Harper’s Weekly – March 24, 1860

Harper's Weekly archives ^ | March 24, 1860

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I forgot to include that Sherman wrote the letter to Ellen Sherman described in the third paragraph on this date.

[BroJoeK]

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, published in 1862, put to music in 1980.

Overture, Work Song

I was not a big fan.

In my youth we learned an earlier cadence "Work Song" version by Oscar Brown: Work Song

[colorado tanker]

I love American musical theater, but Les Miz was the most depressing musical I’ve seen. Hugo’s message seemed to be life is crap and then it gets worse.

[BroJoeK]

From Sherman by McDonough:

"As the spring of 1860 progressed, the dark clouds of sectionalism continued their steady, threatening accumulation, lying low and heavy upon the national horizon, and menacingly packed with the destructive winds of slavery.
Back in the winter, Sherman had written John that he 'did not like the looks of the times.'
The slave states, particularly in the Deep South, were sending commissions from state to state, exploring possible Southern actions if a Republican should be elected president.
The political turmoil was great, and there was 'universal belief in the South that disunion is not only possible but certain.' "

Important to remember that Fire Eaters had threatened secession in 1856 if abolitionist Republican Fremont was elected president -- and no doubt that convinced many Northerners to vote Democrat, electing pro-slavery, Doughfaced Buchanan instead, so no secession in 1856.

Now again in 1860 dark threats of secession are flying, but this time, as we will learn, Fire Eaters have devised a scheme to insure that Democrats cannot win in 1860, and so the election of a Republican -- any Republican -- will trigger the plans they are now laying.