April 1857

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[colorado tanker]

Thanks for the note - it explains a lot. Another manifestation of the green-eyed monster, it would appear.

[Tax-chick]

It does sound as if the legislative action was initiated out of envy. However, I can’t help thinking that, once it was brought up, the state legislature was hoping they could squeeze some tax money out of the situation.

[colorado tanker]

Some things never change, do they?!

[Tax-chick]

Well, our current government wants to tax carbon dioxide, which we all produce with each breath.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

At least one thing has changed (from Harper's coverage of Buchanan's inaugural address):

“The President next refers to the unexampled fact that the Government is embarrassed by a revenue largely exceeding its wants . . .”

[Tax-chick]

Well, just wait a few years ...

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from April 7 (reply #33).

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

[Tax-chick]

I have a biography of Senator Sickles, “a man of notoriously bad habits and associations,” in at the Mecklenburg library. I found it in the catalog while I was looking for something else.

Maybe we’ll go this afternoon, what with its not being Good Friday here.

[Jim W N]

“The President next refers to the unexampled fact that the Government is embarrassed by a revenue largely exceeding its wants . . .”

Ahhh, the unprecedented freedom of America in the 1800's from a relatively small and unintrusive federal government actually embarrassed by a surplus.

[colorado tanker]

Enjoy your read of Dan Sickles bio. It should make for great reports, or at least sensational reports, for the class.

I have to reveal one spoiler. For Civil War devotees, this is the same Dan Sickles who without orders advanced his corps into the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg, presenting a juicy target for Longstreet's corps.

[Tax-chick]

Yes, it is the same Dan Sickles. I recall learning, sometime in the future, that Sickles was highly regarded by his men and by veterans, and was instrumental in the preservation/marking of the Gettysburg battlefield. It will be very interesting to learn more about him.

[x]

Weed was known as “Boss” Weed and was extremely influential in Albany.

I guess so. He was the longtime Whig Party boss and everybody knew it.

But he didn't have cartoonist Thomas Nast making the masses think "Boss" was his first name the way Manhattan Democrat William Marcy Tweed did.

[Tax-chick]

“Boss Weed” and “Boss Tweed” could have been a vaudeville comedy team.

[x]

Boss Tweed was a comedy team all his own after Nast got through with him.

[colorado tanker]

In Colorado, nobody confuses weed with tweed. :-))

[Tax-chick]

Ah, Colorado. My father had a poster in the 70s that said “Rocky Mountain High,” but it was about Coors beer.

[Tax-chick]

Dan Sickles is reminding me of Aaron Burr, in his character and influence over others. Lacks the monster classical education, though.

His mother attended Mr. Strong’s church.

[colorado tanker]

What has always bothered me about Sickles is that when he was wounded he returned to Washington ahead of the Army and immediately attacked Meade and tried to take credit for the victory himself despite his blunder in the Peach Orchard.

[Tax-chick]

Although I’m only a couple of chapters into the book, it seems like exactly the kind of thing he would do. The book is called “American Scoundrel” for a reason!

He does, however, deserve credit for getting the enabling legislation for Central Park through the NY state legislature.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from April 10 (reply #47).

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