Disabled Revolutionary War Veterans and the Construction of Disability in the Early United States, c. 1776-1840

This thesis addresses the following broad research question: what did it mean to be a disabled Revolutionary War veteran in the early United States during the period from 1776 to roughly 1840? The study approaches the question from two angles: a state-centred one and an experiential one. In both cases, the theoretical framework employed comes from disability studies. Consequently, disability is regarded as a sociocultural phenomenon rather than a medical condition. The state-centred dimension of the study explores the meaning of disability and disabled veterans to the early American state through an examination of the major military pension laws of the period. An analysis of this legislation, particularly the invalid pension acts of 1793 and 1806, indicates that the early United States represents a key period in the development of the modern disability category. The experiential approach, in contrast, shifts the focus of attention away from the state towards the lived experiences of disabled veterans. It seeks to address the issue of whether or not the disabilities of disabled veterans had any significant material impact on their everyday lives. It does this through a comparison of the situation of 153 disabled veterans with that of an equivalent number of nondisabled veterans. The former group received invalid pensions while the latter did not. In comparing the material conditions of disabled and nondisabled veterans, a wide range of primary sources from military records to memoirs and letters are used. The most important sources in this regard are the pension application papers submitted by veterans in the early nineteenth century. These provide us with a unique insight into the everyday lives of veterans. Looking at the issue of experience through the window of the pension files reveals that there was not much difference in the broad contours of disabled and nondisabled veteran life. This finding has implications for the theorisation of disability that are highlighted and discussed in the thesis. The main themes covered in this study are: the wartime experiences of injured American soldiers, the military pension establishment of the early United States and the legal construction of disability, and the post-war working and family lives of disabled veterans. Keywords: disability, early America, veterans, military pensions, disabled people, Revolutionary War, United States, disability theory.

Wedding portrait of Adolf Wolff and Eva Nathan with guests; Berlin, Germany.

Back row against wall, left to right: Josef Molling, Margaret Molling nee Benjamin, Werner Wolff, Miss Hermann (called "Ferna", Peter Molling's governess), " Selma" (partially hidden, Anna Marianne/Berthold Nathan's cook), "Lisbeth" (Anna Marianne/Berthold's maid), Ilse Joachim, Ernst Joachim, Annemarie Nathan (3rd wife of Julius Nathan), Julius Nathan (brother of Berthold Nathan), Ernst Kallmes (son of Ceilchen nee Wolff, Helene's sister). Very tall against the wall: Max Benjamin (son of Helene). Third row, left to right: Mathilde Kaufmann nee Benjamin, Adolf Molling, Paul Nathan (son of Anna Marianne/Berthold), Marianne Rasmussen (daughter of Waldemar), Hildegard Weinberger (friend of bride), Herta Albrecht (friend of bride), Dr. Franz Gruenberg (friend of groom), Leonie Wolff nee Simon (wife of Werner Wolff), Lina Molling nee Marx (wife of Richard), Waldemar Benjamin-Rasmussen (son of Helene/David), Luzi's Husband, Minka Bernard nee Nathan (sister of Berthold Nathan), Richard Molling (brother of Claerchen), Albert Wolff (brothter of Moritz Wolff). Second row, seated, left to right: Helene Benjamin nee Wolff, Berthold Nathan, Anna Marianne Nathan nee Benjamin, bride Eva Wolff nee Nathan, groom Adolf Wolff, Claerchen Wolff nee Molling, Moritz Wolff, standing Luzi Rasmussen nee Gruen (wife of Waldemar). Front row, children on floor, left to right: Peter Molling, Elizabeth Benjamin-Rasmussen mar. Engel, Louis Peter Wolff, Helmut Benjamin Rasmussen (became Henry)

Reproduction of World War I portrait of Dr. Nathan Wolf of the 2nd Company of the 1st Landsturm Infantry Regiment Portraits Men

Dr. Nathan Wolf's medals: (bottom left) silver Wound Badge; Iron Cross 2nd Class; Iron Cross 1st Class; Zaehringer Loewe (Baden); (on right) Medal of the Turkish Crescent

Israel, Nathan Portraits Men

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Reproduction of World War I portrait of Dr. Nathan Wolf of the 2nd Company of the 1st Landsturm Infantry Regiment Portraits Men

Dr. Nathan Wolf's medals: (bottom left) silver Wound Badge; Iron Cross 2nd Class; Iron Cross 1st Class; Zaehringer Loewe (Baden); (on right) Medal of the Turkish Crescent

Obstetrician Dr. Nathan Wolf.

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Reproduction of oil painting portrait of Judith Danziger nee Nathan Portraits Women

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Congregation Shearith Israel (New York, N.Y.) records, undated, 1755-1996.

Contains published and manuscript material relating to the activities and administration of the congregation and its subsidiary organizations including reports and weekly bulletins, early financial records and lists of those honored at religious services, copies of resolutions and forms of service and prayers for various occasions in manuscript form. Contains also material relating to the cemetery photographs, the Hebra Hased Va-Amet (the congregational burial society) and to later clergy in the congregation, Henry Pereira Mendes, David de Sola Pool and Louis Coleman Gerstein including published copies of their sermons.

Aaron Lopez papers, undated, 1752-1794, 1846, 1852, 1953.

Contains approximately 6800 manuscripts arranged chronologically by year for years 1752-1794. Approximately 100 are letters received or written by Lopez, his partner and father-in-law, Jacob Rodriguez Rivera, members of his family and company, and commercial agents pertaining to business activities and sailing orders for the captains of various ships. Several also refer to personal matters and acquaintances, including a series of six letters from Silas Cooke of White Hall (Middletown), R.I., to Aaron Lopez, asking his aid in returning a run-away slave (1776). The great majority of the collection consists of account records, bills of sale, orders, shipping agreements, lists of sailors on the various ships, repair records and cargo invoices. Of particular interest are a receipt for payment of a half-year's subscription to the "tzedakah" of Congregation Nefutzei Israel, Newport (1755) and several documents that reveal Lopez as a supplier of kosher meat and other religious articles to people in various parts of the colonies, Surinam, and Jamaica. Also included in this group are copies of sailing lists, documents pertaining to Lopez's naturalization which shed light upon the status of a Jew applying for citizenship in Massachusetts and a check to Lopez from the United States government for a loan made during the Revolutionary War (1779).