George Caleb Bingham, The Jolly Flatboatmen 1846

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George Caleb Bingham, The Jolly Flatboatmen (1846)
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Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
(1831) No sooner do you set foot upon the
American soil than you are stunned by a kind of
tumult a confused clamor is heard on every side
and a thousand simultaneous voices demand the
immediate satisfaction of their social wants.
Everything is in motion around you here, the
people of one quarter of a town are met to decide
upon the building of a church there, the
election of a representative is going on a
little further the delegates of a district are
posting to the town in order to consult upon some
local improvements or in another place the
laborers of a village quit their ploughs to
deliberate upon the project of a road or a public
school. Meetings are called for the sole purpose
of declaring their disapprobation of the line of
conduct pursued by the Government whilst in
other assemblies the citizens salute the
authorities of the day as the fathers of their
country. Societies are formed which regard
drunkenness as the principal cause of the evils
under which the State labors, and which solemnly
bind themselves to give a constant example of
temperance. The great political agitation of the
American legislative bodies, which is the only
kind of excitement that attracts the attention of
foreign countries, is a mere episode or a sort of
continuation of that universal movement which
originates in the lowest classes of the people
and extends successively to all the ranks of
society. It is impossible to spend more efforts
in the pursuit of enjoyment.
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Francis W. Edmonds, The New Bonnet (1858)
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Catherine Beecher, A Treatise on Domestic Economy
(1841) It appears, then, that is in America
alone, that women are raised to an equality with
the other sex and that, both in theory and
practice, their interests are regarded as of
equal value. They are made subordinate in
station, only where a regard to their best
interests demands it, while, as if in
compensation for this, by custom and courtesy,
they are always treated as superiors.
Universally, in this Country, through every class
of society, precedence is given to woman, in all
the comforts, conveniences, and courtesies, of
life. In civil and political affairs, American
women take no interest or concern, except so far
as they sympathize with their family and personal
friends but in all cases, in which they do feel
a concern, their opinions and feelings have a
consideration, equal, or even superior, to that
of the other sex. In matters pertaining to the
education of their children, in the selection and
support of a clergyman, in all benevolent
enterprises, and in all questions relating to
morals or manners, they have a superior
influence. In all such concerns, it would be
impossible to carry a point, contrary to their
judgment and feelings while an enterprise,
sustained by them, will seldom fail of success.
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Daniel Caleb Bingham, The County Election (1851-2)
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Andrew Jackson, Bank Veto Message, July 10,
1832 It is to be regretted that the rich and
powerful too often bend the acts of government to
their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society
will always exist under every just government.
Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth
can not be produced by human institutions. In the
full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the
fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue,
every man is equally entitled to protection by
law but when the laws undertake to add to these
natural and just advantages artificial
distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and
exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and
the potent more powerful, the humble members of
society-the farmers, mechanics, and laborers- who
have neither the time nor the means of securing
like favors to themselves, have a right to
complain of the injustice of their Government.
There are no necessary evils in government. Its
evils exist only in its abuses. If it would
confine itself to equal protection, and, as
Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on
the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it
would be an unqualified blessing.
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Henry Inman, Sequoyah (ca. 1831)
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Territory acquired from Mexico
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Poster Advertising Meeting to Rescue Anthony
Burns, 1854
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Status of slavery in the western territories
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Dred Scott in 1857
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Political realignment, 1848-1860
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John Brown Abraham Lincoln