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Archiver > Melungeon > 2002-04 > 1017803114


From: "Dennis Maggard" <>
Subject: Re: [Melungeon] Re: Pa Dutch vs Pa German
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 22:05:14 -0500
References: <008401c1da37$27d34c20$14eee33f@laptop> <004901c1da82$aecc1ae0$5fb6a9d0@hppav>


From: "JECrain" <>


> http://www.cswnet.com/~brenfroe/right.htm
>
> "Why should the Palatine boors be suffered to swarm into our settlement,
> and, by herding together, establish their language and manners, to the
> exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become
a
> colony of aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us,
> instead of our Anglicifying them, and will never adopt our language or
> customs any more than they can acquire our complexion?"
>
> ~Benjamin Franklin 1751~

I think the fascinating thing about this is that Franklin speaks of the
Germans as though they were another race, which to his way of thinking I
believe they were. It goes to show you how artificial and arbitrary
society's ideas about race have actually been and that they have evolved
over time.

As to the Pennsylvania Dutch question, I believe the answer is all of the
above. I believe they were indeed called Dutch because people misunderstood
them when they said they were Deutsch but at later times some of them may
well have found it expedient to hide behind the belief that they were Dutch,
not German.


Dennis Maggard

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