Posted on 05/26/2020 5:36:03 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1855-1860: Seminar and Discussion Forum
Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, Lincoln-Douglas, Harpers Ferry, the election of 1860, secession all the events leading up to the Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts
First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: Sometime in the future.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.
Posting history, in reverse order
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.
Hon. Abram Lincoln, of Illinois 1-3
Hon. Hannibal Hamlin 3
The Golden Bee 3-4
Editorials 4-5
The Lounger 5-6
Humors of the Day 6, 8
Chime of Church-Bells 7-8
The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, Part II, Hartrights Narrative 8-11
Domestic Intelligence 11-12
Foreign News 12
The Japanese at Washington 12-16
The Three Misses Wapscott 17-19
The Last Crusade of the Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa 19
Jottings About the Japanese 19-23
Captain Brand of the Schooner Centipede, by Lieut. Henry A. Wise, U.S.N. (Harry Gringo). Chapter XVI 20, -23-24
With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, edited by Michael Burlingame
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
Oh, George, you have no idea!
Maybe they were too focused on the arrival of the Japanese "embassadors."
Harper's prediction that we would be better friends with the Japanese than with the Russians or the Chinese: either quite correct or terribly wrong, depending on what era we're talking about.
Also interesting that the "new fashions" come from Paris. When did that stop being the case?
Lincoln's ancestors lived in Hingham MA. Across the road lives the ancestors of Revolutionary War general Benjamin Lincoln. It's said that the two families were not related.
BOSTON, May 29, 1860.
. . . We go to Lunenburg on Friday. As soon as there I shall write out my observations on binocular vision, etc., in a form suited for presentation.
Our Reservation Committees are to continue their action until the next meeting of the Legislature, feeling strong hopes of obtaining the grant of land on the Back Bay through further efforts. They have urged me to accept the chairmanship, and I have conditionally agreed. Among our present purposes is that of framing a plan for a Technological department, with which some of our leading men, as Erastus Bigelow, Ignatius Sargent, etc., think they can secure a subscription of $100,000 from the manufacturers and merchants, and that being assured, we can come before the Legislature with an irresistible claim.
Now can you not, while in London, gather up all documents relating to the Kensington Museum, that in Jermyn Street, etc., which might be of assistance in digesting such a plan? You will do us a great service by sending me such as you collect....
The anti-Darwin review in the last Edinburgh is, I suppose, by Owen. It does not seem to me to be altogether fair or philosophic. I see a notice of his Palaeontology in the small type of the "Westminster," which I ascribe to Huxley, and which certainly shows up the deficiencies and errors of that treatise very positively.
This morning's paper brought the sad announcement of the death of Theodore Parker. The news lately received from Florence led us to look for such a result. But now that it is certain, how deep will be the grief of the large circle of friends upon whom it will fall as one of the heaviest of bereavements. No one will be more sincerely mourned, or leave a more lasting memory in the affections and gratitude of liberal hearts everywhere, than our noble, self-sacrificing, gently loving and heroic friend. I feel that his name will be a power, and that the free and wise words that he has written, and the disciples he has reared, will continue the labours of humanity and freedom which he showed such unfaltering boldness in carrying on. You and I have lost a good friend, who knew how, better than almost any other, to appreciate the free thought that was in us. I shall never forget his kind words of you and to me, as with a tearful eye I last parted from him.
You have no doubt seen the action of the Chicago Convention. How decorous and manly and consistent their course, compared with the Democratic and the old-fogy conventions that preceded! There is good reason to expect the success of the Republican ticket; Lincoln and Hamlin are both men of superior endowments, are honest and patriotic, and sufficiently versed in affairs.
The Union-saving party is looked upon as a dead thing Some one lately said to one of these gentlemen, who had just been telling him that they had nominated Bell and Everett, Why did you not choose? Why, he has been dead this twelvemonth! was the reply. Not so dead as either of your nominees, was the rejoinder.
SOURCE: Emma Savage Rogers & William T. Sedgwick, Life and Letters of William Barton Rogers, Volume 2, p. 34
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
COLUMBUS, May 30, [I860.]
MY DEAR SIR, Your letter of the 22d reached me some days ago and I thank you for it. I have never doubted your friendship. You have given proofs of it when it was important & timely.
But you will pardon me, I hope, if I am entirely candid. It does seem to me that there are influences about the Gazette Office which are, without any reason, unfriendly. Before your return from Chicago a paragraph was copied from the Times of a very mean character the object of which seemed to be to depreciate & vilify Elliott & Mullett and through them to disparage me. Now whatever may be said of the discretion of some of the acts and words of these gentlemen, they are undoubtedly active, earnest and hardworking Republicans and as such deserve recognition and respect. That they are friends of mine is, I hope, no crime. I am sure it is not in your estimation. I shall be sorry to think it is in the estimation of any of those connected with the Gazette. They are friends and I am grateful for their friendship. It was given early from no personal motives, and has been long continued. It is earnest, sincere and faithful. It does not make me responsible for all they do or say, or require my approval of all or any of their sayings or doings. But it does require me to reciprocate their good will; to give them credit for honorable motives; and to desire that they have like credit with others. Hence I was so sorry to see that article in the Gazette. I saw no good to come from it but harm rather. And to-day I find in the Gazette an extract from some correspondent which says that Guthrie is playing the part of Chase at Chicago, who really had no chance but would not allow his state to vote for any but himself. Is it right to give such a reference to me a conspicuous place in the Editorial columns of the Gazette? It may be that I had no chance at Chicago; but I suppose that nobody doubts that had the Ohio delegation manifested the same disregard of personal preferences, which was exhibited by the New York, Illinois and Missouri delegations, and given to me, as the nominee of Ohio, the same earnest and genuine support which was given to Mr. Seward, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Bates by those delegations respectively, that my vote on the first ballot would have largely exceeded Mr. Lincoln's; and there are those who felt themselves constrained to vote for other candidates in consequence of the division of the Ohio delegation, who do not hesitate to give it as their judgment that had our delegation acted towards me in the same generous spirit which was manifested by the other delegations towards the candidates presented by their states, the nomination would have been given to Ohio. Be this as it may and I am not at all sorry that the nomination fell to another since that other is so worthy the fling of the correspondent is as ungenerous as it is injurious. No man knows better than you that I never sought to prevent the delegation from voting for anyone but myself. All I desired was unity and good faith. True I wanted no merely complimentary vote. When the Republicans of Ohio nominated me they contemplated no such child's play, hiding something; not much like child's play, for such play under such circumstances cannot be innocent. You saw, I presume, my letter to Mr. Eggleston. It expressed my real sentiments. The Convention had named me in good faith. There was no such reason to suppose that I could not be elected if nominated, as would make an earnest effort to give effect to the preference of the Ohio Convention, unpatriotic. Justice to me, I am not afraid to say that boldly justice to me, no less than good faith to the Republicans of Ohio, demanded such an effort. It is useless to discuss the causes why it was not made. Far however from desiring to control the delegation or any member of it in adhering to me, I should never have allowed my name to be presented at all had I anticipated the division which actually took place; so that in this as well as the other respect the allegation of the correspondent is as unjust as it is ungenerous. I repeat the expression of my regret that such things get into the Gazette.
I am ready to join with you in endeavoring to remove all the old roots of bitterness growing out of diverse antecedents. Such, in my administration of the State Government, was my constant endeavor. The result is seen in the present union and strength of the Republican Party in Ohio. Last winter and at Chicago however more of those roots were served up for my entertainment than suited either my palate or my digestion. I trust that as little similar entertainment may be offered hereafter as possible.
* From letter-book 7, pp. 66-68.
SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 286-8
WASHINGTON, May 30, 1860.
GENTLEMEN, Your official communication of the 18th inst., informing me that the representatives of the Republican party of the United States, assembled at Chicago on that day, had by unanimous vote selected me as their candidate for the office of Vice-President of the United States, has been received, together with the resolutions adopted by the convention as its declaration of principles. These resolutions enunciate clearly and forcibly the principles which unite us, and the objects proposed to be accomplished. They address themselves to all, and there is neither necessity nor propriety in entering upon a discussion of any of them. They have the approval of my judgment, and in any action of mine will be faithfully and cordially sustained. I am profoundly grateful to those with whom it is my pride to cooperate for the nomination so unexpectedly conferred. And I desire to tender through you to the members of the convention my sincere thanks for the confidence thus reposed in me. Should the nomination which I now accept be ratified by the people, and the duties devolved on me of presiding over the Senate of the United States, it will be my earnest endeavor faithfully to discharge them with a just regard for the rights of all.
It is to be observed in connection with the doings of the Republican convention, that the paramount object with us is to preserve the normal conditions of our territorial domains as homes for freemen. The able advocate and defender of Republican principles whom you have named for the highest place that can gratify the ambition of man comes from a State which has been made what it is by the special action in that respect by the wise and good men who founded our institutions. The rights of free labor have been there vindicated and maintained. The thrift and enterprise which so distinguish Illinois, one of the most flourishing States of the glorious West, we would see secured to all the territories of the Union, and restore peace and harmony to the whole country by bringing back the government to what it was under the wise and patriotic men who created it. If the Republicans shall succeed in that object, as they hope to, they will be held in grateful remembrance by the busy and teeming millions of the future ages.
H. HAMLIN.
To the HON. GEORGE ASHMUN,
President of the Convention, and others of the Committee.
SOURCE: Charles Eugene Hamlin, The Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin, p. 351; David W. Bartlett, The Life and Public Services of Hon. Abraham Lincoln, p. 356-7
Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher
Continued from 5/30 (reply #10.)
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
Sorry to hear about the tooth! I hope you can see a dentist soon.
Professors need a break every now and then.
Clove oil will relieve a tooth ache.
5.56mm
Thanks for the tip. Wife got a giant bag of cloves a while back. Maybe I will press some for the oil.
Thanks. Tomorrow, I hope. Oatmeal and mashed potatoes until then.
You could try a cotton ball soaked in rum, as well.
Not a good idea. I gave up rum and other alcoholic beverages in May 1988. Unless they have been transubstantiated, of course.
Congratulations on many years ... and maybe clove oil will help your tooth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.