1<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> 2<html> 3<head> 4 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" 5 content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> 6 <meta name="GENERATOR" 7 content="Mozilla/4.75 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.16-22 i686) [Netscape]"> 8 <title>Hal Morris' Home Page</title> 9</head> 10<body> 11<center> 12<a class="href=" 13 http://d10483218.z141.wobbooksite.com/74897/review.aspx=""> </a> 14<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%"> 15 <tbody> 16 <tr> 17 <td valign="top"> 18 <center> 19 <h2><i><font size="+3">"Tales of the Early Republic"<br> 20including<br> 21 </font><a href="jmisc/index.html">"Jacksonian Miscellanies" 22Archives</a></i></h2> 23 <h2><i>A History Resource, and an Experiment in Hypertext Style</i></h2> 24 <img src="120x60award.gif" height="60" width="120"> </center> 25 <center><br> 26 </center> 27 <center> 28 <p><a name="Capitol Building, 1830"></a><a 29 href="CapitalBldg-1830.jpg"><img src="CapitalSmal-1830.jpg" border="2" 30 height="194" width="320"></a><br> 31 </p> 32 <p>John Rubens Smith (1775-1849) West Front of the United States 33Capitol 34Watercolor on paper, ca. 1830 </p> 35<><a href="image-gallery.htm">From 36the 37Library of Congress Web Site (Pointers to more images here)</a></center> 38 </td> 39 </tr> 40 </tbody> 41</table> 42<br> 43</center> 44<center><font size="-2">by Hal Morris, Copyright 2010</font> 45<p><font size="-2">Permission is permitted to duplicate for your own 46personal 47use.</font> 48</p> 49<p><font size="-2">May not be duplicated for profit, or for multiple 50distribution, 51without permission by author.</font> 52</p> 53<p> 54</p> 55<hr></center> 56<p><b><font size="+4">Some Key Features of this site:<br> 57</font>Full text of </b><font color="#000000"><font size="+0"><big><big><a 58 href="abdy2/toc.html">Abdy, 59Edward S., <i>Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States</i></a></big></big> 60(3 61vols, London, 1835). This book is most valuable, in my opinion, 62as a guided tour of the scattered free black communities in America in 63the 1830s, and the kind of life they were living. Its 3 volumes 64and 65approx. 661200 pages describe the author's 1-1/2 years in the United 67States. 68Much of his time was spent in various free African-American 69communities, 70from those in large cities like New York, Boston, and Pennsylvania, to 71those of many smaller cities, as well as several beleaguered clusters 72of 73farmers in Indianna and Ohio. Nearly half the book either 74describes 75the people of these communities, or describes the mostly very racist 76attitudes 77of "white" Americans towards them. It is typical of Abdy's 78perspective 79that he felt a need to coin the word Africo-Americans. There are 80very few copies of this book outside of the larger college research 81libraries. 82Harper Brothers started to publish it in the U.S., but decided not to, 83in the current atmosphere of anti-abolitionist hysteria, so it was only 84published in London until the 1960s, when the Negro University Press 85issued 86a small run of a facsimile edition.</font></font> 87</p> 88<p><b><font size="+2"> </font></b><a href="ESSAYS/Readings.htm">Readings 89in Jacksonian America</a>: An outline of some available, mostly online, 90readings (most complete in the area of religion) 91</p> 92<p></p> 93<hr width="100%"> 94<p><b><i>Tales of the Early Republic</i></b> is a organized collection 95of essays, original sources, and reference material about a <b><i>part</i></b> 96of what is called the Early American Republic. Nearly all of it is 97about 98the years from 1815 - 1850, and it is especially focused on the 1830s. 99</p> 100<p>It is basically a work of text, albeit <b><i>hyper-</i></b>text, 101and 102<b><i>not</i></b> 103of multi-media. Its aims as an "experiment in hypertext style" are 104discussed 105below. 106</p> 107<h4>Timeline of the Jackson Era:</h4> 108<ul> 109If you enter the <b><i><font size="+1"><a href="yr/index.html">Timeline</a></font></i></b>, 110and freely follow the links within it, you may get a sense of the rich 111complexity of the time. <b><i>In time, I hope</i></b> it will reflect 112something 113of the sense given in the poem, <b><u>Muse'e des Beaux Arts</u></b>: 114 <center> 115 <p>"About suffering they were never wrong, <br> 116The Old Masters: how well they understood <br> 117Its human position;
117 how it takes place <br> 118While someone else is eating or opening a window <br> 119or just walking dully along; <br> 120How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting <br> 121For the miraculous birth, there always must be <br> 122Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating <br> 123On a pond at the edge of the wood" </p> 124 <p><b><font size="+1">. . .</font></b> </p> 125 <p>"In Brueghel's ICARUS, for instance; how everything turns away <b><font 126 size="+1">...</font></b> <br> 127"the expensive delicate ship that must have seen <br> 128Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, <br> 129Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on." </p> 130 <p>--W. H. Auden</p> 131 </center> 132 <p>I noticed just recently that the same painting described by Auden 133appears 134on the dust-jacket of Fernand Braudel's <i>Structures of Everyday Life</i>.</p> 135</ul> 136<h4> 137A Large Collection of Original Sources:</h4> 138<ul> 139The <i><a href="jmisc/index.html">Jacksonian Miscellanies</a></i> are 140a very good place to start exploring <i><b>Tales of the Early 141Republic. </b><a href="jmisc/index.html">Jacksonian
142Miscellanies</a></i> is an electronic newsletter which you can 143subscribe 144to, or find by following the <a href="jmisc/index.html">link</a> (its 145frequency 146has varied over the past 5 years). It consists mostly of excerpts from 147printed materials from the 1830s, with a moderate amount of 148explanations. 149To date, it includes nearly 100 items. 150 <ul> 151 <font size="-1">The plain text (without web enhancements) of <i>Jacksonian 152Miscellanies</i> is meant to be interesting enough by itself, <b>and</b> 153to provide extra pleasures when viewed on the Web, where it is 154integrated 155with the reference and other materials.</font> 156 </ul> 157I have tried throughout the narratives, etc., to provide a large number 158of links, so that ideally, whenever you see a person's name, such as <a 159 href="BIOG-M.htm#Morgan,%20William">William 160Morgan</a>, a place name, such as <a href="US-GEO-NY.htm#Palmyra,%20NY">Palmyra, 161NY</a>, a theological term that keeps popping up, such as <a 162 href="gloss.htm#Arminianism">Arminianism</a>, 163you can find out what they mean without having to run to a reference 164book, 165or, more commonly, 166</ul> 167<h4> 168A Complete Book, Describing New York from 1816 to 1860 Online:</h4> 169<ul> 170 <i><a href="octo/octo-toc.htm">Reminiscences of New York By an 171Octogenarian 172(1816 - 1860)</a></i>, by Charles H. Haswell, published in 1896. It 173describes, 174in a wealth of tiny details, a time when Greenwich Village was a 175village, 176and one could hunt snipe and other birds in what is now <b>south</b> 177of 178midtown Manhattan. It has about 100 engravings, of which 32 are in the 179completed portion of the book, found here. The set of links to 180references 181is very incomplete, so it is not such a good example of an "experiment 182in hypertext style". 183</ul> 184How to characterize this period? There is much justification for the 185title: 186<b><i><a 187 href="bb/bj.htm#Johnson,%20Paul,%20The%20Birth%20of%20the%20Modern,">Birth 188of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830</a></i></b>, that Paul Johnson 189gave 190to his international study of the early years of the period. The birth 191of the <b><i>modern United States</i></b> could be placed, I think, a 192few 193years later, more in the center of the period. 194<p>In material terms alone, America underwent phenomenal change. It 195more 196than doubled in territory, and likewise in <b><i>settled</i></b> 197territory. 198With the transportation revolution of canals, railroads, and better 199wagon 200roads, trips of a week were reduced to a day, and day trips to a couple 201of hours. Circuit riding lawyers and judges, who once spent months on 202the 203road, from town to town could spend weekends at home. Distant parts of 204the U.S. could fulfill each other's needs and wants, knitting the 205nation 206together as a functioning whole, so that American manufacturing, with a 207vast market to serve, could grow from infancy to being a ubiquitous 208part 209of life. 210</p> 211<p>The telegraph <b><i>annihilated</i></b> distance, where news was 212concerned. 213No longer would it be possible to fight battles weeks after an 214armistice 215was signed; in the westernmost states, yesterday's Senate debate would 216be printed in the local newspaper <b><i>today</i></b>, instead of a 217month 218from today. 219</p> 220<p>Socially, habits of deference to class superiority -- between white 221men anyway -- died out, as did the remaining laws that supported such 222deference. 223American mass politics, with its cheerful orchestrated hoopla, was 224created 225by Jacksonian Democrats in the late 1820s, then used to defeat them in 226the "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too", or "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign 227of 1840. 228</p> 229<p>America first developed a national literature: <a 230 href="BIOG-I.htm#Irving,%20Washington%201783%20-%201859">Irving</a> 231and Cooper, read by an international audience, and then the 232Transcendentalists 233and their fellow travelers, like <a 234 href="BIOG-E.htm#Emerson,%20Ralph%20Waldo">Emerson</a>, 235<a href="BIOG-T.htm#Thoreau,%20Henry%20David">Thoreau</a>, 236<a href="BIOG-H.htm#Hawthorne,%20Nathaniel%201804%20-%201864">Hawthorne</a>, 237and 238<a href="BIOG-M.htm#Melville,%20Herman%201819%20-%201891:">Melville</a>. 239</p> 240<p>The Protestant ideal of knowledge and understanding of the Bible, 241and 242of nature, replacing "priest craft" -- of reasoning ones way to a 243correct
244understanding of God -- reached its high water mark as science seemed 245to 246contradict parts of the Bible, as the latest philosophers attacked 247logical 248"proofs" of Christianity, and as scholarly projects to trace the Bible 249to its origins foundered. 250</p> 251<p>Something else took hold: something that looked to some like a 252direct 253encounter with God, and to others like a mere passion induced by 254charismatic 255evangelists. The action oriented Methodists, whose handbook was called 256a "discipline", not "confession" or "catechism", methodically harvested 257souls in the vast spaces of the frontier beyond the reach of 258institutions 259adapted to a more static order of society. Presbyterian revivalists 260deepened 261religion in the northeast, and exhorted men -- and women, to do active 262good to their fellows. 263</p> 264<p>As religion embraced emotion, faith, and will, America's <a 265 href="schools.htm">colleges</a>, 266became more dedicated to teaching practical knowledge, and less to 267religion 268and the formation of character. 269</p> 270<p>Regardless of denomination, people were fired up with dreams of the 271<b><i>perfectibility</i></b> 272of the world. Atheists, those of relaxed religious beliefs, and the 273most 274passionate and rigorous Christians dreamed a thousand different dreams 275of a great rebirth of the world, and started dozens of experiments in 276communal 277living. 278</p> 279<p>As difficult as it is to make sense of this thirty ring circus, the 280end result is, I think, that Americans of 1850 seem not all that 281different 282from us, while those of the revolutionary period seem much more distant 283and abstract. 284</p> 285<p><b><i>Tales of the Early Republic</i></b> aims to tell a portion of 286<b><i>these 287stories</i></b>. It cannot be made into <b><i>one</i></b> story; I 288doubt 289that in any place and time were the headwaters of change more widely 290spread 291over the landscape. 292</p> 293<p><b><i>Tales of the Early Republic </i></b>is also very much a 294conscious 295exploration of style -- not of surface style or polish, in which it is 296weak, but of "How should hypertext historical presentation be 297structured?" 298A "Web site" isn't a book, a movie, or a video game, though it can be 299and 300has been made to look like any one of these. Why is a conscious 301exploration 302of style needed? Suppose modern movie technology had showed up all at 303once, 304like a genie out of a bottle. Would people who only knew plays, books, 305and pictures, have produced great looking movies with that technology? 306I suspect not. Effective styles generally take years to evolve. 307</p> 308<p>The subject matter -- the early American republic, is suited to this 309experiment; no single narrative can represent this era; one tends to 310wander 311around in it, following dozens of paths that intertwine, but fail to 312converge. 313Hypertext, unlike the traditional book, permits this style of 314exploration. 315</p> 316<p>My hope is that this unlinear era will be much better appreciated in 317the new medium. Maybe networked hypertext will reshape people's taste 318in 319history towards the formative eras, and away from the stories of good 320guys 321conquering bad guys. Changes in the medium do result, over time, in 322changes 323in taste, and the content that serves our tastes. It is hard to imagine 324Cary Grant "making it" in the silent film medium. He needs his voice. I 325suspect that the Early American Republic, so neglected by most 326Americans, 327will find <b><i>its</i></b> voice in this new medium. 328</p> 329<p>I even suspect that by learning to appreciate, and enjoy wandering 330around 331in <b><i>this</i></b> era, we (and I'm thinking particularly of the 332more 333casual amateur historian) may better understand other eras, because to 334a large extent, they only <b><i>seem</i></b> to fit tidily into those 335smooth, 336soon-to-be-a-major-motion-picture narratives. 337</p> 338<p><b><i><font size="+2">Caveat</font></i></b>: These web pages do not 339live 340up to this nice manifesto I have made, but they represent an ongoing 341attempt 342to do so, and provide glimpses of the possibilities which I believe 343exist. 344</p> 345<p></p> 346<hr width="100%"> 347<h3>The <a href="hwdebate.htm">Hayne-Webster Debate</a></h3> 348An item, of some scholarly appeal is the complete text of the <a 349 href="hwdebate.htm">Hayne-Webster 350Debate</a>. This debate, in the Senate, in <a 351 href="yr/30.htm#01/19%20-%20Hayne%27s%20first%20speech%20...">January 3521830</a>, established <a href="BIOG-W.htm#Webster,%20Daniel">Daniel 353Webster</a> 354as the champion of a strong union (vs. a weaker association of the 355states),
356in an age when interpretations of the <a href="Const.htm">Constitution</a> 357were in flux. The text is enough to fill up about 100 pages in a 358typical 359book format. It was the "big news" of the day -- we know because so 360many 361of the single sheet (4-page) newspapers of 1830 printed long excerpts 362of 363the debate over several (weekly) issues -- leaving other news on the 364back 365burner. 366<p>This presentation of the debate is intended as an interesting 367example 368of hypertext style, in what might be called the <b><i>"zoom lens style"</i></b>. 369</p> 370<p>Following a brief overview and contextualization, the speech itself 371is presented on three different "scales", or levels of detail: 372</p> 373<ul> 374 <li>an outline made up of brief headers - bare reminders of the 375content,</li> 376 <li>a point-by-point summary of the text, greatly condensed,</li> 377 <li>the full text.</li> 378</ul> 379Staying at a particular point in the debate, one can "zoom" up and down 380in level of detail; e.g., reading the summary to get an overview, and 381scanning 382the outline as a refresher, or to find a particular point to look up in 383the full text. 384<p></p> 385<hr width="100%"> 386<p>You might also wish to explore a short essay on the American <a 387 href="whigs.htm">Whig 388Party</a>, to which <a href="BIOG-L.htm#Lincoln,%20Abraham">Abraham 389Lincoln</a> 390belonged for most of his political career, or a <a 391 href="new/jack00.htm">Short 392Biography of Andrew Jackson</a>, or an interpretation of <a 393 href="Jksn-era.htm">Social 394Changes in Jackson Era U.S.A</a>. 395</p> 396<p>Or you can start with mini-biographies of <a 397 href="BIOG-B.htm#Beecher,%20Lyman">Lyman 398Beecher</a>, father of <a href="BIOG-S.htm#Stowe,%20Harriet%20Beecher">Harriet 399Beecher Stowe</a> (of <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin </i>fame) and of other 400notable 401children, or you might start in with <a 402 href="BIOG-C.htm#Calhoun,%20John%20C.">John 403C. Calhoun</a>. Lyman Beecher and Calhoun are exactly household names, 404but both are <b>extremely</b> central to the stories of the Early 405Republic, 406and I have taken special care to see that they are well linked to other 407parts of this collection of writings. 408</p> 409<p></p> 410<hr width="100%"> 411<p>If you like to browse reference works, you can go straight to the <a 412 href="BIOG-NDX.htm">biographical 413dictionary</a>, or the (quite limited) <a href="US-geography.htm">geography 414of the U.S</a>. - a repository of descriptions of states, towns, 415counties, 416rivers, mostly focused on what they were like, and the events that 417occurred 418there in the 1820s and 1840s. 419</p> 420<p>There are also small but growing reference works on <a 421 href="schools.htm">schools</a> 422of the time, important <a href="churches.htm">churches</a>, a fairly 423extensive 424<a href="BIBLIOGRAPHY.htm">bibliography</a>, 425a <a href="gloss.htm">glossary</a>, and set of day-by-day timelines in 426a very early stage of development. 427</p> 428<p></p> 429<hr width="100%"> 430<p>I spend some time (though far less that I wish) exploring other 431history 432sites on the Web. Some that may be of interest to you are: 433</p> 434<ul> 435 <a href="http://web.gmu.edu/chnm/beginner.html">"Historians and the 436Web: A Beginner's Guide"</a>, from the December 1995 American 437Historical 438Association's Perspectives. 439 <p><a href="http://www.let.rug.nl/%7Ewelling/usa/revolution.html">George 440Welling's American History project at the University of Gronigen 441(Netherlands)</a> 442is nominally about the American Revolution, but has a lot concerning 443the 444period up to the Civil War, including my short biography of Andrew 445Jackson. </p> 446 <p><a href="http://www.pagesz.net/%7Estevek/">Steve Kreis' Web Page 447and History 448Guide:</a> Contains extensive class oriented material on <b><i>European 449Intellectual History</i></b> and on <b><i>Twentieth Century Europe</i></b> 450as well as an excellent guide to improving ones approach to the study 451of 452history - particularly in the context of formal classes. "The purpose 453of 454The History Guide is to better prepare yourself for your history 455classes 456and to make your time in class more enjoyable and proficient." </p> 457 <p><a href="http://web.gmu.edu/chnm/beginner.html">"Historians and 458the 459Web: A Beginner's Guide"</a>, from the December 1995 American 460Historical 461Association's Perspectives. </p> 462 <p><a href="http://promo.net/pg/">The Gutenberg Project</a> is a 463source 464of masses and masses of digitized literature that is out of copyright, 465and which volunteers have scanned in. You can find all the works of 466Shakespeare, <i>The 467Education of Henry Adams</i>, a lot of Coleridge - poetry as well as 468philosophical 469writings, Emerson's principal writings, the <i>Book of Common Prayer</i>, 470a huge amount of Calvin, and of Greek and Latin literature 471(translated). 472Also lots of Edgar Rice Burroughs. They also maintain a nicely 473organized 474list links to thousands of works in other archives, some in HTML 475format. </p> 476 <p><b>SHEAR:</b> To request membership in the <b>Society For the 477History 478of the Early American Republic</b>, click <a 479 href="mailto:[email protected]">HERE</a> 480and, if your browser succeeds in putting you into a mail program, send 481a message consisting of just: </p> 482 <p>subscribe h-shear </p> 483 <p>(it needs to go to [email protected], in case mailing 484directly 485from your browser does not work.) </p> 486 <p><a href="http://www.dlib.org">D-lib Magazine: The Magazine of 487Digital 488Library Research </a>is an online magazine, free to all, which deals 489with 490a range of issues to do with building digital libraries. It looks 491rather 492technical/computer science-ish. </p> 493 <p><a href="http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/II/diglib.htm">Digital 494Libraries 495Resources, Research, and Projects</a> has links to dozens of projects, 496as well as papers exploring the "soft" (non-technical) issues. </p> 497 <p><a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7EMAP/map_hp.html">Here is a 498site 499which can send you to many repositories of historic maps online</a>. </p> 500 <p><a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7EMAP/TERRITORY/1830map.html">Here 501is (from the above) a map of the U.S. in 1830</a>. It is part of a 502sequence 503of maps showing the territorial growth of the U.S. </p> 504 <p><a href="http://www.ucsc.edu:80/scomm/">New Horizons in Scholarly 505Communication</a> 506is put up by the Librarians Association of the University of 507California. 508There you can find discussions of how to get the advantages, in terms 509of 510freedom and speed of communication that online media can provide, while 511preserving the the filtering function of the peer review system.</p> 512</ul> 513<h4> 514What's So Special About the U.S. in the 1830s and 1840s?</h4> 515The era often called the "<a href="Jksn-era.htm">Jackson Era</a>", was 516a critical formative time for the United States. For some, at least, 517life 518style changed as drastically as in the twentieth century. The Railroad 519turned weeks of arduous travel by stagecoach into days, and days into 520hours. 521News reached the frontier, by telegraph, instantly, instead of taking 522weeks. 523<p>It was an age of religious revivals and temperance crusades that 524halved 525the per capita alcohol consumption. A time of exotic movements: the 526Anti-masonic 527party, hundreds of experiments in communal living, and the formation of 528some very extreme offshoots from the Christian tradition, like the 529Mormons 530and the Millerites (who lived by the belief that God would sweep away 531the 532old world, "about 1843 or 1844"). The 1830s and 40s "transcendentalist" 533movement has left us familiar with the names, at least, of <a 534 href="BIOG-E.htm#Emerson,%20Ralph%20Waldo">Emerson</a> 535and <a href="BIOG-T.htm#Thoreau,%20Henry%20David">Thoreau</a>. 536</p> 537<p>It was an era of Abolitionism and Anti-abolitionist riots. 1829 was 538the year in which <a href="BIOG-W.htm#Walker,%20David">David Walker</a>, 539a free black man in Boston, printed and distributed his bitterly 540eloquent 541<i><a 542 href="bb/bw.htm#Walker,%20David,%20Appeal%20to%20the%20Colored%20Citizens%20of">Appeal</a></i>, 543and 1830 was the year of his mysterious death. 1831 was the year in 544which 545<a href="BIOG-G.htm#Garrison,%20William%20Lloyd">William 546Lloyd Garrison</a> launched the most influential Abolitionist 547newspaper, 548and the year in which 549<a href="BIOG-T.htm#Turner,%20Nat">
549Nat Turner</a> led 550fellow slaves to slaughter 55 slave owners, and some 200 black men and 551women (mostly innocent) were slain in revenge. In <a 552 href="US-GEO-OH.htm#Cincinnati,%20OH">Cincinnati</a>, 553sons of slave owners were abolitionized, and a riot of the white 554citizens 555made hundreds of blacks flee to Canada (for which many Southerners 556blamed 557Garrison and/or Walker). 558</p> 559<p>In the midst of it, South Carolina declared she would exempt herself 560from the federal tariff (import tax) laws. The defeat of this scheme, 561partly 562through Jackson's very credible military threats, started a generation 563of southerners thinking about secession. 564</p> 565<h4>Another Note On "The Web", the Jackson Era, and the Future of 566Access to 567Difficult Subject Areas</h4> 568The Web, and any media that evolves from it, can facilitate a new style 569of reading -- involving a more creative and active mental process, with 570far more freedom to read, <i>without extensive preparation or guidance</i>, 571material in which every sentence contains an unfamiliar word or 572allusion. 573This will have a dramatic affect on the accessibility of writings of 574the 575past, that were not "written for the ages", as well as that of 576difficult 577areas of technical endeavor. 578<p>Suppose you are reading an 1840s newspaper article or pamphlet, 579which 580is full of references to a couple of dozen Kentucky <a href="whigs.htm">Whig</a> 581leaders, and half or more of it seems to consist of innuendoes about 582the 583character of those people, and tangential references to this or that 584local 585event of the 1830s. You may feel you are getting almost none of the 586real 587meaning. Unless you are in a good library, near the <i><a 588 href="bb/bd.htm#Dictionary%20of%20American%20Biography">Dictionary 589of American Biography</a></i>, or "<i>Biographical Sketches of 590Prominent 591men of XXX County</i>", you may just have to stop reading till you can 592get to such a place. If the newspaper is in one place and the other 593resources 594are someplace else, you may just have to take notes, make lists of 595questions: 596Who was Mr. A, Mr. B., etc.; take notes on the answers to those 597questions, 598run back to the newspaper archive, etc. 599</p> 600<p>What is possible in the very near future is to "click on" the names 601of the mystery people, see who they were and what they did, and in 602seconds 603be back to the main text. 604</p> 605<p>In any difficult and unfamiliar area of knowledge one may find 606oneself 607unable to read anything that was not specifically written for the 608beginner. 609So what happens if there is <i>nothing</i> written for the beginner? 610Suppose 611when it was written all those obscure points were just obvious to the 612writer 613and all the readers? As a computer analyst, I've encountered areas of 614computer 615application which evolved through the efforts of a few dozen people, 616who 617have since gong on to other jobs, so that one simply cannot read the 618first 619line of any document without needing to run to an (often nonexistent) 620glossary, 621or spending hours or days trying to learn from someone (if anyone can 622be 623found) whose forte is not communication. 624</p> 625<p>But back to the <b>early republic: </b>I believe it feasible, at 626least 627technically, to put <i>
627all</i> known printed material from the America 628of the 1820s and 30s,and important earlier material, into electronic 629form. 630The average newspaper put out only 200 pages <b>a year</b>. Yet these 631writings 632are excedingly difficult to access, largely due to the limited press 633runs 634of anything written before the use of mechanized printing. I.e. the 635quantity 636to digitize is small, and the rewards large. 637</p> 638<p>The field of History of the Early Republic has a relative paucity of 639printed material and no <i>legal</i> difficulties about ownership of 640content. 641I believe, more Americans would be interested in the subject if it were 642not so difficult to begin to understand it. Thus an experiment in this 643area of scholarship could, by revealing the potential of the new media, 644be a pioneering effort for other areas of knowlege, which will have 645more 646difficult legal and economic issues to deal with. 647</p> 648<p></p> 649<hr width="100%"> 650<center> 651<h3>More Historiography, and</h3> 652</center> 653<center> 654<h3>Other Qualities of the Early Republic Period</h3> 655</center> 656To find such a thing as a "usable past", or history from which we can 657learn 658something applicable to the present, I think we need to focus on 659periods 660of organic change, and on the points of origin of that change. 661<p>I have sort of a "triage" theory of history. There are <b><i>dull</i></b> 662times, which we needn't examine very closely, and there are <b><i>"mad"</i></b> 663times, when all the wisdom in the world wouldn't help things without a 664huge dollop of luck, and finally <b><i>formative</i></b> times, like 665that 666in which, simultaneously, colonial culture grew into American culture, 667and the agrarian way of life grew into the beginnings of our present, 668technological 669way of life. Ironically (since the word is so popular among military 670history 671buffs), by my "triage" theory of history, wars aren't so interesting, 672though 673they tend to attract us -- or many of us -- emotionally. 674</p> 675<center> 676<p></p> 677<hr width="100%"> 678<p>For half-baked ruminations on the state of the world, and how to 679save 680it, the nature of the (<font size="-1">human</font>) beast, 681self-explorations, 682and the like, see <a href="essays/index.html">Essays on Broad Subjects</a></p> 683</center> 684. 685<hr><!-- FOOTER BEGINS HERE:-->You can support this site at no cost 686if you make an Amazon purchase using 687this link to get to Amazon: 688<iframe 689 src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=talesoftheear-20&o=1&p=41&l=ur1&category=books&banner=0VRTHA8E5847SQVT7982&f=ifr" 690 border="0" marginwidth="0" style="border: medium none ;" 691 frameborder="0" height="31" scrolling="no" width="88"></iframe><i>Thanks</i> 692</body> 693</html>
Line numbers count LF bytes from the start of the resource, as the search results do. Vendor segments are library code the classifier recognised; they are stored but not indexed. Bytes are shown as Latin1 characters, one per byte.