The way of improvement leads home
Fea, John.
The way of improvement leads home Philip Vickers Fithian and the rural Enlightenment in early America / [electronic resource] : John Fea. - Philadelphia [Pa.] : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2008. - 1 online resource (1 electronic text (269 p.) :) ill., maps, digital file. - Early American studies .
Issued as part of UPCC book collections on Project MUSE.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [219]-255) and index.
Introduction -- A Cohansey Home -- A Presbyterian Conversion -- Ambition -- Rural Enlightenment -- A Virginia Sojourn -- Revolution -- The Call of God -- Duty -- Conclusion -- Appendix: A Note on the Fithian Diaries.
The Way of Improvement Leads Home traces the short but fascinating life of Philip Vickers Fithian. Born to Presbyterian grain-growers in rural New Jersey, he was never quite satisfied with the agricultural life he seemed destined to inherit. Fithian longed for something more- to improve himself in a revolutionary world that was making upward mobility possible. Fithian is best known for the diary that he wrote in 1773-74 while working as a tutor at Nomini Hall, the Virginia plantation of Robert Carter, and his role as a Revolutionary War chaplain. From the villages of New Jersey, Fithian was able to participate indirectly in the eighteenth-century republic of letters- a transatlantic intellectual community. Participation required a commitment to self-improvement that demanded a belief in the Enlightenment values of human potential and social progress. He constantly struggled to reconcile this quest for a cosmopolitan life with his love of home. It was the people, the religious culture, and the very landscape of his "native sod" that continued to hold Fithian's affections.
9780812206395
Fithian, Philip Vickers, 1747-1776.
American diaries--History and criticism.
Enlightenment--United States.
Plantation life--History--Virginia--18th century.
Presbyterians--New Jersey--Biography.
Tutors and tutoring--Virginia--Biography.
Diarists--Virginia--Biography.
United States--Intellectual life--18th century.
United States--History--Chaplains.--Revolution, 1775-1783
Virginia--Social life and customs--To 1775.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
F229.F56 / F43 2008
973.3/7 B
The way of improvement leads home Philip Vickers Fithian and the rural Enlightenment in early America / [electronic resource] : John Fea. - Philadelphia [Pa.] : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2008. - 1 online resource (1 electronic text (269 p.) :) ill., maps, digital file. - Early American studies .
Issued as part of UPCC book collections on Project MUSE.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [219]-255) and index.
Introduction -- A Cohansey Home -- A Presbyterian Conversion -- Ambition -- Rural Enlightenment -- A Virginia Sojourn -- Revolution -- The Call of God -- Duty -- Conclusion -- Appendix: A Note on the Fithian Diaries.
The Way of Improvement Leads Home traces the short but fascinating life of Philip Vickers Fithian. Born to Presbyterian grain-growers in rural New Jersey, he was never quite satisfied with the agricultural life he seemed destined to inherit. Fithian longed for something more- to improve himself in a revolutionary world that was making upward mobility possible. Fithian is best known for the diary that he wrote in 1773-74 while working as a tutor at Nomini Hall, the Virginia plantation of Robert Carter, and his role as a Revolutionary War chaplain. From the villages of New Jersey, Fithian was able to participate indirectly in the eighteenth-century republic of letters- a transatlantic intellectual community. Participation required a commitment to self-improvement that demanded a belief in the Enlightenment values of human potential and social progress. He constantly struggled to reconcile this quest for a cosmopolitan life with his love of home. It was the people, the religious culture, and the very landscape of his "native sod" that continued to hold Fithian's affections.
9780812206395
Fithian, Philip Vickers, 1747-1776.
American diaries--History and criticism.
Enlightenment--United States.
Plantation life--History--Virginia--18th century.
Presbyterians--New Jersey--Biography.
Tutors and tutoring--Virginia--Biography.
Diarists--Virginia--Biography.
United States--Intellectual life--18th century.
United States--History--Chaplains.--Revolution, 1775-1783
Virginia--Social life and customs--To 1775.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
F229.F56 / F43 2008
973.3/7 B