James Russell Lowell

The two British soldiers who were left on the ground are buried beside a stone wall at the left of the approach to the bridge.

A slate tablet bears a suitable inscription of verses from James Russell Lowell.

Though the British were able to carry away one of their dead, their flight from the bridge was so complete that their wounded had to hobble away as best they could.

As they passed the Elijah Jones house, Jones pointed his musket out of a second-story window, but his wife knocked it from his hands before he could fire.

Sources of Republican Strength in the North The Republican Party was, in fact, a political organization of singular power.

it originated in a wave of moral enthusiasm having attracted to itself if not the abolitionists certainly all those idealists like james russell lowell and george william curtis who had opposed slavery when opposition was neither safe nor popular to moral principles it added practical considerations business men had confidence in it working men who longed for the independence of the farmer owed to its indulgent land policy the opportunity of securing free homesteads in the west THE IMMIGRANT, LANDING PENNILESS ON THESE SHORES AS A RESULT OF THE SAME BENEFICENT SYSTEM, OFTEN FOUND HIMSELF IN A LITTLE WHILE WITH AN ESTATE AS LARGE AS MANY A BARONIAL DOMAIN IN THE OLD WORLD.

UNDER A REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION THE UNION HAD BEEN SAVED.

TO IT THE VETERANS OF THE WAR COULD TURN WITH CONFIDENCE FOR THOSE REWARDS OF SERVICE WHICH THE GOVERNMENT COULD PESTOW, PENSIONS SURPASSING IN LIBERALITY ANYTHING THAT THE WORLD HAD EVER SEEN.

It took away from the spoilsmen a few thousand government positions, but it formed no check on the practice of rewarding party workers from the public treasury.

On viewing this state of affairs, many a distinguished citizen became profoundly discouraged.

James Russell Lowell, for example, thought he saw a steady decline in public morals.

In 1865, hearing of Lee's surrender, he had exclaimed, There is something magnificent in having a country to love.

The New Democracy at Washington.

the spoils system the staid and respectable society of washington was disturbed by this influx of farmers and frontiersmen to speak of politics became bad form among fashionable women the clerks and civil servants of the government who had enjoyed long and secure tenure of office became alarmed at the clamor of new men for their positions doubtless the major portion of them had opposed the election of jackson and looked with feelings akin to contempt upon him and his followers with a hunter's instinct jackson scented his prey determined to have none but his friends in office he made a clean sweep expelling old employees to make room for men fresh from the people this was a new custom other presidents had discharged a few officers for engaging in opposition politics they had been careful in making appointments not to choose inveterate enemies but they discharged relatively few men on account of their political views and partisan activities by wholesale removals and the frank selection of officers on party grounds a practice already well entrenched in new york jackson established the spoils system at washington the famous slogan to the victor belong the spoils of victory became the avowed principle of the national government statesmen like calhoun denounced it poets like james russell lowell ridiculed it faithful servants of the government suffered under it but it held undisturbed sway for half a century thereafter each succeeding generation outdoing if possible its predecessor in the use of public office for political purposes If anyone remarked that training and experience were necessary qualifications for important public positions, he met Jackson's own profession of faith.

The duties of any public office are so simple, or admit of being made so simple, that any man can in a short time become master of them.

the tariff and nullification jackson had not been installed in power very long before he was compelled to choose between states rights and nationalism the immediate occasion of the trouble was the tariff a matter on which jackson did not have any very decided views his mind did not run naturally to abstruse economic questions and owing to the divided opinion of the country it was good politics to be vague and ambiguous in the controversy especially was this true because the tariff issue was threatening to split the country into parties again the development of the policy of protection the war of eighteen twelve and the commercial policies of england which followed it had accentuated the need for american economic independence during that conflict the united states cut off from english manufactures as during the revolution built up home industries to meet the unusual call for iron steel cloth and other military and naval supplies as well as the demands from ordinary markets iron foundries and textile mills sprang up as in the night hundreds of business men invested fortunes in industrial enterprises so essential to the military needs of the government and the people at large fell into the habit of buying american-made goods again as the london times tersely observed of the americans their first war with england made them independent their second war made them formidable in recognition of this state of affairs the tariff of eighteen sixteen was designed first to prevent england from ruining these infant industries by dumping the accumulated stores of years suddenly upon american markets and secondly to enlarge in the manufacturing centers the demand for american agricultural produce it accomplished the purposes of its framers it kept in operation the mills and furnaces so recently built it multiplied the number of industrial workers and enhanced the demand for the produce of the soil it brought about another very important result it turned the capital and enterprise of new england from shipping to manufacturing and converted her statesmen once friends of low tariffs into ardent advocates of protection in the early years of the nineteenth century the yankees had bent their energies toward building and operating ships to carry produce from america to europe and manufactures from europe to america for this reason they had opposed the tariff of eighteen sixteen calculated to increase domestic production and cut down the carrying trade defeated in their efforts they accepted the inevitable and turned to manufacturing soon they were powerful friends of protection for american enterprise as the money invested and the labor employed in the favored industries increased the demand for continued and heavier protection grew apace even the farmers who furnished raw materials like wool flax and hemp began to see eye to eye with the manufacturers so the textile interests of new england the iron masters of connecticut new jersey and pennsylvania the wool hemp and flax growers of ohio kentucky and tennessee and the sugar planters of louisiana developed into a formidable combination in support of a high protective tariff the planting states opposed the tariff in the meantime the cotton states on the seaboard had forgotten about the havoc wrought during the napoleonic wars when their produce rotted because there were no ships to carry it to europe the seas were now open the area devoted to cotton had swiftly expanded as alabama mississippi and louisiana were opened up cotton had in fact become king and the planters depended for their prosperity as they thought upon the sale of their staple to english manufacturers whose spinning and weaving mills were the wonder of the world manufacturing nothing and having to buy nearly everything except farm produce and even much of that for slaves the planters naturally wanted to purchase manufactures in the cheapest market england where they sold most of their cotton the tariff they contended raised the price of the goods they had to buy and was thus in fact a tribute laid on them for the benefit of the northern mill owners the tariff of abominations they were overborne however in eighteen twenty four and again in eighteen twenty eight when northern manufacturers and western farmers forced congress to make an upward revision of the tariff the act of eighteen twenty eight known as the tariff of abominations though slightly modified in eighteen thirty two was the straw which broke the camel's back southern leaders turned in rage against the whole system the legislatures of virginia north carolina south carolina georgia and alabama denounced it a general convention of delegates held at augusta issued a protest of defiance against it and south carolina weary of verbal battles decided to prevent its enforcement south carolina nullifies the tariff the legislature of that state on october twenty sixth eighteen thirty two passed a bill calling for a state convention which duly assembled in the following month in no mood for compromise it adopted the famous ordinance of nullification after a few days debate every line of this document was clear and firm the tariff it opened gives bounties to classes and individuals at the expense and to the injury and oppression of other classes and individuals it is a violation of the constitution of the united states and therefore null and void its enforcement in south carolina is unlawful if the federal government attempts to coerce the state into obeying the law the people of this state will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligations to maintain or preserve their political connection with the people of the other states and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate government and do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent states may of right do.

New England grumbled, but gave loyal, if not enthusiastic, support to a conflict precipitated by policies not of its own choosing.

Only a handful of firm objectors held out.

James Russell Lowell, in his big low papers, flung scorn and sarcasm to the bitter end.

THE OUTCOME OF THE WAR The foregone conclusion was soon reached.

Now, the Bible's last book, the book Revelation, reveals that what is true of nations and societies is also true of individuals.

James Russell Lowell, a great American writer, wrote this.

He wrote that poem that was put to a song, Once to Every Man and Nation.

He said, Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide.

No slave-hunt in our borders, no pirate on our strand, no fetters in the Bay State, no slave upon our land.

Lowell, looking upon the espousal of a great cause as the noblest aim of his art, ridiculed and excoriated bondage in the South.

Those abolitionists, not gifted as speakers or writers, signed petitions against slavery and poured them in upon Congress.

The flood of them was so continuous that the House of Representatives, forgetting its traditions, adopted, in 1836, a gag rule, which prevented the reading of appeals and consigned them to the waste-basket.

Influential men in all professions spoke bitterly of his action.

How many times, wrote James Russell Lowell, are we to save Kentucky and lose our self-respect? and all the time lincoln knowing better than any of his critics having in his own mind his own plan for an emancipation proclamation held his peace enduring the criticism waiting for the proper hour passages like that make me feel very reticent about exercising my divine right as an american citizen to denounce the government so often in our history the events have proved that those who were criticised had all the facts and the critics only part So often men have slain the prophets and then erected mausoleums to them afterwards.

Criticism is an intelligent service in a democracy.

But it is a very specialized job, and I for one am willing that it should be somebody else's job.

Sources of Republican Strength in the North The Republican Party was, in fact, a political organization of singular power.

It originated in a wave of moral enthusiasm, having attracted to itself, if not the abolitionists, certainly all those idealists, like James Russell Lowell and George William Curtis, who had opposed slavery when opposition was neither safe nor popular.

To moral principles it added practical considerations.

Businessmen had confidence in it.

It took away from the spoilsmen a few thousand government positions, but it formed no check on the practice of rewarding party workers from the public treasury.

On viewing this state of affairs, many a distinguished citizen became profoundly discouraged.

James Russell Lowell, for example, thought he saw a steady decline in public morals.

In 1865, hearing of Lee's surrender, he had exclaimed, There is something magnificent in having a country to love.