The Tax on Light and Air

In a Colonial Era house, windows were the main source of light. Candles used sparingly and fires were too hot in the summer.

On December 31^st 1695, a tax on windows was established by Parliament. This was a way for Parliament to create a tax, based proportionally on income without admitting it was an income tax.  The idea of an income tax during the 1700s was extremely controversial. The window tax was the source of many 18^th century grievances and was known widely as “the tax on light and air” and “the tax on the absence of property (as a window is a lack of brick.)”

By the 1750s, the window tax had been updated so that any house not considered a cottage was subject to a tax of 1 shilling for every window, plus a 3 shilling flat rate.  Houses with less than 7 windows only had to pay the 3 shilling tax. Unfortunately, this affected factories, multifamily homes, and inns disproportionally and many poorer families could not afford them.  

Many newer house styles at the time, reflected the window tax by excluding windows in their design and many people blocked up windows to avoid the tax.  Poorer families felt singled out as they could only afford to buy older houses which were in the older styles and thus had more windows and bigger taxes. Many families blocked up some of the windows in in their homes, usually at the back of the house, to avoid the extra taxes.  

Tired of taxes? During the 18^th century, British territories also had a hearth tax, poll tax, carriage tax, horse tax, farm horse tax, “inhabited house” tax, servants’ tax, clock and watch tax, cart tax and even a dog tax, among others.  

You can really see why their was so many grievances and why taxation without representation was such an injustice. The British subjects were expected to fund all projects that the King and Parliament deemed important regardless of what the laboring people, making the money, had to say. Believe it or not, American subjects were exempted from a lot of these taxes or paid them in a different manner (tax on glass instead of counted windows.) Americans were afraid that these taxes were slowly being forced upon them. 

 

Quakers and Slavery Conference with Historian Gary Nash

I was lucky to get to attend part of the Quakers and Slavery Conference being held at the University of Philadelphia this week and weekend. I got to listen to leading American Colonial Era historian, Gary Nash.

His lecture was about why the first abolitionists--the Quakers have been forgotten in American history textbooks and what can be done about it.

It was very fun, I wish I could have seen more of the conference but I had classes and homework. The topic is really interesting as some Quakers did own slaves, including William Penn. It's strange that so little is ever said about the 1700s-1860s Quaker views on slavery. William Penn did promote "humane treatment" of slaves including the right for slaves to marry and the right to an education. 

It is especially interesting to me because historically Pennsylvania has had a large number of Quakers and had always been considered one of the safer places for escaped and freed slaves to go to. Some people don't even realize that there were slave owners in Pennsylvania or that there were different kinds of slavery. Not all slaves lived on plantations; in urban settings, many slaves did the work of house servants and most slave owners only owned one or two slaves.

Henry Brown, a slave from Virginia, mailed himself to abolitionists in Pennsylvania in 1849. His journey was 27 hours and included transportation by wagon, steamboat, and train until he arrived in Philadelphia. Henry Brown published his story, alerting authorities, to the dismay of many abolitionists who were planning on mailing other slaves to freedom.

     

 

Schoolwork! The Invention of Air

It's that time of the school year where I have to devote myself solely to homework. :( I have book reports, essays, and tests (Oh, my!)

I am currently working on my book report for history class on the book "The Invention of Air." It is an interesting book on how revolutionary ideas are formed using the 18th century scientific experiments of Joseph Priestley to illustrate how great ideas are not thought up overnight.  Joseph Priestley was an amateur scientist who ended up making discoveries that ended up being pretty important, such as inventing carbonated drinks and discovering oxygen. 

It's a good social history book, it uses a good bit of primary documents but doesn't cite much of the historical facts at all (which many readers don't mind,) but I do. Many of the facts are verifiable, but I really like to see sources in books. Steven Johnson also left out or downplayed the works of other contemporary scientists who were performing similar experiments and 'discovering' the same things.

From a history perspective, the book is interesting but must be taken with a grain of salt. If you are interested in how great ideas are formed and created, it is a good read.

Some lessons that can be learned from the book about great ideas:

• Great ideas are sparked by networking with other people who focus on other disciplines.
• Great ideas are formed over many years. 
• All ideas should be written down. Even mediocre ideas can inspire or help build great ideas.
• Good ideas come from curiosity.

I really should be getting back to my schoolwork. Unfortunately. I can't wait for school to end. I have a 10- 14 page research paper for next week. I can't wait until I can relax ( and by relax I mean do research for myself and read books that I actually want to read and write what I want to write.)

Colonial Shortbread from 1791

I finally made the 100% authentic shortbread that I wrote about in this post. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, it had a lot of strange ingredients that aren't used in modern shortbread such as orange peel, caraway, almonds and the froth from beer.

I ended up using about a cup of beer froth and I thought it was a good adjustment. The shortbread had a very old, English taste to it. It was a pretty good mixture of flavors and overall tasted pretty yummy. It wasn't as sugary as the shortbread of today.

We don't use caraway much anymore besides for bread. It was interesting to taste it in a desert food. If you don't have the chance to bake it over a fire, it will turn out exactly the same in a normal oven.

 Cooking in tin has it's advantages over modern nonstick pans; you can cut straight in the pan without worrying about nicking the nonstick coating. Shortbread has enough butter that it won't stick at all.

I hope some of you get a chance to try this sometime. We ate it as a part of an authentic colonial meal that Jodi from Curious Acorn prepared. There was ham, pumpkin and apple pudding (with heirloom pumpkin which was more like a squash,) Indian slapjack (cornmeal pancakes) with quince jam and apple cider. Everything was delicious.

Salem Witches: Cotton Mather on How to Identify a Witch

In 1692 and 1693, witches were considered to be a very real and scary danger in the Puritan colony of Massachusetts. It was thought that witches were the cause of many sicknesses, ills and misfortunes in a time when many illnesses were misunderstood.

Fear of witches, witchcraft and being possessed by demons was very real and eventually created mass hysteria in Massachusetts towns like Salem.   

Witches in the 1600s were scarier than "pointy hat witches" are depicted today; witches typically looked normal--so it was hard to know who was a witch which led to people mistrusting their friends and neighbors. Anyone slightly abnormal, including foreigners was a candidate for witchcraft. During the Salem Witch Trials, devout Christians of high social standings were being accused of being possessed by demons which was unprecedented.

Prior to the trials it was believed that the demons could not possess those who were devoted to Christianity. This lead to a belief that the devil was getting more powerful and that no one was safe.There was a general belief that witches flew, naked on broomsticks to "witches' assemblies" or "Devil Sabbats" which were held deep in the forest and many people at the time thought they saw their neighbors flying away to them. 

Cotton Mather was a reverend and trusted writer on witchcraft and it is thought that his sermons and writings on witches helped ignite the witch hysteria during the late 1600s. Although after the trials he claimed that people could not be convicted of "spectral evidence" alone, many people were convicted one solely the claims of others.   

Cotton Mather Approved These Ways of Identifying Witches:

• "If the Party suspected be found to have the Devil's mark ; for it is commonly thought, when the Devil makes his Covenant with them, he alwaies leaves his mark behind them, whereby he knows them for his own:—a mark whereof no evident Reason in Nature can be given." 
• Birthmarks, moles, and other skin abnormalities were considered proof of a witch. A confession and a mole were sufficient evidence to condemn a person to death. People believed that these unexplainable marks were made when the devil touched his followers in order to be able to recognize them. These marks were sometimes referred to as "witches’ teats" and it was thought that witches fed evil creatures with them. (How many people have a skin abnormality?)   
• "If it can be proved, that the party hath entertained a Familiar Spirit, and had Conference with it, in the likeness of some visible Creatures ; here is Evidence of witchcraft."

• Some black cats, toads, humanoid figures, spirits, certain dogs were thought to be "familiar friends" of witches. These familiars were thought to help witches carry out their curses and spell casting. Some people even thought that witches could even turn into a cat 9 times during their lifetime, creating the folklore that "cats have 9 lives." Witches were expected to feed their familiars, this could be done through their "devil's mark," or not. (How many people feed stray cats?)  
• “By the Witches Words As when they have been heard calling on speaking to or Talking of their Familiars or when they have been heard Telling of Hurt they have done to man or beast Or when they have been heard Threatning of such Hurt Or if they have been heard Relating their Transportations.”
• (How many people talk to their animals?)
• “By the Witches Deeds. As when they have been seen with their Spirits, or seen secretly Feeding any of their Imps. Or, when there can be found their Pictures, Poppets, and other Hellish Compositions.”
• (How many people own a scary doll?)
• “By one or more Fellow- Witches, Confessing their own Witchcraft, and bearing Witness against others; if they can make good the Truth of their Witness, and give sufficient proof of it.”
• Sufficient proof could be as simple as having a respected church member claim that they had seen the witch in question do something witch-like. (How many people have angered another human being enough that they would pretend that you are evil?)
• “By the Witches own Confession, of Giving their Souls to ' the Devil. It is no Rare thing, for Witches to Confess.”
• It was thought that the devil walked the forests with a book where he would collect the names of people who would sign their souls over to him. Many people did confess to being witches. It is thought that many people admitted to being witches in a hope to end their ordeal.

Cotton Mather, Wonders of the Invisible World (London: John Russell Smith, 1862), 30-32.

So how many of you would have been Puritan Witch Candidates? It seems silly now but when you read the writings during the time about witches, you can truly sense the fear that there was. I honestly admit that it scares me to read the Wonders of the Invisible World at night. :D  There are passages that allude that those who killed all of those "witches" did their duty and if they had been witches themselves they would expect their neighbors to kill them for the sake of their colony. Hysteria is fascinating as is how powerful fear can be.

I always wonder about the Puritan naming system, I thought "Cotton" was a strange name but then his father was named "Increase,"and  a 5 year old "witch" was named "Dorcas Good,"  (she claimed that a little snake would suckle blood from her finger."