Adoptees Liberty Movement Association (ALMA) (Modell 29) or Bastard Nation, an intentionally confrontational title to grab the attention of society (Pertman 79). Bastard Nation leans very heavily on the radical end of an activist group for adoptees rights, but has made many strides. A member of their group singlehandedly started the petition to give adoptees of the age of 21 the right to their original birth certificates without a court order in Oregon (Pertman 79). Measure 58, as it was called, went through several appeals because seven birth mothers filed suit stating that it breached the contract they signed when they gave their children up for adoption in that their identities were never to be revealed (“Balancing Rights in Adoption”). However, after many appeals Measure 58 still stands today in Oregon, and there are similar measures in place in Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Maine, and New Hampshire (Modell 10).

Other new-wave adoption records policies that follow suit have not had as much media coverage, but nonetheless give adoptees more access to their original birth certificates than the majority of states. Alaska and Kansas interestingly enough, never had closed record policies (“American Adoption Congress”). They just require the adoptee to request their record after they turn eighteen years old (“American Adoption Congress”). Each state also allows adoptees to have their information released to their biological parents if they so wish after filing the appropriate paperwork (“American Adoption Congress”). And then there are states that deny adoptees access their original birth certificates at the biological parent’s discretion, indicating that if they file a veto then the adoptee cannot receive their original birth certificate (“American Adoption Congress”); this occurs in Delaware, for example. This kind of policy is detrimental to an adoptee. Not only does it single out adoptees and is the policy in only one state nationwide, but it offers no explanation to the adoptee as to why their biological parents have chosen to not have their records disclosed. The psychological toll an adoptee must face in a situation like this would be unbelievable. When an adoptee would assume they were simply going to request their original birth certificate and receive it, and yet discover there had been a veto filed against the release of it, and never know why would one was filed, would be such a difficult matter with which to cope.

Other States that allow some original birth certificates to be disclosed but not to all adoptees are those who have birth date limitations. Birth date limitations are when an adoptee can receive their original birth certificate if they were born before or after an exact date (Fessler 248), Illinois and Massachusetts each practice a version of this policy (“American Adoption Congress”). However, Illinois’ policy is a combination of the birth date limitation and the veto policy. In addition to the birth date limitation, there is a veto policy in place yet if a veto has

been filed by the biological parent it is only valid up until their death, after which the adoptee could receive their original birth certificate (“American Adoption Congress”) . The problem with this policy is that it is too involved; the adoptee who would have a veto on file would then need to check back with the court year after year to see if their parent had passed on. Several concerns stem from this; the court’s documents for their file could not be up to date when the adoptee contacts them thus that could delay them retrieving their original birth certificate. And also, it would not be the case that the adoptee would know any information regarding their biological parent that they could gage when they would possibly die, in order for them to save some time and energy reaching out to the court trying to retrieve their original birth certificate.

With all the changes in policy in a few states and given the national attention, it is not a surprise that rebuttal groups like Concerned United Birthparents (CUB) were also created in an effort to have their voices heard (Modell 31). CUB and other opposition to the legal changes being made in the realm of adoptions were voiced in Tennessee when they passed their own modern version of an open records law (Fischer 447). The policies in Tennessee allow adoptees that are eighteen to access their birth certificates; however, it also gives the right to the birthparents to “veto” the adoptees attempt to reconnect with them in any way (Fischer 447). Tennessee goes even further to limit the record retrieval process to those adoptees who were conceived from rape or incest (“American Adoption Congress”).

Even now there is a debate in New Jersey over whether or not to pass a new law allowing adoptees to have their birth certificates with their birthparents’ name “blanked out,” thus only containing their own information (State of New Jersey). Yet, the majority of states are already doing this without the actual birth certificate, giving adoptees “non-identifying information.”

Such information may include age, physical description, race, ethnicity, religion, medical history, and the level of education of the surrendering parent or parents” (Fessler 249).

In a few states, not only adoptees and birthparents, but siblings and other kin can register with an agency in order to be added to an adoption registry. Once registered they state that they are looking and willing to get in contact with the person on the other end of the adoption, and if that person makes contact with the registry, then the registry bridges the two together (Pertman 45). The uplifting dimension of registries is that they open the process up to more than just adoptees and birth parents; nonetheless, they are very difficult to use, are not advertised, and they are also not available in every state based on the legal obligations (Pertman 45). The registry option is also not available free of charge. There are fees for the search process as well as the liaison between the two parties if the opposite party is found (Fessler 249).

Arguing Against Adoptees Having their Biological Information

There are three primary arguments against adoptees receiving their original birth certificates: (1) Birth parents who have already given their children up for adoption now face the possibility of their identities being known; (2) the open records process deters people from placing children up for adoption; (3) and, finally, the right to privacy argument: such parents believe they have the right to be anonymous. They believe that when they placed a child for an adoption they were promised, based on the policy at the time, that their child would never be told their identity. However, it is not stated in any of the contracts that birth parents will remain anonymous; thus, the argument that giving adoptees access to their original birth certificates breaches this privacy is an invalid argument (Pertman 81). Even so, currently in most progressive

adoption policies States allow birthparents to file “Contact Preference Forms” which the adoptee files as well when they requests their original birth certificate and receives it from the other party in their records for their personal awareness (“American Adoption Congress”) . However, one could argue that an adoptee can still attempt to contact their biological parents if they wish and can find that information. One interview quoted demonstrates how birth mothers can combat unwanted contact: … any adoptees should have the right to that first phone call. If the other person on the other end isn’t interested, [we] should hang up and that should be it… If [we] push harder than the other person wants, there are laws against harassment… But the government can’t tell [us we] can’t pick up the phone and call another person (qtd. in Pertman 93-94).

In addition to this privacy argument, any United States citizen should be conscious of the fact, and any person placing a child up for adoption should be especially aware, that policies change based on the voting habits of the voting public. Just because the policies at the time their child was placed up for adoption entailed a sealed birth certificate, does not mean that that record would remain sealed indefinitely.

The other argument is that if the disclosure of original birth certificates did begin to happen in more states and/or federally, this will deter women from choosing adoption and they will just choose abortion as the alternative (Modell 62). This argument is valid in the sense that being able to give life and not be responsible may be a more viable option for some women than terminating a pregnancy when they believe that their child will not ever come back to find them,

but once the latter is a possibility, terminating a pregnancy may seem easiest to a mother. However, carrying a child for nine months, giving birth, and then handing that baby over to another person are not easy tasks. Those tasks are daunting and selfless, and for a woman to do that, their identity possibly being known twenty-one years later as proposed in this research is not something that should deter them from having the baby entirely, for that is not as difficult a task as the others.

The Need for Change

Adoption records, and more specifically original birth certificates need to be made available to adoptees for the main reason that it is their own records but also because of the psychological factors associated with being adopted and not knowing one’s own roots. It has been argued time and time again that it is “crucial to the adopted person’s self identity” and without such information an adoptee is adversely affected psychologically (Carp 147-148). It was reported that 70% of the adoptees in one study employed in an “inner search” about their true identity (Brodzinsky and Palacios 220). The study also showed that a portion of these individuals demonstrated low self-worth and esteem because they were highly disappointed with the way in which their lives had played out (Brodzinsky and Palacios 221). All of those who demonstrated this “inner search” described their desire for more biological information about themselves (Brodzinsky and Palacios 221), that which is not available to all of them, but to some under the long and detailed processes detailed throughout this study.

Three child psychiatrists are quoted as saying that adoptees that have searched for their biological parents do it with “’the need to establish a clearer self-identity… [and with

information or a reunion, they feel] whole and integrated as individuals’” (qtd. in Carp 151). The more open the process can become for an adoptee, the less rejected they will feel and hopefully a clearer perspective will emerge regarding why they were placed up for adoption (Brodzinsky and Palacios 147).

Ideal Retrieval Process

Adoption policies have wavered a great deal over the last century more than any other time in American history. Now more than ever society is demanding a more open records policy, one that would eliminate secrecy from an adoptee’s past; this fact is evident given the more open policies that several States have now adopted and others are fighting to adopt. Effective changes in the manner in which an adoptee will be able to receive their birth certificates and records will not come from an agency or even a state for that matter: it needs to come from federally regulated adoption policy that demands the States have the same policies giving all adoptees the rights to their own personal birth certificates. It is fact alone that a birth certificate belongs to an adoptee, not their birth parents, so they should have the right to view them at their leisure.

The most effective and efficient manner in which adoptees should be allowed access to their original birth certificate is to first give access to all adoptees nationwide and have this regulated federally. Then an adoptee should be able to go to any court and request their original birth certificate from the court that has it given that they provide the appropriate documentation just as the States that disclose original birth certificates require they do so now. Then the court should send their original birth certificate to them and any other documentation that was sealed in their record. This process should be permitted once an adoptee reaches the age of twenty-one.

This is because upon receiving their original birth certificate, contact with their birth parents is a possibility, and that is a decision that requires maturity and a clear understanding of the possible implications one that needs to be made as an adult. John Waickwicz stated in his interview that “…teenagers… make a great deal of rash decisions, [an adoptee should not have] that kind of information and not use it properly” (Waickwicz). Once an adoptee is twenty-one years old they can approach court at any time to receive their original birth certificate or they may never request it, but the option is there for those who want it with no strings attached. For those who do request it, they should receive it either by mail or in person, but in its original condition, without anything omitted unlike the current proposed New Jersey legislation.

Although some of the States have limitations on who can receive their records based on whether or not they were conceived under normal circumstances, this should not determine whether or not an adoptee receives their original birth certificates under the new policies. If this limitation remained in place, it would only discriminate against a few of those who were adopted and would be an unfair disadvantage against those adoptees. Also, some States currently only allow adoptees born before or after certain dates to obtain their original birth certificates. Again, this should not be something that prohibits an adoptee from acquiring their original birth certificate since they have no control over when they were born. There should also not be a veto policy of any kind. A “Contact Preference Form” can be an option for adoptees and birth parents to file; however, it should continue to be nonbinding so that each party can still make their own decision whether or not to make contact. This form should be released to the adoptee along with the original birth certificate, or any time after, and only to the birth parent at their request and approval of the adoptee.

An area of interest for adoption would be educating those who are adopted. Throughout this research, it was found that those who were adopted and interviewed did not know nearly as much as they should have known about the adoption process. When the three younger individuals were interviewed, one individual being nineteen and two twenty-one year olds, none of them were aware of the fact that there even was an original birth certificate. One of them even believed that she “was adopted so closely to birth that [her] birth certificate says [her] [adoptive] parents’ names. So there [wasn’t] an original birth certificate…” (Negri) Unfortunately, even adoptive parents may not be in a position to educate their children regarding adoption. This would be especially difficult when the subject would be about their children going to receive information about their biological parents. A method in which all children who are adopted can be educated will be difficult to develop as one can imagine, since most adoptions are closed and it is difficult to determine when if at all adoptive parents have told their children that they are adopted. A packet could be distributed when an adoptee approaches the court; however, the issue with this is that adoptees should be aware and understand the policies prior to approaching the court. Thus, the only way as of now to have an appropriate educational avenue is to have the information available online. Possibly in the future another method can be found as well to ensure all adoptees receive important information regarding adoption and adoption policy.

Conclusion

Even before an educational process for adoptees is implemented, adoptees would be wellsuited with a federally regulated open records policy. The proposed policy would allow any

adoptee who is twenty-one years of age to approach the nearest court and request their original birth certificate. Giving adoptees access to their original birth certificates is the first step to allowing them admission to first-hand knowledge about themselves but also the information needed to pursue a search for their biological parents and/or family if so desired. Without such documents, adoptees are denied their own history and a future of possibilities. The proposed policy changes are not too radical or too conventional to not address the sealed original birth certificate matter. The proposed policy changes permits adoptees to access their original birth certificates fairly and allows them to do what they will with the information it provides them.

Works Cited:

Adamec, Christine, and William Pierce. Encyclopedia of Adoption New York, NY: Facts on File, 1991. Print.

"Balancing Rights in Adoption." New York Times Feb. 1999: 22. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.

Breckenridge, Sophonisba. The Family and the State Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1934. 356-414. Print.

Brodzinsky, David and Jesús Palacios. “Psychological issues in adoption: research and practice.” Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2005. Print.

Carp, E. Wayne. Family Matters. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. Print.

Cornick, Matthew S. A Practical Guide to Family Law. New York, NY: West Publishing Company, 1995. 307-331. Print.

Fessler, Ann. The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe V. Wade. New York City, NY: Penguin Group USA, 2007. Print.

Fischer, Robert L. "The Emerging Role of Adoption Reunion Registries: Adoptee and Birthparent Views." Child Welfare 81.3 (2002): 445-470. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.

"Legislation." American Adoption Congress. American Adoption Congress, Apr 2010. Web. 01 Nov 2010. <http://www.americanadoptioncongress.org/reform_adoption.

McGriff, Shari. Interview by Heather McGriff. 11 Nov 2010. Print

Modell, Judith. A Sealed and Secret Kinship. New York, NY: Berghahn Books, 2002. Print.

Negri, Tessa. Interview by Heather McGriff. 09 Nov 2010

Pertman, Adam. Adoption Nation. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2000. Print.

Shalev, Carmel. Birth Power. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989. Print.

State of New Jersey. “Senate Committee Substitute for Senate, Nos. 799 and 1399 ” 2010. Print.

Waickwicz, John. Interview by Heather McGriff. 08 Nov 2010.

Walker, Emily. Interview by Heather McGriff. 08 Nov 2010.

United States. “How Many Children Were Adopted in 2000 and 2001?” Washington DC: Child's Welfare Information Gateway, 2004. Web. 10 Oct 2010. <http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/s_adopted/s_adopted.

Personal Biography

I am a graduating Political Science major from Christopher Newport University from Virginia Beach, Virginia. I am attending Florida Coastal School of Law this upcoming fall to pursue a career in Family Law to hopefully become an Adoption Attorney a lifelong passion of mine. I am the child of a Master Chief in the United States Navy and Professor of English with five children, who now reside in Jacksonville, Florida.

Urbs and Civitas in Colonial Mexico City: Unearthing the Art of City Planning

Amanda Rocamontes

Sponsoring Professor: Dr. Steven Spalding

Abstract:

Throughout history, the study of ancient and modern cities has relied on a balance between focusing on the physical structures and the citizens occupying them. These dual concepts, otherwise known as urbs and civitas, or physical architecture and citizens respectively, have been viewed for centuries as opposing elements of cities by numerous urbanization and city-planning scholars. On the contrary, this paper seeks to rediscover the intricacies of these two terms in regards to their intertwined, inseparable relationship within cities, focusing on their mutual influence and connection rather than their oppositional elements. By analyzing primary sources of artwork, literature, and city views depicting Mexico City during its colonization period, the concept of urbs and civitas can be examined as relational entities of city planning, each one affecting the other in a correlating manner. Focusing on Mexico City in particular provides an ideal subject for this study, since it was a prominent city that underwent vast urbanization and rebuilding during its colonization period, and ultimately relied on the relationship between urbs and civitas to impart the ideal of Spanish monarchical sovereignty through its portrayal in stone and consequential rebirth within the society.

The colonization period, particularly the 1600’s-1700’s, was wrought with new discoveries, city planning, and urbanization in Spain’s new colony, Mexico City. Hernan Cortes, the conquistador responsible for the discovery, conquest, and development of this new territory faced many challenges in transforming the Aztec city with its indigenous identity embedded into its structure to a developed, Renaissance city modeled after Spain. Over time and with laborious city planning and redesigning, Mexico City eventually became “a preserve of Spanish values and…an elegant outgrowth of Spain similar to it in all the important ways” (Merrim 226). The shift in identity that occurred in Mexico City was drastic and was made possible by utilizing the relationship between the city’s urbs, or physical and architectural structures, and its civitas, or citizens. These two concepts are central in understanding any city, since “urbs, that is, the physical unit, and…civitas, or human association” represent the two main components of any city’s structure (Kagan “Urbs and Civitas” 9). Often studied as separate entities, urbs and civitas seemed to work hand in hand in Mexico City, since value-laden structures reflected and directed the society. Overall, during the colonization period, the inscription of cultural values into the physical layout and architecture of the city transformed Mexico City’s cityscape, and by analyzing artwork, literature, and city views from this time period it is clear that the urbs of Mexico City reflected the corresponding political, social, and cultural situations taking place within the civitas

Isidore of Seville discussed the concept of urbs and civitas and claimed, “A city [civitas] is a number of men joined by a social bond. It takes its name from the citizens who dwell in it. As an urbs, it is only a walled structure, but inhabitants, not building stones, are referred to as a city” (qtd. in Kagan “Urbs and Civitas” 9). This statement not only defines the terms but also references them as polarizing ideas, since they each refer to separate and opposite concepts with

differing focuses and values of either people or structures; however, urbs and civitas jointly formed cities, making them inseparable and deeply related, since a city relies on both parts equally. Community and architecture combined elements of flesh and stone and gave cities a sense of elasticity, since they constantly adapted to shifts in history, politics, commerce, and other forces. In this way, the urbs and civitas reveal their interdependent nature, as changes in one frequently sparks changes in the other and values displayed in one are often incorporated later in the other. Through an analysis of a variety of cultural artifacts and primary sources from the colonization period, this essay will explore the relationship between urbs and civitas in Mexico City and demonstrate Spain’s utilization of the colony’s urbs to send messages of a powerful, glorified Spanish state to the civitas

Hernan Cortes’ letters to the King and Queen of Spain, evidence of Mexico City’s urbanization and redesign, date back to the sixteenth century. These letters were written to update the monarchs on the progress of city development in Mexico City and to reassure them that their authority and respect extended across the seas to their new colony. Cortes’ letters shed light on the urbs that were being constructed and the accompanying civitas. Throughout these documents there are numerous instances in which deciphering the urbs and the ideas embedded in them allow glimpses at the civitas, which embodies those same values as a result of their implantation into the physical structures.

The first example of the relationship between urbs and civitas displayed in the letters is Cortes’ assertion that the architecture in Mexico City was being crafted after that which prevailed in the motherland of Spain itself, utilizing the best Spanish architects and the Renaissance style (Chamberlain 517). The idea behind modeling architecture to be a copied version of Spain was based on the value or concept of the monarchy’s sovereignty and absolute

power as the center and ruler of Mexico City (Merrim 226). Thus, the new colonized city did not receive an independent identity, but was simply conformed to fit Spain’s existing traditions and characteristics, demonstrating an exertion of authority by the Spanish rulers much like that of the Romans, whose new colonies were also systematically transformed to mirror the urbs of Rome (Thomas 226). Overall, the action of creating urbs directly modeled after those in Spain had two prominent results which became manifest within Mexico City’s civitas.

First, it inscribed the value of the Spanish monarchy and its power into the stones of the urbs in Mexico City, and that value was then reproduced in the civitas, which was a constant reminder of their loyalty to Spain via the presence of value-laden buildings. Implanting an idea within the urbs led to its reaffirmation in the civitas. Cortes wrote, “pues, sabeys e conosceys que Hernando Cortes…sirve a la corona real aqui en el nombre de sus altezas” [So, know that Hernando Cortes serves the true crown here [in Mexico City] in the name of your majesties] (Chamberlain 517). Secondly, modeling Mexico City’s urbs after those in Spain instilled the idea of civilized vs. barbaric cultures, since Cortes demolished all signs of the once powerful and prominent Aztec urbs and replaced them with architecture and streets modeled after the Spanish form, proceeding from the assumption that Aztec culture was barbaric or inferior and thus needed to be destroyed and replaced with something more civilized. Cortes wrote, “hacemos trabajo para conquistar e poner en paz estas partes para que vengan en conoscimiento de santa fé” [We work to conquer and bring peace to these parts in order to bring about an understanding of the holy faith], which illustrated the idea that the Spaniards worked to conquer the barbaric culture in order to bring peace and civility (Chamberlain 517). As a final act to demolish the indigenous ways of life, the Spaniards’ new cathedral and marketplace were built directly on top of sites that once held sacred buildings and meeting places for the Aztecs, in a declaration of

superiority and authority (Kubler 9). The very stones used to construct the cathedral were taken from the rubble of Aztec ruins, destroyed in an attempt to erase the barbaric consciousness from the civitas of Mexico City (9). In the end, the shift in urbs from indigenous to Spanish styles led to a shift in civitas, as the citizens began to take hold of the values and ideas implanted in the structures of the city and implement them in their own society.

Another example of the relationship between urbs and civitas in Cortes’ letters is the street layout that he described, which was adjusted and modeled in Renaissance style (Chamberlain 518). In recounting the street design, Cortes explained that the roads and thoroughfares were orderly and grid-like, a popular element of city planning during that time period (518). One of the thoughts behind this layout was the concept of axiality, which referred to the linear connection of urbs in city plans (Blumenfeld 11). According to Blumenfeld, “the principal of axiality, heritage of Imperial Rome, has dominated city planning since the Renaissance” (11). Because the Renaissance style is characterized by mathematical rigor and architectural precision, the concept of axiality fit quite well with those values and was thus justifiably displayed in the new layout of Mexico City during the colonization period (Kostof 230). The values of order and organization were built into the urbs through the new street plans based on axiality, and those values were then transferred into the civitas, affecting them by bringing stability to the society as a whole. The Renaissance belief that “crooked streets were bad for the state, so linear geometry was needed in the city” supported the idea of organized urbs transferring to an organized civitas (230).

The orderly, methodically planned street design displayed the value of regularity that was crucial during the colonization period, a time of transition and unknowns for the society as a whole (Merrim 216). In the Spanish government’s attempts to tame the previously “savage”

culture and add regulation and symmetry to a transitioning society, they decided to embed the values of order and organization within the urbs. In doing so they showcased them in such a way that the society was sure to notice and eventually adopt them as their own, thus changing the civitas.

Military control in Mexico City, a primary priority for the Spanish monarchy, was another thought behind the axial street design: As Stanislawski explains, “A distinct advantage for the grid-pattern town…is that of military control. This would apply in the case of subject towns to be held under control…[and] this had been recognized by the Spaniards” (106). Since Mexico City was a colony separated by a great distance from its founding power, Spain, military forces had to be present and efficient in order to maintain peace and to prevent any potential uprisings or attacks on the new colony. The organized, grid patterned street layout made it easy for soldiers to navigate through the new, unfamiliar city, which was an important feature for Spaniards, since the potentially threatening indigenous tribes had much more experience with the land (106). Cortes wrote, “trabajo juntos con los soldados para conquistar e poblar” [The soldiers and I work together to conquer and populate], alluding to his work with the military to maintain control in the city (Chamberlain 517). Thus, the values of military force and strength were also embedded in the urbs of the axial street design. These ideas transferred to the civitas, since the citizens of Mexico City sought protection directly from their founding country, Spain, in matters of disputes or threats (107). The civitas accepted military control as a necessary protection, as the value-laden urbs once again led to a shift in society.

Hernan Cortes’ letters also refer to the building plans for housing settlements. He wrote that the Spaniards’ housing was centralized and situated beside the main plaza in a block-like fashion (Chamberlain 518). Cortes also mentioned the indigenous and bi-racial citizens’ houses,

which were separated and located a good distance away from the plaza and main roads (Kagan “Urban Images” 158). This aspect of the urbs in Mexico City displayed the value of Spanishdescent as the noble race (158). The physical layout and designation of neighborhoods was visual rhetoric, or a message expressed visually rather than in writing, that portrayed the value of elitism and social hierarchy (Steinhoff 27). The message derived from the visual rhetoric was displayed within the physical separation and structuring of the city and affected the inhabiting society for centuries, as the division of racism began to pervade Mexico City (Kagan “Urban Images” 159). The implantation of the value of “pure race” in the urbs of neighborhood designs was reaffirmed through its inscription in stone and thus reproduced in the civitas, creating a racial divide that would plague Mexico City long after the colonization period.

The relationship between the urbs and civitas was displayed in Cortes’ letters in a final example through the discussion of the plans for a new Cathedral honoring the monarchs’ religion, Catholicism, in place of the indigenous religions. Cortes expressed the idea of building a Cathedral and using Spanish techniques in its creation (Chamberlain 522). The plans for the Cathedral’s architectural design came from a Spanish architect who was inspired by the Cathedral in Seville, Spain, which showcased Spanish Renaissance techniques (Kubler 11). In doing so, Spanish culture was inscribed into the walls of the great structure, presenting Spanish customs and techniques as norms within the new colony and instilling the idea of oneness with Spain into the civitas. The indigenous citizens of Mexico City, confronted with the image of a towering Cathedral in Spanish style, began to assimilate and adopt the idea of unity with Spain, since it was visually and forcefully presented through the stone urbs and thus reaffirmed within the social civitas.

Not only does the mention of the cathedral in Cortes’ letters present the idea of adopting Spanish customs, but it also addresses the Renaissance theme of monumentality, which was the value of building cultural artifacts or structures that brought praise to the state (Thomas 230). This is an important concept, since monuments were excellent depictions of visual rhetoric and structures that expertly transferred values and ideas to the citizens who viewed them. The reason monuments were so crucial for a Renaissance city, especially during a time of transition such as the colonization period, was that they represented the power of sight, which hinged on the concept that things seen make more powerful impressions than things read or heard (Nutti 128). The idea that sight carried power suggested that creating formidable, grand monuments or buildings such as cathedrals displayed supremacy more fully than any other method. Thus, the Spanish monarchy capitalized on the opportunity to build a cathedral that evoked respect and reverence by embedding the idea of Spanish authority into the architectural design. The urbs portrayed the image of power, and eventually that idea blossomed and was reproduced within the minds of the society or civitas, instilling fear and respect for Spanish governmental and religious rule. After assessing the information gleaned from Cortes’ letters, it was clear that Spain was working to embed cultural values into the reconstructed urbs in hopes that they would grow into ideologies and values held by citizens of Mexico City, utilizing the relationship between the urbs and civitas to exert control, stability, and a Spanish identity within the new world.

The biombo, another cultural artifact retrieved from Mexico City, also sheds light on how urbs and civitas were interconnected in the Spanish colony “Among the most spectacular communicentric views [of cities] were those painted on the large folding screens known as biombos” (Kagan “Urban Images” 153). One of several biombos depicting Mexico City entitled “The Very Noble and Loyal City of Mexico” displays an artistic representation of the city’s urbs.

This biombo is a chorographic view, portraying Mexico City in a zoomed-in image with an emphasis on the creative and structural details of the city (Kagan “Urban Images” 154). It “conveyed a sense of Mexico City as a metropolis of truly monumental proportions, with its straight streets, broad squares, and a vast array of houses topped in red terra cotta tiles” (Kagan “Urban Images”154). The overall idea portrayed by this piece of artwork is that Mexico City was a powerful, booming colony full of life. This depiction was supported by a Spanish explorer, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who wrote in his journal after visiting Mexico City of the wonderful, beautiful sights he encountered that had never been dreamed or imagined before (Merrim 220). City pride seemed to be implanted into the urbs of the painting, since its structures and architecture reveal its grandeur and a well-developed Renaissance style. That ideology was transferred to the civitas, which began to take pride in the beauty and notoriety of their city’s urbs. Among the many notable structures and places portrayed in this biombo are some of the city’s most famous monuments.

The “calzadas,” or causeways, are showcased in this work, one of which spanned the entirety of Lake Texcoco in the north (Kagan “Urban Images” 154). These “calzadas” were broad and expansive and covered the whole of the city in straight, geometrical lines. Cortes took great pride in these roads, since they visually presented the power of the Spanish state, spanning bodies of water and connecting people and commerce (Chamberlain 522). Overall, the causeways demonstrated, once again, the ideas of order, organization, and the power of the Spanish monarchy, since their grid-like design demonstrated the concepts of axiality and geometrical precision and their location helped to further the spread of Spanish influence past Mexico City.

Another example of the architecture displayed is the aqueduct of nine hundred arches, which was enlarged in the artist’s representation in order to draw attention to the impressiveness of the structure (Kagan “Urban Images” 154). The aqueduct demonstrated the monarchy’s power once again, since the ability to channel and control water was something that had always been greatly esteemed and revered since the time of the ancient Romans (Connolly & Dodge 110). Such a large structure would have hardly gone unnoticed in the city and thus served as a constant reminder of the formidable presence of the Spanish rule. The civitas witnessed and responded to the visual rhetoric by submitting to their higher powers, the king and queen, once again demonstrating the relationship between ideas built into the urbs and their presence within the civitas.

The churches and convents painted in the biombo are the focal points of the whole depiction (Kagan “Urban Images” 154). One’s attention is drawn to these important urbs with some alterations in scale on the artist’s part. For example, “the height of the cathedral’s tower and overall proportions were grossly exaggerated” (Kagan “Urban Images” 154). These exaggerations were aimed at generating a certain view about religion in Mexico City, particularly that the piety of the people and power of the divine authority abounded. The grand, prominent urbs portrayed the ideas of strength and religious fervor, which were then instilled into the civitas, who encountered them daily and eventually accepted them as their own. This rebirth of ideologies and values instilled within religious structures into the civitas was evidenced by Mexico City’s reputation as one of the primary examples of devout Catholic settlements (Merrim 224). Overall, the structures within the biombo are important examples of the relationship between urbs and civitas, demonstrating that even paintings represented urbs using visual rhetoric and instilled values within the stones of Mexico City.

Cristobal de Villalpando, the artist who painted, “View of the Zocalo of Mexico City” in 1695, supplied another cultural artifact that portrayed the city’s urbs. Villilpando takes a communicentric view in this work by using a culturally significant place and depicting in great artistic detail in order to show its value to the city (Kagan “Urban Images” 159). Mexico City’s “zocalo” was its main central plaza, and its “market and many shops made it the city’s commercial center. It was also the site of the cathedral, the viceregal palace, the archiepiscopal palace, and other important administrative buildings. The “zocalo” remained the heart of Mexico City” (Kagan “Urban Images” 159-160). So, “metaphorically, it was the place where the city’s piety, law, and prosperity were simultaneously on view” (Kagan 160). Like the biombo, by looking at the urbs of the painting, one can see many values and ideas that were implanted by and through the structures. One of the important urbs that is depicted in this painting is the Parian, which was the large, permanent marketplace and the center of socioeconomic life (Kagan “Urban Images” 161; Villalpando). Other structures featured are the Portal de Mercaderes, “one of the plaza’s two commercial arcades” or passageways with shops along the sides, the Cathedral, the royal palace, and the canal (Kagan “Urban Images” 161; Villalpando). Overall, Villalpando portrays these urbs within the zocalo realistically, but there are still several aspects of the depicted urbs that he altered in order to instill ideas within the civitas using the power of visual rhetoric.

His first alteration concerns the architectural details of the royal palace. When comparing the real building’s adornment and the one featured in this painting, it is evident that Villalpando chose to make his palatial portrayal more majestic and grand than it was in actuality (Kagan “Urban Images” 161; Villalpando). The Parian was also adapted in Villalpando’s painting. Described as “a ‘horrible’ structure in the words of one Mexican architectural critic…the Parian

appears here [in the painting] however, as a large, symmetrical building with several neat rows of shops” (Kagan “Urban Images” 161; Villalpando). Furthermore, he fully stocked the vendors’ large, elaborate stands within the Parian with a plethora of goods, creating the image that Mexico City was an advanced, trading and producing city. The image of the market depicted in this painting aligned with the accounts of many Spaniards, who found it to be “a microcosm of the New World, a plenum bristling with the enticements of adventure capitalism, a frontier zone where oddities become commodities and nature wares” (Merrim 222). The painting’s portrayal of the market reflects the capitalist ideal of trade and commerce, a goal that Spain had for its growing colonial city. By painting an organized, developed marketplace, Villalpando is simply projecting the goals instilled within the urbs, which Spain hoped would transfer to the civitas and thus transform the society into a profitable commercial power.

“Vista de la Alameda de Mexico,” a painting by Corpus Christi, features Mexico City’s “alameda,” which was “a park with a central fountain and a series of shaded walkways lined with poplars and oaks” (Christi; Kagan “Urban Images” 156). The “alameda” depicted in the painting contains many examples of street furniture, a characteristic of the Renaissance time period that focused on creating a peaceful, beautiful environment for citizens to enjoy (Kostof 236). It also contains other structures and themes related to the Renaissance and Baroque periods such as trees and green spaces, a central fountain, paths traveling in straight and diagonal lines, and areas emphasizing indulgence and reflection (236). These structures and features reflect the values of peacefulness and contentment for society. The urbs that filled and defined the “alameda” were modeled with those same values in mind, emphasizing symmetry and order in the pathways and showcasing natural beauty with trees and flowers. Through the incorporation of these value-

laden urbs within the space of the alameda, the civitas was altered through the imparted relaxation and peace, leading to a shifted consciousness.

Christi, having created a serene setting filled with elements focused on peacefulness and tranquility, thought it important to include one detail that added a second dimension to the entire painting. A solitary, upright wooden plank stood alongside one of the pathways, seemingly meaningless without the legend below the painting that read “el bracero en que se queman los judios” [the stake where the victims of the [Inquisition] were burned] (Christi; Kagan “Urban Images” 157). According to Steinhoff, monuments were important because they gave meaning to the places in which they were located and created city pride through social and political rhetoric (27). The stake was a monument of political and religious rhetoric, serving as a constant reminder of Spain’s asserted authority and supremacy. Thus, through the inclusion of this simple wooden post, the values of law, order, submission to the state, and Catholicism were implanted in the urbs, which ultimately affected the civitas by instilling those values in their minds and giving them constant reminders of the consequences of not submitting and cultivating a Spanish consciousness. Overall, the ideals of peace, order, tranquility, Catholicism, and submission to the state were all embedded in the urbs and design of the “alameda” and were then reproduced within the civitas (Kagan “Urban Images” 157). By carefully planning the architecture to portray certain values, their survival and reaffirmation in society was secured, since the combination of the power of sight, visual rhetoric, and solidification in stone made them potent and long lasting ideas, ultimately shaping the consciousness of the civitas

Bernardo Balbuena’s poem “Grandeza Mexicana” was a poignant account of all the beauty represented in Mexico City. It was written in 1603 by Balbuena, a Spaniard living in Mexico City during the colonization period (Merrim 233). It expertly cultivated city pride by

evoking strong feelings in the readers with the use of descriptions and citations of some of Mexico City’s finest structures or urbs. In doing so, Balbuena connected the values infused in the urbs to the ideologies held in the civitas, demonstrating the relationship between the two urban elements.

Balbuena’s first allusion to the physical structures of Mexico City occurred in stanza twenty-eight of his poem, which stated, “en grande proporcion y cuenta de torres, chapiteles, ventanajes, su soberbia presenta” [in great proportion and number of towers, spires, fenestrations, its pride is presented]” (Balbuena 28.83-85). This segment discussed the architecture of grandeur and might that was made powerful by utilizing verticality and monumentality, two concepts of visual rhetoric that conveyed power through stone by emphasizing height and cultural significance in architectural design (Nutti 127). The structures mentioned display Spain’s ultimate authority and rule over Mexico City, since the idea of power in the state was embedded in the architecture of tall, looming towers. This idea was then reproduced within the civitas, inspiring a submission to the state’s rule, since the power of sight conveyed the image of the Spanish state’s glory and strength through architecture (127). The onlooking civitas observed the visual rhetoric displayed by the urbs and underwent a shift in consciousness and identity, conceptualizing themselves as Spaniards and internalizing the values and ideologies presented in the stone structures.

Balbuena also described the natural beauty that Mexico City embodied, writing, “con bellisimos lejos paisajes, salidas y holguras, huertas, granjas, molinos y boscajes…[with most beautiful far away landscapes, departing roads, and clearings, gardens, farms, mills, and groves…]” (29.86-88). This stanza describes Mexico City’s layout, which was quickly being shaped through the process of urbanization but at that point still maintained some of its green,

natural splendor and landscape. The grandeur and serenity of this natural space were highlighted and utilized to evoke city pride and foster a more unique, independent identity within the citizens, since their city not only contained powerful, towering structures reflecting Spain, but also indigenous, pre-existing beauty showcasing the New World as well. Balbuena’s assertions were seconded by many first-hand accounts of Spanish visitors during the colonization period, which often focused on the “sensational, sensorial, seductive novelty with regard to the flora and the fauna” (Merrim 218). The urbs of Mexico City incorporated a combination of the structure and organization of Spanish Renaissance architecture with the “radical novelty” of the natural world, which affected the civitas by creating new norms and a reformed consciousness for the citizens (Merrim 218). The Spanish could not simply erase all traces of the indigenous, natural urbs existing in colonized Mexico City, and that allowed for some autonomy and individuality to remain within the colony. The natural urbs, altered but not uprooted completely by the infusion of Spanish ideas and control, managed to give the idea of a Mexican, indigenous consciousness a foothold in Mexico City, thus shaping the collective consciousness of the civitas (218). Over time, what was left of the indigenous urbs reflecting the New World would eventually lead to a shift in the consciousness of the civitas, as they explored their native, Mexican roots showcased in the remaining natural urbs in Mexico City.

In the midst of booming urbanization and construction, Balbuena was still able to describe the peace and tranquility that could be found in Mexico City. His description of the city included, “alamedas, jardines…frutas bellas en flor [parks, gardens…beautiful fruit in flower]” (Balbuena 30.89-91). Similar to the previously quoted stanza, the urbs in this line once again showcases the natural beauty of the city. The parks and gardens, elements of the Baroque urbs, instilled the value of escape from the business of city life where citizens could gather or find

solitude (Kostof 236). These ideas were ingrained in the designs of the parks and gardens, which utilized geometric organization, street furniture, and natural beauty to convey them, thus facilitating their transfer to the civitas that utilized and observed the spaces (236). However, these values of tranquility were also met with the aforementioned value of elitism and Spanishdescent. Thus, these parks were not open to all the public and offered peace and shelter only to the elites (Kagan “Urban Images” 153). Instead of utilizing a completely pure, free-flowing, naturalistic form, these areas contained elements of artificial, strict form characterized by geometrical precision (Kostof 230). These urbs embodied a forced peacefulness and appearance of tranquility implanted by the elites, who wished to assert their dominance and superiority over the rest of the citizens, who were forced to stay outside the walls (230). This delineation between classes displayed in the urbs facilitated a consciousness of elitism in the civitas, again defining their identities through the implantation of values within the structures of the city.

Shifting his focus away from the natural world, Balbuena also references Mexico City’s economic power. Several lines before the poem’s conclusion described, “anchos caminos, puertos principales por tierra y agua” [wide roads, main ports by land and sea] (Balbuena 47.140-141). This phrase discusses the wide streets or boulevards that were so common during the Baroque time period and fostered commerce through trade or merchants, social activities, and travel (Merrim 234). In this context, the boulevards seemed to refer to the economy and trade of goods, since they were highlighted along with ports, serving as the gateways for goods to enter and exit Mexico City by land or sea. These lines “depict Mexico City as a viceregal city ruled by gold and trade” (Merrim 234).

The urbs of wide roads and ports projected the values of commerce and capital, since the city was known as the hub of trade and wealth in the new world (Blumenfeld 12). In regards to

Mexico City’s involvement in capitalism, “Balbuena dwells lovingly on nature’s metamorphosis into artifice: gold into jewelry, stone into statues, cotton into clothing” (Merrim 235). Much careful planning was done to make the urbs suit the needs for commerce, and the social and political situations of growth and striving for surplus and wealth in Mexico City were highlighted through those designs. The values that were inlaid with the structures reproduced themselves within the civitas as the citizens of Mexico City adapted to the urbs and took hold of the vision of commerce and trade, beginning to produce goods and find industries from which to profit. The urbs reflected the civitas’ shift to capitalism, demonstrating the intertwining relationship that they shared. Overall, “Grandeza Mexicana” served as a looking glass to view the urbs of Mexico City from a resident’s first-person perspective and a marker for those studying the relationship between urbs and civitas to examine the ties between the two counterparts of cities.

Through the analysis of various cultural artifacts, it was evident that Mexico City’s urbs had a large effect on its civitas, which reacted and grew based on the value-laden structures erected in the new, rapidly developing Mexico City of the colonization period. Cortes wrote of the city’s changes in his letters, and by applying concepts of urbanization and city planning, it was possible to trace the relational connection between changes in the structures and changes in the values and consciousness of the citizens. By embedding Spanish cultural ideas within physical structures, their existence was preserved and their message was enhanced with the power of sight and visual rhetoric. Overall, the Spanish state imparted a Hispanic identity to their colonists through the utilization of urbs as vessels to carry political and religious messages. Thus, in order to read a cityscape and understand historical civilizations on multiple levels, it would be necessary to analyze the urbs and the civitas together, since they jointly explained shifts in consciousness and ideologies and acted to alter entire cities’ identities.

Works Cited:

Balbuena, Bernardo de. “La grandeza mexicana y compendio apologetico en alabanza de la poesia.” Ed. Luis Adolfo Dominguez. Mexico: Porrua, 1985. Web.

Blumenfeld, Hans. “Theory of City Form, Past and Present.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 8.4 (1949): 7-16. Web. 15 Oct. 2010.

Chamberlain, Robert S. “Two Unpublished Documents of Hernan Cortes and New Spain, 1519 and 1524.” The Hispanic American Historical Review 18.4 (1938): 514-525. Web. 15 Oct. 2010.

Christi, Corpus. Vista de la alameda de Mexico (First half of the eighteenth century). Museo de America, Madrid. Print.

Connolly, Peter, and Hazel Dodge. The Ancient City: Life in Classical Athens and Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.

Kagan, Richard L. Urban Images of the Hispanic World. London: Yale University, 2000. Print.

. “Urbs and Civitas.” Envisioning the City: Six Studies in Urban Cartography. Ed. Buisseret, David. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. 1-18. Print.

Kostof, Sprio. The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1999. Print.

Kubler, George. “Architects and Builders in Mexico: 1521-1550.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 7.1 (1944): 7-19. Web. 16 Oct. 2010.

Merrim, Stephanie. “The Work of Marketplaces in Colonialist Texts on Mexico City.” Hispanic Review. 72: 2 (2004): 215-238. Web. 15 Nov. 2010.

Nutti, Lucia. “The Perspective Plan in the Sixteenth Century: The Invention of a Representational Language.” The Art Bulletin. 76.1 (1994): 105-128. Web. 15 Nov. 2010.

Stanislawski, Dan. “The Origin and Spread of the Grid-Pattern Town.” Geographical Review. 36.1 (1946): 105-120. Web. 12 Nov. 2010.

Steinhoff, Judith. “Reality and Ideality in Sienese Renaissance Cityscapes.” Renaissance Siena: Art in Context. Ed. A. Lawrence Jenkens. Kirksville: Truman State University Press, 2005. 2145. Print.

Thomas, Edmund. Monumentality and the Roman Empire: Architecture in the Antonine Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

Villalpando, Cristobal de. View of the zocalo of Mexico City. 1695. Methuem Collection, Corsham Court. Web.

Personal Biography

My name is Amanda Rocamontes, and I graduated in Christopher Newport University’s class of 2011 this past May with an undergraduate degree in Spanish and a minor in Leadership Studies. Over the past four years I have had the privilege of being a member of the Honors Program and the President’s Leadership Program as well as several academic honors societies such as Alpha Chi, Alpha Mu Gamma, and Omicron Delta Kappa. During my time at Christopher Newport University I also served as an intern in a rescue shelter for girls from a village located in a trash dump in Managua, Nicaragua. That experience solidified my love for Spanish, education, multicultural studies, and international relations. In pursuit of these passions, I will be receiving a master’s degree in education from Christopher Newport University with the hopes of teaching abroad and furthering my knowledge of other cultures in the future.

Yachting Diplomacy

Anglo-American Relations and the Creation of Nationalism through the America’s Cup and Great Trans-Atlantic Ocean Races, 1851-1914

Maxwell J. Plarr

Sponsoring Professor: Dr. Andrew J. Falk

Abstract:

Yacht racing has been the subject of many books published by yacht enthusiasts and those involved in the field of professional sailing. However, there is a lack of scholarly work on this subject. The history of sport is a relatively new field among historians and yachting is virtually untouched. Most publications on yachting extrapolate on the developments of naval architecture or the exuberant amounts of wealth associated with the sport. However, these documents do not shed light on the cultural and political aspects that surrounded the golden age of yachting, in particular the affect that international yacht races, such as the America’s Cup, had on Anglo-American relations. This paper examines the relationship between yacht racing during the latter half of the nineteenth century and the surrounding culture of American and British yachting fraternities. It argues that the America’s Cup was a symbol of maritime achievement, nationalism, and power on both sides of the Atlantic, which served as a source of contention and, eventually, Anglo-American rapprochement between 1851 and 1914.

In 1851 the schooner America defeated seventeen yachts from the Royal Yacht Squadron in a race around the Isle of Wight for a £100 cup that would eventually be known as the America’s Cup. America had accomplished what seemed impossible: an American yacht had defeated a fleet of English racing yachts from what many Victorians had considered the most prestigious yacht club in the world. When Britain held unquestioned maritime dominance the story of America’s remarkable victory quickly developed into legend. The most popular account involved Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who were present for the race onboard the royal yacht Victoria and Albert, anchored off the Needles, the western tip of the Isle of Wight. As legend has it, America passed the Needles when the Queen spotted the vessel and asked, “Who is in first?” An attendant of the Queen replied with, “America.” When the Queen followed with, “Who is second?” the attendant stated, “There is no second, Your Majesty.” America led the entire British fleet by such a distance that no other vessel was in sight. Enthralled, the Queen insisted that the yacht sail to nearby Osborne House, the royal residence on the Isle of Wight.

Prince Albert visited the yacht along with the Queen and other members of British aristocracy.

As the story goes, the Prince sought to go below decks when America’s Captain, Dick Brown, asked the Prince to wipe his feet. As Prince Albert paused in astonishment, Captain Brown insisted, “I know who you are, but you’ll have to wipe your feet.”1

The legends that surround the 1851 race are a testament to its status among elite society. The influence of America’s win over the best of Britain’s yachting society caused American and British citizens to view the Cup as something more than just a sailboat race. The America’s Cup was a symbol of maritime achievement, nationalism, and power on both sides of the Atlantic. It

1 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G. Capen (Portland, 1992), 14.

served as a source of contention and, eventually, Anglo-American rapprochement between 1851 and 1914.

The history of sport is a relatively new scholarly field. Most sport historians since the 1980s who have focused their attention on baseball, gymnastics, football, and the Olympics, noting how athletic competitions have affected countries or regions. Thomas W. Zeiler and Barbara Keys, for example, have explored the ways in which sports have influenced nationalism, culture, and global power. Zeiler argues in his work, Ambassadors in Pinstripes, that the Spalding World Baseball Tour of 1888 reflected American national identity, increased international American power, and exported American ideals of culture.2 Keys’s work, Globalizing Sport, contends that during the time period between the World Wars, the Olympic Games and the World Cup provided a means for mediation between national and international identities. Keys also concludes that these international sporting competitions played a pivotal role in creating an international exchange of ideas and technology.3

Zeiler and Keys both describe the relationship between sport and the concept of an “imaginary world” in regards to nationalism.4 They each explain that nationalism encompasses ideas of exceptionalism, patriotic feelings, and principles that unite peoples together. In historian Benedict Anderson’s work, Imagined Communities, the author argues that culture helps construct national identity.5 Culture, including international sports, is an expression of human intellectual

2 Thomas W. Zeiler, Ambassadors in Pinstripes: The Spalding World Baseball Tour and the Birth of the American  Empire (Lanham, 2006).

3 Barbara J. Keys, Globalizing Sport: National Rivalry and International Community in the 1930s (Cambridge,  2006).

4 Barbara J. Keys, Globalizing Sport: National Rivalry and International Community in the 1930s (Cambridge,  2006), 2.

5 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism  (New York,  1983).

achievements that derive from a common people. Thus, culture can affect nationalism, and the “imaginary world” of nationalism can be obtainable through sports such as baseball, track, or yacht racing. More specifically, Zeiler believes that, “sport was integral to the very identity of the United States” in that “it reflected manliness and fairness that had actually converted into reality the imagined national community.”6 Though many contemporary historians examine today’s popular twenty-first century sports of baseball, football, or soccer, few scholarly works have been published on the elite sport of yachting and the affects the sport had on nationalism and international relations. Christopher Pastore and Lawrence Brady’s biographies on Nathanael

G. Herreshoff and Sir Thomas Lipton are the newest attempts to capture the history of the America’s Cup.7 However, yachting is still perceived as an elitist sport, and typically only those who follow the sport are willing to devote the necessary time to understand its minutiae fully.

Wealthy and often national dignitaries have long been involved in the sport of yachting because partaking in the sport required expensive equipment. Yachting derived its elitist sport status from its long association with royalty. On 8 May 1660, King Charles II regained the throne of Britain from the English revolutionary Oliver Cromwell. Prior to his coronation, King Charles II spent most of his time in exile in the Netherlands where he learned the Dutch royal pastime of yachting. On the King’s return to England, the Dutch crown gave him the yacht Mary as a gift. The King added the Dutch word “jacht or yacht” to the English language and, after a year, the King organized yachting processions on the Thames.8 Charles II founded what many

6 Thomas W. Zeiler, Ambassadors in Pinstripes: The Spalding World Baseball Tour and the Birth of the American  Empire (Lanham, 2006), 160.

7 Laurence Brady, The Man Who Challenged America: The Life and Obsession of Sir Thomas Lipton  (Edinburgh,  2007).

Christopher Pastore, Temple to the Wind: The Story of America's Greatest Naval Architect and His  Masterpiece, Reliance (Guilford, 2005).

8 Ernle Bradford, The America’s Cup (London, 1964), 23.

consider to be the English yachting fraternity. Early British yachting mainly consisted of several yachts sailing in mock naval formations. However, the sport of yachting, or the sanctioned racing of two or more sailboats, was started in the late 1700s by the Duke of Cumberland, who is considered the “father of yacht racing.”9

By 1815, the popularity of yachting among the high society in Britain had sparked a need for a club where those interested in the sport could gather. On 1 June 1815 a group of affluent gentlemen congregated at the Thatched House Tavern in London to form what was originally known as the Yacht Club.10 In 1820, when King George IV became the club’s patron, the Yacht Club became the Royal Yacht Club.11 The Royal Yacht Club became an institution that allowed the premier gentlemen of Britain to compete against one another on the water and discuss the politics of the empire off the water in the club’s lounge. The clubhouse, known affectionately as The Castle because of its 1540 construction as a fort, was and still is the premier yachting site in Britain. The Castle is located in West Cowes on the northern coast of the Isle of Wight where the River Medina flows out into the Solent. The club’s interest in nautical affairs and proximity to the Royal Navy base in Portsmouth led the club to develop a close relationship with the Royal Navy. In 1829, Lord Belfast, the club’s vice-commodore, applied to the Admiralty for a warrant to fly the White Ensign, a privilege and sign of mutual respect between the Royal Navy and Royal Yacht Club that still exists today. 12

The Royal Yacht Club became the Royal Yacht Squadron (R.Y.S.) under King William IV in 1833, because “it was his Majesty’s gracious wish and pleasure that it should be henceforth

9 Ernle Bradford, The America’s Cup (London, 1964), 40.

10 Peter Heaton, Yachting, a History (London, 1955), 81.

11 Ian Dear, The Royal Yacht Squadron, 1815­1985 (London, 1985), 18.

12 Ian Dear, The Royal Yacht Squadron, 1815­1985 (London, 1985), 34.

known and styled as such.”13 British high society flocked to the Castle in Cowes to partake in yachting and indulge in the presence of other members of high society. With its illustrious history, its list of royal and aristocratic members, and the Squadron’s connection to the Royal Navy, one can assume that the winning of the £100 cup by America in 1851 was very bitter for proud British yachtsmen.

The British underestimated the Americans; “in their [British] insularity, they hardly seemed to have realized that across the Atlantic there existed a people sufficiently civilized enough to indulge in the pastime of yachting.”14 The British failed to appreciate the growing number of American yachtsmen interested in proving their country’s abilities and status among the rest of the leading civilized world powers.

The development of the American yachting fraternity started with the “old money” families living in the Northeastern region of the United States. The term “old money” often refers to wealthy American families whose first generation immigrated to the United States with previously established wealth from Europe. The phrase “new money,” by contrast, often refers to American families who gained their wealth after the family had settled in the United States, such as the captains of industry or robber-barons of the late-nineteenth century. “Old money” generally did not accept the societal practices of “new money,” stereotyping them as radical, unworthy and unrefined. The differences between “old” and “new money” would affect American yacht racing, but not until after the “old money” in America had formed the yacht clubs and instituted the etiquette of American yachting.

13 Ian Dear, The Royal Yacht Squadron, 1815­1985 (London, 1985), 35.

14 Anthony Heckstall‐Smith, Sacred Cowes or The Cream of Yachting Society (London, 1955), 26.

John Cox Stevens was arguably the most important person of “old money” in regard to the founding of yachting in the United States. After attending King’s College, the forerunner to Columbia University, in New York City, Stevens expanded his father’s wealth by successfully developing the use of anthracite coal, the “T” rail for railroads, the screw propeller, and the Stevens Battery (a naval ironclad predating the Civil War era Monitor).15 His family also developed the steam and railway system from the Hudson River to the Delaware Bay area. Stevens was also an avid sportsman, interested in the gentlemanly sports of horse racing and yachting. Soon he assembled eight other American yacht owners to organize a yacht club. There were several attempts at establishing yacht clubs in the United States before, but each had dissolved within five years. Aboard Stevens’s schooner, Gimcrack, at anchor off the Battery in New York City on 30 July 1844, Stevens, Hamilton Wilkes, John C. Jay, George Schuyler, Louis Depau, George Rollins, James Waterbury, and James Rogers formed the New York Yacht Club (N.Y.Y.C.).16 The wealth and influence of these men quickly established the N.Y.Y.C. as the preeminent yacht club among the United States yachting fraternity.

The preeminence of the N.Y.Y.C. prompted R.Y.S. Commodore, the Earl of Wilton, to write to John C. Stevens in February of 1851 to invite Stevens and his friends to attend the R.Y.S. clubhouse, as well as bring over an American pilot schooner for display at the Great Exhibition scheduled for that summer. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort, “decided to sponsor an international exhibition where science, industry, and art, the three handmaidens of progress,” would be on display in Britain so that all nations could further benefit.17 The

15 W. P. Stephens, American Yachting (New York, 1904), 10.

16 New York Yacht Club, New York Yacht Club: Constitution, By­Laws, Sailing Regulations, etc., 1868  (New York,  1868), 1.

17 John Rousmaniere, The Low Black Schooner: Yacht America 1851­1945 (New York, 1987), 1.

invitation to Stevens was somewhat odd; prior to this time there had been little high societal interaction between Britain and the United States.18 As one American recalled, “England then openly patronized Americans, and had a peculiar national idea of Yankee ‘cuteness’.”19 Joseph C. Hart, an early American yachtsman and author, wrote The Romance of Yachting, Voyage the First in 1848, three years prior to America’s departure for Cowes. In Hart’s book, the author described the life of the average American yachtsman in the 1840s and claimed, “I have found deep rooted prejudices sown and fostered by British publications of studied wantonness and malignity existing abroad against us and our institutions.”20 However, the British did have an appreciative awareness of the “Yankee fore and afters,” which were American pilot schooners designed to deliver a pilot onto a merchant ship to navigate through the deadly shoals off Sandy Hook when coming into the port of New York City.21

Commodore Stevens saw in Commodore Wilton’s letter a chance to represent the maritime prowess of the United States at the Great Exhibition. The United States lived under the shadow of the great industrial and imperial power of Britain. Few questioned the ability of Britain’s Navy; it had established a reputation of unmatched maritime supremacy. But Stevens believed that the United States could beat the British at their own game. Stevens proposed to five other members of the N.Y.Y.C. that they establish a syndicate to send a racing yacht across the Atlantic to go up against the best of the British yachts of the R.Y.S. There was no mention of racing in Commodore Wilton’s letter. However, Stevens knew the whole world would be

18 Winfield M. Thompson and Thomas W. Lawson, The Lawson History of the America’s Cup: A Record of Fifty  Years (Boston, 1902), 30.

19 Winfield M. Thompson and Thomas W. Lawson, The Lawson History of the America’s Cup: A Record of Fifty  Years (Boston, 1902), 30.

20 Joseph C. Hart, Romance of Yachting, Voyage the First (New York, 1848), 53.

21 Herbert L. Stone, The "America’s" Cup Races (London, 1909), 21.

watching because of the Great Exhibition. If the syndicate sent an American yacht that won, the United States would sack British pride as being known as the “cream of yachting society,” and perhaps cast some doubts upon Britain as the dominant maritime power.22

The six members of the N.Y.Y.C. syndicate knew they were engaging in quite a risk. If the American yacht lost it would prove the British had a superior knowledge of naval architecture and seamanship. The construction of a racing yacht was expensive, but the quality was essential: the nation’s maritime prowess was at stake. William H. Brown was one of the leading boat builders on New York’s East River waterfront. Brown proposed to George Schuyler, one of the leading syndicate members, that the Brown Yard should build the yacht. In a letter to Schuyler, Brown agreed to build “a strong sea-going vessel, and rigged for ocean sailing” for the price of $30,000.23 The price was high but Brown proposed that if the yacht lost to any American yacht in her trials the syndicate would not be responsible to pay for her.

The name of the yacht was America, representing her country’s latest in American marine engineering. Brown hired George Steers, a young prominent naval architect known for his modern, elegant, and fast pilot schooners, to construct the lines of the yacht. Steers drew inspiration from the best proven designs in American naval architecture. The hull design was similar to that of American pilot schooners of the era. She had a long, fine, “hollow” bow and a deeper keel as her lines ran aft, with a relatively wide beam amidships that gave her power when she heeled going to windward.24 This was a deviation from the typical English hull design known as a “cod’s head and mackerel tail,” or a yacht with a bluff bow with sharp lines leading

22 Anthony Heckstall‐Smith, Sacred Cowes or The Cream of Yachting Society (London, 1955), 1.

23 William H. Brown to George L. Schuyler, November 15, 1850, in The Low Black Schooner: Yacht America,  1851­1945, by John Rousmaniere (New York, 1987), 5.

24 John Rousmaniere, The Low Black Schooner: Yacht America 1851­1945 (New York, 1987), 11.

aft. Steers also studied the Baltimore Clipper, a fast American merchant/slaver vessel commonly found in the Chesapeake Bay and the Caribbean Sea. Baltimore Clippers derived most of their speed from sharply raked masts with American cotton duck sail material. Cotton duck was tightly woven and the fibers did not stretch much under pressure. English yachts of the time period carried flax canvas, a soft and flexible sail material that a sailor poured water on to keep the fibers taught while sailing.25 America’s hull design, mast rake, and sail material gave her a large advantage when racing against English yachts that lacked these American innovations. Steers also designed a carved, gold-painted, American bald eagle grasping the American flag and arrows to grace America’s stern.

After trials in the early summer of 1851, America made the trans-Atlantic journey captained by a seasoned Sandy Hook harbor pilot, Richard ‘Dick’ Brown, and a crew of thirteen men. America traveled to Le Havre, France, where Commodore Stevens boarded her and sailed on to Cowes. A British cutter, the Earl of Wilton’s Laverock, sailed into the Solent to welcome the America and to test her speed and ability. Stevens wanted to keep the speed of the American yacht somewhat of a secret, but Laverock provoked an impromptu race to Cowes. The Laverock vs. America match race ended in the American schooner trouncing the English cutter, a great start for the American boat in English waters. However, it also hindered the yacht, because English yachtsmen would not enter into organized yacht races with the American boat. Commodore Stevens placed a challenge at the R.Y.S. for any English yacht to sail against 25 Ernest A Ratsey and W H de Fontaine, Yacht Sails: Their Care and Handling (New York, 1948), 148.

America for stakes that were not to exceed 10,000 guineas, equivalent to $54,000 in 1851.26 No English yachtsmen would accept the challenge for fear of losing to the American schooner.

The British public shamed members of the R.Y.S. for not accepting the challenge, but many British yachtsmen thought it better to have their pride publicly ridiculed than to risk the loss of Britain’s maritime reputation. The London Examiner produced an article on the reluctance of the R.Y.S. to accept Steven’s challenge. The article accused members of the R.Y.S. for not knowing how to sail, stating, “There are some exceptions; there are some score of two hundred members of the R.Y.S. who are good seamen, ay, and competent navigators to boot; but the great majority are unskilled.”27 The shameful bashing from English papers eventually prompted the R.Y.S. to take up Stevens’s challenge for the 1851 Royal Yacht Squadron Regatta. America entered into the race for the R.Y.S. £100 cup to take place on 22 August 1851. The R.Y.S. £100 cup was “open to yachts belonging to the clubs of all nations.”28 The Squadron did not expect to have an American entry; the British intended for several yachts from the Imperial Yacht Club of St. Petersburg, who received exclusive permission from the Czar to sail to England and attend the Great Exhibition, to partake in the race.29 However, none of the Russian yachts competed. Seventeen yachts of the R.Y.S. entered into the race with America, the only non-British entry. The race consisted of a circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight starting and ending in Cowes, the prize for victory was a £100 Victorian-era silver ewer, produced by Messrs.

26Herbert L. Stone, The "America’s" Cup Races (London, 1909), 21.

27 David W Shaw, America’s Victory: The Heroic Story of a Team of Ordinary Americans­and How They Won the  Greatest Yacht Race Ever (Dobbs Ferry, 2002), 169.

28 John Bates, 1851 Royal Yacht Squadron Regatta Notice of Races printed by W.W. Yelf, July 1851, Mariners'  Museum Library, Newport News.

29 John Rousmaniere, The Low Black Schooner: Yacht America 1851­1945 (New York, 1987), 29.

R & S Garrard of London, and presented to the R.Y.S. by the 1st Marquis of Anglesey, a R.Y.S. member and a hero of the Battle of Waterloo.

America defeated the entire fleet of R.Y.S. yachts in the race around the Isle of Wight, 22 August 1851. The second yacht to finish, Aurora, finished twenty-four minutes behind America. The large time differential between America and arguably one of the best yachts of the R.Y.S. astonished the British, whose maritime preeminence had been debunked. English papers, such as the Merchant based in London, pessimistically published that America’s win foretold a change in the world’s order, the empire of the seas must before long be ceded to America, as mistress of the ocean she must over stride the civilized world.30

The construction of America generated quite a public stir in the United States and many articles were published in the New York Times updating Americans on the progress of her build.31 Her mission to defeat British yachts in English waters was known by all social classes in America. However, after America left for Europe there was no news of her for much of the summer of 1851 until the first steamer reached the United States two weeks after America’s triumph in Cowes. In the Boston Statehouse, Daniel Webster broke off his speech to the House Representatives to state, “Like Jupiter among the gods, America is first, and there is no second.”32 The news of America spread throughout the United States. “What a victory to beat Britannia”, the New York Times exclaimed, “to bend her in her own native seas, in the presence

30 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G Capen (Portland, 1992), 14.

31 John Rousmaniere, The Low Black Schooner: Yacht America 1851­1945 (New York, 1987), 3.

32 Winfield M. Thompson and Thomas W. Lawson, The Lawson History of the America’s Cup: A Record of Fifty  Years (Boston, 1902), 29.

of her Queen…the destinies of the world in regard to civil and political liberty depend upon that power which shall obtain the sea.”33

The yacht America became a cultural symbol for American ingenuity, industry, power, and wealth. The country was a mere seventy-five years old at the time of America’s win and viewed internationally as an upstart. Even amid a developing sectional crisis, Americans searched for a place among the great European empires of Britain, France, Prussia, and Russia. The victory of America embodied the spirit of nationalism that Americans sought, proof that America could stand among the great powers of the world. American romantics depicted America in several lithographs and paintings. Political cartoons depicted America’s Uncle Sam and Britain’s John Bull at the Great Exhibition often with America in the background.34 The triumph of America was also put to music in a rendition of “Yankee Doodle,” and William Dressler composed a pianoforte titled, “The American Schottisch,” dedicated to Commodore Stevens and picturing America on the cover.35

Commodore Stevens and the rest of the N.Y.Y.C. enterprising syndicate returned home to a hero’s welcome, they had the £100 cup, but not America. The syndicate sold the yacht in England to make a considerable profit, likely because the yacht did not bring a profit from racing wagers because no British yachtsman dared to go up against her. The £100 cup therefore became the symbol of the American victory, passing between the syndicate members, adorning their homes with pride until the death of Commodore Stevens. In 1857, shortly after Stevens’s death, the surviving members of the N.Y.Y.C. syndicate decided to give the £100 cup to the

33 New York Times, “Letter from Mr. Rives‐The Yacht America,” September 20, 1851.

34 Herbert L. Stone, The "America’s" Cup Races (London, 1909), 21.

35 William Dressler, "The American Schottisch," Piano Forte Sheet Music Dedicated to Commodore John Cox Stevens published by William Hall & Son, 1851, Mariners' Museum Library, Newport News.

N.Y.Y.C. as a trophy for international competition. Along with the trophy was a document; the Deed of Gift stated the cup was a “prize open to be sailed for by yacht clubs of all foreign nations.”36

Domestic turmoil in the United States intruded before an international yacht race could take place. The entire country was affected by the outbreak of the American Civil War after the Southern states seceded from the Union in 1861. The extravagant sport of yachting was put on hold, though many yachts were outfitted for war service. America had several European owners by the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1861, her owner, Englishman and Confederate sympathizer Henry Decie, sent the yacht back to the waters of the United States for the first time since she crossed the Atlantic in 1851. Decie sold America to Gazaway Lamar, who mounted a cannon on her foredeck and used her as a blockade-runner in Savannah, GA.37 Eventually captured by the Union Navy, she then became a member of the blockading squadron in Charleston, SC, until given to the United States Naval Academy in 1864. America’s war service was typical of many yachts during the Civil War.

The full revival of the sport of yachting in the United States did not occur until 1866, when, a contemporary recalled, “no other yachting event awakened so much international interest as the ocean race of the Henrietta, Fleeting, and Vesta.”38 The beginnings of the 1866 Great Ocean Race started with too much brandy and arrogance at the New York Union Club between two American millionaires. James Gordon Bennett Jr. was the heir to his father’s New York Herald fortune. Bennett fit the category of American “new money” for he was young, rich,

36 John Rousmaniere, The Low Black Schooner: Yacht America 1851­1945 (New York, 1987), 43.

37 P. K. Kemp Lt. Cmdr. R.N., Racing for the America's Cup (London, 1937), 31.

38 J.D. Jerrold Kelley Lt. USN, American Yachts: Their Clubs and Races (New York, 1884), 18.

and enjoyed a good party. Bennett gained fame for driving a horse and carriage naked during the middle of the night through his Long Island neighbor’s estate gardens.39 He engaged in a yachting bet with Pierre Lorillard IV, who inherited his great-grandfather’s tobacco company. Lorillard “was the de facto dauphin of established New York society and its enforcer against assaults by the nouveau riche scalawags such as Bennett.”40

The bet consisted of a trans-Atlantic ocean race of epic proportions, the very first to be conceived. Ocean racecourses were previously sailed over a 200-300 mile distance and back to the club. Bennett proposed a 3,100 nautical mile race from Sandy Hook, NJ to the Needles off the Isle of Wight, and that his yacht, Henrietta, would beat Lorillard’s yacht, Vesta, for a wager of $10,000. Between the arguing and boasting the wager ended at $30,000 and also attracted American millionaire siblings, George and Franklin Osgood, who entered the yacht, Fleetwing. The four men also chose to conduct the race in December, arguably the worst month to attempt a trans-Atlantic crossing. Bennett would sail the race but Lorillard and the Osgood brothers would pay professional captains to take their yachts across the Atlantic. Winds were recorded at over sixty-four knots during the race.41 The Fleetwing lost several crewmembers when a wave crashed over the bow. Despite the many squalls, all of the yachts finished, and Bennett’s yacht, Henrietta, finished in first place.

The 1866 Great Ocean Race did not include British yachts. However, this ocean race coupled with the victory of America in 1851 awakened British yachtsmen to two grim realizations by the 1860s. America demonstrated American superiority in yacht design, and the

39 Scott Cookman, Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes (New York, 2002), 16.

40 Scott Cookman, Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes (New York, 2002), 20.

41 Scott Cookman, Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes (New York, 2002), 21.

1866 Great Ocean Race proved that American yachtsmen were also leading the development and expansion of the sport of yacht racing.42

In 1868, the American yacht Sappho sailed into British waters to try herself against the English fleet, seeking to accomplish what America had seventeen years earlier. Sappho did not capture the same national glory. In a race around the Isle of Wight, Sappho lost to four English yachts, including James Ashbury’s yacht, Cambria. Her defeat prompted Ashbury to cable the N.Y.Y.C. in 1868 to become the first challenger on record through the Royal Thames Yacht Club for the cup that America had won in 1851. 43 Americans started to call the £100 cup the America’s Cup around the period of Ashbury’s first challenge, in honor of the yacht and the national pride surrounding the win. However, complications arose in arranging the challenge, and the race for the America’s Cup was not held until two years after Ashbury initiated the challenge.

Meanwhile, there was an ocean match race between Cambria and the American yacht, Dauntless, which proceeded the first race for the America’s Cup. Dauntless was the new yacht of James Gordon Bennett. After winning the 1866 Great Ocean Race, Bennett became the vicecommodore of the N.Y.Y.C. in 1868. The match ended with Cambria defeating Dauntless, who also suffered the loss of two crewmembers during the race. The continuous death toll from trans-Atlantic racing put an end to distance ocean racing sanctioned by the N.Y.Y.C. until after the turn of the twentieth century.

42 J.D. Jerrold Kelley Lt. USN, American Yachts: Their Clubs and Races (New York, 1884), 18.

43 Winfield M. Thompson and Thomas W. Lawson, The Lawson History of the America’s Cup: A Record of Fifty  Years (Boston, 1902), 47.

The result of 1870 ocean match race before the America’s Cup created doubt among several N.Y.Y.C. members as to the outcome of the America’s Cup races. The club did not want to lose the nation’s coveted symbol of maritime achievement, and would do everything in its power to defend the America’s Cup. The best defense the N.Y.Y.C. conceived was to subject Cambria to sail against a fleet of American yachts. The club’s rationalization given to Ashbury was that America had to sail against a fleet of English yachts in 1851, so a lone English yacht sailing against a fleet of American yachts was a fair contest.44 However, the N.Y.Y.C. had a great advantage, among the N.Y.Y.C. fleet were several centerboard yachts, titled “skimming dishes” by the English, which were lightly constructed boats, not meant for crossing oceans.45

According to the first Deed of Gift, the challenger must sail on her own bottom to the defender’s yacht club. Cambria was heavy and constructed to endure a trans-Atlantic crossing or race. Against the lighter American centerboard yachts, Cambria’s weight and fixed keel was a disadvantage. As a result, Magic and seven other American yachts, including America and Dauntless, finished ahead of Cambria to successfully defend the America’s Cup in front of 20,000 spectators off Staten Island, NY.46

Ashbury challenged again in 1871 but believed the Deed of Gift was unfair, stating that a match race would be more proper.47 The N.Y.Y.C. turned to George L. Schuyler, the last living member of the 1851 America’s syndicate. Schuyler “published in a letter in the Spirit of the

44 L. Francis Herreshoff, The Golden Age of Yachting (Dobbs Ferry, 2007), 71.

45 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G Capen (Portland, 1992), 15.

46 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G Capen (Portland, 1992), 15.

47 Match racing or a match race is a contest between two yachts.

Times stating that a ‘match means one party contending with another party upon equal terms.”48 Schuyler favored a match race, since the America’s Cup was meant to be a challenge. The Deed was reformed but several N.Y.Y.C. members in charge of the Cup’s defense sought a loophole in the reformed Deed of Gift of 1881. The club claimed that it was the defender’s right to choose the yacht from their fleet each day of the challenger series to defend the Cup.

So Ashbury’s new yacht, Livonia, was again at a disadvantage. The N.Y.Y.C. chose the optimum yacht for the conditions and successfully defended the Cup again with Sappho and Columbia. Ashbury believed that this was very unsportsmanlike conduct, and the results of the 1871 race for the America’s Cup created “a coolness between British and American yachtsmen that would last for sometime.”49 Ashbury publicly stated on his return to Britain that, “racing in America was not conducted on the same high moral plane that existed in England.”50 British yachtsmen believed that their yacht clubs upheld a higher standard of racing rules in the Solent. A British yachtsman would not challenge for the America’s Cup again until 1885.

In 1876 and 1881, Alexander Cuthbert of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (1876) and Bay of Quinte Yacht Club (1881) challenged the N.Y.Y.C. for the America’s Cup, but lost both attempts.51 By 1885 enough time had passed that the British were willing to try their luck again at wresting the Cup from the Americans. The amendment to the Deed of Gift in 1881 by the N.Y.Y.C. ensured the challenger a fair match, consisting of a single chosen defender versus a

48 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G Capen (Portland:, 1992), 17.

49 Winfield M. Thompson and Thomas W. Lawson, The Lawson History of the America’s Cup: A Record of Fifty  Years (Boston, 1902), 76.

50 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G Capen (Portland, 1992), 18.

51 Richard V Simpson, The America's Cup: The Rhode Island Connection (Charleston, 1999), 24.

single chosen challenger, much to British delight. The British were no longer subjected to racing against a fleet or a chosen best defender for the optimal conditions.

Sir Richard Sutton, a member of the R.Y.S., challenged the N.Y.Y.C. for the America’s Cup in 1885 with his yacht, Genesta. In the course of America’s Cup history, the match between Genesta and Puritan, the American defender, was the closest the United States ever came to losing the America’s Cup to Britain. Puritan on port tack attempted to cross the starboard tacker, Genesta, when she collided with Genesta’s bowsprit.52 The racing rules of sailing state a vessel on starboard tack has the right of way over a vessel on port tack. In 1885, the racing rules also stated that the yacht at fault must withdraw. The race committee informed Sutton that if he finished sailing the course the Cup would rightfully belong to Genesta. However, he believed there was no honor in accepting a “walk-over” victory.53 Puritan was successful in defeating Genesta in the rest of the series, but the sportsmanship of Sutton won immense popularity among the American yachtsmen. 54 Sutton extended his time in the United States and Genesta’s racing career to finish out the American yachting season of 1885. Genesta won a $1,000 cup offered by James Gordon Bennett, as well as the Brenton Reef and Cape May Challenge Cups.

A year later in 1886, the first woman ever to challenge for the America’s Cup, Susan Henn, the wife of William Henn, a Royal Navy lieutenant, built and lavishly outfitted the yacht Galatea. Photographs of the yacht’s salon show expensive china and leopard skin rugs, among many other opulent furnishings from the reaches of the British Empire.55 Racing yachts during

52 Douglas Phillips‐Birt, The History of Yachting (New York, 1974), 67.

53 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G Capen (Portland, 1992), 19.

54 L. Francis Herreshoff, The Golden Age of Yachting (Dobbs Ferry, 2007), 88.

55 Douglas Phillips‐Birt, The History of Yachting (New York, 1974), 66.

this epoch were designed as cruiser-racers, the interior of most yachts encased the necessary amenities for worldly travel as well as the capability of participating in yacht races, as was popular and expected among the British and American elite. Club membership, the lavishly decorated interiors, and the participation in international racing defined the nineteenth century sporting culture. The display of wealth surrounding the America’s Cup races became a competition off the water between British and American yachtsmen. In response to Galatea, the N.Y.Y.C. chose the defender Mayflower, a lighter centerboard yacht for the 1886 races. Arguably, the Galatea had won the aesthetic competition but her interior and fine hard wood bulkheads slowed the yacht immensely. Mayflower, ultimately the faster of the two yachts, defeated Galatea in the first two races of a three-race series.

Despite the competition for the America’s Cup, Anglo-Americanism and rapprochement was on the rise. Yachting helped to develop an understanding of transatlantic culture, denoting the similarities between British and American society. Like Sutton, Mrs. Henn also decided to extend her racing career in the United States after her failed attempt to capture the America’s Cup for Britain. Mrs. Henn and her husband were known “to have been the most popular couple that challenged for the Cup.”56 The sporting culture that evolved around the 1885 and 1886 American yachting seasons formed what seemed to be strong bonds between the American and British yachting fraternities.

The two-year rapprochement, however, became strained with the ensuing challenge from James Bell and exacerbated during the challenges of Lord Dunraven. In 1887, Bell challenged with his yacht, Thistle, and the Royal Clyde Yacht Club of Scotland. Prior to the match,

56 L. Francis Herreshoff, The Golden Age of Yachting (Dobbs Ferry, 2007), 88.

Thistle’s pre-determined waterline was eighty-five feet. The N.Y.Y.C. agreed to defend with Volunteer, a yacht of equal waterline measurement and rig. When the Scottish yacht reached the United States, she measured slightly over eighty-six feet on the waterline, which gave an advantage to the challenger, Volunteer. The N.Y.Y.C. threatened to cancel the races but George Schuyler ruled that Bell was not at fault; the designer of Thistle, George Watson, was in error for not calculating the stated and actual load-waterline correctly.57 The America’s Cup commenced and Thistle suffered a time handicap given by the race committee because of her waterline advantage.58 Thistle could not compete with the sailing skill of the crew of Volunteer, however, and the N.Y.Y.C. successfully defended the Cup for the seventh time since the first challenge in 1870.

Another Scottish yachtsman issued a challenge in 1887 after Bell’s defeat, but the N.Y.Y.C. rejected it because the club wanted to rewrite the Deed of Gift. The importance of equal waterlines brought about the realization that challengers could gain an advantage before even racing for the America’s Cup. The Cup had found a comfortable home in the United States, and the N.Y.Y.C. was not going to make it any easier for a challenger to take it away. The N.Y.Y.C. established a committee of five members in 1887 to amend the Deed of Gift. George L. Schuyler, the sole remaining member of the 1851 syndicate, headed the committee. The third Deed of Gift demanded that the N.Y.Y.C. be given ten months notice of a challenge, the

57 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G Capen (Portland, 1992), 20.

58 A handicap is given in yachting when two yachts of unequal proportions are racing.  The handicap usually  is determined by weight of the yacht, waterline, and other dimensions, etc. of the yacht to determine a time  difference between the yachts if both yachts were evenly matched.  Typically, the yacht with an advantage  owes the disadvantaged yacht x amount of time to compete evenly.

challenging vessel’s name, load-waterline length, beam at load-waterline, beam on deck, and draft; the dimensions could not be exceeded as well as the type of rig.59

Rewriting the Deed of Gift now gave the N.Y.Y.C. a permanent advantage. The knowledge of a challenger’s dimensions allowed the N.Y.Y.C. to construct a defender that was perfectly suited to match the challenger. The new Deed of Gift was unsettling to British yachtsmen. The British yachting fraternity argued that a precise water-line length depended on the amount of ballast for a yacht under racing trim that cannot be properly determined before a yacht’s construction. Britain’s Yacht Racing Association, a governing body of several British yacht clubs including the R.Y.S., concluded that, “the terms of the new Deed of Gift are such that foreign vessels are unable to challenge.”60 A member of the R.Y.S., (Windham Thomas Wyndam-Quin), the fourth Earl of Dunraven, first attempted to challenge for the America’s Cup in 1888, but the R.Y.S. withdrew the challenge because of the amendment to the Deed of Gift.61

The Earl of Dunraven, once a Foreign Office diplomat, utilized his learned skills of diplomacy to persuade the N.Y.Y.C. to accept his challenge for the Cup. “Early December of 1892, the challenge from Lord Dunraven was finally settled and adjusted, creating a patriotic ardor in all English and American yachtsman.”62 The Americans consented not only to be lenient on the extent of an exact waterline, but to also extend the series from three to the best of five races.63

British and American organizers scheduled the America’s Cup races for October 1893; yacht designers worked furiously to refine their designs. The Earl of Dunraven chose G.L.

59 A. B.C. Whipple, The Racing Yachts, ed. Jim Hicks, The Seafarers (Alexandria, 1980), 76.

60 A. B.C. Whipple, The Racing Yachts, ed. Jim Hicks, The Seafarers (Alexandria:, 1980), 77.

61 New York Yacht Club, Report of the America Cup Committee, 1888­1889 (Exchange Place: Charles A Sering,  1889), 1.

62 R. T. Pritchett et al., Yachting, comp. George Leach Sir, Yachting (1894; repr., London:, 1910), 400.

63 A. B.C. Whipple, The Racing Yachts, ed. Jim Hicks, The Seafarers (Alexandria, 1980), 78.

Watson to design Valkyrie II. Edward Burgess, the favored naval architect of the N.Y.Y.C.’s previous defenders Puritan, Mayflower, and Volunteer, had died of typhoid fever in 1891, so the defending club turned to the man affectionately known as the “Wizard of Bristol,” Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Herreshoff’s business capitalized on the pressure in the United States to expand the navy that developed in 1890 from the staunch imperialist, Alfred Thayer Mahan.64 Mahan recognized in his book, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 that whoever ruled the waves ruled the world, directly linking maritime strength to global power. Mahan concluded that Great Britain was the dominant naval power of the world and that the United States should seek to expand its empire as well.65 Most of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company’s income before his America’s Cup designs came from navy contracts.

The America’s Cup was not to be the only display of America’s maritime power in 1893. The United States also hosted the navies of Great Britain, Russia, Italy, France, Spain, and Germany to an international naval rendezvous in Hampton Roads, Virginia. U.S. Navy officials deliberately selected the venue’s proximity to the Newport News Shipyard, intended to strengthen expansionists’ claims of being an established naval power in the world.66 The United States Navy contracted the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company to build torpedo boats. It was through correspondence with the Department of the Navy that Herreshoff developed a relationship with another ardent expansionist, Theodore Roosevelt. Mahan and Roosevelt

64 Robert Seager II, Alfred Thayer Mahan: The Man and His Letters (Annapolis, 1977), 205.

65 Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660­1783 (Boston, 1890), 83.

66 Expansionist is a term to define an American typically of the latter nineteenth and early twentieth  centuries whose political ideals promoted territorial and economic expansion.

lobbied to expand the U.S. Navy, and the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company filled government orders during the latter half of the 1800s.67

The naval contracts, however, were miniscule compared to what the N.Y.Y.C. was to pay for an able defender of the America’s Cup. The chosen defender, Vigilant, cost approximately $100,000, three times the cost of the last defender, Volunteer. 68 Vigilant and the challenger, Valkyrie II, broke away from the traditional cruiser-racer of the past America’s Cups. The yachts that competed in 1893 were utilitarian vessels built for speed. The lavish interiors and heavy woods used to construct past yachts such as Galatea were not present. Herreshoff stressed light, fast, and rigid racing machines, testing new and foreign materials to their limits in his Rhode Island workshops.69 Steel, aluminum, bronze, and iron were replacing wood and the American industrial revolution was in full swing, Herreshoff Manufacturing utilized any technological advancement.

Herreshoff also helmed Vigilant in the 1893 America’s Cup races. Vigilant and Dunraven’s Valkyrie II were evenly matched, and Vigilant narrowly won the first two races. On the third day of racing, Valkyrie II developed quite a lead in a thirty-knot blow the British yacht leading by some 600 yards at the windward mark.70 However, the strong winds ripped the muslin-cloth spinnaker of Valkyrie II slowing her down. Herreshoff ordered the reefs in the main cut, dangerously expanding the amount of sail area Vigilant carried in such a gale. The

67 Michael J Hogan, The Ambiguous Legacy: US Foreign Relations in the "American Century" (Cambridge, 1999),  122.

68 Christopher Pastore, Temple to the Wind: The Story of America's Greatest Naval Architect and His  Masterpiece, Reliance (Guilford, 2005), 81.

69 Lucia Del Sol Knight and Daniel Bruce MacNaughton, The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers (New York,  2006), 219.

70 A. B.C. Whipple, The Racing Yachts, ed. Jim Hicks, The Seafarers (Alexandria, 1980), 82.

American yacht pulled ahead of the struggling challenger with more canvas flying and won the series.

Dunraven had graciously accepted his defeat, but “muttered that Valkyrie II was greatly interfered with by excursion steamers,” or spectator boats.71 There was no proof that the yacht evasively maneuvered to avoid a spectator boat and Dunraven’s gripes fell on deaf ears. However, Dunraven’s personal grievance with spectator boats continued. Valkyrie II returned to England and she soon entered into a race in Scotland in the Holy Loch at Clyde. A stray spectator boat motoring near the starting line caused a collision between Valkyrie II and Santanita 72 The collision resulted in the sinking of Valkyrie II and the death of one of her crewmembers. Dunraven had a hatred of the spectator fleet after the accident and his loathsome feelings towards these vessels did not help in 1895 when he challenged for the America’s Cup for a second time. Approximately 65,000 spectators on over 200 vessels were present for the start of the first race of the series in 1895.73

The 1895 America’s Cup would be the low point between British and American yachtsmen. Dunraven challenged with Valkyrie III, against the Herreshoff designed Defender. Defender had won the first race of the series and after the finish Dunraven protested that the crew of Defender had added ballast to the yacht to increase the waterline and make the yacht faster. Dunraven demanded that Defender’s waterline be measured. The waterline length of the American yacht was re-measured and determined to be the same. Dunraven still accused the

71 A. B.C. Whipple, The Racing Yachts, ed. Jim Hicks, The Seafarers (Alexandria, 1980), 82.

72 A. B.C. Whipple, The Racing Yachts, ed. Jim Hicks, The Seafarers (Alexandria, 1980), 82.

73 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G Capen (Portland, 1992), 22.

N.Y.Y.C. of cheating, but because he lodged his protest after Valkyrie III had been defeated in the first race, it did not help his plea.

The start of the second day of racing a spectator vessel forced Defender and Valkyrie III apart, which caused Valkyrie III to be out of position to start on time, forcing her to bear off so she would not cross the line before the starting canon. Defender held the leeward position, and the American yacht therefore had right of way over the windward, Valkyrie III, which luffed to avoid Defender when Valkyrie’s main boom fouled Defender’s topmast shroud. Defender sailed the race with a damaged rig; Valkyrie III won the race but the race committee disqualified her for the collision. Dunraven protested that the collision occurred because of the unbound spectator fleet. The N.Y.Y.C. had no control over the spectator fleet, so Dunraven refused to race, and the United States remained in possession of the Cup.

When the Earl of Dunraven returned to Britain he published an article in the London Field stating the Americans had cheated sparking a heated inquiry.74 An appointed America’s Cup committee reviewed the protest and also Dunraven’s belief that Defender’s crew allegedly added ballast to the boat. After a rather extensive trial, the committee dismissed all allegations that Defender had additional ballast and agreed that the collision between Defender and Valkyrie III resulted after the incident with the spectator boat, refusing Dunraven’s appeal. The result of the 1895 challenge left bitter relations between the British and American yachting fraternities.

The April 1896 issue of Outing Magazine published an article titled, “The Curtain Falls on Dunraven,” highlighting a meeting held at the N.Y.Y.C. that discussed the ruling and further proceedings of the trial in February of 1896. Leading members of the N.Y.Y.C. determined at

74 Christopher Pastore, Temple to the Wind: The Story of America's Greatest Naval Architect an d His  Masterpiece, Reliance (Guilford, 2005), 91.

that meeting that the “privileges of honorary membership heretofore extended to the Earl of Dunraven are hereby withdrawn.”75 One club member stated that Dunraven was “a man of that abnormally suspicious disposition,” the official representative of British yachtsmen.76 The American media published articles with similar comments and a dark age descended upon the Cup.

The America’s Cup sat dormant in the trophy case of the N.Y.Y.C. for three years. On 6 August 1898, the same week as the end of the hostilities of the Spanish-American War, the United States emerged onto the world stage by overtaking a European power’s colonies while the next challenge for the America’s Cup had arrived at the N.Y.Y.C. from another European power.

Thomas Lipton, representing Britain and the Royal Ulster Yacht Club (R.U.Y.C.) wanted to challenge for the America’s Cup. The chairman of the N.Y.Y.C.’s America’s Cup Committee was American banker James Pierpont Morgan, and he quickly sent word to the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company to start the plans for a new defender. The challenge came as a surprise to most of the N.Y.Y.C. because Lipton was not well known to American yachtsmen.

The British yachting fraternity viewed Lipton as a pariah, the British version of American “new money,” and denied him membership at the R.Y.S. Lipton was born in 1848 to Irish potato famine immigrants in Glasgow, Scotland.77 His family ran a small local grocery. Lipton traveled to the United States during his early teens in search of better money. By 1870, Lipton returned to Scotland with enough earnings to start a grocery chain that grew to an empire, owning over 500 stores in Scotland, England, and Ireland, with tea plantations that stretched as

75 Outing, "The Curtain Falls on Dunraven," April 1896, 1.

76 Outing, "The Curtain Falls on Dunraven," April 1896, 1.

77 Christopher Pastore, Temple to the Wind: The Story of America's Greatest Naval Architec t and His  Masterpiece, Reliance (Guilford, 2005), 40.

far as Ceylon.78 As Lipton’s empire grew so did his wealth, fame, and generosity. Lipton conducted business with a certain charm, the same charm he would bring to the United States during the America’s Cup. As Lawrence Brady states, Lipton’s “style and presentation was as far removed as it was possible to be from Lord Dunraven and the members of the R.Y.S., though he was no less passionate about being British and loyal to the crown.”79

It was Lipton’s loyalty to the British crown that sparked his challenge for the America’s Cup. Despite what other high British societal members thought of Lipton, Queen Victoria knighted Lipton for his charitable work. He also befriended the Prince of Wales, a prominent sailor. The Prince believed that Anglo-American relations were tense over the 1895 America’s Cup, and before Lipton departed for the United States, Joseph Chamberlain, the British colonial secretary, “beseeched him not to strain relations between the United States and Great Britain.”80

The time that Lipton spent in America as a teenager taught him that advertising was the key to a successful business. Lipton knew the world would be following the Cup races, providing the best opportunity to make Lipton Tea a household name on both sides of the Atlantic. Lipton would travel to the United States on his steam yacht, Erin, where he would entertain American and British guests alike during the races. Lipton’s challenge turned into a mission of diplomacy.

The United States awaited the start of the America’s Cup races and also the return of Admiral George Dewey, the United States Naval hero of the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May

78 Christopher Pastore, Temple to the Wind: The Story of America's Greatest Naval Architect and His  Masterpiece, Reliance (Guilford, 2005), 42.

79 Laurence Brady, The Man Who Challenged America: The Life and Obsession of Sir Thomas Lipton (Edinburgh,  2007), 15.

80 Michael Levitt, America’s Cup, 1851 to 1992: The Official Record of America’s Cup XXVIII & the Louis Vuitton  Cup, ed. Christopher G Capen (Portland, 1992), 25.

1898, and the rest of the Asiatic Squadron returning from the Spanish-American War.81 The U.S. fleet returned to New York harbor in the dead of night when most of America was asleep, all except for Lipton awake on his yacht Erin. He quickly gathered the press and posed for every photo opportunity. Lipton invited Admiral Dewey, interested in the upcoming America’s Cup, to join him on, Erin, to watch the races. 82 Dewey quickly accepted.

Lipton hired the best designers and shipbuilders in the United Kingdom to construct the 1899 challenger, Shamrock. J.P. Morgan in the United States paid the Herreshoff yard in Bristol to design, build, and test the new defender, Columbia. The races were to be held off of Sandy Hook, NJ as in the previous challenge. Columbia won the first three races out of the five-race series.

Lipton’s challenge, however, was still a great diplomatic success. Lipton had cemented the relationship between American and British yachting fraternities and restored the concept of good sportsmanship. Gracious in defeat, Lipton vowed to challenge for the Cup again in 1901. Herreshoff constructed a new defender at the behest of J.P. Morgan. However the new yacht, Constitution, was not as fast when tested against her trial horse, the Columbia. 83 Much to the dismay of Herreshoff, members of the N.Y.Y.C. decided to appoint Columbia to defend the Cup for the 1901 races and Lipton returned with Shamrock II. Columbia defeated Shamrock II and

81 Laurence Brady, The Man Who Challenged America: The Life and Obsession of Sir Thomas Lipton  (Edinburgh,  2007), 6.

82 Laurence Brady, The Man Who Challenged America: The Life and Obsession of Sir Thomas Lipton  (Edinburgh, 2007), 6.

83 Gary Jobson, An America's Cup Treasury: The Lost Levick Photographs, 1893­1937 (Newport News, 1999),  21. A trial horse was the yacht utilized to test the speed ability of a new defender, typically the trial horse was  a past defender.

Lipton lost again, but his charm won over the Americans, and he prepared to challenge again in 1903.

The 1903 America’s Cup saw the largest yachts to ever compete for the trophy. Herreshoff designed Reliance, a yacht of monstrous proportions and dimensions to defend against Shamrock III. Reliance was only ninety feet on the waterline, but her overhangs made her 202 feet from stem to stern, and her mast towered 190 feet above the water and carried 16,000 square feet of sail.84 Thousands of Americans flocked to Bristol for the launching of the new defender as Reliance slid off the rails in the Herreshoff yard to the tune of ‘Stars and Stripes.’85 The America’s Cup had never left the shores of the United States, and Americans had come to believe that the Cup represented power, wealth, and sportsmanship. Thus many Americans hoped that the grand sportsman, Lipton, would win the America’s Cup in 1903.

Historian Bradford Perkins states, “Since the Civil War, Anglophobia had declined, the republic’s most frequent foreign antagonism was directed at antique aristocracy.”86 Lipton proved over his last two challenges that he was not antique British aristocracy; rather Lipton was the antithesis of the aristocracy that had previously and unsuccessfully challenged for the America’s Cup. Americans, both yachtsmen and spectators alike were supporting the British challenger, the utmost sign of respect and rapprochement between the two yachting fraternities.

In a New York Times article dated March 18, 1903, the day of Shamrock III’s launching party, a reporter caught up with Lipton, who stated, “I expect to win, but a third defeat will only increase

84 Christopher Pastore, Temple to the Wind: The Story of America's Greatest Naval Architect and His  Masterpiece, Reliance (Guilford, 2005), ix.

85 Laurence Brady, The Man Who Challenged America: The Life and Obsession of Sir Thomas Lipton  (Edinburgh,  2007), 112.

86 Bradford Perkins, The Great Rapprochement: England and the United States, 1895 ­1914 (New York, 1968),  6.

my admiration for a people who beat us at a game that was once our own.”87 In the same article a journalist added, “After fifty years of dominating the America’s Cup, no one would cheer a Shamrock victory more heartily than the Americans.”88

Many Americans hoped that 1903 would be the year Lipton would return the Cup back to Britain, however, Reliance proved to be faster and her skipper, Charlie Barr, more calculating than the crew of Shamrock III. Lipton proposed again that he would return, but hoped that the Cup would be held in smaller yachts because he spent nearly $2 million over his past three unsuccessful challenges.89 Lipton did not submit another challenge until 1907.

Lipton had enjoyed spending time in the United States even after his unsuccessful challenges. A celebrity, he joined N.Y.Y.C. dinner parties, luncheons, and other gatherings between American and British elites. He overheard Atlantic Yacht Club (A.Y.C.) Commodore Robert E. Tod propose a trans-Atlantic ocean race. It was no secret that many members of the N.Y.Y.C. had little knowledge of how to sail a boat, but had great amounts of money and influence. Members of the A.Y.C. prided themselves in being “Corinthians,” men who owned their own boats and had the knowledge of how to sail their own boat.90 Tod wanted to see an amateur ocean race from Sandy Hook to the Needles on Britain’s Isle of Wight. Amateur distance ocean racing was something the N.Y.Y.C. did not like since the deaths that occurred in 1866 and 1870. Lipton, however, loved the idea, except for the part of an amateur crew, and he immediately offered to donate a cup if the N.Y.Y.C. would organize the race. Lipton had forced

87 New York Times, "Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock III. Launched: New Challenger for America's Cup Safe in  the Water," March 18, 1903.

88 New York Times, "Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock III. Launched: New Challenger for America's Cup Safe in  the Water," March 18, 1903.

89 Laurence Brady, The Man Who Challenged America: The Life and Obsession of Sir Thomas Lipton  (Edinburgh,  2007), 118.

90 Atlantic Yacht Club, Atlantic Yacht Club, 1903 (New York, 1903), 1.

the members of the N.Y.Y.C. into a corner. He offered a race they could not refuse because the club’s reputation was at stake and offered a cup that would bear the name of the man who attempted to procure the America’s Cup from them in the past three challenges.91 The N.Y.Y.C. did not want to offer a trophy with Lipton’s name and several club members formed a committee to find someone else, someone more important to trump Lipton. They had to be royalty.

Germany started competing in international yachting events in Europe when Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht von Hohenzollern, the crowned Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia sought to expand Germany’s maritime presence. Wilhelm II, as he was known, had much to live up to because his grandfather, Wilhelm I, won the Franco-Prussian War and he could not escape the reputation of Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck. Wilhelm II looked for his niche and saw that “no one had looked to the sea yet and there the Kaiser set out with a vengeance to win everything on the waves.”92 The Kaiser issued a solid gold cup for the transAtlantic ocean race scheduled for 1905 and forced Lipton to step down.

American, British, and German yachtsmen entered into the race. The British viewed the upcoming industrial power of Germany as a threat in Europe. Germany’s construction of a naval base in Venezuela in 1902 concerned the United States. The U.S. government feared Germany’s influence in the Western Hemisphere.93 Two British and eight American yachts entered the race determined to defeat the Kaiser’s entry, Hamburg. The Emperor of Germany hoped his yacht would generate enough German nationalism to pass a bill that would expand Germany’s naval power. The United States yacht, Atlantic, owned by William Marshall and skippered by Charlie

91 Scott Cookman, Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes (New York, 2002), 89.

92 Scott Cookman, Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes (New York, 2002), 51.

93 Mark T. Gilderhus, The Second Century: U.S.­Latin American Relations since 1889 (Lanham, 1999), 23.

Barr, who also skippered the past three America’s Cup defenders, won the solid gold Kaiser’s Cup given at the Kiel Regatta Week in Germany. Atlantic also broke four trans-Atlantic records when she raced in 1905. The Kaiser’s entry, Hamburg came in second, “the second place finish carried enough patriotism that his 1906 Supplementary Navy Law was easily approved.”94 The Kaiser came to power with twenty-four warships and on the “eve of World War I the German Navy consisted of 441 vessels.”95

The Kaiser was yachting at Kiel in 1914 when he received a cable of the assassinations in Sarajevo that would become the catalyst for WWI. Sir Thomas Lipton was in the Azores during the outbreak of the war, preparing to take Erin and the 1914 challenger Shamrock IV for another go at the America’s Cup. Lipton and Shamrock IV made it across the Atlantic safely, however, the N.Y.Y.C. postponed the races until the end of the war. Shamrock IV would stay in a shed in the United States while Lipton converted Erin into a hospital ship, renamed Aegusa; she later struck a mine in 1916 and sank in the Mediterranean.96 William Marshall, owner of the Atlantic and winner of the Kaiser’s Cup, lost a son during the war. After his son’s death, Marshall held a war rally at the New York Metropolitan Opera House where he promised to demolish the Kaiser’s Cup with a sledgehammer and anyone who paid $5 could watch, including President Wilson who was in attendance. The trophy shattered with the first strike, demonstrating to the world that the solid gold Kaiser’s Cup was only pewter plated in a cheap thin layer of gold.97

94 Scott Cookman, Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes (New York, 2002), 265.

95 Scott Cookman, Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes (New York, 2002), 265.

96 Laurence Brady, The Man Who Challenged America: The Life and Obsession of Sir Thomas Lipton  (Edinburgh,  2007), 147.

97 Scott Cookman, Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes (New York, 2002), 273.

American isolationism kept the United States out of the war until 1917 when she entered into an alliance with Britain. Anglo-American relations were at a high point when the United States entered the war, partly to the friendly competition since the turn of the century between the English and American yachting fraternities, much of which was owed to Sir Thomas Lipton The America’s Cup continued after the conclusion of WWI, the N.Y.Y.C. upheld Lipton’s 1914 challenge to be conducted in 1920 when Lipton would lose again. After four unsuccessful challenges, Lipton would try one last time in 1930, without success. He never would attain the America’s Cup but he would be known by the yachting fraternities on both sides of the Atlantic as the man who restored the honor of the America’s Cup. Britain has yet to return the America’s Cup back to her home waters. The United States would hold onto the America’s Cup until 1983, the longest winning streak in all sports history. Australia would be the first country to force the N.Y.Y.C. to remove the America’s Cup from the club’s trophy case.

The America’s Cup and great trans-Atlantic Ocean races were a proving ground for ingenuity, industry, wealth, and power. The members of the N.Y.Y.C. and British yacht clubs that challenged for the America’s Cup were key not only to advancing yacht racing, but were responsible for industrializing and expanding their countries. Business endeavors led to fabulous wealth and influence that was present in their yachts. Designers of yachts were key in pushed the boundaries of maritime and industrial advancements, necessary for a country’s industrial development. Yachting was also the greatest spectator sport during the nineteenth century; more people attended the America’s Cup matches in 1895 than that year’s baseball World Series. Yacht racing captured the essence of nationalism for Americans, British and eventually Germans during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The country who possessed the America’s Cup retained the bragging rights of being the greatest maritime power, during a period when

maritime power meant world dominance. The repeated unsuccessful challenges from Britain foretold a change in the world’s order, and soon the United States would equal the empires of Europe. Maritime power was critical during this epoch and the America’s Cup embodied industry, wealth, patriotism, and maritime power. The America’s Cup sparked heated contention between the United States and Britain, but after the turn of the twentieth century it was crucial to resurrecting the Anglo-American relationship that solidified the 1917 alliance between Britain and the United States.

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Personal Biography

Maxwell J. Plarr was born in Pennsylvania and learned how to sail on Lake Nockamixon from his father and grandfather at age eight. He left the lakes of Pennsylvania to move to the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay to attend college at Christopher Newport University were he also joined the Christopher Newport University Varsity Sailing Team coached by Dan Winters. Plarr became captain of the sailing team during the fall semester of his junior year, and was also elected one of the two Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA) South Representatives to serve on the Executive Board of MAISA. Plarr received his US Sailing Instructor’s license his sophomore year and became the Head Instructor of Gatling Pointe Yacht Club in Smithfield, VA in 2009. CNU’s neighboring location to the Mariners’ Museum led Plarr to become a docent his freshman year, a position he fulfilled all four years while attending the university. Plarr received his bachelor’s degree in history from Christopher Newport University in the Spring of 2011. The author coaches at Hampton Yacht Club in Hampton, VA. His research on the America’s Cup led Plarr to apply for the Ambassador Bill Lane USA Gallery Fellowship through the Australian National Maritime Museum to continue his research in the Fall of 2011. During his spare time Plarr enjoys sailing his J 24, Reliance, and surfing.