How Botany Was Weaponized in the 19th Century For Imperial Expansion of Plantations, And How Humble Gardeners Pushed Back

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 19th century America, no science was more important than botany. Understanding plants meant more productive plantations, more wealth extracted from cash crops, and more money flowing into the United States. The science of botany became weaponized, fueling ideas of Manifest Destiny and other programs of political expansion was used for political ends. But other authors and thinkers believed that nature could teach humanity different lessons. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s struggles in his garden inspired him to write stories in which plants defy human efforts to impose order. Radical scientific ideas about plant intelligence and sociality prompted Emily Dickinson to imagine a human polity that embraces kinship with the natural world. Frederick Douglass cautioned that the most prominent political context for plants remained plantation slavery. Today’s guest is Mary Kuhn, author of “The Garden Politic: Global Plants and Botanical Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century America.” We explore how politicians of the 19th century used agriculture as a vehicle for power politics, but the same branch of science contained the seeds of alternative political visions.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's got to hear with another episode of the History Unplugged Podcast.
0:08.0	The main driver for colonization of the New World was agriculture.
0:11.7	Colonies and settlements were built around cash crops like sugar cane, tobacco and cotton,
0:15.9	and later on immigrants came to the New World to farm open plots of lands, which was
0:19.7	impossible to do independently in the old world since almost everything was already claimed.
0:24.0	Agriculture was so important that political leaders and intellectuals built their ideas
0:28.2	of political power around agriculture. Lots of 18th century botanists used their knowledge
0:33.0	to help build up plantation economies and slavery.
0:35.9	But later romantic authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Emily Dickinson imagined a reciprocal
0:40.7	relationship between humanity and nature, an abolitionist like Frederick Douglass promoted gardening
0:45.2	as a way to push back against buffetizing botanical science for plantations only and democratize
0:51.2	cultivation in the form of private gardens. Today's guest is Mary Kuhn, author of the Garden
0:56.0	Politics, Global Plants and Botanical Nationalism in 19th century America. We see how almost any
1:01.1	branch of science can be weaponized for the purposes of power. In the 19th century, this was primarily
1:06.1	built around botanist. Almost everybody has something to say about agriculture at this time,
1:10.3	and the founding fathers for radical abolitionists. The important point is that when they're
1:14.1	talking about botanist, they're not really talking about botanist. This is a multi-layer discussion
1:18.5	about how nature can be weaponized from political ends. I hope you enjoyed this discussion with Mary Kuhn.
1:25.9	And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for words from our
1:29.3	sponsors. They were some of the most powerful men who've ever lived. They waged war,
1:34.5	forged peace, and altered the fates of billions of people, and yet they were just as human,
1:39.2	just as flawed as you and me. They were the presidents of the United States, and they are the
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