Cameron Ormsby--Week Six--Outline

Outline:

I. Introduction

a. Small Pox in the 18^th Century: I want to provide some context for exactly how prevalent this disease was in different societies and the associated risks. I’ll be drawing bits and pieces from a couple of different secondary sources, like “Smallpox Inoculation in England and America: A Reappraisal” and “Dr. Thomas Dimsdale and Smallpox Inoculation in Russia”. I’ll probably throw in a few primary source quotes about smallpox from that time period for authenticity, but I’ll focus more on that when I sit down and start writing

b. Inoculation and How it Worked: I’ll cite Dr. Dimsdale’s texts on the subject, drawing primarily from Thoughts on General and Partial Inoculations, but I see this primarily as a straightforward explanation of what an inoculation is and how it differs from a vaccine.

c. Outline for Structure of Essay and Thesis

II. Small Pox Debate in Russia

a. Contextualize Catherine the Great and 18^th Century Russian Society: I’ll draw on Isabel de Madariaga’s Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great to talk about what Russian society looked like during this time period. I’ll want to use this source in part to explain the lack of small pox debate; low literacy rates, little in the way of print media, a relatively uniformed lower class of serfs. Maybe look at John LeDonne’s Absolutism and Ruling Class to set the stage for my argument that public health policy under an authoritarian government is a happier and more efficient public health policy

b. Inoculation as Aspect of Modernization: For secondary sources, I’ll probably be looking at some biographies of Catherine the Great, and the ways in which her desire to modernize Russia influenced her policies. These will include Catherine the Great: A Short History, also by Isabel de Madariaga, and Catherine the Great: Life and Legend by John Alexander. In terms of primary sources, I’ll look at Catherine’s correspondence with Voltaire, which will also let me contextualize the inoculation with Enlightenment thought, and specific letters from the British Ambassador to the Russian Court. My basic plan here is to explain why Catherine would prove to be as enthusiastic an advocate for smallpox inoculation as she would become. My argument is that it represented a step towards westernization and modernization, and smallpox had had a direct impact on her own life. (Husband’s disfigurement, deaths within the court)

III. Dimsdale’s Trips

a. Narrative: I see this paragraph as a straightforward story of Thomas Dimsdale and the trips he made to Russia. I’ll be looking at primary sources including his diary, the diary of his wife, more letters from the British Ambassador, and the texts that he published after his return to Britain, like Thoughts on General and Partial Inoculations.

IV. After-Effects

a. For this I’ll be relying pretty heavily on Philip Clendenning’s essay“Dr. Thomas Dimsdale and Smallpox Inoculation in Russia” to show how Catherine the Great evolved a more comprehensive support system for inoculations. Hopefully I can find some relevant passages from the Alexander and de Madariaga biographies as well. I want to set up the argument that Catherine’s public advocacy of the inoculation popularized it amongst the nobility (I’ll have some primary source documentation for this from Dimsdale’s diary and the letters by the British Ambassador) and led to concrete changes in public health policy.

V. Small Pox Debate in American Colonies

a. Contextualizing American Society: I want to give the reader an overview for what the American Colonies were like in the 1870s, and I’m still deciding on the secondary sources I’ll be referring to. I also want to illustrate the relatively greater importance of smallpox to the American cultural consciousness, and for that I’ll be looking at Genevieve Miller’s article, “Smallpox Inoculation in England and America: A Reappraisal.” Basically I want to set up American society as a counterpoint to Russian society. The American public is much more literate, politically invested, and keenly aware of the dangers of small pox.

b. Support for Inoculation by American Elite: I’ll be looking at “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Vaccines” as a secondary source, and personal correspondence for various primary sources. I’m arguing that the American upper class, like the Russian nobility, supported the small pox inoculation and did what they could to encourage its practice.

c. Inoculation Opposition: I see this paragraph as dealing more directly with the debate itself and referencing primary sources like John Williams’ Several Arguments proving, that inoculating the small pox is not contained in the law of physick, either natural or divine, and therefore unlawful, the legislation in various colonies banning the practice of inoculation, and Jonathan Trumbull’s Proclamation against Inoculation. I will argue that despite the American elite’s support for inoculation, there was no coherent public policy in support of it. I’ll refer back to the first paragraph in the smallpox debate section, and argue that the founding fathers had none of Catherine the Great’s influence over the political sphere, and that local governments were dominated by a citizen that was typically more religious and less educated in the benefits of inoculation than the Jeffersons and Franklins of the country.

VI. American Revolution and Inoculations

a. For my secondary source, I’ll be referring to Ann Becker’s“Small Pox in Washington’s Army,” which explains why the mandatory inoculation for the Continental Army became necessary. I think I’ll be following up on her footnotes for a lot of the primary source material here, basically just quotes by generals on the devastation of small pox, etc.

VII. After-Effects

a. In which I look at the legislation that repeals the small pox bans like Rhode Islands’ Act Permitting the Inoculation of Small Pox to be Permitted Within This Colony, and the American governments support of the small pox inoculation and later the vaccine. Maybe some primary source material post-American Revolution in support of the inoculation.

VIII. Conclusion