IN MEMORIUM - NOW AND THEN

11-11-11

Men of U.S. 64th Regiment, 7th Infantry Division,
 celebrate the news of the Armistice, 11th November, 1918

On another 11th of November 391 years ago:

The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower. Almost half of the colonists were part of a separatist group seeking the freedom to practice Christianity according to their own determination and not the will of the Anglican Church. It was signed on 11^th November, 1620, by 41 of the ship's 101 passengers, while the Mayflower was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor within the hook at the northern tip of Cape Cod.  No women were signatories of the document. What appears below is not the original document, but a modern version of the text. 

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.

1.      John Carver 2.      William Bradford 3.      Edward Winslow 4.      William Brewster 5.     Isaac Allerton 6.     Miles Standish 7.     John Alden 8.     Samuel Fuller 9.     Christopher Martin 10.           William Mullins 11.           William White 12.           Richard Warren 13.           John Howland 14.           Stephen Hopkins

15.           Edward Tilly         16.           John Tilly   17.           Francis Cooke   18.           Thomas Rogers   19.           Thomas Tinker   20.           John Ridgdale   21.           Edward Fuller   22.           John Turner   23.           Francis Eaton   24.           James Chilton   25.           John Craxton   26.           John Billington   27.           Joses Fletcher   28.           John Goodman

29.           Digery Priest  30.           Thomas Williams  31.           Gilbert Winslow  32.           Edmund Margeson  33.           Peter Brown  34.           Richard Bitteridge  35.           George Soule  36.           Richard Clark  37.           Richard Gardiner  38.           John Allerton  39.           Thomas English  40.           Edward Doten  41.           Edward Leister

There are a number of names which are very familiar to most Americans and who have become part of the country’s mythology: Miles Standish, John Alden, John Carver (the fist governor of the colony) and William Bradford who was one of the leaders of the settlers and served as governor for over 30 years after John Carver died. Bradford is credited as the first civil authority to designate what popular American culture now views as Thanksgiving in the United States. It is due to be celebrated two weeks from today.

So far as the ‘compact’ is concerned, it should be noted that, although they claim to act in the presence of God, and for his glory, to set up a colony, they “covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.”

This is a text put together on a seventeenth century vessel, after 66 crowded and gruelling days at sea, marked by disease claiming two lives, and landing at the wrong place.  It was time to get down to business. They knew what they wanted to do, and the foundation they agreed on, was defined in 69 words out of a total of 196 (Just over a third) to form a civil body politic with just and equal laws; and, although claiming to be in the presence of God, there is no mention of God or any religion forming part of that civil body politic. That thought continued through to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and to the setting out of the Constitution of the United State

Oddly, for a country so steeped in fundamentalist religion, and forever appealing to the glory of God, and trusting in God, the written documents, which form the cornerstones of its civil institutions, remain secular in their intent. A position maintained and supported by the Supreme Court of the United States, despite the many claims for it to be otherwise.

The establishment of the United States was not without its problems and one such event occurred in 1778. It is known as the Cherry Valley Massacre, which was an attack by British and Seneca forces on a fort and the village of Cherry Valley in eastern New York on the cold, snowy and rainy morning of 11^thNovember, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. It has been described as one of the most horrific frontier massacres of the Revolution. Fighting in and near the Mohawk Valley was fierce on both sides, and retaliation escalated.

The 1939 film of Drums Along The Mohawk, released in November of that year, and directed by John Ford, reflects the conflict of that time. The film was based on a novel by Walter D. Edmonds.
Note: The 'Tories' and the Indians are the bad guys.

I THINK, I AM- OK BUT DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD

Mulhall

Han-Pile

Johann-Glock

The 10^th November appears to be French philosopher’s day. A couple of incidents sprang to mind with today’s broadcast of Melvyn Bragg’s ‘In Our Time’ program.  Melvyn and his guests, Stephen Mulhall, Professor of Philosophy at New College, Oxford; Beatrice Han-Pile, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex; and, Hans Johann-Glock, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Zurich, were discussing the Continental-Analytic split in Western philosophy. The premise was that the Analytic school favoured a logical scientific approach, in contrast to the Continental emphasis on the importance of time and place. Inevitably in such discussions, the likes of Derrida and Company, from the French academies were brought into the frame, which is only right when matters of logic, time and place are under scrutiny.  There was also mention, of course, of Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Russell. All this lot spent a great deal of time on language, and are at the very heart of the theories connected with performance writing. (By the way, the University of Essex is extremely lucky to have Professor Han-Pile. She’s great)

In keeping with this theme, on the night of the 10^th of November 1619, into the small hours of the 11^th, while stationed in Neuberg asn der Donau, Germany, Rene Descartes experienced a series of three powerful dreams or visions, that he later claimed profoundly influenced his life. For a start, they inspired his Meditations on First Philosophie.  He concluded from these visions that the pursuit of science would prove to be, for him, the pursuit of true wisdom and a central part of his life's work. Descartes took the view that all truths were linked with one another, so that finding a fundamental truth and proceeding with logic would open the way to all science. This basic truth, Descartes found quite soon: his famous "I think". 

174 years on from Descartes visionary night, during the establishment of the First French Republic, one of its leading philosopher/politicians, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, organised a Festival of Reason which took place on the 10^th November 1793. In boasted a Goddess of Reason, in the guise of an actress, on an elevated platform in the Notre Dame Cathedral. As personification for the goddess, Sophie Momoro, wife of the printer Antoine-François Momoro, was chosen.

Antoine-François Momoro was a French printer, bookseller and politician during the Revolution. An important figure in the Cordeliers club and in Hébertism, he is the originator of the phrase Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, the motto of the French Republic

Momoro

After working for the fall of the Girondist in the struggle between the Commune and the Convention, he participated in attacks on Danton, Robespierre (who he accused of  modérantisme)  and the Committee of Public Safety. Pushed onwards by a report by Saint-Just to the Convention denouncing the "complot de l’étranger" woven by the Indulgents and Exagérés, the committee decided on the arrest of the Hébertistes on March 13, 1794. The revolutionary tribunal condemned Momoro to death, and he loudly replied "You accuse me, who have given everything for the Revolution!" He was guillotines with other leading Hébertistes the following afternoon.

Chaumette

As to Chaumette, His ultra-radical ideas were soon regarded as affront to the National Conventions' policies, and as the public and official opinion began to turn against the likewise minded Hébertists in the early spring of 1794, Chaumette increasingly became target of counterrevolutionary allegations. Robespierre - as promoter of the Cult of the Supreme being that was in direct opposition to Chaumette's Cult of Reason - had him accused with the Hébertists as being part of a conspiracy to starve Paris and subsequently overthrow the Convention. He was sentenced to death on the morning of April 13 and guillotined that same afternoon.

It seems typical of the French philosopher/politicians, they all seem to lose their head one way or another.

ATLANTIC MONTHLY - THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Yesterday was another MA Lecture Day. We discussed, inter alia, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959) is a seminal sociology book by the late Erving Goffman. It uses the imagery of the theatre in order to portray the importance of human – namely, social – action.  We discussed the notion of how language performs socially. How does language/writing fit into the social world and how does the social world fit round language and writing? How does one place language into a social context? One way is to start a publication. Which brings us to the 9^th November.

The Atlantic is an American magazine founded (as The Atlantic Monthly) in Boston, Massachusetts, on (so we believe) 9^th November 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets, and encouraging major careers. It published leading writers' commentary on abolition, education, and other major issues in contemporary political affairs.

The magazine's founders were a group of prominent writers of national reputation, who included Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., John Greenleaf Whittier and James Russell Lowell. Lowell was its first editor. That is quite some line-up of American literary talent.

James Russell Lowell (22 February, 1819 – 12 August, 1891)was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets. These poets usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (14 June, 1811 – 1 July, 1896) was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom. It energized anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. She wrote more than 20 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings and her public stands on social issues of the day.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (27 February, 1807 – 24 March, 1882) was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere’s Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy and was one of the five Fireside Poets.

 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (29 August, 1809 – 7 October, 1894) was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat at the Breakfast-Table (1858). He is recognized as an important medical reformer.

 

John Greenleaf Whittier (17 December, 71807 – 7 September, 1892) was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. He is usually listed as one of the Fireside Poets. Whittier was strongly influenced by the Scottish poet, Robert Burns. Highly regarded in his lifetime and for a period thereafter, he is now remembered for his poem Snow-Bound, and the words of the hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, from his poem The Brewing of Soma, sung to music by Hubert Parry.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 May, 1803 – 27 April, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.

For a view of the Early Editions go to the Cornwall University Library at http://digital.library.cornell.edu/a/atla/ - you will find some great stuff.

JOURNALS OF RECORD, ABOLITION & REPUBLIC

The 7^th November appear to be a day for noting journals and journalists. The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British Government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published. The London Gazette claims to be the oldest surviving English newspapers and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK, having been first published on 7^th  November 1665 as the Oxford Gazette.

Lovejoy

On 7^th November 1837, in Alton, Illinois, abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy is shot dead by a mob while attempting to protect his printing shop from being destroyed a third time.

Elijah Parish Lovejoy was an American Presbyterian minister, abolitionist, journalist and newspaper editor. In 1837 he established The Alton Observer, an abolitionist newspaper, in Alton, Illinois, when he was forced to flee St. Louis, Missouri, where he edited the St. Louis Observer, after his printing press was destroyed for the third time.

On 7^th November, 1837, pro-slavery partisans approached Gilman's warehouse, where Lovejoy had hidden his printing press. According to the Alton Observer, the mob fired shots into the warehouse. When Lovejoy and his men returned fire, they hit several people in the crowd, killing a man named Bishop.

The leaders of the mob set up a ladder against the warehouse. They sent a boy up with a torch to set fire to the wooden roof. Lovejoy and his supporter Royal Weller went outside, surprised the pro-slavery partisans, pushed over the ladder and retreated back inside the warehouse. The mob put up the ladder again; when Lovejoy and Weller went out to overturn it, they were spotted and shot. Lovejoy was hit five times with slugs from a shotgun and died immediately; Weller was wounded. The mob destroyed the new printing press by carrying it to a window and throwing it out onto the riverbank. They broke it up and threw the pieces into the river. Elijah Lovejoy died two days short of his 35^th birthday. Publication of the Alton Observer ended after Lovejoy's murder,

Croly

Lippmann

The New Republic journal was founded by Herbert Croly and Walter Lippmann, (through the financial backing of heiress Dorothy Payne Whitney and her husband, Willard Straight, who maintained majority ownership). The magazine's first issue was published on November 7, 1914. The magazine's politics were liberal and progressive, and as such concerned with coping with the great changes brought about by America's late-19th century industrialisation. The magazine is widely considered important in changing the character of liberalism in the direction of governmental interventionism, both foreign and domestic.

Dorothy Payne Whitney

Straight

MIAMIMIGRATION

Relations between the United States and Cuba, from about 1960, with the election of John Kennedy, deteriorated somewhat, when one would have thought that an articulate and ‘liberal’ thinking President would have in fact found a way to improve things.; yet, in only the twelfth week of his presidency, the United States and an assorted collection of Cuban exiles mounted the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, with a view to overthrowing Castro. It was over ion three days. This event pushed the Cuban Government closer to the Soviet Union and this resulted in what became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, which took place over 37 days in 1962 from the 14^th October to the 20^th November.

Cuban migration to the United States had been going on from 1959, when Castro and his troops came down from the hills and marched into Havana. Throughout all the political trial and tribulations between the two countries, Cuban citizens sought to resettle in the United States.

  

Some three years on from the Bay of Pigs event, on the 6^th November 1965, the United States (under President Lyndon B. Johnson) and Cuba signed a migration agreement to bring Cubans to the United States; it lasted from December 1965 to April 1973. Cuba and the United States formally agree to begin an airlift for Cubans who wanted to go to the United States. These flights became know in the United States a Freedom Flights. Most Cuban emigrants during this period came to the United States; about forty thousand went to other countries. From 1966 through 1971 gross immigration exceeded fifty thousand people per year. In September of 1971, Time magazine published a piece:

Anyone who has seen Cuban refugees literally kissing U.S. soil as they disembark from one of the twice-daily flights between Cuba and Miami is not likely soon to forget the sight. Since 1965, the "freedom flights," as they have come to be called, have brought 245,805 Cubans to live in the U.S. Last week, the 2,879th such flight landed in Miami with 85 passengers-the last of the refugees, at least for a while. The Cuban government informed the U.S. that it was suspending the flights for a few weeks to work out a final list of only 1,000 refugees.

From Fidel’s Castro’s point of view, it might just have been an exercise in getting rid of the leftover grifters and assorted con artists from the Batista period. If you had just been release from goal would you not be please to end up in Miami?

After 1973, the United States continued to receive some illegal immigrants from Cuba, but most Cuban immigrants to the United States came from third countries, especially Spain. In 1977, for the first time since 1959, Cuba’s negative migration balance fell below one thousand and U.S. immigration from Cuba was just above three thousand (mostly from third countries). Over 41 years from 1959 to 2000, some 828,000 people have migrated to the United States (87.2% of them Caucasian).

This is a point of view from historian Maria Christina Garcia, author of Havana USA describing the change in attitudes of Cuban exiles in Miami pre- and post-1965

And what about the Cigar Culture. It's a point of view.