On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He said, "[T]he world will little note nor long remember what we say here". That, of course, is not true, the world still remembers what Abraham Lincoln said, most notably "that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Perhaps we have forgotten why he spoke those words and why his words still speak to us today.
President Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the cemetery in Gettysburg. The country was in the midst of a long and bloody war between the northern and southern States that began thirty-nine days after President Lincoln's inauguration. At Gettysburg, the President called on the citizens of the United States to rededicate themselves to ensuring that the government created by the Constitution would continue and the United States would remain undivided.
Today, although we are not engaged in a bloody war, we are very much a country divided. Some want us to return to a time when women had few rights. Others want us to return to the days of the "wild west" when people walked around with holstered guns and/or carrying rifles. There are also those who believe only white Christians should be allowed to vote and run the government on the local, state and federal levels.
These groups all claim to be following in the footsteps of the Revolutionaries and Founders. They are all wrong. Those who fought the War for Independence did not do so to create a government of the few, by the few and for the few. President Lincoln did not accept war and Union soldiers did not give their lives to preserve a government of the few, by the few and for the few.
Now we must answer President Lincoln's call with our voices and our votes. We must stand together, united in our belief and determined to protect and pass on to future generations a government that is truly of, by and for all people.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Flag Day June 14, 2014
In a column published July 6, 1970 and then included in her book, I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression, Erma Bombeck wrote about the American Flag. She wrote because of something she had seen on television. A group students and New York construction workers had an altercation and part of it involved the American flag. The students referred to the American flag as the construction workers flag and symbol. What struck Erma Bombeck most was the students did not think of the flag as their flag or symbol.
As a parent, I guess I always thought respect for the flag was congenital. Is it possible I was so busy teaching the basics, I never took the time to teach “flag.”
She included in her column a few well known quotes along with her own words about what she was saying to her children instead of teaching "flag".
She then ended with these words:
I remember standing up in school, putting my hand over my heart and saying the Pledge of Allegiance while looking at the flag. I remember watching a "floating flag" moving across the arena at a Florida Panthers hockey game. I am always filled with pride and respect at the sight of the American flag. Pride because it symbolizes the best we can be, even when we forget. Respect for all who fought in wars to gain our freedom, preserve our Union and protect our freedom.
As a parent, I guess I always thought respect for the flag was congenital. Is it possible I was so busy teaching the basics, I never took the time to teach “flag.”
She included in her column a few well known quotes along with her own words about what she was saying to her children instead of teaching "flag".
“Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light.…”
(Don’t slouch. Pick up your feet. Don’t talk with food in your mouth. Stop squinting. Turn that radio down. Get off the phone. Tie that shoestring before you trip on it.”)
Did I forget to tell them it was their flag they hoisted over Mount Suribachi? Their flag that flies over champions at the Olympics? Their flag that draped the coffin of John F. Kennedy? Their flag that was planted in the windless atmosphere of the moon? It’s pride. It’s love. It’s goose bumps. It’s tears. It’s determination. It’s a torch that is passed from one generation to another.
I defy you to look at it and tell me you feel nothing.
What does the American Flag mean to you?
(The link is to the online text of Erma Bombeck's book. Scroll down toward the end to read Flag)
Monday, December 30, 2013
about Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address. Carl Sandburg, a Lincoln biographer, described the day as overcast and grey. However, just before Lincoln began speaking, the sun burst through the clouds, but lasted only a moment. Clouds quickly covered the rays of sunlight, once again returning the day to grayness. Perhaps the cloudiness was fitting. Lincoln's speech was somber. He neither celebrated his victory in the presidential election, nor the North's impending victory over the South.
Rather, he called upon his audience and his still divided country to repent for the sins that had led to so much bloodshed and to find a way to "bind up the nation's wounds" as compassionately as possible. Perhaps it is also fitting that the sunshine lasted only for a few moments because this was to be Lincoln's last public statement and last great piece of writing. Forty two days later, on April 16, 1865, Abraham Lincoln died, the victim of a deranged assassin. The man who would be hailed as one of his country's greatest presidents and respected as one of his country's finest writers had put down his pen forever.
Lincoln had grown up on the frontier, in a time and place where little, if any, emphasis was placed on "book learning". His formal education amounted to approximately one year. But lack of traditional schooling did not stem his desire to learn. Lincoln read constantly. He could quote passages from the Bible verbatim and would use either implied or direct quotes in many of his speeches. He was also fond of Shakespeare's monologues. However, it was his fascination and respect for words that would ultimately lead to his inclusion in Literature books. Both the Bible and Shakespeare would provide a foundation in word usage upon which he would continually build and with which he would constantly experiment. Although his grammar when speaking along with his manner of pronunciation reflected his frontier upbringing and he often seemed "backward" to many of the highly educated men of his time, even his most vocal detractors and critics could not deny his talent as a writer.
The Second Inaugural Address was the culmination of not only everything he had learned, but of everything he felt and believed. The Second Inaugural Address was as Stephen B. Oates wrote in With Malice Toward None, his biography of Abraham Lincoln, "a terse speech, succinct and lyrical" . Although longer than the 272 words he spoke at Gettysburg, the Second Inaugural Address was still a relatively short speech, especially since the battle still raged even as he spoke. He had no need to ramble on endlessly like many of the orators and politicians of his day. He did, however, have a need and a desire to see his plan for Reconstruction succeed.
He knew the Radicals Republicans wanted the South to be punished harshly and severely, and that they were gaining power in the Congress. He also understood that inflicting harsh punishments on the Southern States would only lead to more bitterness and animosity between the North and South. He hoped to reach the people on both sides of the conflict, not just the Northerners, and gain their support for a more lenient reconciliation.
Reaction to Lincoln's speech was somewhat subdued, as had been the case at Gettysburg. Carl Sandburg noted in ABRAHAM LINCOLN THE PRAIRIE YEARS AND THE WAR YEARS that "Lincoln . . . giving his own estimate of his address . . . expected it 'to wear as well as - perhaps better than - anything I have produced, but I believe it is not immediately popular'". Perhaps his audience was expecting a speech calling for a harsh punishment of the Southern rebels. Or words that celebrated the North's impending triumph over the troublesome South. They certainly were not prepared to be called upon to accept responsibility for this terrible war.
In the opening paragraph, Lincoln stated that there was no need for a lengthy speech, as had been the case at his first Inauguration. Everyone already knew how the war was progressing, and that with each day, the North inched closer to victory. Refusing to give in to over confidence, Lincoln said, "With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured". That statement reflected Lincoln's sentiment towards the South. He wanted his country to become whole again. He tried not to look harshly upon the South or any members of the insurrection if he had any reason to look with kindness, gentleness or compassion.
The first paragraph reflected Lincoln's earlier, more analytical style of writing. Devoid of any emotion, Lincoln's writings prior to the the 1850's reflected his realistic, rational way of thinking. Like Jefferson, whom he admired greatly, Lincoln prescribed to the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment. Emphasis was placed on resolving issues in a clear, reasonable manner. Still, Theodore Blegen, in Abraham Lincoln A New Portrait , said that Lincoln "was a master of balance and had an ear for rhythm".
The second paragraph, much like the first, offered widely known facts, recalling the beginnings of the war. One side wanted to be allowed to leave the Union peacefully; the other side saw the Union as indivisible. Lincoln wrote that while one side was "devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war". Although no one wanted war, some according to Lincoln "would make war rather than let the nation survive; and others would accept war rather than let it perish". However, in this paragraph he began to use the imagery that filled all his speeches.
He spoke of the Union as an entity, which could be saved or destroyed, and remained convinced throughout his tenure in the Oval office that the Union was not only perpetual, but worth preserving. That a democratic form of government was not only viable, but the best form of government. Those who shared his views, who wanted to save the union, were willing to accept a war to protect what their ancestors had died to create. Those who believed that the Union was nothing more than non-binding confederation, whom he did not view as enemies, but as instruments of a rebellion, were willing to fight a war to destroy what had been achieved in a previous bloody battle.
The heart of the Second Inaugural Address was the third paragraph. Here Lincoln meshed reason with spirituality in a way he had never done, nor for that matter, had any other statesman of his time. As Earl Schenk Miers wrote in Abraham Lincoln A New Portrait , "it is difficult to find a speech by any modern statesman so intensely religious in feeling". Here Lincoln departed from the thinking of Jefferson and other Deists.
The opening lines of the third paragraph dealt with the issue of slavery. An issue that Lincoln not only believed was morally wrong, but was a glaring contradiction in a country where all men were supposed to be created equal. As long as slavery continued to exist, the United States could never achieve the true democracy its founding fathers envisioned. However, to say that Lincoln believed in totally equality between the races would be erroneous. He, like many of his contemporaries, believed that the African race was inferior. But he also believed that everyone had the same right to be paid for work done.
He admitted that slavery was, in fact, the cause of the war. That the desire to extend slavery and the desire to contain slavery had ripped the country apart. But neither side was prepared for what happened. No one expected such a long and bloody contest. As Lincoln wrote, "each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding".
Lincoln then painted a vivid picture of the similarities of the North and South by saying that "both read the same Bible, and pray to the same same God". These similarities, this common ground, should have provided a basis for keeping the two sides together. Yet, it didn't. Ironically, both sides had used the same Bible and the same God to justify opposing points of view. Also ironic, he pointed out, was that both sides asked God's help to secure a victory. Both sides believed that their cause was "good" and the other's was "evil."
The next example of Lincoln's powerful use of imagery is the middle part of a sentence consisting of thirty six words in which Lincoln described the slave-owners as men who would "dare ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces". God was presented as "just", as Someone who could never condone the institution of slavery. The slave-owners "dared" to petition God for permission to continue committing a moral wrong. The idea that they were "wringing", forcibly extracting their livelihood from another race's "sweat", would seem to have violated the Second Commandment, which instructs us to "love one another".
The last segment of the sentence mentioned in the previous paragraph, "but let us judge not that we will not be judged" was the first of three quotes from the Bible. Although Lincoln used an adaptation from Matthew 7:1, not a direct quote, the effectiveness and meaning were in no way diminished. He reminded his audience, and in a much larger sense, all of mankind, of the dangers of passing judgment, of putting ourselves on the same level as God. On a deeper level, those eleven words represented yet another plea for a lenient reconciliation between the North and South.
Since both sides had opposing views, he noted that "the prayers of both could not be answered". Therefore, according to Lincoln, God could not grant victory to both sides of the explosive issue. He had to be either for or against slavery. One side had to be right. One side, with God's help should have emerged victorious. That God did not seem to come to the aid of either side completely, and that the war had dragged on for four years led Lincoln to conclude that "the Almighty has His own purposes". Perhaps the conflict went beyond a battle over whether the Union would be preserved or destroyed, whether democratic governments could survive or perish. What, then, was the real meaning and purpose of war? Why had it continued for so long?
Those were the questions Lincoln pondered on a daily basis. Those were the questions that haunted him each time he was informed of the enormous amounts of casualties every day. In his search for an answer, he turned to the one book with which he was most familiar, the Bible. Lincoln offered his listeners a direct quote, Matthew 18:7, as an explanation: "Woe unto the world because of offences! for if it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offences cometh!"
Lincoln went on to add that perhaps the institution of slavery in America was one of those "offences" which, although morally and ethically wrong, had to happen. But now, by God's decision, not man's, had to be removed. But it was not only the South who had committed a sin. Lincoln, said Stephen B. Oates, had "come to view it [the war] finally as a divine punishment for the sin of slavery, as a terrible retribution visited by God on a guilty people, in the North as well South". Lincoln asserted that the war was not, as many thought, a battle of good versus evil. Neither side was good, because both sides were responsible for the sin that had been committed. While the South had engaged in Slavery directly, the North, by allowing it to continue, was equally responsible. Both sides had been willing participants in committing the offence; both sides would be held accountable.
The last sentence of the third paragraph, which consists of sixty eight words, contained both graphic imagery as well as the final quote from the Bible and addressed the possibility that, although the nation prayed for a quick resolution to conflict, the war might have continued indefinitely. Lincoln began by acknowledging that God's will, His purposes, were superior and took precedence over the will of any one man or group of people. This was yet another illustration that he had clearly departed from his previous Deistic beliefs. He described the institution of Slavery as "the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil". He theorized that God might have intended for all the wealth, all the material possessions, all which had been received through the sin of slavery to be destroyed. If that was His will, then there was little anyone could do to prevent it from happening.
He added that perhaps the time had come to pay the price for the grave offense committed against the African race, and that God might have now decided that "every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn by the sword". The idea of the blood shed through the inhumane treatment of the African race by the slave owners being paid for by the blood now shed during the Civil War further illustrated Lincoln's innate sense of balance when putting words together, and, Garry Wills noted in Lincoln at Gettysburg The Words That Remade America that unlike the Gettysburg Address, this time "war is made to pay history's dues".
Lincoln ended the sentence with his last direct quote from the Bible, a verse from the nineteenth Psalm: "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether". He never strayed from his belief that God was a just God, who did not act in a vengeful manner. Rather, he surmised that God had allowed such a destructive and bloody war to not only happen, but continue because of man's inhumanity to man.
The last paragraph of the Second Inaugural Address was simply one long sentence. Yet it was, and still is, the single most important group of words in the speech. Lincoln's hope for the future, and his plan for Reconstruction after the war ended were contained in this last paragraph.
Against the call for a harsh plan for Reconstruction designed to break the will of the South, Lincoln urged not only the North, but the South as well, to move forward "with malice toward none; with charity for all". For as long as the animosity continued, as long as there were voices shouting for severe measures against the South, then the lessons of the great war would have gone unlearned; the seeds of bitterness, which could have led to another conflict, might have been planted. Lincoln cautioned his audience and his country against acting rashly, against putting their own desires above God's will. Rather he reminded them of their humanness, of their humbleness, of their, and his need to depend on God for guidance in re-uniting the country. Lincoln also talked about the need to show compassion to all who had been affected by the war. Once again, subtly reiterating his call for a lenient Reconstruction.
The final twenty words of the paragraph called not only to the country in 1865, but to us today "to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations". Lincoln knew, all too well, the agony and pain associated with any war. He, more than anyone else, had borne the burden of conflict on his shoulders, and felt the anguish deep with in his very being. His plea to secure peace, to avoid another war, is as relevant at this moment as it was he spoke them.
Although Lincoln never considered himself a poet, no discussion about his prose is complete without mentioning its poetic qualities. According to Richard Hanser in Lincoln and the Poets, there was a "recurrent strain of poetry in Abraham Lincoln". If poetry is perceived, not as merely, rhymed stanzas, but as metered, lyrical verses alive with imagery and driven by emotion, then Lincoln's contribution to the world of poetry can be neither overlooked nor over estimated. His Second Inaugural Address has been called one of the finest examples of prose poetry.
The same reasons given in previous passages as to why this speech deserves to be counted among the best prose ever written easily prove why Lincoln's works are also discussed in poetic terms. The imagery, the vividness of the words, the picture that is clearly painted, and the emotion combine to produce prose which goes beyond merely telling a story or stating a case. The poetic quality of Lincoln's later writings enabled him to touch the hearts of his audiences, and stir their emotions in a way only true poets can.
The true tests of any writing are whether it can endure long after the paper it was written on has faded and yellowed, and whether it can continue to stir the emotions. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address easily passes on both counts. His words not only deserved to be studied in both history and literature classes, but should also be read and reread by anyone searching for answers to the present day conflicts and problems threatening to shatter the world. As David Anderson wrote in his book, Abraham Lincoln , "in his final formal address, Lincoln achieved the heights of noble human emotion". Lincoln talked about love, tolerance and acceptance and spoke of man's inhumanity to man as being the true cause of the bloodiest war the history of the United States. He understood that people, as a whole, must change and adopt a more compassionate view of one, and that through our differences we can find our similarities. Lincoln is still speaking to us. We need only listen, and we might be able to begin the process of healing the world's wounds
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Hamilton and Madison were wrong
On the ninth day of the United States Government shut down, one thing is clear: Alexander Hamilton and James Madison were wrong. During the debates over ratification of the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists were deeply concerned about the possibility of groups and/or factions gaining control of he government and forcing their ideas and agenda on the citizens of the United States. Both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison addressed these concerns.
Hamilton, in Federalist Number 9, uses the words of the philosopher Montesquieu to demonstrate that larger governing bodies can be an effective force against factions gaining control because the other members of the governing body would act to stop that from happening. Hamilton chose to quote Montesquieu directly because the Anti-Federalists used Montesquieu's writings to oppose a central government. Montesquieu believed in very small republics.
Madison, in Federalist 10, acknowledged that factions and parties will form. He defined a faction as: "a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."
Madison believed that "if a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote." The faction could "clog the administration". Madison also knew that factions could gain a majority and believed that "the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens."
But Both Hamilton and Madison believed that Congress would ultimately do what was right and best for the citizens. How sad that a small group of Republicans proved them wrong.
Hamilton, in Federalist Number 9, uses the words of the philosopher Montesquieu to demonstrate that larger governing bodies can be an effective force against factions gaining control because the other members of the governing body would act to stop that from happening. Hamilton chose to quote Montesquieu directly because the Anti-Federalists used Montesquieu's writings to oppose a central government. Montesquieu believed in very small republics.
Madison, in Federalist 10, acknowledged that factions and parties will form. He defined a faction as: "a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."
Madison believed that "if a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote." The faction could "clog the administration". Madison also knew that factions could gain a majority and believed that "the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens."
But Both Hamilton and Madison believed that Congress would ultimately do what was right and best for the citizens. How sad that a small group of Republicans proved them wrong.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Stunned...
I am stunned that the Republican controlled - Tea Party influenced - House of Representatives has allowed the United States Federal Government to shut down. But what is more disturbing is their reason: the Affordable Care Act, more commonly referred to as ObamaCare. For reasons which I cannot even begin to comprehend, Republicans in the House and Senate as well as Republican Governors and Republican controlled State Legislatures do not believe that every citizen of this country should be able to see a doctor or fill a prescription or have a life-saving operation at prices they can actually afford. What is even worse, yes there is something even worse, they have managed to convince some of the very people who could benefit from affordable health care that it is bad. How can this be? How can being able to go to a doctor, have medication and/or surgery that can save a life be wrong?
The Republicans have convinced those people that the Federal Government is forcing them to something they do not want to do and should not have to do. One group in Florida who opposes the ACA uses the word liberty in their name. This reminds me of the Republican led fight against a mandatory seat belt law in Massachusetts back in the late seventies/early eighties. How dare Governor Dukakis take away peoples' rights to impale themselves on steering wheels? And how dare President Obama take away peoples' rights to die rather than seek life-saving medical attention?
The Republicans have convinced those people that the Federal Government is forcing them to something they do not want to do and should not have to do. One group in Florida who opposes the ACA uses the word liberty in their name. This reminds me of the Republican led fight against a mandatory seat belt law in Massachusetts back in the late seventies/early eighties. How dare Governor Dukakis take away peoples' rights to impale themselves on steering wheels? And how dare President Obama take away peoples' rights to die rather than seek life-saving medical attention?
Thursday, April 4, 2013
When the Republican Party supported 'wage-earners'
The Republican Party has long been identified as the "party of big business'. Their opposition to raising the minimum wage, their refusal to support legislation which protects the rights of workers and their attempts to break unions would certainly give one reason to believe that the GOP has always allied itself with big business. However, that is not true.
To say that the group of people classified as "wage-earners" was crucial to the development of the Republican Party would not be an understatement. "Wage-earners" in a society that prided itself on "independent yeoman farmers" was seen by most Southerners and some Northerners as a form of "slavery" far worse than anything in the South. However, the founders of the Republican party saw this group of laborers, who they believed had both the opportunity and motivation to improve their condition in life because they were free to earn wages, as a symbol of the free Northern society. As Eric Froner noted, "Republicans consolidated the free labor ideology and gave it its deepest meaning." A meaning that had been enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and forever protected and guaranteed by the Constitution: freedom.
For the Republicans, a slave society was "the antitheis of free" and the key to the free society in the North was the idea that upward mobility existed. Those who were born poor were not condemned to remain poor all their lives. Nor, for that matter, were they condemned to a life of labor. Many "wage-earners" believed that their jobs were not the "end", but rather a "means to an end": ownership of land and independence.
Republican political thought and ideology was based on the idea of "free labor", that is, a labor force whose members were free to choose the type of work they would do, the manner in which they would dispose of their earnings, how long they would work and at what rate of pay. They were, as Abraham Lincoln would say, free to enjoy "the fruits of their labor". Granted this utopian ideal never really exist, and the same "free labor" ideology was used to protect employers from government interference regarding regulation of the work place and prevent employees from a legal recourse to address their grievances. However, people in the North believed that this ideal society could exist, and the only obstacle in its way was the slave society of the South.
When Salmon Chase wrote and spoke about the SlavePower of the South which dominated the Federal Government and threatened to dominate the country, the implications were clear. The imposition of Southern society on the North would not only reintroduce slavey to a section of the country that had rid itself of that "peculiar institution", but would also destroy the upward mobility and lack of "class structure" that the North saw as one of its greatest assets. The South, in the opinion of the Republicans and many Northerners, was ruled by a small slave-owning planter aristocracy that impoverished a large group of white people because there was no chance of upward mobility, refused to accept change because it threatened their status and power, and enslaved an even larger group to do the work that they refused to do.
The most important contribution made by this new group of "wage-earners" was not that they comprised sixty percent of the Northern population and therefore, if they voted as a group, would give any national candidate a clear majority in the North. Rather, the concept of "free labor", which they symbolized, became a unifying force, not only within the newly formed Republican party and throughout Northern society, but also offered the common ground upon which many Northern Democrats and former Whigs could agree.
For Northern Democrats who now felt alienated from their party because of their anti-slavery stance but never would have joined forces with Whigs or embraced Whig ideology, the issue of "free labor", which "lay at the heart of Republican ideology" allowed them to join the Republican party without necessarily compromising their beliefs. These Democratic leaders who would exert considerable influence in the still developing party were from the Jacksonian era. They saw the idea of "free labor" as not only compatible with Jacksonian democracy, but as a natural extension of it. Just as universal male suffrage had opened the doors of government to the common man and put him on the path to independence but allowing him a political voice, so "free labor" would open the doors of land ownership to those born in poverty and ensure that the egalitarian society of independent landowners envisioned by the Founding Fathers and put forth by both Jeffereson and Jackson as the ideal would flourish.
Much to the dismay of Abolitionists and Radical Republicans who called for the immediate destruction of the institution based on moral precepts, Slavery was not seen, by a significant number in the North, in terms of how it degraded and/or abused the slaves. Rather, it was seen in terns of how it degraded and/or abused the poorer whites in society. Northern political leaders and journalists wrote at great length about the degradation of the poor white Southerner who, because of the aristocratic nature of the South, had no chance for upward mobility, and who, because this same Southern aristocracy viewed menial labor by whites as demeaning, were forever doomed to a life of poverty. Their Northern brothers, however, had, through "free labor" the chance to move up the social ladder. The extension of this "free labor" into the South would offer the same freedom to poor whites.
Given the fact that the majority of whites during this period, North as well as South, believed the white race was superior to the black, the promotion of "free labor" and the containment of slavery to one section of the country was yet another source of unity. By keeping Slavery and blacks out of new territories and states, the homogeneity of the white race in those areas would be protected. People may have believed Slavery that Slavery was morally wrong. They may have viewed Slavery as a contradiction to the democracy. They may have understood that no country can profess to be free when slavery exists. But they did not believe in total and complete equality between the races.
The "wage-earners" and the idea of a society built on "free labor", not slavery, was the glue that held the North together. Whatever their political and philosophical differences, Northerners, as a society, believed that "free labor" was necessary to maintain their ideal of a country which offered its citizens a "national freedom" and the opportunity to achieve economic independence.
To say that the group of people classified as "wage-earners" was crucial to the development of the Republican Party would not be an understatement. "Wage-earners" in a society that prided itself on "independent yeoman farmers" was seen by most Southerners and some Northerners as a form of "slavery" far worse than anything in the South. However, the founders of the Republican party saw this group of laborers, who they believed had both the opportunity and motivation to improve their condition in life because they were free to earn wages, as a symbol of the free Northern society. As Eric Froner noted, "Republicans consolidated the free labor ideology and gave it its deepest meaning." A meaning that had been enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and forever protected and guaranteed by the Constitution: freedom.
For the Republicans, a slave society was "the antitheis of free" and the key to the free society in the North was the idea that upward mobility existed. Those who were born poor were not condemned to remain poor all their lives. Nor, for that matter, were they condemned to a life of labor. Many "wage-earners" believed that their jobs were not the "end", but rather a "means to an end": ownership of land and independence.
Republican political thought and ideology was based on the idea of "free labor", that is, a labor force whose members were free to choose the type of work they would do, the manner in which they would dispose of their earnings, how long they would work and at what rate of pay. They were, as Abraham Lincoln would say, free to enjoy "the fruits of their labor". Granted this utopian ideal never really exist, and the same "free labor" ideology was used to protect employers from government interference regarding regulation of the work place and prevent employees from a legal recourse to address their grievances. However, people in the North believed that this ideal society could exist, and the only obstacle in its way was the slave society of the South.
When Salmon Chase wrote and spoke about the SlavePower of the South which dominated the Federal Government and threatened to dominate the country, the implications were clear. The imposition of Southern society on the North would not only reintroduce slavey to a section of the country that had rid itself of that "peculiar institution", but would also destroy the upward mobility and lack of "class structure" that the North saw as one of its greatest assets. The South, in the opinion of the Republicans and many Northerners, was ruled by a small slave-owning planter aristocracy that impoverished a large group of white people because there was no chance of upward mobility, refused to accept change because it threatened their status and power, and enslaved an even larger group to do the work that they refused to do.
The most important contribution made by this new group of "wage-earners" was not that they comprised sixty percent of the Northern population and therefore, if they voted as a group, would give any national candidate a clear majority in the North. Rather, the concept of "free labor", which they symbolized, became a unifying force, not only within the newly formed Republican party and throughout Northern society, but also offered the common ground upon which many Northern Democrats and former Whigs could agree.
For Northern Democrats who now felt alienated from their party because of their anti-slavery stance but never would have joined forces with Whigs or embraced Whig ideology, the issue of "free labor", which "lay at the heart of Republican ideology" allowed them to join the Republican party without necessarily compromising their beliefs. These Democratic leaders who would exert considerable influence in the still developing party were from the Jacksonian era. They saw the idea of "free labor" as not only compatible with Jacksonian democracy, but as a natural extension of it. Just as universal male suffrage had opened the doors of government to the common man and put him on the path to independence but allowing him a political voice, so "free labor" would open the doors of land ownership to those born in poverty and ensure that the egalitarian society of independent landowners envisioned by the Founding Fathers and put forth by both Jeffereson and Jackson as the ideal would flourish.
Much to the dismay of Abolitionists and Radical Republicans who called for the immediate destruction of the institution based on moral precepts, Slavery was not seen, by a significant number in the North, in terms of how it degraded and/or abused the slaves. Rather, it was seen in terns of how it degraded and/or abused the poorer whites in society. Northern political leaders and journalists wrote at great length about the degradation of the poor white Southerner who, because of the aristocratic nature of the South, had no chance for upward mobility, and who, because this same Southern aristocracy viewed menial labor by whites as demeaning, were forever doomed to a life of poverty. Their Northern brothers, however, had, through "free labor" the chance to move up the social ladder. The extension of this "free labor" into the South would offer the same freedom to poor whites.
Given the fact that the majority of whites during this period, North as well as South, believed the white race was superior to the black, the promotion of "free labor" and the containment of slavery to one section of the country was yet another source of unity. By keeping Slavery and blacks out of new territories and states, the homogeneity of the white race in those areas would be protected. People may have believed Slavery that Slavery was morally wrong. They may have viewed Slavery as a contradiction to the democracy. They may have understood that no country can profess to be free when slavery exists. But they did not believe in total and complete equality between the races.
The "wage-earners" and the idea of a society built on "free labor", not slavery, was the glue that held the North together. Whatever their political and philosophical differences, Northerners, as a society, believed that "free labor" was necessary to maintain their ideal of a country which offered its citizens a "national freedom" and the opportunity to achieve economic independence.
The Republicans, the present day Tea Party and the colonists of the 1700s
Thomas Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence, wrote that "when a long train of abuses and usurpations . . . evinces a design" intended to force a group of people to live "under absolute despotism", then "it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government . . . ."
The present day Tea Party members and supporters, as well as other conservative Republicans, like to think of themselves as carrying on in the tradition of the leaders of the American Revolution and fighting for the same freedoms against an equally tyrannical government. Are they really continuing the good fight to protect the freedoms gained in the American Revolution and guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights? Or are they misleading the public by wrapping themselves in the hallowed past but having little understanding as to the "abuses and usurpations" the people living in the colonies objected to in the 1700s?
To answer that question, it is necessary to understand what some of the "abuses and usurpations" to which Jefferson referred in the Declaration of Independence. Perhaps the best way to answer that question is to begin at the beginning with a brief explanation of how the colonies were chartered and how the first colonists viewed themselves and their relation to Britain.
David Ramsay, in his HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION VOLUME ONE, which was originally published in Philadelphia by R.Aitken in 1789 and reprinted in 1990 by Liberty Fund, Inc. in 1990, discussed the initial grants of land to "Thomas Gates and his associates . . . adventurers . . . empowered to transport thither as many English subjects as should willingly accompany them; and it was declared 'that the colonists and their children should enjoy the same liberties as if they had remained, or were born, within the realm'"(Ramsay HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, VOLUME ONE, 6). That declaration specifically guaranteed to all British citizens in the North American continent the same rights as citizens still living in Britain. The importance of this guarantee cannot be understated. For it was this promise of retained citizenship which formed the basis for the colonists' belief that initially Parliament, then King George III, had abused their powers and denied the colonists their rights as British citizens.
One of the most fundamental rights of British citizens was that they could not be taxed without having given their consent through their representatives in Parliament. If the colonists in remained British citizens and retained their rights, did Parliament have the right to impose taxes on them if they were not represented in Parliament? The question remained unresolved until 1767.
In that year, Parliament attempted to both answer that question and assert its complete authority over the North American colonies by passing the Townshend Acts. Many colonists believed the Acts were intended to impose a tax, not a duty. John Dickinson, in the second in his series of "Letters from a Farmer", wrote that the acts appeared "to me to be unconstitutional, and . . . destructive to the liberty of these colonies . . . ."(Dickinson, in Greene, Colonies to Nation). He also noted that "never did the British Parliament" until those Acts, "think of imposing duties in America, FOR THE PURPOSE OF RAISING REVENUE"(Dickinson).
Although Parliament had not previously tried a direct tax, the issue of whether Parliament had the authority to do so had been discussed in the early colonial period. David Ramsay wrote that "Massachusetts had . . .questioned the authority of Parliament to tax them and legislate for them"(Ramsay, 14) before the charter for Pennsylvania had been granted in 1781.
James Otis had addressed the subject of taxation in his "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved". Otis believed that "taxation without representation" was a deprivation of a fundamental basic right and would ultimately lead to the loss of all civil rights. He further stated "that no parts of His Majesty's dominion can be taxed without their consent; every part had a right to be represented"(Otis, in Greene, Colonies to Nation) and Parliament's denial of representation to every area of the empire "would seem to be a contradiction in practice of the theory of the constitution" (Otis).
Jonathan Mayew, who died before the passage of the Townshend Acts, also commented on the need for British citizens in North America to protect their rights. Bernard Baiylin, in his book Face of the Revolution, wrote that Mayew, a Congregationalist minister in Boston, clearly believed that "No claim to a natural obedience" to any ruler or ruling body "can or should override a people's 'just concern for their own rights, or legal, constitutional privileges'"(Bailyn, Faces of the Revolution,135). Like Otis and Dickinson, Mayew urged his listeners to remember their rights as Englishmen and defend those rights whenever the government appeared to be violating them.
"Taxation without representation" was a major issue and a dominant one in the minds of the colonists, but it certainly was not the only reason colonists were angered by the actions of Britain's rulers and their royal agents in the colonies. John Adams and Harbottle Dorr led very different lives. Adams would become President of the yet to be created United States. Dorr would die leaving barely enough assets to cover his accumulated debts. However, these two men had three things in common. Both were born in Massachusetts. Both came from families that were not wealthy. Both men detested Thomas Hutchinson, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts.
Adams believed that "Royal authority in Massachusetts in the 1760s was coming to rest increasingly . . . in the hands of a single family, the Hutchinsons"(Bailyn, 17) along with their relatives and friends who "were becoming absolute monopolists of public office"(Bailyn, 17). Adams saw the Hutchinson group as a social elite forming a ruling aristocracy based on birth not ability. A group who would do whatever would be most beneficial to them and increase their wealth. A group who would manipulate the facts in reports to the government in London for their own advantage. That such a group emerged in a country that was, for the most part, devoid of a hierarchical class structure must have infuriated many colonists, particularly those men who believed themselves better able to govern their colonies.
Dorr abhorred Hutchinson. While preserving an extensive collection of Boston newspapers, Dorr also made made countless numbers of notes on the margins of the various pages. His "index and commentaries catalogue Hutchinson's errors, correct his misstatements, and warn at every turn of his evil intentions. . . . explodes in the margins when the hated name appears"(Bailyn, 98-9). Dorr considered the Royal Governor to be villainous.
From the point of view of many of the colonists, chief among the "abuses" was Parliament's attempt, in the opinion of the colonists, to impose a tax without providing for colonial representation in the House of Commons or, at the very least, allowing the colonial legislatures to levy the necessary taxes. Having long identified themselves not merely as subjects of King George III, but as British citizens, the colonists could never allow even one of their fundamental rights to be taken from them.
Royal governors, like Thomas Hutchinson, who succeeded in creating a ruling aristocracy were guilty, in the eyes of may colonists, of usurping their power. They were not only interested in pleasing the Crown and Parliament, they were equally concerned with increasing their own wealth and power. What have President Obama and the Democrats done that is in any way similar to what happened in the colonies? The Tea Party and the conservative Republicans have more in common with the royal governors.
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