Posted on 10/01/2016 6:22:25 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1855-1860: Seminar and Discussion Forum
Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, Lincoln-Douglas, Harper’s Ferry, the election of 1860 – all the events leading up to the Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts
First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: Sometime in the future.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed. To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.
I notice it is published in New York.
On page 13, Congress raised the
their pay from $8.00 a day to $6,000 per session...
$6,000 of 1856 dollars would be worth $171,428.57 in 2016. Not much has changed, has it?
Homer (and, apparently, Lisa), your work is always fascinating.
Some 19th prose is just beautiful.
Like Major Sullivan Ballou's "Dear Sarah" letter.
I have to admit, the writing in this magazine is very hard to follow. Not only is it filled with passive voice, run on sentences on top of run ons, but it is also very disjointed.
It must have been the style back then.
So all men are just a product of their climate. Too many words expended to make the point, in my opinion, but yes, that is the case.
Some of the writing is quite eloquent.
Lot to digest.
Was that a discussion about the federal government’s budget?
Nah, couldn’t be. Too few expense categories, to few zeroes in the numbers.
5.56mm
The original version of the GTS diary, published in 1952, is in 4 volumes. The first covers the period beginning October 5, 1835, when 15-year-old Strong began recording the events of his life, through December 1849. Volume 2 runs from 1850-59. Volume 3 is the war years, and volume 4 runs from June 1865 until the author’s final illness in 1875. The editors, Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas, had to reduce the 4 million + words substantially for practical purposes. So they left out much of what Strong wrote about Columbia College and much of his criticism of musical concerts he attended. And, according to the editors’ preface, “Many interesting personal entries, dealing with the diarist’s family circle, have been left out, but these would make another kind of story.” Too bad. That would have been interesting.
Clearly, Strong intended his diary to be read by Americans of a future era. He kept it secret from his friends so their words to him were not spoken with posterity in mind. He recorded his impressions, opinions and predictions with the knowledge that an audience with full hindsight would one day judge them. After Strong’s death in 1875 his heirs kept it out of public view until 1928, when it was lent to the museum of the American Red Cross, apparently because of Strong’s writing about his time with the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. It wasn’t until the late 1940’s that Strong’s descendants consented to the publication of the diary. This first printing was issued 77 years after George Templeton Strong died.
Volume 1 begins with a 32-page biography of Strong. My earlier impression that he was a New York hipster lawyer has expanded and I now realize Strong was an impressive and virtuous man who served his country well and did his part to make New York into one of the world’s great cities. He never sought the limelight, but gave extensively of his time, talent and money to support Columbia College (now University), Trinity Episcopal Church, the arts, and the legal profession in New York. During the Civil War he served with distinction, not in uniform, but in a vital support role with the Sanitary Commission, which managed the hospitals and other services for wounded soldiers.
The portion of the abridged diary that covers August-October 1856 is identical to the original edited version. So we haven’t missed anything by posting the initial entries from the abridged version. I scanned ahead and it looks like we can expect 8 to 10 entries a month during the next several months.
Continued from September 30 (reply #47)
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas, Abridged by Thomas J. Pressly
Very interesting read .... thank you.
Thanks. Postings will be infrequent for some time to come but we will at least hear regularly from Harper’s and George Strong.
I hope all is well with you and your family, Mr. Simpson.
I recall that letter from the Ken Burns series. It may have been Garrison Kiellor who read it. I guess the writer would have been considered too efficient with words to be a Harper’s correspondent.
Thank you. We are doing okay. The same to you and yours.
Thank you, Homer! Mr. Strong is very sharp and original. I really enjoy his entries.
I like the dress-as-playpen on Page 26 of Harpers. However, fond as I am of historical costume in general, the mid-19th century was really obnoxious, right up there with panniers and shepherdess outfits in the late 18th.
Give me 1812 or 1910, or the lovely traditional gowns of Korea.
It isn't surprising that Strong expresses himself well. He has written in his diary every day for the last 17 1/2 years, from the time he was in the middle of receiving a good classical education. That and the Yale law schooling account for the sprinkling of Latin in his entries.
My wife is with you on 1910. Did you watch the House of Elliot series?
No, I have not.
Sigh. When people could READ ...
You didn’t have to be a genius: you just had to READ.
I was just reading a book by Anthony Esolen, who teaches at Providence University in Rhode Island. He said a panel discussion was held regarding their quite demanding Western Civ program. A leftist professor said, “All teaching is political,” so Dr. Esolen talked about the program in terms of its value for political opposition: You can’t oppose the Patriarchy on its own terms unless you’ve read the texts upon which John Adams, for example, built a worldview.
A young women student said, after his discussion, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
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