Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1855-1860: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: Sometime in the future.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed. To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.
During this period Harper’s issues were fairly long. This month’s is over 140 pages. I have prepared less than a quarter of that for posting. Keeping with the policy I used during the WWII series I will post the lead article in its entirety. I will also print the current events section, which seems to run about 3-5 pages. It seems like the next to last piece in each issue is a humorous pictorial sequence. God knows we need more humor, so that is in. I might as well finish with the concluding fashion pages, although the dresses I have seen so far all resemble giant elaborate lamp shades.
Beyond these standard items I will scour the rest of the magazine looking for items that might interest a few twenty-first century readers. The magazine contains a big selection of travel articles, literary reviews, fiction, poetry, science, and so on. In the middle of the magazine is a series sections named Editor’s table, Editor’s easy chair, and Editor’s drawer. Don’t ask me. Anyway, in the August Editor’s table I found a section about mechanical inventions of recent years that seemed interesting.
The cover of our August edition is a picture of Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts, which leads into a 14-page account of a pleasure trip beside the Connecticut River, beginning at Springfield, MA and proceeding straight north along the present day path of Interstate 91 to Windsor, VT. Along the way, as well as marveling at the wondrous scenery, we vicariously visit a musket factory and armory, a button factory, a school for ladies, and the Vermont Lunatic Asylum. I found it of interest that, during the visit to the armory, the tourists discovered that security for the 150,000 new muskets was practically nonexistent. The armory is in the middle of Massachusetts – hotbed of abolitionist activism – when arms are being smuggled into Bleeding Kansas by the crate load. I think I know where some of them come from.
The writing style took a little getting used as the language seems impossibly flowery, if that’s the word. I tried mentally translating it from 1856 English to 2016 English to better understand the literal meaning. That worked, but made me realize we may have lost something by going putting such a high value on economy of words and foregoing more creative use of the language. I guess we don’t have time for that now, what with the internet and being the most important generation ever to walk the earth and all. All the same, I suggest it is important to gain familiarity with the journalistic style of the period to better understand our American ancestors.
Current Events begins with a report on the results of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia on June 17. The platform is summarized and the vote that resulted in the nomination of John C. Fremont of California and William L. Dayton of New Jersey as the presidential ticket is described. The American and Democratic Party nominees, Millard Fillmore and James Buchanan, respectively, think the Republican position on the extension of slavery in the territories is a bad idea.
Then follows a report from the House Kansas Investigation Committee and an update on events in that territory. It’s a mess. A Vigilance Committee is working to get rid of the riff-raff in San Francisco. (More on that in a couple days.) Mexico is working on a new constitution and may have a war with Spain. Costa Rica suffered greater than reported losses in its invasion of Nicaragua.
England has a new government and something going on with Central America. A peace treaty was concluded on Queen Victoria’s birthday. Palmer the poisoner was convicted and executed. France is suffering from severe flooding and their new Imperial Infant was baptized.
The Editor’s Table discusses American inventions in the context of a nation’s obligation to do its fair share of contributing to the global good. ET leads off with the lightning rod and the steamboat as two of the earliest. It goes on in detail, but let me just quote the penultimate paragraph:
To sum up, therefore, the United States, during the last eighty years, have endowed the world with the lighting-rod, the steamboat, the photograph, the electric telegraph, the discovery of the use of inhaled ether, the sewing machine; the best and cheapest farm implements, the best carpenters’ tools, the best locks fire-engines, nails, spikes, screws, and axes; the best fire-arms, the cheapest clocks, the fastest steamers and sailing vessels, the cheapest railroads, the lightest wagons, and many of the most useful labor-saving machines in almost every department of industry. If any nation, during the same eighty years, has done more, or as much the fact is not generally known.
The Harper’s post ends with the humor feature, Experiments in Photography, and the fashion pages.
Get jealous over those Connecticut River towns!
On August 16, 1856, some fifty Free State men under Captain Samuel Walker attacked Ft. Titus. After a brief battle, Ft. Titus and its thirty-four defenders, including Colonel Henry Titus, surrendered. Also surrendered were 400 muskets, a large number of knives, 13 horses, several wagons, a large stock of household provisions, farm equipment and $10,000 in gold and bank drafts.
http://www.lecomptonkansas.com/fort-titus/
The fort was actually a cabin near the town of Lecompton, in Douglas County. There is more information at the link.
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