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Inoculation in eighteenth century Boston
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Date
2025
Authors
Whitacre, Kymberly Ann
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University College Cork
Published Version
Abstract
In 1721, what became the first anti-vaccination debate in America began, where Cotton Mather and Zabdiel Boylston advocated for the introduction and use of inoculation to protect the people of Boston from smallpox. William Douglass and James Franklin wrote publications against inoculation and ultimately swayed the community towards not having the procedure done. The publications between the two sides has been named ‘the paper war’. Who would have been capable of reading these and how would the information have spread? Through an examination of literacy rates, it is shown that women were in a position where they could have read the works, and their community roles helped spread the news. The roles of women within Colonial Boston were nuanced, and the spread of information was crucial to their communities, specifically within their neighbourhoods. Ultimately, the research findings show that the people of Boston were unwilling to submit to inoculation, with the exception of under 300 people, and that the anti-inoculation side was the successful party in the paper war. Future epidemics show a slow change in that, however, and through people like George Washington going against orders to inoculate his soldiers in the Revolutionary War, and the Supreme Court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts the practice of inoculation, and then vaccination, is shown as effective, with smallpox being fully eradicated worldwide by the 1980’s.
Description
Keywords
Smallpox , Paper war , Inoculation
Citation
Whitacre, K. A. 2025. Inoculation in eighteenth century Boston. MPhil Thesis, University College Cork.