Negotiating the Health of the Public: Yellow Fever in 1793 Philadelphia

Epidemics offer historians a dramatic, frequently well documented historical moment in which to explore the basic structures and underlying world view of a particular people and place in a time of crisis. When epidemics disrupt community life, as did Philadelphia's 1793 yellow fever crisis, personal and private questions of pain and suffering quickly take on broader cultural and political meaning. The set of primary and secondary sources upon which this lesson plan focuses are especially well suited to explore the connections between these two realms and illuminate the balance between public and private decision-making that is so important to understanding the early national period. They also show why the web of highly charged socioeconomic and political relationships that encase health decision-making are such a valuable source for teaching the general survey. Students quickly grasp the tension between the individual's desires and the community's needs in health situations like this...