Spring History & Heritage — #4 (April 2)
Our study of the seemingly infinite heritage of America and the West continues with the entries below (in Q & A or summary form) and the sources indicated.
providence — (Tabletalk magazine, March 20)
This term in Christian theology refers to Godʼs sovereign superintendence and governance of all things, especially His personal direction of the course of history? Among its many dimensions, says the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), it encompasses the work of the Deity to uphold “heaven and earth and all creatures.”And as Hebrews 1:3 makes abundantly clear, it is particularly the Son, “the radiance of Godʼs glory,” who does the upholding by “the word of his power.”
Poor Laws — (Almanac, March 22)
Paraphrasing the Talmud, Benjamin Franklin observed that American charity “is the noblest charity, preventing a man from accepting charity, and the best alms, enabling men to dispense with alms.” Franklin spoke in praise of a welfare system conditioned by work, frugality, keeping faith with oneʼs family, and local administration. Such was the legacy of Old World Christendom, particularly these 1589 English decrees, wisely conserved by generations of Americans?
Great Migration — (Almanac, March 29)
“Anno Domini 1630, March 29, Easter Monday. Riding at the Cowes, near the Isle of Wight, in the Arbella, a ship of three hundred and fifty tons.” Thatʼs how English Puritan John Winthrop (1588–1649), a lawyer and the first governor of Massachusetts Bay, began his illuminating journal entries, a rich resource for scholars ofAmericaʼs origins. Winthrop was among hundreds of Puritans who braved an Atlantic crossing bound for New England in 1630, an event known to history by this name?
Minims — (Almanac, March 27)
This Catholic order of monks, founded by Francis of Paola (southern Italy) in the 15th-century (1400s), derives its name from the Latin word for “least”? It received the sanction of the Roman Church, and devoted itself primarily to service to the needy in the spirit of Christʼs teaching that the last would be first and the least the greatest of all. Like other Catholic communions it had its scholars, like French mathematician Marin Mersenne who greatly facilitated exchanges among scientists in the 1600s.
Joseph Damien de Veuster, “Father Damien” — (Almanac, March 29)
In some sense the Mother Theresa of the late 19th-century, this Belgian Catholic priestʼs epitaph reads, “Died a Martyr of Charity”? He spent a decade in Honolulu (1864-1873) before requesting transfer to the central Hawaiian island of Molokai to minister to the lepers there. “Out of a chaos of neglect,” said one biographer, “he brought order, hope and support for the community” (including schools, churches, hospitals & the like) before succumbing to the dread disease himself in 1889
Hilaire Belloc — (Almanac, March 20)
Born of French and English parentage and proud of his dual citizenship, this Catholic writer and statesman (1870–1953) defended Western traditions against all perceived foes in over a hundred books? The many targets of his polemics included socialism (in the highly influential The Servile State, 1912) and Protestantism. His career had been profoundly shaped by a pilgrimage he made to Rome in 1901, on foot from France across the Alps, as he related in his classic account The Path to Rome.
Northeast (New York & New England) — (America, Vol. 1, pp. 189-191)
While the Republicans were riding high with electoral success in the early 1800s, certain“High” Federalists from this section of the country plotted secession? Timothy Pickering and Roger Griswold were among such Federalists supporting Aaron Burr (Jeffersonʼs VP who had fallen out of favor with Republicans) for governor of a prestigious state in 1804. Burr, they believed, would aid their secessionist ambitions, but he lost the election due, in part, to denunciations of his character by Hamilton.
Marbury v. Madison — (America, Vol. 1, pp. 192-193)
To the chagrin of the Jeffersonians, the Marshall Supreme Court greatly expanded U.S. judicial powers in this landmark 1803 case? In his opinion, Chief Justice John Marshall denied a Federalist plaintiff his appointed judgeship (it need not be honored by the Jefferson Administration), but only because that part of the JudiciaryAct of 1789 relevant to the appointment was unconstitutional. The Court thereby claimed it could decide on the constitutionality of any law, a power known as “judicial review.”
Horatio Nelson — (America, Vol. 1, p. 195)
“England expects every man will do his duty.” The famous charge was issued by this English admiral just prior to his mighty triumph over a combined French-Spanish fleet off Spainʼs Cape Trafalgar in 1805 (the acclaimed naval Battle of Trafalgar)? The Royal Navy, with a decided edge in firepower despite fewer ships in this instance, prevented Napoleon from invading England, dashed French and Spanish ambitions in North America, and secured for a century her own mastery of the seas.