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Panic of 1837 |
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Economy and Culture—Readings, 1800-1845:
Speculation, Morality, and the
Compiled and Edited by Roy Richard Thomas
Samuel Rezneck, Business Depressions and Financial Panics: Collected Essays in American Business and Economic History (1971)
Josiah Goddard, An Oration, Delivered on the Anniversary of Independence (1804)
John Hathaway Stevens, The Duty of Union in a Just War (1813)
[Chandler Robbins], Remarks on the Disorders of Literary Men, or An Inquiry into the Means of Preventing the Evils Usually Incident to Sedentary and Studious Habits (1825)
Royal Washburn, Evils Which Threaten Our Country (1829)
Samuel Nott, Jr., The Freedom of the Mind Demanded of American Freeman (1830)
Lydia Maria Child, The American Frugal Housewife (1832)
Brief Statement of Facts in Relation to the Western Railroad (from 1833)
E. P. Swift, Misdirection of Physical and Intellectual Effort (1837)
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Address . . . By the Committee . . .to Have Charge of the Subject of Slavery (1839)
John H. Gourlie, An Address Delivered Before the Mercantile Library Association (1839)
C.S. Henry, The Position and Duties of the Educated Men of the Country (1840)
Enterprise, Insolvency, and Social Justice
The Debtor’s Friend, Or Religious Advice to Persons Imprisoned for Debt (1813)
New York City Chamber of Commerce, Memorial Praying for a General System of Bankruptcy (1823)
Jonathan M. Wainwright, Inequality of Individual Wealth the Ordinance of Providence, and Essential to Civilization (1835)
James Lloyd Homer, An Address Delivered Before the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (1836)
John Whipple, The Usury Laws (1836)
Leonard Bacon, The Duties Connected with the Present Commercial Distress (1837)
Henry Colman, The Times (1837)
Report in Relation to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad (from 1837)
The Pleasing Art of Money-Catching, and the Way to Thrive, by Turning a Penny to Advantage (1840)
[Calvin Colton], The Crisis of the Country By Junius (1840)
Barrett Family Papers, Legal records, letters, bankruptcy (1841-1843)
P. Salmon, Bill of Horse [Cast in Marble] (1844)
Thrift, Widows, and Philanthropy
Edward Streeter, Window on America (from 1814)
Massachusetts Congregational Charitable Society, Act of Incorporation . . . With Brief Sketch of Its Origin, Progress, and Purposes (1815)
Barber Beaumont, Esq., F.A.S., An Essay on Provident or Parish Banks (1816)
Burton Mansfield, History of Savings Banks in the United States (from 1816)
Boston Provident Institution for Savings, One Hundred Years of Savings Bank Service: A Brief Account . . . (from 1816)
Leonard Woods, Duties of the Rich (1827)
Pharcellus Church, The Philosophy of Benevolence (1836)
George Shepard, The Duty of Helping the Weak (1835)
Girard Trust Corn Exchange Bank, Girard Trust Company (from 1836)
Proposals of the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities (1837)
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Abstract of the Returns of Insurance Companies (1838)
Fourth Experiment of Living: Living Without Means (1837; fiction)
Report of the Secretary of War; . . . Difficulties Which Took Place at the Payment of the Sac and Fox Annuities, Last Fall (under Treaty of 1842)
[William Crosby], I Will Be a Lady: A Book for Girls (1844; fiction)
Samuel Rezneck, in Business Depressions and Financial Panics: Collected Essays in American Business and Economic History (Westport CT: Greenwood, 1971, 201 pp.), presented six essays that had originally appeared in historical and economic journals between 1930 and 1960. He wrote about the effects upon social cohesion in the United States of the hard times that occurred after financial crises in the nineteenth century: 1819-22, 1837-43, 1857-59, 1873-78, 1882-86, and 1893-97. He also included two previously unpublished essays: “The Sociology of American Depressions . . .” and “The Rise and Early Development of Industrial Consciousness . . . 1760-1830.” In his Preface, Rezneck observed: “As more and more people were drawn into the intricate interdependence of a modern industrial and market economy, its pulsations and swings became universal phenomena, affecting not only the level of business but equally social and political conditions, and particularly the state of mind and spirit of people, whether in a buoyant or depressed direction.” [v.] In the opinion of those whose views are expressed in these samples of the “state of mind and spirit of people,” the low point of the business cycle was an aberration that required more than an economic explanation and response. None considered financial panics to be unpleasant but necessary purges of unsuccessful business models. They slighted or ignored the virtue and benefits to society of risk taking and the accompanying possibility of failure. Instead, they concentrated on what they perceived to be the moral and spiritual lapses that contributed to economic decline. They believed they could ameliorate its consequences or even prevent its recurrence by educating individual citizens to their duties to God and country. There is a geographical bias in this array, since most of these publications originated in New England, the Middle Atlantic States, or Washington DC. They were selected from recent acquisitions of the Special Collections Department, Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University. Josiah Goddard, An Oration, Delivered on the Anniversary of Independence, at Conway MA, on the Fourth of July, 1804 (Northampton MA: Andrew Wright, 1804), 24 pp. “. . . That the right and power of government is primarily found in the people, is as evident as that all men are born equally free, which is the fundamental principle on which our noble Constitution is founded. If this right be in the people, it follows, that every system which does not secure this right unto them is unjust, and opens the way for the most unbounded oppression, and ought to be despised and rejected. But if not found in the people, it follows, that some men born rulers and others slaves, and that every exertion of the people to obtain their liberty, in the known world, has been unjust and rebellious, and even our Revolution which produced our Independence has been most [8] wicked rebellion, and this day ought ever to be held in memorable contempt. That civil government was designed for the good of mankind, is indisputable. That every political system which has not a tendency to produce this effect is evil, is undeniable. That an effective government, administered by the express will of the people, is only calculated to that end, is as evident, as that all men are heirs by nature of equal rights.” [7-8] . . . “That religion is founded on the power of civil government, and supported thereby, is a most absurd idea, demonstrated by a world of evidences and known facts. It has, it does, and it will flourish without its aid, and in spite of every opposition therefrom. To protect all in the enjoyment of the inalienable rights of conscience, is the province of civil government—to control or dictate, is the province of DEITY. Our Constitution is the first that has appeared in the world, wholly free from these deadly seeds, laying a foundation for the full enjoyment of religion, without being accountable to any man. . . .” [11] John Hathaway Stevens, The Duty of Union in a Just War; A Discourse, Delivered in Stoneham MA, April 8, 1813, Being the Day of the State Fast (New Haven CT: J. Barber, 1813), 24 pp. “Third New York Edition, 1814.” “Pride is a sin which has greatly prevailed in this nation. We have been lifted up with pride. We have been proud of our independence; proud of our liberty; proud of our constitutions of government; proud of our rulers, our numbers, and wealth. Some have been proud of their religion; and others of their wickedness, glorying in their shame. Pride is a hateful, dangerous sin. . . . [8] Profaneness is another awful sin in our land. . . . Intemperance is another prevalent sin in this nation; the intemperate use of spirituous liquors has been awfully alarming. It is thought by some, that ardent spirits consumed in this nation, cost more than to maintain government. . . . This vice leads on to many others, such as idleness, gaming, lewdness, and the like. This sin has become so prevalent and alarming, the serious people through the state and nation, are uniting together, and forming societies for the express purpose of suppressing it. Falsehood is another great sin. . . . Gaming and vain amusements are prevailing sins . . . [9] Lewdness, perjury, and oppression, are great sins in this land. Division, strife, and contention [regarding the War of 1812], are abounding sins, which threaten the ruin of our nation. . . .” [7-9]
[Chandler Robbins], Remarks on the Disorders of Literary Men, or An Inquiry into the Means of Preventing the Evils Usually Incident to Sedentary and Studious Habits (Boston: Cummings, Hilliard & Co., 1825; Benton Harbor MI: Israelite House of David, 1974), 92 pp. “The remarks offered to the public in the following pages were originally suggested by the lamented indisposition of the distinguished [Reverend Francis William Pitt Greenwood] to whom they are inscribed. They first appeared as a series of Essays in the Boston Medical Intelligencer. . . .” [Preface] “Section V. Female Society. In our preceding pages we have adverted to the best modes of amusement and relaxation for those hours, during which the usual employments of the student are suspended. In making choice of these amusements, reference must be had to the peculiar habits of men of this character; what to vulgar minds would afford satisfaction, can have no charms for them; they require something intellectual, even in their intervals of occupation; and their pleasures must partake more or less of that exalted character which belongs peculiarly to their to their serious employments. Nothing is so well calculated to [accomplish] the object that we have mentioned, nothing so admirably fitted to fill up the elegant leisure of the scholar, as the society of women. That the society of the intelligent and refined of either sex can afford great pleasure, and that to those who are capable of enjoying it, it is the greatest of all enjoyments, is [69] undoubted—but the softer sex must be allowed to possess some peculiar advantages. Conversation with men requires some exertion, exacts some labor; there must always be something more or less approaching to contention, in discussions with those who are constituted like ourselves. If our opinions are different, there will be dispute in maintaining them—if similar, [rivalry] in expressing them; and in consequence there will be more or less effort. In conversation with women there is nothing of all this; nature has established a mutual spirit of concession between the sexes, which prevents it. If we dispute a female, it is because by so doing we protract the pleasure of conversation. If we assent to her opinion, it is the heart that [acts] before the understanding, and the latter becomes a willing slave to the former. The man of letters experiences this more than any other. Habitually devoted to what is beautiful and engaging, he finds in the society of women his fairest visions realized. Their gaiety, charms, and their wit amuses him; while on the other hand, he finds, in the hope of creating a [70] corresponding emotion, both the motive and the means of eloquence.” [68-70] . . . “Women are neither required nor expected to gain a profound knowledge of the sciences, far less do they add to their charms by a display of their acquirements; but a cultivated taste, and an acquaintance with the various subjects of knowledge, are necessary to give the female character its just weight in polished society, and, [74] by enabling them to enter into the feelings and views of those around them, to render them what they should be, the most delightful companions of our hours of relaxation, and the most valuable friends and supporters in periods of melancholy and sorrow. . . .” [73-74]
Royal Washburn, Evils Which Threaten Our Country: A Sermon Delivered in Amherst MA First Parish on Thursday, April 9,1829, the Day of Public Fast (Amherst MA: J.S. & C. Adams, 1829), 22 pp. “Some of the things ominous of evil I shall mention. Much is to be feared from the increasing wealth of the country. Never has it been known that national opulence was not connected as the cause with national corruption, and never will this be known until human nature is changed, or more powerful moral causes are brought to counteract this tendency than ever have been. This nation has the facilities of becoming immensely rich, and it is improving them with a spirit of enterprise that has never been equaled. The nation is growing rich, and riches furnish means for the gratification of the corrupt passions. Pride, love of external show, luxury, and even profligacy follow in their train, and are fast increasing through the land. In connection with this I mention, as a source of danger, the general prevalence of a worldly spirit. From the character of our people, from the nature of our free institutions, from the unbounded field which here opens to worldly enterprise, as well as from the success which has hitherto crowned exertion, worldly interests and speculations come to occupy an almost exclusive share of attention. A worldly spirit pervades all classes of our fellow citizens, almost to exclude entirely other interests. [8] We are in danger of becoming a thoroughly worldly people . . . [that] form the habit of deciding all questions, not on the ground of right and duty, but on the ground of mere expediency—a test which shows a nation far declined from that righteousness which exalteth. [sic] I mention also intemperance, and profaneness with their whole family of vulgar sins . . . Another evil that spreads gloom over our future prospects is the increasing neglect of the public worship of God. . . . In New York City it is ascertained that one hundred [9] thousand souls are connected with no religious society. . . . About the same proportion are in a similar situation in Philadelphia.” [7-9] . . . “Another thing, which forebodes evil to our country, is the increasing corruption of the periodical press. The press is an engine of vast power. It is so especially, in a country where the whole population can read. A free press exerts a mighty sway, and many a politician has placed his hopes of the permanency of our government. This he has thought was to distinguish us from other republics, which have been destroyed. But it should not be forgotten that a free press may be licentious and unprincipled, and then all its mighty influence corrupts and destroys. It has become so in other lands, and its influence been most deadly. We have reason to fear it is fast becoming here. The American press now sends forth more than thirteen hundred newspapers. Most of these are [12] devoted chiefly to the politics of the country. . . . Papers, whose columns are loaded with personal scandal or positive falsehood, are read with great avidity by thousands and millions. What must be the moral taste of our fellow citizens already?” [11-12] Samuel Nott, Jr., The Freedom of the Mind Demanded of American Freeman; Being Lectures to the Lyceum, on the Development of the People (Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1830), 131 pp.
“This course of Lectures was prepared for the Lyceum, Wareham, Mass., the place of the author’s residence.” [32]
“Preface. There has been no end, and there appears no prospect of an end to the appeal to the people on their civil rights and privileges. The press teems with folios that are scattered many times a week, through the whole community, displaying to the American people the rights of man, and stimulating them to the extreme point of the demand. Let no one object to this work for which there are so many ready and active hands, if the Patriots of the periodical press will be the steady advocates of [vi] principles, instead of the vacillating organs and instruments of party zeal. It is grateful however to perceive an aspiring in the spirits of the people, for a higher liberty—a liberty of the noblest character, which has no blood to shed in revolutionary battles; and no party warfare to maintain in its extension and establishment; a liberty which makes man FREE [sic] on whatever soil he treads, and under whatever government he lives; and which, if by the favor of Providence, it should become as universal as the elective franchise would secure the civil liberty and the happiness of our country, and make the United States the example and ornament of the human race. Every conscientious and careful Student in the common walks of life is a specimen of such a freedom—The freedom of the mind. If there had not been many such, our civil freedom would never have been either conceived or realized; and if it should be perverted or lost, it will be because their number and worth have not increased with the growth and necessities of the country. [vii] The Lyceum, is a hall of patriotism for the Union, and improvement; for the influence and increase of such freemen, which will do more for the cause of civil liberty, than the caucuses of party politics. For if the plans are carried into execution, if its designs prevail, it will produce a community, which the sophistry of party zeal will not long assail, because it cannot with its fickle light be forever exciting and misguiding them: over which ignorance and baseness would not dare to rule, even if such a people would construct a ladder for their ascent to the heights of office. Let us hope that the Master-spirits of our country, will become the leaders and guides of the people in their struggles for deliverance from mental bondage—in their [aspirations] and efforts for mental freedom; that the time may be hastened on, for laying the top-stone of the temple of our liberty: and that the dangers which threaten its unfinished walls may be forever averted. The finishing and the securing of this whole structure, will not be accomplished by the [viii] preparations and skirmishes of party warfare nor by grand battles [every four years]; nor by repairing and renewing our constitutions, but by renewing and creating those mental habits which alone can make self-government the glory and happiness of any people. Let us hope that every town and village will find within itself, not only candidates worthy to represent the predominant party in the state legislature, and to sustain the minor offices of civil society, but men released from the bondage of the mind; who shall be examples, and advocates and aids of mental freedom. And that those whom divine Providence has blessed with higher opportunities, will neither bury themselves in professional duties; nor vent all their patriotism in aspiring for high official station, but by an example of liberal studies, and by exciting the exchange of thought, and by laying their hand upon the great Lever of public opinion, possess and exert a power which is not gained in the halls of state—or national legislation—in the [ix] Cabinet or in the Presidential chair. That they will exert an influence upon the public welfare, which shall endure for ages and command the gratitude of the present and future generations. Wareham, Mass., March 15th, 1830.” [v-ix]
“Lecture I. American Opportunity. We are all familiar with the praise that among ourselves is lavished upon the condition of the American people. Every child knows and adopts the popular sentiment, that ours is the happiest nation on the globe. I fear that we are guilty in this matter of an inconsiderate vanity, which withholds the glory of our mercies from God’s good Providence and prevents us from receiving their full benefit.” [2] . . . “It may be questioned whether our equality of rank forms an important part of our moral and mental opportunity, except as it tends to perpetuate our means of knowledge; but if it be, we must look at that facility of intercourse, which thus exists, and which gives opportunity for a free circulation of all that is good and useful through the entire mass, and at that motive to the highest exertions which it applies to every mind. . . . In every view, the framework of our society, as our proper inheritance from our ancestors, gives the opportunity for mental improvement; not by means of giving us indolence and luxury, but by putting it in our power to possess ourselves of the wisdom of all human experience. So that nothing is in the way of our becoming, en masse, a refined, intelligent, and virtuous nation.” [16] . . . “If we would preserve the blessings of our own inheritance, and show an example to all nations that shall allure them to substantial blessings, we must add to our exhibition of free constitutions, a display of the freedom of the mind. With all the civil immunities of the nobility and gentry of other nations, we must show, that it is possible, on our broad table land to acquire the intelligence, the urbanity, the refinement, which may be found among the finest specimens of noble birth. Let us show to the enslaved nations that they have a nobler battle to fight than against Kings and Emperors; that if, they will establish a liberty which will set them free, whatever be their outward form of government, they must assert and vindicate the freedom of the mind.” [30] . . . “Lecture II. Leisure in the Midst of Business. This Lyceum was formed and we are now met together in the true spirit of our republican institutions. We have come up from our farms, our mechanic shops, and our counters. I may even say also, from our needles and our housewifery, to assert our claim to a true republican freedom, the freedom of the mind. We have come to appropriate to ourselves, the uses and ornaments of true science and philosophy. We believe that the privilege and glory of our country consist, in the expansion and improvement of the public soul; and not in the mere extension of the elective franchise, which fools and knaves can enjoy in common with wise and honest men. We hold by our political constitution our civil freedom, but we will not consider the blessing of our condition complete, until we unite with it the freedom of our minds, and expatiate without restraint in the fields of science and philosophy.” [32] . . . “The false and enslaving maxim which is to be considered this evening is that men of business and toil have no leisure for study and improvement. This maxim takes it for granted that the avocations and toils of life are so numerous and constant, as to prevent any regular and sufficient intervals for study and improvement; or that intervals of sufficient length and regularity are rendered useless by the unavoidable distractions and fatigues which they occasion. [Thus,] in our country, study and improvement are considered for the most part as the proper business of the learned professions, whose whole time in youth and manhood is separated to intellectual leisure. This is chain enough. If those who are occupied in the proper business concerns of life, and its severest toils, have no time for study, then the great mass of society is doomed to mental degradation; and the independence of the mind can never be declared, until the day is more than twenty-four hours long. [36] . . . Suppose that twelve hours be spent in labor, eight in sleep, two in meals and recreation, are there not two hours left in every twenty-four? We ask for one of those two hours to be devoted to study, hard study, leaving the other for lighter occupations; study from day to day and from year to year. . . . Each one must find it for himself. If he has not yet found it, and asks where it is, we tell him to look for it among his hours of vacancy, which most men, by habit, waste unconsciously, and without conscience.” [36-37] . . . “Lecture III. Self Improvement. . . . Indeed it is the proper business of the schools to develop the principles of self-improvement; and not to complete a mere mechanical education. That pupil is badly educated, who leaves his teachers with the impression that his education is finished.” [53] . . . “Lecture IV. Mental Pleasures Open to the Public. . . . Intellectual pleasures are worthy of still higher regard [than mere conversation or personal correspondence], because they combine with and exalt those of morals and religion. Instead of withdrawing us from the highest and most enduring pleasures of which we are capable, they harmonize with them, and both exalt and are exalted by them. For science in her place does but lead the mind forth to more full discoveries of the wisdom and goodness of God; and religion does but carry it back with every [83] fresh accession of knowledge, to adore, and love, and praise him. . . . Let us hail the Lyceum as the safeguard of the country. It prepares no amusement to dissipate and weaken the mind. It arranges and fills no seat of the scornful; it spreads no board; it fills no cup of intemperate indulgence. But, without force or clamor by its books, its apparatus, its lectures, its conversations, it leads them forth to the fountains of refinement, of intellectual light, or moral renovation.” [82-83] . . . “Lecture V. The Claims of the Rising Generation. The chief inducement to studious habits is that they fit us to be useful; that in proportion to the improvement of one’s faculties, and the furniture of one’s mind, he may expect to be useful to all the interests of society. . . . We ought as Christians, as patriots, as neighbors, as parents, and even as brothers and sisters, to consider it as motive enough, that by the careful cultivation of our own minds, we may be more useful to society, to our families, our kindred, our neighbors, our country, and the world.” [84] . . . “The Lyceum is admirably fitted to cooperate with our political and circumstantial facilities, in recovering our families and common schools from their present condition. For its object is to unite the whole people in the acquisition and diffusion of agreeable and useful knowledge. Let us make the Lyceum a Central Academy; where we may mutually teach and be taught; where the most enlightened of us may come to a fountain of more light; and where with all our ignorance we may meet a light so soft and gentle that it shall not hurt our mental eye.” [98] . . . “The like necessity exists with reference to that professional worth, which should pervade with benign influence, families and schools and all the relations and divisions of society. It is not enough, that professional men have had the advantage of studying the rudiments of general knowledge and the theories of their own particular professions. How likely if they mix mainly with the unenlightened and unrefined, that they will forget as rapidly as possible, all that is not called into use by the routine of their [100] professions?” [99-100] . . . “Lecture VI. The Demands of Business. It is owing to the want of just views of the demands of our complicated nature that men are wont to limit the question of utility, to what [serves] one’s livelihood. . . . [In reality,] it is not possible to separate our moral and intellectual culture from a most useful influence upon the common affairs and business of life. Every man in proportion to his mental improvement, is so [102] much better prepared to turn to good account all the favorable circumstances of his lot, and to obviate the difficulties which more or less, sooner or later, beset every path of life. The habit of daily study, places the mind in the fittest condition for a skilful and willing attention to business. . . . No doubt that owing to false principles, or special personal defects in character, there may be cases of a disrelish for business, created by scientific pursuits; though I apprehend the specimens are less numerous than the objection supposes. While on the other hand, scores of instances might be quoted of persons, who were previously indolent, becoming by means of mental training more fitted to a business activity. Few men of reading and study are drones in their proper business. Most idlers in business are idle in the care of their minds. [103] . . . In the progress of improvement [in learning], labor even in the field and in the shop would cease to be a stigma—and the temptation to shun it, which human pride feels would be no more; and he who should aspire to be a gentleman and to enjoy the society of gentlemen, would attain it by a more sensible course, than by quitting his shop and his field.” [101-103] . . . “Lecture VII. The Freedom of the Mind Made Perfect. I cannot separate the freedom of the mind, from that moral liberty which a sinner needs and needs forever. That is no just philosophy that gives to a creature an independent wisdom; or to immortal beings, but the promise of life that now is. Such philosophy is a mockery, and will disappoint the man or the community or the whole train of dying generations who may follow its deceiving light. That is the true philosophy which leads the mind to the communion with its Maker; which opens the eye to behold Him in his works and in his word, and inclines the heart to repose upon his favor and to follow his pilgrimage of life and forever; which aims at pervading the entire people with hearty trust in the ALMIGHTY [sic]; at conveying the freeman of earth, to the freedom of immortality. To this true philosophy, a philosophy for time and for eternity, intellectual culture is subservient; and the highest motive to the self-improvement we have urged, and for promoting the improvement of others, is its tendency to spiritual and [119] everlasting blessings—to a liberty that will have no end. I have already referred to the Bible as a textbook for intellectual improvement. . . . The doctrines and precepts of the Bible are revealed to us in connection with the history and customs of antiquity, and offer as the rewards of extensive and various historical research a more distinct outline and brighter light. . . . Thus are we called forth into the boundless paths of natural science, a means of apprehension and impression of the transforming truths of God.” [118-119] . . . “And oh, let us turn in horror from that deceptive philosophy [130] which confines us to this world, from which we are so soon to pass away; which withdraws us in our impurity from the fountain of Purity; and which will deliver us uncleaned [sic] into the bosom of Eternity; and will make us base and wicked spirits forever; and which if this generation shall give its character to those which follow, will make our growing country a more and more gloomy theatre of preparation for an eternity of sin and woe. But we are not the advocates of that deceptive Philosophy. The Lyceum is no temple of another God that made not the heavens and the earth; but we would enter it as the vestibule of the temple of the Lord God of Hosts.” [129-130] . . . “The Lyceum speaks with a Christian tongue when it calls you to the freedom of the mind; to a freedom which will pass the grave and endure eternity. How commanding the motive, which calls us to study intently, earnestly, progressively, the works and word of Him who is calling us upwards to his temple, to go no more out forever—where we shall increase in knowledge, and where our faculties will expand forever. Let us escape from the slavery that enchains us now—from our intellectual, above all from our moral bondage. LET THE SOUL HAVE SCOPE, THAT ETHEREAL SPIRIT WHICH WILL SOAR FOREVER. THE END” [131]
Lydia Maria Child, The American Frugal Housewife, Dedicated to Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy, by Mrs. Child (Boston: Carter, Hendee, 1832), 130 pp.
“The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments, so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of time, as well as materials. Nothing should be thrown away so long as it is possible to make any use of it, however trifling that use may be; and whatever be the size of a family, every member should be employed either in earning or saving money. ‘Time is money.’ [1] . . . “If you are about to furnish a house, do not spend all your money, be it much or little. Do not let the beauty of this thing, the cheapness of that, tempt you to buy unnecessary articles. . . . Buy merely enough to get along with at first. It is only by experience that you can tell what will be the wants of your family. If you spend all your money, you will find you have purchased many things you do not want. If you have enough, and more than enough, to get everything suitable to your situation, do not think you must spend it all, merely because you happen to have it. Begin humbly. As riches increase, it is easy and pleasant to increase in hospitality and splendor; but it is always painful and inconvenient to decrease. After all, these things are viewed in the proper light by the truly judicious and respectable. . . . These qualities are always praised, and always treated with respect and attention. The consideration which many purchase by living beyond their income, and of course living upon others, is not worth the trouble it costs. The glare there is about this false and wicked parade is deceptive; it does not in fact procure a man valuable friends, or extensive influence. More than than, it is wrong—morally wrong, so far as the individual is concerned; and injurious beyond calculation to the interests [6] of our country. To what are the increasing beggary and discouraged exertions of the present period owing? A multitude of causes have no doubt tended to increase the evil; but the root of the whole matter is the extravagance of all classes of people. We never shall be prosperous till we make pride and vanity yield to the dictates of honesty and prudence! We shall never be free from embarrassment until we cease to be ashamed of industry and economy. Let women do their share towards reformation—Let their fathers and husbands see them happy without finery; and if their husbands and fathers have (as is often the case) a foolish pride in seeing them decorated, let them gently and gradually check this feeling, by showing that they have better and surer means of commanding respect—Let them prove, by the exertion of ingenuity and economy, that neatness, good taste, and gentility, are attainable without great expense.” [5-6] . . . “There is one kind of extravagance rapidly increasing in this country, which, in its effects on our purses and our habits, is one of the worst kinds of extravagance; I mean the rage for traveling, and for public amusements. The good old home habits of our ancestors are breaking up—it will be well if our virtue and freedom do not follow them! It is easy to laugh at such prognostics—and we are well aware that the virtue we preach is considered almost obsolete—but let any reflecting mind inquire how decay has begun in all republics, and then let them calmly ask themselves whether we are in no danger, departing thus rapidly from the simplicity and industry of our forefathers. Nations do not plunge at once into ruin—governments do not change suddenly—the causes which bring about the final blow, are scarcely perceptible in the beginning; but they increase in numbers, and in power. They press harder and harder upon the energies and virtues of a people; and the last steps only are alarmingly hurried and irregular. A republic without industry, economy, and integrity, is Samson shorn of his locks. A luxurious and idle republic! Look at the phrase!—The words were never made to be married together; everybody sees it would be death to one of them. And are not we becoming luxurious and idle? Look at out steamboats, and stages, and taverns! There you will find mechanics, who have left debts and employment to take care of themselves, while they go take a peep at the great canal or the opera dancers. There you will find domestics all agog for their wages-worth of traveling; why should they look out for ‘a rainy day?’ There are hospitals enough to provide for them in sickness; and as for marrying, they have no idea of that, till they can find a man who will support them genteelly. There you will find mothers, who have left the children at home with Betsey, while they go to improve their minds at the Mountain House, or the Springs. [100] If only the rich did this, all would be well. They benefit others, and do not injure themselves. In any situation, idleness is their curse, and uneasiness is the tax they must pay for their affluence. But their restlessness is as great a benefit to the community as the motions of Prince Esterhazy, when at every step the pearls drop from his coat. People of modest fortune have just as good a right to travel as the wealthy; but is it not unwise? Do they not injure themselves and their families? You say traveling is cheap. So is staying at home. Besides, do you count all the costs? . . . Children are perhaps left with domestics, or strangers, their health and morals, to say the least, under very uncertain influence. Your substance is wasted in your absence by those who have no self-interest to prompt them to carefulness. You form an acquaintance with a multitude of people, who will be sure to take your house in their way, when they travel next year. Finally, you become so accustomed to excitement, that home appears insipid, and it requires no small effort to return to the quiet routine of your duties. And what do you get in return for all this? Some pleasant scenes, which will soon seem to you like a dream; some pleasant faces, which you will never see again; and much of crowd, and toil, and dust, and bustle.” [99-100] . . . “However, it is not our farmers, who are in the greatest danger of this species of extravagance; for we look to that class of people, as the strongest hold of republican simplicity, industry, and virtue. It is from adventurers, swindlers, broken down traders—all that rapidly increasing class of idlers, too genteel to work, and too proud to beg—that we have most reason to dread examples of extravagance. A very respectable tavern keeper has lately been driven to establish a rule, that no customer shall be allowed to rise from the table till he pays for his meal. ‘I know it is rude to give such orders to honest men,’ said he, ‘and three years ago I would as soon cut off my hand as have done it; but now, traveling is so cheap, that all sorts of [103] characters are on the move; and I find that more than half of them will get away, if they can, without paying a cent.’ With regard to public amusements, it is still worse. Rope dancers, and opera dancers, and all sorts of dancers, go through the country, making thousands as they go; while, from high to low, there is one universal, despairing groan of ‘hard times,’ ‘dreadful gloomy times!’ These things ought not to be. People who have little to spend, should partake sparingly of useless amusements; those who are in debt should deny themselves entirely. Let me not be supposed to inculcate exclusive doctrines. I would have every species of enjoyment as open to the poor as the rich; but I would have people consider well how they are likely to obtain the greatest portion of happiness, taking the whole of their lives in view. I would not have them sacrifice permanent respectability and comfort to present gentility and love of excitement; above all, I caution them to beware that this love of excitement does not grow into habit, till the fireside becomes a dull place, and the gambling table and the barroom finish what the theatre began. . . . We make a great deal of talk about being republicans. If we are so in reality, we shall stay at home, to mind our business, and educate our children, so long as one or the other need our attention, or can suffer by our neglect.” [102-103]
Brief Statement of Facts in Relation to the Western Railroad, [from its beginning in 1833 to] February 6, 1841 (Massachusetts, 1841), 15 pp.
“Charter. Dated Mar 15, 1833—to construct a Railroad from the Worcester road, through Springfield to the western boundary of the State. Capital stock—not less than one, nor more than two millions. After ten years from completion, a right in the legislature to reduce tolls on certain conditions. After twenty years, Legislature may purchase the road, by paying cost and ten percent net annual income. No other railroad to be granted from Worcester or Milbury to the county of Hampden, or from Springfield to the County of Berkshire, within thirty years: with power to make branches from the main road to any places in the towns through which the road passes, or the towns adjoining the same; also to make a branch to the southern boundary of the State, to meet a road from New Haven and Hartford. In 1835, private individuals made extensive surveys from Worcester to Springfield, and collected statistics of business and freight. [4] In June, 1835, books for subscription to the stock were opened in various parts of the State, and in New York, Hudson, and Albany. Great efforts were made for several weeks; but little was subscribed. In the autumn of 1835, public meetings were held in Faneuil Hall and other parts of the State—THE PATRIOTISM OF THE WHOLE COMMUNITY APPEALED TO—EACH TOWN WAS DIVIDED INTO DISTRICTS—COMMITTEES WERE APPOINTED IN EACH, AND PERSONAL APPLICATION MADE TO EVERY CITIZEN. In December 1835, two millions of stock had been subscribed. January, 1836, the Corporation was organized, and the stockholders directed an application to the Legislature for aid. April 4, 1836, the capital stock was increased to three million, and the Treasurer of the State directed to subscribe for one million of the stock, and to pay the State’s share on each assessment, when seventy-five per cent of the same assessment had been paid by individuals; one third of the Directors to be chosen by the State. Prior to February, 1838, the Stockholders had been required to pay assessments . . . equal to $600,000. By act of February 21, 1838, the credit of the State was granted, in aid of the Western Railroad for $2,100,000 on the condition the stockholders should be assessed $300,000. By the act of March 23, 1839, the credit of the State was granted, in further aid of the Western Railroad, for $1,200,000 on condition that the Stockholders should lay further assessments, for $300,000 and on condition that the State should elect four Directors, out of the nine which compose the Board and on condition also that the State should have [5] the right to take (at any time it so elects) the Road, by paying its cost—and also paying seven per cent [to the Stockholders] on said cost, first deducting from said cost the amount of State Script, which the State might pay or assume to pay and deducting any Dividends received by Stockholders. In result, then, the total amount to be paid in by the stockholders (and which all is paid in, except a trifling amount) is . . . $1,200,000, and the total amount furnished by the credit of the State is $3,300,000, and if the State furnish the Loan, now petitioned for, $1,000,000, the amount invested, in the Property pledged to the State, will be $5,500,000, on which the State will have loaned its credit, in all, for $4,300,000. In other words, it will be, in effect, the same as loaning seventy-eight percent on one of the best built Railroads in the world—which Railroad is so situated, as to make its triumphant success certain. It is therefore a Loan of the safest character. A Loan of ninety percent on the Stock of the Nashua or New Bedford or Worcester or Lowell or Eastern Railroad is readily taken by our most cautious Loaners [sic], now that these Roads are completed, although while in construction, such Loans on the Stock of these very Roads were difficult to be obtained and although three of these very Roads found themselves under the necessity of asking aid of the State, while the Roads were yet unfinished. . . . The Stock of these three Railroads, although now above par, could not, at the time, [6] have been sold without great sacrifice. The aid of the State has thus protected the men of enterprise and of moderate means, from this sacrifice, and has cost no loss to the State. . . .” [3-6]
E. P. Swift, Misdirection of Physical and Intellectual Effort: Annual Address to the Franklin and Philo Literary Societies of Jefferson College, PA Delivered . . . September 28, 1837 (Pittsburgh PA: William Allinder, 1838), 23 pp.
“A great nation, to whom in such times as these, and when there seems to open a prospect of redirecting the energies of man all over the earth, once more to the wise and just pursuits of his political and religious happiness and welfare, is given the high honor of testing the practicality of self-government, should doubtless be deeply sensible of its eventful career, as acting not only for itself and remote posterity, but for the entire family of man. We have fixed the deepest brand of infamy upon the odious usurpations of despotic power, and the princely domination [over the people]. . . . We have sounded to the utmost corners of the earth, the trumpet of freedom, and offered ourselves not only as a brilliant [21] example of what patriotism and principle can do, but as pioneer and leader in the march of universal independence. . . . Let us indulge the supposition, that amidst all dangers and fluctuations, this republic stands firm and unshaken, the home of religion and the abode of enterprise, science, and political happiness. If so, what, according to the established course of comparative growth, and improvement, will be its aspect at the end of one century from this day? What will be the number and resources—the results of industry and education of the American people; and their relative influence on the world, one hundred years hence, if their growth and internal order, and enterprise, and expansive religious effort for the world becomes as falls fairly within the compass of human possibility? I shall enter upon no numerical calculations here, as to the increase of population and wealth—of colleges, and schools, and churches, and moral and intellectual power. But if I may ask, what may this spot may then become in its intellectual treasures, in the associations of alumni scattered in their persons or descendents over every part of this country, and every unevangelized [sic] clime on earth? . . .” [20-21]
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Address . . . By the Committee . . .to Have Charge of the Subject of Slavery (Philadelphia: John Richards, 1839), 12 pp.
“Minutes . . . appointing the Committee to have charge of the subject of Slavery, 17th May 1839: ‘A concern being spread before this meeting on subjects connected with the welfare of the people of color, both bond and free; and it being believed that an advantage would arise not only to that deeply injured people, but also to those who hold them in bondage, as well as to the support of our Christian testimony against Slavery; from the appointment of a Committee to take charge of the subject generally; upon consideration, a Committee of four Friends from each Quarterly Meeting was appointed, to unite with women Friends in attending to the concern as way may open, and to report to our next Yearly Meeting.’ Extracted from the Minutes, Benjamin Price, Jr., Clerk.” [3] . . . “That conflicting opinions, as to the course proper to be pursued, do now exist in our Society, is obvious. But if we, as a people, dwell near the fountain of Divine Goodness, we shall be equally preserved from apathy and negligence on the one hand, as from intemperate zeal and creaturely activity on the other; so that in the peaceable spirit and wisdom of Jesus, all may join in harmonious labor, as with the heart of one man. [9] Within a few years, great events have occurred in relation to Slavery, and much light has been spread on the subject. The experience derived from emancipation in the British West Indies, has opened a new era. In the midst of violent opposition, the great truth has been successfully realized, that liberated slaves may with safety immediately become freemen; and that the actual interests of their former masters, as well as their own, may be greatly promoted by the change. On this point as well as others, it is thought much benefit would result from spreading correct information among all our members; fully believing that as Friends are apprized of well authenticated facts, connected with this deeply affecting question as it now stands, that their interest and zeal will also increase in the promotion of our righteous testimony against Slavery; and as we reverently seek for Divine direction under an humbling sense of our own weakness, we shall be brought near each other in the unity of the Spirit, which is the bond of peace. Although we would avoid entering far into particular views, yet there is one portion of our southern brethren on whose account our sympathetic feelings are called forth. While we have painful evidence that a great body of slaveholders are [10] influenced by injustice and cruelty, while they stiffen their necks, and harden their hearts, against all entreaties on behalf of their oppressed slaves, we believe this is far from being the case with all who hold their fellow creatures in bondage. There are many whose consciences are burdened by a system that they derived from their ancestors, who find themselves surrounded by iniquitous and restraining laws against Emancipation. A swift witness in the soul assures them that their obedience in this instance to the laws of man, is a fearful violation of the law of God. These feel the want of kind and judicious advisers to aid in extricating them from their tried situation. Self-interest might prompt them speedily to free themselves from difficulty; the money of the slave trader is temptingly held up before them; but humanity shudders at the thought; they cannot separate the tender ties of family connection among their slaves; they dare not receive the price of blood. . . . We believe they are fervently desiring the deliverance of master and slave, from the bondage to which both are subjected. . . .” [8-10]
John H. Gourlie, An Address Delivered Before the Mercantile Library Association . . . January 8, 1839 (New York: James Van Norden, 1839), 20 pp.
“‘We, the subscribers, Merchants’ Clerks of the city of New York, being desirous to adopt the most efficient means to facilitate mutual intercourse; to extend our information upon mercantile and other subjects of general ability; promote a spirit of useful inquiry, and qualify ourselves to discharge with dignity the duties of our profession and the social offices of life, have associated ourselves for the purpose of establishing a Library and Reading Room, to be appropriated to the use of young men engaged in mercantile pursuits . . .’” [6] . . . “It may surprise many, that any serious opposition was raised against the establishment of a Mercantile Library; but such was the fact, and it required the strenuous efforts of its friends to force it into the approbation of the public. Its practical advantages were doubted by some, who feared it would have a tendency to divert the attention of the young men from their professional duties; and for this reason they withheld their support and approbation. A few years, however, removed these unfounded prejudices, and the patrons of the institution increased both in zeal and numbers, and by their friendly aid and council its objects were greatly promoted. . . . [8] The Annual Report of this year [1838] informs us that the Library contained 3,300 volumes, and that the members were in number of between 600 and 700. . . . The Librarian informs us, that the number of books taken annually from the Library, amounted to twenty-five thousand! . . . At this period, a course of Lectures on various subjects was commenced by eminent scientific men. This system of instruction has been continued from year to year, and so universally popular has it become, that it has been found impossible to accommodate the public demand for admission into our Lecture Hall. We are therefore reluctantly compelled to confine the advantages of our lectures, almost exclusively, to our own members, for whose benefits they were at first instituted.” [7-9] . . . “The responsibilities that will devolve upon you, as merchants and citizens, call upon you to cultivate those pursuits that tend to elevate your minds and increase your knowledge. You all have more or less leisure to devote to reading and study, and here the opportunities of improvement are beautifully furnished. It is not necessary, indeed, that a merchant should be a literary man; but I venture to assert, that no merchant can ever attain the highest honors of his profession, unless he is essentially a reading man. Nor need he confine himself to the study of mere statistical information; he may refine and elevate his tastes, by a discriminate application of a portion of his time to the classical authors of his language, and I do not see why he may not make a profitable or a shrewd bargain, although he may devote an hour daily to the study of the English poets. The pursuit of wealth is not, or should not be, the sole object of the merchant. Where that is the engrossing principle of action, the mind becomes depraved, and the powers within us are paralyzed, and we sink into a position below contempt. To such as pursue wealth as an end, and not as the means of obtaining happiness, the hours of commercial adversity (which in this country too frequently overshadow the hopes of the merchant) come with tenfold horror. Without that intellectual and moral energy which enables the cultivated man to meet and subdue his misfortunes, they sink beneath the blow, and frequently end their days in madness and despair. Pursue wealth, then, with a higher and nobler purpose.” [18]
C.S. Henry, The Position and Duties of the Educated Men of the Country: A Discourse . . . Geneva College, August 5, 1840 (New York: Robert Craighead, 1840), 47 pp.
“Young Gentlemen of the Literary Societies of Geneva College: . . . [4] It will not be questioned that the scholars of our country have a special vocation, which is determined by all that constitutes the peculiar characteristics of our county and of our age. It is incumbent on us, therefore, to comprehend the spirit of our country and of our age. We are to remember that we have fallen on the nineteenth century and not on the twelfth—that we live in America, not Austria. I do not mean that we should not understand the Past. Unless we understand the Past, we cannot understand the Present; for the Present is born of the Past. Nor do I mean that we should not seek to understand the most general spirit of the world, as well as of the country in which we live; for our [5] country stands in manifold relations with other countries, and, rightly considered, moreover, there are, in every age, pulsations which throb throughout the heart of universal Humanity. Still, it is to the actual mind and heart of our own country we must speak, if we mean to live and speak to any purpose in our own times, or even the times that shall come after us. Rarely in the history of mankind is there to be found any great work of genius, of permanent and enduring influence, which has not borne the form and pressure of its age. . . . The educated class represents the liberal cultivation of the nation; to them, chiefly, belongs the duty of sustaining and cherishing the higher and more spiritual elements of social well-being. The manifold elements which compose the well-being of a nation may be comprehended under the [6] two fold division of ‘material or physical’, and ‘moral and spiritual.’ In the ‘material’ are included the means of physical support and comfort—food, clothing, and shelter; the security of personal property; the arts of life which serve to multiply and refine the sources of material enjoyment; in short, everything that relates to the useful or to the agreeable—everything that is implied in the proper meaning of the word ‘civilization.’ On the other hand, the ‘spiritual’ elements of national well being result from the unfolding and activity of the principles of man’s higher life, as a being capable of the Idea and Love of the True, the Beautiful, and the Good—capable of discerning that these words relate to objects having a reality and a worth beyond all material objects, a value independent of all consequences of private advantage. Hence, among the ‘spiritual’ elements of social welfare are to be reckoned the pursuits of pure science; the productions of creative Art; the sense also of justice, honor, patriotism, loyalty, and reverence; and the heroic spirit that can dare and endure for unselfish ends; in short, every thing that is implied in the ‘culture’ of a nation as distinguished from its mere ‘civilization.’ [7] To the proper well being of a nation it is essential that these elements should exist in a due and proportionate blending. It is indispensable that the ‘material’ should be subordinated to the ‘moral’ interests. . . . Yet it is the infirmity of our corrupted nature that the sensual life, as in individuals so in nations, is ever tending to predominate over the spiritual. In our country this tendency is prodigiously increased by causes connected with the physical growth of our country, and with the working of our political institutions. . . .” [3-7] “Now, looking at the condition of our country at this moment, have we nothing to fear? I do not quarrel with the prodigious growth of the elements of physical prosperity. I only ask, whether we have not reason to dread an overgrowth? Is not our danger on this side? I know there are many who have no other idea of national well being than riches and greatness. So that a people can subdue the earth to serve the turn of their worldly uses; so that they can accumulate wealth and the means of enjoyment—that is the extent of their solicitude. They laugh at all this talk about the higher and more spiritual elements of social welfare. I thank God I am not of the number of such persons. [14] . . . If God has planted us in a richer land, I do not see but we may unfold and appropriate its manifold resources, without neglecting the culture of our higher life. We may dwell on the earth, and thrive; yet we need not be mere thriving earthworms. We may follow worldly callings, and yet not be worldly-minded. We may possess and enjoy wealth, without sinking into the life of mere material enjoyment. The danger is great, it is true; but corruption is not the necessary [15] result of physical prosperity. . . . Let us now for a moment advert to the working of our political institutions; for in this respect our country presents a spectacle no less remarkable than in its physical growth. . . . I am of no political party; and I shall not speak of party questions, but of principles and of the tendencies of principles, common to all parties; and perhaps may say some things which to neither party will be [16] entirely acceptable.” [13-16] . . . “The amount of the political rights of the majority, then, is this: that their will, when legally expressed, is decisive in regard to a certain number of questions submitted by the Constitution to a popular vote. So far therefore from constituting the State, a numerical majority of the people in their political action is simply an organic part of the State, just as the Legislative, Judiciary, and Executive, are organic parts of the Government; and its rights and powers, like theirs, are conferred, defined, and limited by the Constitution; and finally these rights and powers are inseparably linked with duties—the majority are bound to act within their limits, and to act conscientiously there. . . . [23] Whenever the people are told that there is any thing that they cannot rightfully do, their impulse is to feel indignant, as if some monstrous outrage were perpetrated against the sacred principles of eternal justice, which they were called upon to avenge. To differ from the popular opinion seems to them a crime—a thing to be punished. They cannot understand that you have as good a right to your opinion, as they to theirs; that they differ from you, as much as you do from them. In proof that this is so, go and address the popular political assemblages of our county. Tell them that you honestly believe it to be a possible thing that there shall not be wisdom and virtue enough in the nation to make the experiment of self-government successful; and nine cases out of ten you provoke their displeasure, not merely for being bold enough to utter an unpopular doctrine, but as being guilty of treason against the sacred principles of freedom. Tell them that you think it best for the popular good, and therefore right, that the popular will should be checked by constitutional restraints; and ten to one [24] you will be hustled from the stand as an aristocrat, a monarchist, an enemy of the people. . . . From this erroneous and exaggerated notion of Rights, and this feeble sense of Duties, it is easy to see to what dangers we are exposed. When the people feel as if the cause of popular rights, as they understand them—that is, the right of the majority to do just what it pleases—is not their own [25] cause, but the cause of every thing most sacred, of Truth, of Freedom, and of God; what protection has society against licentious abuses of power? In private life, the man who does everything he has a right to do, in the sense of the word now in question—that is, everything which the Law will not punish him for doing—is a villain. That we are not cursed with such villains at every turn in life, we owe to the influence of conscience and the power of opinion. But what protection is there in conscience, or in public opinion against the unjust acting of a people firmly believing in the Divine Right of a majority to have its own way at all events? How much is the responsibility of a multitude felt by the individuals that compose it? . . .” [22-25] Enterprise, Insolvency, and Social Justice The Debtor’s Friend, Or Religious Advice to Persons Imprisoned for Debt (Boston: Cummings & Hilliard, 1813), 15 pp.
“Liberty is justly esteemed the choicest of human blessings; the loss of it must therefore be considered one of the greatest misfortunes of life. . . . It has sometimes happened, that the prisoner confined for debt, has been brought into this unhappy situation, without having any reasons to charge himself with negligence, imprudence, extravagance, or dishonesty. In a commercial country, so various, so sudden, so unexpected are the turns of affairs in the life of the tradesman, especially if has been his misfortune to fall into bad hands, that he may find himself totally unable to satisfy the just demands of his creditors; he may also be so unhappy as not to be able to convince them of his integrity . . . [1]
New York City Chamber of Commerce, Memorial Praying for a General System of Bankruptcy, 18th U. S. Congress, 1st Session, December 31, 1823, Read, and ordered to lie upon the table (Washington DC: Gales & Seaton, 1823), 5 pp. “To the Senate and House of Representative in Congress assembled:
Without a general bankrupt law, all of the creditors of a merchant who fails, have not an equal chance of receiving a dividend from his estate. When a merchant’s affairs become embarrassed in any of our commercial cities (the practice is so uniform that it has become a perfect system,) he assigns all his property, in the first place, to pay his confidential friends, who have lent him their names and their money, and thus given him false credit, which has been the means of imposing upon others . . . and his honest business creditors get nothing.” [4]
Jonathan M. Wainwright, Inequality of Individual Wealth the Ordinance of Providence, and Essential to Civilization: A Sermon . . . January 7, 1835 (Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1835), 60 pp.
“Dr. Wainwright’s Annual Election Sermon. [cover] A Sermon Preached Before His Excellency John Davis, Governor, His Honor Samuel T. Armstrong, Lieutenant Governor, the Honorable Council, and the Legislature of Massachusetts . . . By the Rector of Trinity Church, Boston.” [title page] “The poor shall never cease out of the land. (Deuteronomy, xv. 11.) From these words we must of necessity infer that there existed amongst the Jews a marked inequality in the distribution of wealth; and, moreover, that this condition of things was not accidental or temporary, but was to be regarded by them as perpetual. The same prominent feature being equally discernable in our own and in all other communities of civilized men, two questions obviously claim our attention First, is this distinction between the rich and the poor essential to the improvement and happiness of man, or may we anticipate its removal at some future period, and under some more favorable combination of the elements of the social compact? And [secondly], if we cannot reasonably look forward to its removal, but are constrained to believe that it is a distinction arising out of the nature of man and the present order of God’s providence, can such a [6] conclusion be adduced as an argument against the wisdom and goodness of that great Being who created man, and hath determined the bounds of his habitation? (Acts, xvii. 26) . . . I am aware that it is a difficult and delicate one to treat of, and also that it may require the introduction of topics not generally regarded as with the province of preachers of the gospel.* *Appendix A. Why should not ministers of religion, as well as the other members of the community, take a lively interest in those studies that relate to civil society and unfold the principles upon which its advancement and happiness in temporal things mainly depend? But not to the physical condition of man, does the science of Political Economy, properly considered, have sole or chief reference; his moral and intellectual improvement is deeply involved in almost every discussion connected with it. Moreover Christianity is eminently the religion of civilized man, and will only consent to live and flourish in connection with civilization. It sets in motion all the elements that improve the social condition, and reciprocally is itself advanced or retarded by the movement of the community into which it is introduced. . . . [56] I refer to the present Archbishop of Dublin. . . . In the preface to his lectures on Political Economy while Professor of this department at the University of Oxford, Professor Whately avows, that his chief inducement to offer himself as a candidate for his chair in the University, and his first object in his course of introductory lectures, were to remove the prejudices against Political Economy, existing in the minds of some persons as being inimical to religion. . . .” [55-56] “As, however, the civil authorities of the State must be supposed to acknowledge the truth and [excellence] of religion, when they come to the house of God annually, in solemn form, as the opening act of their session, it would seem to be a fit opportunity to exhibit religion in what may be called its temporal aspect, as advancing and sustaining principles essential to the welfare and happiness of civil society. This I conceive it does, when it recognizes and sanctions the principle of inequality in the distribution of wealth among men; and when it declares, both in express terms, and by the particular duties it enjoins on the rich and on the poor, that this is to be acquiesced in as a permanent condition of society. But it may be said, that religion recognizes and [7] sanctions many other things, which, in the present advanced state of knowledge and morals, are either not essential to the welfare of civil society, or else are absolutely detrimental to its true interests; as, for example, a kingly government, and the condition of slavery. It is incumbent therefore upon the advocate of religion, who believes that the declaration of the text will remain true while this state of probation lasts, to vindicate the Divine Benevolence in this respect; and to show, that if it is ordained that the poor shall never cease out of the land, it is so ordained because such an appointment is essential to the true happiness and progressive improvement of the human family. . . . [8] Under every form of government, and in every varied state of society, distinctions, caused by the unequal distribution of wealth, have existed. Notwithstanding they have been often denounced as unjust and injurious, and efforts have repeatedly been made, both by legislative interference, and during the excitement of political commotions, to remove them; yet all has been unavailing. Nor have we any reason to believe that this condition of our being can be altered by any exertions of man, his own nature remaining what it is, and the arrangements of Divine Providence, in relation to him, continuing unchanged. Whilst one man is weak of body, and another possesses athletic strength; while the intelligence of one is dull and inactive, and that of another is bright and vigorous . . . ; [9] so long will the rich and poor meet together (Proverbs, xxii. 2.) in human society; and so long must we acknowledge that the Lord is the maker of them all. (Proverbs, xxii. 2.) These are causes sufficient to produce the effect, setting aside those that originate in the vices of men, as dissipated living, prodigality, improvidence, contrasted with the virtues of temperance, frugality, and prudence. But notwithstanding the clearest indications that such is the ordinance of an overruling Providence, yet there have never been wanting those who have inveighed against it, and have thus either openly or by inference, charged God foolishly. (Job, i. 22.) Some taking counsel of their own benevolent but visionary feelings, and wishing to distribute happiness more equally amongst men, have thought that this could be done by more nearly equalizing their outward condition; others have been incited by a restless impatience under their comparative inferiority, and have hoped to extend their own boundaries by removing the ancient landmarks (Proverbs, xxii. 28. Deut., xxvii. 17); others, again, impelled by inordinate and unprincipled ambition, have been ever eager to catch the ear and secure the favor of the unthinking multitude, by flattering their ignorant; prejudices, and inflaming their unhappy jealousies against those they esteem more favored by [10] fortune than themselves. We need not look to past ages, or to transatlantic countries, for such examples of enthusiastic and shortsighted benevolence on the one hand, or reckless and unprincipled avarice and ambition on the other. I do not think that in a community as intelligent as our own, and as well grounded in the great principles of moral and religious obligation, we are to apprehend any great danger from the prevalence of such false and pernicious doctrines. Still they should not be permitted to pass unnoticed. They should occasionally be brought forward to keep in general circulation the important considerations by which they are refuted; and they should uniformly be reprobated, not simply because they are speculatively untrue, but because they are at war with the permanent interests and the true happiness of society. . . . Is the human race then doomed forever to groan under the load of evils and miseries heaped upon society in consequence of exorbitant, heartless, and luxurious wealth, on the one hand, and abject and squalid poverty, on the other? . . . [11] God forbid! I would not by such and admission, imply a heavy suspicion against the doctrine of a wise and merciful superintending Providence. I draw a far different inference from the actual operations of this Providence, as we read them in the past history and present condition of the human race. I exult in the conviction that the whole tendency of civilized society is to improvement in knowledge, virtue, and happiness. I see the elements in vigorous activity, that are producing this effect, in the spread of the Gospel, the multiplication of the Bible, the diffusion of education, the progress of the temperance reformation, the prevailing conviction that peace is the greatest of earthly blessings to nations, and last of all, but by no means the least of all, in the increasing attention paid to that valuable science which is yet destined to shed innumerable blessings upon the family of man, Political Economy.** [6-11] **Appendix B. I do not think that I overrate the value of this science, when I place it not least amongst the means by which the human race is to be made wiser, better, and happier. The bettering the condition of man, is the very object to which it directs all its investigations, and if some of there appear at first view to be exclusively devoted to his temporal and perishing state of being, yet followed out into their legitimate connections and dependencies, they will be found to bear closely upon his [58] intellectual and immortal nature. . . .” [57-58] “Why may we not with joyful hope look forward, to a state of far greater and far more diffused happiness and prosperity than the present, in reserve for our children’s children, if not for ourselves or our immediate offspring? Why may we not even indulge a confident belief that they will find themselves in a community where depraved and reckless indigence will be unknown, or where if observed it will be regarded as a crime against society, and where neither suffering nor disgrace, nor any idea of unworthy inferiority will be attached to poverty—a community in which a man will be called poor, not because he is destitute of the means of a comfortable existence—not because rare and far distant opportunities are afforded him of relaxation [14] from severe toil for the purpose of bodily health, rational enjoyment, or mental cultivation—not because he is deprived of the means of giving to his offspring every advantage for education which the development of their faculties may render desirable—but poor simply by contrast with his neighbor who has been endued with firmer health, or a more active and enterprising mind, or who has enjoyed more favorable opportunities for the exercise of his powers. . . . [15] The power of God then acknowledged, we rely upon his goodness, justice and benevolence, to bring to pass in his own time, and by his own wise ordinances, the desirable changes in the social state to which we have just alluded. But are we led astray by a vain delusion, when we anticipate such results? Is imagination suggesting some idle dream of perfectibility that shall never be realized in the waking existence of man? We believe not. . . . [16] In such a state of society there will be heard no repining of the poor at the better success of the rich—no secret and corroding envy will be pent up in their breasts—no outbreak of mad and unprincipled efforts to reduce all to their own condition; and at the same time, there will be no glorying in the distinction that wealth confers, no hoarding it up for selfish gratification; but all members of society feeling that its laws and regulations have been just, and have given to each, as far as was practicable, equal opportunities for success, they will know that their respective conditions have been influenced by the providence of God; and the tendency of this conviction will be to render the poor man patient and contented, the rich humble, charitable and public spirited. . . . [17] Why may not a still greater improvement be effected, why may not all inequalities amongst men as to outward condition be removed, and as we are offspring of one common parent, why may we not hope that the human race will in process of time be prepared for an equal distribution of wealth, and that this consummation, so devoutly wished for by many, will be actually realized at the auspicious opening of some millennial age? Why? Because we believe that constituted as the world is, such a modification of the social relations would not be practicable, nor if practicable would it conduce to the virtue and happiness of men as individuals, or to the progress of society at large.” [13-17] . . . “But follow out the consequences resulting from diversity in the condition of men, and you will see accumulated reasons to assent to and admire this ordination of Providence. . . . If you oblige every man to be his own mechanic, farmer, manufacturer, and navigator, and to do his share of the magistracy upon some principle of rotation, it is obvious that we can none of us enjoy as many or as great advantages as we do under the present system; and it is equally obvious that all these various occupations receiving only the divided attention of an individual, must very fast go [26] backward, and the knowledge and dexterity, which men now possess in their various employments in proportion to the undivided attention they give to them, must be constantly and rapidly diminished. I take it for granted that no man, even in very modest circumstances, would choose to relinquish the comforts and conveniences he now possesses in his humble habitation. . . . Yet such would be the inevitable result were the benign and admirable principle of the division of labor be banished from society. How then is it to be maintained, but by holding forth to every man a stimulus to activity, ingenuity, and enterprise in the hope of bettering his condition. Many employments essential to the existence of civilized society are yet so unpleasant in themselves, that no one would undertake them but from the excitement of such a motive. But were all men to be made equal, and [27] were they obliged by the laws of society to continue so, there could be no such animating impulse to the exertion of our bodily or mental powers. . . . Strike this out of the social state and we should deteriorate year by year, till we dropped down to the degraded level of savages. Now this important, essential principle cannot subsist without the distinctions of rich and poor. It actually exists, and can only be removed by violence. . . .” [25-27]
James Lloyd Homer, An Address Delivered Before the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association at the Celebration of Their Tenth Triennial Festival, October 6, 1836 (Boston: Holmes & Palmer and Joseph T. Adams, 1836), 40 pp. Homer was a trustee, but not in 1836 an officer of this trade group (founded 1796) of employers. “Surely no liberal minded master mechanic would wish to withhold from his journeymen those rights and liberties which he himself freely exercises; and if there is anything wrong or pernicious in ‘trades unions’—if, in our eyes, they are ‘illegal combinations’—let us, by all means, set those in our employ a good example—an example worthy of their imitation—by breaking up every combination of the kind to which we belong, and allowing each other to have once more a breathing spell—to move, in our own business circles, free, unrestricted, and without fear of having a written pledge thrust before our eyes, if interest or inclination should prompt any of us to turn right or left. . . . Let us hereafter strive to live upon friendly terms with our journeymen;—let us, by kind treatment and good counsel, dispel the envy and hatred which too often brood upon their minds, and awaken in their breasts a high and holy feeling—a feeling of gratitude and respect for their employers.” [22] . . . [To help younger journeymen to start their own shops, Homer proposed formation of a] “Bank, conducted on liberal principles, and managed exclusively by master mechanics—members of this Association. . . . [28] I think it may be safely said, gentlemen, that there are no active business men in the city who find it so difficult, at all times, to obtain facilities and accommodations at our banks, as the mechanics—none suffer more, or bleed more freely, than they. How often have we heard of enterprising young men, who have been torn in pieces by the sharks and vampires that infest the purlieus of State Street, and who might have been saved from premature destruction, if they had a bank to resort to, the directors of which could understand their wants, and be ready to render them such facilities and favors as they stood in need of?” [27-28]
John Whipple, The Usury Laws (New York, 1836; 1857), 23 pp. In this pamphlet, Whipple attacked Jeremy Bentham’s arguments in A Defense of Usury, Showing the Impolicy of the Present Legal Restraints of the Terms of Pecuniary Bargains” |