HIST 261 Historiography Essay (2)

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W-Hofsink 1 Asia W-Hofsink Dr. Froese HIST 261 November 30 th , 2022 Acadians: Scum of the Earth to Tragic Heroes History is quickly forgotten, and little is remembered. Historians spend years researching and uncovering sources to understand what events and individuals make up history. History is not static; constantly changing as worldviews shift and new evidence surfaces. Historians can obscure or enlighten history based on the primary sources they use and how they interpret them. Understanding of history is critical for the future because without information from the past, identities would be erased, important events would be lost, and the danger of having past violent events repeated is high. Historiography has advanced, and perspectives have shifted in the last centuries; one area of change in historiographical perspectives is the history of the Acadians. The development of differing perspectives on the Acadians and their deportations is evidence of the fluidity of historical interpretation. The Acadians were descendants of the former colonists who inhabited an area in Nova Scotia from present-day New Brunswick to the eastern coast of Cape Breton. Due to their geological position, the Acadians developed a unique and independent culture. The dispersed population and weak military presence made Acadia challenging to control, but because it was a strategically positioned French colony with fertile lands and valuable resources, it was coveted by both France and Britain. The country had passed between the two countries until after the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713. France handed Acadia over in the Treaty of Utrecht. The

W-Hofsink 2 Acadians were then considered British subjects and thus required to sign an oath of allegiance to the British Crown, which they refused to do; however, a conditional oath was sworn based on neutrality. The Acadians felt that they had acquired a special status as neutral from Britain with their conditional oath; nevertheless, Britain regarded converting Acadians to Protestantism as a “political measure of the first importance.” 1 There were hopes that the Acadians would be turned “into good British subjects.” 2 Under the treaty of Utrecht, the Acadians were allowed religious freedom, but the English began offering monetary rewards to anyone who renounced Catholicism. When doubts arose over Acadian neutrality, the Acadians were again required to sign a complete oath of allegiance, which they once again refused to do. After years of threats of deportation, they were forced to leave Acadia. The deportations began on August 11 th, 1755 and continued until 1762. Many thousands of Acadians died during this time due to unsafe living conditions, and many suffered drowning in the storms of the Atlantic during their move. Life proved to be problematic in the harsh wilderness of their new home. The history of the Acadians was formed by many differing perspectives. It is, by nature, very extensive and complex. Historians have minimal diverse primary sources to work with from the time of the Deportations, as there was only a small minority of people who were able to pen their history. The accepted writings from the time of the Deportations are from Britain, whether that be by the catholic clergy or governors of the colonies, which presents a very one-sided view of history. During the 18 th century, there was a historical shift. Britain was moving away from traditional mercantilist ideologies to a new imperialistic ideology which heavily impacted which perspective was being recorded and shared. 1 Naomi Griffiths, The Acadian Deportation: Deliberate Perfidy or Cruel Necessity (Toronto : The Copp Clark Publishing Company , 1969), 42 2 Griffiths, The Acadian Deportation, 41.

W-Hofsink 3 Acadian history in itself remains largely unknown. Edouard Richard wrote Acadia: Missing links of a lost chapter in American History in 1895 as an Acadian writer, and he sought to eliminate misconceptions about Acadia. He felt strongly that the primary sources from the early Acadians either had not been uncovered, had been destroyed or lost. History can easily be obscured by historians; they use the sources that they can find but can so easily misinterpret them. Richard felt that the historical documents that presented Acadian history and the Deportations had been written from the same perspectives for over a century. He criticized Guillaume Raynal, a French author who had never even visited Acadia and wrote his own historical narrative after the Deportations. Raynal’s interpretation reflected only his own beliefs and ideologies and did not provide an accurate portrayal of the Acadians, their beliefs, or ideologies. Richard believed that Raynal’s ideas and perspectives had no merit except to provide historians with a “reflection of the ideas and sentiments that then were current in France.” 3 Though Raynal’s work is only one example of such biased interpretation, Richard believed that most Acadian history was “somewhat embellished by…imagination” 4 and written from a biased viewpoint, which does not provide historians today with reliable sources. As historiography advanced, more sources were uncovered that shed light on the unknown pieces of Acadian history. Richard acknowledged the efforts of historians who tried to provide informative historical narratives but did not have access to the documents that enriched the history of the Acadians. The primary sources left by writers of the 18 th and 19 th centuries offered little information outside of the Deportations and the events that led up to it, leaving historians to grapple with limited sources. 3 Edouard Richard, Acadia, Missing Links of a Lost Chapter in American History (United States: Home Book Company, 1895), 10. 4 Edouard Richard, Acadia, 10

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W-Hofsink 4 Naomi Griffiths offers another perspective on the Acadian deportation and its history; in her book, The Acadian Deportation: Deliberate Perfidy or Cruel Necessity, written in 1969, expands on Acadia, its entity and the people who lived in it. Through her study of Acadian history, she established that the early history of Acadia was very complicated. The maps that were used to chart out boundaries were often inaccurate, meaning that there was no clear picture of what exactly was granted to different individuals who possessed the territory of Acadia and Nova Scotia. She deduced from the lack of clear information that the history of Acadia was built on a “morass of unclear international agreements and imprecise government instructions,” 5 which meant that historians were left with endless questions about both facts and interpretation of the events that happened. She also asserted that, contrary to popular historical narrative, Acadians were not just French people; they did include, for the most part, French migrants, but also included settlers from Scotland, Ireland, England, and a number of Indigenous peoples. She expanded on which criteria should be used when forming a national identity and the journey of the Acadians to becoming a nationalistic independent collective. Griffiths explains that “the problems which divide historians multiply, and the events of the expulsion itself have been so diversely treated that one sometimes wonders whether the authors are writing about the same event” 6 A historian who would want to write a paper on the Acadian Deportations would have difficulty because of the lack of consistency in the writings that are available, even by other historians themselves. The lack of information makes presenting Acadian history a very difficult thing to do, because it is so complex and thus, easily obscured. Throughout the 19 th century, there was little written on the struggle of the Acadians. The Deportations had become a story that needed to be told. After hearing about it at a dinner party, it 5 Griffiths, The Acadian Deportation, 3 6 Griffiths, The Acadian Deportation, 3

W-Hofsink 5 came to the attention of American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He desired to have a narrative “based upon the legend of Acadie.” 7 He took this task upon himself and wrote an epic about a girl name Evangeline, who was separated from her lover, Gabriel. The pair had been newly married but were separated by the Deportations. The epic follows Evangeline’s lifelong journey and her resolve to find her husband. Evangeline was published in 1847, and its success was immediate; in one year, over 5000 copies were sold. Longfellow’s representation of the Deportations through the horrific tragedy of two lovers who were separated allowed those who had been affected by the deportation to have a voice and a sense of representation. Evangeline became an incredibly “powerful cultural tool” 8 as the Acadians struggled to reunite their dispersed communities and rediscover their identities. Longfellow did not foresee that his epic would become such a critical representation for not only the Acadians, but also a much wider audience throughout the Americas; his work gave the struggling Acadian minority a voice. The influence of Evangeline did not end after the 19 th century, rather, it became the “chosen embodiment of Acadian historical sentiment.” 9 Longfellow is one individual who changed the perspectives surrounding the Deportations. He faces both praise and heavy criticism due to the historical truth of his epic and the legitimacy of his sources. Certain historians believe that the Acadians “owed their continued existence to the poem” 10 and that before Longfellow’s epic, they were viewed as “the scum of the earth.” 11 In Evangeline , the Acadians were portrayed as “victims who endured other men’s 7 Naomi Griffiths, “Longfellow's ‘Evangeline’: The Birth and Acceptance of a Legend, ” Acadiensis 11, no. 2 (1982): pp. 28-41, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30302700, 28. 8 Griffiths, Longfellow’s Evangeline , 37 9 Griffiths, Longfellow’s Evangeline , 41 10 Griffiths, The Acadian Deportation, 5 11 Griffiths, The Acadian Deportation, 5

W-Hofsink 6 prejudice, hatred and greed,” 12 individuals who lived bountifully and were a strong collective. This is contrary to the life that many of these settlers actually lived. Longfellow portrayed Acadia as a beautiful location, “in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched / to the eastward / fields of flax, and orchards / and cornfields,” 13 yet this idyllic picture was far from the truth. Acadia had struggled to be established and the settlers were poor peasants, subject to a life of hard work. Settlers had to worry about the safety of themselves and their families due to the regional instability. The history of the Acadians is known by this poem, and despite it being enshrined in Acadian identity, it romanticized the struggle of the Acadians and wrongly depicted the Deportations. John Mack Faragher, an American historian, understands how misrepresented information can change how history is written and taught to future generations. After delving deep into the history of the Acadians, he claimed that many historians had defended the British for the “cruel necessity” 14 of the Acadian Deportations. He began his research of the Deportations from an exploration of the writings of a British officer. This officer claimed that the deportation was “a great and noble scheme…one of the greatest things that ever did the English in America.” 15 The officer’s viewpoint was not uncommon at the time. Many people had hostile attitudes and were convinced that the neutral Acadians were simply a threat to the safety of the British colonists and the imperialism of the regime. The Deportations were regarded as nothing more than a political action that was unfortunate for the Acadians but benefitted the efforts of 12 John Mack Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story Of The Expulsion Of The French Acadians From Their American Homeland (New York: W.W Norton & Company, 2005), 22. 13 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie” in Evangeline, ed. Mary Harriot Norris (Leach, Shewell, & Sanborn, 1896), 17 14 Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme, 2 15 Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme, 13

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W-Hofsink 7 British colonization. To Faragher, the Acadian history is tragic and deserves to be told because of “the underserved suffering…[and] the destruction of common hopes and dreams.” 16 The history of Acadia remains a source of debate and change. Over the past century, historians have not uncovered many additional primary sources. The historiography of Acadia is proof of the importance of increasing public understanding of events. Historians have different perspectives and create different landscapes of events that occur, and unless they are well- informed and educated on an event, critical details will be missed. Most people develop their perspective based on the “unfortunate people of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem,” 17 which offers little truth of the complexity of Acadia or how the events actually occurred. As historiography developed, historians have been able to gather different evidence aside from primary sources, from Evangeline to old journals of correspondence. By the middle of the 1900s, there were over 200 works printed about Acadians and the Deportations, consisting of poems, novels, operas and films as well as many scholarly works. A contemporary example of an interpretation was created by Ted Dykstra, a Canadian playwright. After being told about the poem by Longfellow, he set out on an over decade-long journey to put the story of Evangeline and Gabriel to music. It premiered at a festival in Charlottetown in 2013 and was revived for a rerun in 2015. Dykstra believes that at the time of the premiere of his musical, the story of Evangeline resonated with the Acadians and many other individuals. He hoped that his interpretation would extend to refugees and their experiences of rejection and creating a new life in a potentially hostile environment. Dykstra states that in the end, the heart of his musical is not just a retelling of a famous poem of two lovers but is also critical in influencing the audience, giving them an idea of “what it is to be home, to be home in your 16 Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme, 23-24 17 Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme, 22

W-Hofsink 8 heart.” 18 Though Dykstra’s inspiration was the poem of Longfellow, and there is controversy over the validity of the poem, it is a beautiful and compelling story that offers an introduction to the Acadian Deportations to a wide audience. Even though the history of Acadia is subject to conflicting opinions, the contemporary opinion of the Deportations is widely accepted. Individuals today typically view the Acadian Deportations as an act of cultural genocide. The United Nations defines genocide as committing an act with the “ intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” 19 The Deportations falls under almost all the criteria created by the UN. The descendants of the Acadians have risen from the diaspora and created a fierce identity and have fought for reconciliation from Britain for the cultural destruction that they were subject to. In response, Queen Elizabeth II signed a royal proclamation that acknowledged the atrocity of the Acadian deportation. The proclamation also set July 25 th as “a day of commemoration of the Great Upheaval.” 20 When historians look back, they can see both the micro-history, the small and everyday occurrences, and the macro-history, the big sweep of the events. As time passes, they develop a better understanding of the big picture, which is what many early historians lacked when researching the Acadian deportation. Yet, there is a need to be careful with how history is interpreted. An exact narrative of what happened in Acadia cannot be written but can be represented through a wider scope. Different sources shed light on different aspects of the diaspora of the Acadians. If an individual based a thesis on Longfellow’s Evangeline , there is 18 “In conversation with “Evangeline” creator Ted Dykstra.” Citadel Theatre. October 25,2015. Video, 0:02:11, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCPTKbBvJVw 19 “United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect,” United Nations (United Nations), accessed December 1, 2022, https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml. 20 “Britain Admits Responsibility for 1755 Expulsion,” Acadian Genealogy - Historical Acadian-Cajun Resources, September 17, 2018, https://www.acadian.org/history/britain-admits-responsibility-1755-expulsion/.

W-Hofsink 9 controversy over the validity of his source. Without carefully becoming well-informed on as many diverse perspectives as possible, it is easy to misrepresent and gloss over important facts. Increasing knowledge of history is critical to developing a better and wider worldview. History helps individuals understand how the world works and the evolution of different cultures, languages, ideas, and religions.

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W-Hofsink 10 Works Cited “Britain Admits Responsibility for 1755 Expulsion .” Acadian Genealogy - Historical Acadian- Cajun Resources, September 17, 2018. https://www.acadian.org/history/britain-admits- responsibility-1755-expulsion/. Faragher, John Mack. A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story Of The Expulsion Of The French Acadians From Their American Homeland . New York: W.W Norton & Company, 2005. Conrad, Margaret, Alvin Finkel, and Donald Fyson. History of the Canadian Peoples: Beginnings to 1867 . 1. 7th ed. Vol. 1. Toronto: Person Canada , 2020. Daigle, Jean. Acadia of the Maritimes: Thematic Studies from the Beginning to the Present . Moncton, N.B.: Centre d'études acadiennes, 1995. Griffiths, Naomi. The Acadian Deportation: Deliberate Perfidy or Cruel Necessity . Toronto: The Copp Clark Publishing Company, 1969. Griffiths, Naomi. The Contexts of Acadian History, 1686-1784 . Montreal: Published for the Centre for Canadian Studies, Mount Allison University by McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993. Griffiths , Naomi. “Longfellow's ‘Evangeline’: The Birth and Acceptance of a Legend.” Acadiensis 11, no. 2 (1982): 28–41. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30302700. Hawthorne, Manning, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana. “ The Origin of Longfellow’s ‘Evangeline.’” The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 41, no. 3 (1947): 165–203. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24298574 .

W-Hofsink 11 "In Conversation with "Evangeline" creator Ted Dykstra." Citadel Theatre. October 25, 2015. Video, 0:02:11, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCPTKbBvJVw . Lockerby, Earle. “ The Deportation of the Acadians from Ile St. -Jean , 1758.” Acadiensis 27, no. 2 (1998): 45–94. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30303223 . Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “ Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie .” Edited by Mary Harriot Norris. Leach, Shewell, & Sanborn, 1896. Richard, Edouard. Acadia, Missing Links of a Lost Chapter in American History . United States: Home Book Company, 1895. “United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect.” United Nations. United Nations. Accessed December 1, 2022. https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml

HIST 261 Historiography Essay (2)

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