Will they sale as on that . Do they have no responsibility for what they then will take from broadcasters . Watch the communicators monday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. He describes how members of congress in the early 1800s bonded across party lines. For tobacco use, social clubs, and living together in boarding houses. However, leading up to the civil war, the friendships and alliances disintegrated, revealing the sectional divisions and National Politics at the time. His class is one hour. Prof. Balcerski welcome everybody. It is me, your professor. Im excited to offer an election on the political culture of the antebellum congress. The outline, we start with a review of the party system. I will introduce a concept to you of nautical culture and compare that to something we have encountered before, Political Parties. The bulk of the lecture is going to be presenting new evidence on the antebellum political culture. I have three major areas as evidence to talk about today. Tobacco
You of political culture. I will compare that to something we have encountered before, Political Parties. The bulk of the lecture is going to be presenting new evidence on the antebellum political culture. I have three major areas as evidence to talk about today. One, Tobacco Culture. Two, political friendships. Three, affairs of honor. Class,e often do in the we are going to start with the image on the screen. Im going to ask you to tell me what you see. This is Lady Washingtons reception from 1861. Take it in. Who can point out something you see right away that strikes you . Lady washington is on a platform. Prof. Balcerski how high do you think she is . Off the ground . Like a foot. Prof. Balcerski thats a good piece there. What else . Everyone is dressed up fancy. Prof. Balcerski like you are today. Exactly. Very fancy. How about a third thing . Go ahead. It looks like they are fairly close together. They may be dancing. They are all close together. Prof. Balcerski very good. I sho
Its very fancy. The ladies are wearing gowns. Good. How about a third thing . What else do you see . Go ahead, jimmy . It looks like theyre all fairly close together. Like i cant tell, they might be dancing or i dont know. But they are all very close together. Exactly. Very good. Okay. Thats good. Yeah. I should say about Lady Washingtons reception that lady washington herself is standing literally center stage, an elegant gown. What you might not have noticed was that there is someone else who we sometimes think of as important, sort of receding into the background here. Thats good old george. George washington here in the center in black formal republican gown, sort of overshadowed by lady washington. Now, the title was Lady Washingtons reception. The word used at the time was that of a levee which is a formal reception which was held and hosted by the first lady, martha washington. Any of you notice how she was standing on a platform. Thats right. You also noticed the opulent attire
They had a rapidly expandingpeople for commercially oriented and a government that was specifically set up to safeguard their own liberty. But that was an aspiration more than it was the fact. America was not at its infancy at its birth, country that was going to influence the rest of the world and its example. This is the cover of my book. For those of you in the back. Squint really hard. You might be able to see that there is a map in the background. You can stop squinting because his what the map actually is. If you cant read elections the title of the map is north america as divided among the european powers, 1770 format. You have on the map spanish french british and russian territorial claims in north america. This map is a much more accurate depiction about how the founding generation sal america. European monarchy, hostile to the idea of a republic had territorial designs on north america and were very ideologically suspicious of a republic. So when the founding generation thou
They are, in henry james words, perfectly equipped failures. And i wanted to talk about them beginning with huck finn because i think huck finn is americas literary declaration of independence. And i felt that at the end of huck finn that people started moving out and going to other landscapes of america. So babbitt becomes the antihuck which is the standardization of thought. That is what is really threatening us today, indifference, sleeping consciousness which is all the things that is talked about. Okay. And then carson [inaudible] and then, of course, the great, the incomparable James Baldwin who was not just a writer, not just an africanamerican writer, not just a gay africanamerican writer, not just an american writer, but a writer. Who speaks to all of us and whos so important today. And i think we should remember baldwin. I dont have time to go into it. And i want to end by a quote from mark twain. Mark twain gives a talk to what he calls the mayflower tribes, the descendants