Historically Thinking

* Universal Declaration of Human Rights

* The History of Smallpox, from the Centers for Disease Control

* Chronology of the League of Nations

* David Abulafia, Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor

* Alan Bullock, Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives

* Pieter Geyl, Napoleon For and Against–in part written during Geyl's imprisonment, containing many of his historiographical reflections

No, not the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Perhaps even more important than that Illinois contest of 1858 was the Webster-Hayne debate of 1830. Confused? Drawing a blank? Not really your fault. Would you be even more surprised to hear that these were debates held not out in front of voters, but in the Senate? And that debates […]

No, not the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Perhaps even more important than that Illinois contest of 1858 was the Webster-Hayne debate of 1830.

Confused? Drawing a blank? Not really your fault. Would you be even more surprised to hear that these were debates held not out in front of voters, but in the Senate? And that debates in the Senate could change public opinion? Build and break coalitions? Redirect political energy?

These days when the United States Senate is referred to as “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” it’s to both tell the windup and the punchline of a joke. If anyone regards the Senate as useful for much of anything, it’s to quickly pass legislation originating in the House or swiftly process presidential appointments. The Senate is now simply a hurdle in the legislative race.

It was not always so. The curious case of the Senate is that the Senate now means so little. On his now famous journey through the United States, the eternally scribbling Tocqueville  noted that the debates of the Senate were worthy of any legislature in the world.

Tocqueville’s timing was impeccable. He had arrived in the Senate at the beginning of what is now regarded as the “Golden Age” of the Senate, lasting approximately from 1830 to 1860. One reason often given by political historians for this age of oratory and debate, and Senatorial consequence, was the controversy over slavery that was the focus of this rhetorically elevated contention. But as Christopher Childers demonstrates in his new book about the critical debates that effectively inaugurated this era, the “golden age” of the Senate was the result of political breakdown and upheaval, the end of the previous generation of political culture. That breakdown is the focus of our our conversation today–along with the confrontation of Hayne of South Carolina and Webster of Massachusetts, what happened afterwards, and how it was first remembered and then forgotten.

For Further Investigation

* Christopher Childers, The Webster-Hayne Debate: Defining Nationhood in the Early American Republic (Johns Hopkins, 2018)

* Abridged versions of Hayne and Webster's speeches

 

Today I talk with Steve Hahn, Professor of History at St. Olaf’s College in Northfield, Minnesota. He’s at work on a book about several hundred men who in 1718 sought the King’s pardon for piracy at Nassau in the Bahamas. Our fascination with pirates is a little strange, but probably in 200 years there […]

Today I talk with Steve Hahn, Professor of History at St. Olaf's College in Northfield, Minnesota. He's at work on a book about several hundred men who in 1718 sought the King's pardon for piracy at Nassau in the Bahamas.

Our fascination with pirates is a little strange, but probably in 200 years there will be little kids walking around in pinstripe suits with Tommy guns pretending to be Al Capone–and while I didn't see anyone dressed like that this Halloween, I did see pirates. This long-term interest has, probably as a consequence, led to a lot of misconceptions of who pirates were and what they did. Even eminent historians often seem to think that a pirate wasn't a pirate unless they had an eyepatch and a parrot–bonus points if they also had a peg leg.

But of course, pirates were just an exotic variety of thieves. And no thief can work without a good fence. So are fences really thieves? That's one of the conundrums that we explore in this conversation.

For Further Investigation

* Marcus Rediker, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea–pirates as proto-Bolsheviks

*  Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age–ditto

* Peter T. Leeson, The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates–pirates as highly rational market actors

* David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates–the best one-volume introduction to the subject

* Robert C. Ritchie, Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates–a great book

For Further Investigation

Jennifer E. Steenshorne, (Fall 2010). "Evacuation Day" (PDF). New York State Archives

Blackbeard, the democratic rebel?

The "Second Triumvirate" explained, at Livius

For Further Investigation Jennifer E. Steenshorne, (Fall 2010). “Evacuation Day” (PDF). New York State Archives Blackbeard, the democratic rebel? The “Second Triumvirate” explained, at Livius

This is an episode on Thanksgiving recorded two years ago. But it’s really ever-green. Safe travels to you and yours. It’s Thanksgiving Eve! Which means that at Historically Thinking it’s time to think about what the history of Thanksgiving is, and what it can tell us about thinking historically. Our guest today is Tracy McKenzie, professor […]

This is an episode on Thanksgiving recorded two years ago. But it's really ever-green. Safe travels to you and yours.

It's Thanksgiving Eve! Which means that at Historically Thinking it's time to think about what the history of Thanksgiving is, and what it can tell us about thinking historically.

Our guest today is Tracy McKenzie, professor of history at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Prior to coming to Wheaton he taught history for twenty-two years at the University of Washington, where he was the Donald W. Logan Endowed Chair in American History.

His research focuses on the American Civil War era and its effects on the economy and society of the Upper South. This has resulted in several books, including One South or Many? Plantation Belt and Upcountry in Civil War-Era Tennessee (Cambridge University Press, 1994) and  Lincolnites and Rebels: A Divided Town in the American Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2006), which won the Fletcher Pratt Literary Award for best non-fiction work on the Civil War.

So, what does this have to do with Thanksgiving? For one, McKenzie's most recent work is The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us about Loving God and Learning from History (InterVarsity Press, 2013). Why a Civil War-era historian should be so interested in Thanksgiving is a riddle that we will explore in our conversation. For two, the story of Thanksgiving and how it came to be celebrated in American culture is also a study of historical thinking, and McKenzie provides one of the most interesting, accessible introductions to thinking historically that I've ever encountered.

So as you're traveling over the river and through the woods, have a listen to our conversation. You'll find out a lot about evidence; why historical revisionism is a really good thing; the difference between thanksgivings and Thanksgiving; and why football has from the beginning been part of the Thanksgiving celebration.

Today’s conversation is one of our forays away from historical thinking, and to instead explaining and thinking about higher education. As I’ve said before, think of this as a series entitled “Higher Ed: A Guide for the Perplexed.” I’m always astonished how little very well-educated people, long out of the academy, misconceive how a […]