Happy Columbus Day - McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader

Columbus was a very very brave man. And we are better off because of him. Don't fall for the PC view of Columbus. There is so much more to his story. Spain was bankrupt fighting the Moors 700 years. The Ottoman's had taken over Constantinople, blocking the main trade route into India and China. The Christian Byzantium was no more. Columbus was given three tasks for helping to preserve Christendom. 1. find a new trade route to India and China to by-pass the Ottomans 2. Find some wealth to refill the empty coffers of Spain (700 years of battles - to out the Moors and prevent the Muhammadan invasion of Europe) 3. Christianize the cannibalistic (Montezuma sold human flesh in the Market Place) land no one dared try. (many had 'discovered' America but saw what was there and turned right around and left.) Brave Columbus was given one decked ship sea worthy and two river boats. He was given rag-a-tag bunch of immoral criminal seamen, the only they could risk. The queen had to sell her jewels to pay for this because the west was broke. Yet, enemies were in the south and east. Columbus was ship-wrecked with the one good ship he had, The Santa Maria, and fought mutiny. He was amazing at achieving what he did. He kept two journals, one for his crew to read and one with the truth. There is so much more I shockingly read. The modern account of Columbus is far different than what is in the PC PS textbooks. You can read Washington Irving's (ambassador to Spain when Spain released the documents to the public) 5 volume account on Columbus after studying the journals and written accounts.... Oh, As for North America... The Indians numbered a mere around 'bout 300,000 only in the entire North America... dying of hunger regularly. For about 50 years of American colonization the Indian numbers peacefully increased substantially. The Indian problems didn't begin until later, because the trees had been felled allowing for more crops and grass, wildlife to prosper, more food and the Indians liked the horses and the cows. and the colonists wanted more land. Bad things happened on both sides. Go to McGuffeysOnlineTutor.com for more. or...

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6-130 McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader. - Lesson CXXX. The Character of George Washington. (Supplementary reading)

"Very early too, he learned to control his temper, and Washington had a fiery temper. In fact Washington was afraid of his own temper. He lost it on one occasion when the troops fled in the face of England. And he completely lost his head, he swore at them, he was ready to strike them down and when they kept running he was so bitterly discouraged he turned his horse towards the enemy and was ready to ride right into the enemy ranks and die alone rather than retreat. But some of his officers grabbed the horses reigns and pulled him back. That was the one occasion when he publicly lost his temper. ...

I’ve read all the published letters of Washington, and only once have I ever found him breaking down and giving advice. And this was to his nephew Bushrod, who was studying law. He later became an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and he was having financial difficulties. And so George Washington wrote him a long letter, of advice, counseling him, saying that “I’m not prying into what you have been doing or what your problems are”, but giving him counsel to avoid vice, to avoid gambling, and always to be generous to be others, remembering always the estimation of the widows mite, and so on. In another letter, to another nephew, George S. Washington, there is a hint of advice, but no actual advice. Washington was not a man who said anything when it was going to be useless to talk. He didn’t waste words. But he could use words very powerfully, and this was one of the reasons why he was such an able commander. Those of you who have studied American History in the not too remote past may remember the Conway Cabal, when a group of officers and citizens, members of congress, formed a conspiracy to out Washington as commander, and replace him with General Gates, or someone else. Now, for the members of Congress to think along these lines was legitimate. But for Army officers, to conspire behind their commander’s back, to have him ousted, was not legitimate. One of the worst men in this conspiracy was Doctor Benjamin Rush. Well, one of the letters fell into the hands of Patrick Henry. And Patrick Henry immediately forwarded the letter to Washington and warned him of what was apparently going on. And he left it to Washington to act, but offered to give him any assistance whatsoever. Now this was something that could be very serious. How did Washington handle it? Well, he simply wrote a letter to Brigadier General Conway, as follows:

“The 9th of November, 1777. Sir, A letter which I received last night contained the following paragraph. In a letter from General Conway to General Gates, he says: ‘Heaven has been determined to save your country, or a weak general and bad councilors would have ruined it. I am, sir, your humble servant, George Washington.”

That was all! Just one sentence out of the letter. Well, Conway began to sweat, and every other officer that was in the Cabal to sweat, wondering “How much does Washington know?” He just said that and said nothing more, and went on as though nothing had happened, they’d come around and make an occasion, everyone in the conspiracy to talk to him, to see what his attitude was like, and how much did he know, and he was just the same as always, but they felt more and more uncomfortable in his eyes, so every one of them came quickly in to confess and to say “well, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t take it seriously,” and so on, and the whole thing disappeared. Now if Washington had tried to prosecute the matter, they would have immediately said: “Well where’s your evidence? You don’t have enough evidence to convict us.” It would’ve been a legal matter you see. But since he did nothing but simply indicate I know what’s going on, they were busy imagining every kind of possible act he was going to take, and they fell apart. And that’s the kind of leadership he exercised. But most importantly, he never, at any point took it out upon any man that was involved in the Cabal. He knew their strengths and he knew their weaknesses. And he used every one of those men, both them and later on as the President he used some of them, wherever he thought they could do the most good. In other words, his thinking was: “It’s not how they feel about me as an individual, it is what can they do for the country.” Some of them were actually appointed to high office when he became president. Washington understood people. He knew what they were and what they could do. And as a result, because he was above being personal, he could lead men. Washington believed that God alone could change man, human advice alone could not. But there was a human answer to man’s condition, law and order. And Washington believed strongly in this, and militarily this meant discipline. Washington sought to set an example for the men, as a Christian gentleman, and as a Christian officer, and have strong discipline. He was emphatic at all time of the need for chaplains, about the need of drills, about the need for taking the troops and making them into seasoned soldiers. We have no idea because the books give us a very inadequate picture, what a tremendous problem he had. His ability to impose discipline upon the soldiers was very limited. They were an army of volunteers for the most part, and they deserted readily and easily. As a matter of fact one historian has written and I quote:

“It is rather breathtaking now, after all the bunk about unanimous resistance that our school history choked down our young throats, to realize that perhaps 40% of the population of the colonies was flamingly pro-British. Let us pause for a moment for figures. The total population of America on the day that Washington took command of the army at Cambridge was approximately two million five hundred thousand. Let’s us say generously that at least half that total were women. This leaves 1,250,000 males. In the Revolution there was no age limit in the army, men from 16 to 60 fought side by side in the rebel army. Consequently. Consider the appalling child mortality which cut down most children before they reached 16. About 5 out of every 7 males were within the limits of a draft. That leaves perhaps 892,850 effective. But from this we must subtract the 40% who were loyalist. 535,700 men remain. Now we must remember the element that was neither loyalist nor patriot. We must remember the lukewarm, the neutral, who trembled between the two extremes. Vacantly waiting to see which side would win. When the war was over and America triumphed, these people claimed to have been as patriotic as the rest. But during those seven so harrowing years, these lukewarmers numbered about 25%, or over 300,000 of the male population. After  all these eliminations, about 225,000 men remain as the potential military equivalent that Washington ought to have been able to rely upon. As things turned out he never once had an army of over 25,000. And most of the time, straggling and bedraggled, it numbered between 3,000 and 15,000. The 15,000 at Brandywine was the largesta force Washington ever took into the field for a single engagement. It is hard to reconcile these cold facts with our pink and white American traditions of “the spirit of 1776”. – From “A Short History of the American Revolution” by John Hyde Preston."http://www.pocketcollege.com/beta/index.php…

6-18 eBook - pdf - Sense and Sensibility: Supplemental Reading for Lesson XVIII. - McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (revised edition)

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XVIII. TACT AND TALENT.

Talent is something, but tact is everything. Talent is serious, sober,
grave, and respectable: tact is all that, and more too. It is not a sixth
sense, but it is the life of all the five. It is the open eye, the quick
ear, the judging taste, the keen smell, and the lively touch; it is the
interpreter of all riddles, the surmounter of all difficulties, the
remover of all obstacles. It is useful in all places, and at all times; it
is useful in solitude, for it shows a man into the world; it is useful in
society, for it shows him his way through the world.

Talent is power, tact is skill; talent is weight, tact is momentum; talent
knows what to do, tact knows how to do it; talent makes a man respectable,
tact will make him respected; talent is wealth, tact is ready money. For
all the practical purposes, tact carries it against talent ten to one.

Take them to the theater, and put them against each other on the stage,
and talent shall produce you a tragedy that shall scarcely live long
enough to be condemned, while tact keeps the house in a roar, night after
night, with its successful farces. There is no want of dramatic talent,
there is no want of dramatic tact; but they are seldom together: so we
have successful pieces which are not respectable, and respectable pieces
which are not successful.

Take them to the bar, and let them shake their learned curls at each other
in legal rivalry; talent sees its way clearly, but tact is first at its
journey's end. Talent has many a compliment from the bench, but tact
touches fees. Talent makes the world wonder that it gets on no faster,
tact arouses astonishment that it gets on so fast. And the secret is, that
it has no weight to carry; it makes no false steps; it hits the right nail
on the head; it loses no time; it takes all hints; and, by keeping its eye
on the weathercock, is ready to take advantage of every wind that blows.

Take them into the church: talent has always something worth hearing, tact
is sure of abundance of hearers; talent may obtain a living, tact will
make one; talent gets a good name, tact a great one; talent convinces,
tact converts; talent is an honor to the profession, tact gains honor from
the profession.

Take them to court: talent feels its weight, tact finds its way; talent
commands, tact is obeyed; talent is honored with approbation, and tact is
blessed by preferment. Place them in the senate: talent has the ear of the
house, but tact wins its heart, and has its votes; talent is fit for
employment, but tact is fitted for it. It has a knack of slipping into
place with a sweet silence and glibness of movement, as a billiard ball
insinuates itself into the pocket.

It seems to know everything, without learning anything. It has served an
extemporary apprenticeship; it wants no drilling; it never ranks in the
awkward squad; it has no left hand, no deaf ear, no blind side. It puts on
no look of wondrous wisdom, it has no air of profundity, but plays with
the details of place as dexterously as a well-taught hand flourishes over
the keys of the pianoforte. It has all the air of commonplace, and all the
force and power of genius.

6-22 Lesson XXII. - THE THREE WARNINGS. McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (re)

Hester Lynch Thrale, 1739-1821, owes her celebrity almost wholly to her long intimacy with Dr. Samuel Johnson. This continued for twenty years, during which Johnson spent much time in her family.  She was born in Caernarvonshire, Wales; her first husband was a wealthy brewer, by whom she had several children. In 1784, she married an Italian teacher of music named Piozzi. Her writings are quite numerous; the best known of her books is the "Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson;" but nothing she ever wrote is so well known as the "Three Warnings."

The Three Warnings
By Hester Lynch Thrale (1741–1821)

THE TREE of deepest root is found
Least willing still to quit the ground;
’Twas therefore said by ancient sages,
That love of life increased with years
So much, that in our latter stages, 5
When pains grow sharp, and sickness rages,
The greatest love of life appears.
This great affection to believe,
Which all confess, but few perceive,
If old assertions can’t prevail, 10
Be pleased to hear a modern tale.

When sports went round, and all were gay,
On neighbour Dodson’s wedding-day,
Death called aside the jocund groom
With him into another room, 15
And looking grave—“You must,” says he,
“Quit your sweet bride, and come with me.”
“With you! and quit my Susan’s side?
With you!” the hapless husband cried.
“Young as I am, ’tis monstrous hard! 20
Besides, in truth, I’m not prepared;
My thoughts on other matters go;
This is my wedding-day, you know.”

What more he urged I have not heard,
His reasons could not well be stronger; 25
So Death the poor delinquent spared,
And left to live a little longer.
Yet calling up a serious look,
His hour-glass trembled while he spoke:
“Neighbour,” he said, “farewell! no more 30
Shall Death disturb your mirthful hour;
And further, to avoid all blame
Of cruelty upon my name,
To give you time for preparation,
And fit you for your future station, 35
Three several warnings you shall have,
Before you’re summoned to the grave.
Willing for once I’ll quit my prey,
And grant a kind reprieve,
In hopes you’ll have no more to say, 40
But, when I call again this way,
Well pleased the world will leave.”
To these conditions both consented,
And parted perfectly contented.

What next the hero of our tale befell, 45
How long he lived, how wise, how well,
How roundly he pursued his course,
And smoked his pipe, and stroked his horse,
The willing muse shall tell:
He chaffered, then he bought and sold, 50
Nor once perceived his growing old,
Nor thought of Death as near.
His friends not false, his wife no shrew,
Many his gains, his children few,
He passed his hours in peace. 55
But while he viewed his wealth increase,
While thus along life’s dusty road,
The beaten track content he trod,
Old Time, whose haste no mortal spares,
Uncalled, unheeded, unawares, 60
Brought on his eightieth year.
And now, one night, in musing mood,
As all alone he sate,
The unwelcome messenger of Fate
Once more before him stood. 65

Half-killed with anger and surprise,
“So soon returned!” old Dodson cries.
“So soon, d’ye call it?” Death replies;
“Surely, my friend, you’re but in jest!
Since I was here before 70
’Tis six-and-thirty years at least,
And you are now fourscore.”
“So much the worse,” the clown rejoined;
“To spare the aged would be kind;
However, see your search be legal; 75
And your authority—is’t regal?
Else you are come on a fool’s errand,
With but a secretary’s warrant.
Besides, you promised me three warnings,
Which I have looked for nights and mornings; 80
But for that loss of time and ease I can recover damages.”

“I know,” cries Death, “that at the best
I seldom am a welcome guest;
But don’t be captious, friend, at least;
I little thought you’d still be able 85
To stump about your farm and stable;
Your years have run to a great length;
I wish you joy, though, of your strength!”

“Hold!” says the farmer, “not so fast!
I have been lame these four years past.” 90
“And no great wonder,” Death replies;
“However, you still keep your eyes;
And, sure to see one’s loves and friends,
For legs and arms would make amends.”

“Perhaps,” says Dodson, “so it might, 95
But latterly I’ve lost my sight.”
“This is a shocking tale, ’tis true;
But still there’s comfort left for you:
Each strives your sadness to amuse;
I warrant you hear all the news.” 100
“There’s none,” cries he; “and if there were,
I’m grown so deaf, I could not hear.”
“Nay, then,” the spectre stern rejoined,
“These are unjustifiable yearnings;
If you are lame, and deaf, and blind, 105
You’ve had your three sufficient warnings;
So come along; no more we’ll part,”
He said, and touched him with his dart.
And now old Dodson, turning pale,
Yields to his fate. So ends my tale. 110

6-47 (part 4) Video Lesson XLVII: The Character of Columbus.- McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (revised edition)

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Background history of Byzantium and Spain in reference to Christopher Columbus from a Christian perspective..

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XLVII. CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. (192)

Washington Irving, 1783-1859. Among those whose works have enriched American literature, and have given it a place in the estimation of foreigners, no name stands higher than that of Washington Irving. He was born in the city of New York; his father was a native of Scotland, and his mother was English. He had an ordinary school education, and at the age of sixteen began the study of law. Two of his older brothers were interested in literary pursuits; and in his youth he studied the old English authors. He was also passionately fond of books of travel. At the age of nineteen, he began his literary career by writing for a paper published by his brother. In 1804 be made a voyage to the south of Europe. On his return he completed his studies in law, but never practiced his profession. "Salmagundi," his first book (partly written by others), was published in 1807. This was followed, two years later, by "Knickerbocker's History of New York." Soon after, he entered into mercantile pursuits in company with two brothers. At the close at the war with England he sailed again for Europe, and remained abroad seventeen years. During his absence he formed the acquaintance of the most eminent literary men of his time, and wrote several of his works; among them were: "The Sketch Book," "Bracebridge Hall," "Tales of a Traveler," "Life and Voyages of Columbus," and the "Conquest of Granada." On his return he made a journey west of the Mississippi, and gathered materials for several other books. From 1842 to 1846 he was Minister to Spain. On his return to America he established his residence at "Sunnyside," near Tarrytown, on the Hudson, where he passed the last years of his life. A young lady to whom he was attached having died in early life, Mr. Irving never married.

His works are marked by humor, just sentiment, and elegance and correctness of expression. They were popular both at home and abroad from the first, and their sale brought him a handsome fortune. The "Life of Washington," his last work, was completed in the same year in which he died.

Columbus was a man of great and inventive genius. The operations of his mind were energetic, but irregular; bursting forth, at times, with that irresistible force which characterizes intellect of such an order. His ambition was lofty and noble, inspiring him with high thoughts and an anxiety to distinguish himself by great achievements. He aimed at dignity and wealth in the same elevated spirit with which he sought renown; they were to rise from the territories he should discover, and be commensurate in importance.

His conduct was characterized by the grandeur of his views and the magnanimity of his spirit. Instead of ravaging the newly-found countries, like many of his contemporary discoverers, who were intent only on immediate gain, he regarded them with the eyes of a legislator; he sought to colonize and cultivate them, to civilize the natives, to build cities, introduce the useful arts, subject everything to the control of law, order, and religion, and thus to found regular and prosperous empires. That he failed in this was the fault of the dissolute rabble which it was his misfortune to command, with whom all law was tyranny and all order oppression.

He was naturally irascible and impetuous, and keenly sensible to injury and injustice; yet the quickness of his temper was counteracted by the generosity and benevolence of his heart. The magnanimity of his nature shone forth through all the troubles of his stormy career. Though continually outraged in his dignity, braved in his authority, foiled in his plans, and endangered in his person by the seditions of turbulent and worthless men, and that, too, at times when suffering under anguish of body and anxiety of mind enough to exasperate the most patient, yet he restrained his valiant and indignant spirit, and brought himself to forbear, and reason, and even to supplicate. Nor can the reader of the story of his eventful life fail to notice how free he was from all feeling of revenge, how ready to forgive and forget on the least sign of repentance and atonement. He has been exalted for his skill in controlling others, but far greater praise is due to him for the firmness he displayed in governing himself.

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Happy Columbus Day!!

 

 

6-47 eBook: The discovery of America. (A supplement to Lesson XLVII) - McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (revised edition)
Christopher Columbus, or Colombo, as the name is written in Italian, was born in the city of Genoa, about the year 1435. Read more here: 

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6-0 eBook - pdf - McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (revised edition)

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     In the SIXTH READER, the general plan of the revision of McGUFFEY'S SERIES has been carefully carried out to completion.

     That plan has been to retain, throughout, those characteristic features of McGUFFEY'S READERS, which have made the series so popular, and caused their widespread use throughout the schools of the country. At the same time, the books have been enlarged; old pieces have been exchanged for new wherever the advantage was manifest; and several new features have been incorporated, which it is thought will add largely to the value of the series.

     In the revision of the SIXTH READER, the introductory matter has been retained with but little change, and it will he found very valuable for elocutionary drill. In the preparation of this portion of the work, free use was made of the writings of standard authors upon Elocution, such as Walker, McCulloch, Sheridan Knowles, Ewing, Pinnock, Scott, Bell, Graham, Mylins, Wood, Rush, and many others.

     In making up the Selections for Reading, great care and deliberation have been exercised. The best pieces of the old book are retained in the REVISED SIXTH, and to the these been added a long list of selections from the best English and American literature. Upwards of one hundred leading authors are represented (see "Alphabetical List. of Authors," page ix), and thus a wide range of specimens of the best style has been secured. Close scrutiny revealed the fact that many popular selections common to several series of Readers, had been largely adapted, but in McGUFFEY'S REVISED READERS, wherever it was possible to do so, the selections have been compared, and made to conform strictly with the originals as they appear in the latest editions authorized by the several writers.

     The character of the selections, aside from their elocutionary value, has also been duly considered. It will be found, upon examination, that they present the same instructive merit and healthful moral tone which gave the preceding edition its high reputation.

     Two new features of the REVISED SIXTH deserve especial attention-the explanatory notes, and the biographical notices of authors. The first, in the absence of a large number of books of reference, are absolutely necessary, in some cases, for the intelligent reading of the piece; and it is believed that in all cases they will add largely to the interest and usefulness of the lessons.

     The biographical notices, if properly used, are hardly of less value than the lessons themselves. They have been carefully prepared, and are intended not only to add to the interest of the pieces, but to supply information usually obtained only by the separate study of English and American literature.

     The illustrations of the REVISED SIXTH READER are presented as specimens of fine art. They are the work of the best artists and engravers that could be secured for the purpose in this country. The names of these gentlemen may be found on page ten.

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NEW 6-31 eBook - pdf - Bonnie Prince Charlie: A tale of Fontenoy and Culloden. Supplemental Reading for Lesson XXXI. - McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (revised edition)

XXXI. SPEECH OF WALPOLE IN REPROOF OF MR. PITT. 

Sir Robert Walpole, 1676-1745, was educated at Eton and Cam- 
bridge. He entered Parliament in 1700, and soon became a good de- 
bater and skillful tactician. He was prime minister of Great Britain 
from 1721 to 1742, in the reigns of George I. and George II. He was an 
able statesman ; but has been accused of employing corruption or brib- 
ery on a large scale, to control Parliament and accomplish his purposes. 

I WAS unwilling to interrupt the course of this debate, 
while it was carried on with calmness and decency, by men 
who do not suffer the ardor of opposition to cloud their 
reason, or transport them to such expressions as the dignity 
of this assembly does not admit. 

I have hitherto deferred answering the gentleman, who 
declaimed against the bill with such fluency and rhetoric, 
and such vehemence of gesture; who charged the advocates 
for the expedients now proposed, with having no regard to 
any interests but their own, and with making laws only to 
consume paper, and threatened them with the defection of 
their adherents, and the loss of their influence, upon this 
new discovery of their folly and ignorance. Nor, do I now 
answer him for any other purpose than to remind him 
how little the clamor of rage and petulancy of invective 
contribute to the end for which this assembly is called 
together ; how little the discovery of truth is promoted, 
and the security of the nation established, by pompous 
diction and theatrical emotion. 

Formidable sounds and furious declamation, confident 
assertions and lofty periods, may affect the young and in- 
experienced ; and perhaps the gentleman may have con- 
tracted his habits of oratory by conversing more with 
those of his own age than with such as have more oppor- 
tunities of acquiring knowledge, and more successful meth- 
ods of communicating their sentiments. If the heat of 
temper would permit him to attend to those whose age 
and long acquaintance with business give them an indis- 
putable right to deference and superiority, he would learn 
in time to reason, rather than declaim; and to prefer just- 
ness of argument and an accurate knowledge of facts, to 
sounding epithets and splendid superlatives, which may dis- 
turb the imagination for a moment, but leave no lasting 
impression upon the mind. He would learn, that to accuse 
and prove are very different; and that reproaches, unsup- 
ported by evidence, affect only the character of him that 
utters them. 

Excursions of fancy and flights of oratory are indeed 
pardonable in young men, but in no other; and it would 
surely contribute more, even to the purpose for which some 
gentlemen appear to speak (that of depreciating the con- 
duct of the administration), to prove the inconveniences 
and injustice of this bill, than barely to assert them, with 
whatever magnificence of language, or appearance of zeal, 
honesty, or compassion. 

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6-30 eBook - pdf - With Lee in Virginia: A Story of the American Civil War. Supplemental Reading for Lesson XXX. - McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (revised edition)

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XXX. WAR. (148)

Charles Sumner. 1811-1874, was born in Boston. He studied at the Latin school in his native city, graduated from Harvard University at the age of nineteen, studied law at the same institution, and was admitted to practice in 1834. He at once took a prominent position in his profession, lectured to the law classes at Cambridge for several successive years, wrote and edited several standard law books, and might have had a professorship in the law school, had he desired it. In his famous address on "The True Grandeur of Nations," delivered July 4, 1815, before the municipal authorities of Boston, he took strong grounds against war among nations. In 1851 he was elected to the United States Senate and continued in that position till his death. As a jurist, as a statesman, as an orator, and as a profound and scholarly writer, Mr. Sumner stands high in the estimation of his countrymen. In physical appearance, Mr. Sumner was grand and imposing; men often turned to gaze after him, as he passed along the streets of his native city. 

The Coming of the Civil War:

     ...And yet he was extremely well supplied. Now obviously there was a plot. That was the most obvious thing. A plot to create a slave revolt. The south was right at that point. The plot however, was a very small one and a foolish one. The Secret Six and a handful of others, and John Brown and a small handful, it was a hair-brained scheme, it accomplished nothing but the execution of Brown and those involved in the plot with him, that is on the acting end, some of the wealthy members of the Secret Six immediately took fright, fearful that Brown would talk, and left the country. However, then as now people are ready to imagine conspiracies, and where there are real conspiracies, simply because their fears magnify them, they blow them up into a fantastically large thing. And so the belief in the South was that virtually every foreigner was involved in a conspiracy to have their slaves rise up during the night, and to creep into their bedrooms and slit their throats and rape their women, and there was a tremendous amount of hysteria created by John Brown. So that, while the Secret Six and John Brown made a very absurd attempt, they were impractical men, it was a foolish, hare brained scheme, surprisingly it did succeed because there was an equally hare brained reaction in the South. The fright, the terror that it created made them ready when Lincoln was elected, not too many days after, to feel that this is the end. We are going to face slave revolution, we are going to face every kind of horror, secession, this is the answer. And South Carolina led the way in Secession, and afterwards led the way in firing the shot on Fort Sumter.

     The irony of it was too at the same time the Democratic Party split two ways, between Breckenridge and Douglas. Some of the Cotton Whigs of the North who wanted peace, put a southern candidate in the running, Bell of Virginia, to try to have a peace candidate, so the vote was divided even further, although Lincoln gained only 40 percent of the votes, the popular votes, he gained an overwhelming majority of the electoral votes because he carried one state after another in that the vote was split four ways. Lincoln had a hundred and eighty electoral votes, Breckenridge, 72, Bell 39, and Douglas only 12. And so the war began. There was only one winner.

     In a sense it was John brown, the Secret Six, the hotheads. It was in congress, the work of two of the most contemptible characters the senate and the house had yet seen in Washington. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, and Thaddeus Stevens in the House of Pennsylvania. They were the real winners. They were the ones who foisted their ideas which were essentially totalitarian and socialist upon the Union. They were the ones who continually troubled the North, and the South, and Lincoln. Sumner was a Unitarian to the core, who had a hatred of God and of Christianity, who had been a champion of Horace Mann and the state controlled public school system, Thaddeus Stevens was a club footed man whose body was nowhere as near as deformed as his mind was. An exceedingly brilliant man, in terms of intelligence a very superior man, but a man contorted and twisted by hatred. A statist to the core in most areas. His mistress was a colored woman, a devout Catholic, He himself a rampant Atheist who hated Christianity.
These men governed.” 

Contents:

• 1 Lesson
• 2 Again, a whole school of historians are insistent upon...
• 3 So there was a steady movement towards paying them...
• 4 You see, what has happened is that so many southerners...
• 5 But once the rabble rousing element, especially in...
• 6 Consider what would happen if one third of the men...
• 7 The whole nation breathed a sigh of relief...
• 8 He did it in the name of popular sovereignty, an issue...
• 9 The net outcome however was that finally instead of...
• 10 Now this kind of fear of slavery you, as I said earlier...
• 11 And yet he was extremely well supplied...
• 12 The irony of it was too at the same time the Democratic...
• 13 Are there any questions at this point about anything...

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I need not dwell now on the waste and cruelty of war. These stare us wildly in the face, like lurid meteor lights, as we travel the page of history. We see the desolation and death that pursue its demoniac footsteps. We look upon sacked towns, upon ravaged territories, upon violated homes; we behold all the sweet charities of life changed to wormwood and gall. Our soul is penetrated by the sharp moan of mothers, sisters, and daughters—of fathers, brothers, and sons, who, in the bitterness of their bereavement, refuse to be comforted. Our eyes rest at last upon one of these fair fields, where Nature, in her abundance, spreads her cloth of gold, spacious and apt for the entertainment of mighty multitudes—or perhaps, from the curious subtlety of its position, like the carpet in the Arabian tale, seeming to contract so as to be covered by a few only, or to dilate so as to receive an innumerable host. Here, under a bright sun, such as shone at Austerlitz or Buena Vista—amidst the peaceful harmonies of nature—on the Sabbath of peace—we behold bands of brothers, children of a common Father, heirs to a common happiness, struggling together in the deadly fight, with the madness of fallen spirits, seeking with murderous weapons the lives of brothers who have never injured them or their kindred. The havoc rages. The ground is soaked with their commingling blood. The air is rent by their commingling cries. Horse and rider are stretched together on the earth. More revolting than the mangled victims, than the gashed limbs, than the lifeless trunks, than the spattering brains, are the lawless passions which sweep, tempest-like, through the fiendish tumult.

Horror-struck, we ask, wherefore this hateful contest? The melancholy, but truthful answer comes, that this is the established method of determining justice between nations!

The scene changes. Far away on the distant pathway of the ocean two ships approach each other, with white canvas broadly spread to receive the flying gales. They are proudly built. All of human art has been lavished in their graceful proportions, and in their well compacted sides, while they look in their dimensions like floating happy islands on the sea. A numerous crew, with costly appliances of comfort, hives in their secure shelter. Surely these two travelers shall meet in joy and friendship; the flag at the masthead shall give the signal of friendship; the happy sailors shall cluster in the rigging, and even on the yardarms, to look each other in the face, while the exhilarating voices of both crews shall mingle in accents of gladness uncontrollable. It is not so. Not as brothers, not as friends, not as wayfarers of the common ocean, do they come together; but as enemies.

The gentle vessels now bristle fiercely with death-dealing instruments. On their spacious decks, aloft on all their masts, flashes the deadly musketry. From their sides spout cataracts of flame, amidst the pealing thunders of a fatal artillery. They, who had escaped "the dreadful touch of merchant-marring rocks"—who had sped on their long and solitary way unharmed by wind or wave—whom the hurricane had spared—in whose favor storms and seas had intermitted their immitigable war—now at last fall by the hand of each other. The same spectacle of horror greets us from both ships. On their decks, reddened with blood, the murderers of St. Bartholomew and of the Sicilian Vespers, with the fires of Smithfield, seem to break forth anew, and to concentrate their rage. Each has now become a swimming Golgotha. At length, these vessels—such pageants of the sea—once so stately—so proudly built—but now rudely shattered by cannon balls—with shivered mast's and ragged sails—exist only as unmanageable wrecks, weltering on the uncertain waves, whose temporary lull of peace is now their only safety. In amazement at this strange, unnatural contest—away from country and home—where there is no country or home to defend—we ask again, wherefore this dismal duel? Again the melancholy but truthful answer promptly comes, that this is the established method of determining justice between nations.

NOTES.—Austerlitz, a small town in Austria, seventy miles north from Vienna. It is noted as the site of a battle, in December, 1805, between the allied Austrian and Russian armies, and the French under Napoleon. The latter were victorious. Buena Vista, a small hamlet in eastern Mexico, where, in 1847, five thousand Americans, under Gen. Taylor, defeated twenty thousand Mexicans, under Gen. Santa Anna.

Dreadful touch.—Quoted from Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene II.

St. Bartholomew.—A terrible massacre took place in France, on St. Bartholomew's day, August 24, 1572. It has been estimated that twenty thousand persons perished.

Sicilian Vespers, a revolt and uprising against the French in Sicily, March 30, 1282, at the hour of vespers.

Smithfield, a portion of London noted as a place for execution during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

6-67 eBook - pdf - Democracy in America Vol II. Supplemental Reading for Lesson LXVII. - McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (revised edition)

LXVII. POLITICAL TOLERATION.

Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, the third President of the United States, and the author of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Albemarle County, Virginia. He received most of his early education under private tutors, and at the age of seventeen entered William and Mary College, where he remained two years. At college, where he studied industriously, he formed the acquaintance of several distinguished men, among them was George Wythe,
with whom he entered on the study of law. At the age of twenty-four he was admitted to the bar, and soon rose to high standing in his profession. In 1775 he entered the Colonial Congress, having previously served ably in the legislature of his native state. Although one of the youngest men in Congress, he soon took a foremost place in that body. He left Congress in the fall of 1776, and, as a member of the legislature, and later as Governor of Virginia, he was chiefly instrumental in effecting several important reforms in the laws of that state,—the most notable were the abolition of the law of primogeniture, and the passage of a law making all religious denominations equal.  From 1785 to 1789 he was Minister to France.

On his return to America he was made Secretary of State, in the first Cabinet. While in this office, he became the leader of the Republican or Anti-Federalist party, in opposition to the Federalist party led by Alexander Hamilton. From 1801 to 1809 he was President. On leaving his high office, he retired to his estate at "Monticello," where he passed the closing years of his life, and died on the 4th of July, just fifty years after the passage of his famous Declaration. His compatriot, and sometimes bitter political opponent, John Adams, died on the same day.

Mr. Jefferson, who was never a ready public speaker, was a remarkably clear and forcible writer; his works fill several large volumes. In personal character, he was pure and simple, cheerful, and disposed to look on the bright side. His knowledge of life rendered his conversation highly attractive. The chief enterprise of his later years was the founding of the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville.

During the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers, unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that, though the will of the majority is, in all cases, to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression. Let us then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind.

Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection, without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things; and let us reflect, that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions.

During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world; during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking, through blood and slaughter, his long-lost liberty; it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some, and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety.

But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans; we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated when reason is left free to combat it.

I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear that this government, the world's best hope, may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I trust not; I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth.

I believe it to be the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others, or have we found angels, in the form of kings, to govern him? Let history answer this question. Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles; our attachment to union and representative government.

NOTE.—At the time of Jefferson's election, party spirit ran very high. He had been defeated by John Adams at the previous presidential election, but the Federal party, to which Adams belonged, became weakened by their management during difficulties with France; and now Jefferson had been elected president over his formerly successful rival. The above selection is from his inaugural address.

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6-8 eBook - pdf - Henry Fothergill Chorley's autobiography, memoir, and letters. Supplemental READING for Lesson VIII. - McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (revised edition)

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Happy Columbus day! 6-47 Video Lesson XLVII: Character of Columbus (part 1) - McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader (revised edition)

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