SPORT IN ENGLAND: A TaLE OF Two CULTURES

To understand the development of sport in Colonial America, it is helpful

to begin with the role of sport in England during the same period. Sport in

England was influenced significantly by the Reformation, especially John

Calvin's brand of religion. During the 1550s, hundreds of English con-

verts fled from the harsh Catholic reaction to Protestantism under Queen

Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary" who ruled from 1554 to 1557). Even as 300

of their brethren were being executed, they studied Calvin's theology in

Geneva, eventually returning to England. This story epitomizes the conflict

in England during the 1500s: The monarchy, along with the common people

and the Catholics, were allied against the Puritans and Parliament. These alli-

ances were about the changing nature of the Western world. The monarchy,

Catholics, and common people of England favored a lifestyle that was pri-

marily agrarian, was cyclical with regard to time, was patriarchal and ascrip-

Bve in terms of tamily and position, and generally represented the way that

Earopeans had lived for centuries. In contrast, the reformers represented the

world that was to come; they supported a meritocracy, were bourgeois or

business oriented, viewed time in a linear fashion, and sought to change the

nature of English culture.

These differences manifested themselves in business, religion, politics.

and, for our purposes, sport. The most significant religious group in England

was the Puritans, who sought to make God's kingdom come alive on earth.

Puritans wanted to use God's time in the most efficient manner possible. Idle-

ness was the most serious of sins, for wasting the gift of time was a sin for
which one could never atone. Once time was gone, it could never be brought

back and used more efficiently.

We can see how this type of thinking fits with a newly industrialized soci-

ety. While sixteenth-century England was not "technological" in the sense with

which we are familiar today, the advent of water and steam power in the lives of the English
revolutionized the manner in which

product were refined and brought to market. This

new tec hnology could be used twenty-four hours a

day, anc to fail to use this time was both unprofit-

able and a sin against God. It is easy to see how

industry and religion combined to create a culture

that was urban and technoiogical rather than rural

and agrarian, and that the new ways of life were

radically different from the old and required dif-

ferent ways of looking at the world.

Sport in England was similar to that in other

parts of Europe. Football was a popular game,

yet city administrators had tried to put an end to

the gam e even before the Puritans came along.

Football was a violent affair, usually taking place

after church on Sunday and accompanied by

drinking and many bumps, bruises, and broken

ones. Drunken boys and men chased one another

through the fields, towns, and villages, all in pur-

suit of an inflated pig bladder, in a contest that

was more like "king of the hill" than any modern

game. Ir the process, windows were broken, fur-

niture sashed, and bodies incapacitated through

drink or injury

Inthe cities, especially, football was considered

a di ruptive game best prohibited.. .. Urban

foothallers not only interfered with commerce

but also destroyed property. In 1608 the

tow council of Manchester complained that

'a company of lewd and disordered persons

annually broke 'many men's windows and

glass at their pleasures.

No doubi the participants had a lot of fun, but the

next ciay they were probably not fit to work, to say

the le ast

While town fathers tried to put an end to the

game beause of the civic disorder it created, the

Puritans hated the game because of the drinking,

the waste d time, and general disrespect players and

spectators seemed to have for the "Lord's Day,"

the Sabbath." Any playful activity that removed

the chose n few from "Godliness" was considered

wicked, especially if it occurred on Sunday. Foot-

ball, and most other recreational activities, were

wicked because they did just this. Playful activities were considered wicked for

a variety of reasons. The keeping of the Sabbath,

or "Sabbatarianism," reflected Puritan ideals about

work and rest. Sunday was the Lord's day, a day of

rest, and was not to be used for selfish and sinful

indulgence in physical pleasure. Other games and

recreations were sinful as well: stoolball, quoits,

bowling, and dancing; boxing and wrestling; run

ning. jumping, and throwing contests; and blood

sports such as cockfighting and bear- and bullbait.

ing. All of these games had in common the seek:

ing of physical pleasure (an association with the

paganism" of Catholicism) and gambling.

Gambling was associated with winning money

without toil and wasting money earned-both

viewed as sinful activities. Gambling also was

associated with taking delight in carnal pleasures,

and the association with drinking, gambling, and

sex made traditional pastimes off limits to English

men. "In the Puritan equation, the active pursuit of

pleasure meant a first step down the path of immo

rality, away from the portals of heaven." In sum,

there were many arguments against the old ways

of play and recreation, all of which facilitated prof-

itability and religiosity in the new industrial world

as well as mitigated against idling away one's time

seeking physical pleasure.

This conflict in cultures came to a head in

1618 when King James was petitioned to support

the "common folk" and their traditional dancing

and playing after church on Sundays. James issued

a royal Declaration on Lawful Sports, ordering that

"after the end of divine service our good people be

not disturbed.. . or discouraged from any lawful

recreation such as dancing, either men or women,

archery for men, leaping, vaulting or any other

such harmless recreation."h James ordered that his

Declaration be read from the pulpits in churches

all over England, and those who refused were

punished. However, this did not stop the Puritans

from pressing their views on play, and after James

died in 1625, his son Charles had to deal with the

same issue. In 1633, Charles had the Declaration

expanded and reissued, which led to still more

discord between the monarchy and the Puritans.

Eventually, the Puritans rose in violent rebellion,

initiating the English civil war, which led io the

Puritans executing Charles and taking control of

Parliament and the country.

The Puritans were not entirely successful,

even though they won the war. Traditional pas-

times remained popular, and maypole, dances,

football games, drinking, and other activities con-

tinued, although they were significantly curtailed.

n 1660, the monarchy was restored, which allowed

for some of the traditional games to be held again.

However, the Puritan Sabbath was exported to

America, where Puritans sought to create the per-

fect society in a land untainted by the paganism of

old Europe.

SPORT IN NEW ENGLAND:

THE PURITANS

New England Puritans were strongly influenced

by the Puritan movement in seventeenth-century

tngland and for the most part did not encour-

age playtul activities. The initial generation

Puritans in Massachusetts tried "to establish a

society dedicated to the preservation of the visible

church and bound by a philosophy which clearly

defined man's role and niche in the world." This

philosophy valued hierarchy, inequality, mutabil-

ty, variety, and order." The New England Purilans

believed that all men, as descendants of Adam,

were corrupted by Original Sin. This meant that

all human beings were born "lawed" in the eyes

of God, and so it was necessary to build a com-

munity that could restrain the evil impulses of the

sinner. As Perry Miller noted,

Without a coercive state to restrin evil0

impulses and administer punishments, no life

will be safe, no property secure, no honor

observed. Therefore, upon Adam s apostasy,

God Himself instituted governments among

men.. . He enacted that all men should be

under some sort of corporate rule, that they

should all submit to the sway of their superiors,

that no man should live apart from his fellows,

that the government should have full power to enforce obedience and to inflict every

punishment that the crimes of men deserved"

New England Puritans, like their Eng ish ances

tors, were extremely concerned with the religious

life, and their interpretation of what was the good

religious life determined how they should behave

on this earth. Seen this way, Puritanis m in New

England was a throwback to the Middle Ages and

the Reformation, during which eras the way one

lived life on this earth played a role in whether

one's eternal soul went to heaven.

With this idea in mind, the Puritans sought

to develop governments that would fulfill God's

will here on earth. Governnent to the Puritans

was quite a bit different from that which we éxpe-

rience today. Indeed, government to the Puritans

was an active vehicle to promote the good reli-

gious life:

The state to them was an active instrument of

leadership, discipline, and wherever necessury.

of coercion; it legislated over any or all aspects

of human behavior. .. . The commande s were

not to trim their policies by the desires of

the people, but to drive ahead upon the

predetermined course; the people were all to

turn out as they were ordered... there was

no idea of the equality of all men. There

was no questioning that men who wold noi

serve the purposes of the society sheuld be

whipped into line. The objectives were clear

and unmistakable; any one's disinclin: tion to

dedicate himself to them was obviously so

much recalcitrancy and depravity.

Salvation could be had only throug h the con-

trol of both one's emotions and behaviors. so the

Puritans debated extensively just what the proper

emotions and behaviors for the saved soul were.

The Puritans were God-fearing people who left

their legacy in the form of the Protestant vork ethic.

which personified the principals of lard work.

sobriety, and piety. Although men and women were

believed to possess a natural desire for play and

recreational activities, the Puritans also believed

that play and games could be the "workshop of

the devil. The Puritans were very utilitarian: and the climate in New England required that if people

were to survive the harsh winters and short grow-

1ng seasns, then an enormous amount of hard

physical vork had to be completed. This cfficient

use of ti ne left little time for amusements, but it

was enor nously profitable and undoubtedly led to

the succeSS of the early Puritan colonists. Had it

not been or their thrifty and hardworking attitude.

it is argu ible that they would never have survived

the harsh New England winters. Consequently, the

environn ent of New England playcd an important

role in onfirming the Puritan lifestyle of hard

work. thriftiness, and efficient use of time.

Any available free time was, according to

eading Furitans, supposed to be spent in church or

n appropriate recreational activity. The Puritans

adhered o a classical religious dualism that sepa-

ated soil and body. Puritan dogma argued that

pirilual nourishment was provided for the soul

while the body was made for work and prayer, and

not play The early Puritan mentality with respect

to work and play can be illustrated by the Puritan

saying "ldle hands are the devil's playground."

The Puritans recognized, however, that an

absolute ban on recreation was impossible, and two

extremes in Puritan attitudes eventually evolved.

The firs extreme was that sport in the right form

was beneficial if pursued in the appropriate man-

ner and helpful in maintaining civic order. John

Downane, a New England minister, argued that

moderate recreation might even be necessary to

keep in dividuals refreshed in order to work and

pray Smilarly, John Winthrop, the first gover

nor of the Massachusetts Bay Company, found

that ab tention from recreation created disorder

in his lfe. Moderate activities were necessary to

refresh both the body and the overworked mind. In

so doing, order was maintained by achieving the

balance between mind and body that was ordained

by God Recreations such as fishing, hunting, and

walking became acceptable because it was believed

that they improved health and renewed spirits so

that pe ple could return to work refreshed.

The other extreme was negative and repre

sented the response of the New England magis-

trates, The magistrates wrote laws that ensured both the sanctity of the Sabbath and the promo
tion of the public good, demonstrating the inte

grated nature of New England government and the

Puritan church. In 1630, a man named John Baker

Wis ordered to be whipped for bird hunting on the

Sabbath, What concerned the magistrates wa

Baker's failure to keep the Sabbath, and not his

bird hunting.

Stil, the primary means of recreation

seventeenth-century New England was sponing.

nd as a consequence, it was sporting recreation tha

frequently was condemned. By 1635, all persons

absent from church meetings faced fines or impris

onment. Activities that detracted from the economic

Stuccess of the colony were also condemned, and

sport was one means by which colonists could shirk

their obligations. But it was not the only one. Inns

nd taverns were felt to disrupt the orderly arrange

ment of society, and in 1647, the General Coun

outlawed shovelboard and, soon after, bowling and

ganing in general. But it was not the games as much

as it was the drinking, gambling, and wasteful use

of lime associated with the games that threatened

the magistrates sense of social order. As one his.

torian notes, "The delay in banning these games, as

well as the emphasis On unprofitability and drunk

enness, suggest that the magistrates did not intend

to denounce the nature of the game, but rather to

att:ck overspending and incbriation.""

The influence of Puritanism reached its peak

during the mid-1600s, yet even at this time, many

colonists ignored the sermons that argued against

play and games. Only one in four colonists in

New England was a church member, and once the

colonists were firmly established, the urgency of

the Puritan message was lost."" The exceptions to

this rule were the "Great Awakening," a period in

which Puritan ideas enjoyed a powerful resurgence

in the middle of the eighteenth century; the pockets

of Purilanism that lasted well into the nineteenth

Century: and the admonishments against playrul

activities on Sunday, which persist even today in

the form of various Blue Laws.

l1 an individual who lived in Massachusetis or

Pennsyl vania wanted to leave the Quaker or Puri

tan sphere of influence for a mug of ale or other forms of etertainment, he did not have to travel

far. Two days or less on horseback heading away

from Boston or Philadelphia would put the traveler

in an area where taverns and inns were beyond the

reach of most religious authorities. It was in the

taverns that the playful amusements of the colonial

period were held.

AMUSEMENTS IN NEW ENGLAND

The taverns and inns that the magistrates tried to

manage were the American version of English

pubs, German beer halls, and European inns. Peo-

ple needed a place to stay when traveling, and they

also gathered at taverns and inns for amusements,

conversation, drink, and friendly competition.

Taverns were built about a day's ride by horse-

back from each other, extending from Canada to

Georgia. Frontier taverns provided amusements

and lodging for the weary traveler and sports fan

alike.

It was not unusual for tavern keepers to

arrange contests and promote them by offering

prizes, charging fees, and selling food and drink.

Darts and cards were popular games, and marks-

manship, boxing, cockfighting, and horse racing

were among the most popular contests. n shoot-

ing contests, a nail was partially driven into a tree,

lence, or post, and each contestant attempted to

finish driving the nail by shooting at it with his

rifle from a preset distance. Turkey shoots were

also popular. In this contest, the unsuspecting tur-

key was tied behind a tree stump so that only its

head would pop up. The victor was the marksman

who could Iliterally blow the turkey's head off at a

distance of 80 yards or more.

Puritan influence in New England gradually

eroded with the wave of non-Puritan immigrants

who settled in New England. In addition, third-

and fourth-generation Puritans began to question

the practices of the church. However, rampant rec

reation did not spring up overnight. The Puritans

remained politically powerful in New England, but

Over time, amusements such as hopscotch, borse

TaCing, ice skating, and sleigh riding became more

socially acceptable.

SPORT IN THE MID-ATLANTIC

REGION

The Quakers of Pennsylvania influenced sport in

much the same way as the Puritans cid in New

England. Dutch Calvinists in the New York area,

in contrast to the Quakers and the Purtans, were

somewhat more friendly toward playful activities.

Dutch immigrants "smoked their pipes. played

at bowls, and skated on the wintry ice " Eating.

drinking, and gambling were common activities of

the Europeans who settled in what wa: o ginally

known as New Amsterdam. The Dutch imniigrants

continued to observe their traditional Eu opean cus-

toms as much as their lives in the New World per-

mitted, and this included their sporting activities

Horse racing was popular from the beginning

ostensibly for the improvement of the breed but

also because New Yorkers loved to wat h the races

and gamble on the outcomes. During the 1700s.

horses were imported from England o improve

the American breed, and as soon as this oceurred.

rivalries arose. As early as, 1768, a 1ace was held

between Figure, an English horse, and the Ameri-

can horse Salem. The English horse prevailed, but

the interest generated from the race gave birti to

intersectional rivalries in America.

New Yorkers also enjoyed bow ling. golf,

and early versions of croquet, tennis, nd cricket.

Shooting matches were popular, and in the winter.

many New Yorkers enjoyed sleigh rides and skat-

ing. The sporting life evident in New York City in

the early twenty-first century can trace its origins

back to the early days of the city in the seventeenth

and eighteenth centuries.

SPORT IN THE SOUTH

The American South was different from the North

in many respects. The growth of sport in the South

was facilitated by a favorable climate, the absence

of Puritan reformers, and the importation and

practice of sports, games, and amusements by the

various immigrant groups, especially the English.

Catholicism was a fixture in the South and was

considerably more tolerant of sports activities than

Puritanism Unlike the New England colonists.

Southern settlers immigrated more for adventure

and opportunity than for the pursuit of religious

freedom.

The southern gentlemen of Virginia were

extremely competitive, individualistic, and materi-

alistic, elenents that reflected the economic condi-

tions of the South. As one scholar notes, the wealthy

planters enjoyed wagering money and tobacco on

horse races because "conpetitive gaming was for

many gentlemen a means of translating a particu-

lar set of values into action." Indeed, gambling

refiected the core elements of seventeenth- and

eighteenth-century gentry values. The great planta-

tions occupied huge tracts of land. and the plant-

ers aggressively sought to acquire more land to

increase the ir incone. This led the plantation own-

ers to develop attitudes of rugged individualism

and competitiveness, and these attitudes manifested

themselves in their playful pastime of wagering on

horses. "ln large part, the goal of the competition

within the gentry group was to improve social posi-

tion by increasing wealth."" A number of promi-

nent American politicians, including many of the

Founding Fathers, enjoyed horse racing. George

Washingto, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison.

John Marshall. Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson,

among others, loved to wager on the races.

The first horse races were a quarter mile

long, a dist ance that eventually led to the name of

the Virginit quarter horse. During the early days

of horse racing, it was not unusual for races to

be held on town streets. Racetracks were built i

Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina. Wager

ing was of en heavy, and both women and men

placed hets. The big races were often followed by

elaborate festivities attended by those who could

afford to participate. Horse racing, however,

Was not the only popular sport. Southerners also

enjoyed fox hunting. hunting, fishing. rowing.

lawn bowling. dancing, cock fighting. boxing.

and fencing. Shooting matches were popular

throughout Colonial America, and the South was

no exception. One story illustrates the meaning

of the contests to the participants. The legendary Daniel Boone described an encounter between

himself and some of his Indian friends: "I often

went hunting with them, and frequently gained

their applause for my activity at our shooting

matehes.I was careful not to exceed many of

them in shooting: for no people are more envious

than they in this sport."i

During the antebellum era, and afterward as

well. social class often dictated appropriate sporting

behavior. Proper southerm gentlemen were expected

to exhibit requisite social and athletic skills that

included riding, dancing, fencing, and conversa

tion. Southern gentlemen were more often observ

ers and producers of sports than actual participants,

especially in boxing and horse racing, where the

athletes frequently were slaves (Figure 11-1).

The vast majority of slaves were subject to a

hard life of either fieldwork or domestic service.

Slaves often endured harsh conditions and punish

ment and were purposely kept ignorant by their

masters. It was illegal in many parts of the South

to teach a slave to read and write, although many

whites risked their lives to do this. Yet slaves were

also participants in southern sport as jockeys and

boxers. providing entertainment and betting oppor

tunities for whites.

American boxers, or "pugilists" as they were

known, were strongly influenced by the English.

Eighteenth-century Elizabethan England is recog-

nized as the birthplace of modern boxing. Accord.

ing to William Lewis,

With the decline of fencing, boxing became

inereasingly popular in England. Fighters

were called 'bruisers." They lost a fight only if

they failed to come up to 'scratch. a line

drawn in the middle of the ring. Since there

WiAs no time limit, fighters took a tremendous

beating. A round was considered over only

when a man went down. Gouging and hair

pulling were allowed and since no gloves were

worn, broken bones were common.. . . There

was no medical supervision and most fighters

died young.

America's first well-known pugilist was Tom

Molineaux, who gained his freedom from slavery by fighting on the Southern Plantation Circuit

(Figure 11-2). After beating the best that the North

was able to offer, Molineaux went to England in

1810 to fight the British champion, Tom Cribb.

The fight took place in the pouring rain, and after

29 rounds, Molineaux was beating Cribb. When

the partisan British fans were able to stop the fight

bricfty on a technicality, Molineaux caught a chill

andd was eventuaily beaten by Cribb in the fortieth

found. They fought again later on, but the result

was the sanie.

While this particular fight caught the atten-

tion of many Colonial Americans. boxing as a

sport did not attract a large following until the lat-

ter part of the nineteenth century. Boxing's early

years were spent in obscure and questionable sur-

roundings, for boxing was outlawed in most of the

states and territories (Figure 11-3). Fights took

place in barns, river barges, and other sechded

locations.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF NATIVE

AMERICANS

The Native American sport of lacrosse, as well as

other ball games, exerted a significant infuence

during sport's formative years, and lacrosse is still popular n many regions of the country. Native

mericans originated the game of lacrosse in the

Northeast (Figure 11-4). The Iroquois, which was

actually an Indian confederacy of the Cayuga.

Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, and Onondaga tribes

of New York, were known for their lacrosse skilis.

With the introduction of horses to North America

by the Spanish, the Indians of the Great Plains and

Far West soon became expert riders and engaged

in horse acing and tribal dances. Stories of cour-

age and athletic prowess of Native Americans and

slaves soon spread throughout the various regions

of North America (Figure 11-5).