Abstract
Nineteenth-century American trade union and nativist rhetoric was rife with allusions to nationalist and patriotic sentiments, and symbols of the Republic were prominently displayed whenever these groups congregated. American trade union heraldry also incorporated these motifs, explicitly linking democratic imagery with group identity. The concepts of identity and ideology bound up with patriotic symbols are contentious by nature, however. Trade unions defined their own republican and patriotic ideals while nativists deployed the same symbols within a very different ideological framework, yet both groups laid claim to a patriotic identity. The process of defining and negotiating the nature of patriotism and American national identity is explored through a hermeneutic approach, using tobacco pipes recovered from New York City’s Five Points/Courthouse site. This study addresses the extent to which the rhetoric and ideology of these groups penetrated the daily lives of individuals, many of whom are otherwise absent from the historical record.
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Reckner, P.E. Negotiating patriotism at the five points: Clay tobacco pipes and patriotic imagery among trade unionists and nativists in a nineteenth-century New York Neighborhood. Hist Arch 35, 103–114 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374396
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374396