tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69281557897186645952024-03-14T11:09:49.949-04:00American History NowClassroom conversation and cultural commentary / Jim CullenJim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comBlogger637125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-23530117006953827772017-01-13T00:00:00.000-05:002017-01-13T00:00:23.801-05:00King's Survey: The Sound of Hope<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVPfC3crcM49rfTT2Nbjin-oDwNqmJwwtax6uAUYpm4y7vMydd3cnMh33T-NcGyj2OgiGQDf2Xu_UhqnqFIbIoXvx4fxFwlMHnqGDCWMYogVl4A01KUvt_S-LMmCn364CKxJyoXSOIYM/s1600/FDR-September-6-1936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVPfC3crcM49rfTT2Nbjin-oDwNqmJwwtax6uAUYpm4y7vMydd3cnMh33T-NcGyj2OgiGQDf2Xu_UhqnqFIbIoXvx4fxFwlMHnqGDCWMYogVl4A01KUvt_S-LMmCn364CKxJyoXSOIYM/s400/FDR-September-6-1936.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 130%;"><i><span style="font-style: italic;">in which we hear that truth is something that happens to an idea</span></i></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 130%;"><i><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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OK, gang, I have something I want you to listen to. This is president Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressing the nation, in his first "Fireside Address." The date is March 8, 1933, and the Great Depression is at its absolute nadir. The nation has a new president, and it's far from clear that he's up to the task of saving the country from disaster. So here he is:</div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking -- to talk with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks ....</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">What are you hearing? I'm not simply asking about what he's saying. I'm wondering, how does this </span><span style="font-size: 130%; font-style: italic;">sound </span><span style="font-size: 130%;">to you? </span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—He sounds reassuring.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Like a father.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;">—He sounds kinda flat to me. After all I've heard about the guy, I thought he'd sound a little more inspirational.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—The point is, he's trying to reassure people. He's trying to explain the situation to ordinary people, who don't necessarily understand banking stuff.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Well OK. But doesn't mean he can't, like, uplift them, does it?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—It's a crisis. People need calm.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">Well it is true that it was an especially scary moment. That long stretch of uncertainty from November of 1932, when FDR was elected, to March of 1933, when he took office, created a lot of uncertainty. The winter of '33 is probably when the nation's economy touched bottom. In part, that was not just unease about a transition, but also unease within the financial community about FDR himself. Was he really up to the job?</span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—The thing that bothers me a little is that I have this sense that he's talking down to people. It's a little condescending.</span></em></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—Well, yeah, but you're not really the target audience.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I know. But if what Mr. Cullen just said is true, and the bankers are the ones he needs to convince, is this really the right way to do it?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—No, it isn't. But he wants to get the rest of the country on his side. He can talk to the bankers in other ways.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">You're right, Adam. But Samantha's reaction is one that some people did have at the time. Rich people in particular were appalled by Roosevelt. They called him "a traitor to his class," because just like his illustrious cousin Theodore Roosevelt, he came from old money and championed the poor. And they felt he was dishonest."</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—How is this dishonest? He's explaining what happens when you put money in a bank!</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">Actually, Sadie, Roosevelt could be quite devious. And, in a way, he's being a little devious right at this very moment. Even as he was speaking, he had dozens of advisers<em>—</em>many of them holdovers from the Hoover administration, which he attacked relentlessly when running for president<em>—</em>working frantically behind the scenes to sort out good banks, bad banks, and ones that could possibly survive. But in order to that, he had to talk them up a bit. He had to make things sound better than they actually were. I wouldn't say Roosevelt lied, exactly, but let's just say he was doing a little of what politicians today call 'spin control.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em><span style="font-size: 130%;">—But he </span><span style="font-size: 130%; font-style: italic;">had </span><span style="font-size: 130%;">to do that. Sometimes you can't tell the whole truth.</span></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">You speaking from experience there, Sadie?</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Mr. K.! Are you suggesting that Susan has ever been anything other than totally truthful?</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">Well, in a way, yes. I reply.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Mr. K.!</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">Here I'm reminded of my favorite American philosopher, William James, who once said, "Truth happens to an idea." By </span><span style="font-size: 130%; font-style: italic;">telling </span><span style="font-size: 130%;">people things were going to turn out fine, and </span><span style="font-size: 130%; font-style: italic;">acting </span><span style="font-size: 130%;">as if things </span><span style="font-size: 130%; font-style: italic;">were </span><span style="font-size: 130%;">fine, they ended up becoming so. That's one of the reasons why FDR was so powerful. You look at a picture of the guy and you see this rich man, this still good-looking man, this guy who whipped polio and you think: </span><span style="font-size: 130%; font-style: italic;">He's</span><span style="font-size: 130%;"> not going to fail. And he doesn't. I mean, people still debate whether the policies actually worked in the long term. But that's kind of beside the point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">And so it is that I will say that I know all of you are going to do just fine when I test you on the various legislative programs of the New Deal in the final exam next month.</span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;">—Yeah, right.</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">"Yeah right is right. I've got faith in you, Jonah. I know this last exam is going to be real breakthrough for you.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—You're a tough bastard, Mr. K., you know that?</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">Why thank you, Jonah.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—You're very welcome.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-6693489588495873312017-01-11T00:00:00.000-05:002017-01-11T00:00:32.128-05:00King's Survey: Jay's Way<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<strong><em>In which a teacher prods a class to cast a cold eye on an American Dream </em></strong></div>
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<img alt="imgres" class=" size-full wp-image-2867 alignleft" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/imgres1.jpg" height="269" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/imgres1.jpg" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 16px 16px 16px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="187" /></div>
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OK, kids, so it's my understanding that Ms. Anthony and Mr. Kiedis and all the English teachers are doing The Great Gatsby in your English classes.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—We haven't finished it yet.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Us either.</em></span></div>
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Right. But you're all at least underway, right? Anybody less than halfway done? Good.</div>
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OK, then. I want to put a proposition up on the board.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—So here you go again, Mr. K. Violating department boundaries. I think there should be a fine for that kind of thing.</em></span></div>
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<em></em>Maybe so, Emily. But I was born to be wild this way. OK, so here's my proposition:</div>
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JAY GATSBY IS A PATHETIC FRAUD.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—Absolutely.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—No way!</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—He makes up his identity. Gatsby pretends to be something he’s not.</span></em></div>
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So you think he's a fraud <em>and</em> pathetic, Adam? </div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;">—No. Because even though Gatsby makes things up Nick Carraway admires his hope and his ambition.</span></em></div>
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Well that’s what <em>Nick</em> thinks, Ethan. That’s what <em>you</em> think, too?”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Yeah.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—He was definitely a fraud. But I’m not sure about pathetic. He did questionable things on the way up, but the fact that he was striving for something—he might not be pathetic.</span></em></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—Oh no, he’s definitely pathetic <span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> a fraud. He got where he was through fraudulence, cheating and going around the law<em>—</em></span></em></div>
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That’s fraud in the legal sense of the term. A crime.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—Yes, and he’s pathetic in the desperation with which he wants Daisy Buchanan.</span></em></div>
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Okay. But let’s step back. When you’re confronted with a statement like "Jay Gatsby is a pathetic fraud," what’s the <em>first</em> thing you should do?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Define.</em></span></div>
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Good, Jonquil. You’ve got to define your terms. Now let’s go back to the easier part of this: Is Jay Gatsby a fraud?”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—</em></span><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">Y</span><span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;">e</span><span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">s.</span></div>
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Why?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;">—Because he pretends to be someone he’s not.</span></div>
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That's right, Kylie. Some of the facts are reasonably clear: the man who calls himself Jay Gatsby was actually born James Gatz. He makes inaccurate factual statements about his background (among them that he lived in San Francisco, which he describes as “the Middle West”), and so on. There are other, unverifiable claims he makes that we can regard with some suspicion, but in any event there is no empirical doubt<em>—</em>the man says things that aren’t true, <em>ipso</em> <em>facto</em> he is a fraud. Correct?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—I’m not so sure.</em></span></div>
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Why the doubt, Ethan?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Well, I’m thinking about it. When James Gatz said he was Jay Gatsby, he kinda became that person. He followed all the rules of the person he invented. It's like my cousin's name is Eduardo, but everyone knows him as Nate.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Nate?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Hey, what can I say. I have a weird family.</em></span></div>
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So when Gatsby describes himself as “an Oxford man,” he’s saying something that’s factually accurate<em>—</em>he did go to Oxford<em>—</em>just not in the way people customarily think of it, getting an undergraduate degree and the like.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Yeah. Kinda like that.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—</em>They’re <em>all</em> a bunch of frauds.</span></div>
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Really? How so?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Daisy is pretending to be a faithful wife; Myrtle is pretending to be belong in the world of Tom, with whom she’s having an affair, Jordan is pretending . . . .</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em> —that she cares about anyone but herself?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Exactly.</em></span></div>
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Of course by that standard, we’re probably <em>all</em> frauds.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—The point about Gatsby is that he seems to have a kind of higher purpose. That’s why Nick admires him.</em></span></div>
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Okay. You understand my real point here, which is less about whether Gatsby is or isn’t a fraud, and more about having a clear standard by which you measure the term. Now let’s move on to a term I suspect is a little less clear: pathetic. What does it mean to be pathetic?”</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—Lame. That’s a word that comes to mind.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—To get to a desperation point. To stoop to a certain point.</em></span></div>
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I guess it’s time for me to share my secret dream with you. My secret dream is, well<em>—</em>my secret dream is that I really think I can make it in the NBA. I want to become a professional basketball player.</div>
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I mean, yeah, sure, it’s a long shot. Yes, I’ll have to lose a few pounds, work out a little harder. And yes, I’m not all that tall. But if I’m willing to work at it, and give it everything I’ve got, I mean, why not? I can do this! I mean, this is America, right?</div>
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So: Am I pathetic?”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—</em>No. You’re not pathetic.”</span></div>
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Why not, Kylie?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—</em>Because I think that having dreams is never pathetic.</span></em></div>
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Even my dream of playing in the NBA?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—No matter how unattainable dreams may be.</em></span></div>
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Wait a <em>second</em>. Are you suggesting my dream is unattainable?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—No! NoNoNo!</em></span></div>
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I'm going to pretend I don't hear all your laughter.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Striving for a dream is never pathetic. Even if it’s unattainable. That may be hard for a person to deal with in the end, but it’s not pathetic. Gatsby realizes that his dream is never what he made it out to be, but— </em></span></div>
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Are you saying Gatsby’s dream is also unattainable?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;">—Well, he kind of got her, at least at first. But what I mean is that dreams and goals are what make life . . . . </span></em></div>
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Miserable? </div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I think you should quite while you're behind, Kylie.</em></span></div>
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Dreams are vicious things, Kylie, are they not?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—No.</em></span></div>
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No?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;">—No. You have to keep pushing. You have to deal with the pain of it, and maybe have a new dream. Because that’s how you keep going, how you keep going forward.</span></em></div>
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Jonah, you're a basketball fan. Do you endorse my dream of making it in the NBA? You think I should do it?” </div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em> —Sure. Why not.</em></span></div>
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Wow. I can't tell who's more cruel. Kyle for encouraging me, or you for your indifferent shrug.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—</em>I'm not cruel!</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—If you’re striving to better yourself, that’s fine, she says. But if you start closing off other avenues – like if you quit your day job and waste all this money training—</em></span></div>
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What are you implying, Sadie?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Well, obviously you can’t make it in the NBA.</em></span></div>
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Oh really? Well what if I’m a Kylie kind of guy and insist on it? That makes me pathetic?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—In my opinion, yes.</em></span></div>
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Why?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—Because you’re throwing away what you have for the sake of something that’s never going to happen.</span></em></div>
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How does what you're saying apply to Gatsby?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—He wants to repeat the past, he wants to take back those five years he lost. Gatsby wants Daisy not to have married, not to have had a daughter, not to have never had feelings for her husband Tom. That's impossible. And insisting on it is pathetic.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Actually, it’s the other characters in the book who strike me as more pathetic.”</em></span></div>
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Really, Em? How so?”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—They’re so bored with themselves. They don’t know what to do.</em></span></div>
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Why is that pathetic? I mean, maybe it’s obnoxious, or just unattractive. But pathetic?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I think it’s pathetic, I guess, because they don’t have dreams. </em></span></div>
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How about that, Emily the romantic.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I'm just full of surprises, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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No doubt.</div>
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All right then. So here’s our <em>Spark Notes</em> summary of <em>The Great Gatsby</em>: “It’s a book about desperately pathetic frauds, of whom Gatsby is the least pathetic and fraudulent.”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—I just don’t see him as a pathetic fraud, she says. Actually, I think he’s kind of a tragic hero.</em></span></div>
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Well now, that’s a term we haven’t heard in this discussion. Tragic hero? How so?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">—Well, because of stuff that people like Kylie and Emily have been saying. He has something and he works hard toward it. He’s like the most developed character in the book. I think we’re putting far too much emphasis on the attainability of the dream in deciding whether it’s pathetic or not. Actually, I think Gatsby was successful on a lot of levels. He imagined a life, he lived it out, he gained a lot of respect.</span></em></div>
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Well, yes. That’s true. But those are means, not ends. You’re saying that if I lose twenty pounds, improve my jump shot, maybe improve my sense of athletic fashion, I’m not pathetic, even if I don’t make it to the NBA, right?”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Right. Because you’ve moved toward your goal.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—As long as you don’t let it define your life.</span></em></div>
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All right. I’ll buy that. But let me ask you this: To what degree does the goal itself matter? Maybe it’s not pathetic to devote, or even lose, your life in a quest for world peace or to defeat racism. But Gatsby had a dream of winning the heart of Daisy. Here I gotta ask: Daisy? Like me in the NBA, no? More to the point: What kind of dream is Daisy? I’ll tell you what makes Gatsby pathetic: It’s that <em>Daisy</em> is what he wants! “Oh the shirts! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such beautiful shirts before! Isn't she the epitome of a shallow person?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—I think you're really underestimating how hard it is to be Daisy. She's living in a very sexist world.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Damn straight.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Well it's not like Gatsby is exactly a brilliant thinker either. </em></span></div>
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Right. Like that list of his. Like "Be Nicer to Parents." Now <em>there’s</em> a moron for you.”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Daisy represents everything that Gatsby wants, she’s saying. It’s the house, the pool, the status.</em></span></div>
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So Gatsby objectifies her? She’s a status symbol</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Yeah.</em></span></div>
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Unlike all of you, who when you fall in love are actually in love with the authentic person, not some notion of what they appear to be.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;">—Well, that’s what he does, seeing her as the missing piece to a puzzle.</span></em></div>
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But that’s pretty shallow, isn’t it, Ethan?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—I guess so.</em></span></div>
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I mean, you wouldn’t make a mistake like that, now would you, Kylie? </div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I guess not.</em></span></div>
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I guess not, too. I'm also guessing that talking about this stuff isn't a pathetic bid for relevance on my part, a failed effort to make my class meaningful in your lives. Turns out it's easy to be one, even when you're not striving to make it to the NBA.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Well, if it makes you feel any better, Mr. K., I don't think you're fraudulent either.</span></em></div>
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You don't <em>think</em> so, huh, Em?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I've got faith in you.</em></span></div>
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Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-31007511704682127602017-01-09T00:00:00.000-05:002017-01-09T00:00:19.328-05:00The Politics of Amelia Lorate<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
which we see that progress can be a circuitous business</span></em><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></h4>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt;">So here’s the deal kids. There’s a new representative in
Congress. Her name is Amelia Lorate, widely known as “Mel.” She’s just
introduced a bill, and it goes like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro";">That
all high school graduates in the United States must give a year of service to
their country by either joining the armed forces or doing some form of
community work from a prescribed list of activities (e.g. tutoring poor
children, working in a national park, or aiding senior citizens. Student will
be paid the minimum wage; those without it will be eligible for welfare and
Medicaid. The program will be paid for with taxes on cigarettes, chocolate, and
gasoline.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We are all members of the committee that will
be debating this bill and deciding whether or not to refer it to the House
floor. Lorate herself is absent today, because she’s just gone into labor with
twins. I’m the chair of the committee, and have not yet taken a position,
though I will I’m told that earlier in this Congressional session Lorate
privately referred to me as a “limp moderate.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Ouch.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Well, I guess we know how you’re voting on
this one.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not necessarily, Kylie. I’m playing my cards
close to my vest one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Why is that?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, let’s just say I have a few irons in the
fire of my own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Irons in the fire?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s an expression. It means having a few
possibilities I’m pursuing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Ooh. Mr. K. Savvy political insider.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s me, Em. Anyway, let’s start with a
non-binding vote so we have a sense of where the committee stands at the
outset. We’ll refer Lorate’s bill out if we have a majority. Any of you can
propose an amendment to the bill, but that will require a two-thirds vote to be
attached to it. So let me get a show of hands? Who’s in favor?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hmm. Looks like we’re six votes short of a
majority. I actually think that’s pretty close. But let’s hear from some
skeptics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #993300; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—This bill sounds reasonable to me. But I
think I need to hear more about it.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I don’t need to hear another word. I hate it.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fair enough Jonah. What’s your problem with
it, Adam?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I don’t think it’s a good idea to force people
to do this kind of work. Volunteering is one thing. A good thing. But <u>requiring</u> people
to do this kind of work is a mistake.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I think it’s a great idea. There are a lot of
things we need in this society. And if we all had to do it, it would be more
fair.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Like going in the army. Maybe we should all be
drafted instead.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—That’s a terrible idea. Some people don’t
believe in fighting.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Wouldn’t have to. There’s all kinds of things
you can do in the army. Build bridges. Peacekeeping missions. Stuff like that.
I lot of stuff in this Lorate things seems like fluff.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Helping senior citizens is fluff?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Yeah. Probably a lot of busy work. And everybody
would want to do it instead of the hard stuff like you do in the army.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I’d want to be a pilot.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, you can forget that. A year isn’t enough
time. Actually, with a yearlong commitment, you probably wouldn’t be able to do
much more than peel potatoes. But maybe that would make a real armed services
hitch, where you’d learn some real skills, more attractive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: magenta; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Why the tax on chocolate, though? I love
chocolate!</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—That’s the point!</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Right. Revenue from stuff like chocolate is
known as “sin taxes.” You don’t really need them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Lots of people need gas.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">True. But a tax would foster conservation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: magenta; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I still think we shouldn’t tax chocolate.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fine. Why don’t you offer an amendment, then,
Jonquil?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: magenta; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Yes. I offer an amendment to take chocolate
out of the bill.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—C’mon, Jonquil, this isn’t going to work unless
we’re willing to do things we don’t like.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I still have a problem with the gas thing.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, OK, Emily, but right now we’re
debating the Jonquil amendment. All in favor raise your hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sorry, Jonquil. Your amendment is dead. You
want to take up yours, now Em?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Yeah.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Same logic applies. We start making exceptions
the bill will never become law.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I think chocolate and gas are very different
things. You don’t need chocolate to get to your job.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—You don’t necessarily need to drive to get to
your job.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Public transportation isn’t always practical.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Might be if the bill passed.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I’m wondering if there’s another problem here.
Gas is almost surely the source of the most money in the bill. If we take it
out, will we lose most of the money for the other stuff?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s correct.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Then I’m opposed.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I’m for it, then.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Wait: didn’t you just ask if taking gas out
would ruin the bill?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Yup. I want it to fail.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Oooh. Sooo political.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let’s take a vote on the gas amendment. Show
your hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That one dies, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I have one more.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let’s hear it, Kylie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I don’t think you should have to do this after
high school. Maybe you should have the option of waiting until after you finish
going to college.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Not everybody goes to college.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Fine. The point is to be flexible. Let people
decide when they should do this.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Not a good idea.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Why not? If I did it later, I might do a
better job.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—It’s not about <u>you</u>. It’s about the <u>country</u>.
What the <u>country</u> needs.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Yeah, well, that’s my amendment. Let’s vote.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Very well. Let’s vote on what we’ll call the
“Deference Amendment.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That fails, too. Zero for three. Let’s turn
back to consideration of the bill as a whole. Jonah, I’ll go back to you.
Earlier in this conversation you said you needed to hear a little more. Do you
feel you’ve heard enough?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #993300; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I dunno. I’ll be honest: I don’t like the
idea of minimum wage. Wouldn’t have much of a life on that.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, you’d probably live at home. But I’ll
give you a little inside info here. Mel Lorate knows that people like your
parents will worry about this. She’s thinking if the bill passes it will help
her in another agenda of hers: to drive up the minimum wage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #993300; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Well, I guess that makes sense.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Not to me. Driving up the minimum wage will be
hard on business. Might create more unemployment.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fair enough. Let’s take another vote on the
Lorate bill as a whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wow. One vote short. Chris, you’ve been silent
for this whole debate. I noticed you didn’t raise your hand in support. Care to
say why?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I just can’t go along with this. It’s just
too … What’s the word?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Coercive?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Exactly. Too coercive.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You regard serving your country as coercive?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Yeah. I do.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You don’t think you have an obligation to the
country that’s provided you with security and opportunity?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Well, I pay taxes, don’t I?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Eventually you will, I assume. And that’s
sufficient?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Yes. It is.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And if I were to call you a spoiled brat who
believes it’s possible to buy one’s way out of an obligation, what would you
say?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I’d say you can think what you want. And I
can do what I want. That’s what freedom means.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So be it. Class, the Lorate bill dies in
committee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Oh!</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Thank God!</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Chris you’re a jerk.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Thank you.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—You’re welcome.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OK, kids, let’s step back a minute. The
simulation we just ran has a contemporary setting. But we’ve been talking about
the Progressive Movement of a century ago. Can you see the connections?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—The emphasis on reform. Trying to change
people’s behavior.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yup. Anything else?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Using laws.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—The way it’s a little aggressive.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes. But to clarify: Are you saying a <i>little</i> aggressive?
Or a little <i>aggressive</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Both.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, glad to know you’re decisive, anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Hey, Mr. K. how do you feel about the failure of
the bill?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m just happy to see the democratic process
at work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Oh, that’s such BS.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why thank you, Em. We’re just about out of
time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—One last question.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes, Sadie?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—What’s the deal with Mel Lorate? Why that name?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well her actual name is Amelia Lorate. The
gender bending in calling her Mel is part of her progressive politics.
Progressives of a century ago were also strong women’s rights advocates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.15pt; margin-bottom: .25in;">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Yeah, but what does that mean?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It means to make better, to improve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Glad to know <u>you’re</u> decisive,
anyway.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-41477977800277725612017-01-06T00:00:00.000-05:002017-01-06T00:00:07.215-05:00King's Survey: The Progress Party<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<strong><em>In which we ponder the shape of change</em></strong></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="Roosevelt_on_the_Stump,_1912" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2675" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/roosevelt_on_the_stump_1912.jpg" height="800" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/roosevelt_on_the_stump_1912.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="585" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Theodore Roosevelt on the stump, 1912</dd></dl>
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Jonquil, I have a question for you.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Okay. What?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Do you believe in progress?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Progress?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Yes, progress.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—What kind of progress?</em></span></div>
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Progress in a general sense: do you think that the conditions of everyday life tend to improve over time?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—I guess so.</em></span></div>
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You guess so.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Yeah. More or less. Things gradually get better. I mean, there’s no more slavery, right?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333300;" style="color: #333300;"><em>—Racism hasn’t gone away.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—No. But it’s not as bad.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333300;" style="color: #333300;"><em>—Just a different form.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Yeah, different form.</em></span></div>
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Does racism not change, simply change its shape?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—I’m not sure.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333300;" style="color: #333300;"><em>—I think so.</em></span></div>
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Well, I’m not sure there’s a right answer to that question. As you noted, Jonquil, my question was very general. Brianna, quite legitimately, focused it through a racial lens. What might we say about things like the state of material life in the United States. Would it be possible to say they’ve improved for pretty much everyone?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—I don’t see how you <u>can’t</u> say that. I mean, even the poorest people have stuff like cell phones and computers.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—People live longer.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Yeah, but we still have to contend with Justin Bieber.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Oh stop, Jonah.</em></span></div>
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Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that life has gotten better. That even the poorest people enjoy a higher standard of living, even as we’ll also stipulate that plenty of challenges remain, among them entirely new forms of exploitation. If we agree on that, <em>why</em> do you think that’s happened? Is it just a matter of a kind of social evolution? Or is it the result of active intervention?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Well, a lot of laws have been passed.</em></span></div>
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That’s true. As Jonquil noted, we no longer have slavery. There are any number of others we could cite, ranging from laws against child labor to the much-celebrated Anti-Justin Bieber Act of 2017.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—I wish.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Yeah, but I’m not sure that stuff can be seen as a matter of laws. I mean, a lot of laws happen because there are incentives, like financial incentives, that make them happen. And technology doesn’t happen because laws get passed.</em></span></div>
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Well, then, how does it, Adam?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—You get inventors who come up with new ideas.</em></span></div>
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Yeah, but how do those ideas happen? Where do they happen?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—I dunno. In laboratories, I guess.</em></span></div>
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And how are those laboratories paid for?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—By companies.</em></span></div>
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Yes, in some cases. But a great many of them come out of universities. And where does that money come from?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—The government!</em></span></div>
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Right, Sadie. Which is another way of saying by law, because budgets have to get passed by legislatures. In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act, which created the state university system. State universities have long been hothouses of innovation, which they were designed to be. Of course, Adam, you’re right the private sector is also important. Maybe more important than ever these days. Again, I don’t think there’s any straight answer to the question.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Now there’s a surprise.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—So why are we talking about this, then?</em></span></div>
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Here’s why: because the question about the existence and nature of progress is a historical perennial, and in a way, the story of American politics<em>—</em>and the story of British politics, from which American politics derive, even now<em>—</em>is defined by it. On one side, you have those who believe the world only gets better when you take active steps to improve it, which takes long, hard work. On the other are those who say that the world doesn’t improve, it only changes, and that those who think they can control the process are fooling themselves and subjecting everyone else to their arrogant pride.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Okay. I get that. But why are we talking about this <u>now</u>, then?</em></span></div>
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Because we’ve reached a point in our journey together where this debate came into notably clear focus, in large measure because that first camp did a notably good charge of taking control of the political debate. We call this moment in our history the Progressive Era.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;">—Right. From the reading.</span></em></div>
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Yes. Since you’ve apparently done your homework, Kylie, why don’t you tell us what the Progressive Era was all about?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Um, progress?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Hey Kylie, I’m really impressed.</em></span></div>
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Yes, that’s a start. But I think you can add more.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well, yeah. It was this period, around 1900, when a lot of laws got passed.</em></span></div>
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Right. What kind of laws? Anyone can jump in.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—There were a lot of them. Stuff about big business.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Yeah. And health. And kids.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—And environmentalism. Theodore Roosevelt.</em></span></div>
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All correct. A lot of these reform efforts date back to the 1890s, and were common at the city and state level. Then, at the turn of the century, they began to gather momentum.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—That’s because of Theodore Roosevelt.</em></span></div>
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Not entirely, Jonah. Certainly he was important. But a lot was happening long before he became president. And the fact that he became president was an accident.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—You mean because the other president …</em></span></div>
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William McKinley.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;">—Yeah, McKinley. He got shot.</span></em></div>
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Well yes, that was an accident. But Roosevelt became president because he was vice president, and he was vice president because the Republican Party tried to find a way they could muzzle him with job that was considered irrelevant at the time (the party chief at the time, Mark Hanna, warned them not to do this, and Roosevelt had never managed to stay quiet in any job he ever held).</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Were Progressives Democrats?</em></span></div>
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Yes. and Republicans, too. It was a movement that crossed party lines.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—So where was all this push for change coming from?</em></span></div>
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Exactly what I was going to ask you all, Yin. Why do you think it happened then? I realize this is a tough question, but give it a try.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Well, it didn’t come out of nowhere, did it? I mean, we talked about the Populists. They wanted change, too. That was in the 1890s, right?</em></span></div>
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Yes, that’s true, and a good observation on your part, Sadie. The difference is that the Populists were basically farming people, and mostly came from the South and West. The Progressives were part of a new middle class, people who basically held office jobs (as opposed to farms or factories). And it was a national movement. Populists had some powerful ideas, like using primaries to elect senators, or and more regulation of railroads. Progressives made many of those ideas happen, along with some of their own. They were very effective at getting things done. And they did a lot: they regulated monopolies, created the first national income tax, created national parks, improved health and safety standards, and much, much more.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Why was that? Why were they so good at getting things done?</em></span></div>
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A bunch of reasons. The first is that they felt very strongly that changes needed to be made. That’s important, but not sufficient. The second is that Progressives knew how to work the institutional ropes. They were products of the system—they worked in government, in schools, in charitable organizations of various kinds (many of them were women). A third is that they combined moral fervor with expertise; it was an age when science had new prestige and new practical applications. Finally, many of their opponents—radicals on the left, plutocratic businessmen on the right—lacked sufficient popular support to promote their own agendas as effectively. We’ve talked a lot about how industrial capitalism was like a wind that blew across the national landscape, and that some people liked it, and some people didn’t but everybody felt it. The Progressives felt they could <em>do</em> something about it—that they could make things better—and they acted on that belief.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—<u>Did</u> they make things better?</em></span></div>
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So, kids, what’s the best answer to that question.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—It’s “You tell me, kids.”</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—It depends?</em></span></div>
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Depends on what?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Depends who you ask.</em></span></div>
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Bingo.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Are you saying that if you were a Progressive you liked what happened, and if you weren’t you didn’t?</em></span></div>
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Not quite. There were some people who weren’t necessarily Progressives who nevertheless benefited. For example, if you were a woman who had an alcoholic husband who beat you, laws restricting drinking helped, as did the creation of shelters or settlement houses where you could go for help.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Were the Progressives the ones who made Prohibition happen in the 1920s?</em></span></div>
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They were.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Well, that wasn’t a very good idea.</em></span></div>
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Yes, it seems everyone agrees on that. (Funny how this is the one thing every adolescent seems to know about this period of U.S. history.) It also shows the less attractive side of the Progressives: they were widely perceived as busybodies who liked to regulate other peoples’ behavior.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Yeah, I could see how that would get on my nerves.</span></em></div>
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Does that mean, then, Em, that you’re inclined to see the Progressives less as a set of people who improved things than a set of people who seized control—control was a big Progressive concept—and tried to bend the world the way they wanted it? That there’s no real progress, merely shifts in power?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I dunno. I mean, it sounds like a lot of what they did was common sense. But there’s only so much improvement I can handle. Just ask my parents.</em></span></div>
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I understand. That’s why in our next class, we’re going to have a little Progressive simulation. We’ll see how you react.</div>
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<strong>Next: An exercise in amelioration</strong></div>
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<strong><br /></strong></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-70030422691579656412017-01-04T00:00:00.000-05:002017-01-04T00:00:00.816-05:00King's Survey: Imperial Resorts<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="USS_Maine_wrecked_in_Havana_Bay.png" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2642" data-wpmedia-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/uss_maine_wrecked_in_havana_bay.png" height="947" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/uss_maine_wrecked_in_havana_bay.png?w=612" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="1333" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Wreckage of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor, 1898</dd></dl>
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<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which see the temptations, and complications, of empire</em></strong></h4>
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So, Emily, what are we going to do about Samoa?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—You tell me, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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No, <em>you</em> tell <em>me</em>.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—That’s not my job.</em></span></div>
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Oh yes it is. You’ve got a job to do. You’re a student.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well then I need a raise.</em></span></div>
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Fine. I’ll double your salary.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Aren’t samoas Indian food?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—No, that’s samo<u>s</u>as.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Oh. I love those.</em></span></div>
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Samoa refers to a set of islands in the Pacific.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well, in that case, I know what we should do. Make a trip there. I could use a vacation.</em></span></div>
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So, Em, you’re saying we should occupy Samoa.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well, I’m saying we should <u>resort</u> to going there, if you know what I mean.</em></span></div>
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As a first resort, or a last resort?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—What the hell are you two talking about?</em></span></div>
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Adam, I’m not entirely sure where Em is, literally or figuratively, but I’m talking about what the United States should do about the Samoan Islands, which have been in turmoil for the last decade or so (I should point out that we’re in the 1890s now). There’s been a long Civil War going on there, and the British and (especially) the Germans have been tussling for control. My question is what stance the United States should have.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Why should we have <u>any</u> stance?</em></span></div>
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A fair question. Overseas involvement of this kind has not really been a major feature of U.S. foreign policy. But as you know, the world is changing. In particular, European nations are gobbling up territory in Asia and Africa. Actually, the U.S. has been increasingly interested in pursuing commercial interests around the world. In the 1850s, an American naval squadron under the leadership of Admiral Matthew C. Perry demanded that Japan open up its markets, a move that precipitated revolutionary changes in that country, and one which as led to an extraordinary military modernization of Japan, which, as we approach 1900, is on its way to becoming a major world power. (Perhaps Perry should have been careful what he wished for.) In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward, who served under President Lincoln, negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia, which a lot of people thought was a dumb idea—they called it “Seward’s Icebox,” or “Seward’s Folly,” until gold was discovered there in 1896. Pacific Islands like those in Samoa are increasingly valuable as coaling stations for ships (now that the age of sailboats is over), and any nation that wants to be a major-league player needs them. Germany in particular is playing catch-up—it only officially became a unified state in 1871—and is trying to rack up properties around the world while some are still available for the taking.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Adam's right. I still don’t get why we should care about any of this.</em></span></div>
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Well, Sadie, maybe we shouldn’t.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Maybe we should let the Samoans decide what they want.</em></span></div>
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There are two problems with that seemingly sensible approach, Kylie. The first is that the Samoans themselves are divided. One reason they’re divided is that outside powers are meddling in Samoan affairs. Which brings us to the second problem: letting the Samoans decide what they want in effect means letting the Germans (and maybe the British) take over everything. Do we want that?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Why should we care?</em></span></div>
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Well, maybe we shouldn’t. But Germany has been expanding mighty rapidly, and that includes places like South America. When European powers go into places like Columbia and Venezuela, they lend a lot of money and generate economic development, but they also generate a lot of debt. And when those countries can’t or won’t pay, the European powers send gunships, which is a violation of the Monroe Doctrine. What I’m saying is that if we don’t try to check the advance of the imperialist powers, they end up pushing people around, and we may end up being among those people.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Doesn’t sound like a good situation. I think we have to stand firm. Let’s take Samoa.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Don’t they provide us with good NFL players now?</em></span></div>
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Indeed they do.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—All the more reason, then.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Are the Samoans going to be better off with us? Have they been?</em></span></div>
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Well, you know, Yin, I don’t know. And you can attribute my ignorance on this count as an artifact of my ethnocentrism, or my imperialism, or my racism (take your pick or all three). Five Samoan islands are U.S. territory. They get to vote in primaries, but not presidential elections.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—That’s weird.</em></span></div>
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There are all kinds of quirks in the way the U.S. runs its overseas territories. In any case, I think Jonah’s right. Let’s agree to take Samoa.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Really? <u>Have</u> we agreed?</em></span></div>
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Has anyone objected? I haven’t heard anyone say no. Good. We’re moving on.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Hey!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—He’s making a point, Kylie.</em></span></div>
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About Cuba.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Cuba?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Uh oh. Here we go.</em></span></div>
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As we know, Cuba has been a Spanish colony for over 400 years now. They are horrible colonists. The Cubans have been in a state of almost perpetual rebellion against the Spanish for the last 20 years. Our presidents, most recently President McKinley, have tried to reason with the Spanish to be less brutal. But they won’t listen to us.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I wonder why.</em></span></div>
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Well, it is true that some Americans have had their eye on acquiring Cuba since the 1850s, when proslavery advocates wanted to annex it. And it is also true that the assistant secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, has been advocating a major U.S. naval buildup, and Cuba could be a nice piece of real estate. But let’s emphasize the humanitarian dimensions of the Cuban situation, shall we?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Let’s not and say we did.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Are we talking about the Spanish-American War now?</em></span></div>
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Indeed we are.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—So how did it actually happen?</em></span></div>
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Well, amid spurned offers for mediation, and some lurid press coverage in the United States, President McKinley sent a ship, USS <em>Maine</em>, to protect American interests in Havana. In early 1898, the <em>Maine</em> blew up.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Who did that?</em></span></div>
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Nobody knows.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—How convenient.</em></span></div>
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Historians now belief it was an industrial accident. But there was a widespread belief—or, at any rate, a widespread assertion—that the Spanish did it. There was also an intercepted diplomatic cable that referred to President McKinley in unflattering terms.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—What did it say?</em></span></div>
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That he was “weak.”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh well, then, you <u>have</u> to go to war.</em></span></div>
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That spring, the United States did so. Undersecretary Roosevelt, who was probably taking on more responsibility than his boss would have liked, had dispatched ships to the Philippines, which were also rebelling against Spanish rule. At the Battle of Manila Bay, the U.S. wrecked the Spanish fleet. A few months later, the U.S. invaded Cuba (Roosevelt left his desk job to lead an attack as an officer at San Juan Hill, which made him a national celebrity). Though the operation was in many ways amateurish, the Americans won there too. By the fall of 1898, the Spanish sued for peace.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—So that’s how we got Cuba.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—We didn’t <span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;">get</span> Cuba, did we?</em></span></div>
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Right.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;">—Who?</span></em></div>
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Both of you. The U.S. had declared war on a basis of liberating Cuba—<em>Cuba libre</em>! went the slogan—so simply taking the island would have posed political problems at home and abroad. And here I should point out that there was significant opposition to the war in the United States.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Thank God. I was beginning to think we were all jerks.</em></span></div>
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So Cuba became independent. Sort of. There was a provision to the U.S. treaty with Cuba, the Platt Amendment, which basically said: you’re free to do what you like, unless you do something we don’t like. For the next sixty years, Cuba became a de facto U.S. colony—except for the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, which was actually U.S. property. Which it remains, even after the Cuban revolution of 1959, when the nation became Communist. But the U.S. did pick up possessions from the war in Guam (also out in the Pacific) and Puerto Rico. Which remain U.S. territories, with varying degrees of ambivalence on their part of its residents, to this day.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—What about the Philippines?</em></span></div>
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Ah, good question. So I told you that the Filipinos were in revolt against the Spanish. They were very happy to get help from the Americans. They were a good deal less happy when the Americans hesitated to leave after the Spanish defeat while the U.S. government decided what it wanted to do with the Philippines. The Filipinos under the leadership of a man named Eduardo Aguinaldo led an insurrection against the U.S. occupation for a few years after the war ended that was finally put down. The Philippines became U.S. territory until World War II, when it was occupied by the Japanese. After the war the Filipinos got their independence, but again, the U.S. maintains a huge naval installation there.</div>
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But if the Philippines was a U.S. possession, Filipinos were not U.S. citizens. There was a lot of litigation about this, but the Supreme Court finally ruled that the Constitution follows the flag, but not necessarily right away.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—What’s that supposed to mean?</em></span></div>
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Go to law school and find out. We’re getting out of my pay grade, Adam.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—So are you saying you want a pay raise, Mr. K.? Should I double <u>your</u> salary?</em></span></div>
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Nah, Em, I don’t want the hassle of more responsibility than I already have. But I do want to ask you a final question.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—You with the questions! Go ahead. I’ll accept the hassle of responsibility of thinking for the whole class.</em></span></div>
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Great, though your classmates can pitch in. My question is: What’s happening to the United States’ place in the world in these closing decades of the 19<sup>th</sup> century?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—We’re becoming a bunch of jerks.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—We’re becoming a world power.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—Same thing.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Not it’s not. It’s like Mr. K. said about the Samoans. If we don’t do it, someone else will. And that someone else will be worse than us.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333300;" style="color: #333300;"><em>—Really? The Cubans were oppressed by the Spanish. Then they were oppressed by the Americans. What difference does it make?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Actually, that’s an interesting question. Do we know who was worse? Can you tell us, Mr. K.?</em></span></div>
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I don’t know that I can give you a clear-cut answer to that, Kylie. Partly it depends on what your standards are. Which is the kind of thing I’m hoping conversations like these will help you develop.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Good luck with that.</em></span></div>
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Well, you can’t blame a guy for trying. Or maybe you can. I hope you won’t.</div>
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Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-19348969056210823552017-01-02T00:00:00.000-05:002017-01-02T00:00:09.074-05:00King's Survey: Promising Land<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="immigrantsEllisIsland" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2607" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/immigrantsellisisland.png?w=612" data-wpmedia-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/immigrantsellisisland.png" height="1085" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/immigrantsellisisland.png?w=612" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="1596" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Immigrants arrive at Ellis Island, 1904</dd></dl>
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<strong><em>In which we see how the imperatives of immigration change—and don’t</em></strong></h4>
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OK, kids, it’s time to reconsider the question of whether or not to go to Mars. It’s been 250 years now, and I think we should take another look at it.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—At what?</em></span></div>
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Going to Mars.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I don’t get it.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—First week of class, remember? The colonists and crossing the ocean?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Oh yeah. So why are we talking about that again?</em></span></div>
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A lot has happened since the colonies like Virginia and Massachusetts were founded, Ethan. Europeans have settled the continent, a revolution has been waged and won, the Civil War is over. So it’s a new New World, as it were. On the other hand, there are still a lot of the same issues—beginning with the fact that there are still a lot of people who are being pushed and pulled to these shores. You could say that the world has changed. You could also say that the underlying issues and circumstances haven’t changed. So I thought we could talk about it.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—I don’t get why we’re doing this now.</em></span></div>
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Well, Jonah, space travel has become big issue here in the late 19<sup>th</sup> century. This is actually the third big wave. The first was in the colonial era. The second, as we discussed, was the wave led by the Irish in the decades before the Civil War. The war slowed the traffic, but now in the closing decades of the century, it’s up sharply again. The origin of the travelers has shifted, though. Before, it was northern and western Europe. Now, increasingly, it’s southern and eastern Europe: Italians, Russians, the diverse ethnic groups of the Austro-Hungarian empire, many of them Jews.</div>
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Sadie, I want to go back to you. When we discussed this subject back in September, you were among those who were pretty sure she wasn’t going to venture across the Atlantic Ocean, which seemed so big and vast, like going to another planet. I want to point out that the technology has improved a lot. There are steamships, not sailboats. You’re less likely to drown in a storm. Or to catch an infection (though we can’t rule out either). The travel conditions are also much better. There’s an infrastructure, from ticket agents to government clerks, who manage the whole process. So do you think you’re ready to take the leap now?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I dunno, Mr. K. It’s still a big trip.</em></span></div>
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It is. The journey is still thousands of miles. And it still often takes weeks. And a large proportion of the people who go never come back.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I mean, I know it’s 250 years later and everything. But I still can’t see wanting to go.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Why would <u>anyone</u> go?</em></span></div>
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Well, you know, Kylie, the usual reasons<em>—</em>those haven’t changed, either. Religious persecution is sometimes a factor. Economic opportunity. Political developments. These are all things that led Puritans, Quakers, and adventurers of all stripes make the trip in the 1600s and 1700s. Now they’re leading Bavarians, Syrians, and Poles—and Jews from all those places—to leave home for America in the late 1800s.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—But slavery is over, right?</em></span></div>
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Yes, for the most part. Russia abolished serfdom in 1861—or, I should say, the Russian Tsar, Alexander II, did. With the stroke of a pen. Sometimes dictatorship is a more efficient instrument for social justice than democracy. Brazil had slavery until 1888. But there’s no real international slave trade the way there had been. That said, there were some pretty desperate people making their way here in the late 19<sup>th</sup> century. Many had been subject to pogroms, mob violence directed against Jews, for example. Slavery can often be relative.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—So Sadie might not have a choice.</em></span></div>
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No.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;">—I think one of the big differences is that there are a lot more immigrants here now. The United States is much more populated.</span></em></div>
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That’s true. If Sadie does decide to take a space ship across the ocean, it’s likely that there will be little colonies of family members, religious groups, or networks of like-minded people to help her find a place to live or a job. The odds are that she’ll end up in a big city, like New York, Philadelphia, or Chicago. But it’s also possible that she’ll end up on a farm—in Minnesota, for example, if she’s Scandinavian. Texas, maybe, if she’s German. A smattering of Slavic people on the Great Plains. Once she arrives, there will be any number of mediating institutions to help her make the transition: houses of worship; fraternal organizations like the Knights of Columbus (which was founded by Italians); foreign-language newspapers, and local political organizations. The Democratic Party was particularly important in this regard; it was the party of the immigrant in northeastern cities, just as it was for farmers in the south and west.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—So were the Republicans the anti-immigrant party?</em></span></div>
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Basically, yes, Adam. From the very beginning, the Republican Party was that of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (and here it’s worth pointing out that a large proportion of immigrants in this period were Roman Catholic, who, as a function of such hostility and their own instinct toward solidarity, often turned inward in form their own institutional infrastructure with schools, hospitals, universities, and the like). Republicans weren’t only WASPs; as the “Party of Lincoln,” African Americans tended to vote with them for a full century after the Civil War. Lincoln was also a factor in reaching out to German immigrants, some of whom flocked to the GOP banner. It’s also worth pointing out that immigrants themselves could be ambivalent about immigration, both of their own kind as well as other ethnic groups.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Why was that?</em></span></div>
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Well, for one thing, there was concern that such people could take away good jobs. More commonly, the opposition was cultural; “our” crowd was more serious, respectable, etc. Subsequent waves, the suspicion went, were much less so. To some degree, this was a class conflict—the first wave of an immigrant group often came with professional skills or capital that later waves lacked. Actually, for some immigrants, America was viewed as a place to make an economic windfall and use the proceeds to go home and buy land or start a business. By some estimates, almost half the people who came here ultimately went back. This was especially true of the Chinese, for example, who would eventually be shut out as a result of the Exclusion Act of 1882, the first group of people to be excluded on a racial basis.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—So immigration wasn’t really space travel after all.</em></span></div>
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Well, it was more like a space shuttle. They don’t run that often. And again, for most, the trip was permanent. So Sadie is right to think hard before she commits to making the trip, assuming, of course, that she has much choice, i.e. that she’s not the victim of a pogrom, is dealing with severe economic privation, has a husband or father who’s making her go, and so on.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Sadie, I really think you should go for it. I mean, I know it’s hard and everything—hard to leave home, and hard to deal with a foreign country. But this is a good place. You can make a good life here.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Yeah, Sadie. Maybe you can get a hot American husband.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—And like Mr. K. says, you really can go back if it doesn’t work out.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Oh all right. I guess you guys have convinced me. I’ll take a chance for a new life.</em></span></div>
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Thatta girl, Sadie.</div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-43513013697063167542016-12-30T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-30T00:00:10.703-05:00King's Survey: Pushing<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em><img alt="479px-MopWringer-45" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2579" height="300" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/479px-mopwringer-45.jpg?w=240" style="float: right; height: auto; margin: 16px 0px 16px 16px; max-width: 100%;" width="240" />In which we see a hear a custodial view of history</em></strong></h4>
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Hey, Milton.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—Mr. King. OK if I clean up here?</em></span></div>
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Please, Milton: Abe. Mop away. I’m on my way out.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;">—Abe. Mr. Abraham King.</span></em></div>
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How are you, Milton?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—Oh, the usual. It’s Thursday. That’s good.</em></span></div>
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How long you been here now?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—Twenty-seven years. My uncle got me the job. He was here for thirty-three. We overlapped the last four.</em></span></div>
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That’s a lot of institutional memory.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—My uncle, that’s my mother’s older brother, was here when the building opened. I was part-time for a few years. This has always been a good school. The kids are good.</em></span></div>
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I’m guessing this is a decent place to work.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—The benefits are good. The pay is OK, but the benefits are what keep me here. My nephew does security at a private school. There, they outsource everything. My wife needs lots of medications. Still costs a lot, but this school is better than most with the insurance.</em></span></div>
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How long you been married?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;">—Twenty-nine years. We have a daughter. She went to South Hudson. She’s an accountant now. Expecting a grandchild.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Good for you. Something to keep you busy in the coming days, for sure.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;">—Yeah, well, I have to stay busy. Don’t want to retire.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
So what do you do with your spare time?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—I’m happy with a Yankee game and a beer. Giants in the fall. Knicks in the winter. Once in a while I read.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Oh yeah? What do you read?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;">—I like American history. The Revolution. I really like reading about that.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
You don't say. What is it that you find compelling about the Revolution?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—Those guys were pretty impressive. Smart. They had courage. And they made this thing that has really lasted.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, as you know, those guys had shortcomings. And this thing they made shows signs of fraying.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—Yeah, I know, I know. But who doesn’t have shortcomings? And what lasts forever? I think people expect too much.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Why do you think that is?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—They want too much. And they fret too much chasing what they want. And then they get mad when the gears of their lives get all jammed up. People should appreciate what they have.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I can see that. But a lot of people are getting less these days. Like your nephew. They make a living, but it’s harder. As you pointed out, he’s not doing as well as you.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;">—That’s true. Then again, what I have didn’t exactly fall into my lap.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
A lot of people have more than you and have worked for less to get it.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;">—I may be looking at one of them.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
You might.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—But I’m not going to spend a lot of time on that. There was a time when I might have. But not anymore. I don’t see the point. It’s the expectation that life is fair that gets people in trouble.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, if that’s true, it’s those guys you admire so much who have made the mischief, no? You seem to be saying that the American Dream is the problem.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;">—Am I in class now, Abe King? I don’t have all the answers. Making it up as I go along. This is where I am now.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Understood and agreed, Milton. Sometimes I have a little trouble turning off the teacher switch. Sorry about that.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #333399;" style="color: #333399;"><em>—It’s all good. You have a good evening now, Abe.</em></span></div>
<br />
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25.5px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
Thanks. I’m going to work on that. Or maybe not work so hard on that.</div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-8267949326463675502016-12-28T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-28T00:00:22.616-05:00King's Survey: Silver Mettle
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Adobe Caslon Pro;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333px; line-height: 25.5333px;"><i> </i></span></span><h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="1024px-William_Jennings_Bryan_1896_presidential_campaign" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2556" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/1024px-william_jennings_bryan_1896_presidential_campaign.jpg?w=612" data-wpmedia-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/1024px-william_jennings_bryan_1896_presidential_campaign.jpg" height="733" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/1024px-william_jennings_bryan_1896_presidential_campaign.jpg?w=612" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="1024" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">William Jennings Bryan campaigning for president, 1896</dd></dl>
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<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which we see that the teacher doesn’t always get to set the agenda</em></strong></h4>
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OK, kids, so now we’re going to turn to another poem. One of my favorites.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I gotta say, Mr. K., you pick some weird ones. Not stuff we do in English class.</em></span></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="Nicholas_Vachel_Lindsay_1913" class=" size-medium wp-image-2560 alignright" height="300" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/nicholas_vachel_lindsay_1913.jpg?w=238" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="238" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Vachel Lindsay, 1913</dd></dl>
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Not this one, either, Kylie. This one is called “Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan,” and it was written by a fellow named Vachel Lindsay in 1919 about the presidential election of 1896. Lindsay, known a hundred years ago as “the Prairie Troubadour” for his syncopated style of repetitive poetry, is today remembered as a minor poet, a kind of Walt Whitman knockoff.<br />
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—We <u>have</u> done Whitman.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I reckon you would.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Whitman's got a syncopated style of repetitive poetry. Sounds like hip-hop.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, I suppose it was in its way, Ethan. One of the reasons I want to share the similar Lindsay with you is that this poem is written from the perspective of a sixteen year-old boy—in other words, someone about the same age as you. I thought you’d be interested in comparing perspectives. Here he is talking about “the Boy Orator of the Platte,” William Jennings Bryan.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Who’s he?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—It was in the reading, dummy.</em></span></div>
<pre style="background: rgb(246, 249, 250); color: #3d596d; font-family: Monaco, Consolas, "Andale Mono", "DejaVu Sans Mono", "Courier 10 Pitch", Courier, monospace; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; padding: 8px;">He brought in tides of wonder, of unprecedented splendor,
Wild roses from the plains that made hearts tender
All the funny circus silks
Of politics unfurled
Bartlett pears of romans that were hone at the cores
And torchlights down the street, to the end of the world</pre>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Sorry. I gotta ask: who was Bryan again?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
He was the Populist as well as Democratic candidate for president in 1896. Now let me read you this pass<em>—</em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Wait: Populist <u>and</u> Democrat?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Yes. It was a little complicated because while Bryan headed both tickets there were different vice-presidents on each ticket.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Really? Weird. What were their names?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Sorry to say I don’t remember. Actually, it doesn’t really matter. One was a Gold Bug and the other was s Silverite. As I was say—</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—You know, I did the reading, but I really didn’t get the difference. The Gold Bugs liked gold. But why?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
They wanted the dollar pegged to gold, which in fact it was. Every U.S. dollar in circulation had a specific smidgeon of gold sitting in a bank somewhere to match it. Silverites wanted to peg the dollar to silver, which was more plentiful. There were literally tons and tons of it, thanks the Comstock Lode in Nevada, a massive supply. Lindsay notes this<em>—</em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Why did they want that?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
We did talk about this the other day, no?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—We did. But I’m still a little confused.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
As I said then, pegging the dollar to silver will lower its value.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Right. So if I’m in debt, like a lot of farmers were, having that dollar be less valuable makes it easier for me to pay back.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Exactly. On the other hand, if you’re a banker who lends money to a farmer, you want to be sure that money will be just as valuable after the farmer pays it back. But if you’re William Jennings Bryan and his supporters, the people you care most about are being crushed by the gold standard. When Bryan storms into Madison Square Garden to take the Democratic nomination for president—he was like a rock star in those days—he gave a famous speech in which he said, “You will not crucify me on a cross of gold.” It’s right here in the poem<em>—</em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Sorry. I just want to clarify one thing. What you’re talking about here is deflation, right?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Yes. That’s right. Good, Adam. Deflation. Dropping prices. Big problem for farmers. When prices go down, as they were doing in those days, farmers sold their crops for less money. That made it even harder to pay back their loans.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—But lower prices are good, aren’t they?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Depends who. We talked about this the other day. Workers in cities like cheaper food. This is one of the reasons why the Populists are having a hard time forging links with other segments of the American working class. A sad and familiar story. Divided we fall.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Bryan lost that election.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Right. Some of my favorite lines in the poem are about that. “Defeat of my boyhood, defeat of my dream.” Here, let’s look at this stanza<em>—</em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—Mr. K.?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Yes? I’d really like to get to the poem now, Chris.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—Sorry, but class is over.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Oh. Damn. Defeat of my lesson plan, defeat of my meme.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-42853846174870729842016-12-26T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-26T00:00:12.028-05:00King's Survey: Pitchforks and Bagels<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which we wonder whether strange bedfellows can make a new kind of politics</em></strong></h4>
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<br /></div>
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Kids, I’m hoping you remember a conversation we had the other day when I compared the coming of industrial capitalism to a wind that blew across the national landscape.</div>
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<img alt="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" class=" size-medium wp-image-2532 alignleft" height="300" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/pitchfork_in_july_2006.jpg?w=225" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 16px 16px 16px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="225" /></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—How could we forget such a poetic metaphor, Mr. K.?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I don’t think it was a metaphor, Em. I think it was an analogy.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh Sadie you’re right.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;">—Nope. You’re both wrong. It was simile: industrialization is <u>like</u> the weather.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I’m impressed, Ethan.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—We just did this in English last week.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, bravo. To repeat: industrial capitalism was like the weather. Everybody felt it, but reacted differently depending on <em>who</em> they were, or <em>where</em> they were. Some regarded this new meteorological front sweeping across the landscape as a gentle breeze; others felt it like a chill. And people <em>responded</em> to the wind in different ways. All those workers who went on strike: they were responding to that weather. Racists who used lynching and Jim Crow laws to keep African Americans in their place—many white Southerners were obsessed by this notion of <em>place</em>—tried to prevent this labor force from blowing away.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
And then there were the farmers.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—You know, we haven’t talked much about farmers in this class.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
It’s true, and it’s a real defect of this course, reflecting the limits of my vision. Nowadays, farmers are only about two percent of the U.S. population, and as such are invisible to a great many of us. But until 1920, more Americans lived on farms than in cities, which is to say that in a meaningful sense U.S. history is really rural history. In any event, the wind sweeping across the nation is affecting these people just like everybody else. Some, of course, are being pushed off the farm entirely. But the ones who stay behind are being affected in powerful and complex ways. Railroads make it possible to move their crops over long distances, but put them at the mercy of rapacious railroad companies. Fancy new technology raises their yields, but such equipment is expensive and the farmers end up borrowing money that’s hard to pay back, especially when prices are dropping (in part because a surge in supply is making food less valuable).</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
You recent homework has been talking about the ways farmers have started to organize in the last decades of the nineteenth century: the Grange, a series of cultural and social centers that spring up around the South and West; the Southern Alliance, which helps forms cooperatives—</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—I didn’t quite get how those work.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Sort of like massive Sam’s Clubs or Costcos for farmers, Jonah. They allowed them to buy in bulk and store surplus crops cheaply.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Cool.</em></span></div>
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In 1892, these various efforts coalesce in into the formation of the Populist Party. The Populists have lots of ideas about how to fix what’s wrong with the country: a graduated income tax (by which I mean the more you earn the more you pay); the direct election of Senators (chosen in elections rather than the state legislators, which is how the Constitution said it had to be done); more railroad regulation; free rural post office delivery. Many of these ideas would eventually become law, with the notable exception of one proposal we’ll get to later: the idea of pegging the dollar to silver. But at the time, these ideas are considered downright kooky.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
So now I want to pose a question to you. One of the great hopes of the Populists is that they’ll be able to forge an alliance with the industrial workers of the cities and break the power of the big banks and big business. How realistic do you think that is?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
No one?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—It’s really hard to say. We don’t know enough.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I understand. But Chris: you’ve got a thoughtful expression on your face. Whaddya say? Farmers and factory workers: a good fit?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Nope.</em></span></div>
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Would you care to elaborate?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—</em>“I would prefer not to.”</span></div>
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That wouldn’t happen to be a Melvillian “prefer not to,” would it?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—We’re reading “Bartleby the Scrivener” in Ms. Anthony’s class.</em></span></div>
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Got it. How about you, Paolo?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #808080;" style="color: grey;"><em>—Makes sense to me. They’re both getting screwed.</em></span></div>
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Do they have anything else in common?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #808080;" style="color: grey;"><em>—I dunno. Do they need anything else in common?</em></span></div>
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Great question. What do the rest of you think?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—It’s not clear to me that farmers and factory workers are a good fit. You said that one problem the farmers had was falling prices, right?</em></span></div>
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Yes, Adam, I did.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—That’s good for workers, right? They get cheaper food.</em></span></div>
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That’s true.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—More than that, though. It’s different cultures. People who live on farms and people who work in factories lead very different lives.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I’d never want to live on farm. Pace is too slow.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—You’re a snob, Em.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Why thank you, Adam!</em></span></div>
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I can tell you one thing you don’t often (sometimes, but not often) find on a farm that you find in cities all the time. Can you guess what I’m taking about?</div>
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<img alt="Bagel" class=" size-full wp-image-2537 alignleft" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/bagel.jpg" height="197" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/bagel.jpg" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 16px 16px 16px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="198" /></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—A good bagel?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—<u>Any</u> bagel?</em></span></div>
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Actually, you’re getting close. Who eats bagels in the late nineteenth century?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Who doesn’t?</em></span></div>
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No, seriously.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—I <u>am</u> serious.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Bagels are Jewish food.</em></span></div>
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Yes. And where are Jews from?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Israel?</em></span></div>
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There is no Israel at this point. Where are all the Jews?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Russia?</em></span></div>
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Yes.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Poland?</em></span></div>
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Yes.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—France?</em></span></div>
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Some. But you get the idea. Jews are immigrants. There are lots and lots of immigrants in America. Most of them are in cities. Again: that’s not <em>absolutely</em> true. You’ve got Swedes in Minnesota, for example. Czechs in Nebraska. Germans and Mexicans in rural Texas (they’re making beautiful <em>tejano</em> music that integrates the two cultures). But there’s a general sense that the cities, particularly the eastern cities, are very mixed, while the countryside is very white.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Aren’t Germans white?</em></span></div>
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Sort of. Whiter than the Irish, anyway. And both are whiter than the Italians. Particularly the Sicilians. They’re basically negroes.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Like I said. There’s that cultural barrier. They’re like not even speaking the same language.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—No “like” about it. They’re literally not speaking the same language.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—It sounds like the Populists are racists.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Why would you say that? Mr. K. just explained they’re reaching out. They want an alliance.</em></span></div>
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Well, Sadie does have a point, Adam. Yes, they do want an alliance. But they tend to think of it on their terms.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Are there black populists?</em></span></div>
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A typically excellent question from Yin. The answer is yes. Populism was in many ways a decentralized movement, and so there were variations in the degree of interracial cooperation. Sadly, the cooperation that did exist tended to break down. One of the most famous Populists, Ben Tillman—known as “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman—ended up as a vicious racist. There was also, I’m sorry to say, an anti-semitic strain in Populists, despite (or maybe because) many Populists had never actually met a Jewish person. Some were convinced that Jewish bankers were taking over the world.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—God, this is thoroughly depressing. Thanks for all this happy information, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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Well, don’t despair yet, Sadie. This story isn’t quite over. I have more to tell you.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Hey, Sadie. Don’t feel bad. Now everybody eats bagels.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Yeah, but I had a bagel once in Denver. It was awful.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I had one in Florida that sucked too.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Yes, but America is a work in progress. First we got bagels for everybody. Now we need to work on making better bagels.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—A good bagel is like a refreshing breeze. Now there’s a simile.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—As good as a bagel in Denver.</em></span></div>
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Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-18290139370662454362016-12-23T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-23T00:00:13.281-05:00King's Survey: Playing Monopoly<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="Standard_Oil" class="alignnone wp-image-2497" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/standard_oil.jpg?w=612" data-wpmedia-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/standard_oil.jpg" height="549" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/standard_oil.jpg?w=612" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="696" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Standard Oil refinery, Cleveland Ohio, 1889.</dd></dl>
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<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<em>In which we see that free markets can be a complicated business</em></h4>
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Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the president of the Jonquil Railroad Company.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Hey, nice job, Jonquil!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Hey Jonquil, can I get me some free tickets to L.A.?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Thank you. Thank you all. Jonah, that would be no.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Awww. Really?</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;">—Well, we’ll see.</span></em></div>
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You can be sure that Jonquil didn’t get to where she is by giving things away, Jonah. She’s a tough businesswoman. Actually, much of her clientele is oil companies. More specifically, her clients include Chris, Yin, Brianna, Kylie and myself. We all own companies that ship our product along a key stretch of her line that stretches from Chicago, Illinois, to Cleveland, Ohio—essentially across the bottom half of Michigan. Rail is a much more efficient means of transportation than the alternative, which involves shipping by barge around the Great Lakes. That’s what we used to do before Jonquil came along.</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="John-D-Rockefeller-sen" class=" size-full wp-image-2501 alignright" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/john-d-rockefeller-sen.jpg" height="316" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/john-d-rockefeller-sen.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="250" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">John D. Rockefeller, 1875</dd></dl>
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Oh: I almost forgot to tell you. My name is John D. Rockefeller. I own a company called Standard Oil.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Hmmm. That sounds vaguely familiar.</em></span></div>
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Well, I’m not very well known. I’ve really only been in business for a few years, since the War Between the States.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well, something tells me that you have a future, young man.</em></span></div>
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Why thank you, ma’am. As you may know, oil is a difficult trade. It’s really only been a business for a few years. Actually, the oil business itself only dates back to, 1859, when it was discovered that the thick, viscous sludge that accumulated in ponds around the Pennsylvania and the Midwest actually burns clean for fuel, and does so more cheaply than alternatives like whale oil or kerosene. Nowadays, we drill wells underground and tap the oil as it surges to the surface. But it still has to be refined, much in the way that iron has to be processed into steel.</div>
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Here’s another, bigger problem: oil is basically a commodity.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—What does that mean?</em></span></div>
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Well, even though it has to be manipulated to be usable, it’s widely regarded as a raw material, like coal, or lumber or milk or butter. Manufactured goods, especially ones that have patents, tend to be much more valuable. To be honest with you, there really isn’t much difference between the oil that I sell, or that which Brianna, Chris, Yin, or you do, Kylie. And we all have the same fixed costs. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that it costs $1 to extract one barrel oil from the ground. And that it costs another dollar to refine it. And a third to ship it on Jonquil’s rail line between Chicago and Cleveland on her Sandusky line. The only thing we can really compete on is price.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—So what do you do then?</em></span></div>
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Why don’t you ask them?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Yeah, Adam, why don’t you ask us?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Fine, Chris. How much do you charge for your oil?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Six dollars a barrel. Three bucks to make the oil, three bucks in profit.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well I only charge five dollars.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333300;" style="color: #333300;"><em>—Well aren’t you special, Kylie. I charge four.</em></span></div>
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You can see where this is headed, Adam. All of us undercutting each other. Brianna is charging $4. As a result, Yin is likely to charge $3.50. The profit margin will keep shrinking. And here’s the thing: stuff happens. Maybe one of Brianna’s boilers will break down and have to be replaced. Now she has a big repair bill. Maybe there will be a strike at Kylie’s plant, and the workers will want more money. There’s a danger that they’ll be selling the oil for less than it costs them to make it. These price wars will be ruinous. Maybe everybody but Yin will go broke, and then she’ll be the only person producing oil. What do you think will happen next?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Oil for ten dollars a barrel.</em></span></div>
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Right. A huge surge in prices. And when Emily and Sadie see how obscenely wealthy Yin is becoming, they’ll enter the market and charge nine dollars, then eight, and pretty soon, the whole process will repeat itself. And poor Ethan and Jonah, who are just trying to heat their house or fuel their tractor, will be on a never-ending roller coaster ride. Crazy, isn’t it?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Something tells me you have a solution, Mr. Rockefeller.</em></span></div>
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Well, as a matter of fact I do. I happen to have a little extra money on my hands. And I’ll tell you how I’ve used it. I’ve built new state-of-the-art storage facilities. I’ve also built links between my plant and Jonquil’s depot to make it extra easy for her to collect my oil for shipping. As Jonquil knows, I’m absolutely fanatical about making sure she gets paid in a timely way. What I’m saying, in short, is that I strive mightily to be a dream customer. Is that so, Jonquil?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Oh yes. A dreamboat.</em></span></div>
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Excellent. I am so glad to hear that.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Uh oh, Jonquil. Something’s coming.</em></span></div>
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You see, I’m a much better customer than Yin, whose facilities are really a bit of a pain for Jonquil to reach. And Kylie has had some financial problems, so she doesn’t always her bills on time. And I’m told that Brianna has been actively looking for alternatives to shipping with Brianna, whether in terms of encouraging other rail companies to start competing in the region or negotiating a better price for shipping by barge. It’s slower, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be cost-effective. But, I, as Jonquil just said, am a regular dreamboat.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Here it comes.</em></span></div>
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Jonquil, I’m hoping we can revise our arrangement a little.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Uh, OK. What do you have in mind?</em></span></div>
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Well, here’s what I’m thinking. In this market of great uncertainty, I think we should really commit to each other. I’m willing to contractually promise a steady stream of business with you, which will no doubt help with your own financial planning. And I’ll continue to maintain state-of-the-art facilities to make your job easier. In return, I’d like a little discount on the shipping, a kind of most-favored-customer deal.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—How much of a discount?</em></span></div>
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Doesn’t have to be much. Maybe something like ten cents, so you’ll charge me 90 cents but everyone else a dollar. But here’s the thing—a thing that matters a lot to me, but shouldn’t really matter to you. I want this to be our secret. In fact, I want you to be able to say, accurately, that you charge everybody the same price of a dollar. We’ll have that ten-cent discount come in the form of a rebate that you give me later. One more reason to take the deal. Will you?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Don’t do it, Jonquil!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Rockefeller is the devil!</em></span></div>
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I’m an honest businessman, Jonquil. And I’m not competing with you. Actually, I think of us as partners. Ask your friend Adam here what he thinks. I bet he’ll give you good advice.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Honestly, Jonquil, I don’t think you have much to lose. Actually, I think Brianna, Kylie, Yin and Chris have more to worry about. I could be wrong.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—What happens if I say no, Mr. Rockefeller?</em></span></div>
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I don’t know, Jonquil. But I’m mighty curious about what Brianna is up to. She’s a smart woman. Maybe those rumors about alternative forms of transportation are true.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Oh, all right. Whatever. I’ll take the deal.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #333300;" style="color: #333300;"><em>—Jonquil!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Sorry, B. I just don’t want to have to think so much!</em></span></div>
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Excellent, Jonquil. We have a deal. Now let me accelerate the pace of time a little and explain what happens. I price my oil at $2.95 a barrel. That’s a dollar to extract, a dollar to refine, 90 cents to Jonquil and a tiny profit of a nickel per barrel. But I’m not losing ground. The others, by contrast, can’t charge less three bucks and expect to stay in business. Assuming disaster doesn’t strike me—possible, but not likely, because as you know, I am very careful and shrewd—sooner or later they will die. And they know that.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—You’re disgusting, Mr. Rockefeller. You’re going to do that ten-dollar thing you just said was so bad.</em></span></div>
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No, Emily, I’m not. Actually, the first thing I’m going to do is go to our friend Kylie. Kylie, let’s agree: you’re not the world’s greatest accountant. You’ve had your problems paying your bills even before this happened. But I really respect your skills in prospecting, and I think you have a good future. So I’d like you to come work for me.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well, what if I don’t want to?</em></span></div>
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Hey, it’s a free country. Which is why, if you persist, I will exercise my own freedom and <em>crush</em> you.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well, since you put it that way, I guess I’m joining you.</em></span></div>
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Wonderful! I’ll take over your operations. I’m going to pay you more than you were making. And Jonquil will be thrilled, because she knows I’ll do a better job of paying my debts than you ever were. And now we’ll have twice as much $2.95 oil. Chris, you see where this is heading. You want to join a winning team?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—I guess.</em></span></div>
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Excellent! Brianna? Yin? What are the two of you talking about over there?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #333300;" style="color: #333300;">—We agreed to team up to fight you.</span></em></div>
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Oh, that’s very unfortunate. That’s very unfortunate for me, because it means a temporary loss in profits. And it’s unfortunate for you two as well. I’m going to price my oil at a dollar a barrel. I’m afraid you simply won’t be able to survive that. I <em>will</em> drive you out of business. I’ll price my oil at a penny a barrel if I have to. Hell, I’ll <em>give</em> it away, because I know I can absorb more pain than you can. Would you care to reconsider?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Are you allowed to do that?</em></span></div>
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What wouldn’t I be, Sadie?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Aren’t there rules against this kind of thing?</em></span></div>
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Rules? Of course not. For one thing, this whole oil business hasn’t really been around long enough for there to be such rules.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Yeah, but isn’t what you’re doing a monopoly? Isn’t that wrong?</em></span></div>
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Wrong? Absolutely not. Listen: I’m doing everyone a <em>favor</em> here. I’m bringing order out of chaos.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Well, what’s going to stop you from charging $100 a barrel?</em></span></div>
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For one thing, it’s a big country. There are lots of Kylies and Briannas out there who will try to undercut me if I get too greedy. (Actually, trying to outsmart them is what makes this fun. Why I hope to keep doing it.) And I don’t like the roller coaster any more than the Jonahs and Ethans out there. That’s why I’m going to price my oil at $6.50 a barrel—and keep it there as long as I can. Bring some predictability to the market. Stability. That’s what the business community needs. That’s what consumers need. That’s what we all need. Don’t you agree?</div>
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Don’t you?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—This reminds me of that conversation we had about Carnegie and his libraries. I mean, it was nice that he built them. But it isn’t really his job. The government should do it.</em></span></div>
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The government? That bunch of losers? They couldn’t govern their way out of a paper bag! Everybody knows that no one with a half a brain goes into government in this day and age.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—Well, maybe that should change.</span></em></div>
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You go ahead and dream. In the meantime, I’ve got a business to run.</div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-43255567950165450862016-12-21T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-21T00:00:14.203-05:00King's Survey: Charity Case<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 19.15pt; margin-bottom: .25in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In which we follow a money trail—and ask
whose it is</span></i></b><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, gang, what did you make of that Andrew
Carnegie reading on the Gospel of Wealth? Let me read the key paragraph again:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Courier;">This, then, is held to be the duty
of the man of wealth: To set an example of modest, unostentatious living,
shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate
wants of those dependent upon him; and, after doing so, to consider all surplus
revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to
administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner
which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial
results for the community-the man of wealth thus becoming the mere trustee and
agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom,
experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or
could do for themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> —Sounds like Carnegie sees himself as the
ultimate American Dream boy.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Explain what you mean, Ethan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: teal; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—I mean he sees himself as someone who starts
with nothing, works hard and becomes rich.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333300; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—And screws everyone else in the process.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everyone</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> else, Brianna?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHb1UfLqYUXJNopOihJPn-B-_3MN9a07FdVHw4H8krNWDuAQKLEfjPLaXb_NFkhiK8NNQqNdrISRAdnn-FA1rVwbNsTdLPPAN4tnNYEGIYvbGSiepC0v58T-Ewv3H0sZk7Ao7LaAMc9z0/s1600/800px-Andrew_Carnegie%252C_three-quarter_length_portrait%252C_seated%252C_facing_slightly_left%252C_1913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHb1UfLqYUXJNopOihJPn-B-_3MN9a07FdVHw4H8krNWDuAQKLEfjPLaXb_NFkhiK8NNQqNdrISRAdnn-FA1rVwbNsTdLPPAN4tnNYEGIYvbGSiepC0v58T-Ewv3H0sZk7Ao7LaAMc9z0/s320/800px-Andrew_Carnegie%252C_three-quarter_length_portrait%252C_seated%252C_facing_slightly_left%252C_1913.jpg" width="274" /></a><i><span style="color: #333300; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—OK. Maybe not <u>everyone</u> else.
But a lot of people. Look at what he did at his factory at Homestead, locking
out those workers. That was <u>cold</u>.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well yes, there was some unpleasantness there.
But let’s not dwell on that now, shall we? We don’t want to end up sounding
like that horrid little man Eugene Debs, who has such peculiar ideas about the
relationship between capital and labor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: maroon; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Yeah: that the workers <u>make</u> the
capital.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Again: let’s talk about something more
pleasant, shall we? Like charity, Carnegie style.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—You keep saying Car-nay-gee. Is that the right
way to pronounce it?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes, Kylie. Like Henry David Thorr-Row.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Weird.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maybe so. Anyway, as you know, Carnegie
becomes the dominant figure in the new American Steel business in the closing
decades of the 19<sup>th</sup> century. Which puts him right smack in the
middle of the Industrial Revolution. Because steel is absolutely crucial. A
man-made material derived from iron—like oil, it has to be refined before it
can be a useable fuel, iron must be manipulated at very high temperatures to
become steel. Once you do that, though, it has all kinds of uses. It’s
indispensable in the railroad business, for example. Steel is to the Industrial
Revolution what fiber optic cable is to the Internet. You don’t always see it
behind the walls, but you’re nowhere unless it’s there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Isn’t it also used in buildings?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Indeed it is, Kylie. The fact that steel is
both incredibly strong and relatively light makes it possible to erect really
tall buildings in cities like New York and Chicago. Steel is so important, in
fact, that it becomes a measure of a nation’s industrial prowess<i>—</i>a
nation’s place in the global pecking order was often ranked in terms of its
steel production. That was true well into the 20<sup>th</sup> century,
when the leader of China, Mao Tse Tung, starved his own people in a mad quest
to boost steel production in an initiative known as the Great Leap Forward. But
that’s another story. The point is that Carnegie becomes a very rich man making
steel, and becomes richer still when he sells his business to banker J.P.
Morgan for something like a billion dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Pocket change.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maybe so, Emily. But one thing you can do with
that kind of money is charity. And Mr. Carnegie is a charitable man. But he’s
not content to simply give the money away. He thinks it’s important to help
people to help themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: red; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Give a man a fish, blah blah blah.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just so. So Carnegie makes an offer to
communities around the country. He says that education was the key to his
success, and that the key to his education was public libraries. That’s why he
offers—and in fact he does—build hundreds of libraries and stocks them with
books. But he has a condition: the communities that receive these gifts must
promise to maintain these libraries and staff them appropriately. My question
is: Does this seem like a good deal?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #993300; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Well sure. I mean, why not?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff9900; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Jonah’s right. After all, it’s his money.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hmmm. His money. But is it, Chris?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ff9900; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Well, yeah. He earned it, didn’t he?</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, I don’t know, Chris. What do you mean by
“earn?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333300; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Right. He didn’t <u>earn</u> it. He <u>stole</u> it.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: navy; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—Oh, c’mon, Brianna. It was his company. The
whole thing was his idea. I mean, yes, he had people do work for him. But
without him, the company would have never happened. He was a talented guy. And
a guy who created jobs.</span></i><span style="color: #3d596d; font-family: "Adobe Caslon Pro"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-41966950740388299282016-12-19T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-19T00:00:10.069-05:00King's Survey: Winds of Capitalism<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="800px-Mill_District_-_Pittsburgh" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2419" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/800px-mill_district_-_pittsburgh.jpg?w=612" data-wpmedia-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/800px-mill_district_-_pittsburgh.jpg" height="820" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/800px-mill_district_-_pittsburgh.jpg?w=612" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="800" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Mill District, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1940</dd></dl>
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</h4>
<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which we learn about different responses to climate change</em></strong></h4>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Kids, there’s a strong wind blowing.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well, it is winter, after all.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Winds don’t blow only in winter.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—You know he’s not talking literal winds, right?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—I learned a little about this back when I was in fifth grade. There are different kinds of wind. Westerly winds, trade winds, some others.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Yes, Ethan. But the wind I’m talking about is the wind of industrial capitalism.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh, industrial capitalism! Of course. You know that’s actually my very favorite wind.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—What are some other kinds of wind that you like, Em?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh, you know, the usual ones.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—Like what, Em? I mean, given that you’re the expert.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
May I, Em?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Please do, Mr. K.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I think what Emily is trying to say is that capitalism—an economic system based on private ownership of property and production—has been around for a long time, and existed in different forms. In the colonial era and early republic, we had what is sometimes called <em>mercantile</em> capitalism: a form of capitalism based on largely hand-made goods and commodities. With the coming of the industrial revolution, the essence of which is mass-manufacturing by machines in factories, we entered the age of <em>industrial</em> capitalism, which is the topic at hand. That process began before the Civil War but really intensified after it. In the twentieth century we saw the rise of <em>consumer</em> capitalism, a shift in focus from the production side to the consumption side as the real engine of the \the economy. Here in the 21<sup>st</sup> century, people speak of <em>financial</em> capitalism, one in which the role of banks and speculation is central. Mercantile, industrial, consumer, mercantile: you can think of them as the north, south, east and west winds of capitalism.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Exactly. I couldn’t have said it better myself.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Thank you, Emily.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—God, Em, you are shameless.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Thank you, Sadie.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
As I was saying, there’s a strong wind blowing. The thing about the wind is that you can’t see the air itself, even as you see and feel its effects. Those effects are clear, and they’re global. All over the world (though at this point mostly in Europe and the United States), factories are springing up. Cities are growing. People are leaving farms and heading to those cities and factories. Old jobs and ways of life are disappearing; new ones are rising to the fore. The speed and power of this wind is especially apparent in the United States, particularly in cities like Chicago. Huge buildings are going up. Transportation systems are sprawling. People are flocking in from all over the world, because a voracious demand for labor is bringing immigrants to the nation’s cities. There’s a crush from all the crowding, all the jostling.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Is that a good thing? I can’t quite tell from the way you’re talking.</em></span></div>
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Is the weather a good thing, Kylie?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well, sometimes. Sometimes the weather is nice. Sometimes it rains or storms.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—But the weather is the weather. It’s not really something we have any control over. It’s not really good or bad. It just is.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
That’s right, Jonah. Of course, our notion of whether the weather is good or bad may be depend a little on our perspective. Most of us like sunshine, most of the time. Most of us don’t like rain. But if there’s been a drought, we may welcome the rain. Sunshine may bring with it heat and humidity. That kind of thing.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Let me take this idea a step further. Our perspective on the wind may be a matter of what the weather has been like lately. But more often than not, it’s a matter of where we happen to be standing when the weather breaks out, so to speak. If you’re Chris here, and the wind powers your literal or figurative sails, you may be very happy that a strong breeze (which is what you might call it) is blowing. If you’re Brianna, working out in a field, the wind may chill you to the bone. If you’re Paolo, relatively secluded from the wind thanks to a house in the valley, it may not matter to you one way or the other. Of course, there’s always the chance that if the wind gets strong enough it will blow his house down. But that’s unlikely, and a lot of other houses are likely to get blown away before his is. And he might have insurance in any case. Which is to say that Paolo can’t control the weather. But he might be able to limit its effects.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
And that’s something that Jonquil here sees quite clearly. She sees how Chris is doing, and how Paolo is doing. And how Brianna is doing, too. And she asks, “What can I do to protect myself from the wind?” She may go a step further and ask, “What can I do protect us—me and Brianna, but also others for whom the wind has had a deeply chilling effect?” And so it is that she organizes people to respond to the weather. Her efforts may involve getting Brianna to change the way she works. But it’s also likely to involve trying to get Chris to change, and maybe even Paolo, too. Which might be a tricky proposition.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—Don’t mess with Paolo man. He’ll bite your head off.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Exactly. Then again, Chris, Paolo might not be as bad a guy as you might think. Or maybe Paolo will find it in his interest to help Brianna in ways that might not be obvious at first.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;">—Wouldn’t hold my breath on that.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Maybe not. Maybe that won’t matter, because Jonquil’s crowd may be able to exert enough pressure on Paolo to change whether he wants to or not.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
There’s one other thing to remember: whether or not Paolo, or Jonquil, or anyone else responds or doesn’t respond to that wind, it’s important to keep in mind that the wind itself isn’t static. It shifts, in ways that are hard to predict. Maybe it dies down; maybe it intensifies. People can take <em>advantage</em> of the weather (or not), but they can’t <em>control</em> the weather. Sometimes it may seem that way for a while, and sometimes like-minded people who inhabit a similar position on the landscape can benefit over time more than others. Weather lasts forever. But <em>the</em> weather, so do speak, doesn’t.</div>
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So what’s my larger point here, kids?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;">—Always take a jacket.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Protest climate change.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—Buy a house in a valley.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Um, can we think a little less literally?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well, yes, Mr. K., but that’s less fun. Besides, it’s enjoyable sometimes to frustrate your cute little analogies.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Guilty as charged, Em. But would you mind telling me what the analogy here actually is? What the wind is analogy for?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—You said it yourself. Capitalism.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Yes. Right. I guess what I really mean is who Chris, and Brianna and Jonquil are in the analogy.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—They’re the people who are dealing. Chris is like a factory owner. Brianna is like a worker. Jonquil is like one of the people who try to organize the workers, what do you call that—a union.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Couldn’t have said it better myself.</div>
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Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-75145503936044173182016-12-16T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-16T00:00:00.172-05:00King's Survey: Mr. King's Friend Ida<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which we see the promise, and price, of activism.</em></strong></h4>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="Ida-b-wells-barnett1" class=" size-medium wp-image-2398 alignleft" height="300" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/ida-b-wells-barnett1.jpg?w=209" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="209" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Ida Wells, ca. 1890</dd></dl>
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OK, kids, I need your help again.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—<u>Again</u>, Mr. K? You know we’re going to have to start charging for our services.</em></span></div>
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Fair enough, Emily. I’ll tell you what: the more help you give me, the higher your grade.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Hmmm. I guess so. As long as that means I get the highest grade, since I’m the most helpful person in your life.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—And the most modest.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Shut up, Adam.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Huh. I was about to say exactly the same thing.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—You were going to tell yourself to shut up?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Great minds think alike. I think you should both shut up.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—Brilliant, Chris! I think you should get a higher grade now.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Chris never talks.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—</em><em>More isn’t better, Em.</em></span></div>
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Now, now, kids. Let’s focus on the matter at hand. And that matter is personal. It’s about my friend Ida Wells.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—You want <u>personal</u> advice?</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Jeez, Jonah, you really do fall for it every time.</span></em></div>
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Ida was born a slave in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1862. Her parents died when she was your age in an epidemic that swept the region, and she convinced friends and family that she could raise her five younger siblings on her own. She started college around this time, but was kicked out for reasons that remain obscure (as we’ll see, though, Ida did have a bit of a temper). Despite the press of commitments she managed to begin a journalism career, albeit for little pay, for a series of newspapers in the region.</div>
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Here’s a story that give you a sense of Ida’s personality. In 1883, she boarded a train, for which she paid for a first-class ticket. By this point, racial segregation and Jim Crow laws had replaced slavery as the primary means of controlling the lives of black people, though it lacked the full legitimation that the notorious Supreme Court Case <em>Plessy v. Ferguson</em> would give segregation thirteen years later.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—What’s </em>Plessy v. Ferguson<em>?</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">—It was in last night’s homework.</span></em></div>
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Right. So Ida is sitting on this train, and the conductor orders her to move to the second-class car, presumably because she’s a Negro. Ida, who, as I said, paid for a first-class ticket, ignores him. The conductor moves on to collect other tickets. But he returns to move her luggage and umbrella, telling her that he’ll treat her as a lady if she’ll act like one. Ida replies that the best way to treat her like a lady is to leave her alone. At this point, the conductor begins to drag Ida out of the train. And at which point she does the distinctly unladylike thing of biting him.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—She <u>bit</u> him?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Go Ida!</em></span></div>
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The conductor goes to get help with ejecting her, to the cheering of the white passengers. But since the train has come to a stop at the station, Ida leaves by her own recognizance.</div>
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This was not the end of the matter as far as she was concerned, however. She sued the train company for violating her rights. And she won. But the train company pressed the case, and the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the decision, requiring her to pay court costs. Ida would often lose battles she fought. But that never stopped her. It never stopped hurting, though, either. Her insistence on speaking truth to power cost her friends, and it cost her jobs. But she maintained a stubborn insistence on her own integrity.</div>
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Here’s what’s important though: Ida didn’t just insist on her own integrity. She also spoke out even more ardently about crimes perpetrated on others. And no such crime engaged her more passionately that the epidemic of lynching that spread throughout the South in the 1880s and 90s.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">—I’ve heard of lynching, but I’m not entirely sure what it is. Can you explain?</span></div>
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Kids? How about you tell Yin?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—It’s when black people get murdered.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;">—By racists.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—I think a lot of time it’s by hanging.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—Vigilante justice.</span></div>
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You’re all correct. There was a real epidemic of lynchings in the South in the closing decades of the 19th century. Hundreds of them. Those that were reported, that is. And those that <em>were</em> reported had significant ripple effects as a warning to black people who, in the perception of racists, got out of line—or, to put it in perhaps more apt terms, didn’t know their “place.” That was a key term of the time: place was a matter of (segregated) geography, and also a matter of social rank.</div>
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Many people were appalled by lynchings, but Ida took them very hard. “Oh my God! Can such a thing be and there be no justice for it?” she wrote in her diary in 1892 after a learning a black woman accused of poisoning a white one had been lynched and her bullet-riddled body had been put on display. “It may be unwise to express myself so strongly, but I cannot help it.”</div>
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By this point, our friend Ida was working as a journalist in Memphis, Tennessee, just across the Mississippi River from where she had grown up. She had made a bit of a life for herself, with many friends (though her own marriage, to a man named Ferdinand Barnett, at which point she became Ida Wells-Barnett, was still a few years away). Three of her male black friends had started a grocery store in town that competed with a white one. In the aftermath of an argument between a group of white and black boys playing marbles, tensions escalated. They culminated when the three black men, who had been jailed for arming themselves to defend their store, were removed from their cells and lynched. In the days that followed, an anonymous editorial appeared in a Memphis newspaper. Let me read you a few sentences:</div>
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Nobody in this section of the country believes the old threadbare lie that Negro men rape white women. If Southern white men are not careful, they will over-reach themselves and public sentiment will have a reaction; a conclusion will then be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women.</span></h5>
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Can any of you tell me what this means?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—It’s saying that Negro men don’t really rape white women.</em></span></div>
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Yes, that is one thing the article is saying, Kylie. What else?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—That white men are overreacting.</em></span></div>
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Yes again. Let me ask you this. Do you think that there were white women who had sex with black men?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Not often, but yeah.</em></span></div>
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And when that did happen, Adam, and white women were caught, what might they have said?</div>
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<em>—That they were getting raped.</em></div>
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That’s correct; they sometimes did. Why might they say that even if it wasn’t true?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Because they didn’t want to get in trouble.</em></span></div>
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Right. But why might have some women done it in the first place?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—Because they wanted to.</span></em></div>
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Right. Because they wanted to. Maybe because they preferred black men to white ones.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Whoa. That’s a pretty provocative thing to say in a newspaper.</em></span></div>
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It sure is, Yin. What do you think the reaction was?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">—Outrage.</span></div>
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There sure was. Angry mobs descended on the paper’s office, which was utterly destroyed. A writer at a rival newspaper suggested that he would personally teach the writer of these words by performing a surgical operation with him with a pair of tailor’s scissors.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—He would cut that writer’s balls off.</em></span></div>
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That’s the idea, Jonah. But of course this person couldn’t do that. Because the writer of this piece didn’t have any: “He” was our friend Ida. She had fled the scene, never to return.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—That’s quite a story.</em></span></div>
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And in an important sense, it was just the beginning, Yin. In the years that followed, our friend Ida became an internationally famous anti-lynching activist. She wrote countless articles and pamphlets, and went on the lecture circuit. (They call <em>black</em> people savages? Look what white people are doing!) Her impact isn’t anything we can prove, but the number of lynchings in the United States did decline in the latter part of the 1890s, and Ida may be at least part of the reason for that. I myself consider her efforts heroic.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—So if that’s the case, why do you need our “help” with your friend Ida, Mr. K.?</em></span></div>
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Ah, well, I’m glad you asked, Em. As you may know, a life of activism can be difficult, particularly if you happen to be a black woman. And Ida didn’t just fight with violent racists, she also called out those who might have been (and in some cases actually were) her allies. Like the woman’s rights activist Emma Willard. Willard had been an abolitionist before the war, and Wells, like Willard, believed in women’s suffrage. But Willard, who was touring England speaking against alcoholism at the same time Wells was also there on a speaking tour, said nothing about lynching—which Wells noted. Willard had said that African Americans “reproduce like locusts,” which was reported in the press. Embarrassed by the controversy, Willard tried to muzzle Wells, to no avail.</div>
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Well also experienced struggles with her black allies. She was close with aging Frederick Douglass, who mentored her. But after Douglass died in 1895, Well found herself with fewer and fewer connections in the elite black community. In particular, W.E.B. DuBois, one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,” froze her out. After 1900, a new generation of black activists found her a little too loud, a little too coarse, not quite savvy enough. And that made her very sad.</div>
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Which is where you come in. I’m trying to figure out how to advise my dear friend Ida. Do you think I should pull her aside and tell her to tone it down? Should I say, “Ida, Ida, Ida! You catch more flies with honey than vinegar!” Do you think that would help?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—It might.</em></span></div>
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Yeah, but would she listen to me, Sadie?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—She might if she’s feeling discouraged.</em></span></div>
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Yeah, but would she take my advice?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I think she would if she felt you really cared about her. People don’t like to be talked at. But I think if you made clear that you really respect her and are worried about her, she would take you seriously.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well, maybe. But people are kind of who they are. And you know, Ida is pretty cool. I mean, she’s doing a lot of good in the world.</em></span></div>
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So your feeling, Em, is that I should let Ida be Ida.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Pretty much. I mean, it works.</em></span></div>
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But is it working for <em>her</em>? It’s wearing her down.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Yeah, but look how many people are benefitting.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—That sounds a little harsh, Em. It’s like you’re using her up. Remember, she’s Mr. K’s friend, Ida.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Maybe, Kylie. But how happy do you think she’s going to be sitting on the sidelines? For all we know, shutting up might be worse for her.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—That’s true. You said she got married, Mr. K. Did she have kids?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Yes.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;">—Well, maybe she should focus on her family. That’s important, too.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—She might not have any choice. I mean, she’s getting shut out.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—But she might not get shut out if she changed her way of doing things.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Yeah, but it might not make any difference. Times change. People get pushed aside. That might not really be her fault. It’s just kind of the way history works.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Does that mean you agree with Kylie, Adam?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Yeah. You have to have more than one ball in the air in life. If things are going bad in one way, maybe they’re going better in another.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—So what ended up happening to her, Mr. K.?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, Sadie, one way of answering that is that she sank into obscurity. She kept active in African American affairs, especially on a local level (her family settled in Chicago). When she died in 1931, her husband made her funeral low-key. But the city did name a housing project after her in 1940, and thirty years later her daughter managed to get her autobiography published. You might say that marked the beginning of her comeback; by the 1980s, she was being celebrated as path-breaking feminist and something of an academic darling. These were the years I discovered her. And now I’m telling you. So now you know my friend Ida.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Yeah. I think I’m going to make her my friend, too.</em></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-57465359244484351202016-12-14T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-14T00:00:16.627-05:00King's Survey: Essaying<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which we see a class struggle with a question, just as Mr. K. hopes, even as he tries to give them paths out of the woods.</em></strong></h4>
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<dl class="wp-caption alignright" data-mce-style="width: 400px;" id="attachment_2346" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 16px 16px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: center; width: 400px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="Statement of Interest" class="alignnone wp-image-2346" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/find_essay_writing_service_online.jpg" height="167" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/find_essay_writing_service_online.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="400" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">"Essay" is a verb.</dd></dl>
</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I’m sorry, Mr. K, but that is a <u>ridiculous</u> essay question.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
And good morning to you, Emily.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I mean, seriously. “What was the Civil War?” How are we supposed to answer that?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
How do you think I want you to answer that?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh please. Not that again. You want us to read your mind.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, actually, I want you to read <em>your</em> mind. To reflect. Decide.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Honestly, Mr. K. Emily is right. I find the question overwhelming. Can you at least give us a hint on how to begin?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
You might say that I’m asking you a question of taxonomy. You can—</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh, well, taxonomy! Why didn’t you say so!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Stop, Em. Let him finish.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Thank you, Adam. Look: you hear an old song on your phone. You ask yourself “Is that East Coast rap or West Coast rap?”</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—What? What does rap have to do with this?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The point is that you know the song you’re hearing is hip-hop, just as you know that what happened between 1861 and 1865 was a war. The question is what kind. Does it have the more laid-back style of the West Coast? Or the denser rhymes of the East Coast?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Do you actually know anything about hip-hop, Mr. K? You seem kinda old for it.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Why thank you, Jonah. I’ll take that as a compliment. In fact, I know very little about hip-hop. It was after my time. But by paying attention to little details, I may find myself able to understand it a little better.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I still don’t understand where you’re going with this. I mean, sure, there are different kinds of hip-hop and different kinds of wars. But comparing hip-hop to the Civil War doesn’t make much sense. And I mean even if you could, why <u>would</u> you? It doesn’t seem to help anything.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Those are fair questions, Sadie. Admittedly, what I’m asking you is hard. But let me be a little more concrete. We’ve been talking about the Civil War for the last couple weeks. And, if you’ve been doing your homework (ahem), you’ve been reading some of the primary and secondary sources about the conflict. Based on that <em>information</em>—a limited, but sufficient, body of information—I want you to now try and make sense of it. Sense as something you <em>make</em>. Sense as something <em>you</em> make. So: Was the Civil War inevitable? Was it an unnecessary tragedy? Was it a just cause? Was it a struggle over slavery, or was it really something else?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—OK. I’m beginning to see. But like you say, what you’re asking is hard. Really hard.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Sadie’s right.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—And Ethan’s right about Sadie being right. As much as I hate to say so.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I understand. It’s hard. Actually, that’s precisely why I’m asking. I know this is difficult. But I think you can do it.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I do see better what you want now. But I have to say I’m still overwhelmed. I mean, let’s say I say the Civil War was a just cause. I think it was. But all those people died. Do I avoid statements that will weaken my thesis?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
No, Kylie, you should not. Counter-evidence, and counter-argument are among the most important things you can learn to master in your academic life. And in your personal life, too. You don’t persuade people to come around to your point of view by avoiding arguments against it that you know are out there. You persuade them by showing you understand that there are other ways of looking at a situation, and then explaining why, your point of view is still the right one.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—But how can I do that?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Again: it’s hard. But not impossible. Let’s go back to that line of thinking you tossed out about the Civil War as a just cause (and here I’ll point out that the word “essay,” which we think of as a noun, is also a verb. It means “to try out.” You <em>essay</em> an idea). You believe it was a just cause, and yet something like three-quarters of a million people died. Maybe it’s a just cause <em>despite</em> all those people dying. Yes, that was terrible, but at least some good came out of it. Or maybe it’s a just cause <em>because</em> all those people perished. Remember what Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg address: he exhorted his fellow Americans to “resolve that these men have not died in vain.” (Important point, by the way: <em>support</em> your thesis with sources. You’re more persuasive when you bring other voices into the conversation.)</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Of course, it’s always possible that in the course of trying to make an argument you’ll change your mind. That’s why the notion of essaying as trying out is important. Maybe, as you write, you’ll find you’re having a hard time supporting your argument because the act of making it leads you to believe the Civil War was not a just cause—it was a grotesque mistake, for example. Maybe you’ll come to see the Gettysburg Address as an effort to put lipstick on a pig, as it were, to assuage grief over a terrible mistake. Kind of a hard way to look at it, admittedly. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—I guess for me this is kind of the problem. I know that I can’t really prove any argument I’m making, because I know that there are ways of attacking all of them.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I think you’re not viewing this in quite the correct light, Yin. You don’t “prove” a thesis. In history, you rarely prove anything. You <em>argue</em>. If you’re case is airtight, you’re stating a fact (or, at any rate, common sense, which sometimes passes as fact). It’s precisely because a proposition is <em>arguable</em> that it’s worth developing. I’m not grading you on the airtightness of your essay. I’m grading you on how well you frame the question, how well you support the thesis you do have, how well you acknowledge or handle objections to it, and—a little on the larger implications. I say a “a little,” because that’s a challenge for another day.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Phew. Something you’re not asking us to do.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
That’s right, Sadie. Rome doesn’t get built in a day.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I’m still scared, though.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Good.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—You <u>want</u> me to be scared?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
A little. It will make your triumph all the more satisfying.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—You think I’m going to triumph?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Always, Sadie. I have faith in you. All of you.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Hmmm, Mr. K. That’s a questionable thesis.</em></span></div>
<div>
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-7761060814381837832016-12-12T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-12T00:00:05.151-05:00King's Survey: Mr. K.'s Boyfriend<div class="mceTemp" style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<dl class="wp-caption alignleft" data-mce-style="width: 214px;" id="attachment_2317" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin: 0px 16px 16px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: center; width: 214px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="800px-Abraham_Lincoln_1858" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2317" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/800px-abraham_lincoln_1858.png?w=214" height="300" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/800px-abraham_lincoln_1858.png?w=214" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="214" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Lincoln in 1858.</dd></dl>
</div>
<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which we see that even old people have heroes.</em></strong></h4>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Emily.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Mr. K.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The other day you referred to Abraham Lincoln as “my boyfriend.”</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I did.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Can I infer from this that you have some curiosity about our relationship?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Hey, whatever you’re into, Mr. K. You do have a wedding ring, I see.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I do.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—But what you do on your own time is your business.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Agreed. Of course your observation about my wedding ring testifies to your powers of observation—and can be taken as an ongoing indication of your curiosity about the status of my relations with Mr. Lincoln.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Are you married to him?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—OK, this is officially weird.</em></span></div>
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Well, making you uncomfortable is not the goal here, Sadie. What I’m really trying to do is leverage Emily’s interest for larger pedagogical purposes. That’s why I’m appointing her chief interviewer. Emily you’re going to be the Director of Information Management on Abraham Lincoln for Mr. King’s US History Class. Your fellow students are your staff members. Fire away.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Uh. OK. This <u>is</u> officially weird. But whatever. First question: are you named after him?</em></span></div>
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Yes. But your job is to ask about my boyfriend, as you refer to him, not me. Though you may learn about me in the process.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—You’re named after him? That’s so cool!</em></span></div>
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You might say my father was also Abraham Lincoln’s boyfriend, Kylie.</div>
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<em>—Let’s stop with this analogy. But was your dad a teacher too, Mr. K.?</em></div>
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No, Sadie. Just a passionate lover of history. But let’s keep our focus on Mr. Lincoln.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Right. So tell us about Abraham Lincoln. He wasn’t actually born in a log cabin, was he?</em></span></div>
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Pretty much. The exact circumstances of Lincoln’s birth are unclear, but his basic circumstances are well-established: he was born poor in Kentucky. His beloved mother died when he was nine years old. His beloved sister died when he was a teenager. He didn’t get along with his father. His family moved from Kentucky to Indiana, and later to Illinois.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—What kind of kid what he?</em></span></div>
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A little strange: He liked to read. Which is surprising, since he received about a year, total, formal education. His father, among other people in his extended family, thought he was lazy. But Lincoln was lucky: his dad remarried after his mother died, and—contrary to the fairy tales—his stepmother proved to be a godsend. She loved him and supported him, prodding her husband not to be hard on his son. Lincoln only read a few books—the Bible, Shakespeare—which he knew <em>very</em> well.</div>
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<em>—So what was his first job?</em></div>
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Well, he held odd jobs. As an adolescent, he did odd jobs for his father -- and for other people, his dad pocketing the pay -- but he left home as soon as he could, moving to the small town of New Salem, Illinois. It was there he reputedly fell in love with a woman who was engaged someone else.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>–Oooh. Scandal. I love it.</em></span></div>
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But then she died, and Lincoln became severely depressed—so depressed he stayed in bed for weeks. He had such episodes a lot. Anyway, over the course of his adolescence and young adulthood he worked in a store. He worked at the post office. He made a couple trips down the Mississippi River to New Orleans to deliver goods. That’s when he was introduced to slavery (and was attacked by slaves trying to steal the stuff). Those experiences had a deep impact on him: he emerged from them with a lifelong hatred of slavery, even if, for most of his life, he considered abolitionism impractical.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—So when did he get into politics?</em></span></div>
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When he was 22 years old, Adam, he ran for the state legislature. He lost. But he got 90% of the votes in his hometown. That was the thing about Lincoln: to know him was to like him. Once, when he was new to town, a friend bragged he could beat the head of the local gang in wrestling. There was a match, and there are two versions of the story. In one, Lincoln won; in the other, he lost. But in both cases, he became lifelong friends with the members of the gang. After he ran for office the second time, he won. He served four terms. Over the course of that time he also taught himself to be a lawyer, passed the bar, and began a legal career. He married a rich woman who also dated Stephen Douglas.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>–Oooh. Scandal. I love it.</em></span></div>
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Hardly, Sadie. But Mary Todd and Lincoln did have a tempestuous relationship, and there are reports of shouting matches that could be heard outside their house. She was difficult, and smart. Mary was from Kentucky, and Henry Clay had been a guest in her home and her father's business partner. Lincoln idolized Henry Clay—he loved the idea of internal improvements, the American System, the whole kit and caboodle. Which was a little hard, because he lived in Jackson country. But Lincoln did pretty well for himself. And by the mid-1840s, he was ready to run for Congress. Here was the problem: there was one district that was reliably Whig, and three guys who wanted the job. So Lincoln proposed they take turns, each supporting the other. His turn came last, and he was indeed elected. But as we discussed, he arrived in Congress for the start of the Mexican War, which he opposed. Not smart. Lincoln didn’t intend to run for re-election, but his stance cost the Whigs the seat. President Fillmore offered him the governorship of the Oregon territory, but Mary nixed that: Siberia. So Lincoln went back to Springfield and got rich. He and Mary had four sons, one of whom died there.</div>
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And that’s how things might have ended, if the Kansas-Nebraska Act hadn’t come about.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Wait. Before you get to that.</em></span></div>
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Yes, Yin?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—I don’t really understand exactly why Lincoln was so popular. Emily calls him your boyfriend, and you say that people liked him. But I don’t really understand. Can you explain?</em></span></div>
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Well, that was the point of that wrestling story. And there’s the famous story, you’ve probably heard it, of “Honest Abe” walking miles to refund money to someone he accidentally overcharged by working at the store.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">—I still don’t feel I get his personality. We’re told people from history were great and admirable, but I never feel like I understand why.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—It’s true.</em></span></div>
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I understand. Let me try this. At one point in the 1850s, when Lincoln was a successful, but provincial, lawyer, he was hired by a firm back in New York to represent a manufacturing company for a case that was being tried in Springfield. At the last minute, the case was transferred to Cincinnati. Lincoln was told that, and went there, but he didn’t understand the case would now be handled by a very prominent Cincinnati attorney named Edwin Stanton. Stanton thought Lincoln was a loser, a hick; Stanton’s colleague described Lincoln as “a tall rawly boned, ungainly back woodsman, with coarse, ill-fitting clothing.” Stanton’s crew pushed Lincoln aside during the case, never invited to meet or eat with the other attorneys. When Lincoln was paid for showing up, he returned the check until he was urged to cash it. When he got home, Lincoln described himself as “roughly handled” by Stanton, though he recognized, as many people at the time did, that Stanton was a very talented man, even if he was also a jerk.</div>
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A few years later, when Lincoln was president, he fired the corrupt and inept Secretary of War Simon Cameron (Lincoln’s boosters at the Republican Convention of 1860 foisted Cameron on him as the price of the Pennsylvania delegation’s support when he was running for president in 1860). And the man Lincoln chose as his successor? None other than Edwin Stanton, the former Democrat whom he entrusted—wisely—with substantial latitude to run the Civil War. And a few years after that, when Lincoln had been shot and was bleeding to death, it was Stanton who literally stood by him, managing the crisis while he wept. “Now he belongs to the ages,” Stanton said when Lincoln died.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—That’s a really moving story.</em></span></div>
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I’m glad to you think so, Yin. Does it get at what you’re asking?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Yes.</em></span></div>
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There are a lot of stories like it: Lincoln making, and staying, friends with people who disagreed with him. He refused to demonize his opponents. His great rival for the presidency, William Seward, ended up as one of his closest friends. So did one of his adversaries in Congress, abolitionist Charles Sumner—Sumner had been savagely beaten on the floor of Congress after giving a provocative speech against slavery in 1856—who believed Lincoln moved too slowly in abolishing slavery. So did Frederick Douglass, who would also ultimately be an admirer. Lincoln was that kind of guy. He also had a great sense of humor. “God loves ugly people,” he once said in a context of self-deprecation. “That’s why he made so many of them.” (Walt Whitman once wrote that Lincoln was so ugly that he was beautiful.)</div>
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But here’s the thing: Lincoln was also a man of great patriotism and moral conviction, and he thought the two went together. He loved his country because he knew it had been very good to him—only in the United States, he plausibly believed, could someone like him be as successful as he’d been—and he hated slavery, not only because it was wrong, but also because it endangered the very idea of what we would call the American Dream. This may be why Lincoln seemed utterly galvanized by Stephen Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska Act, which created the potential for slavery—something he always believed would die—to spread in the name of democracy. Lincoln’s denunciations attracted a lot of attention, and after the Whig Party fell apart and he became a Republican, there was talk of him running for Senate in 1855. But he stepped aside for the sake the party, which was seeking antislavery Democratic support by running another candidate instead. This was another act that won him admirers (and which would eventually pay off).</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—So what happened next?</em></span></div>
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Lincoln remained in the public light in Illinois and around the Midwest. And when Stephen Douglas was up for re-election, Republicans coalesced around him. Everybody knew he was a long shot, which is why there was some talk of actually nominating Douglas as a Republican in the hope they could gain some concessions from him. Everybody but Lincoln, that is.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Really?</em></span></div>
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Well, I’m exaggerating a bit. But Lincoln and Douglas went back a long way. Douglas was born in Vermont, and came to Springfield as a young man, just as Lincoln did. They were both excellent lawyers and politicians. Douglas had left Lincoln in the dust—Congressman, Senator, future president. But he knew Lincoln was good.</div>
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Lincoln also knew he was a long shot, and he played to Douglas’s vanity: he challenged him to a series of debates around Illinois. Douglas should have said no, and <em>knew</em> he should have said no: front-runners don’t give rivals chances to face them as equals on a stage. But Douglas couldn’t resist, and what followed was one of the truly legendary battles in American political history: the Lincoln-Douglas debates. If we had more time, we’d go into more detail. Suffice it to say that contrary to what is sometimes suggested, they weren’t exactly high-minded affairs. Lots of repetition and innuendo. Lincoln depicted Douglas as a cynic whose indifference toward slavery was dangerous, and Douglas depicted Lincoln as a raging abolitionist. Question: How are senators chosen in 1858?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—The same way they are now?</em></span></div>
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Nope. What does the Constitution say? How was it done until the Seventeenth Amendment in 1916?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Oh c’mon, Mr. K. You don’t actually expect us to know that.</em></span></div>
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Hey, you can’t blame a guy for trying. They’re chosen by state legislatures. And how are state legislatures chosen? In part by the census. In 1858, Illinois is working off the 1850 census. And in 1850—but not by 1860—the population of Illinois is mostly in the southern part of the state. That part of the state has more weight, and so Douglas wins. Lincoln says he feels like the boy in Kentucky who stubs his toe while rushing to visit his girlfriend: it hurts too much to laugh, but he’s too old to cry.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—So how does he become president, then?</em></span></div>
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Well, Jonah, that’s a long story—a longer story than I can tell in a course like this. Suffice it to say that even though Lincoln loses, the Senate race attracts national attention. Lincoln is by no means a household name, but the people who <em>are</em> household names—Douglas for the Democrats, Seward for the Republicans—are too controversial to be easily elected. When the Democrats hold their convention in Charleston in 1860, the proslavery wing walks out in protest at the prospect of Douglas getting the nomination; they nominate their own candidate. The Douglas crowd reconvenes in Baltimore and nominates him there. The Republicans happen to have their convention in Lincoln’s backyard, Chicago. He and his supporters skillfully position him as everybody’s safe second choice, and that works like a charm. So now there’s Douglas, and the proslavery candidate, whose name is John Breckinridge, and Lincoln, and a fourth candidate, John Bell of Tennessee, who runs as a “constitutional unionist,” which basically means anything to avoid a war. Under such circumstances, Lincoln is a cinch to win.</div>
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Lincoln’s position is clear but firm: he won’t attack slavery where it exists, but won’t allow it to expand. All through the fall, there are indications that the proslavery crowd finds this unacceptable, that they’ll leave the Union if he gets elected. Not a lot of people believe them, though. Lincoln doesn’t either. He gets 39% of the vote: more than anyone else but hardly a majority. A few weeks later, the South Carolina legislature votes to leave the Union.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh my, Mr. K.! What will your boyfriend do?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
<span style="color: #3d596d;">'m confident he'll do the right thing, Emily.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d596d;"><b>Next: Essaying</b></span><br />
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Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-39070379535377353642016-12-09T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-09T00:00:25.539-05:00King's Survey: FreedomFighterTerrorist<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<em>In which we try to unravel one of the great riddles of American History</em></h4>
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Kids, the facts of the situation are reasonably clear-cut. I’ll try and dispatch with them quickly.</div>
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By just about any standard of the last 150 years, John Brown is a first-class weirdo. You can see that from this picture.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Those eyes! Totally creepy.</em></span></div>
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Agreed, Sadie. They don’t make ’em like they used to. Here’s Brown’s great ideological adversary, John Calhoun. You just don’t see faces like this anymore.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;">—Yikes! Brothers from another mother.</span></em></div>
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I don’t think they’d like that idea, Chris. Born in Connecticut, Brown spent most of his adult life wandering between western Massachusetts and Ohio. Brown, who married twice (his first wife died) and had well twenty children, has a rocky business record as a tanner.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;">—What’s a tanner?</span></em></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="07_John_Calhoun_3x4" class=" size-full wp-image-2277 alignright" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/07_john_calhoun_3x4.jpg" height="176" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/07_john_calhoun_3x4.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="132" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">John Calhoun</dd></dl>
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A guy who makes leather. Brown came from a long line of pious Christians going back to the Puritans. He wasn’t afraid to discipline his children with a whip. But he also asked one of his sons to whip <em>him</em> for his failures as a parent.<br />
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—You’re right: he is a first class weirdo. Frightening.</em></span></div>
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Well, hold on, Kylie. Don’t make up your mind quite yet. In 1837, Brown learned of the murder of abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy in Illinois.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">—Did we talk about that?</span></em></div>
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We did indeed, Yin. Good memory. From that point on, Brown became a dedicated abolitionist himself. Some—well, just about everybody—might say a <em>fanatical</em> abolitionist. By the 1840s, he was a good friend of Frederick Douglass, who had become internationally famous as the author of his autobiography as a slave. You may also recall that Brown was involved of the murder of proslavery advocates who were hacked together when they came out of that Kansas bar in 1856.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—We just did talk about that.</em></span></div>
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Right. All right, so to get to the point here: by the late 1850s, John Brown is hatching a plan. He wants to lead a slave insurrection. The idea goes like this: he’ll take 21 confederates, including three free blacks, one former slave, one fugitive slave, and three of his own sons, to a federal armory in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). They’ll seize control of the facility, and all the weapons stored there. When slaves see what he’s accomplished, they’ll storm in and he’ll arm them. This new liberation army will finally take the law into their own hands and bring about the <em>real</em> American Revolution. What do you say kids? Will it work?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Insane.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Won’t work.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Not a good idea.</em></span></div>
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Well, not everyone agrees with you three. Brown has a group of elite Bostonians known as the Secret Six who are financing his operation. One of these people, Elias Howe, is married to Julia Ward Howe, who will later write “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” On the other hand, Frederick Douglass, who loves and admires Brown, declines an invitation to join him.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—So what happens? Or are you going to stretch this out and demand <u>we</u> tell <u>you</u> what happens?</span></em></div>
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Oh, Em. So jaded, so young.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—That’s me. I’ve become incredibly cynical. It’s what happens when you spend the better part of a semester with a crazy history teacher who makes you think too much.</em></span></div>
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Ah yes, the risks of a high school education. But no: I’m not going to string this out. The raid is a disaster. Well no—the raid <em>itself</em> is a big success. Brown and his crew take the armory easily (though in one of the ironies of history, the first person they kill is a black man). The problem is that Brown has no clue what to do once he actually takes control. He assumes the slaves will just come streaming down into Harper’s Ferry. But they don’t, perhaps because they recognize his plan as suicidal. Meanwhile, as he sits and waits, the U.S. army mobilizes to capture Brown. There’s an officer named Robert E. Lee who’s tasked with this job—</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—<u>The</u> Robert E. Lee?</em></span></div>
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Yup. An engineer by training, he supervises an operation that literally tunnels under the armory and takes Brown and his crew by surprise. A bunch of them are killed, including two of Brown’s sons. Brown is captured, arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced to death.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well, you <u>are</u> getting to the point this time, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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Told ya, Em. That’s because I want us to sort out what Brown has done. A minute ago, I asked you whether I thought the raid would work. A bunch of you said no. But let me pose a different question: was it a good idea?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—You mean even though it didn’t work?</em></span></div>
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Right, Kylie. I mean was it worth a try. What do you think?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I’m not sure.</em></span></div>
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I’m shocked to year you say that.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Look, I can understand why he might have wanted to do it. You have to hand it to the guy for his bravery. But it was still a dumb idea. He was dumb to think that the slaves would join him, and he was dumber to think it would solve the problem.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—I think it was pretty great.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Really, Brianna? I mean, I get it: slavery is wrong, and ending it is key. But this was just plain counterproductive.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Anything that attacks slavery is right as far as I’m concerned.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #003366;" style="color: #003366;"><em>—The ends justify the means?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Yes.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I don’t know about the violence part. Even if you think killing is justified, I think it just might create a circle of violence. I just don’t know if that helps. I think Adam’s right.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—What do you think the Civil War did, Sadie? <u>That</u> solved the problem, didn’t it?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—But did it <u>have</u> to go that way, Brianna?</em></span></div>
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When John Brown was being executed, his dying words were, “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood.” He added that he “vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed, it might be done.” Brown thought violence was both inevitable and that he was actually trying to minimize it.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Yeah, and he was insane.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Are you insane to believe you have to do anything possible to end something as bad as slavery, Adam?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Look, I don’t think it’s bad to be really committed. All I’m saying is that the way he’s going about it is a problem. I don’t think that makes me a racist.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—You wouldn’t talk that way if you were a slave.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Maybe not.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Here’s what bothers me: his big ego.</span></em></div>
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What do you mean, Em?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—It’s like, “Look at me! Here I am, Mr. Big White Guy coming in to save the slaves! Follow me!” No wonder nobody joined him.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Twenty guys <u>did</u> join him, Em. Black guys and white guys. He put his ass on the line. He paid the price.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I thought you were against what he did, Adam.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—Yeah. But Like I said, he was brave. I don’t think you should be dismissing that.</span></em></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Whatever. It’s still a bunch of guys. Throwing their weight around.</span></em></div>
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Where are you, Kylie? Any closer to an opinion?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I still don’t know, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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Pablo? Jonquil?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #808080;" style="color: grey;">—I think he was hero. He took risks. It didn’t work out. But that doesn’t mean he was wrong.</span></em></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;">—I agree with Pablo.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—I have a question.</em></span></div>
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Shoot, Yin.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">—You’re asking us what <u>we</u> think. But how did people at the time react?</span></em></div>
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Well, as you might imagine, they were all over the map. And that map included indifference, though pretty much everybody knew what happened, because the raid was national news. Henry David Thoreau thought Brown was a great hero. (But of course many of the few people who were paying attention to him thought he was nuts, and had been for some time.) Virtually all white southerners were appalled by Brown’s raid, though some gave him grudging respect for the fearless way he went to his death. What may be more significant, though, is less how Southerners reacted than how they reacted to Northern reaction.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—What do you mean?</em></span></div>
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I mean, Sadie, that many of them were outraged about the lack of outrage. “Don’t you understand what he did?” they asked. “He incited the Negroes to murder us in our beds!” Here’s a guy who was avowedly promoting race war, and a lot of the criticism was of the Ethan variety: “um, not wise.” This event convinced some white southerners, slaveholding and not, that the North really didn’t care about them, and they would have to start defending themselves. Militias began to form, as in the Minuteman days.</div>
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By 1860, Sadie, a growing number of Americans began to believe that violence was really the only solution. Do you think they were wrong?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I don’t know, Mr. K. But that makes me sad. I wish they were wrong. I hope they <u>are</u> wrong.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—What did your boyfriend, Abe Lincoln, think about all this?</em></span></div>
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Lincoln called Brown a man of “great courage” and “rare selfishness.” He also called him “insane.” Lincoln agrees with Sadie: violence is not necessary. He doesn’t even think it likely. He’s beginning to think <em>he</em> can fix the problem. It’s around this time he decides to run for president.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oooh. I wonder how that will go.</em></span></div>
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You’ll just have to wait to find out, Emily.</div>
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<strong>Next: the Railsplitter</strong></div>
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Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-79233481303437546092016-12-07T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-07T00:00:04.334-05:00King's Survey: Dred Logic<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<strong><em>In which we trace the reasoning of the worst decision the Supreme Court ever made</em></strong></div>
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<strong><em></em></strong></h4>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="DredScott" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2241" height="300" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/dredscott.jpg?w=212" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="212" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Dred Scott, by Louis Schultze (1888).</dd></dl>
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What are we going to do, kids? How are we going to prevent a Civil War that seems like it’s heading straight toward us?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—I don’t think we can, Mr. K.</span></em></div>
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We’ve got to keep trying, don’t we?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I’m not sure we do. Slavery is wrong. We need to dig in and end it.</em></span></div>
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Hmmm. You might be right, Sadie. In any case, we have another situation to look into. It involves a slave named Dred Scott.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—I’ve heard of him.</em></span></div>
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Right. Here’s the thing. Scott’s case is a little complicated, but basically it comes down to this. He’s the property of an army surgeon named John Emerson, who acquires Scott in Missouri, a slave state. But because he’s an army guy, Emerson moves around a lot. He gets reassigned, and is sent to Illinois. Dred Scott goes with him.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—Is Emerson allowed to do that?</span></em></div>
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Why wouldn’t he be?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I think you said a while back that Illinois isn’t a slave state.</em></span></div>
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<em> </em>Right. So?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—How can you have a slave in a non-slave state?</em></span></div>
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Well, that’s easy, Ethan. Illinois has transit laws. You’re allowed to move your property across state borders.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Yeah, but you said the surgeon guy <u>moved</u> to Illinois. Like now he <u>lives</u> there. So Scott should be free.</em></span></div>
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Emerson is stationed there. I believe that transit laws are good for up to a year. Should we be expecting you to squawk to the authorities on day number 366?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—I probably will.</em></span></div>
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Do you expect them to act immediately?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Worth a try.</em></span></div>
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Probably not. Because by the time you would get any wheels in motion, Dr. Emerson and Scott would be gone. Emerson would have been ordered to Fort Snelling, which is in modern-day Wisconsin. Back then it was in the Minnesota territory.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Minnesota. Too cold for cotton. And just about anything else, as far as I’m concerned. That can’t be slave territory. Scott is free as far as I’m concerned.</em></span></div>
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It isn’t and he isn’t, Em. And Dr. Emerson is willing to go with the flow: when in Rome, do as the Romans, or in this case, the Northerners, do. He hires Dred Scott out to other white men for pay—pocketing Scott's pay. But it isn’t an entirely bad deal for Scott. He gets married (for the second time; his first wife was sold away from him, and the marriage had no legal standing). Scott’s new wife, Harriet, had been the property of another man, but becomes Dr. Emerson’s property. When Dr. Emerson gets reassigned back to Missouri, he leaves the Scotts behind. Here things start to get complicated. Emerson himself gets married to a woman named Irene Sandford. They set up a household in Louisiana. They send for the Scotts. They’re on their way down when they have a daughter on a steamboat along the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa. That means she is free even if her parents aren’t. The Scotts are down in Louisiana, but then then Emerson goes back to Missouri. Serves in the Seminole War. Dies. Now the Scotts are the property of Mrs. Sandford—or at least by some reckonings they are. Scott has made many friends over the years, and have received financial and legal advice from them. In 1846, he sues for his freedom essentially using Ethan’s argument: that Dr. Emerson abused his slaveholding privileges and forfeited them. This is a legal case, and legal cases take time—like a decade. <em>Dred Scott v. Sandford</em> reaches the Supreme Court, where it’s finally decided in 1857.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—And?</em></span></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="Roger_Taney" class=" size-full wp-image-2246 alignleft" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/roger_taney.jpg" height="288" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/roger_taney.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="235" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Roger Taney</dd></dl>
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Well, this brings us back to the question I posed at the start of class: how are we going to avoid a Civil War? The chief justice of the Supreme Court is a guy named Roger Taney. I believe I’ve mentioned him before. Anybody remember?<br />
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No? OK, here’s a hint. John Marshall: he somebody I <em>have</em> mentioned.</div>
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Marshall? Anybody?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">—Supreme Court.</span></div>
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And Yin comes through again in the clutch. Right: Marshall was the chief justice of the Supreme Court from the Jefferson through Jackson administrations. Once Marshall finally retires in 1835, his place gets taken by Taney (pronounced “Tawney”). By 1857, Taney’s been on the court for over twenty years, and he’s still got another seven to go. He’s seen all the controversies over Mexico, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act. And now this. So it’s time to resolve this whole sectional crisis once and for all. And so this Maryland slaveholder leads the way in a 7-2 majority decision that goes against Scott.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—God. That’s awful. How does he justify that?</em></span></div>
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Bascially two ways, Sadie. The first is to deny that Scott really had any right to bring a suit in the first place—in legal terms, he has “no standing.” In the famous words of his decision, he’s got no rights a white man is bound to respect.</div>
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The second part of his decision involves the nature of slavery itself, as far as Taney is concerned. It’s a property right, and as such is protected by the Fifth Amendment. You can’t take away someone’s property without due process. So it doesn’t matter where you take your <em>human</em> property—or maybe I should say human <em>property</em>—regardless of where you go or how long you stay. Freedom is national.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—That can’t be legal.</em></span></div>
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He just <em>made</em> it legal, Sadie. What he did, in effect, is strike down the Missouri Compromise. You can’t draw a line creating free states and slave states, because citizens (which doesn’t include black people) always keep their constitutional rights in any of the United States. The people of Vermont, for example, might decide they don’t want to buy, own, or sell slaves. But they can’t stop someone from Alabama from bringing their slaves there.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—That’s just a horrible decision.</em></span></div>
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Well, it’s the law of the land. You <em>will</em> be obeying it, won’t you Kylie? Forgive me for asking, but you’ve made some mighty subversive suggestions in recent days.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I don’t know what to think, what to obey.</em></span></div>
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Well, you’re not alone there. A lot of people are vowing to defy the law. Interestingly enough, one person who <em>isn’t</em> is that Abraham Lincoln guy.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Him again.</em></span></div>
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Yeah, Em, him again. Even though he really blew it back in 1846 over the Mexico War, the guy won’t quite go away. He lay low for a while, getting rich as a lawyer back in Springfield, Illinois. But the Kansas-Nebraska Act seemed to set him on fire. Started speaking out about it like nobody’s business, like a man afire. For a while back in 1855, it looked like he might achieve his lifelong dream of becoming Senator. That fell through. But now he’s looking to challenge Senator Douglas for his seat. Long shot. Don’t think it will amount to much.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Yeah, right.</em></span></div>
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Whatever, Em. Got more important things to talk about. Amid all these frustrations, it’s clear that more and more people are taking the law into their own hands. One crazy guy in particular. His name is John Brown.</div>
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<strong>Next: The freedom-fighter/terrorist</strong></div>
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Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-60515597163469023522016-12-05T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-05T00:00:06.821-05:00King's Survey: The PopSov Bubble<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which we see the limits of democracy in a democracy without limits</em></strong></h4>
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<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Senator Stephen A. Douglas (Illinois)</dd></dl>
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Once upon a time, kids, there was a grand compromise to avoid a civil war. The man who tried to make it happen failed. And then another man swooped in and made it happen. And then the very man who made it happen destroyed that compromise. That’s the story I want to tell you today.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—OK. So who destroyed it?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Henry Clay.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—No, not Clay. He was the guy who failed. It was the other guy.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Which guy?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Douglas something.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—No: I have it here in my notes: Stephen A. Douglas.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Oh yeah. Him.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Who was he, again?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—It says here he was “the little giant.”</em></span></div>
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I need to partially take back what I said. When I say the man made it happen<em>—</em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Which man? Is it Stephen Douglas?</em></span></div>
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Yes. You kids figured it out. Douglas did make it happen. Clay couldn’t get the Compromise of 1850 through as the Omnibus bill, and then Douglas broke it into pieces and got it passed that way. Crisis averted. But as I already explained to you, it’s not like that Compromise of 1850 made everything just fine.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Right. That fugitive slave law and all that.</em></span></div>
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The fugitive slave law and all that. Some people are angry about the obligation to return escaped slaves, and other people angry that they’re potentially liable if they don’t say something if they see something. And of course there was all the hoopla around <em>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</em>, which Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote in response to the fugitive slave provision in the Compromise of 1850. Still, the whole thing might have held if it wasn’t for Senator Stephen A. Douglas’s real estate speculation in Michigan.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—All right, Mr. K. I’ll take the bait: what’s the deal with the Michigan real estate?</em></span></div>
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Funny you should ask, Em (bless your heart). So you all know about the railroads<em>—</em>Internet of the 19<sup>th</sup> century, and all that.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Yeah, we did all that.</em></span></div>
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So the big question now is where to build a transcontinental railroad. Everybody wants one<em>—</em>Democrat, Whig, Free Soiler, abolitionist, woman suffragist. And why not? A wonder technology that will literally stitch the nation together. Everybody understands that the government is going to have to get involved; it’s too big a project and requires too much money up front for the private sector to handle it single-handedly, even if it’s expected the private companies will do it.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Why doesn’t the government just do it?</em></span></div>
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Well, Adam, I hear two questions there. One is, “why doesn’t the government simply commit to the project?” And the other is “Why doesn’t the government itself build the railroad?”</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—Well, yeah, when you put it that way, I guess it is two questions.</span></em></div>
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I’ll address the second one first. The government itself doesn’t have the resources, the labor force, technology, or business acumen to actually launch a major capital project like that. That’s a matter of logistics. But it’s also a matter of philosophy: every since the settlement of the Ango-American colonies, English speaking peoples have favored the private over the public sector more than other people in Europe or the rest of the world. So it was that when Samuel Morse developed the new technology of the telegraph, and offered it to the U.S. government in the 1840s, Congress turned him down. Instead, it was private companies that built the telegraph business. Which, as we’re speaking, are in the process of laying a cable across the Atlantic Ocean. Soon there will be virtually instant communication across seas and continents. We live, truly, in an amazing world, don’t you agree, Chris?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—Yeah, I guess.</em></span></div>
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You guess! This is the 19<sup>th</sup> century, Chris! Has there ever been a time of greater moral and scientific progress?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;">—Yeah, sure. Whatever.</span></em></div>
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I can hear the awe in your voice. Anyway, to the second half of Adam’s question, or, I should say, the first half: “Why doesn’t the government simply commit to building the railroad?” And the answer is that while everybody wants a railroad, the railroad actually has to go somewhere<em>—</em>it actually has to occupy a stretch of territory. But which stretch? You’ll be shocked, <em>shocked</em> to hear that Southerners want that railroad to run something like Georgia to California, while Northerners would like it to take a route that runs from Massachusetts to California. (California? Does that mean San Francisco or somewhere else? Certainly not Los Angeles. That's a desert.) Anywhere the railroad does run gets an economic bonanza. You can see how this whole thing turns into a political nightmare.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Maybe they should have a lottery or something.</em></span></div>
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Maybe they should, Sadie. But Senator Douglas owns some real estate in Michigan. And he’d really, really like it if that railroad happened to run through that land he currently owns<em>—</em>which of course he would be delighted to sell to the government at an appropriate price, something which, as a lawmaker he is, shall we say, uniquely qualified to do.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Is that legal?</em></span></div>
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Sure. The problems posed by these development are only being invented now, so the solutions don't exist. Anyway, Douglas may <em>want</em> this. But he knows he can’t necessarily <em>get</em> this unless he plays ball with his friends in Congress. As we know, playing ball is something he’s very good at. And so he goes to his Southern friends, the friends he’s going to need to make this deal happen, and he says, “Boys, what will it take for me to get the votes I need?” And do you know what they say?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—“Funny you should ask.”</em></span></div>
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Excellent, Em.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—It's a line I've heard a few times before in this room.</em></span></div>
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That is, figuratively speaking, exactly what they say. And then they go on to note there was an interesting concept in the Compromise of 1850 involving the future states of the New Mexico and Utah territories. That concept is “popular sovereignty”: the idea that the people actually <em>living</em> in a territory, not the politicians back in Washington DC, should make decisions about the future of that territory. In particular, they should decide about slavery. In the case of New Mexico and Utah, this is all pretty theoretical, since it was obvious that it would be decades before those territories ever had enough people to become states. Still, the Slave Power liked the idea, because they believed slavery had to expand in order to survive, and they wanted to keep their options open, even if they were long term.</div>
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But what about the short term? This is where Senator Douglas’s request becomes interesting. New Mexico and Utah’s admission to the Union is far away, but that of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska are not. What if <em>they</em> were to be admitted on a basis of popular sovereignty? What do you say, Senator Douglas? Give us popular sovereignty there and you’ve got yourself a railroad where you want it.</div>
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Before I tell you how he replied, let me ask: what do <em>you</em> say?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I don’t like it.</em></span></div>
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But why not, Kylie?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Because I don’t like slavery.</em></span></div>
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Do you like democracy?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Yeah, but….</em></span></div>
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But what?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—It doesn’t seem right.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Democracy for <u>who</u> is the question.</em></span></div>
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Democracy for the voters, Adam.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—But who gets to vote?</em></span></div>
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Well, that depends a little on the location, but basically, the answer is white men.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Well, that’s not really democracy, then.</em></span></div>
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Why not?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Because a democracy means everybody gets a vote.</em></span></div>
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No, Adam. In fact, that’s not correct. <em>No</em> democracy has let <em>everybody</em> vote. In ancient Athens, usually cited as the prototype of democracy, only <em>citizens</em> could vote, and they were a tiny portion of the overall population. (Slavery was common in ancient Greece, by the way, as indeed it was in a great many societies, ancient and modern.) Women almost never voted in democratic societies. Children still don’t. So the fact that the franchise, as it is known, was limited doesn’t really work as an argument. So if you’re going to come up with an argument against popular sovereignty, you’re going to have to approach it from a different direction.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—What did Douglas say?</em></span></div>
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Douglas wanted that railroad. Douglas was also a Democrat, and a democrat. “I don’t care whether slavery is voted up or voted down,” he often said. What he did care about was that the people—which for him meant white people—got to choose. So he accepted the deal and shepherded it through Congress with those great legislative skills of his. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became the law of the land in 1854. Douglas is looking more and more like a future president of the United States, after James Buchanan, Democrat who gets elected in 1856.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—So did the Kanas-Nebraska thing work?</em></span></div>
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It was a disaster. Truly catastrophic. Now try to figure out why.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—They couldn’t agree.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Duh. The question is why they couldn’t work it out.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;">—Slaveholders brought their slaves in whether the law allowed it or not.</span></em></div>
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That’s not quite right, Yin, but you are on to something. You’re not right because there <em>was</em> no law regarding slavery in the territory. That’s the problem. Slaves are flooding into Kansas <em>before</em> there’s a vote on statehood. The people who are bringing them are known as “bushwackers.” They’re coming from Southern states, especially Missouri. But there are also antislavery people<em>—</em>strong antislavery people<em>—</em>coming into into Kansas, too. They’re known as Jayhawkers.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—That’s the name of the University of Kansas basketball team.</em></span></div>
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Well, how about that, Jonah. The bushwackers and and jayhawkers really go at it. There’s widespread violence. In one famous case a man named John Brown—you’ll be hearing about him again—and his sons ambush a group of slaveholders when they emerge from a bar. They hack the slaveholders to death with broadswords.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Wow.</em></span></div>
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Amid all this violence—the situation there in 1856-57 is known as “Bleeding Kansas”—a vote is organized on statehood and a constitution. But the antislavery forces think the election is rigged, and they boycott it. The vote and document that results are known as the Lecompton Constitution. There are widespread reports of violence and intimidation. A lot of people don’t think it should be accepted as legitimate.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—So what happens?</em></span></div>
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Well, the Buchanan administration is stacked with proslavery advocates; the Secretary of War, for instance, is a man named Jefferson Davis. They push the president to accept the Lecompton Constitution, and he does. But the decision on Kansas statehood becomes a political football in Congress, and its application stagnates. Now, here’s a question: what you do you think Senator Douglas does?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Why do you ask?</em></span></div>
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Here’s the thing: If Douglas accepts Lecompton, he compromises his reputation as an honest broker, especially since he’s a senator from a non-slave state. But if he rejects Lecompton, he angers the people with whom he made is deal.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Sounds like a no-win situation.</em></span></div>
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It is, Em. Turns out the Little Giant might have been too clever by half.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—So what does he do?</em></span></div>
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—What would <em>you</em> do?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I’d probably reject the deal. I mean, I’m like Kylie in that I think slavery is wrong. But just on the politics, it’s a bad idea to push what you’re saying was a bad deal.</em></span></div>
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Well, that’s what Douglas said, too, Em.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I guess that makes me a giant too, then.</em></span></div>
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Well, maybe; you're certainly taller than he is. But both of you just got a whole lot less electable as president. Still, there’s hope<em>—</em>after you get re-elected to the Senate.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Will that be hard?</em></span></div>
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Hard to say. Depends how easy it will be to minimize opposition to his candidacy. But there is a guy who wants to run who worries Douglas a little bit.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—What’s his name?</em></span></div>
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Abraham Lincoln.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh, him again.</em></span></div>
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<strong>Next: Dred’s prospects</strong></div>
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Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-71933167510861543742016-12-02T00:00:00.000-05:002016-12-02T00:00:14.153-05:00King's Survey: Testing Patience<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<strong><em>In which we wonder how much responsibility we have to uphold bad laws</em></strong></div>
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<strong><em></em></strong></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="800px-Harriet_Tubman_Civil_War_Woodcut" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2172" height="300" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/800px-harriet_tubman_civil_war_woodcut.jpg?w=187" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="187" /></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Harriet Tubman</dd></dl>
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OK, kids, so where are we?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well, you just finished the Compromise of 1850. You said it was a deal for “peace in our time.”</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—But we know that it wasn’t true because there was a Civil War.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Also, you said there was one part of the Compromise that you didn’t want to get into, but said that you would later.</em></span></div>
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I’m impressed, gang: you’ve retained a lot. Should I go ahead and give you that quiz I promised right now?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I think you’re drawing the wrong moral from this story, Mr. K. We’re so quick and smart that you should see that we don’t <u>need</u> that quiz. You can just go ahead and forget about it.</em></span></div>
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You know, Emily, you’re right. I’m going to cancel that quiz.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;">—He’s joking, right Em?</span></em></div>
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No, Kylie, I’m not. Em is right. We don’t need that quiz. I’ll put off an assessment until later and I’ll do it in the form of an essay. I was thinking about doing that anyway.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—An essay? What’s the question?</em></span></div>
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The question will be “What was the Civil War?”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—“What was the Civil War?” What kind of question is <u>that</u>?</em></span></div>
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Well, Sadie, I hope it’s a good one.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—It seems impossibly broad, Mr. K. How on earth are we supposed to answer a question like that?</em></span></div>
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Well, it’s a matter of deciding what kind of event you think the Civil War was. An inevitable conflict? Something for which one side or the other was to blame? (Who? How so?) Was it tragic, unnecessary? I’m basically asking you to synthesize information and <em>distill</em> it to what you think its essence is.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Oh my God that sounds so complicated.</em></span></div>
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I understand you find it daunting, Sadie. I <em>want</em> you to be a little afraid—not indifferent, not <em>very</em> afraid, but a <em>little</em> afraid. But it’s something you can do. In fact, you do it all the time. Someone will ask you “What’s he like?” or “How was it?” and you’ll think for a moment and then give an answer that sorts through lots of details and renders what you think is most important. (“He’s a jerk.” “It was great until the end, when this thing happened that led me to question the value of the whole thing.”) My goal is to help you get better at performing this useful skill, something you do without but something you can get better at when you <em>do</em> think and get in the <em>habit</em> of thinking.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I dunno, Mr. K. It still seems really hard.</em></span></div>
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Well, you have time to think about it—and to you can keep it in mind as we go forward. But let me get back to our main storyline.</div>
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So as Ethan pointed out, I didn’t get into one key provision of the Compromise of 1850, and that was the new fugitive slave law. As you know (as I hope you remember), there was a fugitive slave provision in the Constitution “shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—That sounds kinda confusing and vague.</em></span></div>
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It was meant to be. The Founding Fathers didn’t like to talk about slavery, and as you’ll recall, the word isn’t even in the Constitution. But however elliptical, the meaning of these words is reasonably clear. But it’s also clear that there wasn’t all that much effort to enforce them, especially after the efforts of the Underground Railroad intensified. But this new law was different. It had real teeth.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—How so?</em></span></div>
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Allow me to illustrate. Adam, you are an escaped slave. Yin, you are Harriet Tubman.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Really? Me? I’m so honored, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Who is Harriet Tubman?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Really, Jonah? You’ve never heard of her? She’s going to be on the $20 bill.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Oh yeah, her.</em></span></div>
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Harriet Tubman was a legendary conductor on the Underground Railroad. She helped hundreds of fugitive slaves escape to freedom. And she’s helping Adam. Actually, she’s squired him to Brianna’s house. Brianna is harboring a fugitive in her attic. Now as it turns out, Kylie lives next door. Now, we all know that Brianna is breaking the law. And what she’s doing has been against the law since 1789. But under the new law, if Kylie knows what Brianna and Harriet Tubman are doing, and she says nothing, the local authorities can arrest <em>her</em>.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Wow. Harsh.</em></span></div>
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Well, yes, Ethan. But these are the times in which we live. Rampant criminality. Bad things happen when people stand aside and let evildoers triumph, am I right?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I really don’t think that’s fair.</em></span></div>
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Why not, Kylie? If Jonah was cheating on that quiz I’m no longer giving you, wouldn’t you have a moral obligation to report him to me or the assistant principal?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—You mean tell on him?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Don’t be a rat, Kylie!</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;">—I don’t think it’s right for me to tell on other people, Mr. K.</span></em></div>
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Hmmm. So if you saw someone committing a crime, you would just look the other way?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I dunno. But I think this is different.</em></span></div>
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Why?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Because I don’t think what Harriet Tubman is doing is wrong.</em></span></div>
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You don’t, huh? Do you think as a citizen you should be deciding which laws you should and shouldn’t follow?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I don’t think I should look the other way if someone is murdering someone.</em></span></div>
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What about if someone is stealing something?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—But this is not some “thing.” This is some <u>one</u>.</em></span></div>
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Kylie, are you an abolitionist? Are you one of those Garrisonian crazies?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I don’t know if I’m one of those crazies. I don’t know if they’re actually crazy. But I do think slavery is wrong.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Yeah, my problem is that even if you <u>don’t</u> think slavery is wrong, they’re going too far. I think this law is going too far.</em></span></div>
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Well, Adam, so much for your assigned role as escaped slave that I gave you a minute ago. But the truth is that you’re making an important point. There were a lot of people—my guess is the majority of the American people—didn’t care all that much about slavery. But a lot of them really <em>did</em> feel like this law was going too far. The phrase “the Slave Power” became more widespread: people feeling that a powerful minority was imposing its will on the majority, including those who saw themselves as having no stake in the controversy. This really intensified the tension. When an escaped slave in Boston named Anthony Burns was ordered to be returned to slavery after a long legal case that culminated in 1854, there were large demonstrations to prevent that. Federal troops had be brought in to take him back (supporters eventually bought his freedom).<br />
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The Fugitive Slave Act also led a little woman to write a really big book.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—What was it called?</em></span></div>
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It was called <em>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</em>. It was the <em>Harry Potter</em> of the 19<sup>th</sup> century—but <em>Harry Potter</em> with politics. <em>Huge</em> bestseller. Actually, think <em>Harry Potter</em> and <em>Star Wars</em> combined. Like those blockbusters, it became a multimedia thing—plays, songs, posters and the like.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;">—What was it about?</span></em></div>
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Well, like those examples I gave you, it had a bunch of different plot lines. But the key one was that of a selfless Christian slave named Tom, who sacrifices himself for the greater good.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Does he lead a slave revolt?</em></span></div>
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No. Actually, he’s very close to his slave family.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Sounds icky.</em></span></div>
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It does, Sadie, which is one reason why the phrase “Uncle Tom” became a byword for embarrassingly subservient African Americans. But the book was more complicated to that. Actually, in an important sense, Tom is a man after Kylie’s heart. He dies because he refuses to reveal the illegal behavior of slaves who have run away; he’s beaten to death for this by Simon Legree, an evil slaveholder from Vermont. (Worst of all worlds: Yankee capitalist rapaciousness in a ruthless Southern slave driver.) The most insightful man in the book is the kindly Augustus St. Clare, a Louisiana slaveholder, who’s emotionally crushed (as is Tom) by the death of his angelic daughter Eva in one of the most famous scenes in American literature. They have a New England relative who says all the right things about slavery but is reflexively racist. So the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, strived for a balanced picture. As well as a strong storyline.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—Was it as popular as <u>The Scarlet Letter</u>, which we just read in English?</em></span></div>
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Ha! Nathaniel Hawthorne could only <em>wish</em> for the kind of audience Stowe had. The kind of book you read in English class today are not really what as popular back then. Everybody—and I do mean everybody—knew <em>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</em> for over fifty years after it was published. It was also a staple of the early film industry.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—So why did it fade out?</em></span></div>
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Well, Sadie already indicated why: the politics of the book became too old-fashioned. But in a larger sense it faded because pretty much everything does. In the words of one of my favorite rock stars of my youth, Elvis Costello “You may not be an old-fashioned girl, but you’re gonna get dated.”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Not me. I’m not getting dated.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Oh no, Em. Not you. Not ever.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—You’re <u>already</u> an old man, Adam.</span></em></div>
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Now, now, kids. You’ll always be young in my heart.</div>
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<strong>Next: The PopSov Bubble</strong></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-75164212104472738682016-11-30T00:00:00.000-05:002016-11-30T00:00:20.017-05:00King's Survey: Compromising Situation, 1850<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
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<strong><em>In which we view a nation teetering on the edge, and pulling back (for the moment)</em></strong><strong><em> </em></strong></h4>
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OK, kids. So I think we need to take a little stock of where we are in the United States of America in the Year of Our Lord 1850. Texas is securely in the Union as a slave state. The Mexican War is over. Gold has been discovered in the newly acquired territory of California. It appears that the manifest destiny of the nation is indeed to stretch from sea to shining sea, and amid a booming economy, there are efforts afoot to stitch it together with an transcontinental railroad. You might say things really couldn’t be better.</div>
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And yet the national mood is miserable. Tell me why.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;">—Because of slavery.</span></em></div>
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Yes, Jonah. But what about it?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;">—Well, people can’t agree on it.</span></em></div>
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Agree on what?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Where it will go.</em></span></div>
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Yes: where it will go. You make a very important point. Where slavery is—and isn’t—is regarded as settled. The argument is over the <em>future</em> of slavery. Proslavery advocates are becoming more and more convinced that the peculiar institution, as it’s known, must expand, which is why they’re hatching schemes like taking over Cuba or founding a colony in Nicaragua. Antislavery activists are becoming more and more convinced that it must not. Both agree, largely implicitly, that if slavery stops growing it will die. There are also some curious tensions, contradictions, hypocrisies. As we discussed, proslavery advocates have long been suspicious of national government power for <em>any</em> reason <em>except</em> the protection of slavery, because they fear that power could be used to regulate or destroy it. Antislavery advocates have generally favored a stronger federal government, except when it comes to things like enforcing the return of fugitive slaves. The effect of all of this has been gridlock: it’s getting harder and harder to get anything done.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Maybe we need a war.</em></span></div>
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Now Ethan, that’s really offensive. War talk is sensational and inappropriate. I demand that you apologize right now, young man.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Are you serious?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Really, Ethan. Don’t you know by now when Mr. K. is in drama mode?</em></span></div>
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I have no idea what Emily is talking about, Ethan, but I do apologize. I guess I just got carried away. It’s just that there’s been so much irresponsible talk lately. All the abolitionists on one side, fire-eaters on the other. People tend to forget that both sides are really minority voices. Most of us don’t care about slavery one way or another. We just want peace!</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Fire-eaters?</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—Probably means proslavery people.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Sounds like Harry Potter.</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;">—Cool term.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—Cool fire-eaters. Brilliant, Jonah.</em></span></div>
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So what are we going to do, kids? How can we break the gridlock?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I have no clue. But I have a hunch you’re about to tell us.</em></span></div>
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<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Henry Clay</dd></dl>
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Well, yes, I am. But first I want to bring back our old friend Henry Clay.<br />
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Jeez, Mr. K. You’re obsessed with that guy.</span></em></div>
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Yeah, well, Em, a lot of us are. But in 1850, Henry Clay is an old man. He’s been dominant force in American politics for over forty years. He’s an antislavery slaveholder from agrarian Kentucky who seeks to promote the industrial revolution<em>—</em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—That doesn’t make any sense.</em></span></div>
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What? You're confused by the notion of an agrarian industrialist?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Nevermind that. Antislavery slaveholder?</em></span></div>
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Well, he’s not an <em>abolitionist</em>, for God’s sake, Em. Yes, he owns slaves. But he’s looking forward to the day when slavery is gone.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—What a hypocrite. How can you be for something and against something at the same time?</em></span></div>
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Kylie, are you an environmentalist?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Me? Sure.</em></span></div>
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Then why are you drinking whatever that is from a plastic bottle? You say you’re in favor of saving the environment at the very moment you’re destroying the environment!</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Oh, c’mon, Mr. K. That’s unfair to Kylie. You’re being ridiculous.</span></em></div>
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Am I, Em? Or am I simply pointing out that people are complicated?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—No. You’re just being ridiculous.</em></span></div>
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So says a former supporter of Andrew Jackson. I know where <em>you’re</em> coming from Em.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—You are impossible.</em></span></div>
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Why thank you, Emily. Anyway, Henry Clay is old, and he’s dying, but he’s still a patriot. And he’s been thinking very hard about what might save the country from disintegrating. He’s put together an interlocking series of proposals known as the omnibus bill.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—What does omnibus mean?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Isn’t it like a bus?</em></span></div>
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In a way, yes. “Omnibus” basically means multiple. Like kids on a school bus. The idea here is Clay’s bill consists of a <em>set</em> of proposed laws. If you vote in favor of it, you get the whole thing. It will have stuff you like, but also stuff you don’t.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>— Like a streaming service. You pay for all the shows, but only watch some.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Or a combination plate at a food court. You get a good price on the whole thing, even if you don’t eat everything.</em></span></div>
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Right. Clay figures that’s the only way to get the job done. In a spirit of a compromise. Here are the highlights of the bill:</div>
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<li>California comes into the Union as a free state.</li>
<li>The slave trade ends in Washington DC (a lot of people really hated the fact that slaves were bought and sold in the nation’s capital).</li>
<li>There’s a new stronger fugitive slave law. I’ll talk about this in more detail later.</li>
<li>Rather than decide now what will happen to the Utah and New Mexico territories (a whole bunch of future states there, but not for a long time—Arizona, for instance, doesn’t enter the Union until 1912<em>—</em>a new principle, known as “popular sovereignty” will be used to determine whether such states will be slave or free. The voters will choose rather than Congress deciding.</li>
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So, what do you think?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—The first two ideas seem to favor the North. The third one the South. The last one breaks even. So the overall law seems pro-Northern.</em></span></div>
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A reasonable assessment, Ethan. But point number three is a big one. Again, I don’t want to get into it right now. But suffice it to say that in Clay’s mind, at least, the overall package was truly balanced. What do you think, Sadie?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Sounds reasonable. Does it work?</em></span></div>
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No.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Oh. Why not?</em></span></div>
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Well, that’s complicated, by which I mean you ask ten people you’ll get ten different answers. I will tell you that old man John Calhoun, who had been at it as long as Henry Clay and was in fact on death’s door, told his fellow Southerners to reject the bill, and he had a lot of influence in the Senate. Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts—remember him? We talked about the big speech he gave, “Liberty and Union, now and forever” a while back—came out in favor of the bill, and got a lot of grief over it. Clay was known as “the Great Compromiser”—remember, he’s the guy who got the Compromise of 1820, a.k.a. the Missouri Compromise through Congress—but he just couldn’t summon the old magic.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—So what happened next?</em></span></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="Stephen_A_Douglas_private_collection" class=" size-medium wp-image-2143 alignleft" height="300" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/stephen_a_douglas_private_collection.jpg?w=204" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="204" /></dt>
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What happened next is counter-intuitive. Remember that the whole basis of Clay’s approach was compromise: you take a little, you give a little. He assumed the bill <em>had</em> to work as a package. But in the aftermath of the vote, another senator came forward, a younger man named Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. (You haven’t heard the last of him.) Douglas was a Jacksonian Democrat. But like Clay, he considered himself a patriot. What he did was <em>break up</em> the Omnibus Bill into separate pieces. An he got them passed one by one.<br />
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—How did he do that?</em></span></div>
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A very good question, Yin. The short answer is horse trading. So take the California piece for example. He’d go do you, a Southern senator, and say: Hey, I know you hate this bill. But if you pass it, I’ll make sure you get that bridge you want for your state. Or the railroad going through your town. That kind of thing. It was very complicated, and exhausting, but it worked. And before the year was over, President Millard Fillmore—the non-entity who followed the forgettable Zachary Taylor, who died a few weeks into office—signed the Compromise of 1850 into law.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—So what happened then?</em></span></div>
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Peace in our time, of course. Crisis averted.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Well, we know <u>that</u> didn’t happen. So what went wrong? Who blew it?</em></span></div>
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Stephen A. Douglas did. But a few things had to happen before he could. We’ll get to them.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Such drama!</em></span></div>
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All in a day’s work, kids.</div>
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<strong>The compromised compromise</strong></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-71044603269449930772016-11-28T00:00:00.000-05:002016-11-28T00:00:05.249-05:00King's Survey: Runaway Policy (II)<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<strong><em>In which we see that one man’s crime wave is another woman’s path to freedom. (Note: this is the second of two posts on the subject, which can be read independently or as a pair.)</em></strong></div>
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<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(243, 246, 248); color: #4f748e; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 16px;">Charles T. Webber, "The Underground Railroad" (1893)</dd></dl>
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O.K. kids. So we’ve been looking at the issue of runaway slaves, and whether on not we need a stronger fugitive slave law, from the point of view of slave owners. Now let’s shift our gaze to those who aren’t. Chris, we’ll start with you. Your name is Joshua Freeman, and you live in Toronto. Actually that’s your name <em>now</em>. Previously you were known as Cicero. You lived on Robert Baron’s plantation in Mississippi. How does it feel, Chris, to be living in freedom.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Pretty good. Cold, though. This place is freezing.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Yeah, well, Mississippi was hotter than hell, wasn’t it, Chris? I mean Cicero. I mean…</em></span></div>
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Joshua Freeman. By the way, what to you make of that name?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Duh. “Freeman.” Real subtle, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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Fair enough, Emily. But what about “Joshua”? Anybody know where that comes from?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—The Bible?</em></span></div>
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Well, yes. But <em>where</em> in the Bible? Does anybody know?</div>
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Nobody? Ouch. Here’s a hint. Think Book of Exodus.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh, well, now it’s obvious! Book of Exodus! Of course!</em></span></div>
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You have no idea.</div>
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<em>—<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">Correct</span>.</em></div>
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Ugh. You’ve heard of Moses, yes?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Yeah. Promised Land.</em></span></div>
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Right. But here’s the thing: Moses never actually made it to the Promised Land. God wouldn’t let him go. That job was given to Moses’s successor, whose name was….</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Joshua.</em></span></div>
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Brilliant.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—Heavy on the symbolism there, Mr. K.</span></em></div>
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Hey, it isn’t me. Joshua Freeman himself chose the name. He’s a devout member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Cicero here has been reborn a free man. Seems only natural to give himself a new name. Right, Mr. Freeman?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Whatever you say, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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Well, I admit, I have been saying a lot. Let’s get some other voices in here. Brianna, you’re Robert Baron. How do you feel knowing that your former slave has escaped to Canada?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Hey. Fine with me. Truth is, I was never comfortable with the slave owner thing you assigned me.</em></span></div>
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I understand. But we all have roles to play, Mr. Baron. And we don’t always get to choose what they are.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Yeah, well, I want to write my own play.</em></span></div>
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A good idea. Go right ahead. Let me turn my attention here to Emily, who is actually Charity Wright of Cincinnati, a member of the American Tract Society, which as we all know publishes religious tracts by the millions (Cincinnati, by the way is an important publishing center in the United States). Miss Wright, we all know you to be a shy, retiring soul. So we’re glad you’re willing to talk with us.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—That’s me. Ms. Shy.</em></span></div>
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Well no, that’s Miss Wright. How long have you been a member of the ATS?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;">—Oh, I reckon twenty years now.</span></em></div>
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I had no idea it was that long.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well, you wouldn’t now, would you. I look very young and beautiful, I know.</em></span></div>
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Indeed. However there is something about you I do know, Miss Wright, that I’m now going to reveal to the class: you are a conductor for the Underground Railroad!</div>
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Go ahead kids, you can gasp.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Oh!</em></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—I’m horrified!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—I’m impressed!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—What’s a conductor for the Underground Railroad?</em></span></div>
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Good question. If you walk into the main parlor of Miss Wright’s Cincinnati home, you’ll see a rug in the middle of the floor. Lift that rug, and you’ll see a panel you can pull up. It leads to a small cellar with a bed, shelves, and a chamber pot.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—What’s a chamber pot?</em></span></div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—A place to pee.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Or poop.</em></span></div>
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None other than our friend Joshua Freeman made a stop at Charity Wright’s home on his way from Mississippi to Toronto. Anything you want to say to Miss Wright, Mr. Freedman?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Thanks.</em></span></div>
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That’s it? This woman risked her life for you.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Thanks a lot.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—That’s all right, Mr. K. I’ll send him a bill.</em></span></div>
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Well, Mr. Freeman’s wife is pregnant. Maybe she’ll have a daughter and name her “Charity.” In any case, you’re among friends here, Miss Wright. We won’t reveal your identity as a conductor, as we know you want to continue freeing slaves.</div>
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Keeping a low profile is not a goal for our friend Jonquil, who we will now know as Fred Burns. Mr. Burns is a Garrisonian abolitionist, which is to say that he’s a follower of William Lloyd Garrison, a militant opponent of slavery. Back in 1844, a mere four years ago, Mr. Garrison stood on the steps of Faneuil Hall in Boston and burned a copy of the Constitution, saying Massachusetts should not belong to a Union of slaveholders. You were there, weren’t you, Mr. Burns?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—Yeah, I was.</em></span></div>
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And you endorse these radical views? You would secede from this Union?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;">—Yes, I would. Slavery is evil.</span></em></div>
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Hmmm. Miss Wright, I wonder what you make of Mr. Burns. Do you endorse his radical views?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff00ff;" style="color: magenta;"><em>—As we all know, I’m sby and retiring. But yes, I agree with Mr. Burns.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff6600;" style="color: #ff6600;"><em>—Damn straight. I’m down with Burns.</em></span></div>
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No shock there, Mr. Freeman. Ah, I see Mr. Evinrude has something to say. As you will recall, kids, Sadie is this small farmer from Missouri.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I am sickened by this extremism. No respect for authority. They keep this up and there will be a Civil War.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Calm down, honey. No need to get excited.</em></span></div>
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Glad to see Mrs. Evinrude try to calm you, sir.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—Shut up, woman!</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Hank! I am your wife! Treat me with respect!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Sorry, sweetheart. It’s just that these abolitionists get me so <u>mad</u> sometimes.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—I understand. They are perfectly awful. Miss Wright, you should be ashamed of yourself. Breaking the law by helping the slaves escape. It’s wrong, gosh darn it!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Gosh darn it? I think marrying this guy has messed up your brain, Kylie—I mean Mrs. Evinrude.</em></span></div>
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All right, all right no more name calling. We have one other person to hear from. And that’s Adam, also known as Alphonius Green. Mr. Green runs a New York insurance brokerage with a large Southern clientele.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Alphonius? What kind of name is Alphonius?</em></span></div>
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It rhymes with “felonious.”</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—What does “felonious” mean?</em></span></div>
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It means “criminal.” But never mind that. Mr. Green, you issue insurance policies to slaveholders that pays them back if their slaves run away. I wonder if you would be in favor of a stronger fugitive slave law.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Of course.</em></span></div>
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And why would that be?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—It’s obvious. Runaway slaves cost me money.</span></em></div>
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Would it be fair to say, Mr. Green, that you are a New Yorker with Southern views?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—I’m a New Yorker with <u>money</u> views.</em></span></div>
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Understood. It has been estimated that forty cents of every cotton dollar comes through New York City. New York banks lend slaveholders money. New York newspapers take advertising for lost slaves. New York shipping houses arrange for the transportation of cotton across the ocean to Great Britain. And of course New York brokerages like yours insure slaves. Under such circumstances, Mr. Green, do you think slavery will <em>ever</em> end?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Not if I have anything to say about it.</em></span></div>
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There you have it kids. But one more voice. Yin here is Mary Deed, a free black woman from Philadelphia. Hello, Mary.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Hello.</em></span></div>
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Mary, I understand your family has lived in Philadelphia for for many generations.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—That’s right.</em></span></div>
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And what do you do for a living, Mary?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—I’m a teacher. I teach Negro children.</em></span></div>
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Wonderful. We’ll give you the last word, Mary. What should we do about a fugitive slave law?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Nothing.</em></span></div>
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<strong>Next: Compromising situation</strong></div>
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Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-9718918344238560472016-11-25T00:00:00.000-05:002016-11-25T00:00:14.057-05:00King's Survey: Runaway Policy<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<strong><em>In which we see a crime wave involving property with a distressing tendency to go underground and run away</em></strong></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: hidden;"><img alt="BountyNoticeSlaves" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2080" height="276" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/bountynoticeslaves.jpg?w=300" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></dt>
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<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Brianna, your name is Robert Baron. It’s 1849, you have a plantation in Mississippi and you own 200 slaves. You’re one of the great planters in the state, and your mansion, Twelve Oaks, is regarded as among the most beautiful. You’re legendary for your hospitality.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Oh that’s just great. I’m so proud.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, I can understand your enthusiasm. A lot of people think you have reason to proud. After all, you came to this county thirty years ago with little more than a strong back. You worked hard, saved up some money, and used it to buy a farm. When the farm started to prosper, you bought slaves. As you continued to succeed, you added land, and slaves, and, eventually, overseers. Your shrewd investments have made you rich. Your friends call you a self-made man.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—More like a self-made slaveholder.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
As you wish. Of course, part of what makes you successful is the way you take care of the small things, because the small things, good and bad, have a way of becoming big things. And right now you have a small problem that seems to be growing larger. That problem is runaway slaves.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Can’t imagine why <u>that</u> would be a problem.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, a lot of your friends would agree with you. You’re known as a kind master. Your slaves are well fed and housed. You’ve instructed your overseers not to use force unless they really need to<em>—</em>not like those “white trash” types, wretched brutes who, drunk with power, are prone to crack the whip (one reason why they’re known as “crackers”). Actually, there’s some speculation that your slaves are running away because you’re <em>too</em> kind to them.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Well of <u>course</u> I am. We slaveholders are a very, very gentle group of people.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Not sure I can agree with you there. Seems to me there are two types: slaveholders who regard, and treat, their slaves as savages, and those who treat them as children. You apparently fall into the latter camp. Of course, in the end, I’m not sure how much it matters. Some would say that the real problem is abolitionist agitators who keep making noise and whispering in the ears of northern negroes, who of course whisper into the ears of the ones down here. That’s bad enough. What’s even worse is this so-called Underground Railroad, which actively aids and abets runaway slaves through a series of checkpoints and safe houses until they reach Canada, where they can’t be retrieved. It’s rumored that Paolo here<em>—</em>a.k.a. Robin Capeheart<em>—</em>is a member of the Underground Railroad, though we can’t prove that. Would you care to comment, Robin Capeheart?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #808080;" style="color: grey;"><em>—Uh, no.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Didn’t think so. You folks keep a low profile.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #808080;" style="color: grey;"><em>—Right.</em></span></div>
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But let me turn back to you, Robert Baron. Clearly, you have a problem. What do you think the best way is to deal with that problem?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Free the slaves.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Won’t work.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Why not?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, for one thing, you’ll go broke. Your whole economic way of life is leveraged on slavery.</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Fine. I’ll go broke.</em></span></div>
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Which brings us to the second problem. You can’t free your slaves by going broke. They’ll be sold to settle your debts (that’s what happened to Thomas Jefferson, and why George Washington was so ruthless about keeping his finances in good order so that he <em>could</em> free his slaves when he died, something he knew would anger his relatives). I hear the slaveholder down the road is legendary in his severity. You want him to get yours?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800000;" style="color: maroon;"><em>—Well then I’ll <u>help</u> them escape.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Good luck with that. A runaway slave is one thing; a clutch of them another. But you really think 200 runaways are going to go unnoticed? Or a steady stream that you release gradually? And who do you think your fellow slaveholders are going to blame when they find out ? How do you think they’re likely to treat a peer who does something like that? Friends, I’m afraid Robert Baron isn’t thinking too clearly. He needs help. Does anyone else have a suggestion?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—I think he needs you to turn her into an abolitionist.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Huh. Funny how that didn’t happen. My magical powers are curiously limited. Who woulda thunk Brianna's classroom destiny would be a plantation owner named Robert Baron? Chalk it up to the ironies of history, I guess. As it turns out, we do have abolitionists in the room.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—We do?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Yes. A couple. We’ll get to them. But first we need to come up with a proposal to assist poor Robert Baron. Channel your inner slaveholder, kids. What will help him?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Police?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Hmmm. A fascinating idea. Elaborate, Sadie. Or, should I say, Hank Evinrude.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Hank Evinrude?</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Yes. You’re a small farmer in Missouri. You don’t own slaves—yet. But you have your dreams, just like Robert Baron. You clearly think law enforcement would be a good approach. Here’s the problem with that: when slaves run away, they don’t stay within state lines. They in fact cross a bunch of them on their way to Canada. So local sheriffs, or even state ones, aren’t really a solution, because of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which protects states' rights. There is a fugitive slave provision in the Constitution that says errant property has to be returned, but clearly that isn’t working. So maybe we need a new <em>federal</em> law, a <em>national</em> approach to this crime wave.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Sounds good to me.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I imagine it does. There is wee bit of a problem, in that Southerners like yourself don’t typically like a powerful federal government. But I guess in this case you’re willing to make an exception.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Right.</em></span></div>
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Can’t resist asking: how does your wife, Kylie, a.k.a. Amanda Evinrude, who’s sitting right next to you, feel about this fugitive slave law idea?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Me?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—My wife doesn’t trouble her pretty little head about politics.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Oh, Hank is right. I always do whatever he says, the way a woman should.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—That’s right, my dear.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, Mrs. Evinrude, there are some who say that slavery is wrong, and that since a woman is the repository of moral values in any household, she has an obligation to speak out for what is right. What do you say about that idea?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<em><span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;">—Well, like Hank says, I stay out of politics.</span></em></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
But I’m not talking politics. I’m talking morality. Do you believe slavery is wrong?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Look, Mister, whoever you are. Leave my wife alone!</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
My apologies, Mr. Evinrude. I didn’t mean to be too aggressive. I was just trying to ask a question I know has multiple answers. There are those who say that slavery violates Christian teachings. And there are those who say that the Bible sanctions it. Saint Paul said, “Masters, obey your slaves.” In the Old Testament, Ham sees his father, Noah, naked, and God condemns his heirs to be servants. But I will respect your and Mrs. Evinrude’s wishes. Maybe this would be a good time to turn our attention to Jonah, who we will now know as Frank Berger. Frank is a farmer not far from Hank Evinrude. Hank, as I mentioned, is in Missouri. But Frank here comes from the other side of the Missouri River in Kansas. He doesn’t own slaves. Missouri is a slave state. But is Kansas?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—I think that’s a trick question.</em></span></div>
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Excellent, Ethan. Now tell me why.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Dunno.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Because Kansas isn’t a state at all, Ethan.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—What do you mean?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—He asked if Kanas is a slave state or a free state. You’d think that it would have to be one or the other. But if he also said it’s a trick question, it means it isn’t a state at all.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Bravo, Adam! Excellent reasoning. So if Kansas isn’t a state, what is it?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—A territory.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Correct. Have a look at this map, which shows the Kansas territory. Based on what you know, do you think Kansas is positioned to be a free slate or a slave state?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Hmmm. That’s a tough one.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Missouri Compromise.</em></span></div>
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What did you say, Yin?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—There’s the Missouri Compromise, right? Kansas is above the line, so it’s free.</em></span></div>
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Well, well, well. You kids really are cooking with gas!</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Cooking with gas? What the hell is that supposed to mean?</em></span></div>
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It’s an old expression from about 60 years ago, Emily. I like it, but I never really have occasion to use it.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Mr. K., you are a serious dork.</em></span></div>
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Thank you very much. OK, back to Frank Berger. Mr. Berger, you don’t own slaves, and it doesn’t look like you’re going to be able to. How much does that matter to you.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—I dunno. Not much, I guess. I guess if it did I’d move to Missouri or something.</em></span></div>
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Makes sense to me. So if you don’t have slaves, but Hank Evinrude across the border gets them, how are you going to feel about that?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Well, I don’t like slavery, I think it’s wrong, but it looks like it isn’t any of my business.</em></span></div>
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Funny you should say that. Because while you’re a farmer, you are also, to some degree, in business. You raise food for yourself, but you hope to raise more than you need so you can sell it. And you may be able to run the farm for yourself, but chances are there will be times you’re going to need help—for getting in the harvest, for example. How are you going to do that?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Hire someone, I guess.</em></span></div>
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Probably. Here’s the thing: If Hank has slaves, he doesn’t have to hire anybody. And he doesn’t have to <em>pay</em> anybody. Think about Robert Baron with all those slaves. He doesn’t pay any of them. Gives him a pretty big advantage, dontcha think?</div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Well, if you put it that way, I guess it does.</em></span></div>
<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Frank Berger, there are more and more people who are coming to the same conclusion. As you said, guys like you don’t like slavery, though you haven’t really felt you can (or, in truth, want to) do much about it. But now you’re more and more concerned about the economic problem with slavery, the way it gives a big advantage to the people who have a chunk of cash they can use to buy their way out of the labor market. In a way, the objection to the slaveholders is a little like contemporary objections to bankers and other kinds of big businessmen, who can use their access to money to set up a system that really makes it hard for the little guy.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Yeah, but isn’t it expensive to buy the slaves, and then feed and house them? A person who hires workers doesn’t have to worry about that.</em></span></div>
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That’s true, Adam. As a matter of fact, it’s actually quite difficult to finally determine if slavery really pays or not as an economic system from the point of view of the people in power. There are lots of pros and cons, and there was a lively argument about this by the time the nation reached 1850.</div>
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But of course the argument over slavery wasn’t only an economic one. So the next thing we’re going to do is shift our gaze to those abolitionists I mentioned.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Oh, good.</em></span></div>
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Let’s weigh <em>how</em> good.</div>
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<strong>Next: The other side of the runaway problem</strong></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-63587192320056852016-11-23T00:00:00.000-05:002016-11-23T00:00:17.736-05:00King's Survey: Damned Spot<div style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<strong><em>In which we see it's one thing to know a war is wrong, and another to know what to do about it.</em></strong></div>
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<strong> <img alt="Mexican_map_en_1838" class=" size-medium wp-image-2043 alignright" height="267" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/mexican_map_en_1838.png?w=300" style="float: right; height: auto; margin: 16px 0px 16px 16px; max-width: 100%;" width="300" /></strong>OK, kids, what are we going to do about this war?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Whatever you tell us, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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No, Jonah. That’s too much responsibility. I don’t want to carry all of it. We need to come up with a plan.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Well, what are our options?</em></span></div>
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That’s the problem. We’re kind of in a box. I mean, we all know this war was bogus from beginning to end.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—We do?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Of course we do, Jonah!</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—How’s that?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—I don’t know. What I do know is that Mr. K. is about to set it up.</em></span></div>
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That’s right, Ethan. Let’s review the facts here. We’ve had tensions in the neutral zone between the (more northern) Nueces River and (more southern) Rio Grande in Texas. President Polk claims shots were fired—note the passive construction there, scourge of English teachers and refuge for scoundrels everyone—and asked for a declaration of war. Naturally, the Manifest Destiny crowd and their Slave Power allies rushed to judgment and war was declared about a year and a half ago. In the time since, the U.S. army has won a string of victories over the Mexicans and now occupy Mexico City. So what do we do?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Well, you said the war was bogus, right?</em></span></div>
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Right.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—So let’s protest it.</em></span></div>
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Not an option.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Why not?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Because, dummy, you can’t protest a war that’s already over. And one that you’ve just won. Decisively.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—You can if that war was wrong, Adam.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—No you can’t. Like Mr. K. said, it’s not an option.</em></span></div>
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Well, it <em>is</em> an option for people like that idiot Henry David Thoreau. He proudly announced he wasn’t going to pay his taxes because he didn’t want to fund the Mexican War. When the world did not react with shock and indignation, he convinced his friend, the constable of Concord, Massachusetts, to throw him in jail. But that got botched too, because, much to Thoreau’s irritation, an unknown benefactor paid his bail. Thoreau. What a jerk. Loved trees, hated people.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Why don’t you tell us what you really think, Mr. K?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—God, Em, did you read <u>Walden</u> in your English class? We did. It’s terrible. Worse than watching grass grow. Which, basically, is what he did.</em></span></div>
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Sorry kids. I got distracted. Really it’s an avoidance device. Adam is right: we’ve got a real problem. Unlike Thoreau, we’re politicians. So we’re supposed to have answers.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—I still don’t understand why you can’t speak out against a war that was wrong, even if you’ve won it. How do things ever get better if people don’t speak up?</em></span></div>
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That’s a really good question, Yin. I just wish I had a clue about how to answer it. Particularly now, given that President Polk has just asked Congress for millions of dollars to help bring the negotiations with the Mexican government to a close.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Well, isn’t that a place to start? To vote against giving him the money?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—You just don’t get it, do you, Jonah? How are you going to withhold money from someone who’s just succeeded?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Yeah, well, Adam, I don’t see you coming up with any great ideas. You’re just saying no no no. How is that helping?</em></span></div>
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I think you’re asking the right question, Jonah: How do you challenge someone who’s just succeeded? Sadie, you’ve got your hand up.</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;">—You show the person who succeeded cheated. He broke the rules.</span></em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—But is that what happened here?</em></span></div>
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Hmmm. Promising. Actually, we don’t know what happened. But we can ask. Maybe Paolo is really onto something after all.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Paolo?</em></span></div>
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Yes, Paolo. Anybody here gave the speech he gave on the floor of the House last week?</div>
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Nobody? Not surprising. He’s a freshman member. Nobody really pays attention. Paolo, you want to tell us what you said?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #808080;" style="color: grey;"><em>—Ummm, I don’t remember. Maybe you can remind us, Mr. K.</em></span></div>
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Sure thing, Paolo. Paolo introduced a resolution demanding to know just where the so-called spot was that shots were fired (his motion became known as the Spot Resolution). He asked President Polk to specify exactly what happened as a condition of giving him the money. Paolo figures that if Polk is forced to actually start talking, he’ll either start lying or revealing a truth he’d rather hide. Meanwhile, the Whigs, who have been scattered, can finally recover from their disarray. What do you think? Is it a good idea?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Sounds good to me.</em></span></div>
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All right, then, fellow Whigs. Do we have a plan? Raise your hands.</div>
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Great. We’re unified.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—OK, now tell us, Mr. K. Is that what happened? Did it work?</em></span></div>
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No, not really. What happened is that the Whig Party lurched toward collapse. Southern Whigs could not really afford to come out against the war, but were outnumbered by Northern Whigs. They managed to paper over their differences for a while, principally by rallying around the presidential candidacy of General Zachary Taylor, a hero who was critical of the Polk administration. Taylor himself typified the divided soul of the Whig Party: he was a Tennessee slaveholder who also wanted to limit slavery. But he never really got the chance to work his way out of that box because he died shortly after taking office. Once he did, the Whigs fell apart entirely.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—So did that mean the Democrats ran the country?</em></span></div>
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In a way, yes. But if the Democrats didn’t actually die the way the Whigs did (gradually, I should point out, over a period of a few years), the they nevertheless came out of the war seriously divided. That’s because of a guy named David Wilmot, a member of the House from Pennsylvania. Wilmot was no abolitionist, but he hated Southern slaveholders, who he regarded as political bullies. So he made a modest proposal—it was called a “proviso,” the Wilmot Proviso—as the war broke out in 1846</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—What did it say?</em></span></div>
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It said Congress should agree that whatever may come of the Mexican War (which, again, was just getting underway), the government should agree that slavery would not be allowed to go there.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—But wasn’t that the whole point of the war?</em></span></div>
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Pretty much. Not for everybody. But certainly for most of its serious supporters.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—So then why did he ask for it?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Because he was as smartass.</em></span></div>
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Pretty much. The Wilmot Proviso had zero chance of becoming law. It was passed by the House dozens of times, largely because non-slaveholding Northern states were in favor of it, and the population of the Northern states was growing and reflected there. But it was rejected repeatedly by the Senate, where population changes didn't matter, and where powerful slaveholding Senators like John Calhoun (coming the end of his long career) had dominated for decades. What the Wilmot Proviso showed is that the Democrats were now divided along sectional lines, something that everybody had dreaded. Democrats divided, Whigs dead. Thoreau’s friend Ralph Waldo Emerson had it right when he predicted, “Mexico will poison us.” The country was headed for serious trouble.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Yeah, but what I want to know is what happened to Paolo?</em></span></div>
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Who?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Paolo.</em></span></div>
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Paolo? Oh, you mean that freshman congressman? I told you nobody listens to guys like that. But that wasn’t entirely accurate. The voters back home did. They hated his “spotty” speech. He was voted out in the next election. (He wasn’t actually planning on running again, but he blew what had been a safe Whig seat.) Schmuck. He went back home to Illinois. Made a few waves again about a decade later. You may have heard of him.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—What was his real name?</em></span></div>
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Abraham Lincoln.</div>
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<strong>Next: A runaway problem</strong></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-6355768376678777792016-11-21T00:00:00.000-05:002016-11-21T00:00:12.921-05:00King's Survey: Mexican Mess<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which see see how politics can be a matter of avoiding stands, and the price that policy exacts. </em></strong><strong> </strong></h4>
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<img alt="TexasQuestionMap" class=" size-medium wp-image-2012 alignleft" height="300" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/texasquestionmap.png?w=262" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 16px 16px 16px 0px; max-width: 100%;" width="262" />Dammit, Emily, I need to know where you stand on the Mexican War!</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—And good morning to you, Mr. Abraham King.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—I think that’s a highly inappropriate question, Mr. K. Asking the political views of a student like that. Especially with poor, timid Emily.</em></span></div>
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Oh you do, do you, Sadie? Well for your information, this “student” is running for president of the United States in this Year of Our Lord 1844, and there are millions of American voters who wish she would clarify her position on this decisive issue of our time!</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Honestly, I don’t think I can be any more clear on that issue.</em></span></div>
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Ha. Sounds like standard Whig sophistry.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—What the hell does that mean?</em></span></div>
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You know <em>exactly</em> what I’m talking about, Jonah.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—No, really. I have no idea what “standard Whig sophistry” means.</em></span></div>
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You actually want me to spell it out for you?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Well, not particularly. But given that class has just started and I don’t really have anything better to do, since you won’t let me whip out my phone, you might as well explain.</em></span></div>
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With an offer like that, Jonah, I can hardly refuse. As you all know, the current controversy goes back about a dozen years to what we called “the Texas Question.” The word “Texas” once referred to a region of Mexico. Mexico, of course, was a Spanish colony. It won its independence in 1821. At that time, Texas, like northern Mexico generally, was sparsely populated. The government hoped to promote economic development by inviting los Yanquis into the region. There were three conditions: the Americans would have to become Mexican citizens, convert to Roman Catholicism and give up their slaves. The Yankees flooded in, but they didn’t honor any of these terms. And when the Mexican government prodded them about it, they went to war to declare their independence.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—Isn’t that when the Alamo happened?</em></span></div>
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Yes, Adam, It is. A group of Yankee holdouts at that fort in San Antonio lost their lives to a surrounding Mexican army. But the quest for Texas independence was successful in 1836. In a way, though, that was a consolation prize. The leaders of the new Texas government did not really want to be an independent republic: they wanted to join the United States. The problem was that large segments of the American public, particularly in the Northern states, did not particularly want Texas, which would be a slave state, to join the Union. So while President Jackson supported the effort, it could never get through Congress, and Texas lived in limbo as its own country for the next nine years.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Sound like kind of a sweet deal to me. Why not be your own country?</em></span></div>
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Well, Ethan, many of these Texas leaders, like Sam Houston, were Americans, even if most of the people who lived there were not. There were also trade considerations. And the matter of military protection. Texas and Mexico squabbled over their border; the Mexicans said it was at the Rio Nueces, while the Texans said it was the Rio Grande, and as you can the territory between those two rivers is a pretty big piece of real estate. The people who advocated Texas annexation pointed out that if the United States didn’t go ahead and do it, Great Britain might get involved (remember, this is a moment when the U.S. and Britain were squabbling over the borders of the Oregon territory).</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008000;" style="color: green;"><em>—Sounds complicated.</em></span></div>
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Well, Yin, it was, at to some people. But there were others who saw the matter in amore straightforward light. Like James K. Polk. Polk’s nickname was “Young Hickory.” Anyone know why?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Because he was wooden?</em></span></div>
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Nice try. Let’s try it this way: to say that Polk was young Hickory implies that there was an old Hickory. Anyone know who “Old Hickory” was?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh, Mr. K. That like so totally gives it away. Old Hickory! Duh!</em></span></div>
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Love your sincerity, Em. Well, one more angle. I think I touched on this when we talked about him a while back. Hickory is a very hard wood. It’s tough.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Andrew Jackson!</em></span></div>
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Ding ding ding! Ten points for Jonah. Polk was a favorite of old man Jackson, who in fact is near death in 1844. But he’s strongly in favor of Texas annexation, and when the Democratic Party deadlocks over the candidacy of former president Martin Van Buren, who’s trying to make a comeback as an antislavery Democrat, the party turns to Polk, a so-called “dark horse” who comes out of nowhere to take the nomination. The key to Polk’s appeal is his straightforward simplicity. Elect me he says, and I’ll only serve one term. But in that term I’ll work out the Oregon thing, work out the Texas thing, and realize the “Manifest Destiny” of the United States to stretch territorially from sea to shining sea.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #003366;" style="color: #003366;"><em>—Yeah but what about slavery?</em></span></div>
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A good question, Adam. Polk is a Tennessee slaveholder. He’s happy for Texas to come into the Union as a slave state, as are all of the slaveholding states. He’s also got the support of the old Jacksonian coalition up North, though its solidity is weakening a bit. Which is exactly why we need to know where Emily, a.k.a. Henry Clay stands in all of this.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—That’s funny. Emily doesn’t look like Henry Clay.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Sure she does. Sexy Beast. Love that Clay hair.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—What hair?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—It’s wispy. Totally cool.</em></span></div>
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So what’s it going to be, Em?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Like I said, I couldn’t be more clear.</em></span></div>
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Oh, you’re too modest. We need to know: are you going to oppose annexation, and anger southern Whigs (and, very possibly, the majority of the electorate), or go along with it, and anger northern Whigs (who are probably more numerous and loyal) and abolitionists (who are annoying weirdoes, but increasingly influential)?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Geez, Mr. K., you sure know how to pressure a girl, or a guy, or whatever I am. Can’t I come down somewhere in the middle?</em></span></div>
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You can, and you do.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Phew. Disaster avoided. Thank you.</em></span></div>
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Not exactly. You fudge the issue: you say you can go along with annexation of Texas as a slave state, as long as the Northern electorate goes along with it, which is a little like saying you favor abortion as long as no one gets killed. Polk may be reckless, but at least you know where he stands. It’s sort of the worst of all worlds for Clay because he pleases nobody. That includes the abolitionists, who find the Whigs too timid. They have their own party, the Liberty Party. They get 2% of the vote. That 2% is enough to deny you the presidency, Henry Clay.</div>
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But let me shift my gaze from Senator Clay for a moment You happy now, abolitionists? You with your goddamned moral purity have landed a slaveholder who’s determined to expand slaveholding into across the continent in to the White House. Congratulations! This is what your radical activism has achieved. With friends like these, who needs enemies! Am I right, Mr. Clay?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—A little harsh. Mr.-K.-in-the-1840s. But kinda fair.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—No it isn’t, Em. Slavery is wrong. They said so. You’re telling me that the <u>abolitionists</u>, and not the slaveholders, are the real problem here? <u>That’s</u> what’s unfair.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—It’s not a question of what’s right or wrong in terms of the election, Sadie. It’s a question of what’s likely to work. The abolitionists may have been <u>right</u>, but they were <u>dumb</u>.</em></span></div>
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Kylie, what do you think?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well, I know slavery did end. So the abolitionists were on the right track.</em></span></div>
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Adam, you’re shaking your head.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—You can’t know the abolitionists were right in 1844. Who knows? Maybe if Clay won slavery could have ended <u>without</u> the Civil War.</em></span></div>
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How likely to do you think that would be, Adam?</div>
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<em><span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;">—How should I know? But who’s to say I’m wrong?</span></em></div>
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Fair enough. In any case, Senator Clay, this election is strike three for you. You tried for the presidency in 1824, 1832, and now in 1844—and you’re out for good. But I still love you.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Oh, well, that makes all the difference, Mr. K. And at least I don’t need to make any more difficult decisions.</em></span></div>
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Oh yes you do. There’s a war coming. And I want to know where you—and you, and you and you and you stand.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Can’t we just sit back and have you tell us what to think?</em></span></div>
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Nope. History doesn’t work that way.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Yes it does. Every time you read a book.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Wait: Jonah, you’ve read a book?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Well, not <u>me</u>, necessarily. I mean in theory. When you read a book you let someone else do the talking.</em></span></div>
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Maybe, but you shouldn’t let someone else do the thinking. You should be actively considering what the author is saying, and how, and how you feel about it.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #993300;" style="color: #993300;"><em>—Yeah, but you don’t have to.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Which is why we have history classes.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well, it’s why we have history classes like <u>this</u>. With Mr. K. stalking us demanding to know what we think.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—He doesn’t ask everybody what they think.</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Well, not every day. But there’s always that danger. Right Chris? Chris? Are you there, Chris?</em></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff9900;" style="color: #ff9900;"><em>—Uh ... Yeah, right.</em></span></div>
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Thanks, Chris, for that reality check.</div>
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<strong>Next: Spotty politics</strong></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6928155789718664595.post-46190413777584846862016-11-18T00:00:00.000-05:002016-11-18T00:00:07.998-05:00King's Survey: Mapping<h4 style="color: #3d596d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;">
<strong><em>In which we cross borders to see the stories, some fictive, that maps tell</em></strong></h4>
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<img alt="USA_Territorial_Growth_1850" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1957" data-mce-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/usa_territorial_growth_1850.jpg?w=680" data-wpmedia-src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/usa_territorial_growth_1850.jpg" height="616" src="https://conversinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/usa_territorial_growth_1850.jpg?w=680" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1400" /></div>
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So, kids, here’s a map of the United States in 1840. What do you see?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well, it’s colorful.</em></span></div>
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It is, Kylie. But what do those colors indicate?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #800080;" style="color: purple;"><em>—Well, there are different chunks with different colors. The territories like Iowa are in green. And then there’s the Republic of Texas in orange. And then there's stuff in blue; I don't know whose territory that is. The border of Texas seems weird.</em></span></div>
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So what does that tell you?</div>
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<em>—I guess that some stuff hadn’t been worked out yet.</em></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Montana also looks weird. I know because I went there last summer and looked at maps a lot.</em></span></div>
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Well, of course, Montana doesn’t really exist yet, Ethan; some of it is unorganized, and some is part of the Oregon territory. But who actually lives there?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—Indians?</em></span></div>
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Yes. Nez Pearce. Maybe some Blackfoot and Crow. Hard to say with any precision.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—So why aren’t they on the map?</em></span></div>
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A fair question, Sadie. The United States claimed eastern Montana by virtue of the Louisiana Purchase from France. Native Americans weren’t consulted. Americans made the maps; Indians either didn’t know, didn’t care, or—this was eventually decisive—didn’t have the power to resist. The Oregon territory was claimed by both the United States and Great Britain, but was so remote and unsettled—mostly fur traders out there—that it didn’t seem worth resolving or fighting over that hard. But there are signs this was changing. By the mid-1840s, negotiations, and acrimony, were intensifying. There was even talk of war.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—So what happened?</em></span></div>
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Eventually that would get worked out. The Oregon territory, which stretched well into Canada, would essentially be split in half. You can see that the line separating the United States and Canada is a pretty straight curve from the Great Lakes to the West Coast.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #008080;" style="color: teal;"><em>—It’s kinda cool to see the map snap into place.</em></span></div>
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Yeah, it is. But in a way it’s a problem.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Why is that?</em></span></div>
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Because it makes the contours the nation ultimately assumed seem more natural than they really are. Vancouver could have easily been a part of the United States as not. The border with Mexico could have been a lot different than it turned out. You can see that the frontiers of Maine were also unclear; they got worked out in a treaty with Britain in 1842.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—OK, but why is any of this a <u>problem</u>?</em></span></div>
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Well, Emily, maybe it’s less a <em>problem</em> than a <em>question</em>.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—What’s the question?</em></span></div>
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Well, I guess the question is how the map will fall apart.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Fall apart? Why are you asking that? And why are you asking that in a <u>history</u> class?</em></span></div>
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That’s a fair question as a reply to my question. I guess my answer is that asking it helps us realize that there’s nothing especially “natural” about the borders of the United States. I say so not only because, as we’ve been discussing, those borders could easily have been drawn another way, but also because—to bring up something we haven’t really discussed—there’s nothing especially cohesive about the series of ecosystems that make up the United States. We’ve got the eastern woodlands on the North Atlantic seaboard. And the prairies of the Midwest. Semi-tropics in the South. Mountains in the west. For hundreds, even thousands, of years, these environmental differences have hosted, and fostered, different cultures. In an important sense, they still do.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—But they don’t matter as much as they used to.</em></span></div>
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They don’t, Adam?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—No. I can watch ESPN in Montana or in Maine. I can get Doritos in either.</em></span></div>
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Hey. That’s a good point. We live in a national society that in some respects really has conquered geography. But let me ask you this: do the people who live in Texas tend to vote the same way as people in Oregon?</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000080;" style="color: navy;"><em>—A lot of them do.</em></span></div>
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That’s true: there are Republicans in Oregon and Democrats in Texas. But they’re decided minorities. Back in the 1970s, we used to have a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour because of an oil shortage. People hated it, of course. But some people hated it more than others, for good reason. Driving 55 miles per hour on an otherwise carless road in North Dakota makes a whole lot less sense than doing it on a crowded interstate in New Jersey. To a great extent, that’s because the landscapes are different. Different landscapes create different priorities and different values. Huge tracts of empty land in Wyoming are owned by the U.S. government. Comparatively speaking, there are no huge tracts of empty land in Connecticut, because most of it is easily habitable, unlike the mountains and deserts of the West. These realities, in turn, shape politics: residents of Wyoming tend to see the government as having far too much control over their lives, while many residents of Connecticut wish the government would do more than it does. That’s been true for a long time.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—I still don’t get what this has to do with the future.</em></span></div>
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What I’m saying, Em, is that there’s no intrinsic reason the United States will continue to exist from sea to shining sea. Given the difference in populations, resources, and position relative to large bodies of water, New England might someday break off from the Gulf states. For that matter, Northern California and Southern California are could easily become separate entities. The other factor here is demographic: the people who live in these places have and will migrate over borders that are ecologically meaningless, especially as coastlines and the routes of rivers get reshaped by climate change.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #ff0000;" style="color: red;"><em>—Fine. That’s the future. And the past? What does any of this have to do with the class we’re taking right now?</em></span></div>
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History is a matter of contingency: things that happen in a certain way at a certain time because of certain things human beings do. When you look at the way human beings always act across time and place, well, that’s biology or anthropology. When you’re looking at the logic of ideas that transcend time and place, that’s philosophy. But history is about the interaction of broad impersonal processes and specific decisions people make. There are different factors that shaped the way the map turned out, but they weren't inevitable (not all of them, anyway). We ended up with a continental nation, and looking at it now, it seems so natural, even inevitable. But an important sense it was an accident, as in the car crash sense of the term. People made choices thinking they were doing the right thing—or, at any rate the thing they wanted to do—and a lot of people got hurt. That’s how we got the Mexican War.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><em>—Oh. Is that where we’re going next?</em></span></div>
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It is. Saddle up.</div>
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<strong>Next: Mexican mess</strong></div>
Jim Cullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243008534879054964noreply@blogger.com