History & Heritage

 Our entries this week include content from Tabletalk magazine as well as William Bennettʼs America, Vol. 1 and George Grantʼs The Christian Almanac.

Creek Confederacy — (America, Vol. 1, pp. 207-208)

“Until this is done, your nation cannot expect happiness or mine security.” Thus said General Andrew Jackson to this southwestern Indian league, demanding that it cede millions of acres (much ofAlabama & Georgia) to the United States? The confederacy had incurred U.S. wrath when it brutally massacred about 250Americans at Fort Mims (near todayʼs Mobile, Alabama) inAugust 1813; Jackson in turn routed them at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (eastern Alabama) in March 1814.

 Battle of New Orleans — (America, Vol. 1, pp. 208-212)

With the British poised to wrest Louisiana from the U.S., the Americans scored one of their greatest military triumphs ever in this January 1815 battle?  Jackson led a motley force of 5,000, including Kentucky & Tennessee militia, that in a matter of minutes inflicted devastating losses on the redcoats (almost 2,000 casualties). Curiously, the war (War of 1812) was actually over when the battle was fought; a peace pact, word of which spread slowly, had been signed in Belgium on Christmas Eve, 1814.

 “the Hero” — (America, Vol. 1, pp. 212-214)

For most early 19th-centuryAmericans, this unembellished title summed up their view of TennesseeʼsAndrew Jackson? The general was lauded for beating back the British at New Orleans, fiercely repressing Indian raids (Creeks & Seminoles) in the South, and forcefully challenging Spanish possession of Florida.  Speaker of the House and “war hawk” Henry Clay (KY), however, publicly admonished Jackson for reckless and autonomous acts which, he said, endangered republican government.

 Missouri Compromise — (America, Vol. 1, pp. 214-215)

This congressional act (1820) admitted two states (one free & one slave) to the Union, while also prohibiting slavery in the northern reaches of the Louisiana Territory?Most were pleased with the careful arrangement, conciliatory to North and South, but Jefferson in retirement heard “a fire bell in the night” and the “knell of the Union.” What alarmed him most was the loss of liberty for new states, their domestic affairs (in this case the status of Negroes) now subject to federal mandate.

 Monroe Doctrine — (America, Vol. 1, pp. 215-216)

“It would be more candid as well as more dignified to avow our principles explicitly to France and Russia than to come in as a cock-boat in the wake of a British man-of-war.” Thus John QuincyAdams advised President Monroe, recommending that this policy statement (1823) on colonization in the New World be issued independently of Britain? Nonetheless, it was truly the British fleet, not American parchment, that safeguarded the newly-independent nations of Latin America at the time.

For a printable copy. click here…

We continue our study ofAmerica & the West (having just taken a test on Spring H&H posts1-4) with the following entries and the sources indicated:

 TheApostlesʼCreed — (Tabletalk magazine, March 6 & 29)

A product of early church history originating perhaps as early as the 100s AD, this classic creed may be subdivided into three articles related to the Trinity?The articles, according to the Heidelberg Catechism, may be titled “God the Father and our creation; God the Son and our deliverance; God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.” The creed summarizes aptly, both in what it says and what it does not say, the biblical gospelʼs insistence that “Salvation is of the LORD” (Ps. 3:8).

 Samuel Johnson — (Almanac,April 3)

“The chief glory of every people arises from its authors; whether I shall add anything by my own writings to the reputation of England must be left to time.”  So said this English man of letters (1709–1784), a devout Anglican and a brilliant stylist whose wit and wisdom were recorded for all time by biographer James Boswell. In his famed Dictionary of the English Language (1755), 40,000 words are defined succinctly and illustrated with selections from classic prose and poetry.

 Booker T. Washington — (Almanac,April 5)

Author of Up From Slavery, this American educator (1856–1915) led the way for emancipated Negroes to participate more fully inAmerican trades and professions? For such a purpose he was called in 1881 to directAlabamaʼs Tuskegee Institute, a mere dream for state officials with no money, nor land, nor buildings, nor students, nor faculty. By the time he died, however, the institute could boast of over 100 buildings, about 200 teachers, 1,500 students, and a $2-million endowment fund.

 Booker T. Washington and Race Relations inAmerica — (teacherʼs commentary) Unlike many civil rights leaders who came after him, Booker T. Washington (d. 1915) didnʼt urge his brethren to join a mass movement to agitate for their rights, nor did he press for U.S. laws forcing states and localities to honor such rights. An example of his rhetorical substance and style, as quoted by philosopher Claude Polin in the March 2012 issue of Chronicles, follows below: 

We are to be tested in our patience, our forbearance, our perseverance, our power to endure wrong, to withstand temptation, to economize, to acquire a new skill. . . . [T]his country demands that every race measure itself by theAmerican standard. . . .This is a passport to all that is best in life, and the Negro must possess it or be debarred.  No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized.

 Seems like itʼs an appeal, as old as the hills, to faith, character, and community. In so many words:  attend to duty, to industry, to education, to your souls, and to service to your neighbors wherever you happen to be.  It may not be the quickest or easiest way to gain the respect of the white majority, but itʼs the surest.  (One might add that itʼs the only way to please the One whose judgment outweighs that of any human tribunal.)

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

 Zora Neale Hurston — (Jack Trotter; Chronicles, March 2012)

A Floridian and a folklorist, this African-American novelist (1903–1960) is perhaps best known for her Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)?  No friend of Jim Crow era segregation, she nonetheless decried the “race pride” and “black consciousness” of the African-American elite in her 1942 autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road.  Her betrayal of her color, in liberal eyes, reached its nadir when she protested Brown v. Board of Education (the Supreme Courtʼs lauded school desegregation mandate, 1954).

 Islamic Spain — (Dario Fernandez-Morera; Chronicles, March 2012)

This medieval civilization (Al-Andalus), running roughly from the 700s to the 1400s, is more often than not hailed for its enlightened multiculturalism by modern scholars? The society supposedly rescued Europe from the “Dark Ages” by preserving Greek knowledge, and promoted peace between otherwise hostile ethnic and religious groups. For the record, Greek knowledge was preserved in the Greek (Eastern) Roman Empire, and tolerance of outsiders wasnʼt one of Al-Andalusʼs virtues.

 Iceland — (Almanac, March 15)

Alegendary land discovered by Norsemen in the 800s, this European country teemed with fresh water, fish, forests, and pastureland despite its far north Atlantic location? The  Vikings who settled it were known for their ferocity on the continent, though they were mostly Christians intent on building a society to the glory of their new-found Savior. TheAlthing, the first European parliament charged with settling disputes by law, was one of their sterling achievements.

 Christ of theAndes—(Almanac, March 13)

Located high in the mountains on the border of Chile andArgentina, this 1904 statue commemorates peace between the countries?  Itʼs a tall bronze representation of Christ (holding out His right hand in blessing while clutching a cross with His left) standing in Uspallata Pass with Mt.Aconcagua towering in the background. Chile and Argentina had been warring in the Tierra del Fuego region, but they settled their differences with President Theodore Roosevelt and Englandʼs King Edward VII acting as mediators.

 Jeffersonʼs First Inaugural —  (America, Vol. 1, pp. 175-176)

In this conciliatory address, delivered in Washington City on March 4, 1801, President Jefferson endeavored to heal the divisive wounds of the contentious election of 1800? “We have called by different names,” he said, “brethren of the same principle.  We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”  Jefferson also affirmed “the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies.”

Our entries this week are based on our usual sources with an assist from Forrest McDonaldʼs Statesʼ Rights and the Union: Imperium in Imperio (1776–1876). 

Cornelius Jansen — (Almanac, March 6)

This Flemish theologian (1585-1636) was censured by the papacy (Urban VIII) and the Jesuits for his Augustinus, a book about the teachings of the famous church father? ACatholic professor at Louvain in todayʼs Belgium, his writings influenced profoundly the French clergy, of whom about a fifth conceded agreement with his theses. In his feud with the Jesuits, he accused them of relying too much upon manʼs unaided reason and his good works as opposed to a truly Christian trust in Scripture and grace.

secularism — (Almanac, March 8th)

This modern ideology, prominent in the wake of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, requires what it regards as strict religious neutrality in political matters?It allows for nearly any input in the public square—reason, science, business, labor, race, gender, party—except the voice of the church or a traditional religion like Christianity. Curiously, the ideology has triumphed both in communist countries, where overt persecution is the norm, and democratic ones where propaganda holds sway.

Washingtonʼs Farewell — (America, Vol. 1, p. 164)

With assistance from Alexander Hamilton, Washingtonʼs wise and carefully crafted Farewell Address was first published in a Philadelphia newspaper in 1796.  It was never delivered publicly as a speech.

The main thrust of the message was to warn of what author William Bennett called “twin evils:” a divisive spirit of party and longterm commitment to the interests of foreign powers by means of entangling alliances. This was good counsel in the era of the Founders and, frankly, good counsel for any era. By Washingtonʼs second term (1793–1797), Federalists and Republicans were often at each otherʼs throats and the influence of foreign nations and their agents (France, England, Spain) made the political divide even wider.

Lastly, Washingtonʼs eloquent reminder about the importance of Christianity, and the manners and mores derived therefrom, to the cause of ordered liberty merits attention in all ages, particularly our own with its secular zeitgeist (“spirit of the times” in German). The Father of our Country wrote (in part):“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports.  In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens. . .

We begin our spring posts with entries (Q&Aor summaries) based on readings in The ChristianAlmanac (Grant/Wilbur) and America, Vol. 1 (Bennett).

Look for 8 or 9 posts for the months of March, April, and May, followed by our Spring 2012 History & Heritage Test at the end of May.

 Mardi Gras — (Almanac, Feb. 23)

Seemingly of Celtic Christian origin, this festival (meaning “Fat Tuesday” in English) was introduced to NorthAmerica by the French in the early 1700s?Associated mostly with the Winter Carnival finale in New Orleans, the revelry is a lively component of culture in the entire Gulf Coast region.Author George Grant describes it as “a celebration of lifeʼs excesses before the austere self-sacrifices of the Christian season of Lent,” traditionally a time of fasting commencing on Ash Wednesday.

Hudson Taylor — (Almanac, March 1)

“My feelings on stepping ashore I cannot attempt to describe.My heart felt as though it had not room and must burst its bonds, while tears of gratitude. . .fell from my eyes.” So wrote this English missionary (1832–1905), a medical student of Methodist upbringing, when he first arrived on the streets of Shanghai in March 1854? Facing difficult cultural barriers, he adopted native dress and ways, founded an indigenous church, and evangelized far and wide through his China Inland Mission.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon — (Almanac, March 6)

A Calvinist and a proponent of Puritan writings, this English Baptist (1834–1892) was so masterful in the pulpit that he was dubbed the “Prince of Preachers”?  Under his leadership, Londonʼs Metropolitan Tabernacle became the largest single Christian congregation in the world.But however impressive his success as an orator, writer, and evangelist, he maintained his many charitable works (schools, orphanages, hospitals, and the like) were truly his most blessed endeavors.

From Whiskey Rebellion to Civil War? — (America, Vol. 1, pp. 161-162)

Author William Bennett points out, rather approvingly, that President Washingtonʼs armed response to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794 would be taken up byAbraham Lincoln as a precedent for his use of force against the secessionist South in 1861.

 As Lincoln read the events of his day, the laws of the United States were once again being opposed (this time in several Southern states) “by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings,” a phrase found in the Militia Act of 1792 under which Washington acted.

But were the two events so similar?  Were they both instances of unlawful rebellion or insurrection on the part of delinquents or bands of protestors?The events in western Pennsylvania in the late 18th-century did seem to be of that variety. They were blamed on Democratic-Republican clubs whose zealotry, including a threat to take over Pittsburgh, was stirred up in part by the French ambassador Citizen Genet.  Neither the government of Pennsylvania nor the people of Pennsylvania gave any formal sanction to the protestors, and over half of Washingtonʼs militia consisted of Pennsylvanians.

Based on our usual sources and readings, this post is our last prior to the Winter 2012 History & Heritage Test scheduled for Friday, March 2.  All nine winter posts should be carefully reviewed in preparation for that test.

Mr. Zaffini wishes to thank the parents of his students for engaging with the content of the class this term and contributing to the growth and understanding of their children.

Cyril & Methodius — (Almanac, Feb. 14)

For their fruitful Christian evangelism in Eastern Europe in the 9th-century (800s), these learned brothers earned the title “Apostles of the Slavs”?  NativeThessalonians of noble birth, one taught philosophy in Constantinople, while the other mastered linguistics and could speak artfully more than twelve tongues. Together, they captured the sounds of the Slavs in an alphabet, the root of modern Cyrillic and the ground for their translations of Scripture, church liturgies, and other writings.

Bonnie Blue Flag — (Almanac, Feb. 16)

This standard served as the official banner of the short-lived Republic of West Florida on the Gulf Coast in the first decade of the 1800s?  With Baton Rouge as its capital, the independent state stretched from the Mississippi River in the west to Pensacola Bay in the east.However, its sovereignty was forcibly terminated in 1810 when the U.S. cavalry, at President Madisonʼs direction in the name of “Manifest Destiny,” took over, removing West Floridian lawmakers from their own Capitol at bayonet-point.

Democratic Party — (America, Vol. 1, p. 149)

This political party has its roots in the Jeffersonian republicanism which triumphed in 1800 and, later on, the Jacksonian democracy which dominated the 1830s?The partyʼs name changed ever so slightly over time, but nowadays the only thing it has in common with the original is a professed devotion to the welfare of everyday people and the poor. Long gone are its historic commitments to strict constitutional limitations on the power of the United States and broad apportionment of authority to the states and localities.

Edmund Burke — (America, Vol. 1, p. 154)

This Irish-born, British parliamentarian (1729–1797) censured French radicals and championed tradition and restraint in his Reflections on the French Revolution (1790)? He startled the “enlightened” elite of his day (including many of his fellow Whigs) when he wrote so unflatteringly of the French democrats (Jacobins).He asked, “[Am I] seriously to felicitate a madman who has escaped from the protecting restraint and wholesome darkness of his cell on his restoration of light and liberty?. . .”

Most entries this week are based on The ChristianAlmanac (Grant/Wilbur) and America, Volume 1 (Bennett).  One comes from a column by historian Roger McGrath in the current issue of Chronicles:AMagazine ofAmerican Culture (Feb. 2012).

 Election of 1824 — (Almanac, Feb. 9)

John Quincy Adams, son of an illustrious Founding Father and U.S. president, won the presidency himself by virtue of a vote cast in the House of Representatives following this inconclusive election?  The contest was turned over to the House by the Constitutionʼs 12th Amendment when none of the candidates gained a majority of electoral college votes. Andrew Jackson of Tennessee did not prevail (at least on this occasion) though he won a plurality of both the popular and electoral votes.

 Kamikaze — (Roger McGrath; Chronicles, Feb. 2012)

With origins in an astounding triumph over a Mongolian armada in the 1200s, this Japanese word for “divine wind” names the deadly aerial attacks used against the U.S. in the waning months of World War II? The first of the attacks took place in October 1944 in Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, and they became a common feature of Japanese strategy by March 1945.  “The mission,” writes historian Roger McGrath, “was clearly suicidal but in keeping with Japanʼs bushido (ʻway of the warriorʼ).”

 Washington, Religious Liberty, and the Jews — (America, Vol. 1, p.141)

One of the most inspiring expressions of the earlyAmerican commitment to a generous toleration of non-Christian religions came from the pen of President Washington in a letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, (1790).

The president concluded his message with this fond hope (alluding to the promise of the Scriptures):  “May the Children of the Stock ofAbraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

In his letter, Washington actually went well beyond the bounds of toleration, generous or grudging, citing the still higher “inherent natural rights” in religion of all men and sects. The new Government of the United States, he assured the Jews, “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. . .”

 Amendments 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 — (America, Vol. 1, pp. 142-143)

These five amendments to the Constitution, part of the famed Bill of Rights (1791), were intended to limit the judicial and law enforcement powers of the U.S. Government? Prohibited practices included “unreasonable searches and seizures,” forcing the accusedto testify against himself, and “cruel and unusual punishments.”In the colonial era imperial Britain had transgressed grievously in some of these matters, most notably in the general search warrants called “Writs ofAssistance.”

This weekʼs entries are based entirely on our readings for this academic year in The ChristianAlmanac (Grant & Wilbur) and America, Vol. 1 (William Bennett). 

Edward the Confessor — (Almanac, Jan. 5)

This Saxon prince, the only king of England ever canonized by the Catholic Church, sponsored the construction of the famous Westminster Abbey in the mid-11th-century? The prince took up the grand project late in life in order to make up for an earlier unfulfilled vow to make a pilgrimage to Rome. As it turned out, he was buried at Westminster on Epiphany (Jan. 6, 1066), and his Norman cousin, William, was crowned king there on Christmas Day of the same year (Dec. 25, 1066).

 John Donne — (Almanac, Jan. 24)

This Renaissance courtier (1572–1631), a brilliant stylist in prose and poetry both sacred and secular, became Anglican dean of St. Paulʼs Cathedral in London in 1621? The loyal love of his wife and her premature death (shortly after giving birth to her 12th child) tempered his cosmopolitan excesses and led him along a path of deep piety. Famous lines drawn from his sermons and poems include “No Man is an Island,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and “Death, Be not Proud.”

 Thomas Mifflin — (Almanac, Jan. 10)

A military man (Quartermaster General) though reared a Quaker, this Pennsylvanian (1744–1800) obtained critical supplies for the Continental army early in the Revolution? He was General Washingtonʼs first aide-de-camp, and at the warʼs end he was the man, as president of Congress, who received Washingtonʼs resignation of his commission on behalf of a grateful people.In between, ironically, he broke faith with Washington by conspiring with others to replace him as commander with Horatio Gates.

 Codex Sinaiticus — (Almanac, Jan. 19)

It took years of patience and persistence, but German researcher Konstantin von Tischendorf (1815–1874) finally brought to light this ancient manuscript volume, one of the oldest copies of the Bible on record? Tischendorf made his initial discovery at St. Catherineʼs monastery on Mount Sinai in 1844, and he revisited the site to broaden his investigation in 1859. The text, consisting of a large portion of the Old Testament and the entire New Testament in Greek, proved invaluable to Bible scholars and students.

 FrancisA. Schaeffer — (Almanac, Jan. 26)

This American Presbyterian (1912–1984) inspired many Bible-believing Christians to evangelize not merely individuals, but societyʼs institutions and culture as well? His books (including How Should WeThen Live?) addressed key issues in philosophy, theology, and ethics and lamented the de-Christianization of the modern Western world. In Switzerland (1948) he founded LʼAbri (“the shelter”), a unique study center offering “honest answers to honest questions” posed by visiting students and skeptic.

Our H&H entries this week are based on George Grant & Gregory Wilburʼs The Christian Almanac and a few other sources (like Tabletalk magazine) as indicated: 

Paraenesis — (Tabletalk studies, Dec. 19-21, 2011)

This Greek word signifies a common first century form of moral instruction and exhortation, one highlighting practical everyday conduct?  Even the Apostle Paul used the form in his New Testament epistles, a noteworthy example occurring in Philippians 4:4-9 where he commends many virtues (whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, etc.) to the contemplation of Christians. All of which shows that Christianity came not so much to destroy manʼs culture, but to renew and sanctify it.

 Martin Luther — (Tabletalk studies, Dec. 26-27, 2011)

Aminerʼs son, this German monk (1483–1546) unwittingly ignited the Protestant Reformation with his Ninety-Five Theses (1517), a critique of Divine mercy put up for sale (papal indulgences)? Pivotal events in his life included a close call with lightning while on horseback, the disillusionment of a visit to Rome (1510), and his own scholarly study of the Scriptures (Psalms and Romans in particular). Slowly it dawned on him thatonly Christʼs righteousness, received by faith alone, saves sinners.

 Divorce — (R.C. Sproul, Tabletalk, Dec. 2011)

The acclaimed Harvard sociologist, Russian-born Pitirim Sorokin, in a 1948 essay, noted that this social pathology had risen from a rate of 10% of all marriages in America in 1910 to 25% by mid-century?  Sorokin said such a rate (one quarter of all contracted families) spelled doom for the stability of any society, anywhere anytime. One need not wonder what Sorokin, who died in 1968, would say if he saw todayʼs America, where the aforementioned rate has risen to about 50%.

 George Kennan — (Jordan M. Smith, TheAmerican Conservative, Jan. 2012)

This U.S. diplomat (1904–2005) formulated the policy of containment in relation to the Soviet Union during the so-called Cold War (roughly 1945–1990)?  His careful intention was to strike a balance between provoking a war with Communist Russia, on the one hand, and passivity in the face of her expansionary ambitions on the other.  In his later years, in spite of a favorable end to the Cold War, he was gloomy aboutAmericaʼs future, even urging dismemberment of the nation into smaller regional republics.

 TheAgrarians — (Almanac, Jan. 12)

A graduate student at Vanderbilt in 1930, Andrew Nelson Lytle joined these Southern scholars and contributed to their landmark critique of modern times, Iʼll Take My Stand? The Southerners, in a compilation of essays, lamented the loss of the old liberty and virtue, rooted, as they saw it, in loyalty to family, faith, farm, community, and culture. Modernity (with its mass democracy, industry, and living habits), they believed, had turned our hearts away from home and seduced us with empty promises of happiness.