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Topic Started: Jan 13 2010, 06:28 PM (332 Views)
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An Empire for Liberty

September 30, 1836

Ralph Waldo Emerson's recent essay dealing with man and the natural world has aroused considerable interest among American intellectual circles. Published earlier this month, "Nature" links the spiritual and the natural spheres directly and advocates seeing nature for its own sake, rather than interpreting the physical landscape as mere a reflection of human beings and past events. According to Emerson, "Words are signs of natural facts.... Particular facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts.... Nature is the symbol of the spirit."

The essay has been poorly received by some conservative philosophers in New England due to its unorthodox religious ideas, but nearly all critics have recognized the value of Emerson's unique style, which will surely further the creation of a distinctly American body of literature.
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

October 26, 1836

Nathaniel Beverley Tucker has published his second work, The Partisan Leader; A Tale of The Future, amid much publicity and controversy in his home state of Virginia. Widely known already for George Balcombe, which some prominent authors have lionized as one of the greatest American novels of all time, Tucker departs from a conventional setting in his latest book to take the reader into the futuristic world of 1849. America is a radically different place: the federal government is ruled by president-turned-dictator Martin Van Buren, and the slaveholding states have seceded to form a grand "Southern Confederacy." War rages on Virginian soil as local guerrilla forces struggle to expel government troops from the Old Dominion so that it can join the independent Confederacy.

The book has exerted some force on the political debate surrounding gradual emancipation and colonization in Virginia, having prompted many state delegates to reconsider various moderate options. Most Northerners have dismissed it as an obvious polemic, finding the characters fantastic and the plot of disunion patently absurd.
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

November 25, 1837

Theodore Dwight Weld has published The Bible Against Slavery, an abolitionist treatise dealing with the immorality of slaveholding from a Christian perspective. Drawing on both the spirit of biblical passages and specific verses, Weld argues that since God "hath made of one blood all nations of men," race-based slavery and its presupposition of black inferiority are inherently flawed.

The book has prompted a strenuous debate between Northern and Southern factions of Protestant churches across America, and talk of denominational splits is becoming less rare.
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

December 20, 1838

The year 1838 saw the publication of numerous original works in American literature, both fiction and non-fiction.

James Fenimore Cooper - Home as Found
John Pendleton Kennedy - Rob of the Bowl
Edgar Allan Poe - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket; "Ligeia"
Ann Sophia Stephens - Mary Derwent
Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Divinity School Address
Henry Ware, Jr. - The Personality of the Deity

Mr. Emerson's latest work, delivered at the Harvard Divinity School on June 15, has touched off a religious controversy throughout New England. The Unitarians and more conservative Presbyterians and Calvinists find themselves unlikely allies in denouncing Emerson's ideas as heretical and dangerous, or as one scholar put it, "the latest form of infidelity." Henry Ware's sermon was delivered three months after Emerson's address at Harvard as part of a general attempt to refute Transcendentalism.
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

December 5, 1839

The following major works were published by American authors throughout 1839:

Washington Irving - regular contributions, "Knickerbocker" magazine
Edgar Allan Poe - "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - "Hyperion"; Voices of the Night
Jared Sparks - Life of Washington
Theodore Dwight Weld - American Slavery as It Is
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

June 1, 1841

New American books, poetry and other works making an appearance in 1840-1841:

James Fenimore Cooper - The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. - Two Years Before the Mast
Edgar Allan Poe - Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque; "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
Washington Irving - Biography and Poetical Remains of the Late Margaret Miller Davidson
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Excelsior
James Russell Lowell - A Year's Life
Horace Greeley - The New York Tribune (newspaper)
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

March 15, 1842

A group of musicians, the Hutchinson Family Singers, is gaining popularity throughout the country after an extended singing tour in New England. They are known for their four-part harmonies and wide range of material, which includes comedy and satire as well as more serious works.

The Hutchinsons are representative of the move toward "native talent" in American culture as of late, perhaps best embodied in the literary works of Poe, Irving, and Emerson. They have written a number of original songs in addition to performing old European favorites. Despite their ability, their support for controversial political causes, such as abolitionism, has not universally endeared them to audiences.

Horace Greeley's New York Tribune had this to say about a recent Hutchinson performance in New York:

"The Hutchinson family gave a concert on Saturday evening and acquitted themselves quite well. [They] know how to make music, decidedly, though some of their songs are not well chosen either to gratify the audience or exhibit their peculiar powers. We wish they would take care to favor the unscientific public with the words of their songs distinctly. Russell does so, and it is to thousands one of the best points of his singing.... We trust they will be heard again and more than once in our city; for we are sure there are thousands among us who would hear them with signal satisfaction."
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

December 7, 1842

The Philharmonic Society of New York, a new musical organization dedicated to the "advancement of instrumental music," today held its first concert on Broadway before an audience of 600. The society was founded earlier this year by the conductor Ureli Corelli Hill but already is growing rapidly in size and in popularity.

Today's three-hour concert opened with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and included chamber music as well as several operatic selections. Many attendees have expressed hopes that the formation of similar organizations will help spread the popularity of classical music throughout the United States.
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

January 2, 1845

Recent works by American authors:

Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Transcendentalist
Henry David Thoreau - A Walk to Wachusett
James Fenimore Cooper - Le Mouchoir; an Autobiographical Romance; The Two Admirals
Edgar Allan Poe - "The Gold-Bug"; The Conqueror Worm
William H. Prescott - History of the Conquest of Mexico


Edgar A. Poe's short story "The Gold-Bug" has generated new popular interest in treasure stories and ciphers, with several avid fans sending challenging cryptograms to Poe to see if he could break them. In addition to limelight this work brought him the grand prize in a writing contest sponsored by a Philadelphia newspaper.
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

August 28, 1845

Mr. Rufus M. Porter of New York has begun publishing a new weekly, Scientific American, to record notable American mechanical and scientific improvements. The paper is intended to disperse knowledge of the latest technical developments for the benefit of the common man, frequently covering news from the U.S. Patent Office in detail.
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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September 23, 1845

A new recreational sport is gaining popularity in New York after the formation of the New York Knickerbockers ball club, named in honor of its founding members from Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 12 of the city's fire department. The game is known as "baseball" and involves hitting a ball thrown by a pitcher from the center of four bases with a bat; the hitter then attempts to run around the bases without being tagged "out" by the opposing team. It is similar to older games such as rounders, but nonetheless is distinct in its adoption of new, uniform rules.

Membership is open to any interested party for a fee and the club meets regularly at the Elysian Fields in New Jersey.
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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An Empire for Liberty

May 30, 1846

Developments in American literature and art in 1845-6:

James Fenimore Cooper - The Chainbearer; Satanstoe; The Redskins
Nathaniel Hawthorne - P.'s Correspondence; Mosses from an Old Manse
Herman Melville - Typee
Edgar Allan Poe - "The Raven"; "The Philosophy of Composition"
Frederick Douglass - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Thomas Cole - Catskill Landscape
Edward Hicks - Noah's Ark


The autobiography of Frederick Douglass, a former slave, has generated considerable interest in the Northern states, to the invariable chagrin of their Southern neighbors. Mr. Douglass has been touring England since August of last year, often drawing very large crowds with his abolitionist oratory. Earlier this month he spoke at Alexander Fletcher's Finsbury Chapel, where it was said that his popularity "crowded to suffocation" the available facilities.

Douglass's tour coincides with increasingly provocative statements from both the North and South on slavery. Ever since the Texas question emerged as the chief political issue in 1844, Southern "fire-eaters" have been threatening disunion while their counterparts in the North have been demanding greater Federal action to eradicate the peculiar institution. The Mexican War only intensified this conflict.

Earlier this February, the Liberty Bell was tolled for several hours in the tower of Philadelphia's Independence Hall to honor George Washington's birthday. It developed a major crack despite recent repairs and refurbishment. Some Americans have attributed great symbolism to this, as though the entire country is beginning to tear itself apart.
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"For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory."
- Zachary Taylor
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