From Michigan Marque to the Count of Kent: a John Askin Story
Type of Proposal
Oral Presentation
Faculty
Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Proposal
The Windsor and Detroit Border is intertwined and exemplifies the Canadian and American relationship, however this was not always the case. The border did not always exist and was simply an undefined area. John Askin is an individual during the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, that facilitated the economic development and helped to establish the clear divide of Upper Canada and the United States of America making the border that is known today. This economic development would extend the breadth of Michigan acting as a critical narrative to the ‘soldier settler’ persona and intercultural relations of aboriginal groups, Americans, French, British, and Canadians. The Askin Documents are an amalgamation of documents that were saved by John Askin and through these a story unfolds of how John Askin built the industrial foundation that Michigan is known for both legally and illegally. These Askin Documents are used through land grants in both regions, providing a chronological timeline of where and in what ways John Askin developed the borderland. Illegal actions and American pressures pushed him across the Detroit River to Upper Canada in 1802, where through land transactions and political maneuvering he carved an empire that became Windsor Essex County and the County of Kent in the Chatham Kent Region. Askin is the embodiment of the American Dream, Essex County, and the ‘soldier settler’, making him a cultural amalgamation of all that was the New World. The Great Lakes landscape changed from the barren wilderness without a master to a land defined by its masters on either side of the border, partially founded by the efforts of John Askin.
Start Date
22-3-2018 9:20 AM
End Date
22-3-2018 10:40 AM
Location
Alumni Auditorium C
Grand Challenges
Understanding Borders
From Michigan Marque to the Count of Kent: a John Askin Story
Alumni Auditorium C
The Windsor and Detroit Border is intertwined and exemplifies the Canadian and American relationship, however this was not always the case. The border did not always exist and was simply an undefined area. John Askin is an individual during the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, that facilitated the economic development and helped to establish the clear divide of Upper Canada and the United States of America making the border that is known today. This economic development would extend the breadth of Michigan acting as a critical narrative to the ‘soldier settler’ persona and intercultural relations of aboriginal groups, Americans, French, British, and Canadians. The Askin Documents are an amalgamation of documents that were saved by John Askin and through these a story unfolds of how John Askin built the industrial foundation that Michigan is known for both legally and illegally. These Askin Documents are used through land grants in both regions, providing a chronological timeline of where and in what ways John Askin developed the borderland. Illegal actions and American pressures pushed him across the Detroit River to Upper Canada in 1802, where through land transactions and political maneuvering he carved an empire that became Windsor Essex County and the County of Kent in the Chatham Kent Region. Askin is the embodiment of the American Dream, Essex County, and the ‘soldier settler’, making him a cultural amalgamation of all that was the New World. The Great Lakes landscape changed from the barren wilderness without a master to a land defined by its masters on either side of the border, partially founded by the efforts of John Askin.