Arnold's History Hub

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Origin of Halloween

The origins of Halloween are often equated with pre-Christian Celtic and Druidic practices, yet centuries of contributions by various pagan groups, the Catholic Church, and later Protestant traditions gave the holiday a distinctive form so that contemporary societies have come to associate it with witches, bats, black cats, glowing pumpkins, and the return of the dead, if but for one night. These are the symbols that define Halloween, one of the most popular American celebrations.

The Association of Halloween with Evil

In the United States, the celebration of Halloween is a modern event; it was scarcely celebrated before the 19^th-Century. New England Puritans, with their preoccupation of the devil and witchcraft, associated it with the Antichrist. In Europe, however, All Hallow Eve had a long history that some scholars even equate with the Roman festival of Parentalia (festival of the dead).

The Celts celebrated Samhain, an agricultural festival at the end of the summer that began the period of winter and darkness. Later Christian feast days highlighting the coming of darkness adopted many of the practices like bonfires and prayers for the dead. For Catholic Europe, All Saints’ Day began a period of misrule that, in the later Middle Ages, including masking and impersonation. The period ended in February during Candlemas, when an imminent spring saw ever extended periods of day light.

Bonfires were always a part of the rituals, from Celtic times throughout Christian Europe. Church bells were rung, frequently all night, to remind the faithful that death was near and to pray for the souls in purgatory. Bonfires also attracted bats that circled above the flames to feast on insects attracted to the fires; Hence, the association of bats with Halloween.

Witches, Black Cats, and “Souling”

With the late 15^th-Century publication of the Malleus Maleficarum, the association of witchcraft with the devil and the forces of evil took on a new life, resulting in the witch craze of the next 150 years. In terms of Halloween, it was not inconsistent to equate witches with other evil spirits that lurked in the countryside on this night of heightened supernatural intensity. Additionally, cats, long associated with evil in European superstition, were thought to be the mediums used by witches or witches themselves in disguise.

During the late Middle Ages, “souling” became a common practice, notably in England and Ireland. The poor went to the doors of the rich begging for charity, carrying hollowed out turnips illuminated with small candles. Those that shared with the soulers had prayers said for them, the light in the turnip representative of purgatory. The jack-o-lantern of today’s Halloween celebrations has origins in these old practices.

Halloween as a Day of the Dead

Above all, Halloween was a day devoted to the dead. Graveyard processions were held and relatives placed flowers and food at graves of departed family members. Bonfires warded off evil spirits, especially ghosts and witches. As Sir James Frazer has demonstrated in his study of magic and religion, celebrations for the dead are universal. Romans honored the dead in yearly rituals as did many other societies.

Mesoamerican cultures appropriated Catholic Halloween practices when European missionaries converted native peoples, resulting in the Day of the Dead that features both pre-Christian rituals as well as Catholic rituals. So it was in other cultures as well, including those of Asia and the Middle East. Halloween will serve a purpose as long as societies equate supernatural beliefs with modern realities.

History professor Nicholas Rogers at York University summarizes the impact of early Halloween practices, stating that “it represented a time out of time, a brief interval ‘when the normal order of the universe is suspended’ and ‘charged with a peculiar preternatural energy.’”

Sources:

Anthony Aveni, The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays (Oxford University Press, 2003)

Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966)

Nicholas Rogers, Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night (Oxford University Press, 2002)

First published 9/7/2009 in Suite101 by M. Streich, copyright

Monday, October 26, 2020

As History Demonstrates: All Votes Matter in a tight Presidential Election:

In the election of 1884, Republican candidate James Blaine lost to Grover Cleveland because 1,149 New York voters selected the Democrat over Blaine. As one historian noted, “If 575 people had voted the other way in New York, Blaine would have become president.” In that election, 10,052,706 votes had been cast across the nation. The New York vote demonstrated that every vote in an election counts. Today, when parties talk about “getting out the vote,” they are mindful of historical elections like the 1884 campaign.

States that make a Difference in Key Elections: New York in 1884

In 1884, the “swing state” was New York. Had Blaine won the popular vote, the state’s 36 electoral votes would have made Blaine president. 401 electoral votes were in play in 1884. With New York’s 36, Blaine’s electoral vote total would have been 218 over Cleveland’s 183, more than half needed to secure the presidency. So how did Blaine lose?

Several factors caused Blaine’s loss of New York. Most specifically, Blaine failed to denounce an anti-Catholic phrase used by a Protestant minister during an October 29, 1884 campaign function in New York, days before the election. The Reverend Samuel D. Burchard referred to the Democrats as the party of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.”

Response to Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion

New York’s Irish Catholics were outraged. One of the persistent stereotypes of Irish immigrants involved drinking to excess. The reference to Romanism was an obvious slur against the Catholic religion. The bitter anti-Catholicism of the American Know-Nothing Party of the early 1850s was still a vivid reminder of religious intolerance and prejudice.

“Rebellion” was a reminder that the Democrats were responsible for the Civil War. Burchard was “waving the bloody shirt,” a common post-war tactic of Republicans. When asked by a reporter why he lost, Blaine replied, “I should have carried New York by 10,000 votes if the weather had been clear and Dr. Burchard had been doing missionary work in Asia Minor or China.”

Contested Votes and Stolen Elections in American History

One of the most significant election results of 2010 involves the write-in campaign of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski who lost the Republican primary election to Joe Miller. Miller was endorsed by Sarah Palin and received substantial support from the Tea Party Express. But Murkowski refused to admit defeat and mounted a write-in campaign.

Called a sore loser, she managed an almost impossible task and defeated Miller in the general election with more than 10,000 votes. It was an example of the political dictum that every vote counts.

In the 2000 presidential election, George Bush was declared the winner but only after appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court led to a split decision favoring Bush. The Democrat, Al Gore, actually received more popular votes than Bush. The 2000 election, decided in Florida, has often been compared to the “stolen election” of 1876.

Questions still persist regarding the 1960 election between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. Allegations of voter fraud in the Chicago, Illinois region as well as certain Texas precincts suggest that Nixon actually won the election, but refused to demand a recount or an investigation into the irregularities.

The Importance of Voting on Election Day

Historical examples demonstrate the importance of voting. Many past elections might have demonstrated different outcomes if enough people avoided the argument that “my vote will not make a difference.” There are other factors that affect election results. But in the end, what matters is how the citizens vote and if they exercise their duty as citizens in a free democracy.

Sources:

Paul F. Boller, Jr., Presidential Campaigns From George Washington to George W. Bush (Oxford University Press, 2004)

Charles W. Calhoun, “James G. Blaine and the Republican Party Vision,” The Gilded Age and Progressive Era, Ballard C. Campbell, editor (Scholarly Resources Inc., 2000)

Page Smith, The Rise of Industrial America: A People’s History of the Post-Reconstruction Era, Volume 6 (Penguin Books, 1990)

Published January 2, 2011 in Decoded Past, M.Streich copyright

What Happens When the Entire World is Gone: All Souls Dead, Except in Australia? The Film On the Beach, a Classic, Gives Us Much to Think About.

Stanley Kramer’s “On the Beach” was released December 17, 1959. As many Americans were practicing civil defense alerts, building crude bomb shelters, and being reminded by television commercials to “duck and cover” in the event of an enemy attack, the primary message of “On the Beach” was the hauntingly silent end of the film. The last image seen by viewers, was a banner fluttering in the empty streets of Melbourne, Australia that read, “There is still time…Brother” “On the Beach” was perhaps the best film ever produced that personalized the tragedies associated with a nuclear age. The message is as important in 2010 as it was in 1959.

Plot and Characters Weave an Unforgettable Story

Gregory Peck starred in the film as American submarine commander, Dwight Towers, who finds refuge for his boat in Australia. An atomic war has obliterated all life on the planet except for those living in Australia. But even the land beneath the Southern Cross is not immune. A radiation cloud will soon hit the eastern cities of Australia.

Towers falls in love with Moira Davidson, played by Ava Gardner. As in many of her films, Gardner plays a lonely woman, finding solace in a bottle of liquor. Fred Astaire plays Julian Osborne, a scientist whose passion is to race cars. Towers takes his submarine to the Arctic to measure radiation levels. Test results, however, confirm that the levels are increasing. After stopping in San Diego to investigate a random telegraph signal, caused by a coke bottle caught by the strings of a window shade, he leaves the American west coast.

Towers returns to Melbourne, Australia where the early effects of radiation sickness are already evident. The Australian government was in the process of distributing pills to the population, suicide pills to avoid the terrible effects of radiation poisoning.

The Final Days of Life in the Aftermath of Nuclear Warfare

As Moira and Dwight retreat to the countryside, “Waltzing Matilda” is repeatedly heard in the background. Scenes of families picnicking and boy scouts trekking through nature serve as a stark contrast to the certainty that all of these people would soon be dead.

“On the Beach” also details the lives of Lieutenant Peter Holmes (Anthony Perkins) and his wife Mary (Donna Anderson). In one of the most poignant scenes, Holmes carries out a tray of tea so that he and Mary could take their pills. The children have already been given their pills. Mary, however, breaks down. The reality of the situation is too much to comprehend.

Julian ends his life in his race car, parked in his garage. Turning on the ignition, he dies inhaling the deadly fumes. But the scene that brings out viewers tears the most is that of Moira, standing on a cliff waving to Dwight’s boat as he returns with his crew to die in America. As the submarine departs, the soft strain of “Waltzing Matilda” fills the screen and the film shifts to the empty streets.

“On the Beach” is a Timeless Classic Still Significant Today

The August 2010 65^th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues to remind humanity that nuclear weapons can destroy civilization. As more nations attempt to build such fearsome weapons, the threat becomes greater that at one point they will be used.

“On the Beach” is a black and white film without the customary action scenes post modern movie-goers enjoy. The film, however, should be required viewing in every high school followed by discussion. It is a film not only about the perils of modern weapons, but how the lives of everyday people are impacted in the face of eventual death.

Published in Suite101 8/8/2010 M.Streich, copyright

Brief Overview of the United States Supreme Court

First published 9/8/2011 M.Streich copyright in Suite101

The role of religion in American politics has always affected voters and this is particularly true regarding the nation’s Presidents. In some cases, religion played some part in campaigns: John Quincy Adams, a Unitarian, was accused of being an atheist in 1828; in 1928 Alfred Smith’s Catholicism was an issue. Forty Presidents affiliated with the Protestant tradition; three claimed no affiliation and John F. Kennedy was the only Catholic. Whether subtle or overt, religion has always been important in national politics.

Religious Affiliations of American Presidents

There were eleven Episcopalians, beginning with George Washington, and nine Presbyterians. In some cases there was cross-over. Rutherford B. Hayes identified with the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and the Methodist traditions. James K. Polk was both a Presbyterian and a Methodist, baptized on his deathbed by a Methodist bishop.

Several Presidents claimed no official affiliation with any particular church, although they attended services. Martin Van Buren worshiped at Episcopal and Dutch Reformed churches; Andrew Johnson had no affiliation but frequently attended the Catholic Church, which he vigorously defended against Know-Nothingism in the 1850s.

Both Thomas Jefferson and John Tyler subscribed to Deism. Deism rejected an active God who intervened in his creation. While President, Jefferson, in 1804, authored The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, a work he revisited and enlarged in 1820. Jefferson’s Christ was the Enlightenment “historical Jesus” who, like Socrates, was a great moral and ethical teacher, but nothing more.

The Presidents and Non-Mainline Religious Affiliation

Running for the presidency in 1980, Jimmy Carter, a Baptist and a Sunday School teacher, stated that he was a “born again” Christian, introducing a phrase many Americans were unfamiliar with. Carter was one of four Presidents of the Baptist faith tradition that included Warren Harding, Harry Truman, and Bill Clinton (Southern Baptist; his wife was a Methodist).

During the 2008 presidential election, Barak Obama’s membership in the United Church of Christ caused controversy after his Chicago minister made several inflammatory remarks. President Obama, no longer a member of that church, has not yet settled on another church. James Garfield, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan were members of the Disciples of Christ while Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon were affiliated with the Society of Friends or Quakers.

Only one President, Teddy Roosevelt, was a member of the Dutch Reformed church and it was Roosevelt who, while President, endeavored to have the phrase “In God We Trust” removed from the nation’s coins. John F. Kennedy was the only Roman Catholic and Calvin Coolidge the only Congregationalist.

Religious Affiliation in Political Families

Only two related Presidents, John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, followed the same religious tradition; both were Unitarians. George Bush was an Episcopalian but his son, George W., belonged to the Methodist faith. Benjamin Harrison attended the Presbyterian Church although his Great Grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was an Episcopalian.

Presidents Affiliated with the Episcopal Church

George Washington

James Madison

James Monroe

William H. Harrison

John Tyler (also a Deist)

Zachary Taylor

Franklin Pierce

Rutherford B. Hayes

Chester A. Arthur

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Gerald Ford

George Bush

The Continued Effect of Religion

Although John Quincy Adams was the first President to quote scripture in his inaugural address, it was not until Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural that the practice became normal. Prior to the enunciation of “separation of church and state” by the Supreme Court, Presidents, indirectly, promoted religious concerns.

Harry Truman initiated the first “day of prayer” in 1952; Dwight D. Eisenhower began the tradition of White House prayer breakfasts. Numerous presidential speeches have ended with, “God bless America.” If history is a guideline, religion will continue to play a role in the political campaigns and personal lives of American Presidents.

Sources:

William A. DeGregorio, The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents (Gramercy Books, 2001)

Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus Through the Centuries (Yale University Press, 1985)

Author’s lecture notes

What were the Religious Affiliations of United States Presidents?

The following article was published June 4, 2009 in Suite 101 by M.Streich and still under copyright

Religious Affiliations of American Presidents

The Presidents and Non-Mainline Religious Affiliation

Religious Affiliation in Political Families

Presidents Affiliated with the Episcopal Church

George Washington

James Madison

James Monroe

William H. Harrison

John Tyler (also a Deist)

Zachary Taylor

Franklin Pierce

Rutherford B. Hayes

Chester A. Arthur

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Gerald Ford

George Bush

The Continued Effect of Religion

Sources:

William A. DeGregorio, The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents (Gramercy Books, 2001)

Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus Through the Centuries (Yale University Press, 1985)

Author’s lecture notes

The Religious Views of American Presidents and other Political Leaders has always been a point of interest and, sometimes, a point of Contention.

The issue of George Washington’s religious views is full of ambiguity and speculation. Washington was baptized into the Anglican Church, a “mild and eclectic Protestantism,” according to historian David Hawke. Although renting pews in a number of Virginia parishes, Washington identified most closely with the Truro parish church. A life-long member of the Anglican and later named Episcopal Church, Washington accepted the teachings and formality of its theology and liturgy.

Writer Larry Witham states that, “Though Washington was a churchgoer, owning a pew, he was hardly an orthodox Christian.” A Washington contemporary, Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, flatly said that “…Washington was a Deist.”

Anglican Theology in Colonial Virginia

Historian Christine Leigh Heyrman at the University of Delaware contrasts Anglicanism with the other major colonial faith expression: “Anglicanism rejected Calvinism and the evangelical ethos often associated with that theology.” Despite the widespread effects of the Great Awakening earlier in that century and the continued revivalism often associated with growing Methodism – itself coming out of Anglicanism, the Church of England in colonial America “rejected evangelical influences.”

Anglicanism accepted three sacraments: baptism (more precisely infant baptism), communion, and marriage. Debate continues as to Washington’s participation in Holy Communion, although he was a regular church attendee. In Virginia, membership in the Anglican Church was a prerequisite for political participation. Hence, Washington’s membership qualified him, in part, to sit as a representative in the House of Burgesses.

Religious Views through the Prism of Presentism

The growing vogue notion that Washington and other Patriot leaders were somehow “born again” Christians seeking to establish a solidly “Christian” nation is not supported by the historical record, despite infrequent quotes mined from diaries, letters, and speeches and often taken out of context. Jack Feerick, writing in the October 22, 2009 Saturday Evening Post, states that, “The traditional idea of the Founding Fathers as conventionally pious Christian gentlemen is a myth…” Journalist Russell Shorto, in an extensive piece detailing proposed changes to Texas high school social studies standards, wrote in the New York Times that, “Washington, in his writings, makes scores of different references to God but not one is biblical.”

Contemporary conservative Christians, for the most part inheritors of a Calvinist tradition, commit the sin of historical presentism when it comes to George Washington and other Founding Fathers. Although Washington regularly attended church and even visited Quaker meeting houses and the sanctuaries of other faith traditions, he was also a Freemason and, as Shorto correctly stated, “Steeped in an Enlightenment rationalism…” At best it can be said that Washington was an Enlightenment Christian whose view of the Creator was strong but transcendent. Washington’s primary religious experiences were tied to Anglicanism and the “high church” tradition that developed alongside the more fervent and emotional revivalist approaches of cyclical evangelicalism.

Washington belief system was also strongly influenced by the Stoicism of classical Rome. Historian Henry Wiencek notes Washinton’s keen interest in Addison’s 1713 play Cato, which highlighted Cato the Younger’s devotion to republican virtue. Wiencek also notes the influence of Seneca on Washington. “All of this was not veneer,” Wiencek writes, “but the struts and trusses of Washington’s frame of mind.” Washington’s Anglicanism cannot be separated from the impact of these strong challenges that, “Profoundly influenced Washington’s generation.”

References:

Jack Feerick, “Faith in America,” Saturday Evening Post, October 22, 2009

David Freeman Hawke, Everyday Life in Early America (New York: Harper & Row, 1988)

Christine Leigh Heyrman, “The Church of England in Early America,” National Humanities Center, February 12, 2010

Russell Shorto, “How Christian Were the Founders?” New York Times, February 11, 2010

Henry Wiencek, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America (NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003)

Larry Witham, A City Upon a Hill: How Sermons Changed the Course of American History (New York: Harper/Collins 2007)

Published in Suite101, M.Streich copyright

Saturday, October 24, 2020

End Time Prophecy in Colonial American Literature

Protestant American religious tradition has always included a strong belief in the Second Coming of Christ. Although different denominations treat the Second Coming from the perspectives of their own theological belief systems, core elements of apocalyptic understanding are the same. The belief that the existing world would end, ushering in a Utopia, as well as the belief in an Antichrist was already prevalent among Colonial Christians, notably those faith traditions tied to the teachings of John Calvin. In Massachusetts, Puritans firmly believed that New England would be the capital of the “New Earth” of biblical prophecy, and that America had been chosen by God to redeem a lost world.

Common Core Elements of Millennialism in Colonial Religion

Puritans, like all American Protestants until the 20^th Century, were post-millennial. They believed that Christ’s return would occur at the end of the final 1,000 year period. The closer to the end of time also meant an increase in Satan’s attacks upon the righteous. The Puritans of New England shared several core elements of apocalyptic belief that are still accepted by post-modern Protestants living in the 21^st Century. These include:

Speculating on the exact or tentative date of Christ’s return

Interpreting contemporary events in light of biblical prophecy signs

Indentifying Antichrists

Assigning a special role to America in God’s End of Time plan

Setting the Date for the “Day of the Lord”

Puritan minister and theologian Cotton Mather assigned three different dates for the end of time, beginning with 1697. Earlier, Increase Mather gave 1676 as the date the New Jerusalem would be established in America and another Puritan minister, John Cotton, believed 1655 marked the year that the Antichrist would be defeated.

Identifying the Antichrist in Colonial Religious Belief

From the first decade of the early church in Jerusalem, Christians have attempted to identify the biblical Antichrist who would appear in the end times to do battle with Christ and his church. Early colonial Christians were no different. Potential Antichrists included:

The pope

King Charles I

King George III

The Catholic French during the Seven Years’ War

Proponents of Enlightenment Rationalism

This view of a coming Antichrist also helped to explain why Satan appeared to be working so hard to attack God’s faithful. The Salem witch trials of 1692 represented a direct assault by Satan upon a Puritan community already threatened by outside influences. Cotton Mather had warned the theocratic community that Satan was at the door.

The Special Role of America in the Imminent Coming of Christ

Historian Paul Boyer writes that, “From the early 17^th Century through the late 18^th, the entire span of American colonial history was marked by speculation about America’s role in God’s plan.” John Winthrop’s “City on a Hill” became a metaphor defining the special mission God had for America.

The revivalism of the Great Awakening in the early to mid 18^th Century further highlighted this notion of a divine or providential purpose. Jonathan Edwards, famously known for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” pointed to the Great Awakening as a sign of the coming of Christ and the establishment of the new heaven and earth.

This would be repeated in the 19^th Century during the Second Great Awakening, a period of intense revivalism that produced several new faith traditions originally rooted in the belief in the imminent coming of Christ. This includes the Seventh Day Adventist church – coming, in part, out of the Millerite Movement, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Impact of Apocalyptic Belief on American History

The “chosen people” or “chosen nation” aspect of millennial belief helped to justify expansionism and Manifest Destiny. It added to the national self-identity as a people blessed for a special purpose. Political Scientist James Morone writes that, “Evangelical fervor for Christ’s Second Coming led the way to both revolution and civil war; it ran deep in 19^th Century black religion and reached its soaring apotheosis in Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.”

This legacy still motivates 21^st Century Americans seeking to spread democracy throughout the world and baptize global cultures in egalitarian principles. Although many American evangelical faiths now hold to a pre-millennial Second Coming, the self-identity rooted in apocalyptic mission held to by Colonial Christians is still there.

Sources:

Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1992)

David D. Hall, World of Wonder; Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989)

James A. Morone, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003)

Richard Weisman, Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion in 17^th-Century Massachusetts (University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1984)

Published 8/5/2010 in Suite101 M.Streich, copyright

Colonial American Terms and other Vocabulary

Colonial American terms and song lyrics, regularly taken for granted by history students, often paint a deeper and richer picture, adding to the frequently colorful meanings attached. Students taught about the House of Burgesses in Virginia, for example, seldom question what exactly the term “burgess” meant or where it was derived from. What did early Americans mean when they referred to someone as “rich as Croesus?” What is actually meant by the original verses of the popular Revolutionary War song “Yankee Doodle?”

The House of Burgesses in Virginia

Begun in 1619, the House of Burgesses was a representative body composed of propertied white men that were elected to serve in the assembly. A representative was called a “burgess” and came from the planter social class. The term burgess, however, was of French and Germanic origins. The French word “burgeis” literally meant a “citizen of a borough.” The same root word is connected to the word borjois, meaning “town dweller,” and gave rise to the more popular Bourgeois.

The Germanic connection is traced to the Old English which had great affinity with Germanic terms. The “borough” was derived from the German burg. German “burghers” were considered “free men of the burgh,” usually a fortified enclosed, citadel, or fortress – relating to the formation of early medieval towns surrounded by walls and protected by a castle. Thus, in the 16^th Century, the Reformer Martin Luther began his most famous hymn with the line, “Eine Feste Burg ist unser Gott:” Our God is a strong fortress.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

The lyrics of this Revolutionary War tune changed many times from when it was first written, most probably during the French and Indian War. Many scholars agree that the song was composed to ridicule the colonial militia, deemed insolent and provincial by professional British soldiers and their officers. There is no solid evidence that Dr. Richard Schuckburgh actually wrote the piece, although it is often attributed to him.

One of the original verses begins, “Yankee Doodle went to town/riding on a pony; he stuck a feather in his cap/and called it macaroni.” The term “Yankee” is first traced to the New York Dutch who used it as an insult to describe English settlers in Connecticut. According to the Dictionary of Etymology, “Doodle” was an 18^th Century slang term for “penis.” A “dandy” was a fop or foolish person and could also be used in lieu of prig. During colonial times, prig also referred to a thief.

The word “macaroni” is often confusing to students familiar with this version of the song. Although some scholars state that the term was synonymous with fop or dandy that usage occurred after 1764. If the verses were penned before the end of the French and Indian war in 1763, macaroni could have referred directly to the Macaroni Club of London.

Dr. Rictor Norton, a social historian specializing in gay studies, suggests that the term macaroni may have been associated with the homosexual practices of young men associated with the Macaroni Club. Although there is circumstantial evidence that the club never actually existed, the term “maccaronies,” at least according to Norton, referred to “practitioners of sodomy.” Later editions of the song, traced to Lexington and Concord, do not contain these verses.

Other Historically Based Terms

Until the 20^th Century, Americans used the term “rich as Croesus” to refer to someone very wealthy. The phrase refers to the ancient king of Lydia whose wealth derived from an abundance of gold mined within his domains in western Asia Minor.

Many original colonists arrived as indentured servants. The term “indenture” began in the high middle ages and referred to a contract associated with the early Guild system. Of French origin, the term implied an agreement between an apprentice and a master.

The origins of early American terms help to better understand the conventional meanings, providing intent, obligation, and social constructions.

References:

Walter Blair and others, The Literature of the United States, Vol. I, (Chicago: Scott, Foresman, and Company, 1953)

Richard M. Lederer, Jr., Colonial American English (Verbatim Books, 1985)

Rictor Norton, Homosexuality in Eighteenth Century England: a Source Book

Etymology Dictionary: on-line edition

Published in Suite101 February 19, 2010 M.Streich copyright

Friday, October 23, 2020

Remembering The Bombing of Hamburg: Ingrid's Story

When World War II began, Ingrid Piehl was nine years old, living in the north German port city Hamburg. An only child in a middle class family, her father had been notified of a promotion with the publishing firm he worked for. But the family would not relocate to Bielefeld because her father was drafted into the army. Ingrid and her mother continued to live in Hamburg in an outlying suburb overlooking one of the larger parks. As the war continued, she saw the construction of bomb shelters – bunkers, and her mother began to go through valuables, filling a suitcase with the most important heirlooms and family documents.

The air raid bag became the staple of every person rushing from apartments and into bunkers every time the sirens sounded. Hamburg, a prominent port city, experienced hundreds of air raids that did little damage. Air defenses for the city were some of the best in the German Reich. Still, Ingrid watched as her mother agonized again and again what to take out and what to put into the bag.

Her father came home once from France after his unit was ordered to Russia in 1941. She remembered trying to sleep that night, hearing her parents quietly talking in the next room. She heard her mother crying. Air raids were increasing in severity and frequency. Like many children at the time, Ingrid was sent out of the city to live in Poland with a family of German farmers.

She liked Poland and still recalls the brilliant night skies full of stars, the rabbit hunts, and the potatoes. She also remembers visits to Lotz where her teacher told her not to look into the streets of the Jewish ghetto but to walk on the other side of the street and keep her eyes to the front. She didn’t know why at the time.

Hamburg and Operation Gomorrah

Ingrid missed her mother and returned to Hamburg in 1943. Her father had been wounded at Stalingrad and evacuated to a military hospital in southern Germany. The summer was unusually hot in 1943. As the weeks went by, rumors began to circulate that the Allies were planning a major bombing mission over Hamburg. People with wagons began to move their possessions out of the city. Ingrid’s mother kept repacking her small suitcase.

The bombing began in July. Her suburb was spared during the first nights of the assault. Operation Gomorrah was a multi-day mission involving both British and American planes. The Battle of Hamburg introduced the term “firestorm,” resulting from the phosphorous bombs used in the attack. Ingrid and her mother emerged from their bunker and saw the deep red glow coming from the city center and smoke was everywhere. On the last night, she went to her doll house, put the dolls into their beds, and covered their faces. She didn’t want them to see what was going to happen. Pocketing a small doll, she awaited the siren.

They used a different bunker, built under a nearby railroad station. When the raid ended, all of the people in their usual bunker had died. The fury of the raid seemed all around them. Old people were vomiting and some were praying. When the “all clear” sounded, the police told the people to leave the city. The entire neighborhood was in flames. Wrapping wet towels around their heads and putting on sun glasses, they emerged into the firestorm.

Ingrid and her mother managed to find their way out of the suburb and board one of the few trains to Schleswig. Over 40,000 people had died in the raid in just one night. At 78 years old, Ingrid still recalls the horrors she witnessed as a child. It caused her to hate war and identify with the innocents: women, children, and old people. She eventually migrated to America to raise a family, but the memories survive. She still has the small doll rescued from the firestorm.

Sources:

Personal interview with Ingrid Piehl-Streich

Also:

Keith Lowe, Inferno: The Fiery Destruction of Hamburg 1943 (New York: Scribner, 2007).

Martin Middlebrook, The Battle of Hamburg: Allied Bomber Forces Against a German City in 1943 (New York: Charles Scriber’s Sons, 1980).

Published in Decoded Past, 2012 by M.Streich

________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Teaching History with Political Cartoons

Using visuals in history lesson plans promotes student analysis skills and activates higher level thinking abilities. Activities involving political cartoons, works of art, and photographs are easy to put together and complement other parts of a teaching unit. Additionally, these activities are enjoyed by students.

Political Cartoons in American History

Although political cartoons in American History are often identified with the great 19^th century cartoonist Thomas Nast, every generation saw the use of such media in influencing thinking. Whether it was a depiction of a snake cut into pieces with the caption “Join, or Die” by Ben Franklin or a cartoon depicting Andrew Jackson as King George III, political cartoons help students understand the key issues within lesson plan units.

After discussing the role and impact of political cartoons, have students use the internet or history texts to find other examples relating to the unit under study. Demonstrate that political cartoons are still used to elicit reader responses by exhibiting contemporary cartoons from newspapers and magazines. Ask students to share any similarities and differences (19^th century and early 20^th century cartoons are often more difficult to interpret and frequently have several messages).

The purpose of the lesson plan should be to develop acute powers of observation. From this will flow analysis based on the historical facts already taught.

Campaign Literature

American History is full of campaign literature including posters, buttons, and other advertisement. An 1896 campaign “card,” for example, printed on behalf of the McKinley campaign, used pictures and bold print phrases that differentiated McKinley from William Jennings Bryan. The “card” addressed tariff issues as well as monetary concerns.

Old campaign buttons also help to relate candidates to key issues while at other times they might have seemed bland: why did everyone “like Ike” in 1952? In both American History and World History classes, a creative assignment might be to ask students to create their own buttons or bumper sticks. When teaching the ancient world, teachers might say, “Develop a bumper sticker one of the Roman emperors could put on their chariot.”

Paintings and Old Photographs

Although some famous historically-themed paintings were created more to glorify an event or person and thus perpetuate historical myths, they are still a good source to encourage student observation and analysis. What were the people in the painting wearing? Does this indicate a level of prosperity? What action in the painting does the artist want the audience to focus on? Have students initially develop their own questions and then write a brief analysis of the painting.

The same can be done with old photographs. Ask students to bring old family photographs to class for discussion. Photographs may depict old neighborhoods – perhaps ethnic enclaves in American cities, or some of the first suburbs after 1947. Students can be shown how to use photographs as historical sources and how they further illustrate an understanding of the past.

When Art Changes with the Time

The May 29^th, 1943 edition of The Saturday Evening Post featured a Norman Rockwell cover: the iconic “Rosie the Riveter.” Ask students to compare the propaganda message of “Rosie” to American women with later 1950s Rockwell depictions of American women as happy housewives. Lesson plans can explore how cartoons, posters, and other media were used as propaganda. This was particularly true in World War I and World War II.

Another area students may wish to explore involves military recruitment posters used throughout the 20^th century and the changing role of “Uncle Sam” in those depictions. The bottom line is that enough material exists, at least in American History, to incorporate fun and creative activities into lesson plans that encourage observation, analysis, and high level skills.

Suite101 3/26/09 M.Streich copyright

Teaching History with Original Source Documents

Utilizing original documents in historical research can be extremely helpful when attempting to analyze the various elements of a particular period or event. This is especially true when researching social and cultural aspects within the micro-history of specific chronological events. Using original documents, however, necessitates corroboration, which means that information in documents must be replicated in other, similar sources in order to draw valid conclusions.

Kinds of Original Documents

Original documents can come from a variety of sources. Anyone familiar with the national Advanced Placement examinations will know that the primary “document based question” or DBQ utilizes numerous examples that include a selection of different sources. These can include:

Diaries

Memoirs

Newspaper articles from the time period

Political cartoons

Letters and other forms of correspondence

Pictures and photographs

Official documents such as legislative bills and proclamations

Speeches

Newsreel items

Music lyrics

Wills and other public documents like court records

Census figures

Consistency and Corroboration

Research on the attitudes and daily lives of American soldiers training for military action in Europe in 1917 and 1918 might rely heavily on soldiers’ diaries and letters sent to family members. Using popular song lyrics such as “Over There” or recruitment posters will merely present a one-sided view, often created by government propaganda serving the war effort.

Thus, in order to draw valid conclusions, researchers must analyze dozens – if not hundreds, of letters. It is not enough to base conclusions on letters sent by new recruits. A more complete picture may emerge after reading letters as well as official reports from the officers conducting the basic training exercises. Post-war memoirs as well as first-hand newspaper accounts may also either corroborate or refute conclusions drawn from analysis. Basing a conclusion on one or two accounts can reflect typical as well as atypical attitudes.

Integrating Original Documents with Known Facts

Research focused on the civilians at Gettysburg in 1863 must include factual background knowledge of the battle itself. Understanding the social structure of Puritan New England can only be fully comprehended with some knowledge of Calvinist theology. American slavery represents a research area inundated with many fine scholarly works. Additionally, internet projects, many sponsored by universities and reputable research organizations, provide the researcher with an abundance of drawings, personal histories, and repeated accounts of the time of oppression.

Students availing themselves of these sources, however, must begin with general background reading on the Southern slave institution in order to first see the “big picture” before using specific documents to prove a thesis. Documents must be as current as possible in terms of their accessibility. For example, fifty years after the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat, previously sealed documents altered many of the assumptions made in World War I histories relative to the disaster.

Questions to ask when Handling Original Documents

Can the information found in the document be replicated?

How objective is the source?

Does the bias in the document affect the analysis?

Do the documents allow the researcher to draw general conclusions?

Do the documents affect previously held assumptions?

Is the documentary evidence fully inclusive?

How does the researcher account for contradictory evidence?

Other dangers include allowing present attitudes to taint the evidence. American imperialism was supported by men like Teddy Roosevelt but decried by critics such as Mark Twain. Unless the final product is a position paper, the study should not interject personal opinion if it is to be fully objective. In the case of imperialism, it might be proper to conclude that, “imperialism dramatically affected American foreign policy, often with negative results…” Original documents must be taken at face value and serve the best purpose when corroborated by other, similar documents.

Causes of the American Revolution

Perhaps the greatest single cause of the American Revolution was the ability of certain patriots like Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine in galvanizing colonial Englishmen into a rebellion against the home country. British historian Christopher Hibbert maintains that Paine’s Common Sense, published in 1776, not only gave a rationale for revolution, but took the idea of independence from private conversations “into public debate.” [1] Although history texts give many long term and immediate causes of the war, none of them played as significant a role as Paine’s well reasoned treatise.

Examining the Usual Causes of the Revolution

The Revolutionary War was the effect of the actual “Revolution,” the point at which a significant number of Americans concluded that independence from Britain was both necessary and logical. Common Sense provided that and, as Hibbert writes, “…it was straightforward, easy to comprehend, written in clear yet striking prose which all men, the Philadelphian mechanic as well as the Boston lawyer, could readily understand.” [2] Yet what of the other causes?

In his detailed discussion of the British Navigation Acts and their impact on the American Revolution, Oliver Dickerson downplays the role of Parliamentary tax measures. [3] In fact, Dickerson argues convincingly that the Navigation Acts enhanced colonial prosperity. “The colonies were prosperous,” Dickerson writes, “and wages of labor were admittedly higher in the continental colonies than elsewhere in the world.” [4] His conclusion is that, “no case can be made out for the Navigation Acts as a cause of the Revolution…”

History texts highlight the dilemma of Britain’s Lord Grenville following the defeat of France in the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War) in terms of retiring the enormous national deficit resulting from William Pitt’s plan of empire. Robert Harvey discusses the dilemma from the British perspective, demonstrating that the amounts requested of the colonies to pay for their own protection after 1763 were relatively small. [5]

Some of the pre-Revolution Parliamentary Acts were ill-conceived. The Stamp Act, for example, was unenforceable and only led to widespread colonial anger, this despite the fact that a Stamp Tax had been in force in Britain for several years. The Declaratory Act merely reminded the colonists that, as Englishmen fully protected by English law, they were still under Parliamentary jurisdiction.

King George III as a Tyrant

Every effort was made by American patriots to portray King George III as a tyrant and this formed the basis of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, giving a rationale for separating from Britain by asserting that the king no longer served by the consent of the governed. Thomas Jefferson even included a clause blaming the king for slavery, quickly removed by delegates from South Carolina and Georgia. Many of the Founding Fathers, including the wealthy Virginia planter Jefferson, were slave owners.

But the king was a convenient scapegoat for the list of grievances advanced by those that advocated Revolution. It was the reason Thomas Paine’s Common Sense compelled the readers of his 150,000 copies to confront the realties of independence. The Revolution, as Howard Zinn has pointed out, was purely political, not social. The only changes – the effects of the ordeal, were in the leadership.

Good History and Good Facts

The causes of the American War for Independence have been discussed and debated in thousands of books and articles. In many cases, new “twists” add to the debate. Yet, as John Adams pointed out, only one third of the colonists were actively treasonous. Was it a combination of events? – The Boston Massacre, the revenue acts of Parliament, the salutary neglect of Britain that led to the final break? These questions form the arguments that keep historians busy.

[1] Christopher Hibbert, Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution Through British Eyes (New York: Avon Books, 1990) p. 114.

[2] IBID.

[3] Oliver M. Dickerson, The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1951) pp. 52-57.

[4] IBID.

[5] Robert Harvey, “A Few Bloody Noses” The Realities and Mythologies of the American Revolution (Woodstock & New York: The Overlook Press, 2001)

See Also Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States (chapter 5) available on-line.

Published Suite101 December 23, 2008 by Michael Streich

Calvinism in Early Colonial American History

As the 16^th Century Reformation swept through central and northern Europe, a variety of differing theological interpretations evolved, each identifying with the greater movement called Protestantism. Within this movement, the teachings of French-born reformer John Calvin had a significant impact on the early English colonies in North America. Although colonial religions exhibited diversity within the movement, many colonial faith traditions represented the beliefs of Calvinism. This included the Pilgrims and Puritans (later the Congregationalists), Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, and French Huguenots.

Calvinism Put into Practice in Colonial American Communities

John Calvin is often associated with Predestination, taken from his theological interpretation of “limited atonement.” While frequently misunderstood, Calvinists like the Puritans viewed this belief in terms of salvation or election. Members of the elect lived righteous lives which included hard work, keeping the Sabbath, and focusing all aspects of everyday life on giving glory to God.

Loving God was to cherish him and in a real-life experience, that entailed godly pride in everyday tasks. In later generations, this would be referred to as the “Puritan” or “Protestant” work ethic. Every occupation was blessed, whether lowly or socially important, because every man worked to give God glory and to exhibit outwardly to the community that he was a one of the elect.

Education and the Family Based on Calvinism

The Bible was the chief source of inspiration and instruction in any reformed church that followed Calvinism. Jonathan Edwards, the foremost colonial theologian during the Great Awakening, reminded his listeners that the Bible was, “a book that the great Jehovah has given to mankind for their instruction, without which we should be left in miserable darkness and confusion.”

Early childhood education, the purview of mothers in the household, utilized the Bible not only to teach reading and writing, but to instill morality and the cultural and social norms of a Calvinist theocracy (such as in Puritan New England). Harvard, the first college established in Colonial America, was a seminary for ministers and like Princeton, followed the theological principles of John Calvin.

Strong family identification was part of all Protestant beliefs. Much like Martin Luther, Calvin saw the father as the patriarch of the family with absolute authority over wife and children. According to historian Edmund Morgan, the “first premise of Puritan political and social thought” related to the family and focused on how the entrance of evil into the Garden of Eden perverted the perfect relationship between Adam, Eve, and their Creator.

For Puritans and other faith traditions embracing Calvinism, God not only blessed the family but deliberately chose the family through which church and state would evolve. Strong families preserved social order. After detailing Cotton Mather’s writings on how he trained his own children in spiritual things, Morgan comments that, “If the family failed to teach its members properly, neither the state nor the church could be expected to accomplish much.”

Legacy of Early Calvinism in Colonial America

Many of the applications of Calvin’s practical and moral theology found in colonial communities survived in American history. This included the notion of a work ethic and a strong sense of what constitutes a family. Twentieth century social debates on divorce, child custody, inter-racial marriages, and common-law marriage arose in opposition to these perceived traditional norms in American society.

Today, opponents of same-sex marriage frequently evidence accepted norms that, historically, are traced to Colonial beliefs founded on Calvinist principles. Although other Colonial faith traditions such as Quakers and a variety of Pietists did not accept some of the views of either Luther or Calvin, the core Protestant notions of family and hard work helped to form a near universal American basis that influenced future generations of Americans.

Sources:

Jonathan Edwards, The History of Redemption (Grand Rapids: Associated Publishers and Authors, Inc.)