History professor at CMU and author of "The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution" Vaccination is patriotic.
New book project(!) tentatively titled: Afterlife and Liberty: New York City’s Doctors’ Riot of 1788
Andrew Wehrman
Loading...
I’m saddened to hear the news of the great historian Gordon Wood. I got into grad school in part based on bashing his “Radicalism” in my cover letter, but I was fortunate enough to have dinner with him a couple of times and he was lovely and supportive of my scholarship. Truly a loss of a giant.
Also please stop making my research timely and relevant!
“But she’s just asking for home quarantine rather than the public hospital!” In 1768 in Norfolk, Virginia, wealthy Virginians who inoculated at home in violation of local smallpox ordinances were marched by an angry mob to the public hospital where they quarantined under public watch.
You’re probably asking in this 250th anniversary of 1776: “how did Americans in the Revolutionary era handle people who tried to leave quarantine early?” Well, in 1774, sailors in Mass. threatened to kill patients who broke quarantine rules and later burned the hospital that allowed early exits.
My wife has been painting bricks for our garden to look like classic books. Here are a couple of favorites:
Someone is upset that he’s not coming on our upcoming trip…
www.nytimes.com
Celebrate #America250 the way that Abigail Adams celebrated July 4, 1776: participate in a public-health campaign against infectious diseases.
I’m happy to have had my research featured in this piece for @wgbh.org! It’s a short version of the arguments I made in my book, namely that revolutionary Americans understood their government had a duty to protect them from epidemic disease.
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
Yes! Like building hospitals and inoculating the public for one.
“It’s difficult to apply history to modern day; most scenarios are deeply nuanced, with too many extraneous factors to allow for a fair equivalence. Even so, Boston’s early public health system relied on an essential ingredient lacking today: trust.”
As smallpox spread, colonists equated public health with self-governance, demanding that local officials track outbreaks and protect the public from contagion.
I’m happy to have had my research featured in this piece for @wgbh.org! It’s a short version of the arguments I made in my book, namely that revolutionary Americans understood their government had a duty to protect them from epidemic disease.
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
As smallpox spread, colonists equated public health with self-governance, demanding that local officials track outbreaks and protect the public from contagion.
