If history is an exercise in rhyming as Mark Twain remarked, then we historians need to become better poets, or else, tell our readers: I will answer your question when the poem's lines take shape. Who knew there would be another stanza just a week later?
It's Sunday evening and Katie Tur quoted Lenin a few hours ago: “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen."
We thought the kid with the gun in Pennsylvania had written the penultimate line. The despot gets an ear nicked and the Democrat gets...Covid. The events of this afternoon put some centuries to sleep, diminishing The Despot. Who this morning would have imagined today?
Surely the only month in US history comparing with Sunday might have a corollary in the Civil War that was also in July. In 1863 two Philadelphians led armies on opposite sides of our CW from distant points on the continent. Both of those armies were under desperate challenge.
With two days' notice Philadelphian Meade blunted Lee's attacks at Gettysburg on July 1-2-3. After over a month trapped inside Vicksburg, the other Philadelphian, Pemberton, surrendered to Grant on July 4. Later in July, there erupted the anti-draft//anti-Black riots in NYC, and the 54th MA Regt assaulted Fort Wagner. (I AM VERY EAGER to read KML's analysis of the issue: did Shaw need to volunteer his men to attack that fort?)
Today we witnessed the voluntary retirement of a brilliant president from PA in favor of his African American--Asian American--woman vice president. Democratic Party leadership lined up behind her in moments. (“I’m not a member of any organized political party" said Will Rogers about a century ago in a different poem.)
It's hard to know what culminates on Nov 5, but convoluted lines of American Karma (not yet a rhyme!) seem to converge and promise a neat resolution.
Democratic Leaders are converging in joyous relief. ActBlue reports over $50 mil in small donations in about 1/3 day. We are close to writing ourselves a new poem. Could be epic!!
(Disclosure: this writer is a member of the same political coalition in the same city that elected a district attorney 20 years ago who's now almost the party's nominee for president. There! Said without a rhyme. But I gotta make our own donations and there's just enough time.)
I'm kind of surprised to have seen historians who regularly comment on the news from a historical perspective omit all mention of the 1881 assassination of James Garfield by Charles Guiteau, a failed office seeker and supporter of Garfield during the 1880 election who is generally regarded as having retaliated when the appointment he had expected in return for his support in the campaign failed to eventuate. The pistol used was highly ornate and purchased specifically for the assassination attempt with the expectation that it would become a collector's item. Garfield was shot from behind at point blank range in the middle of Grand Central Station. The bullet lodged in Garfield's pancreas and he would likely have survived the attack if the doctors treating him had been less intent on removing the bullet. He was shot in mid-July and didn't die until mid-September six months into his term. Guiteau pleaded not guilty and his defense was that the bullet hadn't killed him and the culprit was medical malpractice. The jury returned a verdict in less than an hour and Guiteau was hanged the following morning. Johnny Cash recorded an album shortly after the JFK assassination called Mean As Hell which included a song simply titled Mr. Garfield. It was a folk song that was apparently quite popular during the two non-consecutive terms in office during which Grover Cleveland established the federal civil service as a remedy to reduce incentives for spoils system inspired retribution.
We will have to make the answers; this period reminds me that I study history from the view point of "knowling how it turned out". We can't see the end of the current struggle, so of course people are scared. There is a lot at stake. A couple of people have reminded me that "action is the antidote to anxiety". The time will pass anyway - why not use it in a way that I can reflect on with satisfaction?
Kevin, I think this is a very thoughtful and thought provoking essay. I think we are dealing with the consequences of our failure to deal with the consequences of the Civil War in the mid-19th century. But, I am not sure about the parallels between now and the Civil War period. Our time is put together by a different set of rules than theirs was. On the surface some appear similar but after reading Larson's "Demon of Unrest" I am convinced there are genuine differences between the Civil War period and now that we don't understand as well as we think we do. Despite this opinion I also think it is important for historians to continue to study this period confronting myths ( as you have done), and shading light on not well known events, and generally revising and reshaping the narrative of how we got where we are. That is the only way we will ever understand ourselves as a people, to paraphrase Lincon, warts and all.
Thanks for this, Michael. I agree with much of what you write, but I am suspicious of the narrative of 'failing to deal with the consequences of the Civil War.' It's not that I don't believe that choices were made and alternatives avoided for various reasons, but that we have little sense of the historical context that shaped how things played out as well as the limitations that people operated under.
The "Lost Cause" comparisons will only be appropriate if/when Trumpism is definitively defeated. At that point the MAGA crowd will be in the position of the former Confederates, mourning their defeat on the battlefield, and searching for explanations of how such a "righteous cause" could lose. And I admit to being scared---really scared---about where we are. It is incomprehensible to me that enough people are out there to vote him back into power, but it apparently is true. My apologies for wandering so clearly into modern politics. I guess I am in the position of the many Republicans who did not take the threats of Southern secession seriously. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated, they were forced to confront a reality they had not planned for. And I am in that same position now.
"The 'Lost Cause' comparisons will only be appropriate if/when Trumpism is definitively defeated."
What a great, simple, provocative thought. Thanks for posting it. Thanks for wandering, as you put it, into modern politics.
(I guess when David Blight wrote about it, it was by no means clear that Mr. Trump would threaten again--so it was way easier to think Trumpism was already defeated. But that changes noting about the observation's usefulness now.)
Great stuff like your observation always seems obvious--AFTER someone else leads me to it, of course.
By the way, what you call scared comes to me as dread. Since the Atlanta CNN catastrophe, I haven't been able to complete a decent night's sleep. I wake up in dread, and finally give up and go work Wordle or something. The constitutional cancellation of no-one-above-the-law quickly made it worse.
Nuther by the way: That leads me to one very general observation about applying history to the present and the future. There are plenty of examples in history of gumption, imagination, and initiative leading to constructive change. It seems to me that that's what's needed, starting right now, in the matter of amending the Constitution for restoring the Constitution.
The Federalist Society did their damage over the course of what, 40 years? Time to start the constitutional countering.
I appreciate the comment, but I struggle with comparing the consequences of an election defeat and the hand-wringing that follows with the aftermath of a bloody civil war that upended and entire region of the country.
No apologies necessary, however, as I share many of your concerns.
Great post. I think many of us are having a hard time making sense of any of this, but I have mentioned to people this is one of the reasons it is so important to have open and honest conversations right now. The one side hates the other narrative is not going to end well for any of us. When I was writing my paper, I actually included a chapter on the Lost Cause resurgence during the Civil Rights Era, and current events, as I wanted to include the new laws impacting school curriculums and book bans, albeit what is taught about the causes of the war and slavery have changed, Florida now includes that slaves benefitted from their condition, and there are textbooks still claiming multiple causes of the Civil War.
Recently there has been a slew of public officials who have made clear that they believe the Lost Cause version, Nikki Haley, last year at a Town Hall, was asked about the cause of the Civil War, she answered rights of the states, and how the government was being run. Former Georgia House Rep Thomas Benton, 2005-2023, and former history teacher, praised the KKK, denied slavery as the cause of the war, and said that John Lewis paled in comparison to Andrew Stephens. John Kelly said the war was because of failure to compromise, and that Lee was first and foremost loyal to his state. This is just a handful, but the impact the Lost Cause still is far and wide, and many still believe it to be the truth.
I also discuss Trump and Neo-confederacy, how he attracts them, his praise for the Confederate Flag which he said was a proud symbol of the South, the time he saluted it, and how he made the statement that there were fine people on both sides after the "Unite the Right" rally. David Blight has talked about how a 'Lost Cause' story needs to have big loss, an "enormous narrative of grievance," villains, and martyrs. I think if you look at the comparison between his election loss, the "big lie," the J6 defendants, his villains, the Biden Administration, and now him being seen as a martyr, and the Confederate Lost Cause, you can see parallels. The UDC was hellbent on vindication, Trump is as well, he is bitter and cannot accept that he lost. We also are seeing a large group of society making his lies the truth, and I think to me, we are seeing a new version of a Lost Cause emerge, two histories are being written, much the same as one hundred years ago. I think people will look back at this time, and say how could people believe this to be the truth, much the same as when we learn what the Lost Cause taught.
Just my two-cents on this, for my paper, I read a lot about similarities between the two as well as Moms for Liberty and the UDC, and one thing I am sure about, it is all very frightening.
I read this twice, for two reasons. The main reason is that it well merited a second reading, in my view. But another reason is that I hoped to figure out what you mean by a paper that you have written that contains chapters. Maybe you'll say more here. (Or maybe in your envisioned Substack.) Forgive me if that's already been made clear here, and I just missed it. Thanks.
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment. It is tempting to draw parallels with the past, but I've written elsewhere that I think the Civil War looms too large in our public memory compared with many other periods in American history. I often wonder if we might find even more helpful connections beyond the Civil War era. Thanks again.
If history is an exercise in rhyming as Mark Twain remarked, then we historians need to become better poets, or else, tell our readers: I will answer your question when the poem's lines take shape. Who knew there would be another stanza just a week later?
It's Sunday evening and Katie Tur quoted Lenin a few hours ago: “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen."
We thought the kid with the gun in Pennsylvania had written the penultimate line. The despot gets an ear nicked and the Democrat gets...Covid. The events of this afternoon put some centuries to sleep, diminishing The Despot. Who this morning would have imagined today?
Surely the only month in US history comparing with Sunday might have a corollary in the Civil War that was also in July. In 1863 two Philadelphians led armies on opposite sides of our CW from distant points on the continent. Both of those armies were under desperate challenge.
With two days' notice Philadelphian Meade blunted Lee's attacks at Gettysburg on July 1-2-3. After over a month trapped inside Vicksburg, the other Philadelphian, Pemberton, surrendered to Grant on July 4. Later in July, there erupted the anti-draft//anti-Black riots in NYC, and the 54th MA Regt assaulted Fort Wagner. (I AM VERY EAGER to read KML's analysis of the issue: did Shaw need to volunteer his men to attack that fort?)
Today we witnessed the voluntary retirement of a brilliant president from PA in favor of his African American--Asian American--woman vice president. Democratic Party leadership lined up behind her in moments. (“I’m not a member of any organized political party" said Will Rogers about a century ago in a different poem.)
It's hard to know what culminates on Nov 5, but convoluted lines of American Karma (not yet a rhyme!) seem to converge and promise a neat resolution.
Democratic Leaders are converging in joyous relief. ActBlue reports over $50 mil in small donations in about 1/3 day. We are close to writing ourselves a new poem. Could be epic!!
(Disclosure: this writer is a member of the same political coalition in the same city that elected a district attorney 20 years ago who's now almost the party's nominee for president. There! Said without a rhyme. But I gotta make our own donations and there's just enough time.)
I'm kind of surprised to have seen historians who regularly comment on the news from a historical perspective omit all mention of the 1881 assassination of James Garfield by Charles Guiteau, a failed office seeker and supporter of Garfield during the 1880 election who is generally regarded as having retaliated when the appointment he had expected in return for his support in the campaign failed to eventuate. The pistol used was highly ornate and purchased specifically for the assassination attempt with the expectation that it would become a collector's item. Garfield was shot from behind at point blank range in the middle of Grand Central Station. The bullet lodged in Garfield's pancreas and he would likely have survived the attack if the doctors treating him had been less intent on removing the bullet. He was shot in mid-July and didn't die until mid-September six months into his term. Guiteau pleaded not guilty and his defense was that the bullet hadn't killed him and the culprit was medical malpractice. The jury returned a verdict in less than an hour and Guiteau was hanged the following morning. Johnny Cash recorded an album shortly after the JFK assassination called Mean As Hell which included a song simply titled Mr. Garfield. It was a folk song that was apparently quite popular during the two non-consecutive terms in office during which Grover Cleveland established the federal civil service as a remedy to reduce incentives for spoils system inspired retribution.
We will have to make the answers; this period reminds me that I study history from the view point of "knowling how it turned out". We can't see the end of the current struggle, so of course people are scared. There is a lot at stake. A couple of people have reminded me that "action is the antidote to anxiety". The time will pass anyway - why not use it in a way that I can reflect on with satisfaction?
Well said.
Kevin, I think this is a very thoughtful and thought provoking essay. I think we are dealing with the consequences of our failure to deal with the consequences of the Civil War in the mid-19th century. But, I am not sure about the parallels between now and the Civil War period. Our time is put together by a different set of rules than theirs was. On the surface some appear similar but after reading Larson's "Demon of Unrest" I am convinced there are genuine differences between the Civil War period and now that we don't understand as well as we think we do. Despite this opinion I also think it is important for historians to continue to study this period confronting myths ( as you have done), and shading light on not well known events, and generally revising and reshaping the narrative of how we got where we are. That is the only way we will ever understand ourselves as a people, to paraphrase Lincon, warts and all.
Thanks for this, Michael. I agree with much of what you write, but I am suspicious of the narrative of 'failing to deal with the consequences of the Civil War.' It's not that I don't believe that choices were made and alternatives avoided for various reasons, but that we have little sense of the historical context that shaped how things played out as well as the limitations that people operated under.
Thank you, Kevin, for a voice of reason. Steven, I, too, have a sense of dread.
The "Lost Cause" comparisons will only be appropriate if/when Trumpism is definitively defeated. At that point the MAGA crowd will be in the position of the former Confederates, mourning their defeat on the battlefield, and searching for explanations of how such a "righteous cause" could lose. And I admit to being scared---really scared---about where we are. It is incomprehensible to me that enough people are out there to vote him back into power, but it apparently is true. My apologies for wandering so clearly into modern politics. I guess I am in the position of the many Republicans who did not take the threats of Southern secession seriously. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated, they were forced to confront a reality they had not planned for. And I am in that same position now.
"The 'Lost Cause' comparisons will only be appropriate if/when Trumpism is definitively defeated."
What a great, simple, provocative thought. Thanks for posting it. Thanks for wandering, as you put it, into modern politics.
(I guess when David Blight wrote about it, it was by no means clear that Mr. Trump would threaten again--so it was way easier to think Trumpism was already defeated. But that changes noting about the observation's usefulness now.)
Great stuff like your observation always seems obvious--AFTER someone else leads me to it, of course.
By the way, what you call scared comes to me as dread. Since the Atlanta CNN catastrophe, I haven't been able to complete a decent night's sleep. I wake up in dread, and finally give up and go work Wordle or something. The constitutional cancellation of no-one-above-the-law quickly made it worse.
Nuther by the way: That leads me to one very general observation about applying history to the present and the future. There are plenty of examples in history of gumption, imagination, and initiative leading to constructive change. It seems to me that that's what's needed, starting right now, in the matter of amending the Constitution for restoring the Constitution.
The Federalist Society did their damage over the course of what, 40 years? Time to start the constitutional countering.
Hi Jim,
I appreciate the comment, but I struggle with comparing the consequences of an election defeat and the hand-wringing that follows with the aftermath of a bloody civil war that upended and entire region of the country.
No apologies necessary, however, as I share many of your concerns.
Great post. I think many of us are having a hard time making sense of any of this, but I have mentioned to people this is one of the reasons it is so important to have open and honest conversations right now. The one side hates the other narrative is not going to end well for any of us. When I was writing my paper, I actually included a chapter on the Lost Cause resurgence during the Civil Rights Era, and current events, as I wanted to include the new laws impacting school curriculums and book bans, albeit what is taught about the causes of the war and slavery have changed, Florida now includes that slaves benefitted from their condition, and there are textbooks still claiming multiple causes of the Civil War.
Recently there has been a slew of public officials who have made clear that they believe the Lost Cause version, Nikki Haley, last year at a Town Hall, was asked about the cause of the Civil War, she answered rights of the states, and how the government was being run. Former Georgia House Rep Thomas Benton, 2005-2023, and former history teacher, praised the KKK, denied slavery as the cause of the war, and said that John Lewis paled in comparison to Andrew Stephens. John Kelly said the war was because of failure to compromise, and that Lee was first and foremost loyal to his state. This is just a handful, but the impact the Lost Cause still is far and wide, and many still believe it to be the truth.
I also discuss Trump and Neo-confederacy, how he attracts them, his praise for the Confederate Flag which he said was a proud symbol of the South, the time he saluted it, and how he made the statement that there were fine people on both sides after the "Unite the Right" rally. David Blight has talked about how a 'Lost Cause' story needs to have big loss, an "enormous narrative of grievance," villains, and martyrs. I think if you look at the comparison between his election loss, the "big lie," the J6 defendants, his villains, the Biden Administration, and now him being seen as a martyr, and the Confederate Lost Cause, you can see parallels. The UDC was hellbent on vindication, Trump is as well, he is bitter and cannot accept that he lost. We also are seeing a large group of society making his lies the truth, and I think to me, we are seeing a new version of a Lost Cause emerge, two histories are being written, much the same as one hundred years ago. I think people will look back at this time, and say how could people believe this to be the truth, much the same as when we learn what the Lost Cause taught.
Just my two-cents on this, for my paper, I read a lot about similarities between the two as well as Moms for Liberty and the UDC, and one thing I am sure about, it is all very frightening.
I read this twice, for two reasons. The main reason is that it well merited a second reading, in my view. But another reason is that I hoped to figure out what you mean by a paper that you have written that contains chapters. Maybe you'll say more here. (Or maybe in your envisioned Substack.) Forgive me if that's already been made clear here, and I just missed it. Thanks.
My masters thesis that I just submitted last week. Sorry should have made that clearer
Hi Jenny,
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment. It is tempting to draw parallels with the past, but I've written elsewhere that I think the Civil War looms too large in our public memory compared with many other periods in American history. I often wonder if we might find even more helpful connections beyond the Civil War era. Thanks again.