What if I told you that Christmas—the holiday we know and love so well—was a capitalist Conspiracy to indoctrinate the working class into bourgeois culture and values? At one end of the Conspiracy was the very real circle of New York City antiquarians and aristocrats trying to snuff out earlier forms of the holiday, replacing these folk practices with the distinctly quiet, calm, peaceful, productive, contemplative, bourgeois form of the holiday we know today. At the other end stands their greatest creation—the defrocked bishop Santa Claus and his apparently vast, never-ceasing workshops fed by partially enslaved elf labor.Clement Clarke Moore, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (1823)Pintard, Letters, Vol. II: 1821-1827; Vol. II: 1828-1831Clark, Christopher. Social Change in America: From the Revolution Through the Civil War. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher. 2006.Penne Restad, Christmas in America: A History, Oxford University Press. 1996. Stephen Nissenbaum, The Battle for Christmas: A Social and Cultural History of Our Most Cherished Holiday, Vintage. 1997. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 33: The Christmas Conspiracy

Join host Dr. Anthony Comegna on a series of libertarian explorations into the past. Liberty Chronicles combines innovative libertarian thinking about history with specialist interviews, primary and secondary sources, and answers to listener questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Coming Soon: The Liberty Exchange

Today Anthony Comegna (@DrLocoFoco) leaves us with one final message as we end chronicling liberty: “I certainly will continue my own end of the deal we have struck here—you couldn’t drag me away from my Locofocos, my Spiritualists, my Free Love anarchists, or my radical English Dissenters, to name just a few—but I’ll close with one final plea to each of you: History is not an instruction manual; it is a cautionary tale. No intellectual tradition, no set of good or just ideas, no heroes nor villains are ever remembered unless we do the labor of memory. Our tradition, our ideas, our tales of heroes and our villains all deserve to be remembered, and we deserve to learn from their examples.” Be sure to check back with libertarianism.org to learn about our new history adventures in the coming months.Our Most Memorable Episodes:Eggnog Riot!! The Possession of Frances Whipple Reasonable Crimes: Humanizing Pirates There’s No Excuse for Slavery (Updated) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 105: The Last Liberty Chronicles

Last week we left off with selections from William Graham Sumner and we pick up right there today with Christopher Preble. Preble’s new book was released today on our site and it not only explores America imperialist tendency in the past, but also recognizes our foreign policy blunders of today. Does the U.S. think they are in a perfect position to solve the problems of other countries? How did the war against Spain turn out? Does the American imperial empire exist today? When did the U.S. start to get influenced by the imperial mindset of Europe? What is corporatism? Was it honorable to be a soldier in the 1900s? What was the anti-war movement and what happened to it after World War II?Further Reading:Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy, written by Christopher A. Preble, available April 30, 2019. Dreams of a City on a Hill, 1630, written by John WinthropRelated Content:Address Delivered at the Request of the Committee for Arrangements for Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence, written by John Quincy Adams Jackson: The First Imperial President, Learn Liberty The Conquest of the United States by Spain, written by William Graham Sumner Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 104: The United States as a Young Foreign Power, Part Two, with Christopher A. Preble

Christopher A. Preble joins us for the first episode of a 2-part discussion about early America’s role in the world. Comegna and Preble focus their conversation around two historical documents that are cited in Preble’s new book Peace, War, and Liberty. The first document is John Quincy Adam’s “Address Delivered at the Request of the Committee for Arrangements for Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence”. The second document is, “The Conquest of the United States by Spain”. Be sure to tune in next week to hear part 2 of this discussion and to download a free copy of the Preble’s book! What is realpolitik? Why weren’t Native Americans seen as sovereign peoples by the United States? What did Americans think of their place in the world by 1820? Did Americans still fear the British in 1820? How did we use the Navy to expand markets in the early and late 1800s?Further Reading:Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy, written by Christopher A. Preble, available April 30, 2019. Dreams of a City on a Hill, 1630, written by John WinthropRelated Content:Address Delivered at the Request of the Committee for Arrangements for Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence, written by John Quincy Adams Jackson: The First Imperial President, Learn Liberty The Conquest of the United States by Spain, written by William Graham Sumner Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 103: The United States as a Young Foreign Power, with Christopher A. Preble

  Can you imagine people getting themselves all worked up over banks and money today? Having that intensely boring issue so thoroughly dominate political life that presidents and parties rise and fall on this one subject alone? No one today knows anything about the Fed and no one wants to know about the Fed. People back in the 1830s and ‘40s, were in a constant state of agitation about it. It seemed to Jacksonian Americans that the individual pursuit of self interest was natural and inevitable. What was important about Adam Smiths’ Wealth of Nations? Were banks corrupt? Have banks always been corrupt? How did views of banks and the Fed change since Jacksonian America?Further Reading:The Myth of Class in Jacksonian America, Cambridge University Press The Bank War and the Partisan Press, written by Stephen W. Campbell Andrew Jackson, Banks and the Panic of 1837, Lehrman InstituteRelated Content:Jackson Kills the Bank, Part One, written by Andrew Jackson Jackson Kills the Bank, Part Two, written by Andrew Jackson Make America Young Again, Liberty Chronicles Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 33: The Christmas Conspiracy

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