November 1857

Harper's Magazine archives (subscription required) ^ | November 1857

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[colorado tanker]

Finally, some pro-slavers are coming to understand Kansas is not suited to plantation agriculture and could not support slaves in any significant numbers.

James W. Denver enters our story for the first time. He will later be appointed Secretary and Governor of Kansas Territory.

At the time, the boundaries extended west all the way to the Rocky Mountains, including the present site of the great city of Denver. In 1858, during the Pikes Peak gold rush, Denver was founded and named for the Governor to curry favor with him. In 1861, a chunk of Western Kansas was hived off and incorporated into the new Colorado Territory. So, my fair city was named for an office seeking politician.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 4 (reply #16).

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[colorado tanker]

Sounds like there were socialists in New York even before they were calling themselves socialists.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from October 21 (Reply #45)

Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, an abridgement by Richard Harwell

[Rebelbase]

I just finished reading Tent Life in Sibera by George Kennan.

Story is about an American expedition to map and survey the route for a Trans-Siberian telegraph line to connect Europe and North America via the Bering Strait in the mid 1860's.

The author references the Franklin Expedition several times in the book.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

[Continued from November 10 (reply #22).]

November 13. News from Europe of the fall of Delhi, for which all lovers of Christianity and civilization may be thankful. Financially, the effect of this steamer’s budget will probably be good. Our disasters of October have produced less disaster and panic on the other side than was expected. The suspension of Wall Street on October 13 and the manifesto of our judicial synod meet the approval of English editors. . . .

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[Homer_J_Simpson]

[Continued from November 13 (reply #26).]

November 17. If the stock market be a reliable index of our condition, we’re reacting toward prosperous times. There are other signs, too of returning confidence and ease. But this will be an anxious winter at best.

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 17 (reply #27).

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[henkster]

This period is definitely the calm before the storm. Reading these stories and diary entries, one would not suspect a Civil War in less than three years. Sure, the sectional tension is still there. But right now, nothing is happening to bring it out into the open.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Over the next months we will learn what many of those who will become major characters later on are doing to prepare as the clouds form on the horizon.

[Tax-chick]

I sympathize with George’s gripe. We keep going to concerts where the crowd noise is very loud. Not the Philharmonic, though ...

[Tax-chick]

Happy Thanksgiving, gentlemen. Remember Sarah Josepha Hale!

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 21 (reply #28).

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[Tax-chick]

“... one can’t touch the city government without being defiled ...”

*sigh*

It is truly comforting how little things change.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 23 (reply #33.)

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[Tax-chick]

I wonder if his James Otis is a descendant of the James Otis of Boston Revolutionary days - featured in “Johnny Tremain,” a favorite book. His daughter, Mercy Otis Warren, was also a significant personage. I think there was quite a bit about her in the biography of John Adams.

One assumes “Gouverneur Odgen” is a descendant of Gouverneur Morris, because why else would anyone have such an absurd name? The NC Forum was talking about the recent sex scandals in light of the Founders (or vice-versa), and, apropos of same, Gouverneur Morris would screw anything with a pulse.

Then there was Aaron Burr ... good gravy! And Benjamin Franklin with his “air baths” in the window overlooking the street ...

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Are you suggesting that the celebrity horn dog is not a creature that only came into existence in the 20th century?

[Tax-chick]

Indeed I am, although the media coverage tended to be more ... allusory ... back in the day.

I’m sure I would have fallen for Aaron Burr, if I’d been clever enough for him to notice me. He was very pretty and fascinating!

[Homer_J_Simpson]

“I wonder if his James Otis is a descendant of the James Otis of Boston Revolutionary days”

Could be. That James Otis was son of James, and had a son named James. One more generation would land in about the right time.

Then there is this: “Otis died suddenly in May 1783 at the age of 58, as he stood in the doorway of a friend’s house, when he was struck by lightning.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Otis_Jr.

[Tax-chick]

Otis suffered from increasingly erratic behavior as the 1760s progressed. He received a gash on the head by British tax collector John Robinson's cudgel at the British Coffee House in 1769. Some mistakenly attribute Otis's mental illness to this event alone, but John Adams, Thomas Hutchinson, and many others mention his mental illness well before 1769. The blow to the head was not the cause of Otis' mental illness, but it made it far worse and, shortly after, he could no longer continue his work. By the end of the decade, Otis's public life largely came to an end, though he was able to do occasional legal practice during times of clarity.

This James Otis is the one in "Johnny Tremain," where his dementia is attributed to the head injury.

A couple more generations of Jameses would bring us to George Strong's time.