James Nelson Barker (June 17, 1784 – March 9, 1858) was an American soldier, playwright and politician. He rose to the rank of major in the Army during the War of 1812, wrote ten plays, and was mayor of Philadelphia.
Early life Barker was born on June 17, 1784, in Philadelphia. He was the fourth sonMusser, Paul H. James Nelson Barker, 1784-1858; With a Reprint of His Comedy Tears and Smiles. University of Pennsylvania P; London, H. Milford:Oxford UP, 1929 of John Barker, and Mary Nelson, who were married on July 13, 1769.Musser 1929, 7 His education was limited, for though he attended local schools, he spent more time reading books than studying.Gates, Robert Allen, Ed. However, Barker's father ensured that his son was educated in gentlemanly etiquette and the ability to defend himself with a sword or pistol.Gates, Robert Allan Barker began writing in 1804. The Spanish Rover was a three-act play based on Cervantes. However, only one act was completed,Musser 1929, 13 and eventually burned.Quinn 1943, 137 His studies were also challenged by travel. He joined an expedition to the West Indies in 1806, much to his parents' unease.Gates, Robert Allen, Ed. 18th- and 19th- Century Drama. New York: Irvington Publishers, 1984. P. 121. Print. His first produced play, Tears and Smiles (1807), was a social comedy. It premiered on March 4, 1807, at The Chestnut Street Theater in Philadelphia.Richards, Jeffrey H. Early American Drama. New York: Penguin Books, 1997. P. 109. Print. His next play, The Embargo; or, What News? (1808), was a drama about the Embargo Acts of December 22, 1807, and February 19, 1808, which forbade vessels to engage in foreign trade.Quinn 1943, 138 Barker was a lifelong Democrat,Gates 1984, 121 and his father John was a mayor of the cityHenry Simpson, The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians, Now Deceased: Collected from Original and Authentic Sources. Published by W. Brotherhead, 1859. from 1808 to 1809.Young, John Russell, ed. Memorial History of the City of Philadelphia: From its First Settlement to the Year 1895. New York: J. B. Rodgers Printing Co., 1895. P. 443. Print
In September 1808, Barker joined "The Democratic Young Men", a Philadelphia political organization. His involvement in the organization led to his naming as a member of vigilance to supervise the voting at the election, which led to the Democratic control of councils. This control then led to his father's second term as mayor of the city from 1812 to 1813. In 1809, 25-year-old Barker was sent by his father to Washington to gain political experience and to prepare for a political career.Crowley, John W. "James Nelson Barker in Perspective", Educational Theater Journal 24.4, P. 364. Print. This visit served both to train him in politics and to give him political contacts, as he was invited to meet with James Madison. In 1811, Barker married Mary Rogers.Musser 1929, 43 His daughter, Rachel Jackson Mary Barker, was named after Andrew Jackson's wife Rachel Jackson.History of Baltimore, Maryland, From its Founding as a Town to the Current Year 1729-1898. Maryland: S. B. Nelson, Publisher, 1898. P. 828. Print.
Literary influence Barker's plays show awareness of the problems with the government's attitude that it was the center of the new America's society.Wilmeth, Don B. and Bigsby, Christopher, eds. The Cambridge History of American Theatre Volume 1: Beginnings to 1870. United Kingdom: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print He sought to demonstrate that the American experience could be used to shape national identity.Crowley 1972, 364 He considered himself to be an American playwright who was committed to exploring native subjects and themes.Miller, Tice His work reflected the conflict for American authors in finding their own native voice.Bryer and Hartig 2010, 55 He believed that American artistic tastes should be independent of those of Europe, and condemned Americans' feelings of inferiority.Miller 2007, 43 He took the position that American art was to be both democratic and useful.name=Crowley Two of Barker's most popular plays were The Indian Princess and Marmion.name=Miller Superstition is considered one of Barker's best plays.
The Indian Princess
The Indian Princess; or, La Belle Sauvage (1808), is a melodrama about the Pocahontas story. Though originally written as a play, Barker decided to turn it into an operatic melodrama,Hitchcock, H. Wiley collaborating with the EnglishRichards, Jeffrey H. Drama, Theatre and Identity in the American New Republic, New York: Cambridge UP, 2005. P.169. Print. John Bray, who wrote the music.Vickers, Anita. The New nation. Westport, Connecticut: Green Wood Press, 2002. P.215. Print It is the first play that survives in its entirety with Native American charactersRichards, Jeffrey H. Early American Drama. New York: Penguin Books 1997, P. 109. Print. (Ponteach from 1766, for example, was a play about Native Americans that was never produced).Quinn 1943, 139 It was also the first original American play to be produced in London after being premiered in America. However, according to the American music scholar H. Wiley Hitchcock, the London production was "a bowdlerized version" of the original.Hitchcock, H. Wiley. "An Early American Melodrama: The Indian Princess of J. N. Barker and John Bray". Notes: Second Series 12.3, P 375. Print. In a letter of June 10, 1832, to William Dunlap, Barker said that the London production at Drury Lane "differs essentially from mine in the plan and arrangement". It was premiered at The Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.Miller, Tice L. Entertaining the Nation: American Drama in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2007. P. 43. Print It is based on Captain John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia (1624),Richards 1997, 109-110 though he used Smith's text freely.Richards 1997, 169 Its New York premiere was at the Park Theatre on June 14, 1809. It satisfied intrigue for both American and English audiences regarding the figure of the Native American.Vickers 2002, 215 Even though romantic conquest takes precedence over colonial conquest, it is evident that the connection between the two is strong.Scheckel, Susan. "Domesticating the Drama of Conquest: Barker's Pocahontas on the Popular Stage", American Theater Quarterly 10.3 (1996). Print The Indian Princess gained popularity due to a search for a national identity, as American history was becoming more popular. As Susan Scheckel wrote, "In bringing Pocahontas to the popular stage, James Nelson Barker enlisted the conventions of melodrama to produce a romanticized version of American history that resolved conflicts implicit in past acts of conquest and revolution and defined national identity in terms that reinforced a sense of moral and cultural integrity." Though historical accuracy is overshadowed by romantic melodrama, Barker was aware that that was what his audience wanted, as they were accustomed to romantic melodramas from England.Richards 1997, 173 As Jeffrey H. Richards noted, "In Barker, the Native Americans are identified specifically with a history of the North American mainland and a people that spectators in 1808 would easily identify as Indian."Richards 1997, 174-175 A common practice of the time was to add music to performances, whether in song or not.Richards, Jeffrey H. Because of the music, audiences flocked to it.Vickers, Anita
Marmion Marmion; or, The Battle of Flodden Field (1812), was premiered in New York at the Park Theatre on April 13, 1812.Quinn 1943, 140 It is a blank-verse dramatization of Sir Walter Scott's poem Marmion. It was premiered in New York because there was already a production in Philadelphia with the same name at the Olympic Theatre.Miller 2007, 42 Marmion had its Philadelphia premiere on January 1, 1813. Though it is set in sixteenth century England and Scotland, it addressed nineteenth century America and its relationship with England regarding a heated debate with Congress about the imprisonment of American seamen. It was initially purposefully attributed to the English dramatist Thomas Morton, out of fear of disregard for a play by an American. It was believed that when the true playwright was revealed, ticket sales would drop.Bryer, Jackson R. and Hartig, Mary C. EdsQuinn, Arthur Hobson However, according to the diary of William Wood, who requested that Barker write the play, the ticket sales were as follows: Jan. 1, 1813, $1414.75Jan. 2, $357.25Jan. 11, $578Jan. 18, $845Feb. 5, $332Feb. 15, $466.
According to Wood, the truth was revealed after the sixth or seventh performance. Ticket sales remained constant,Quinn 1943, -140-141 and Marmion was one of the longest running dramas of Barker's career.Musser, Paul Howard By the time Marmion premiered in Philadelphia, Barker had gone to the Canada–US border as captain of the Second Artillery Regiment.Quinn 1943, 144
Superstition; or, The Fanatic Father
Superstition, or, The Fanatic Father (1824) was first staged on the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia on March 12, 1824. Superstition is a melodrama written during the Romantic movement that took form in America in the early 1800s. According to Allan Gates Halline in his introduction to Superstition in American Plays, "The appeal to reason and knowledge suggest that Barker was reflecting the rationalistic thought current shortly before and partly during the period in which he was writing." The setting of Superstition takes place in the Puritans' Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th-century. The play's protagonist, Charles Fitzroy, and his mother, Isabella, are unfairly condemned by the town's Puritan leader, Reverend Ravensworth. After the New England town defends itself from a Native American raid, Charles and Isabella are put on trial and are executed for supposed witchcraft. Superstition addresses the hypocritical practices of the Puritans as well as glorifying American exceptionalism. While this melodrama does follow many of the common tropes and character archetypes for which 19th-century melodrama was known, Barker subverts many of these expectations by including a tragic ending where the protagonist dies and the antagonist goes unpunished. According to John Gassner's introduction to Superstition in Best American Plays, "[Superstition] was also the culmination of Baker's most distinguishing characteristics, as a playwright—namely, his concern with American subjects and problems."
1812-1819