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A historical study of the speechmaking at cooper union, 1859-1897

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A historical study of the speechmaking at cooper union, 1859-1897

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Content T his d isserta tio n has been 64— 9302 | m icrofilm ed ex a ctly as receiv ed | 1 EK, R ichard A lm o, 1926— | A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE SPEECHMAKING AT | COOPER UNION, 1859-1897. 1 U n iversity of Southern C alifornia, P h .D ., 1964 Spee ch -T h e ate r University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE SPEECHMAKING AT COOPER UNION 1859-1897 by Richard Almo Ek A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Communication— Speech) January 1954 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. UNIVERSITY O F SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA G RADUATE S C H O O L U NIV ERSITY PARK LO S A N G E L E S 7 , C A L IF O R N IA This dissertation, written by ...........................R ich a rd A im ............................. tinder the direction of hks....Dissertation Com mittee, and approved by all its members, has been presented to and accepted by the Graduate School, in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of D O C T O R OF P H I L O S O P H Y Date Jan/iia.ry^.l_964........ Dean DISSERTATION COMMITTEE Chqi R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ............................... 1 The Problem Scope of the Study Nature of the Study Review of the Literature Methodology and Sources Plan of Reporting PART I. PLATFORM EVOLUTION AND NON-CONTROVERSIAL SPEAKING II. PETER COOPER AND HIS COOPER UNION.......... 26 Introduction Getting Started Amassing a Fortune Spending the Fortune Wisely Summary III. THE GREAT HALL, ITS PLATFORM, AND ITS AUDIENCE................................. 65 Introduction Physical Aspects The Educational Platform The Public Platform The Audience Summary IV, POPULAR LYCEUM LECTURES . 115 Introduction General Interest Themes Scientific Themes ii R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. Chapter Page Distant Place Themes Famous Person Themes Serio-Humorous Themes Personal Success Themes Summary PART II: CONTROVERSIAL SPEAKING V. PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS ..................... 177 Introduction The 1860 Election The 1864 Election The 1868 Election The 1872 Election The 1876 Election The 1892 Election The 1896 Election Summary VI, THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD....................... 262 Introduction Anti-Slavery Agitation Conduct of the War Aspects of Reconstruction Summary VII. THE STRUGGLE OF OPPRESSED GROUPS.......... 336 Introduction The Rights of Labor Ireland versus England Indian Chiefs Seek Justice Summary VIII. SOCIAL REFORM............................... 405 Introduction Woman's Rights Agitation ixx R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. Chapter Page Temperance Agitation Anti-Tweed Ring Agitation Summary . IX. SELECTED PLATFORM EVENTS .................. 464 Introduction Future Presidents Controversial Lectures Singular Meetings Summary X. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS..................... 527 Summary Conclusions Implications BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................... 549 IV R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. C H A P T E R I INTRODUCTION The Cooper Union, or Cooper Institute as it is often called, is located in New York City where Third and Fourth Avenues intersect to form Cooper Square at the head of The Bowery. In the basement of the six-story brownstone Cooper Union building is the Great Hall, a large lecture auditorium which seats 1,600 people. This hall, open to the public since 1859, has been both a source and a forum for the dis semination of ideas. This dissertation is an institutional study which deals with Cooper Union and its Great Hall. Gregg Phifer speaks of an institutional study as one where "the focus is on the institution; a school, ... a famous theatre, a forum or debating society. ..." In constructing the bio graphy of an institution, people play a major role because they are the creators of history through what they do and ^Gregg Phifer, "The Historical Approach," An Intro duction to Graduate Study in Speech and Theatre. ed. Clyde W. Dow (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1961), IV, Part II, 54. 1 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. say. Yet the actions of people must have a setting or loca tion, and in an institutional study the framework within which people move also commands central attention. Cooper Union derives its institutional prominence principally from its famous platform, which served as a sounding board for ideas that were of compelling interest to their time. The Problem Statement of the problem It was the chief purpose of this study to provide an account of the significant ideas, issues, and movements and of the people who expressed them at Cooper Union from 1859 to 1897. It was an ultimate purpose to attempt to assign the Cooper Union platform a place in the history of American public address. Thus the problem posed several constituent questions. What significant ideas, issues, or movements were discussed at Cooper Union? Who were the speakers that gave expression to these ideas, issues, or movements? What pla^e should an anthology of speaking at Cooper Institute occupy in the history of American public address? Significance of the problem A bronze plaque attached to the northeast corner- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. stone of Cooper Institute bears a brief but meaningful in- scription: Landmarks of New York/ COOPER UNION/ For the Ad vancement of Science and Art. Peter Cooper, inventor, civic leader, philanthropist, founded this institution offering free education to all. In its great hall, birthplace of many important social and political move ments, America's leading citizens have spoken, among them Abraham Lincoln, whose 1860 address here contrib uted to his presidential nomination. Designed by Frederick Peterson, this building was opened in 1869. Plaque erected 1959 by/ The New York Community Trust This commentary on the Great Hall is supported by other sources. During the centennial year H. I. Brock noted that "for one hundred years every cause, every idea, every reform, every intellectual undertaking has had its prominent p spokesmen from the stage of Cooper Union." Peter Lyon, writing the same year, said; . . . it was chiefly as a forum for new and exciting ideas that Cooper Union was noted. Almost from the first it was the center of thought in the country's largest city. Over and over again the Union's great hall was filled . . . to hear the most influential ideas of the day.3 The Cooper Union offered the following centennial comment about its own platform: ^H. I. Brock, "A Century of Service to Free Speech," The New York Times. Section XI, November 1, 1959, 10. 3peter Lyon, "Peter Cooper, the Honest Man," Ameri can Heritage. X (February, 1959), 6. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. Ever since the evening when Abraham Lincoln stood on the . . . platform and delivered the address which, as he later said, "made me President," the Great Hall has been illuminated by the lights of history. The prominent persons who have spoken . . . are literally legion. Among the famous names connected with the Great Hall's earlier days are William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Ward Beecher, Victoria Woodhull, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry George, and Robert Inger- soll. All the advances and changes that have been wrought . .. in government, science, the arts, litera ture, and the uses of society, have been expounded and discussed from the platform.^ These references and others like them reveal several common elements which shed light upon the significance of the problem: (1) they place the platform directly in the mainstream of history by connecting Cooper Union with impor tant ideas, issues, and movements; (2) they suggest that Cooper Institute made its own unique contribution to history by expressing its substance; (3) they direct attention to the caliber of speakers who appeared in the Great Hall by identifying them as prominent or influential persons; and (4) they underscore the interaction of important people and ideas through the verbal medium, indicating speechmaking of national significance. 4"About the Great Hall of The Cooper Union," an un published folding sheet prepared by The Cooper Union Public Relations Department under the direction of Frank A. Culver, 1959. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. Scope of the Study The factors which governed the scope of this study were those of time and types of speaking. The first limit ing factor, that of time, determined the span of years to be studied. July 1, 1859 was an obvious beginning date be cause it marked the opening of Cooper Union. The terminal date of June 28, 1897, was fixed by the establishment of an educational alliance between Cooper Institute and The Peo ple's Institute, a newly-formed organization which had as its guiding purpose the elevation of the working classes through extensive adult education.^ The alliance was entirely in keeping with the Cooper Union tradition of free adult education which had been such a fond design of founder Peter Cooper. Yet it changed the image of the Great Hall by redefining the type of primary activity that took place there. The new instructional marriage signified the end of one speaking era by altering the historical course of what had been a public platform to 5por several years prior, to- 1897 Cooper Institute had been moving toward increased opportunities for adult education. Its Saturday Night Free Lectures had been con ducted since 1868. By 1893 it was also offering exchange lectures through Columbia University. The following year it extended its free lecture offerings through the New York City Board of Education. Joining with The People's Insti tute was the final step. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. that of a people's free forum for adult education with or ganized activities under the direction of The People's In stitute, Where a wide variety of kinds of speaking had marked the previous history of the platform, the emphasis now shifted toward planned instruction. Charles Sprague Smith, first managing director of The People's Institute, explained the character of the new organization: It was resolved to establish a new institution, upon whose board of control all sections should have representation, and whose platform, free from class or partisan influence, should become a foriorn for the untrammeled discussion of all subjects affecting the people's interests. The name then chosen, "The People's Institute," was intended to describe the character and purpose of. this new educational work. ^ The dedicated Professor Smith kept the Great Hall busy sev eral nights a week with lecture-discussion on democracy and history from the People's Forum, music one night a week in the People's Hall, and worship on Sunday morning and evening in the People's Church.^ ^Charles Sprague Smith, Working with the People (New York: A. Wessels Company, 1904), p. 2. ^Ibid.. p. 11. For the next thirty-seven years what came to be known as the Cooper Union Forum was con ducted under the joint auspices of The People's Institute and Cooper Union. In 1934 Cooper Institute assumed undi vided control and direction of the program of general adult education under its Division of Social Philosophy and con ducts the forum as it is known today. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. The second limiting factor, that of types of speak ing, controlled the material used in the study. Of the hun dreds of addresses delivered at Cooper Union between 1859 and 1897, many would be of passing interest to the student of public address. For example, there were instructional lectures on topics such as tips to homemakers, health and longevity advice, practical science in action, or the theory of government. Equally transitory were the political ral lies or ratification meetings dedicated to the support of long-forgotten assemblymen, aldermen, and even candidates for sheriff, as well as labor meetings held by groups such as 'the New York barbers who sought to phrase resolutions defining local journeyman status. But there was another type of address dealing with the compelling and controversial public ideas, issues, and movements of the age that provided the material for this study. This type of speaking reflected vividly the public events which required immediate or eventual decision and therefore made a lasting impression upon the future as well Q as upon their own time. ®A1though not controversial speechmaking, this last division included the outstanding lyceum lectures of the time. These programs were often on light or popular sub jects, but they were of surpassing interest to the public. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 8 Nature of the Study The historical approach was used in constructing this institutional study. This approach was defined suc cinctly by Phifer: "... historical method requires the student to seek out and critically evaluate the reports of observers of past events in order to describe accurately what happened and to clarify as best he can the relation- 9 ships among these events." The Cooper Union investigation inevitably included documentary research which, in the opin ion of J. Jeffery Auer, is a strong identifying character istic of the historical method. Professor Auer notes that "whenever documents are the basic raw materials for a study of past or present events, the historical method is em ployed . " In pursuing the historical method, a path of inves tigation was followed which sought to illuminate the rela tionship between speechmaking at Cooper Union and vital is sues of the day. The philosophy that guided this type of investigation was clearly set forth by James H. McBath in his study of the Chautauqua platform: ^Phifer, op. cit.. p. 53. Jeffery Auer, An Introduction to Research in Speech (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), p. 118. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. The history of public address becomes most informa tive when it is pursued in connection with important public issues. We are sensitized to these issues only through consulting the divergent ideas and arguments which spokesmen for segments of opinion are quick to offer in a democratic society. From an examination of these opposing views we gain an historical knowledge and perspective on public thought.H Earlier thinking that paralleled this viewpoint was ex pressed in 1947 by Ernest Wrage. He spoke favorably of "idea centered" studies because he felt substantial contri butions to the field of public address and to general under standing could be made by placing speakers' ideas into con texts of contemporary social and intellectual history. In drawing attention to the need for research of this nature, Professor Wrage said: There is . . . a deficiency in the scholarship of public address. Research in the ideas communicated through speeches needs doing as a means of contributing to knowledge and understanding generally. Adequate social and intellectual history cannot be written with out reference to public speaking as it contributed to the ideas injected in American c o n s c i o u s n e s s . 12 This path of investigation also made it possible to draw a panorama of significant speakers, occasions, and themes that 11James H. McBath, "Speechmaking at the Chautauqua Assembly, 1874-1900" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. School of Speech, Northwestern University, 1950), p. 8. l^Ernest Wrage, "Public Address: A Study in Social and Intellectual History," Quarterly Journal of Speech. XXXIII (December, 1947), 451. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 10 captured the spirit and scope of the Cooper Union platform. For these reasons an investigation that placed into histori cal perspective those speeches dealing with urgent subjects of the period seemed to represent a productive approach to speechmaking at Cooper Institute. Review of the Literature For all its fame^ the Cooper Union platform appears to have been neglected as a subject for historical research. An investigation of Speech Monographs. Doctoral Disserta tions . and Microfilm Abstracts revealed that Cooper Insti tute has not been a subject for study in American public address. In response to a request for information about nineteenth-century lectures in the Great Hall, the Cooper Union director of public-relations replied: Your letter again recalls to my mind the great void that exists in scholarly research on the lecture pro grams at The Cooper Union. Some day someone probably will do a great job of research and write a fine book about the Great Hall lec tures . But until that day comes, there is not much I can do to help people who ask for detailed information . . The literature that does exist is of three types. The first of these is material compiled by the Cooper Union l^Letter from Frank A. Culver, public relations di rector, The Cooper Union, March 29, 1950. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 11 public relations office under the direction of Frank A, Culver. He and his staff undertook the publication of a seven-page paper and a separate folding sheet on the Great Hall as one part of the 1959 centennial observance. These releases were written as publicity sketches, yet they draw together most of what is known about personalities and spe cific occasions at Cooper Union. The names of a number of outstanding speakers and their themes are presented in an overview that represents every decade of the century. Biographies are a second type of literature contain ing some information about the Great Hall. The most useful of these sources is Edward C. Mack's definitive work on Peter Cooper, Peter Cooper: Citizen of New York. In two chapters devoted to Cooper Institute, Mack discusses plat form activity as an educational function occasioned by the founder's trust deed. The author describes particularly the philosophy and conduct of the Saturday Night Free Lectures; he also writes about Abraham Lincoln's 1860 address and a lecture given during October, 1873 by Victoria Woodhull, the suffrage and free love advocate. Other biographies treat the subject of the lecture hall briefly or dismiss it, Allan Nevins' Abram S. Hewitt. with Some Account of Peter Cooper discusses the free educa- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 12 tional lectures but passes over other types of speaking, re ferring only to the auditorium as "the same hall, which for a half century proved the most popular center for public meetings in the city, was available to all, without respect to race, creed, or political tenet, who would pay the modest fee. " Thomas Hughes' Life of Peter Cooper, an account published in 1885, contains several anecdotes illustrating the unique physical facilities of the Great Hall for lecture purposes, Its speech references— like those of Mack and Nevins— focus on education from the platform. Newspaper supplement articles comprise the third type of literature. The most detailed of these treatments have appeared in The New York Times and the New York World- Teleqram in commemoration of Cooper Union's ninetieth and one hundredth birthdays. Like the biographies, these ac counts describe Cooper Institute as a school and touch upon the Great Hall in passing. Methodology and Sources The development of this study involved four major steps. The first involved finding information from which l^Allan Nevins, Abram S. Hewitt. with Some Account of Peter Cooper (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1935), p. 271. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 13 the story of Cooper Union and, more particularly, its plat form could be told. Although the Cooper Institute Library could offer but three texts in bound form and no other de tailed records of lecture activity and content, its Cooper- Hewitt Collection of books, papers, and correspondence was a valuable source for material on Peter Cooper and his Cooper Union. The only extensive repository of speech records wa-s the New York City popular press. Therefore, all the lead ing New York newspapers for the period from 1859 to 1897 for which there were records were used as sources. The newspapers consulted were the New York Herald. The New York Times. The Tribune. The World. The Sun. The Evening Post, and the weekly radical newspaper The People. The only place where all these publications are collected in legible, available form is the Newspaper Annex of The New York Public Library. It was with the vast microfilm resources of this library that the search for speech records was conducted. Within the newspapers themselves, the classified advertising section was the key to locating dates of Cooper Union addresses. The ads were an almost unfailing guide because the sponsors of lectures and public meetings faith fully advertised their coming attractions in the daily R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 14 press.The New York Herald was the largest newspaper and also carried the most classified ads until 1885 when The World forged ahead of other New York journals in all depart ments.^^ For these reasons the New York Herald served as advertising guide up to 1885, after which The World was used. In following this guide it was found most expedient to note from the ads the dates of all items relating to Cooper Union for one year at a time. These dates were then followed up in each of the newspapers, and the most com plete, detailed account was copied with a microfilm reader- printer. In addition, the editorial content of both the New York Herald and The World was scanned for the entire study period. First, unadvertised speeches were occasionally re ported, and it was not safe to assume that one publication would cover them all. This safeguard proved largely unnec essary; however, had reading centered on The New York Times. l^Their one alternative— or supplement— to the ad vertising columns was the pasting up or distribution of handbills. l^Allen Churchill takes notice of this in Park Row (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1958), pp. 11-12, and lists the New York Herald as the more important as of May 11, 1883 when Joseph Pulitzer purchased The World. Within two years, Pulitzer's genius had turned American journalism ups ide down. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 15 17 serious omissions would have resulted. Second, newspapers of the period were violently partisan on points that mir- 18 rored their interests. For the sake of accuracy and fair coverage, there was no alternative but to examine two jour nals that leaned in opposite directions. The New York Her ald was the largest conservative Republican newspaper, while The World was the only leading liberal Democratic publication.^^ Third, these tabloids issued outstanding Sunday editions, insuring the widest coverage for addresses delivered on Friday and Saturday evenings. Sunday editions were the exception rather than the rule; the august Tribune did not publish on Sunday until 1874, a practice often l^During the 1860's many articles were taken from The New York Times. but progressively fewer were used as quality and coverage of the newspaper deteriorated. With the death in 1869 of Henry J. Raymond, its talented founder. The New York Times began a long decline that did not end until 1896. At that time Adolph Ochs moved in one step ahead of the undertaker to buy the journal and begin fash ioning it into the great conservative newspaper it is today. Meyer Berger has an excellent account of this near-death and transfiguration in The Story of The New York Times (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1951), pp. 87-118. ^®This was the age of the political party press and personal journalism. Politics received a disproportionate amount of news space, and labor activities were frequently played down in what The People called "the plutocratic press." Joseph Pulitzer began to usher in the modern era of journalism after 1890. l^Churchill, loc. cit. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 16 resulting in crowded Saturday and Monday issues, The second developmental step involved classifying, selecting, and analyzing the accounts of addresses which had been discovered in the newspapers. Classifying the material was a simple matter since the ideas, issues, and movements were easily singled out as research progressed. Stated differently, the speech accounts virtually classified themselves by falling into clearly-defined areas or subject categories of social and political history. Selecting the speech reports to be included in the study was a more complex task. There was initially the question of which article to transcribe from among those located in the various newspapers. The existence of several accounts describing the same address made possible cross checking for reliability. Completeness was the most impor tant single factor bearing upon ultimate choice, but clear reporting was also a prime consideration. Nineteenth- century news reporting, being less rigorous than it is to day, made it necessary at times to record and compare sev eral accounts of a speech in order to accurately recon struct the content of the message. Reporters editorialized freely and sometimes developed secondary details at the ex pense of major points. But despite such reporting, contra- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 17 dictory articles were rarely encountered; variance usually was attributable to differing interpretations of the same event. Within the divisions relating to popular lyceum lectures, political campaign speaking, the Civil War decade, and labor, a further process of selection took place. These were the dominant areas of reported platform activity at Cooper Union. In the case of popular lectures, the speak er's prominence was a helpful guide to selection. Platform titans of the time who spoke on a l u c r a t i v e ^ O paid admis sion basis not only delivered the outstanding lectures but also received the detailed press coverage, Nearly all lec tures of interest were given by personalities to be found in such definitive works on the lyceum as C. F. Horner's Life of James Redpath. Carl Bode's American Lvceum. or J. B. Pond's Eccentricities of Genius. A second selection guide was established by the line drawn between general . entertainment•lectures and adult education lectures. Al though several instructive themes were included, they were neither insipid nor didactic. Lectures delivered by such ^(^Advertising indicated the more popular lecturers placed admission at 50$, but in a few cases they could go as high as $1. Struggling lecturers usually asked 25$ but would go as low as 10$. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 18 men as Louis Agassiz and John Tyndall, both world-renowned scientists, were so culturally important that they were among the few popular programs reported verbatim in the newspapers. Others of lesser stature than Agassiz and Tyn dall achieved striking results in fields apart from science by presenting judiciously selected material in an interest ing manner. James Redpath, in managing his lyceum bureau, constantly sought lecturers who could win their way through being instructive without being dull. Horner says of Red path: He recognized a universal public impulse for en tertainment, and he felt that knowledge imparted by means of the platform should be so expressed that it would appeal to a public desire for entertainment as well as to a need for instruction.^^ The educational Saturday Night Free Lectures for the people were treated outside of this category, as were the addresses of several of the foremost lyceum figures of the age whose efforts at Cooper Union were concentrated upon historic movements. In the area of political campaign speaking, selec tion focused upon those addresses which represented signi ficant contributions to the controversy that swirled about ^^Charles F. Horner, The Life of James Redpath (New York: Barse & Hopkins, 1926), p. 197. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 19 pivotal national issues of the time. The field % s there fore narrowed to Presidential contests because it was only at that level that such issues were consistently discussed. Assistance in locating the crucial points of clash v/as ob tained through consulting leading works in political his- torv'-. Eugene H. Rosebocs's A History of Presidential Elec tions was very useful, as was Edvard Stanw-ood's A Eistor~v of the Presidency from 1738 to 1397 and Wilfred E. Binkley's American Political Parties. An invaluable reference vas DeAlva Stanvrood Alexander ' s A Political Historv of the State of New York. Accounts of addresses were selected vâich en ergized those issues that found consistent emphasis in these and other readings. It inevitably follovred that such ad dresses v*ere delivered by leading public figures. In the division relating to the Civil War. material was selected vrhich centered upon transcendant problem areas affecting the course of national destiny during the conflict and its aftermath. Guidance in locating questions involving internecine crises vas obtained from such historical works as David Donald's revision of James G. Randall’s The Civil War and Reconstruction and James Ford Rhodes ' Bistor~v of the United States from the Compromise of 1350. In the area of labor, materials were sought that R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 20 reflected the national scene. Platform activity was most informative when it described the struggles and elements leading to the greater emergence of the American workingman — when it contributed to salient points in the story of labor's national past. Aid in selecting material that had breadth of scope and implication was obtained through read ings in such sources as J. R. Commons' A History of Labor in the United States or Mary Beard's A Short History of the American Labor Movement. Analyzing newspaper records that had been selected was a matter of careful study and condensation. Verbatim reports were infrequent except in political speaking, so analysis primarily involved news accounts which contained textual abridgments. These articles, cast in an editorial form not suitable for direct transfer into the study, were interpreted, clarified, and distilled. The resulting synop ses contained the essence of the speaker's remarks— captur ing original color and passages whenever possible— while retaining thought structure as reported. Developing the original published accounts so they could sustain themselves as parts of governing thematic frameworks involved problems of internal criticism described by Phifer. He urged schol ars to be prepared to "supply from general knowledge about R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 21 the period the meaning of otherwise obscure allusions to 22 contemporary persons, issues, and events." When George W, Curtis lectured on "Political Morality," for instance, he cited Warren Hastings as an example of political immoral ity that had been rewarded rather than punished. In no account was Hastings adequately identified or his alleged immorality explained in detail. Verbatim reports were approached through a four-step plan of development; (1) the speaker's main stream of thought was interpreted in a concise summary, (2) the ad dress was outlined, (3) passages expressing principal or key ideas were used as found, and (4) passages illustrating the style and individuality of the speaker were used as found. Textual accounts met much the same problems and were subject to the same critical acceptance through account comparison as the less complete textual abridgments. The third developmental step involved setting the stage, so to speak, at Cooper Union. The evolution of the platform was described. Since the Great Hall was a part of Cooper Institute physically and by policy, the description was most effectively accomplished by examining certain ^^Phifer, op. cit.. p. 55 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 22 phases in the life of Peter Cooper, his establishment of the Cooper Union free school for the advancement of science and art, and the purposes the Great Hall was meant to fulfill. In this way the role of the platform in the philanthropist's master plan for education and for free speech and assembly could be seen and understood. Such discussion included five components: (1) Peter Cooper and his Cooper Union; (2) physical aspects of the Great Hall; (3) the educational platform, or the platform as it fulfilled Cooper's adult education aims through the free lecture programs; (4) the public platform, or the independent platform as a popular forum; and (5) the audience, or the people who came to lis ten— whether the lecture was free instruction or an address growing out of some great unsettled question of the time. The fourth and final developmental step involved presenting the materials that had been recorded, sifted, and analyzed. Such presentation involved four procedural steps within the divisions of each chapter. First, an orienta tion essay was written to introduce the issue under discus sion and launch the address material. Second, the speaker and occasion were identified, and the character of the audi ence and its reactions were described where information was available. Third, the addresses themselves were presented R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 23 as analyzed. These contributing units of a related whole provided a running thread of commentary within the larger fabric of the idea, issue, or movement in which they figured. Fourth, the material in each chapter was summarized. Plan of Reporting Balance and unity were served best by dividing the study into two parts. The first part described platform evolution and non-controversial speaking. Chapter divisions were as follows: Part One Platform Evolution and Non-controversial Speaking Chapter II. Peter Cooper and His Cooper Union Getting Started Amassing a Fortune Spending the Fortune Wisely Chapter III. The Great Hall, Its Platform and Its Audience Physical Aspects The Educational Platform The Public Platform The Audience Chapter IV. Popular Lyceum Lectures General Interest Themes Scientific Themes Distant Place Themes Famous Person Themes Serio-Humorous Themes Personal Success Themes R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 24 Part Two Controversial Speaking Chapter V. Presidential Campaigns The Campaign of 1850 The Campaign of 1864 The Campaign of 1868 The Campaign of 1872 The Campaign of 1876 The Campaign of 1892 The Campaign of 1896 Chapter VI. The Civil War Period Anti-Slavery Agitation Conduct of the War Aspects of Reconstruction Chapter VII. The Struggle of Oppressed Groups The Rights of Labor Ireland versus England Indian Chiefs Seek Justice Chapter VIII. Social Reform Women's Rights Agitation Temperance Agitation Anti-Tweed Ring Agitation Chapter IX. Selected Platform Events Future Presidents Controversial Lectures Singular Meetings Chapter X. Summary and Conclusions R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. P A R T I PLATFORM EVOLUTION AND NON-CONTROVERSIAL SPEAKING R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. CHAPTER II PETER COOPER AND HIS COOPER UNION Introduction Peter Cooper was an industrialist, inventor, and philanthropist who through hard work became one of the early New York millionaires. In spite of his fortune, he always felt he had more in common with workingmen than he did with wealthy merchants, bankers, and stock market barons. His philanthropies, the best known of which is the Cooper Union, earned him such public affection that he was honored as New York's first citizen when he died. Cooper, who was born in 1791 and died in 1883, liked to say of himself during .his last years that his life had fallen into three periods, each occupying thirty years: (1) three decades to get started, (2) three decades to amass a fortune, and (3) three decades to spend the fortune wisely. Getting Started An impoverished childhood Peter Cooper was born in New York on February 12, _ ..... R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 27 1791, the son of John Cooper, a Revolutionary War lieutenant who was not blessed with a talent for business. Except for -an initial success in the hat manufacturing business, the father was forever in precarious financial circumstances. The money he made as a hat manufacturer he lost as a gro- ceryman because he extended credit too freely. Struggling to find an avenue of successful effort, John Cooper wandered continually up and down the Hudson River between New York and Catskill. However, it was his family rather than his means which showed an increase. The family grew to ten people— he had three sons and five daughters— as the bread winner worked at such jobs as brickmaking, selling wild honey, farming, and even netting and selling wild passenger pigeons. These ventures provided only the barest necessi ties of life, so the struggle to provide for his family forced Cooper to return to New York and the hat business. Son Peter's financial help made his last years comfortable. This uncertain existence and peripatetic home life were responsible for young Peter receiving almost no formal education. Because he had to work to help alleviate the family poverty, his school attendance was limited to a year and a half for half a day. Cooper's lack of education would almost certainly have proved an insurmountable obstacle in R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 28 the road to business success had it not been for his native intelligence; Mack notes the seriousness of the handicap; Despite what democratic sentimentalizers of the school of hard knocks have said or implied, Peter Cooper was almost fatally handicapped by his lack of education. His writing was never skillful enough to earn him the hearing he deserved; his scientific work was always that of the amateur, deficient both on the technical and the theoretical side; and his political and social thinking remained to the end somewhat crude and inflexible. Peter himself was the first to deplore the limitations imposed by his lack of education, and made it his life's work to see that the same thing did not happen to others.^ The insecurity of his poverty-stricken childhood produced in Cooper a fear of debt that grew to unreasonable proportions. Debtor prisons existed during his boyhood years, and he was deeply worried that his father might de fault some of the debts he constantly incurred, thus sending him to jail and plunging the family into even more serious difficulties. In spite of the fact that he never hoarded, the spectre of debt haunted Cooper even after he became a millionaire: His attitude about debt was . . . more that of a fanatic than of a rational man. Not content to praise staying away from lenders as sound policy, he insisted over and over again that most of his success could be credited to this policy; and he refused for many years ^Edward C. Mack, Peter Cooper: Citizen of New York (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1949), p. 30. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 29 even to keep money in a bank or to have any accounts outstanding at the end of a year. Moreover, his re peated references to the subject and anecdotes about it, many of which were quite pointless, show how it preyed on his mind.^ Thoughts of debt were driven out of young Cooper's mind during daylight hours as he struggled beside his father in the brickyard, brewery, and hat shop. At the age of seventeen he wearied of living at home with his father's ineptitudes, and he decided to strike out on his own. He also believed he could send money to his family if he worked for wages. Early business ventures Cooper went to Kew York where he served a four-year coachmaking apprenticeship. He did not practice the trade as a journeyman because he became convinced the business had no profitable future in America as it had in Europe. Casting about for means of employment at the age of twenty—one. Cooper decided there was money to be made in the textile industry that was booming with the War of 1812. With two partners he purchased the New York State sale rights to a cloth-shearing machine, but he was successful and thrifty enough so that he was soon able to buy out his 2Ibid.. u. 29. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 30 partners and continue in business for himself. He never again worked for anyone else. Using his remarkable mechan ical ingenuity, Cooper improved on the cloth-shearing ma chine until his sales enterprise was a thriving moneymaker. However, he did not make large financial gains because he endorsed pressing notes for his father. Prosperous times ended in the textile industry when peace came in 1814, and Cooper turned briefly and unprofitably to cabinetmaking. Cooper next joined his brother-in-law, who was a grocer, in opening a grocery store on The Bowery in 1818. Just as he had with his other occupations. Cooper entered the grocery business without previous experience or know ledge of the work. He prospered modestly but was never hap py in what he considered a hard, unrewarding, and tedious type of employment. Cooper's talent for invention The first evidence of Cooper's characteristic in genuity appeared when as a boy still in short trousers he was given the chore of helping with the family washing. This meant he had to beat soiled garments which had been placed in a barrel of soapy water. Soon growing tired of this task that was a conventional one for youths his age. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 31 he decided to make the work easier by improving his equip ment. He experimented with the barrel and long-handled wooden pounder until he could operate them mechanically by means of a geared wheels a ratchet, and a double lever. His contrivance cut work time in half and produced a whiter wash. During his coachmaking apprenticeship. Cooper put tered with the basic principles involved in hand-mortising carriage hubs, and soon he had developed a device which could accomplish the task more easily, quickly, and effi ciently than before. His employers bought the invention for an undisclosed amount; for seventy years it mortised all carriage hubs in America. Most of Cooper's other inventions were not financial successes. Indeed, they could have served as Rube Goldberg cartoons had their originator drawn pictures of them. One maze of gears, belts, and flexible tubes sought to harness the currents of the East River to drive ferry boats. He also created a lawnmower which worked like his cloth-shear ing machine, a rotary steam engine, and a musical cradle that sang the baby to sleep while agitating a cloth "to . keep the flies off the little one."^ Cooper's ideas were ^Lyon, "Peter Cooper, the Honest Man," p. 7. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 32 usually worthwhilej even though they rarely embodied new principles. As a young man Cooper at times became so interested in developing new gadgets that he seriously considered fol lowing an inventive career. He decided against such a course because he was a pragmatist and a realist who dis liked chasing rainbows, he was not a gambler, and he real ized the limitations of his technical knowledge. As a rich man Cooper indulged his inventive fancies to the fullest, and he often backed others financially when he thought they were working on promising ideas. However, the fortune that made this possible was acquired by more deliberate means. Yet Cooper's native ingenuity was always vital to him in his larger industrial projects. Amassing a Fortune The glue factory One day Cooper was sacking gumnuts for .a customer in the grocery store when he learned that a man wanted to sell his New York glue factory because the son he had bought it for had become so dissipated that he was ruining the busi ness. Following an inspection later the same day. Cooper bought the property for $2,000 cash in a purchase which R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 33 marked the turning point in his life. The glue factory at Kipps Bay was some distance from the built-up section of Manhattan Island because the New York Common Council felt it was the type of enterprise that should be located near open land and fresh air. Amid fields of clover and stands of buttonwood trees. Cooper began in 1821 to boil the hides, feet, and sinews of animals without disturbing the comfort of anyone. The business, stagnant from neglect, gathered momentum slowly as Cooper struggled to familiarize himself with industrial procedures. He lit the fires before daybreak and worked beside his men at every kind of task. Cooper was his own bookkeeper, and at night he carried on the correspondence of his firm. For seven years he devoted his efforts almost entirely to producing ever-finer glue, and before the seven years had passed, the concern was moving ahead with great strides. Details of the rapid growth of the glue works are unknown, primarily because the owner was always very secre tive about financial matters and business procedures. In fact, he revealed so little about company affairs that com pilers of manufacturing information complained that they were able to gather only the barest facts concerning the Peter Cooper Glue Factory. It is only known that accounts R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 34 expanded swiftly until the firm was doing business out of state not only in glue but in gelatin, isinglass, chalk, and neat's-foot-oil. Later it became involved in the manufac ture of buckskin leather and grinding white lead. Toward the end of its first decade, the Cooper factory was showing a yearly profit of close to $20,000. In another ten years the firm’s high quality products had driven entrenched for eign products from the market, and Cooper reigned as glue king of America. The business always remained the corner stone of Cooper's fortune. It is significant that the glue king's system of grading and several of his patented indus trial innovations became the standard of manufacturers in the United States and are used today. The Baltimore land project After seven years of successful operation in the glue business. Cooper sought investment outlets for his ac cumulated capital. He gravitated primarily toward land. He had already gathered several holdings in developed real es tate, but he had carefully avoided speculative ventures. However, he became enthusiastic about the value of land as sociated with the newly-conceived Baltimore and Ohio Rail road. On the advice of trusted business advisers, he made R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 35 an initial payment of $44,000 on the $105,000 price for 3,000 acres of undeveloped real estate within the city li mits of Baltimore. Cooper explored his tract to determine the best way to make it immediately profitable. He discovered rich iron ore deposits, so he decided to become an iron manufacturer. Making pig iron is not a complex undertaking. Cooper, quickly instructing himself in the rudiments of furnace op eration, built several large kilns to burn his abundant tim ber into charcoal, had 45,000 tons of ore dug, and was on the verge of smelting his first pig iron when financial cri sis struck the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Cooper's part in resolving this crisis earned him more fame— while insur ing the success of his real estate investment by safeguard ing Baltimore land values— than anything he ever did except establish the Cooper Union. Effect of the "Tom Thumb" To understand the role Cooper played in events at this time, it is necessary to describe the difficulties into which the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had been plunged. Emotionalism was partly to blame. From its beginning in 1828 the railroad had floated on a bubble of unwarranted R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 36 optimism. A novel and daring effort to save Baltimore's western trade from being lost to the new Erie Canal, the project created a railroad boom in the middle of a period in transportation history which belongs to rivers and canals. Larger problems stemmed from hasty action in pushing the charter through the state legislature before adequate plans had been made for the physical development of the railroad. Of the many serious problems which Baltimore and Ohio officials faced, the one that seemed to most clearly spell ruin grew out of their use of horses for motive power. Demonstrations with British engines in both England and America during 1829 had shown beyond doubt that steam was the answer to future railroad locomotion. However, steam locomotives were considered unable to negotiate curves with less than 300 feet radius, and the Baltimore and Ohio curves had been engineered for horsecars at 150 to 200 feet in or der to cut costs. The revelation of this inherent design defect brought refusals from stockholders to pay their as sessments, and the road was unable to float-its bonds. At this time Cooper went to Philip Thomas, president of the railroad, and said he thought he could build a loco motive smaller than the English models that would negotiate the short curves readily., Encouraged by the president and R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 37 other officials, he designed and built the "Tom Thumb," first American locomotive to run on an American railroad. In the often-told and romanticized story of the eight-mile race between this "crude device" and a strong horse on par allel tracks, Cooper launched the steam era in American railroading.4 The horse won only because the "Tom Thumb" threw a pulley band that Cooper, who acted as engineer, could not replace in time to make up lost distance. By proving that existing short curves in American railroads were not an insurmountable obstacle. Cooper in a single stroke injected confidence back into the Baltimore and Ohio project. The bonds were marketed quickly, and land values soared. Cooper sold his property to a Boston firm, taking payment largely in gilt-edge securities at $44 per share which he sold a short time later for $235 per share. His profit on the Baltimore land venture was thus tremen dous, but he never again speculated in land on a large scale. The Trenton Iron Works Two leasees started a wire factory in a New York ^Milton Reizenstein, "The Economic History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad," Johns Hopkins University Stud ies in Historical and Political Science, ed. Herbert B. Ad ams (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1897), XV, Part VII-VIII, 297. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 38 building belonging to Cooper, but they were unable to strug gle through the panic yeai of 1837. Because he had become interested in the iron industry while in Baltimore, Cooper decided to take over the business and run it with his broth er Thomas. He soon learned it was too expensive to make wire from purchased iron, so within two years he had built his own furnace and small rolling mill to manufacture the iron rods that were converted into wire. The railroad era had dawned, and the demand for iron rails was more than existing mills could meet without in creasing capacity. Cooper, not satisfied with producing wire and iron bars, had taken what rail orders he was able to meet with his small rolling mill. Quickly realizing that the opportunity to supply iron to the railroads was almost unlimited, he decided to move his business out of New York to an area where expansion would not be limited by urban re strictions . The logical place to move was a location that combined access to ore, anthracite, and transportation. At that time the best sources of raw materials were the ore beds of northern New Jersey and the coal beds— anthracite had replaced charcoal as the heating agent— of eastern Penn sylvania. Trenton, New Jersey was close to both. In addi tion it was located, on the Delaware River and was served by R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 39 the Camden and Aniboy Railroad. The New York iron and wire mill was transplanted to Trenton in 1845. During the next twenty years it became one of the largest iron operations in the United States and contributed significantly to Cooper's fortune. The Trenton works could roll 12,000 tons of rails and produce 25,000 tons of pig iron per year, yet it and other American mills were unable to meet the demands of large scale capital enterprise. British competition in 1849 cut rail prices in half, resulting in the failure of 85 per cent of United States rail mills. - The Trenton plant turned its full attention to wire and secondary operations, includ ing blacksmith, machine, and metal pattern shops. The unre lenting pressure of British competition brought about a gen eral depression in 1854 which Cooper's mill would not have survived had it not been able to depend on its entirely new staple: wrought iron beams and girders for fireproof build ings . The production of structural beams had been under development for several years as a part of the Cooper Union construction project. Cooper's plans for his school in 1852 specified that the foundation building would be five stories or more in height and fireproof. Ordinarily the require R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 40 ments would have meant stone construction, but to avoid the tremendous cost of that material. Cooper turned to iron. Previous experiments with iron for this purpose had been disappointing because beams could not be rolled long or deep enough for large construction. Two years of experimentation conducted at a cost of $75,000 enabled the Trenton mill to produce beams 15 inches deep and 60 feet long. The new met al poles were in great demand. Permanent buildings through out the land are webbed with Cooper beams and girders, in cluding the dome of the Capitol Building in Washington, D. C . After the depression ended in 1858, the Trenton works returned to rail manufacture. This staple in turn re opened a second source of earnings for Cooper; he had always made it a practice to invest in railroads through accepting their stock in partial payment for rails. In this way he became deeply involved in such lines as the Hudson River Railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Long Island, and wes tern roads like the Illinois Central. He ploughed the divi dends into fire insurance and bank stock as well as local real estate. Cooper could have earned more money in iron than he did in glue had he chosen to move with the times and keep up R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 41 with changes within the industry. By 1855 the iron age had given way to the age of steel, and although the new epoch forever changed the rail market. Cooper did not seem to care. He even declined a partnership in steel with Andrew Carne gie . Mack is of the opinion that Cooper did not want to en ter business with Carnegie because he would have to move to Pittsburgh.^ He wanted instead to centralize his operations near New York and Cooper Union, the project which occupied most of his attention from the time its final plans were drawn in 1852. Also, quality ore bodies were opening in the North and West rather than in the East. In any event, his growing indifference led to the eventual decline of this most promising enterprise. Retirement from business The iron works marked the last time Cooper made mon ey primarily through industrial skill and ingenuity. In addition to the portfolio of railroad, bank, and insurance stock already mentioned, he added to his fortune through the manipulation of huge blocks of stock in the transcontinental telegraph and in Cyrus Field's famed Atlantic cable project. By 1865 he had retired from all but token activity in his ^Mack, OP. cit.. p. 215. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 42 business affairs. Indeed, Cooper had been half retired since 1852, his time being divided between business and public affairs. In addition to serving for years on the New York Common Coun cil, he had been a member of countless civic and reform com mittees. Probably his greatest public service was in per sonally planning and supervising the development of Croton Reservoir, a modern water supply project desperately needed by New Yorkers who had turned to the East River as a supple ment for city wells. By the early 1850's Cooper was leading a highly suc cessful and well-rounded life, and, as a millionaire, could easily have passed his remaining years in attending only to his comforts. A sense of social obligation would not allow him to do so. He determined to use his money wisely and in the spirit expressed by Horace Mann: "Be ashamed to die un til you have won some victory for humanity. Spending the Fortune Wiselv It is almost redundant to state that Cooper's early years were mostly responsible for his desire to found a ^National Teachers' Association, Journal of Proceed ings and Lectures (Chicago, August 5, 6, 7, 1863), p. 43. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 43 school which offered working people free instructions at night. As the Herald noted: "He thought over his early trials and wishes, and he made his early aspirations a stan- 7 dard for the rising young people of New York." The strug gles of his youth early led him to work with the New York Public School Society, which fought to make education com pulsory. Influence of the times A secondary force brought to bear upon Cooper's ear ly thinking was the wide general interest in education which began to manifest itself in the 1830's. Since he had con siderable money® and a generous heart, he must have been more than casually responsive to the popular ideas that churned about him. Merle Curti strikes this keynote when he notes an observation of Henry Barnard: . . . men of ample means began "to feel the luxury of doing good, to see that a wise endowment for the relief of suffering, the diffusion of knowledge . . . is in the best sense of the term a good investment— an invest ment productive of the greatest amount of the highest good both to the donor and his posterity, and which makes the residue of the property from which it is taken ^New York Herald. April 5, 1883, p. 5. ^According to his own calculations, he was worth $123,459 in 1833. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 44 both more secure and more valuable.^ All about him Cooper saw the significant expansion of free popular education wrought by Barnard and Horace Mann. Indeed Mann "addressed his appeals particularly to men of substance. He assembled abundant statistics to prove that educated labor was far more productive and profitable 10 than ignorant labor." Also, in the 10 years between 1830 and 1840, private colleges were founded by the score. These included Oberlin, the first coeducational college, and col leges for women that had been sponsored by such leaders as Emma Willard and Mary Lyon. In the 1840's Ralph Waldo Emer son was moved to remark that the general trend "had never such scope as at the present hour."^^ Influence of religion Cooper was a strong Unitarian, and he may have felt a sense of personal mission in establishing an educational institution— that he was in some way acting as a tool of God, especially in science instruction. His beliefs in this ^Merle Curti, The Social Ideas of American Educators (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935), p. 15. lOlbid.. p. 112. ^Arthur M. Schlesinger, The American as Reformer (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1951), p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 45 connection were expressed at a party given for him on his eighty-eighth birthday when he received an honorary LL.D. from New York University: . . . if I receive it [the degree] at all it must be in recognition of a long, laborious life spent in a course of efforts to found an institution that opens its doors at night and gives free instruction in science in its application ^o all the useful and necessary purposes of life. I find myself compelled to believe that science is a rule or law of God by which the movements of the material creation are rendered intelligible to man,' and that science is . . . a knowledge of this law or rule. . . . I have given the labors of a long life to the advancement and diffusion of scientific knowledge, feel ing assured that when Christianity itself comes to be felt in all the purity, power, and force, it will then be found to be . . .a science. It is to the applica tion of science to the laws of life that we must look for all future improvements in the condition of mankind. Science, my friends, is a development of the laws and purposes of the D e i t y . 12 This belief in science as the means to develop the laws and purposes of the Deity would seem to place Cooper's emphasis on science education beyond his own interests and predispositions. He would therefore believe, like the pan theists and transcendentalists, that all the forces of the universe were within man's inspired reason. His worthy self, as Emerson expressed it, would be one that was predis posed to social harmony through devotion to all men's good. l^Djew York Herald. April 5, 1883, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 46 Influence of examples Cooper saw the Rensselaer Polytechnic School estab lished in 1825 for the purpose of applying science to life. Lowell Institute followed in 1836. However, a conversation with Dr. David Rodgers, a fellow member of the New York Com mon Council, in 1831 supplied the example idea which guided Cooper most firmly. Rodgers had gone abroad for several months to study at the Ecole Polytechnique, or Politechnique Institute, in Paris. He praised the equipment in the classrooms and the effectiveness of the lectures, claiming he had derived more benefit from several months of study in Paris than from many years of previous effort. He added that hundreds of young men from all over France came to take advantage of the lec tures, many of them living in the depths of poverty to do so. Rodgers' words struck a responsive chord within Cooper, who later said: . . . that representation brought home to me so forcibly my own wants when I was an apprentice and had no oppor tunities to get what I most wanted that I determined then, if I should ever be able to get the means, I would try to supply the want for my native city; and the in stitution [cooper Union] you have so kindly alluded to is the result of my labor in that direction. l^The New York Times. September 19, 1853, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 47 Physical beginnings of Cooper Union In 1839 Cooper took the first step toward making Cooper Union a reality when he acquired property for a part of the future school site. In the next 13 years he bought 15 parcels of land to complete the block. The last purchase was made in July, 1852, and on September 17, 1853 the cor nerstone was laid. Cooper directed the unpretentious cere mony. Copies of the United States Constitution, Washing ton's Farewell Address, coins, newspapers, and other his torical items were buried before Cooper dismissed everyone with a short speech of dedication. He said it was his fer vent wish that the cornerstone would "rest forever with its contents on the foundation of eternal truth. At that time the only evidence of construction in addition to the cornerstone was the basement excavation which was to become the Great Hall. Another six years passed before the Cooper Union, with its million pounds of iron, was completed. It would have been finished earlier but for the delay caused by commercial demand for wrought iron beams from the Trenton rolling mills, which could not keep materials flowing to Cooper Union and still meet oùt- ^^Mack, OP. cit.. p. 245. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 48 side contracts that were vitally necessary during the de pression. From the day the first shovelful of sod was turned. Cooper watched construction follow the blueprints prepared by Frederick Peterson. He personally supervised portions of the work and was in constant attendance as the building neared completion. The features of which he was most proud were a fresh air ventilating duct several feet in diameter, through which air was forced by an engine, and an elevator shaft. No satisfactory elevator had been designed or built at the time, but Cooper foresaw the coming of the elevator age. The plans incorporated other unique items: a museum, a cosmorama, a roof garden, and rooms for various trades to meet. After Cooper Union opened, the cosmorama became lab oratory space, the trades discussion rooms became class rooms, and the roof was unused. Aims of Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art was formally dedicated on November 2, 1859. On this occasion Cooper stated that the aim of Cooper Union would be to help young people gain useful knowledge and to "find and fill that place in the community where their capacity and R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 49 talents can be usefully employed with the greatest advantage to themselves and the community in which they live."^^ In addition to seeking free education for both sexes in the mechanical arts and sciences such as he had never enjoyed, Cooper wanted his school to be a social and cultural gateway to a better and richer life for working people. He felt that a giant stride would be taken in that direction if he could bring about a union^^ between science and art. Cooper therefore knew basically what he wanted, but his ideas about how to fulfill his desires were diffused. Considering his lack of formal educational background, his difficulty is understandable. His views on methodology never did become sharply defined, and most of the ideas he eventually came to hold evolved through the assistance of learned men. Cooper admitted in 1872 that he knew little of scientific scholastic procedures, so it is not surpris ing that he left final planning to the other trustees and various knowledgeable people. For example, he knew and cared so little about fine art that "had it not already been ISlbid.. p. 253. ^^One reason for the use of this word in the name of the school. l^The New York Times. March 30, 1872, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 50 in existence he might not have planned a School of De- 1 A sign." The state-approved charter, written in the hand of Abram Hewitt, Cooper's brilliant son-in-law, did more to achieve the union of science and art than would have been possible under the founder alone in view of his background and predominant interest in science. As it was, many in structional policies and practices had to be changed or mod ified after Cooper Union opened. Hewitt, educated at Colum bia University, assumed most of the administrative burden; It was Hewitt more than Peter Cooper who interviewed teachers, planned courses, and watched over discipline. Peter was happy to be the inspiration and guardian an gel of the Cooper Union, supporting it with his money, firing it with his dreams, holding it together by his presence, and offering kindness and consolation to the students and an occasional bright idea to teachers, administrators, and superintendents.^^ The possibility that Cooper Union might be taken over as a scientific adjunct by some university or other qualified institution was envisaged in Cooper's deed of trust. Negotiations for such a merger were carried on in 1868 with Columbia, but Cooper opposed making the building alterations considered necessary to turn Cooper Union into the proper type of plant. The following year Hewitt wrote that Cooper Institute "makes no pretense to be an institu- l^Mack, OP. c i t■. p. 252. ^^Ibid.. p. 268. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 51 tion for any but the working classes, hence it has no repu- p n tation and deserves none as a school of science." Al though Columbia was approached again after Cooper's death, satisfactory merger plans could not be drawn. Cooper Insti tute finally developed a full engineering school in the twentieth century. Offerings of Cooper Union In order to reflect the wishes of the governing trust deed, the trustees in 1859 incorporated a broad, four- point plan to instruct and elevate the working classes of New York; First.— Instruction in the branches of knowledge which are practically applied in their daily occupa tions, by which they support themselves and their families. Second.— Instruction in the laws by which health is preserved and the sanitary condition of families improved; in other words, in personal hygiene. Third.— Instruction in social and political science, by virtue of which communities maintain themselves, and nations progress in virtue, wealth, and power. Fourth.— Instruction addressed to the eye, the ear, and the imagination, with a view to furnish a reason able and healthy recreation to the working classes after the labors of the day.21 20ibid.. p. 266. 2lFirst Annual Report of the Trustees of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art for the Year Ending December 31. 1859 (New York: John F. Trow, Printer, 1860), p. 9. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 52 It should he noted that in the third division, reference to study of social and political science meant to Cooper in struction in the functions of the republican form of govern ment. In the fourth division, the object .was to give prac tice to the hand and eye as well as develop an appreciation for beauty. In order to carry out the plan, the trustees estab lished 11 separate operating departments, and only instruc tion in the School of Design for Women was conducted in daytime classes. These so-called departments were actually the classes and public services offered at Cooper Union, First, the class in mathematics offered instruction in algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Stress was placed upon the application of principles to practical science. Second, the class in mechanical philosophy involved general science and what today would be thought of as basic experi mental physics. Third, the chemical class offered instruc tion in the principles of light, heat, electricity, and chemistry. The class further intended to apply these prin ciples to the arts. Fourth, the class in architectural drawing taught mechanical and freehand drawing. Students worked from models. Fifth, the class in mechanical drawing involved illustration of machinery from different views. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 53 Sixth, the class in freehand drawing was the same as mechan ical drawing except that sketching did not employ straight or curved-edge devices. Seventh, the class in vocal music imparted the principles of harmony and group direction. It was primarily for teachers and members of church choirs. The eighth department was a School of Design for Women which had been organized some years before by a pri vate society of philanthropic New York women in order to give design instruction at moderate cost to prospective teachers or industrial tradeswomen. In 1858 Cooper had given permission for the school to occupy a suite of rooms in his building, and the Board of Trustees decided the fol lowing year to incorporate it into the Cooper Union by adopting a by-law which removed the fee provision. However, amateur students were allowed in paid attendance, but only if they could be accommodated without displacing industrial or teaching students. Amateur students could under no con ditions number more than 10 per cent of the total group, and their presence represented the only paying group at Cooper Union. Training was offered in wood engraving and design, lithography, stone etching, china decoration, and oil and water still life. In brief, "it was frankly a vocational R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 54 PP school for young women. The ninth department was the free reading room, which was open to all upon good behavior if they were clean and sober. It subscribed to a selection of newspapers and magazines that was extensive for that period. The reading room did not at first include a reference library, although plans specified that a library of "standard literature" fulfilling the "limited wants" of mechanics and workingmen would be created.volumes numbered 4,000 in 1860 but in creased rapidly. The tenth department was the art gallery. The gal lery was composed of several rooms containing pictures of all types that had been donated from private collections. It was open to the public at all times in the hope that con stant exhibition would do "something toward elevating and P4. refining the taste of the community in matters of art." ^ The final department was a debating society. In his letter accompanying the trust deed. Cooper said: It is my desire that the students shall have the use of one of the large rooms . . . for the purpose of useful 22]y[ack, op. cit. . p. 262. 23pirst Annual Report . . . , pp. 19-22. 24ibid.. p. 24. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 55 debate. I deem it best to direct that all the lectures and debates shall be exclusive of theological and party questions, and shall have for their constant object the causes that operate around and within us, and the means necessary and most appropriate to remove the physical and moral evils that affect our city, our country, and humanity.25 All students were encouraged to take part in this activity, and approximately 100 normally did so. Rather than follow ing a set pattern, the society consisted of discussion, student lectures to other students, and practice in "how to preside with propriety over a deliberative assembly. In these 11 departments the trustees noted that em phasis had been placed upon the first and fourth divisions of their four-fold scheme because the need was more pres sing. To complete the plan for instruction in political and social science and in personal hygiene, the trustees came to depend upon free public lectures. They did so after discovering that courses of study were "not very success ful ."28 The idea for public lectures was adopted from Low ell Institute. When it opened, the main features of Cooper Union 25jhid., p. 25. ^^Mack, on. cit.. p. 259. 27pirst Annual Report . . . , p. 9. 28Mack, op. cit.. p. 267. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 56 were night instruction in science and art, a School of De sign for Women, and a free reading room which was the only one in the city open at night. Several important changes subsequently took place. The earliest of these was the adoption in 1860-1861 of a three-year science course. Be fore 1865 the course was lengthened to five years, and stu dents without a mastery of rudiments were sent to city night schools. By the early 1870's science offerings were consol idated into a full five-year course of study leading to a regular diploma. Next, the School of Design by 1882 had expanded its offerings to include photography, color photo graphy, telegraphy, phonography, and typing. The telegraphy course was begun in 1868 under the audpices of Western Union. Typewriters were not efficient until the late 1870's, so typing instruction was the last to come. Finally, the 4.000 books in the reading room had increased by 1875 to 18,000. It may also be noted that the art gallery was eventually removed. Enrollment increased by 200 or 300 students each year. The trustees in 1859 were "astonished when about 2.000 pupils were admitted to the various classes" because they had not expected a large immediate response to their opening announcements which were published in the daily R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 57 p q press. By 1872 the number had increased to 2,997; when Cooper died in 1883, the attendance was 3,757; in 1895 it had risen to 4,803. Financial support of Cooper Union Cooper planned originally to spend $300,000 on con struction of the school, but when costs of equipment and teachers were added to a revised appropriation of $630,000, the final expenditure for an operating building was almost $700,000. No endowment was provided in his donation of the foundation building because— as has been noted— he thought some other qualified institution might supply the scientific instruction he desired in the building through a "Union^O of 3 1 public and private effort." Besides Columbia, Cooper thought of having his institution conducted by the General Society of Mechanics or the New York City Board of Educa tion. Satisfactory plans never matured, however, and Cooper had no choice but "to carry on his school as best he could ^^First Annual Report . . . , p. 11. ^^The second of three reasons why this word was used in the school name. The third was to be found in placing the name on the building's southern front so it would face the troublesome slave states. ^^Mack. OP. cit.. p. 264, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 58 on his own. This he did by renting the first two stories • 5 0 of his building to pay the upkeep on the rest." Rents from use of the Great Hall were applied, and contributions were sought from individuals. Unfortunately, rents proved inadequate and outside help was slow in coming to what the public regarded as a family affair. The largest rent came from the American Bank Note Company, which established presses and offices on the sixth floor in 1858. This money was eventually lost because shaking of the presses weakened the building foundations to such an extent that repairs costing $300,000 had to be made in 1884 from family funds. It was not until 1892 that a sizeable outside gift was re ceived in the form of a $10,000 donation from J. P. Morgan. The difference between operating costs and rents for the first 10 years was $18,600. Cooper paid this amount and in 1871 gave Cooper Union $100,000 with an additional $50,000 contingency fund. Upon his death, he made a $100,000 bequest, adding that a final $100,000 be paid out of his residuary estate. Thus Cooper spent more than $1,000,000 on Cooper Union out of a fortune that was never larger than $2,000,000.33 After Cooper's death the trustees 32ibid., p. 265. 33lbid.. p. 337. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 59 felt they could at last make an open appeal for public as sistance. Aid materialized to the extent of a $2,000,000 endowment by the turn of the century. The largest single contribution came from Andrew Carnegie in 1902 when he do nated $600,000 upon the condition that it be matched by the Cooper family. The family raised the money by breaking a trust fund payable upon their deaths. Cooper's other generosities Although Cooper Union was his largest and fondest project. Cooper donated many thousands of dollars over the years to support needy cases ranging from a host of poor relatives to a public following of beggars, "a whole army of whom came after him for a promised $5."^'^ He was simply generous : The truth was that Peter really enjoyed giving away money. Susan Carter . . . stopped telling Peter about poor students in her School of Design because he would slip a bill into her hand before she had finished talking. His home and office were accessible to any one, and his pocketbook more so.35 During the depression winters following the Panic of 1873, Cooper sat at the desk in his home from the middle of the afternoon until suppertime giving away half dollars 34ibid., pp. 168-169. ^^Ibid.. p. 303. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 60 and dollars to charity applicants whose worthiness he did not investigate. The piles of coin and bills were "replen ished every half hour by servants in attendanceLarger amounts were given to those who carried notes of need signed by a clergyman. The crowds formed early in front of Coop er's house, taking away with them some weeks as much as $1,500. Thus Cooper gave away a great deal of money while he was alive, and such action over the years developed a benign father image of him in the public eye. The view was en hanced by his appearance, A rather stern countenance sof tened with the years. Piercing blue eyes became kindly. His stooped figure, long white hair, and four-lensed spec tacles fitted in well with the portrait of benevolence which the public was inclined to draw. He became such a revered figure in old age that his appearance in the streets sig nalled the removal of hats. He walked anywhere in safety "because the very roughs had become his guardians," and the city felt "Heaven can do a long time without him, for Heaven is peopled with the good; New York has only one Peter 36 Ibid.. p. 304. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 61 Cooper."37 Cooper's generosity naturally attracted the atten tion of people with questionable motives, This fact is no where better illustrated than when he was induced to run for President of the United States as the Independent Greenback Party candidate in 1876. He believed strongly in the issues which grew out of President Grant's decision in 1869 to pay off Civil War bonds in gold, but at 85 years of age he could hardly be considered an effective candidate. Cooper did far more with his checkbook than he did on the campaign trail; at the same time he disappointed many Greenbackers " who looked upon him as a ready source of cash. Two years later an opponent for the nomination stated that Cooper was urged to run because he was "expected to 'come down' with a lot of money but he didn't 'come down.' It was found that he was more intent upon circulating documents^® than giving away his money. ^^New York Herald. February 26, 1881, p. 10. 38cooper authored several short works dealing with managed currency and commercial war. He believed that greenbacks should be: (1) legal tender for all obligations, (2) redeemable in government bonds paying a low interest rate, and (3) the equivalent of hard money but in no way tied to the fluctuating gold commodity. 38The Tribune (New York), August 20, 1878, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 62 Cooper's death Cooper died of pneumonia on April 4, 1883, at the age of 92. The family wanted a private funeral, but such was public sentiment that family wishes could not be re spected. Refusing the request of the New York Common Coun cil to allow the body to lie in state at city hall, the nearest of kin brought the coffin three days later to All Soul's Church where mourners streamed past for six hours. The funeral address was delivered by Reverend Dr. Robert Collyer. "Here lies a man," he said, "who never owned a dollar he could not take up to the Great White T h r o n e . It was a thought to give Cooper's contemporaries pause. Afterward a spontaneous cortege followed the funeral hearse through the streets to Greenwood Cemetery. Along the way shops closed, flags flew at half-mast, and church bells slowly tolled. The Herald said that the funerals of Astor, Clay, or even Webster could not compare with that of Cooper. Within the memory of anyone living, no man had been mourned from such a full public heart. The Herald account began with a poem composed by Joaquin Miller, bard of the Sierras, as a tribute and published in New York on the day of 40 'Lyon, OP . cit. . p. 107. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 63 Cooper's death: Give honor and love forevermore/ To this great man gone to rest;/ Peace on the dim Plutonian shore,/ Rest in the land of the blest./ I reckon him greater than any man/ That ever drew sword in war;/ I reckon him nobler than king or khan,/ Braver and better by far./ And wisest is he in this whole wide land/ Of hoarding till bent and gray;/ For all you can hold in your cold dead hand/ Is what you have given away./ So, whether to wander the stars or to rest/ Forever hushed and dumb,/ He gave with a zest and he gave his best,/ And deserves the best to come.^l The poem was a proper tribute to the man who, with Robert E. Lee, was later named number 18 on the original Hall of Fame list and called by Nicholas Murray Butler the Franklin of the nineteenth century. Summary Peter Cooper overcame an impoverished childhood and a lack of formal education to amass a fortune through the manufacture of glue and iron. Investments in real estate, business securities, and communications added to his means. Behind his thriving business enterprises was always the un tutored but ingenious inventor and craftsman who worked with his hands. Cooper's social conscience moved him to seek charitable outlets for the $2,000,000 he had acquired, and he spent most of it during his lifetime on the establishment *^^New York Herald. April 7, 1883, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 64 and continuance of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. This free night school attempted to assist working people in their struggle for technical and vocation al education as well as self-improvement— a goal reflecting the privations of Cooper's youth. He died at the age of 92, one of the earliest of the great philanthropists and the conscience of his time. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. CHAPTER III THE GREAT HALL, ITS PLATFORM, AND ITS AUDIENCE Introduction When Peter Cooper built the Great Hall, he did so with the expectation it was "to be the scene of lectures and debates on all subjects and— much to the annoyance of many who did not share Cooper's liberal ideas— from all points of view."^ That the founder should dedicate his platform to free speech is not surprising. His attitude toward open discussion was a natural outgrowth of the educa tional philosophy which guided the establishment of Cooper Union. The doors of both the school and the lecture room were open to all regardless of sex, race, creed, or politi cal opinion, and Cooper hoped by such action to improve the general lot of humanity. The character of the Great Hall will be described through the examination of four essential elements: (1) ^Mack, Peter Cooper. Citizen of New York, p. 260. 65 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 66 physical aspects, (2) the educational platform, (3) the pub lic platform, and (4) the audience. Physical Aspects Underground construction Cooper built the Great Hall below street level for reasons of space conservation, safety, temperature control, and quiet. Where space was concerned, the founder realized that construction of the lecture room above ground would have occupied almost one entire floor of the building that was more urgently needed for day-by-day educational purpos es . Since the Great Hall was not used as much as other parts of the school, construction above surface would have been an extravagant employment of space. The building de sign specified basement excavation for heating plant and storage facilities, so Cooper felt "a large lecture hall in 2 unused space below the street level" would be ideal. The safety factor employed sub-surface construction to minimize injury and death in case of panic. Cooper be lieved that if for some reason the audience were seized by hysterical fear, fewer of them would be casualties if their 2Ibid.. p. 261. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 67 efforts to leave the hall were confined to scrambling up stairs to street level than in trying to get down. Fortu nately, a panic never occurred at Cooper Institute to test Cooper's emergency exit theories. Temperature below ground could be maintained at a constant level more easily than above street level. Once heated by warm air circulated through the ventilating sys tem, the surrounding earth provided an insulating effect of constant warmth such that satisfactory room temperature might be maintained for an hour or two by gaslight flame. Ease of sustaining comfort in the once-heated Great Hall was furthered by a low ceiling which was "only twenty-one feet above floor level at its highest point" and several feet lower at the back of the hall near the doors. The problem of heating the Great Hall was more important than cooling it because most speaking was done during the lecture season in the wintry months between October and April. The auditorium was naturally cooler in the summer as the temperature of the earth beneath the floor and around the walls changed little with the seasons. Street noise was greatly lessened by sub-surface ^"Repairing the Cooper Institute Building, " Scien tific American. I (December, 1885), 39. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 68 construction. This factor was most important when mass meetings were held, particularly those of a political na ture . A crowd was frequently attracted hy igniting barrels of tar and setting off fireworks, and when it was time for the meeting to begin, all who were able jammed into the Great Hall. If the featured speaker was unusually impor tant, those unable to gain admission would stamp and shout outside until secondary orators put up boxes and harangued them. In the early 1870's the new elevated railroad was routed down Third Avenue past Cooper Union, and Cooper had additional reason to be happy the Great Hall was underground. Characteristics of the Great Hall The basic physical characteristics required of the Great Hall were similar to those of other public auditoriums. The main requirement was adequate seating capacity. When it first opened, the Great Hall was the most commodious lecture room in the United States. It seated 2,500 people in beau tifully ornamented and bronzed iron chairs which were equipped with soft-cushioned revolving seats and cushioned backs. Both seats and backs were covered with red leather. In respect to elegance of seating, "even Exeter Hall in R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 69 London was considered inferior" to Cooper Union.^ One gen eration of New Yorkers wore out these seats, and when they were replaced,^ modest hard-backed equipment was used. Good ventilation was also necessary. To achieve this a large steam-operated fan circulated air through hun dreds of small vents located under the seats. The system, a wonder to modern ventilating engineers, saved at least one early audience from great discomfort by its versatility: On one occasion during a scientific lecture, the ex perimental illustrations of which were on a large and imposing scale, the learned professor on the platform had the misfortune to crack an immense jar, in which he was exhibiting the brilliant combustion of phosphorus in oxygen gas. The white fumes of phosphorus acid floated out into the air, and began to diffuse them selves through the hall toward the ventilation outlets at the sides and rear. To one who knew the irritating nature of these fumes, it seemed inevitable that the hall must be emptied of its crowded audience in a few minutes. Already coughing had begun on the front seats, when Mr. Hewitt, who was seated on the platform, quick ly rose, and pulling a cord, reversed the currents of ventilation above the platform. The curling clouds of vapour paused, wheeled, and retreated, and in another minute the air was perfectly pure. The lecturer had not even been interrupted.& Another important factor was sufficient illumina- ^The New York Times. May 11, 1858, p. 1. ^Today it seats 1,600; front seats are further from the platform. ®Thomas Hughes, Life of Peter Cooper (London: Mac millan and Company, 1886), p. 168. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 70 tion, particularly over the stage. Lighting was apparently achieved by 25 gas chandeliers, each equipped with six bur n e r s . ^ Early pictures indicate the lights were hung low; the lower the chandeliers, of course, the better the illu mination. While four rows of seven indirect incandescent lamps today provide adequate light, the 168 burners could not have accomplished the task had it not been for the many 10-foot mirrors set in the walls and behind the stage. These mirrors, situated to reflect rows of chandeliers as well as each other, far more than doubled the original il lumination because they reproduced the images of the burners an infinite number of times. It was the progressive image effect which enabled the weak flames of fewer than 200 bur ners to effectively illuminate a floor area that was 135 O feet by 96 feet, or 12,960 square feet. Next, the architecture of the hall had to be such that everyone could hear. Originally the lecture room was rectangular in shape, with the platform placed at the south end where it was 135 feet from the rear wall. The ceiling was- supported by 24 cast iron pillars between which ^The New York Times. May 11, 1858, p. 1. ^Consultation on December 21, 1962 with Matthew C. Ek, consulting engineer, registered professional license No, 212823. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 71 ran transverse stone arches that intruded several feet into the room from the ceiling. These pillars and arches, com bined with the considerable distance to the back seats, pro vided a configuration which tended to confuse sound waves originating at the platform. Good acoustics could hardly have resulted.^ Yet Cooper is said to have once offered the Great Hall to a committee of butchers to whom he felt obli gated through his glue business. The men were frightened at the size of the auditorium, so Cooper took their speaker "to the far end of the hall to prove that he could be heard when talking in a moderate tone."^^ Nevertheless, the original platform was moved to the west side of the hall in 1884 when the floor was torn up and the seats replaced, and the dimen sions of the hall were also changed to 125 feet by 82 feetf^ In its new location the stage was set in the lowest spot in the audijtorium, and semi-circular rows of seats spread away on a gentle incline like an amphitheater. This physical arrangement offered a uniform radius of sound dispersion which placed no listeners except those in the two corner areas at the back of the hall more than 80 feet from the ^Ibid. ^^Mack, op. cit.. p. 245. ll"Repairing the Cooper Institute Building," p. 39. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 72 speaker. Finally, a stage of ample size, with a lectern, had to be provided. The oak platform of the Cooper Union was 25 feet wide and 90 feet long with rounded outside corners. The stage was not merely a place for the speaker to stand; dignitaries were seated there and were frequently asked to add remarks after the principal speaker had completed his address. Most often platform space was sold as the most ex pensive reserve seating area in the hall. In addition the stage had to be large enough to accommodate bands and con cert companies which either attended mass meetings to en liven the proceedings or were booked as independent enter tainment programs. The lectern was of hand-rubbed walnut with tassle fringes and a natural leather top. The top was unadorned in any way, having not even a clip with which the speaker might hold his notes. Foundation repairs Early in 1884 the Cooper Union Board of Trustees was informed by the New York Bureau of Buildings that the struc ture had settled to a point where it made occupancy danger- l^Except that it is now wired for sound, the lectern is the same now as when Lincoln used it in 1860. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 73 ous. Immediate strengthening of the. foundations was begun. Although the shaking of presses operated by the American Bank Note Company on the top floor was generally blamed for the difficulty, inspection showed several inherent design flaws. The major defect was that the segmented stone arches between the cast iron pillars and the walls in the basement were not curved severely enough to prevent the line of thrust from falling outside the base of the supports. Also, the building rested upon sand rather than bedrock, and the foundations beneath the basement piers and pillars were not of sufficient area to prevent settling over a period of time even if minimum stress were placed upon them. Settling, in turn, weakened the walls. The entire building was raised on jackscrews from the center of the Great Hall while necessary repairs were made. The Tribune noted the delicacy of the operation; Extreme care has to be exercised in every part of the work, as a mistake might cause the collapse of the whole structure. The building is occupied as usual and there is no indication upstairs of what is being done. The work required almost two years to complete. l^The Tribune (New York), June 26, 1884, p. 8 R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 74 The Educational Platform Peter Cooper had become convinced during the heyday of the lyceum movement in the 1840’s that public lectures were the most valuable kind of informal instruction. He had "been to many lectures . . . and his quick mind, unused to reading, had picked up much useful information,"^^ He rea soned that other workingmen might also discover more of value in what they heard than in what they read. The earlv free lecture programs It has been seen that Cooper's deed of trust was quite specific about his desire to provide instruction in social and political science, which he equated with the science of a republican form of government. In a special note accompanying the trust deed, he directed that the "course of instruction on social and political science . . . shall have the preference over all the other objects of ex penditure . . . and shall forever stand pre-eminent among them."^^ He included the suggestion that his wishes might be carried out through "free public lectures for the peo ple," and such a course of action was adopted in 1863. ^'^Mack, OP. cit. . p. 259. ^^Ibid. . p. 258. 16 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 75 In 1853 21 popular lectures were offered, six on government, 10 on the American Revolution, four on political economy, and one--for some unknown reason— on coral and coral islands. In 1864 the balance of subject matter was largely the same as during 1863 except that six lectures were offered in a political economy course conducted by two speakers instead of one. A new departure was forthcoming in 1865 with the scheduling of a three-lecture course on strikes, trades, and unions. The following year, however, a radical alteration took place with the offering of "per haps the first systematic course of lectures on culinary art in any American institution."^^ The course was a tortured application of social science material, as Hewitt indicated in correspondence with Professor P. Blot, the prospective instructor: Your offer was fully discussed, and although it is rather a novel idea to include cooking under the head of "social and political science," the trustees agree with you that it is a social art, and accept with thanks your offer to deliver free of charge a course of lectures on the subject in the great hall of Cooper Institute. It appears that once such an elastic interpretation had been given to what might be included under the term ^^Nevins, Abram S. Hewitt . . . , p. 273. IBlbid.. p. 274. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 75 social science, the trustees no longer tried to confine lec ture offerings to a strictly defined area. In fact, they found it expedient to discharge their obligation for in struction in personal hygiene^® by combining it with social science during 1867 in a ten-lecture course on the "three fold social culture" of proper nutrition.^0 The Saturday Niaht Free Lectures By 1868 the trustees had come to realize that it was neither practical nor desirable to confine the popular lec tures to subjects related only to social science and person al hygiene. Not enough popular lecture courses or even sin gle lectures could be found to avoid constant repetition and consequent loss of audience interest. The trustees there fore broadened the subject matter base to include technolo gy, physical and natural science, literature, art, and trav el . The Cooper Union Department of Social and Political Science abandoned its Monday and Thursday programs in Decem- l^This second division in the broad, four-point in structional plan adopted for Cooper Union was the last to receive attention. 20 New York Herald. January 22, 1867, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 77 ber, 1857, and on Saturday, January 18, 1858 inaugurated what was to become its most popular permanent feature of in struction with a series of three lectures on the fine arts. PI The lectures, delivered by a Colonel James Fairman, were "The Artist's Mission"-on January 18, "The Artist's Prepara tion" on February 1, and "The Artist's Work" on February 15. The season was completed with a lecture on the Paris Exposi tion and four lectures on the history of the animal king dom . The season of 1858-1859 saw full development of the Saturday night programs. The season began with a series of three lectures on "The Natural History of Creation." In addition, five lectures were offered on natural history, two on economics, one on representative government, two on capi tal and labor, and a five-lecture course on the science of government. This last series oddly interpreted science of government as comprised of the science of well-being or political and social economy, the science of morals in pri- ^^Like Professor Blot and many other of the free lecturers, Fairman is unidentifiable. 22oates, lecture titles, and speakers listed in this section are from the Index to Speakers and Lecture Titles for the Free Saturday Night Lectures, Cooper Union Library {in the Cooper-Hewitt Collection) and from the New York World and New York Herald classified advertising sections. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 78 vate and public life, the science of mental science and psy chology, the science of education, and the science of gov ernment . By 1870-1871 the number of lectures had increased to 16 for the season, and a broad spectrum of material was dis cussed. Lecture titles were; "The Dynamics of Life," "The Canyon of the Colorado," "The Upper Waters of the Yellow stone," "Traits of Yankee Humor," "The Microscope," "The Anatomy and Natural History of Insectitians," "The Last Gla cial Epoch in America," "Architecture," "Readings and Reci tations," "Darwin's Hypothesis of the Origin of Species," "Work, Weather, and Wealth," "The Manufacture of Iron," "Shakespeare," "Illuminating Gas," "The Atmosphere," and "Against the Metric System." At the time of Cooper's death in 1883, the season had just concluded 20 lectures: "Bismarck," "Modern Egypt," "African Travel," "A Lesson in Comparative Zoology," "Colo rado," "California," "The World's Progress in the Mechanic Arts," "Readings and Recitations," "The Causes of the Ameri can Revolution," "The War of Independence," "Columbus and His Companions," "Raphael," "The Bedouin," "Domestic and City Life in Jerusalem," "The Divining Rod," "The Sandwich Islands, the Land of Fire," "Iceland, the Land of Desola- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 79 tion," "Animal Self-Defense," "Prehistoric Man," and "The Romance and Realities of Animal Locomotion." Upon comple tion of the season, 290 instructional lectures had been of fered at Cooper Union. By general areas these included 85 in physical science; 47 in social and political science; 60 in zoology, anatomy, and hygiene; 42 in travel and archaeol ogy; 21 in art; 17 in technology; and 17 in literature and readings. In 1896-1897 the lecture season was exceptionally well balanced, with offerings that included; "The City and University of Oxford," "Burns and Scotland," "Egypt," "The Ancient Cities of Greece and their Beautiful Works of Art," "The Debt of the Nineteenth Century to Rome," "The Planets," "The Flowers of the Sky," "Manhattan Island and the High lands," "The Lakes of Central New York and the Erie Canal," "Niagara and the St. Lawrence," "Coal," "How Ships are Navi gated," "Abraham Lincoln," "George Washington," "Patriotic Songs and War Songs," "Sanitary Relations of Cleanliness," "The Potency of a Sunbeam," "The X Rays," and "Food and Nu trition." Lectures on the Saturday night programs were deliv ered mostly by professors from Columbia, New York Univer sity, Harvard, Princeton, Stevens, Yale, and other colleges R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 80 close to New York or in the city itself. Hewitt, who ar ranged the programs, was authorized to pay at the most $50 per lecture and "preferred paying only traveling expen- po ses," For reasons of economy, therefore, "Hewitt had to be satisfied with lesser talent, which had to be carefully scouted.Many speakers asked nothing. In screening speakers— at first many came from the American Social Science Association— Hewitt sought those who could stimulate and also avoid taking positions on contro versial subjects. Finding lecturers able to fulfill both requirements was not easy. Stimulating speakers were so rare that "Columbia, Princeton, Stevens, and Yale together 25 couldn't turn out more than eight good speakers." Hewitt was very specific in his attempts to develop programs that did not "promote partisanship on any,subject or become a medium for the denunciation of any class of citizens. We want speakers who inform, not inflame, the minds of their audience.In broadening the spectrum of subject matter at the beginning of the series, the aims of the trustees as expressed by Hewitt were more within the realm of possibili- ^^Mack, OP. cit. . p. 331. ^'^Ibid. 25ibid,, p. 417. ^^Ibid.. p. 331. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 81 ty than might have been the case had they attempted to di rect all the lectures toward social science as Cooper's or ders theoretically intended. The Public Platform The free educational programs continued until by mid-twentieth century the Cooper Union Forum was the best known feature of the institution. Yet in the nineteenth century it was the countless speaking situations outside the boundaries of formal instruction that "made the Great Hall— like Fanueil Hall in Boston— a symbol of liberty, of free p7 speech and free assembly." On other than Saturday nights the Great Hall was for rent to any well disposed person or group that paid the usual $250 and gave a bond in case of breakage. This broadminded attitude on the part of owner Peter Cooper, coupled with the size of the lecture room, soon made the auditorium popularly known as the Great Hall and established it as a favorite meetingplace. There is one recorded instance where use of the Great Hall was denied to an individual. In one of the most widely advertised attractions during the early years of Cooper Union, the auditorium was evidently sought for About the Great Hall . . . p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 82 questionable purposes. Advertisements for the lecture first appeared in the press on July 24, 1855: LOOK, LOOKl Rev. Dr. S. M. Landis, the celebrated Radical Reform Advocate, of Philadelphia, will give his popular lecture, "The Secret to Happiness," at Cooper Institute, Monday Evening, July 31, 1865 at 8 o'clock. Admission 25ÿ. A Key to Love or Key to Heaven presented with each ticket. He is the great est orator in the world. Come and hear him hew down the Old Serpent that is now surrounding New-York. Ladies particularly invited.^8 The barrage of ads continued until the day of the event when a far different notice appeared in the press: Dr. Landis Denied Cooper Institute— Lecture postponed. New York, July 31, 1865 Dear Sir: On Saturday afternoon I received a notice from the Metropolitan Police Headquarters of this city which I thought would justify us in closing the large hall on this Monday evening. On referring the case to Mr. Peter Cooper, I received instructions from that gentleman to inform you that it would be impossible for us to allow you to use the said hall C. J. Hartt Clerk, Cooper Union^S The lecture was postponed indefinitely. No further Landis advertisements appeared in the New York press. However, on any legitimate occasion. Cooper was quick to aid groups that sought a meetingplace. One of the 28^ew York Herald. July 24, 1865, p. 1. 29ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 83 most convincing examples of his willingness to champion free assembly occurred in January, 1874 during a period of eco nomic depression and severe labor unrest. A group of German workingmen assembled in New York's Tompkins Square to pro test against low wages and lack of work. Police ordered the demonstrators to disperse, and when the order was not obeyed, the officers broke up the meeting with their clubs. To voice protests against police brutality and to assert the rights of citizens, the German Vorwarts Society sought to organize a mass meeting. The society appealed to Peter Cooper and the Cooper Union Trustees when it was un able to hire a large auditorium in New York; Cooper's sym pathy was apparent in a trustee communication: In reply to a letter addressed . . . to the Trustees of the Cooper Union to ascertain if they would allow the meeting to be held in the large hall of the building . . . The Trustees had consulted with the Police authorities, and they expressed the opinion which Mr. Hewitt entertained, that it was not judi cious in the present state of excitement among the working classes to encourage the holding of public meetings, and therefore advised the proposed meeting to be postponed. The Police authorities also stated that, while they thought they might protect the society from violence, they might not be able to prevent injury to the property of the Trustees. Un der all the circumstances, however, Mr. Peter Cooper and the Trustees expressed their willingness to allow the society the use of the hall for $250, under a sufficient bond to pay for any damage that might be. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 84 30 done to the huilding. Use of the Great Hall in the cause of free speech is probably best illustrated by the occasion when Cooper rented his lecture room to Victoria Woodhull, even though there was a warrant out for her arrest and she was unwelcome at any other hall in the city. The famed free love advocate and suffragette slipped through the arms of the law and into Cooper Union by disguising herself as an old woman in a bon net and shawl. Upon reaching the front of the hall without being discovered, she "threw off her disguise amid wild cheering," mounted the platform, and was led to the lectern 31 upon the arm of Cooper. She was permitted to speak, but upon conclusion of her lecture, she was taken into custody by the police. The Audience Audiences for both the educational platform and the public platform were composed of two distinct types. There ^^The New York Times. January 27, 1874, p. 8. 31woodhull & Claflin's Weekly (New York), January 17, 1873. A signed sonnet by William Cullen Bryant was printed above a poetic tribute to Victoria Woodhull, Peter Cooper, and Cooper Union with no line between the poems and Bryant's signature, thus making it appear that Bryant authored both. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 85 was the primary audience, or the listeners who gathered to hear firsthand what was said. This audience was limited by the physical capacity of the hall. Then there was the sec ondary audience, or those who became informed of what was said through indirect means. The indirect means were casual word of mouth message transmission by those who attended personally and the newspaper accounts of platform events. Primary audience of the educa tional platform The free lectures which directed popular instruction toward the working classes were apparently highly successful in reaching that group almost exclusively; The audience, "not much recruited from the general public," was made up "to a great extent of thought ful working people," who were "eager for facts but restive under purely literary lectures, or morally didactic ones" and would not listen to anyone on any subject for more than an hour and a half. "If you entertain, interest and stimulate them," one lectur er on . . . China was told, "so that they think of the Chinese with greater tolerance, and are led to read . . . more about them, it is as much as a sin- • oo gle popular lecture can be expected to accomplish. One person always among the audience on the platform was Peter Cooper. He attended the early free lectures in termittently, but "he seldom missed the free Saturday eve- ^^Mack, op. cit.. p. 330. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 8 6 33 ning lectures." He was the only one who could arrive late because the doors closed promptly at 8 P. M., and no one was admitted after that time so as to minimize disturbance. Hughes describes Cooper's conduct: Many an eloquent person, when Peter chanced to be a minute or two late, has been astonished at an out burst of unlooked-for applause, in the midst of his exordium, due to the usual recognition of the old founder, stealing in, air cushion in hand, and taking his seat quietly on the platform. . . . Often, if interested in the subject, he would make a few re marks at the end of the lecture; and, even if bored, would keep an unfailing smile and pleasant word for the lecturer to carry a w a y .3^ Other than for Cooper and a few friends, the plat form was usually vacant on Saturday evenings. However, the hall itself was usually quite well filled. Workingmen and women, many of whom certainly found the free admission as pect of the lectures appealing, gathered at Cooper Union to the extent that the Saturday night programs drew "some fif- 35 teen hundred people weekly into the great auditorium." Primarv audience of the public platform Those who came to listen at the public platform were from the greater New York area. That they lived or were ^^Hughes, o p . cit. . p. 186. ^'^Ibid. 3^Mack, op. cit.. p. 330. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 87 staying within the city is an almost inescapable conclusion in view of the limited transportation facilities of the time. An 1878 account of a meeting in the Great Hall placed the area concisely: "By street cars and elevated road, in carriages and on foot, people came from all quarters of the city, and at half past seven o'clock seats in the great hall were few . . . Much earlier. Cooper had encouraged a late intermission policy for the convenience of "those who 37 came by horsecar from far away." Included with the city natives who had geographical access to Cooper Union was an important "transient population of about fifty thousand" OQ that gave New York functions "a markedly sectional air." These visitors, of course, were from all parts of the United States and from all English-speaking nations, and they had the means and the leisure as a group to become part of the paying Cooper Union audience. In describing the primary audience, several elements should be considered. Initially there is the composition of the potential audience, or the general public from which the ^^The Tribune (New York), October 25, 1878, p. 1. ^^Mack, loc. cit. ^^Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Modern America (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1951), p. 45. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 8 8 audience would be drawn. The New York public was hetero geneous and cosmopolitan. Growing from a population of "a little more than a million in 1860 to two and a half million in 1890/’ the New York-Brooklyn area was in the front rank of cities which experienced the great urban rush in the sec ond half of the nineteenth century.After 1870 the rapid expansion of New York, the nation's leading financial, in dustrial, and trading center, brought about stark and un equaled contrasts of riches and squalor. After the Civil War, New York's Wall Street became the citadel of capitalism. Nevins states that by 1868 the diffusion of riches was "so great . . . that a hundred thou sand New Yorkers made some pretense to 'fashion.Most of the wealthy people were newcomers of rural antecedents who made no claim to lineage but sought intellectual dis tinction or cultivation as they "patronized the opera, Wal- lack's, Niblo's Theatre . . ■ . the classical concerts" and public meetings and receptions. A group with such inter ests was by inclination largely represented at Cooper Union programs. ^^Arthur M. Schlesinger, The Rise of Modern America (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1951), p. 45. ^^Nevins, The Emergence of Modern America, p. 90. 41lbid . R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 89 The poorer classes were mostly of recent foreign extraction because New York maintained the nation's princi pal immigrant debarkation center at Ellis Island. From it came an ever-growing stream of underprivileged European im migrants who sought new opportunities in a young nation. Represented most abundantly were the Germans with a New York population that soared to 200,000 before the turn of the century, and the Irish were within striking distance in sec ond place. The foreign people found social conditions and housing a great trial; they were but little better off than the Negroes who thronged north after the Civil War to seek a new life as freedmen. The large and increasing lower social classes found wages low and work frequently scarce. Occupy ing center social ground was the sprawling white collar mid dle class that gravitated to New York from smaller cities, villages, and countrysides. Taken as a group. New Yorkers composed America's largest and most remarkable urban group, one which "reminded one English visitor of 'a lady in ball costume, with diamonds in her ears, and her toes out at the boots.'"^2 This figurative lady came often to Cooper Union where she found much to interest her many-sided personality. 42 Schlesinger, op. cit.. p. 48 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 90 Another important element to be considered is the composition of specific audiences attracted to Cooper Union. The diversity of platform events precluded the possibility of a typical audience, unless the atypical makeup of the attending group might itself be termed representative. Sporadic editorial comment that accompanied speech accounts indicates that specific audiences were drawn from all parts of the potential audience.Heterogeneity was as marked toward the close of the nineteenth century as it was when Cooper Union opened. In 1859 when Wendell Phillips addressed a John Brown meeting, the audience seemed to be composed of average New Yorkers: The audience last evening at the Cooper Institute consisted of respectable looking persons, not a small proportion of whom were ladies. On the side seats were colored men and women, who paid the great est attention to the exercises of the e v e n i n g . 44 As the meeting progressed, it became evident that at least one of the respectable looking persons was a workingman who 43The admission price was not, of course, a complete deterrent to poorer but interested people. One account in The New York Times (December 8, 1859, p. 8) reported that "a ragged gentleman who insisted that he would not be al lowed to speak . . . as Mr. Pate was . . . was ejected sans ceremonie." 44^ew York Herald. December 16, 1859, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 90 Another important element to be considered is the composition of specific audiences attracted to Cooper Union. The diversity of platform events precluded the possibility of a typical audience, unless the atypical makeup of the attending group might itself be termed representative. Sporadic editorial comment that accompanied speech accounts indicates that specific audiences were drawn from all parts of the potential audience.Heterogeneity was as marked toward the close of the nineteenth century as it was when Cooper Union opened. In 1859 when Wendell Phillips addressed a John Brown meeting, the audience seemed to be composed of average New Yorkers : The audience last evening at the Cooper Institute consisted of respectable looking persons, not a small proportion of whom were ladies. On the side seats were colored men and women, who paid the great est attention to the exercises of the e v e n i n g . 44 As the meeting progressed, it became evident that at least one of the respectable looking persons was a workingman who ^^The admission price was not, of course, a complete deterrent to poorer but interested people. One account in The New York Times (December 8, 1859, p. 8) reported that "a ragged gentleman who insisted that he would not be al lowed to speak . . . as Mr. Pate was . . . was ejected sans 44i<few York Herald. December 16, 1859, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 91 had "shovelled coal all day." On another occasion Victoria Woodhull advertised a "new lecture" in 1873 which drew together a number of types interested in hearing a speech on free love: In the audience was a large element of women of an indefinable status, not exactly of the leisure nor of the working class. On the platform were a good many old stagers, who may be found at any time at a free love or spiritualistic seance. A few young girls, with prematurely old and knowing faces, were mixed in among the older dames The account went on to say that although there was blasphemy enough to "gratify the many corrupt and hoary headed old sinners who came to listen," on the whole Miss Woodhull disappointed the "vast congregation of prurient minds" who came to hear free love discussed. She refused to cater to the "peculiar tastes of the young store clerks and the old lecherous vagabonds" who attended by discussing nothing but politics Or again, the temperance crusades of Francis Murphy in 1878 united all types of New Yorkers— even children— through common interest in the alcohol evil: 45Ibid. 4^New York Herald. October 18, 1873, p. 10. 47ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 92 Last evening the hall was filled hy all ages and all classes, the rich and the poor, the sober and the dissolute. A large number of little boys were scat tered here and there near the platform. Their eyes were riveted on Mr. Murphy while he was speaking, and their faces beamed with pleasure . . Finally, when Ballington Booth sponsored a mass meeting in 1895 to organize an offshoot of the Salvation Army, the audience was of no one class: The so-called classes and the masses were mingled, and well-dressed, prosperous-looking people were frequent ly next to the slouch-capped, collarless and unshaven denizen of the Bowery. It was inevitable that a cer tain proportion of the large gathering should be com posed of the curious and sight-seeing element.^9 There were occasions, however, when specific audi ence composition was determined and made predictable by the nature of the platform event. If a lecture or meeting was directed toward a particular interest group, the makeup of those who came to listen was often highly definitive. Relatively homogeneous grouping was evident in mass meet ings such as those featuring labor questions or in lectures with limited appeal like Henry James speaking on Thomas Carlyle. One notable exception was that female audiences did not dominate early suffrage meetings as would ^^The Tribune (New York), December 14, 1878, p. 10. 49 The Tribune (New York), March 9, 1896, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 93 be expected: The large hall of the Cooper Institute was nearly full last night, on occasion of the Inaugural Address before the Women's Bureau. That excellent and large- proposing organization was represented on the plat form apparently by a half score of literary and soci ety women, and half as many benignant and potential men. It was an odd fact that there were perhaps twice as many men as women in the audience, from which we argue that the sterner sex has a stronger appetite for learning, logic, and— shall we say it?— lamenta tion than its counterpart.^0 In noting those present at Cooper Union, most news paper commentary tended to be brief and to employ stereo typed words and phrases. Often-used terms were "intelli gent," "intelligent-looking," "respectable," "respectable- looking," or "respectable citizens, among whom were several ladies." More specific identification that occasionally appeared as the account developed suggested that these words or phrases bore no consistent or particular class connota tion . Anyone in decent clothing could seem respectable or look intelligent. If the audience was drawn largely from the monied or intellectual strata of society, the reporter might note that those present were "highly respectable citi zens" or represented "the most intelligent and influential circles of New York." Less affluent listeners were "the S^The Tribune (New York), May 18, 1866, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 94 working classes," "a black whiskered audience," "a mixed audience with some colored people," or "an audience contain ing few Americans and no ladies," Except upon the platform and in the reserved seating area where distinguished people were either invited or could afford to sit, newspaper reports indicated no over-all Cooper Union audience trend toward either end of the class continuum. Mass meetings were usually free— with the excep tion of Presidential campaign addresses— a factor which en couraged heterogeneity. Selected audience tendencies were observed in the gravitation of poorer and highly liberal elements toward labor and temperance meetings and of the upper classes toward entertainment lectures where 50* to $1 admission prices operated to some extent as a factor encour aging homogeneity. The next element to be considered is the conduct of audiences at Cooper Union. In general, audiences at Cooper Institute and elsewhere during the nineteenth century tended to be less restrained than they are today. Listener parti cipation at least to the extent of voicing approval or dis approval of the speaker's remarks was commonplace. Reports of speeches frequently noted such cries as "Amen," "That is so," or "That's a lie'." and reactions such as groans. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 95 hisses, applause, or cheers. Occasionally the responses were much more vociferous if the speech or meeting centered around a highly controversial theme. The extremes of audi ence conduct in mass meeting may be illustrated by two widely-divergent examples, the first occurring when the Reverend George Cheever, a famous New York divine, addressed a John Brown meeting in 1859: It was John Brown's natural right to protest against slavery, and in every just and righteous way to put that protest into action— (disturbance)— and any state establishing slavery by law— though God has forbidden it, and forbidding such a protest by law— though God has required it— (disturbance)— instantly makes such a protest not only a right, but a duty, and doubly both. Here a man in the audience rose and said, "If you are sent here to talk about John Brown, talk about him; don't you talk about anything else, God damn you." Cries of "Put him out" and great confusion. Mr. Pilsbury, Superintendent of the Police, here made his appearance on the platform. A Voice— Mr. Pilsbury, are we to be protected in our meeting or not? (Applause, amidst which the band played "Hail Columbia.")^1 Demands that the maker of a disturbance be evicted seemed to be a common audience reaction, although speakers often answered the questions of persistent hecklers or accepted their corrections. When excited, audience members frequent- ^^New York Herald. December 16, 1859, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 96 ly stood on their seats^S make themselves heard or to ob tain a better view of events either on the platform or in other parts of the hall. A contrasting example illustrates almost faultless decorum on the part of those who attended— so much so that one reporter took the audience to task for its lack of en thusiasm: A highly respectable audience of about two thou sand persons, embracing a number of ladies, assembled in mass meeting last night in the great hall of Cooper Institute, under the auspices of the New York City Council of Political Reform, This "Council" is a very dignified organization of the best class of our citi zens, and came into existence during the reform up rising of last Fall, which swept Tammany from the seat of power, their only element of weakness being that they or the class they represent is too high-toned to undertake much of the rough work of politics. They displayed no enthusiasm last night, as political en thusiasm is generally understood. They would not give a good rousing cheer for the world— it would ruffle the whole affair so frightfully . . .^3 Normal audience conduct occupied a middle ground between these two extremes. A bored or restless audience might clap or stamp, and if their interest was not soon captured, many people 52cooper often had a notice read before proceedings began asking audience members to please refrain from stand ing on the seats or spitting on the floor. ^^New York Herald. September 24, 1872, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 97 were likely to leave the hall. The exit of disgruntled lis teners was apt to be accompanied by uncomplimentary remarks to the speaker— unless she was a lady— and even if such re marks were not made, some disturbance arose when those leav ing made their way to the aisles past others who remained seated. For example, John H. Surratt, one of the alleged conspirators in the plot that resulted in the shooting of President Lincoln, concluded his lecture on events related to the assassination to an audience that numbered 100 people because "he spoke very badly and like a schoolboy reciting his l e s s o n s . "54 gy comparison, pleased listeners were noted as "appreciative." They might also "receive the speaker throughout with signs of approval" or "interrupt the speaker with applause and cheering." Policemen were present on practically every occasion to guard against disturbance or to cope with demonstrations which passed the bounds of propriety. To leave a speaker without police protection was at times to leave him in per il.55 with a large and enthusiastic crowd, policemen were S^The World (New York), December 10, 1870, p. 3. ^^Speakers on reform platforms' were sometimes physi cally assaulted. Anna L. Curtis draws attention to the orator's perils in "A Brief History of the Lyceum," Who's Who in the Lyceum.ed. A. Augustus Wright (Philadelphia: Pearson Brothers, 1906), p. 26. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 98 needed to control seating access and to protect one part of the assembly from another rather than to guard the speaker from his hearers. The wisdom of this policy is seen in the tumultuous Cooper Union reception for Ulysses S. Grant in June, 1865: In an instant, like the burst of an avalanche . , . the immense throng poured into the building, filling every part almost with the rapidity of magic. The calling and shouting and the tramp of feet were momentarily deafening. In with the throng, turned and twisted but righting themselves again, dashing forward with the foremost were to be seen a number of the fairer sex . . . At the moment considerable apprehension was ex cited by a tumult that arose . . . when a rush was made by those filling the passageway^® to break over the seats and to find standing room nearer the plat form. This brought the party into collision with the occupants of the seats, who resisted the invad ers, and in an instant all was confusion and commo tion. Cordons of policemen moved quickly to the center of the disturbance, but the apprehension of a row alarmed the females and many males, and there was on the part of these timid ones a rush made for the already overcrowded platform. Ladies, under the sense of terror, performed feats of agility that could not have been expected from them. The railing enclosing the reporter's tables was prettily cleared despite of hoops and crinolines, or other encumbran ces of steel and loveliness, and the platform carried in style, from whence it was found impossible to dis lodge them.57 5®Large crowds would fill the seats and then jam the aisles, particularly toward the front of the hall near the platform. About 500 people could be accomodated in this way, raising the capacity of the hall to 3,000. 57n6W York Herald. June 8, 1865, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 99 "When the meeting was in progress, policemen were positioned at either end of the aisles and around^® the platform. The final element to be considered is the size of audiences attracted to Cooper Union. Speech accounts com mented more frequently upon attendance than upon either aud ience composition or behavior, and from such commentary, it was possible to generalize about the size of Cooper Union audiences. It may be said that the Great Hall drew full or 59 overflow audiences far more frequently than it drew small audiences, speakers with national reputations drew much 58yet at times the police were unable to protect those on the platform. One such case arose at the finals of the Brunswick and Balke tournament for the billiard cham pionship of the world played at Cooper Union on February 7, 1879. That night billiard history was written upon a table taken from stock and brilliantly lighted by a special chan delier with double gas jets to each of its four branches. In their titanic struggle just below the speaker's platform, Jacob Schaefer amassed the largest average and George Slos- sen made the longest run in the annals of the game. After the drama-packed match, the crowd surged through the police lines to tear clothes from the players. The New York Herald (February 8, 1879, p. 4) said the scene was impossible to describe but gave a detailed account anyway. S^During what might be called "The Laughing Gas Years" at Cooper Union, Dr. G. Q. Colton, a dental anaes thesia pioneer, staged an indeterminate number of 10* to 25* lecture-laughing gas entertainment programs during the af ternoon and evening from 1870 through 1873 in the Great Hall. The gatherings were regaled by the antics of volun teers from both sexes to whom Colton administered the gas. Although his audiences were rarely large, Colton amused un told thousands of people. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 100 larger audiencês than speakers of lesser reputation, male speakers drew larger audiences than female speakers, the price of admission had no bearing upon the size of audien ces, and mass meetings filled the hall more consistently than paid admission addresses by a single speaker. Secondary audience of the educational platform The educational platform had a secondary audience, but several factors seemed to limit its size. One signifi cant limiting factor was the composition of the primary audience, which inhibited word of mouth message transmis sion. Communication study has shown that social rank and status play a definite part in not only who a person com municates with but how often he communicates. The working people who made up the free educational lecture audiences would probably manifest a number of communicative traits as message carriers after they left the Great Hall. They would not talk much about what they had heard, they would talk primarily to members of their families if they lived at home or to close friends if they did not, they would talk occasionally to other working people who were their equals, and women would be almost uncommunicative, especially if R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 101 they were housewives. Another factor is that the free lectures attracted infrequent press notice. The nature of the lectures as well as the general mediocre calibre of speakers" t/hb delivered them ordinarily caused newspaper reporters to seek other more interesting material that was more likely to win column space and thus pay their wages.A final limiting factor was that non-local newspaper coverage was usually non-exis tent. If the New York newspapers failed to carry accounts of these platform events, there is virtually no possibility that newspapers outside the New York area would be suffi ciently interested to undertake an independent investigation of what was said. Secondary audience of the public platform In spite of the fact that the primary audience was fundamentally a heterogeneous one that cannot easily be described in terms of sociometric connection, several obser vations may be made about the secondary audience established ^®Elihu Katz and Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Personal Influ ence (Glencoe, Illinois, The Free Press, 1955), p. 88. ^^A reporter of the nineteenth century was paid by the number of column inches of his material which found its way into the newspaper each week. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 102 through word of mouth message transmission. To begin with, the citizens who were to be found at lectures and other Great Hall gatherings were sufficiently interested in the proceedings to attend— and to pay admission if required. Communication researchers would classify these listeners as "participating citizens," or those who are "active in dis cussions on current affairs and problems— generally the more articulate citizens who take a higher degree of interest in the world around them"^^ They would be more likely to dis cuss what they had heard with those who had wanted to come but had not been able to do so, with those who had not been able to find a place in the hall if the crowd was large, or with those who might be labeled "inert" because they are not comfortably at home in the world of ideas presented in raw or uninterpreted form. The participating citizen might make a number of contacts subsequent to hearing the lecture, but since the small interpersonal communication network is pri marily "one to one," most of these contacts would be with single individuals.^^ Group communication, with a maximum G^Katz and Lazarsfeld, op. cit.. p. xviii. ^^Jurgen Ruesch and Gregory Bateson, Communication; The Social Matrix of Psychiatry (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1951), p. 277. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 103 number of contacts, is normally a characteristic of the leadership community. For example, Peter Cooper, who at tended many Great Hall occasions other than the Saturday Night Free Lectures, would generate an appreciative secon dary audience at McSorley's Ale House where a special chair with an inflated rubber cushion and a pewter mug with his name engraved on it were reserved for him in the back room. Another secondary communication factor is that each person who was told about an address would in turn become a message transmitter. Thus the maximum number of approxi mately 3,000 audience members who could squeeze into the auditorium and gain access to the original message would be come the core or nucleus of continuing communication impul ses, somewhat analogous to ripples on a pond. A sizable secondary audience would be established through the original telling and the subsequent retelling by each newly informed person in the ever-widening concentric circles of informa tion carriers. Naturally, as the circles of information traveled further from the original source, much of the sig nificant message detail would tend to drop away, just as the ripples furthest from the energy center are the faint est. This tendency to "level the message"^^ with time and G^Gordon Allport and Leo Postman, "The Basic Psy- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 104 repetition might be illustrated through Abraham Lincoln's famed 1860 campaign speech at Cooper Union. The primary audience member might tell a friend about the address in considerable detail. After the information had been relayed by the friend and a successive number of other hearers, all that would be left of the original message might be : "The Constitution says the government can keep slavery out of the territories, and we'll fight to do it." The last consideration in word of mouth communica tion is that platform events accounted for secondary audi ence size in proportion to their importance and to the pub lic interest they tended to attract. For example, the re ception for Ulysses Grant in 1865 would provide what Katz and Lazarsfeld term an "action-stimulant" that would have tremendous potential power as a prime and secondary mover in communications flow.^^ Everyone was interested in seeing the hero-general Grant and in hearing him speak. Further more, the occasion was one of emotional rather than intel lectual stimulation, which would make the situation appeal- chology of Rumor," The Processes and Effects of Mass Com munication. ed. Wilbur Schramm (Urbana: University of Illi nois Press, 1954), p. 145. ^^Katz and Lazarsfeld, op. cit.. p. 85. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 105 ing to all classes. By way of contrast, the lecture of Henry James on Thomas Carlyle in 1866 would provide an ac tion-stimulant primarily in drawing-room circles. Although the secondary audience generated through casual word of mouth message transmission was significant, it .was restricted geographically to the New York area and by time through the process of message leveling. Newspapers that carried accounts of Cooper Union addresses were free of both restraints; the newspaper also enjoyed a position of unrivaled dominance in the last half of the nineteenth cen tury as the only true mass medium of idea distribution in the worldThe public press was the essential means of establishing a truly large secondary audience for speakers at Cooper Union. The most deeply saturated audience area was, of course. New York and its environs. Some clue to the size of the initial readership group may be found in newspaper pub lishing statistics for the year Cooper Union opened: There are fifteen daily papers published in New York, the average aggregate issue of which is 130,000 copies. Two-fifths of these are circulated in the ^^William Albig notes in Modern Public Opinion (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1956), p. 369, that the newspaper continues to be the most important medium for distributing news and opinions to large publics. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 106 country, leaving three fifths for the town, which is at the rate of rather more than one copy for every ten inhabitants of N e w - Y o r k .67 These figures would place the immediate^® secondary metro politan audience at 78,000 and the immediate rural audience at 52,000, The audience ’ "in the country" was mainly within 100 miles of New York because it was not until June 23, 1874 that postage on newspapers was paid by weight and with out reference to distance carried. More advantageous rates for newspapers mailed outside the county of origin were es tablished by Congress on March 3, 1879 when all journals be came second class matter, and a further reduction to a long- prevailing rate of two cents per pound on all second class matter was passed on March 3, 1885. These successive mail ing adjustments tremendously expanded the national secondary audience of individual subscribers and of other newspapers that used news from the New York journals. The national secondary audience was established 67c. S. Francis, Francis’ New Hand-Book for the Citv of New York (New York; C. S. Francis and Company, 1859), p. 101. 68The word immediate seems appropriate to distin guish those who bought the newspaper for immediate use from those who might read it secondhand or after it had been thrown away. There is no way to know whether the non-immed iate reading group was large or not, although newspapers in the nineteenth century may not have been as quickly disposed of as they are today. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 107 primarily through the United States mails, although the Associated Press cooperative newsgathering organization was a powerful influence. Between 1860 and 1885 when newspaper mailing regulations were in their period of transition, daily newspapers in the United States increased from 110 to 458. The average circulation of the dailies ranged from 4,100 in 1860 to 5,200 in 1890,^^ and these small journals did not have the means to either buy an Associated Press franchise— if they were fortunate enough to be near a Wes tern Union Telegraph Company outlet— or pay the expensive yearly membership assessments, They had to depend on the mails to obtain metropolitan newspapers from which to repub lish or rewrite national and world news. The larger daily tabloids relied on both the mails and the telegraph to bring news, and "the growth of the Associated Press . , . was marked by an extraordinary increase in the amount of wire and cable news used in all daily newspapers,"^0 Important Cooper Union addresses were disseminated nationally not only because they were significant but be- G9prank Luther Mott, American Journalism (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962), p, 507, At the same time, Mott states that illiteracy declined from 20 per cent to 13 ,3 per cent, 70lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 108 cause the New York newspapers which carried accounts of the addresses were the most outstanding journalistic organs in the United States, They published the most vital national and world news. Indeed, the original Associated Press was incorporated as the New York Associated Press in 1848 and was composed of and controlled by the New York newspapers until 1893. The New York Associated Press early formed an alliance with the Western Union Telegraph Company for low telegraph rates in return for a monopoly of newspaper busi ness . So heavily did New York events dominate telegraphic news that when a western and midwestern alliance of news papers led an insurrection against the New York Associated Press immediately after the Civil War, one of the formal demands of the plaintiff group was that "information should be selected for its interest to the subscribing papers, not 71 for its importance in New York." Of course, accounts of Cooper Union meetings went out with all the other New York news over the wires— and in the mail. A few selected examples will illustrate the scope of the secondary Cooper Union audience created through the platform's inherent prominence and the influence of the New ^Oliver Gr ami ing, AP: The Story of News (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., 1940), p. 63. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 109 York press. The Sacramento Daily Union often devoted a sec tion exclusively to the New York journals: SPIRIT OF THE NEW YORK PRESS. By Overland Mail we have received New York journals of dates from the 7th to the 10th of March. The leading topics of dis cussion at that period were the Cooper Institute Union demonstration, the ravages of the pirate Alabama and the operations of Grant in the vicinity of Vicksburg. The preceding page was entirely filled with verbatim reports of the Cooper Union speeches as taken from the columns of The New York Times. ^ - A few months later the London Times carried what appeared to be its own correspondent's account of an address by Senator Charles Sumner on American and English wartime relations. The article gives some indication of the Cooper Institute international secondary audience: (Per The Jura, via Greencastle, Sept. 21.) NEW YORK, Sept. 11, 5 p.m. Mr. Charles Sumner, chairman of the Committee of the Senate on Foreign Relations, delivered a long address last night at the Cooper Institute on the Foreign Affairs of the Republic. He denounced the conduct of the British government in permitting the building of war steamers in British ports for the Confederates, and recognizing on the part of the South any belligerent rights upon the ocean. He dis believed that either France or England would inter vene in favor of a State that based itself upon negro slavery, and asserted that all intervention in the internal affairs of another nation was contrary to ^^Sacramento Daily Union (California), April 6, 1863, p. 4. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 110 law and reason, unless such intervention was obviously on the side of human rights. The audience was one of the most numerous that ever assembled in New York, but was chiefly composed of ladies and clergymen. Much later, items of less public moment but of more sensational interest were to be found in newspapers in geo graphical corners of the nation farthest removed from New York. An example from The Los Angeles Times in 1891 illus trates this fact as made possible by Associated Press news distribution; By Telegraph to The Times. NEW YORK, Oct. 11.— (By Associated Press). Rev. Dr. McGlynn lectured at Cooper Union tonight on the Pope. He said the time might come when we have a democratic pope who will walk down Broadway with a plug hat on his head. Personally, he said, he had been emancipated from diplomatic relations with the Pope and was, consequently, competent to give unprejudicial ad vice. He advised him not to listen to the flattery of such men as Archbishop Corrigan, who, while assuring him that he was the greatest Pope who ever lived, were getting ready to assure the next one that he is great er. . . .He commiserated the Pope on his approaching senility, and wound up by saying: "Holy father, I am ashamed of y o u . "74 Perhaps the most widespread attention ever attracted by Cooper Union was in connection with the exposure of frauds perpetrated by the Tweed Ring, in which the Tammany Hall city government of New York stole approximately 73The Times (London), September 27, 1863, p. 10. 7‘ ^The Los Angeles Times. October 12, 1891, p. 4. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. Ill $200,000,000 of the public money. In The Story of the New York Times. Meyer Berger takes special notice of "the many columns published all over the United States" about all 75 phases of the scandal and public reaction to it. The day after the September, 1871 Cooper Institute meeting, the San Francisco Daily Alta California published a detailed account which illustrates typical press response to affairs connect ed with the political criminals in New York. The tabloid said in part: By Western Union Telegraph, 522 California St. The Revolt Against Tammany. The Herald. Tribune. and Times regard last night's meeting at Cooper's Institute a great success. The World. however, thinks it is a Custom House affair, and that the action of the meeting stamped it as the work of the Custom House Faction, who deeply inveigled some well meaning citizens to take part in its pro ceedings . 76 Then, under "Second Dispatches," which were also carried on page one, the account continued at length. Newspapers in the East, because of greater interest stimulated through geographical proximity, were even more preoccupied with New York events than journals in the West. ^^Berger, op. cit.. p. 50. 76pailv Alta California (San Francisco), September 6, 1871, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 112 For example, the Washington Evening Star routinely published columns of all types of New York news— even rallies spon sored by city political groups: There was an immense mass meeting of Republicans last night at Cooper Institute, New York. All the Republican associations paraded, with banners and transparencies, and there was a fine display of fire works in Astor Place. Speeches were made by General John C. Fremont and other notables . . .77 Again, because of regional interest, the United States Indian Commission affairs conducted at Cooper Union attracted close attention in the Midwest. The Chicago Tribune followed these events closely, as indicated by a passage from a front page telegraphic account: New York, May 18. The U. S. Indian Commission had a meeting at the Cooper Institute this morning, for the purpose of considering the best means of sustaining the policy of President Grant with reference to the tribes on the Plains. General Sherman sent them a communication. He says he disapproves of all such meetings, as the real question could only be discussed where the Indians were. If the gentlemen would adjourn to Fort Rice, he would be glad to attend their meeting. This let ter elicited sharp comments from several of the speakers. Peter Cooper thought it could only be characterized as a sneer, and as such it caused him great sorrow.78 ^^The Evening Star (Washington, D. C.), September 23, 1868, p. 1. ^^The Tribune (Chicago), May 19, 1870, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 113 Thus the very telegraphic network in which Cooper had taken an active financial and promotional interest became a means for informing people throughout the United States of events that transpired at his Cooper Union. Summary The Great Hall was constructed below street level to utilize otherwise wasted space as well as promote safety, comfort, and quiet. Well lighted and ventilated, the audi torium seated 2,500 persons before it was rearranged in 1884 when the building foundations were repaired. The education al platform, broadened from a purely social science base in 1858 to include technology, physical and natural science, literature, travel, and art, was free and devoted to the improvement of working people. The public platform was ded icated to free speech and assembly, and any well disposed person or group could rent it for meeting purposes. While the attending audience of the educational platform was com posed of working people, the public platform drew a hetero geneous listening public that was demonstrative and large. The absentee audience of the public platform, those who heard about the speeches or read about them in the news papers, was a tremendous group. The wide dissemination of R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 114 New York news occurred because of the power of the New York Press, advantageous postal adjustments, and the rise of telegraphic cooperative newsgathering agencies. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. CHAPTER IV POPULAR LYCEUM LECTURES Introduction The lyceum from the late 1820's until the Civil War was an American social institution devoted to adult educa tion and improvement on the local level. As early as 1845, instructional practices had begun to crystallize into the lecture system with an ever-increasing group of star speak ers who enthralled audiences with their colorful presenta tion of cultural material. Cooper Union, opening as it did in 1859, was unable to share in any but the final season or two of the old lyceum before the issues of the Civil War totally absorbed the interest of the nation and the plat form. With the return of peace, popular lectures resumed, encompassing a wide selection of subject matter designed for a broad range of public interest. Bode notes: "Once the war was finished, all lecturing began to increase again. But it was thereafter far more commercialized and much more 115 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 116 an entertainment than it had ever been before."^ Lecture bureaus came into being to book engagements for the expand ing army of speakers. The leading halls in the nation were engaged for the programs, and Cooper Union for a time main tained a position in the main stream of lyceum activity. It has been noted in Chapter III that the Great Hall was the largest and one of the most richly furnished audi toriums in New York when it opened. It was also located in the fashionable part of the city. These factors combined to draw many notable personalities to Cooper Union between 1859 and approximately 1875, a period that might be called the golden age of speechmaking in the hall. Within this time span, the larger and more illustrious part of Cooper Union's platform activity took place, both in terms of lyceum enter tainment and in terms of controversial speaking. The liberal element was always at work, however, and it gradually came into the ascendancy— propelled by the working class sympathy so ingrained in Peter Cooper's per sonal philosophy and in the charter principles of his Insti tute— to develop a Great Hall platform image into which the entertainment aristocracy did not comfortably fit. Also, ^Carl Bode, The American Lyceum (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), p. 248. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 117 as the fashionable center of the city moved ever farther up town and The Bowery acquired an ever more unsavory reputa tion, Cooper Union became trapped in a transitional portion of New York which became known as the Lower East Side, an area more compatible with the protest elements of society. Yet even during its golden age, Peter Cooper and the Cooper Institute Trustees did not attempt to build a lyceum reputation for the Great Hall by sponsoring the lecture courses or series which charged high admission and featured the star professionals. The guiding powers of Cooper Union were more intent upon building a tradition of free lectures for the working people, a tradition that centered upon adult education rather than entertainment; except for the brilli ant series offered by Louis Agassiz and John Tyndall, the lyceum notables who appeared at Cooper Institute came for one-night stands. More than 100 paid admission lyceum lectures were advertised for the Great Hall, but newspaper accounts were published for only 52 of these. From this large group of programs, speakers were selected whose lectures and reputa tion^ were most representative of the lyceum at its best. ^These speakers attracted attention in definitive works on the lyceum as described in Chapter I. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 118 Such lecturers were relatively few in number and deployed among the larger mass of "itinerant" and obscure speakers who drew varying degrees of press coverage along with con sistently small audiences. Because the Cooper Union public platform was domi nated by controversial advocacy, popular lyceum lecturing occupies a fringe position in the speechmaking spectrum of the hall. Yet this non-controversial element was represen tative of a major social phenomenon of the times, an element which deserves to be considered as a significant cultural contribution and a lasting fragrance in the golden age of speechmaking at Cooper Union. The lectures exhibited a broad range of subject mat ter which is arranged under six theme headings: (1) general interest themes, (2) scientific themes, (3) distant place themes, (4) famous person themes, (5) serio-humorous themes, and (6) personal success themes. General Interest Themes T. DeWitt Talmaqe: "The Homes of New York" The Reverend Thomas DeWitt Talmage was probably the ^Bode points out that lecturing became such a craze R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 119 most colorful minister of his time, and on one occasion his church barely acquitted him of charges of falsehood, deceit, and preaching methods that brought religion into disrepute. He became pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn in 1869 and remained there until 1894. A huge tabernacle was built to accommodate the crowds he drew, but it burned in 1874. Replacements also burned in 1889 and 1894. The sermons of this dazzling platform star were re printed in 3,500 newspapers in America and abroad, making him "more widely read than . . . any other man in the world. " Talmage spoke in the Great Hall for the benefit of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Peekskill on March 16, 1875. He opened his lecture by declaring that the homes of New York were the finest in the nation. The homes were superior because they were in a city that stood at the gate way of the continent, "in a position to retain the best and let the balance go West."^ Yet New York homes could be im proved by giving them the proper adornment and the proper that many anonymous people simply rented a hall and "opened their mouths" (op. cit., pp. 214-215). ^Horner, The Life of James Redpath. p. 179. ^New York Herald. March 18, 1875, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 120 meaning. Speaking of adornment, Talmage said any dwelling could be beautified through the use of pictures, music, and parlor games . These things in turn would bring smiles -into the home, and smiles were the true means of adornment. The clergyman stressed that only bright, happy pictures and mu sic,should find their way into the home. Addressing himself next to the meaning of home, Tal mage said every man's castle should be a glowing refuge from the struggles of the world. The skirmishes and battles of life left men weary and exhausted at the end of the day. He pointed out how pleasant it was "to rehearse the victor ies and the surprises and the attacks of the day seated by the still camp-fire of the home circle."^ Declaring that a happy home made a happy man, the minister said there were few joys to equal a man's arrival at a joyful hearth. To such a favored man "home means a greeting at the door, and a smile at the chair. Peace hovering like wings. Joy clap ping its hands with laughter. Life a tranquil lake, Pil- 7 lowed on the ripples sleep the shadows." The lecturer stated that it was always hard to remind an audience that whatever a man might hold in his heart, he should not direct Gibid. ^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 121 it toward his family: There are people who in public act the philanthropist, who at home act the Nero, with respect to their slip pers and gown. There are business men who all day long are mild and courteous and genial and good nat- ured in commercial life, keeping back their irrita bility and their petulance and their discontent; but at nightfall the dam breaks, and scolding pours forth in floods and freshets.® Talmage's parting remarks related to prayers at mealtime and bedtime as a means of banishing worry. Throughout his remarks Talmage employed the odd elliptical constructions and vivid phraseology that he al ways combined with startling gestures to rivet the attention of his listeners. Away from the pulpit, this famous divine was very much the businessman; his lectures had a secular ring, and at Cooper Union, where poor, last-minute advertis ing brought him only a small audience, Talmage spoke for little more than a half hour. George W. Curtis: "Political Infidelity" One of the most renowned figures on the lyceum cir cuit, George William Curtis first became famous as the edi tor of Harper's Weekly and the originator of the "Easy Chair" papers. He was active in civil service reform, his Gibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 122 efforts as special commissioner under President Grant paving the way for Dorman B. Eaton's later successful efforts in civil service legislation. Speaking at Cooper Union on December 18, 1868, Cur tis dwelt upon the infidelity and immorality of public con duct in England and the United.States. When speaking of England, he developed a contrast to illustrate that there was one law for the r ich and another for the poor. He pointed to Warren Hastings, first Governor General of Brit ish India and manager of the East India Company, as a prime example of wealthy political infidelity that was praised rather than punished. Curtis described Hastings' "disgrace ful" actions in India where he amassed an immense fortune at the expense and suffering of the people of that country "only to receive a triumphant acquittal after his belated impeachment and seven years' trial in the House of Lords. He died at the age of 86, loaded with honors and eulogized by biographers."^ The lecturer then drew a comparative pic ture of an unfortunate woman ""whose husband had been taken by the press gang, and who was consequently reduced almost to starvation, and who was sentenced to 10 years for steal- ^The Tribune (New York), December 19, 1868, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 123 ing a trifling article to exchange for bread.He traced the shameful decadence in the earlier age of Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of England from 1721 to 1742, and blamed the times for the coining of Walpole's famous saying: "Every man has his price.Where the United States was concerned, Curtis declared the Civil War had been the result of consti tutional compromises. "The history of this country has vin dicated . . . what George Mason said in the Convention which framed the Constitution," he said, "that 'Providence punish- TP es national sins by national calamities.'" Holding that public opinion in the United States could do anything it chose, Curtis maintained that the popular voice was the key to avoiding national difficulties— if it were enlightened. The speaker was to be proved wrong by events of the next eight years when he said the public had taken a step in the right direction by electing Ulysses Grant and summoning character to the White House. Consistent intelligent choi ces, however, could only be made by an educated electorate: The restoration of a higher moral tone to political parties depends much on education. But suffrage must precede education. If the suffrage were conferred upon a few, and made to depend upon education, the IQjbid. lllbid. l^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 124 powerful class would give no assistance to the rest in retaining the required qualifications.13 Curtis also denounced attempts made during the im peachment trial of President Andrew Johnson to influence the votes of several Senators for conviction. He maintained that rich and influential men who scoffed at conscience were no better than barbarians. He then said: Whatever in this country, in its normal condition of peace, is too delicate to discuss is too dangerous to tolerate. Any system, any policy, any institution, which may not be debated will overthrow us if we do not overthrow it.14 This lecture, delivered scores of times with varia tions, exemplified Curtis' preoccupation with lecture themes devoted to the elevation of public thought and action. Also, his views on free idea exchange mirrored the highest ethical concepts of the function of debate in the perpetua tion of democratic institutions. Even more can be said of this man in a classical rhetorical sense. Because he com bined "more than any other American man of letters of this generation, the ideal of clear intellect, pure taste, moral purpose, chivalry of feelings . . ."13 with genuine ethical principles, nobility of themes, and a defense of practical l^ibid. 14ibid. 15j. B. Pond, Eccentricities of Genius (London: Chatto and Windus, 1901), p. 341. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 125 knowledge that shone through both his actions and speaking as a citizen,Curtis was more the embodiment of the Iso- cratic theory of culture than any other star in the later lyceum. George Baabv; "The Negro Race" One of the South's most notable literary figures be fore the Civil War, George W. Bagby edited the Richmond Whig and the Southern Literary Messenger. He also contributed mildly satirical humorous sketches of a highly original na ture to leading American magazines. Military life further weakened an inherently frail constitution, and after the North-South conflict, his failing eyesight compelled him to forego writing for the lecture platform. His reputation as both writer and speaker is based upon his portrayal of old Virginia and the ante-bellum South. In his lecture of April 20, 1875, Bagby first remi nisced about the Negro as a slave and then spoke of his fu ture as a freedman. The lecturer told of his childhood on a Virginia plantation "where everything was so pleasant and IGgee the discussion of desirability and elements of the Isocratic theory of culture by Lester Thonssen and A. Craig Baird in Speech Criticism (New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1948), p. 469. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 126 the days so golden that in retrospect it seems to me now 1 7 like a foretaste of Heaven." He said his life had been so crowded with colored people that as a boy he believed "the whole world was filled with negroes. It wasn’t until I read Parley's Geography that I ceased to believe they all came 1 Q out of the ground together." White children were nursed by slaves and grew up with them as playmates. Bagby spoke of the love and respect which existed between slave and master, each being nurse and servant to the other during sickness. Describing the slave's faith in his owner, the lecturer said the bondsman believed "Massa could pull down the moon if he wanted to, but he didn't want to."^9 This blind faith was further illustrated by a humor ous anecdote: There was an old negro slave who used to read the Episcopal marriage whenever a negro couple on the plantation were to be married. He always wound up the marriage ceremony in this emphatic manner: "And now I pronounce you man and wife, and let no man put you asunder 'cept God or some higher a u t h o r i t y . " 2 0 Imitating the voice and dialect of the Negro with great skill, Bagby next painted anecdotal pictures of the lazy Negro, the stupid Negro, and the superstitious Negro. ^^The New York Times. April 21, 1875, p. 12. ISibid. l^Ibid. ^°Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 127 The speaker elicited considerable laughter when he said of the latter type that all believed "a newborn infant's clothes should not be put on over its head, because it will 21 push the soul too far down into the body." Bagby lastly turned his attention to the future of the freedttien, declaring it was the destiny of the Negro peo ple in America to decay and dwindle away to eventual exter mination. In support of this widely held belief, he cited statistics showing a mortality rate of two Negroes to every white man throughout the South, and he predicted the trend would prove disastrous; Infanticide, too, is fearfully prevalent among the blacks, while their numbers will never be increased by immigration. In the contest against such fearful odds of 4,000,000 of an inferior race with 60,000,000 of a superior, one can easily perceive what the result must b e . 22 Bagby was at a marked disadvantage in his appearance at Cooper Union because the very intensity of his localism robbed his material of its finest appeal. The predominantly northern audience found him charming in a superficial way, but the poignancy and nostalgia which tinged the lecture was beyond the understanding of most listeners. It was only in the South, where lyceum speaking was never as popular as in 2J-ibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 128 other parts of the nation, that Bagby was truly appreciated. Scientific Themes Louis Agassiz: "South America and the Amazon" The ablest and most brilliant biologist of his time, Louis Jean Agassiz left his native Switzerland in 1845 and relocated in America. He joined the Harvard faculty and established the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. A gifted teacher, Agassiz was also in tremendous demand as a lecturer. He was immortalized by the familiar Longfellow poem. The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz. Agassiz delivered six lectures under the auspices of the Association for the Advancement of Science. General admission was $1 per lecture, and reserved seats were $3, but the Great Hall was crowded each night the great natural ist spoke; the audience was composed primarily of the elite of New York. The lectures were delivered on February 5, 11, 12, 18, 20, and 26, 1867. Royally sponsored by enlightened Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil, Agassiz's journey to the Amazon Valley in 1865 attracted international attention. The educated world was curious about what he had found, and the biologist believed R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 129 everyone should learn something about the Amazon region be cause the Brazilian government had decided to open the area to world commerce for the first time on September 2 . , 1857. The first lecture was devoted to pointing out geo logical facts concerning the similarity of North and South America and the Mississippi and Amazon Valleys. Agassiz stressed that both river valleys had been shaped through the rise of mountain ranges and through the effect of erosion forces over the course of ages. The second lecture described the Amazon River, the world's largest, and its two major tributaries, the Rio Madeira and the Rio Negro. The Rio Madeira had its source in the Bolivian mountains and was notable for its great depth, its many islands, and its milky or white water. Called the "white water river," the Rio Madeira was so named because of the large volume of whitish clay and loose mater ial carried along in its rapid current. By contrast, the Rio Negro was wider, slower, and more shallow. The large amount of vegetable matter held in solution in its water made it appear "dark as ink."^^ In his third lecture, Agassiz discussed tropical ^^New York Herald. February 12, 1867, p. 7. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 130 glaciers and said that at one time the tropical area of South America had been cool enough to be covered by ice, He advanced what at the time was a startlingly new hypothesis when he said that glacial action was responsible for the Amazon— alone among the world's great rivers— having no del ta at its mouth. Agassiz declared that glacial material ground down and deposited at the coast line was too soft to pound solid. Thus, although the velocity of the Amazon was slow enough to have allowed deposits of loose material to build up at its mouth, no delta had formed. The triturated deposits washed away easily, allowing the ocean to encroach on the coast at "such a rate that a band of 300 miles has 24 been removed from in front of the Valley of the Amazon." The fourth lecture was a rather dull treatment of Amazon Basin aquatic life. The speaker talked of molluscs, articulates, and vertebrates and pointed out the character istics of many species of fresh-water fish peculiar to the Amazon. The existence of these exotic varieties of fish was due to a number of unique environmental factors, the most remarkable of which was the almost constant 81° temperature of the water. 24 The Tribune (New York), February 13, 1867, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 131 In his fifth lecture, Agassiz placed the stamp of inferiority upon the South American continent because it had so many forms of lower mammalia, or life forms ranked low according to the progress from water onto land. The reason for this "old-fashioned or inferior" continental condition was that the western hemisphere had attained its geological maturity at an earlier time than other parts of the globe. The final lecture was easily the most important of the series because it discussed the origin of humanity, a question uppermost in the public mind. Tickets had an nounced that the world-renowned biologist .would speak upon the controversial Darwinian theory, and the hall did not have a foot of standing room left at 8 P. M. Agassiz noted that authorities disagreed upon the origin of living forms, but it was his belief that the community of origin theory involving man, monkeys, and other quadrupeds was a fallacy. He drew attention to the facts that a monkey had four hands, while a man had two hands and two feet; also, the facial angle^G and highly-developed brain of the lowest form of man ^^Ibid.. February 21, 1867, p. 5. ^^The angle described upon the forehead and top jaw with the base of the skull. In the highest type man it approaches a right angle. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 132 was superior to that of the highest form of monkey, Agassiz then pointed out that those who believed in evolutionary origins of life had jumped to conclusions. The German spontaneous generation advocates had not discovered enough to be sure that "everything which exists started spontaneously from the formation of a primitive cell under 27 the influence of light acting upon matter." The German theorists were on no more solid ground than Darwin and the English defenders of the transmutation doctrine, who "assume that the first impulse was given by an intellectual power, and that this impulse resulted in an unfolding , . . out of the first germs created, of all that has followed."28 Agassiz held that the changes that had taken place in crea tion through the ages were the work of the continuing force of a superior intellect, who was God. He asked his hearers 29 to bear in mind that all living creatures came from eggs which faithfully reproduced their parents without variation, a fact too wonderful to be explained by means other than the intervention of mind. ^^The Tribune (New York), February 27, 1867, p. 8. 28ibid. ^^But the chicken came before the egg every time. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 133 The Agassiz series was the most culturally note worthy lyceum event in the history of Cooper Union. The lecturer's specific speech purpose was to promote public understanding of scientific facts and theories concerning a mysterious and previously unexamined region of the world; he thus derived intense basic interest from the revelation of eagerly awaited new material. Added to the advantage of excellent subject matter was Agassiz's informative speaking talent. The larger part of the great success of his Cooper Institute series can be attributed to the fact that the nat uralist had the ability to adapt to a lay audience and sim plify material that would ordinarily be too difficult and complex for oral presentation. Although he used a black board, it was the lecturer's simplified and anecdotal pre sentation which drew spontaneous interrupting bursts of ap preciative applause— in this case an excellent surface gauge of speech effectiveness— as he brought vividly to life what easily could have been stultifyingly dull material. Agassiz received a standing ovation after his last lecture. John Tyndall: "Lectures on Light" John Tyndall's contributions to the theories of force manifestation and the properties of aqueous vapor won R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 134 him a professorship at the Royal Institution of England, and he became superintendent of that establishment in 1867. His popular science books enjoyed immense circulation in the United States, and his Lectures on Light were published in 1873. Similar to the Agassiz series, Tyndall's program of six lectures at $1 and $3 per seat drew "the science, the culture, and the refinement of New York" to Cooper Union on December 17, 19, 22, 26, 28, and 31, 1872.^^ The lectures grew shorter but more abstruse, and they were accompanied by elaborate experiments conducted by Tyndall and his assis tants . Tyndall was a precise lecturer who always dressed in evening clothes and appeared exactly on time. The Herald said of him: In appearance he is one of those peculiar men who are once in a while found making peculiar progress in any particular path of human knowledge. He has a dry sort of manner about him which seems to be one of the com mon results of studies of ascetic science, and which arises from the concentration of mind upon subjective thought, apart from ordinary external life. His head, which bears all the traits of an incisive and energetic intellect, is high and narrow, like some great castle with heavy battlements, full of strength and grandeur. ^^The New York Times. December 18, 1872, p. 8. ^^New York Herald. December 22, 1872, p. 2. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 135 In his first lecture, Tyndall dealt with the phenom enon of refraction and the visible white light spectrum. He explained that the ancients had been fascinated by light, but without experimental means their observations were con fined to the motions of celestial bodies. They did discover that light moved in straight lines and was reflected from polished surfaces. The first major step forward was made by Hildebrant Snell, who formulated the law governing incidence and refraction. The law meant that a ray of light entering one medium from another (such as entering water from air) is bent to the same extent in the new medium as the angle at which it approaches the surface of the medium. Thus the angle of incidence (or approach) of the ray is the same as the angle of refraction (or bending) of the ray in the new medium. Speaking next of the spectrum, Tyndall related Sir Isaac Newton's experiment with a prism which led to the dis covery of the composition of solar light: Through the closed window-shutter of a room he pierced an orifice, and allowed a thin sunbeam to pass through it. The beam stamped a round image of the sun on the opposite wall of the room. In the path of this beam Newton placed a prism, expecting to see the beam re flected, but also expecting to see the image of the sun, after refraction, round. To his astonishment it was drawn out to an image whose length was five times its breadth; and this image was divided into bands of R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 136 different colors. Newton saw immediately that this image was due to the fact that some constituents of the solar light were more deflected by the prism than others, and he concluded, therefore, that white solar light was a mixture of lights of different colors and of different degrees of refrangibility. Thus acquainted with the seven primary colors— red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet— the scientist ex plained that bodies assumed their color by absorbing and neutralizing those colors not inherent or natural. He il lustrated by quenching all the rainbow colors through ab sorption by black paper. In succeeding lectures, Tyndall illustrated a number of optical phenomena by means of experiments. Most of the experiments revolved around polarized light, or the dual nature of light rays arising from double refraction through certain conductors; Newton . . . came to the conclusion that each of the beams had two sides; and from the analogy of this two- sidedness with the two-sidedness of a magnet, wherein consists its polarity, the two beams came to be de scribed as polarized.33 Tyndall used various types of prisms to conduct experiments which stressed one controlling principle: reflected light was completely polarized when the reflected and refracted 3^The New York Times. December 18, 1872, p. 8. 33The Sun (New York), December 23, 1872, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 137 rays were perpendicular to one another, and the refracted, or transmitted,^^ light could be perfectly polarized by thickening the reflector. The scientist also illustrated the effects of heat, pressure, and magnetism upon light. His most visually beautiful experiments were the demonstra tions of various types of spectra refracted from the light of flames produced from burning carbon and assorted metals. In his final lecture, Tyndall stressed the urgent need for science education in both England and America. He said that although knowledgeable persons had accused the United States of being backward in scientific development, he was certain the undesirable condition was "not likely to last.Part of the solution was to be found in liberating America's notable scientific minds from the worries of ad ministration and fund or tuition collection so they would be free for technical inquiry. The greater part of the answer would come from "the capitalists' liberality,” which even then was at work^^ bringing education and the educator into ^^More light is transmitted than reflected. The Sun (New York), January 1, 1873, p. 3. ^^Tyndall also helped. He earned between $15,000 and $20,000 during his 1872-1873 lecture tour in the United States, but he generously donated all of it to the advance ment of science in the United States. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 138 O? his own. The detailed and impressive experiments which accom panied each lecture were largely responsible for the popular 3 0 success of the series; Tyndall employed these essential visual aids in the most effective manner, having planned them carefully in respect to size, detail, artistry, and setting. From long experience the speaker was also well practiced in the manipulation of visual materials, and he mismanaged only one experiment. Dr. John F. Bovnton: "Life upon Our Planet" Called by Bode the most famous of the itinerant lec turers who were often charlatans, eccentrics, or radicals, John Farnam Boynton was a skillful and tireless disseminator of science en masse. Dr.^^ Boynton traveled without the sponsorship of lyceum groups and would speak in one town until he had "exploited public interest to the full. Then ^^The Sun (New York), January 1, 1873, p. 3. ^®The newspapers became exasperated with trying to write accounts of lectures that centered on experiments. The Tribune resorted to diagrams and illustrations, a des perate step in a journalistic era when pictures were rarely used. ^^He at one time briefly attended a medical school at St. Louis. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 139 he moved on to the next town,"'^® A practical scientist. geologist, and miner whose lecturing led him into every state of the nation. Dr. Boynton took part in the California gold rush and was a friend of Kit Carson, Boynton., appearing at Cooper Union on December 12, 1868, began his lecture by speaking about the nature and im portance of volcanic action, which he said was responsible for the formation of life-supporting minerals on the earth. Occurring where the earth’s crust was thinnest, volcanic eruptions continued until the surface layer was sufficiently modified to sustain the lowest form of life, the vegetable. Boynton then informed his audience of his position in the controversy concerning the origin of species: What God created in the beginning exists today, and He never repeats himself. There is nothing in geol ogy, nor in nature, that intimates in the remotest degree, that one species has sprung from another . . . and I have no desire nor disposition to trace my genealogy to an alligator or an ass. (Laughter) Thus on the safe side of the fence, the lecturer moved on to a step-by-step discussion of the radiate and intervening forms up to man. The last half of Boynton's program was a hodge-podge ^^Bode, OP. cit.. p. 215. ^^The Sun (New York), December 13, 1868, p. 4, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 140 of pictures and diagrams. One illustration showed a portion of the bottom of the sea; another was a far-fetched concep tion of different forms of radii found in the first 15,000 feet of the earth's crust; a third was "of the geologic age 42 and the present age." Fish, magnified to many times their natural size, were "represented on a canvas as if swimming, a view which created considerable merriment. The lecture concluded with,two magnificent views of Niagara Falls and Mount Vesuvius." Although his treatment of subject matter was hardly profound, Boynton apparently made up for this deficiency by his fast-moving, folksy monologue. The speaker was keenly alive to the entertainment value of exhibits and illustra tions , and even though they were not always relevant to the main theme of his lecture, he employed his visual materials shrewdly and with skill. Distant Place Themes Paul Du Chaillu: "Equatorial Africa" Paul Belloni Du Chaillu as a boy spent several years in West Africa where he learned the country and native dia- 42lbid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 141 lects. He explored the equatorial interior of the Dark Con tinent from 1855 to 1859 and again from 1863 to 1865. Writ ing about his journeys and lecturing extensively on both sides of the Atlantic, Du Chaillu met a storm of ridicule from skeptics who doubted his veracity. His statements re garding the existence of pygmies and gorillas were, of course, subsequently verified by other investigators, yet persistent doubts clung to his accounts of some adventures. Du Chaillu appeared at Cooper Union on May 14 and 17, 1867 under the auspices of the Association for the Ad vancement of Science and Art, a New York organization which was pleased to sponsor the explorer's program in view of the fact that his African journeys had been largely financed by the august Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. In his first lecture he described terrain, climate, insect life, . and native habits. Discussing terrain, the explorer said the impenetrable jungle probably stretched endlessly to the other side of the continent, broken only by small, prairie like islands. He described the palm forests covering the lowlands of the Ogobai River, an area where no human and little animal life disturbed "the hushed stillness of the grandest solitude man could ever behold or intrude upon."^^ " ^ " %ew York Herald. May 15, 1867, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 142 The climate was intolerable. An average of 225 inches of rain fell during the rainy season between Septem ber and May, and tornadoes were not uncommon. The heavy rainfall was a climate-moderating factor, yet Du Chaillu said the humidity and intense heat made the central portion of Africa uninhabitable for the white race. Where insect life was concerned, the lecturer men tioned intolerable swarms of mosquitoes and gnats but dwelt at length upon the habits of the bashikouav ant, the true lord of the jungle. A tremendously large insect of incred ibly vicious nature, the ants marched through the forest in columns two inches wide and several miles in length. They traveled both day and night, and the explorer said he was often warned of their approach by the rush of birds and ani mals out of their path. At such times he would join the - fleeing wild life or enter water to escape the carnivorous predators : Wherever they go they make a clean sweep, even ascend ing to the tops of trees and houses in pursuit of their prey. Their mode of attack is an impetuous leap; instantly their strong pincerlike arms are fas tened into a person's clothes, and they never let go until they have detached a morsel of animal food. At such times the . . . insect seems animated with a kind of fury which causes it to wholly disregard its own safety. When they enter a house they clear it of every living thing; cockroaches are devoured in an instant; R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 143 rats and mice spring around the rooms endeavoring to escape in vain.^S Du Chaillu spoke of the native life which he encoun tered as unbelievably primitive. He described the forages of needle-toothed cannibals, their superstitious dependence upon magic charms and potions, and the difficult life of the women. The explorer lost the pictures^G he had made of can nibal tribes south of the equator when he was forced to flee for his life because the savages became suspicious of his motives in visiting their burial ground. Du Chaillu said he had discovered "a race of men of small stature" south of the equator whose average height was barely over four feet, who became intoxicated from smoking wild hemp, and who killed game by shooting poisoned darts from long blowpipes. In his second lecture, Du Chaillu described the gorilla as he had found it in Ashango Land. The explorer was satisfied that the gorillas he had discovered were the same "wild men and women with hairy bodies" written about in the chronicles of exploration compiled in the sixth century 45 Ibid. ^^Too conveniently, some thought. ^^New York Herald. May 15, 1867, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 4 4 B. C. by Hanno, the Carthaginian a d m i r a l . ^8 Du Chaillu then told of his first encounter with a gorilla, the only known contact between this beast and a white man for more than 2,500 years: It was a sight I shall never forget. Nearly six feet high with an immense body, huge chest and great muscu lar arms— an intensely black physiognomy, with fierce ly glaring large gray eyes and the most hellish ex pression of face, like a nightmare vision . . The meeting terminated in the death of the advancing, roar ing, breast-beating animal at a distance of 18 feet. Its hair was immediately plucked by the natives for fetishes, "of which they have two kinds— one which gives the man a strong arm in the hunt, and the other rendering its posses sor . , . bewitching with the women. Debunking native gorilla legend, the speaker said it was not true that the huge monkeys waited in low-hanging branches for passers-by, who were snatched from the ground and eaten. Neither was it true that if given the opportun ity the man-like beasts would bear women off into the depths of the forest. The natives not only believed men and women were in danger from these savage animals but were sure that ‘ ^^New York Herald. May 18, 1867, p. 5. 4 9 Ibid. 50%bid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 4 5 gorillas which ravaged plantations were inhabited by human souls, the original possessors of which had been wronged during mortal life. Du Chaillu then offered more reliable information gleaned from his own observations. He said the gorilla was a completely non-carnivorous vegetarian which lived in the darkest parts of the jungle where it could find the most succulent fruits, tubers, grubs, and stem piths. Gorillas habitually traveled with all four feet on the ground and rarely climbed trees even when chased. They would flee rather than fight unless found in the company of their mates. A significant part of the difficulty Du Chaillu ex perienced with believability in his lectures can be traced to the mocking half-smile that constantly played about his features as he spoke. He seemed to be amusing himself with his listeners' credulity. There were also many children in the audience at Cooper Union, and since he was fond of youngsters, Du Chaillu often addressed himself directly to them in a story-telling fashion. Of his material itself, there is little doubt that at times he employed and enlarged upon native lore. His accounts of ant experiences were cer tainly embroidered, although in an attractive and absorbing manner. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 146 Anna Leonov/ens: "Siam: Its Courts and Customs" Anna Harrietts Crawford (Anna of Anna and the King of Siam) opened a private day school in Singapore to support her two children when her British officer husband died on a tiger hunt. Her school's reputation won her an appointment in 1862 as governess to the court of enlightened King Maha Mongkut of Siam where she educated the royal family until 1867. Upon returning home, she was instantly in great de mand as a lecturer and conducted an energetic career as speaker and writer until 1878. Her work enabled her to be come friendly with Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose Uncle Tom's Cabin played a key part in Mrs. Leonowen's successful anti slavery teachings in Siam. Mrs. Leonbwens lectured at Cooper Union on April 6, 1872 to a turnaway audience eager to see and hear the first foreigner ever to penetrate the secret city of Bangkok. The lecturer spoke briefly of the city, which was known as the Venice of the East. She noted that like Venice, the water roads were spanned by many bridges, and floating houses and the royal palaces of Siamese princes could be seen from gon dolas. Picturing life within the city of the palace, Mrs. Leonowens described the Amazons, a corps of 500 powerfully R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 4 7 built women organized into 50 companies under a major gener al named The Great Mother of War. These warriors, armed with shields, bows and arrows, and long rifles, guarded all approaches to the palace and were renowned for their brav ery. Turning her attention to polygamy and slavery, Mrs. Leonowens pronounced them the curse of Siam, The attitudes of the small kingdom were set by royal conduct and tradi tion, she explained, and the royal harem had established a backward precedent hallowed by time. The harem itself was a city within the palace city which in turn was within the city of Bangkok, each city being surrounded by a wall 15 feet high and 12 feet thick. Thus the harem city was sealed off by three walls, and for its members "the city was the world— a world of women, consorts, ladies-in-waiting, and slaves, nine thousand of them within the confines of high walls."51 The speaker described the sad lot of the unfav ored wife, whether her husband was royal or not. Husbands were not affectionate even to the children of wives who did not please them. Mrs. Leonowens spoke next of slavery and credited S^The New York Times. April 7, 1872, p. 6. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 4 8 King Mongkut with kindness to slaves if petitions of redress ever reached him. She noted that Chulalonkorn, the present king, had come to her at the age of nine and had been im pressed with her teachings about the struggle in America to free the slaves. He had emancipated 15,000,000 slaves by- proclamation, but the problem, "woven as it is into the warp 52 and woof of the system of privilege," was far from settled. Uniqueness of subject matter rather than the skill of the lecturer made Mrs. Leonowens' program a success. Considering the fact that she was one of the outstanding platform curiosities of her time, the press gave surprising ly sketchy coverage to her Cooper Union appearance, which was her first in New York. Dr. I. I. Haves; "Icebergs" Completing medical school in 1853, Isaac Israel Hayes immediately shipped as surgeon on the Advance in Elisha Kent Kane's second Arctic expedition to Greenland. Wide lecturing and aid from the American Geographical Soci ety gave him sufficient funds for his own 1850-1861 journey into northern Greenland. For this expedition he was credit ed, along with Kane and Charles Francis Hall, with having 52lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 4 9 opened the way to the North Pole. Following a third voyage to Greenland in 1859, he retired to lecturing and writing popular books about the Far North. In his Great Hall lecture of January 30, 1856, Hayes first described the size and appearance of the icebergs he and his group had encountered in northern seas in 1850. He told of the party's initial sighting of an iceberg, being made aware of its presence through distant mist by the "roar of breakers beating against its base as they would against a cliff.Indeed, the lookout at first mistook the surfline for land, and members of the crew who had never before seen an iceberg were impressed by "the stern indifference with which it received the lashings of the sea,"^^ The explorers encountered a flotilla of icebergs on August 2, 1850 within 100 miles of Greenland. The wind had died, and in the re sulting dead calm a dense fog settled— then rose: As the fog lifted and rolled itself up like a scroll over the sea to the westward, iceberg after iceberg burst into view like castles in a fairy tale. It seemed, indeed, as if we had been drawn into a land of enchantment by some unseen hand. Here was the Valhalla of the sturdy Vikings; here the city of the sun-god Freyer; Alfhim with its elfin caves, and Glitner with its walls of gold and roofs of silver, S^The New York Times. January 31, 1855, p. 8. 54ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 150 and Giitile more brilliant than the sun . . . Hayes next related the dangerous passages of his small vessel among the floating ice mountains, during which it narrowly escaped being "smashed to splinters" or having its "timbers snatched from beneath it like matchwood" in the shrouds of fog. Considering finally the source of icebergs in the vicinity of Greenland, Hayes said he believed them to "have their origin in the glacial branch of the great Mer de Glace, or sea of ice, which apparently covers the whole in- terior of Greenland." He also discredited the idea that icebergs were ever created from the ice floes which formed upon the ocean because "sea water never gives up its salt upon freezing, as commonly supposed," and all icebergs were known to be of fresh water.The explorer concluded his lecture with a description of the impression made upon new visitors to the Arctic regions by the extreme solitude and silence. ^^Ibid. S^The Sun (New York), January 31, 1866, p. 4. 5?The New York Times. January 31, 1866, p. 8. 58ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 5 1 Hayes' lecture was exceptionally well organized, and it was also an arresting study in vivid description. Not withstanding the striking word pictures he painted, Hayes' principal means of speech amplification was— like Du Chaillu and Mrs. Leonowens— astonishing anecdote. Famous Person Themes Bayard Taylor: "Humboldt" Born with a wanderlust, Bayard Taylor sold a book of verse at 19 and through it induced the Saturday Evening Post and the New York Tribune to sponsor him abroad in re turn for letters about his experiences. Thus began a life time of travel to every corner of the globe. The wanderer "never outlived these journeys to the public, and he gave countless lectures to lyceum audiences. For the home keep ing Americans of his generation Taylor remained a Marco Polo, masterfully familiar with incredible lands. Taylor's lecture at Cooper Union on December 2, 1859 was on Alexander von Humboldt, the great German natur- alist-scientist and traveller who had died six months before at the age of 90, In tracing the contributions of the 59"Bayard Taylor," Dictionary of American Biography. Centennial ed.. Vol. XVIII. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 152 naturalist, the speaker drew particular attention to Hum boldt 's discovery of the decrease in intensity of the earth's magnetic force from the poles to the equator, lead ing to subsequent investigation of magnetic storms. He also noted the scientist's original studies of the volcanoes of the New World which showed that they fell naturally into linear groups corresponding with vast subterranean fissures. Speaking of Humboldt the man, Taylor said it was to the credit of the naturalist's near-immortal inquiring mind that he sought to discover in his wide general survey of the earth "those external laws which governed its creation, and which regulate its existence." For these efforts he was branded a man without God: Because there was nothing in botany which supported infant baptism, no evidence in the palaeozoic rocks of heaven, and only imperfect hints of purgatory in the nature of the chemical gases, the professional men of God denounced all science as atheistic and evil.GO Taylor went on to say that Humboldt's reaction to the atti tude of the clergy was clearly indicated to him during a personal visit. The renowned German showed the lecturer a chameleon and after pointing out its singular eyes said: ^^The Tribune (New York), December 3, 1859, p. 8, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 153 One peculiarity of this creature is his power of looking two ways at the same time. He can lift one eye to heaven while the other remains fixed on the earth. There are many clergymen who have the same faculty.61 The lecturer paid tribute to Humboldt's phenomenal intellect, compared by one person to "'the trunk of an ele phant— able to break a tree or pick up a pin.'"^^ In a series of personal reminiscences, Taylor then illustrated Humboldt's graceful manner of growing old, his humility, his tremendous physical endurance, and his respect for the sub lime in nature. The speaker concluded his remarks in celestial terms which referred indirectly to Humboldt's pioneer observation of the transit of Venus. He rhapsodized that the naturalist was "oblivious to the stars and crosses showered upon him by kings and emperors— honors such as no statesman ever won were laid unsought at his feet," but "among the asteroids a planet Alexandra was chanting triumphantly in the chorus of the stars" the name of a man the world and heaven would 0 . 63 never forget. Taylor was more effective and entertaining when de scribing travels and foreign lands than when eulogizing a Gllbid. ^^Ibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 5 4 deceased traveler friend. It was unfortunate that among Humboldt's notable accomplishments, Taylor should neglect to mention his famous original work proving the igneous rather than aqueous origin of rocks and his geographical and botan ical observations of South America and the Central Asian Plateau. Henry James: "Thomas Carlyle" Henry James, father of novelist Henry James and psy chologist William James, was a spokesman for divine natural humanity who wrote mystic and symbolic interpretations of the scriptures. Developing into a brilliant literary critic in his middle years, his incisive commentary brought him in to intimate contact with famous men of letters. He was one of the few men whose lectures were published as "select" by lyceum associations. James lectured mainly in Boston and abroad. James' lecture on Thomas Carlyle, delivered January 15, 1866, dealt with the Scottish historian-philosopher- essayist's attitudes in respect to God, success, and reform. Where God was concerned, James asserted, Carlyle "did not, perhaps, disbelieve in a God, but he considers the idea of any practical connection or influence between God and man as R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 5 5 the saddest bosh."^'^ He held in contempt those who did have faith and hope. The concept of God that he might hold was a force which favored the strong and despised the weak. The speaker said Carlyle believed that something of the divine spirit was illustrated in William the Conqueror, who did not hesitate to cut off the legs of 1,200 men so they could not bear arms against him. Speaking of success, James said nothing else mat tered to Carlyle. He believed that no man who embodied the ingredients of success could not succeed. His worship of success had taken the place of God to the extent that "he has . . . forgotten the difference between right and wrong.Feeding on superiority and force, success inevi tably went to those who were strong enough to take it for themselves. And finally, reform was anathema to Carlyle. He "bitterly opposes any reformer or any real desire for reform," and he strongly believed he had never-helped anyone or that anyone had ever really helped anyone else.^G James completed his sketch by declaring Carlyle offered an unsat isfactory value system for his age because his glorification ^^The New York Times. January 16, 1866, p. 8. 65ibid. GGlbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 5 6 of force was irreconcilable with the cause of universal jus tice . There was an undercurrent of condescending snobbish ness in James' Cooper Union lecture. The audience that only half filled the Great Hall was composed of New York's intel lectual "upper crust" and the pseudo-intellectual new rich, all eager to identify with the cultural heritage of the Old World, The Bostonian blue-blood lecturer, fully conscious of his role as a literary link between England and America, dropped names conspicuously and stressed the point that his sketch of Carlyle was drawn from personal reminiscences, Charles Bradlauah; "Cromwell and Washington" The only British speaker listed in "The Lyceum Com mitteeman's Dream,Charles Bradlaugh's gift for oratory earned him fame on both sides of the Atlantic. He was a renowned English reform figure who sponsored the Affirmation Act of 1888 in Parliament to allow seating of atheists as voting members by affirmation rather than oath. An atheist himself, Bradlaugh was denied his seat for five years— G^charles Stanley Reinhart, "The Lyceum Committee man's Dream— Some Popular Lecturers in Character," Harper's Weeklv, XVII (November 15, 1873), 1013, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 5 7 although repeatedly re-elected— because he refused the oath. He also established the legal right for open advocacy of birth control. In the Great Hall on December 23, 1874, Bradlaugh contrasted Cromwell and Washington as two leaders whose con duct in moments of greatness offered an instructive lesson in governmental theory. Speaking of Cromwell, the lecturer outlined his decisive military campaign against the Crown, his inability to negotiate effectively with the faithless Charles Stuart, and his eventual warrant for the Stuart king's execution. Thereafter, the country entered a period of political flux in which Cromwell assumed power as Lord Protector. Bradlaugh described the Lord Protector's fruit less efforts to seat an effective Parliament and his final dissolution of that body. Cromwell ruled until his death in 1658 with power that rested on the army: Now Cromwell dies, and with his death dies his rule. It was a one-man rule. He took the helm of the state during the storm and held it well, but he allowed no other man to learn political navigation, and when he died the vessel was s t r a n d e d . 68 With Washington, similar forces came to bear upon a selfless man. Washington emerged as the man of the hour 68 The World (New York), December 24, 1874, p. 2, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 5 8 when the struggle against the king began, just as Cromwell had, yet the American hero fought against greater odds. He lacked the support of many influential countrymen, he was beset by intrigues seeking to deprive him of his command, and he led such an ill-equipped army that at one time he was moved to write: "A few days more and the end must come."^^ The difference between the two liberators became apparent in their conduct upon assuming power. Only Washington submit ted to the people's sovereignty: Here, then, was the difference between these two men. Washington respected the will of the people, Cromwell made his own will override law. . When one died the whole of the struggle was dead; the government fell with the man. ... In Washington you have a career which even now is hardly begun.^0 British speakers often failed to attract large Amer ican audiences, and Bradlaugh discovered that his strong 71 platform reputation did not guarantee a crowd. His lec ture, an excellent contrast analysis that derived its thesis idea inductively, brought so few hearers to the Great Hall GSlbid. 70lbid. 7Iwayne Minnick notes in "British Speakers in Amer ica, 1856-1900"(unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Speech, Northwestern University), p. 59, that Bradlaugh lost money on one lecture tour in the United States. Min nick also notes that too many English visitors tried to lecture, flooding American auditoriums with second-rate talent. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 5 9 that he expressed disappointment. Applying Charles James Fox's theory, the speech perhaps read too well to be good oratory; Minnick implies that Bradlaugh did not communicate 72 good will to all classes. Serio-Humorous Themes Mark Twain; "The Sandwich Islands" Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain), the author of Tom Sawyer. Huckleberry Finn, and other famous writings, also became a renowned humorous lecturer. Paradoxically, he later turned cynical, but financial needs for a time forced him to continue making people laugh in lecture halls. When Twain spoke at Cooper Union on May 6, 1867, he was new to the eastern platform. He had been acclaimed in California, but that meant little in sophisticated New York. Twain apprehensively forced his agent to give away tickets to insure a crowd. Naturally, he was a success. Twain launched his lecture with the observation that by begging him to lecture in New York, the populace had "unkenneled a man" whose modesty otherwise would have kept ^^Ibid.. pp. 148-149. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 160 * 7 ^ him in hiding. He then said the area of the 12 volcanic Sandwich Islands was no greater than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, and that 90 years earlier the islands had been peopled by 400,000 comfortable, happy, and prosperous souls. Forty years of missionary work and improvement had reduced the population to 200,000; doubling educational fa cilities had again doubled the death rate, and the nation was doomed. Twain went on to describe the islanders as not fond of clothing display, the women wearing a loose gown and the "men wearing a smile, or a pair of spectacles— or any little thing like that."^^ The missionaries had changed the more brutal and disagreeable aspects of Hawaiian life, the lecturer said, but a few ingrained customs remained. For example, a Kanaka could will himself to die at any time. They "did not mind dying any more than a jilted Frenchman does" when the time came: When they take a notion to die, they die, and it doesn't make any difference whether there is anything the matter with them or not, and they can't be per suaded out of it. When one of them makes up his ^^Mark Twain, "The Sandwich Islands," Modern Elo quence . ed. Thomas B. Reed (Philadelphia: John D. Morris and Company, 1901), IV, 253. 74ibid.. p. 254. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 161 mind to die, he just lies down and is as certain to die as though he had all the doctors in the world hold of himl^S Twain then observed that the Sandwich Islanders loved their dogs more than they loved one another. Puppies were taught to ride horseback with the greatest of ease, occupying a position in front of the women and behind the men. Dogs were fed on a clean vegetable diet until mature, at which time they were eaten as stew; Now I couldn't do that. I'd rather go hungry two days than eat an old friend that way. Many a white citizen learns to throw aside his prejudices and eat of the dish. After all, it's only pur own American sausage with the mystery removed. However, the Hawaiians had no other meat-eating oddities such as cannibalism. The speaker said a foreign cannibal had once stayed at the islands, "doing quite a business at election time" when he wanted to "thin out the 7 7 Democratic vote." Growing tired of the Kanaka diet, he ate an old whaling captain for variety; the crime on his conscience and the whaler on his stomach proved fatal: I don't tell this on account of its value as an historical fact but only on account of the moral it conveys. I don't know that I know what moral it conveys, still I know there must be a moral in it somewhere. I have told it forty or fifty times 75ibid. . p. 255. 7Glbid. . p. 256. '^'^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 162 and never got a moral out of it yet. But all things come to those who wait.78 Twain left the Sandwich Islands for the evening with the thought that the location was a fairyland where anyone could forget the turmoil and anxiety of life. When the great funmaker spoke at Cooper Union, his platform approach to humor had not fully matured. He em ployed for the most part such trademark devices as narrating in the first person and telling, or pretending to tell, his own experiences; yet his material was relatively subdued, and he was not the almost burlesque or rodomontade comedian who was soon to become so famous. P. T. Barnum: "The Art of Money Getting" The father of the circus and America's greatest showman, Phineas Taylor Barnum found in the lyceum platform yet another means to entertain the public. His repertoire consisted of one lecture, but he delivered it often, well, and profitably. Barnum inaugurated his lecture at St. James' Hall in London in 1858; his success launched the vogue of American humorists in England. Barnum, appearing at Cooper Union on February 24, 78ibid.■ pp. 256-257. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 163 1865 for the benefit of wounded Union soldiers, declared that prosperity was only a matter of simple arithmetic and sensible attitudes. The arithmetic problem involved making income exceed outgo, a simple rule in the balance of economy that many people did not understand. True economy consisted of keeping a watchful eye upon larger expenditures or bear ing in mind Benjamin Franklin's adage that "saving at the 7q spigot never makes up for wasting at the bung-hole." Warning, however, that economy in trifles was important when it applied to the basic unit of a man's work, the lecturer stressed the danger of receiving nothing in return for some thing of value. He said the clergy and deacons had con stantly sought free passes to his American Museum until he was forced to print a card for them which stated his policy based upon scriptural authority; FREE PASSES. In those days there were no passes given. Search the scriptures. "Suffer not a man to pass."— Judg. iii.28. "Thou shalt not pass."— Numb. X X .18. "None shall pass."— Isaiah xxxiv.lO. "There shall no strangers pass."— Amos iii.17. "Though they roar, yet they can not pass."— Jere miah V.22. "So he paid the fare thereof, and went."— Jonah i.3. T. Barnum, The Life of Barnum (Philadelphia: Globe Bible Publishing Company, 1892), Appendix, p. 8. BOlbid.. p. 12. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 6 4 Turning his attention to attitudes, Barnum blamed vanity and envy for upsetting the debit-credit ratio. Everyone in the United States was born equal, yet many peo ple felt compelled to prove their equality through fashion able appearances. Those who grew accustomed to living on a false level were the people who would find it most difficult at first to reduce needless expenditures. The showman de clared that vanity and envy drove people to cultivate unnat ural habits and acquired tastes which were never cheap. Pointing to tobacco as an example, Barnum said the doubtful pleasure of smoking was one to which the body had to become accustomed. It was a sad thing to watch a boy learning to smoke, puffing on a "stogie that tastes bitter until by and by he grows pale and offers up a sacrifice on the altar of PI fashion." Tastes thus painfully acquired were most costly in health, the real foundation of success and happiness. Barnum finally offered his listeners specific sug gestions to follow on the road to prosperity. These were to select the right location, avoid debt, persevere, learn something useful, stick to one thing, be charitable and polite, be systematic, and preserve integrity. In carrying Slibid.. p. 18, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 6 5 out these suggestions, he said, it was wise to remember Shakespeare's words: "He that wants money, means, and con- pp tent, is without three good friends. Though humorous, Barnum's lecture was sensible, and those who came expecting to be regaled by a platform carni val barker soon found themselves listening with respectful attention. There is no record of how many times Barnum de livered "The Art of Money Getting," but he used it success fully over a period of 30 years. Although a common sense message was the main reason why the lecture endured, the amusing examples were so relevant and appropriate that they were able to remain as effective support long after they had lost their freshness. Petroleum V. Nasbv: "Cussed Be Canaan" Editor of the Toledo Blade (Ohio), David Ross Locke adopted the pen name of Petroleum V. Nasby to sign humorous letters satirizing slavery and its supporters. He, Josh Billings, and Artemus Ward were the foremost humorists of the 1860's, and Nasby's spelling atrocities were fashioned after those of Ward. President Lincoln, a fan of Nasby, 82lbid.. p. 19. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 6 6 often interrupted Cabinet meetings to read the latest letter from "Confedrit X Roads, Ky." "Cussed Be Canaan'." was Nasby's most popular lec ture, and he delivered it in the Great Hall on March 8, 1869. His remarks centered upon the theory of Biblical sanction given to the enslavement of Africans through the curse of Noah upon Ham, one of his three sons. After de scribing the voyage of the Ark. the lecturer related that Noah, 600 years old at the time, "having seen nothing but water for nearly twelve months, wanted a change, He planted a vineyard, pressed the grapes, drank therefrom, and was drunken."83 The old gentleman's indiscretion was respons ible for his lying down in his tent without sufficient clothing; As it was in the beginning, so it is now, and ever shall be. To this day the man who drinks will sooner or later get down with too little clothing upon him. Ham, his youngest son, saw him, and laughingly told his brethren, Shem and Japheth reproved Ham for his levity, and took their garments upon their shoulders, and going backward, laid them upon him. When Noah awoke, he knew what Ham had done, and he cursed him in these words : "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of ser vants shall he be unto his brethren."84 S^David Ross Locke, The Strugcrles of Petroleum V. Nasbv (Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1888), p. 632. 84 Ibid., p. 634, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 6 7 The lecturer then commiserated with Canaan, or Hara, as a good natured fellow who appreciated the ludicrous and could not resist laughing when he saw "the old navigator on his back, his face twisted with inebriety, his snores waking the echoes, and the walls of his tent swaying from his hard breathingNasby also accused Shem and Japheth of having ulterior motives in covering their drunken father because they shrewdly anticipated the nature of his awakening. Other opportunists and designing people through the ages had followed their precedent, always attempting to cover sin with garments. Nasby noted that Noah's curse immediately marked Ham's face and body to the extent that when he looked in the mirror he called his brothers to his tent "that he might be introduced to himself. Yet he was not, as popularly sup posed, the ancestor of African peoples. Not only were Bib lical authorities unable to find testimony to the effect that Africans were descendants of Canaan, but the condemned Canaanites who were to be servants to their brethren did not follow Shem's descendants when they peopled Asia or Ja pheth 's when they peopled Europe. The lecturer said Ham's 85lbid.■ p. 635. ^^Ibid.. p. 638. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 168 descendants "were too lazy and shiftless to move any dis tance," so they "pre-empted the ground upon which Jerusalem stands" and founded Sodom and Gomorrah, ancient centers of sin and debauchery. In conclusion, Nasby compared Sodom and Gomorrah to New York and Salt Lake City, cautioning his audience that the sudden destruction of the Biblical metropolises was rea son enough why people should not invest in property in New York or Salt Lake City. Nasby's lectures were not as funny as his writings. Not only was he unable to misspell from the platform, but his humor at times moved at a ponderous pace and strained for effect as he returned time and again to belabor the moments of highest humorous passage. It was as much for these reasons as for the fact that slavery and the Negro did not have permanent appeal that Nasby faded as a leading platform star in the early 1870's. His decline was not unique; a humorist's reputation was the hardest to maintain on the lyceum circuit. Josh Billings, himself worried about OO the future, once noted that "good phools are skarse."°° 87lbid.. p. 651. 88Horner, op. cit.. p. 177. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 5 9 Personal Success Themes Horace Greelev: "Success in Business" Founder of the New York Tribune and the unsuccessful Liberal Republican candidate for President in 1872, Horace Greeley was a highly influential man in American public life for 30 years. He is probably best remembered as the lectur er who said, "Go West, young man, go West." Greeley com manded an almost holy respect from the platform and was one of the few lyceum personalities who could draw an audience of 3,000 people. Greeley opened his remarks at Cooper Union on Novem ber 11, 1867 by singling out a number of wealthy men and analyzing the reasons for their success. He said the lives of such men as Stephen Girard, John Jacob Astor, or Corne lius Vanderbilt should teach everyone that the road to for tune was always open to the person who could "effect more of some desirable thing at a less cost of money or of effort OQ than was previously required." The world was always in need of men with energy, confidence, and imagination who could produce some "grand new idea" to satisfy the needs and 89 The Tribune (New York), November 12, 1867, p. 2, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 170 wants of mankind.Attacking the working class' stand against labor saving devices, Greeley asserted that inven tion was a key to fortune which created rather than de stroyed the demand for labor. The speaker next charged that trends toward special ized education trained men too narrowly. Many-sidedness and "a larger capacity to apprehend and to seize the opportunity that so abundantly exists on every side" was needed.He declared: "What we want are men who do one thing, it may be, to-day, but who are prepared to do something else to morrow, if something else is needed and that which they are doing is not."^2 Finally Greeley outlined what he considered to be the basic elements of business success. He urged those present to be honest because integrity was always better rewarded than rascality, be frugal, be ambitious and hard working, be persistent, be accountable to yourself in actual ledger debit and credit form, and be independent and debt free. He predicted unprecedented prosperity for America and urged his audience to look about them at the unsatisfied human needs, the undeveloped land in the West, and the 90lbid. 91lbid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 7 1 untapped wealth of the continent's resources. Greeley became one of the great lyceum stars in spite of his appearance and speech delivery. In his slouch hat, rumpled business suit, askew tie, and ancient white linen duster, he presented "the appearance of a man who has been traveling, night and day, for six weeks in a stage Q O coach . . ." His voice was "more like a woman's than a man's, high-pitched, small, soft," and he always read mono tonously and hurriedly from a manuscript, pushing on through applause without waiting.Moreover, he always began with a long apology for himself and his lecture. It was, of course, the structure and content of Greeley's oral dis course that forged his reputation. The thesis idea of Greeley's address at Cooper Union was that success was within the reach of every man who looked for it hard enough and who truly and nobly sought to develop a distinctive idea that would be of service to man kind. It was a gospel frequently preached during the Gilded Age when financiers and business monopolists amassed great fortunes at the expense and suffering of the workingman. James Parton. The Life of Horace Greelev (New York: Mason Brothers, 1855), p. 331. 94ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 172 Although Greeley, the self-made man, was sympathetic to the cause of labor, he obviously did not conceive that the basic idea of his lecture was only a rationalization for social problems that needed serious attention. James Parton: "Kings of Business" An internationally renowned biographer, James Parton chronicled the lives of Horace Greeley, Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, General Benjamin Butler, John Jacob Astor, Voltaire, and many others. He added to both fame and fortune upon the lecture platform, and the lecture "Kings of Business" became part of a book entitled Captains of Industry. Parton delivered this new lecture for the first time on October 14, 1874 in the Great Hall. He began by stating that the dollar had taken the place of the sceptre and "the dukes and barons of the good old times have given up their places to the kings of business.Parton pointed out that the great houses of the present time were occupied by busi nessmen rather than feudal barons, and the saying "rich as Croesus" had lost its comparative value in an age when S^The New York Times. October 15, 1874, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 173 Croesus could be bought and sold by a number of men in the United States. John Jacob Astor had put the thought well when he stated that "if a man has a million dollars he is as well off as if he was rich."^^ The lecturer then devoted his attention to the in gredients of success, saying that perseverance, honesty, self-denial, and thorough knowledge of a trade or business were essential but "not sufficient to make a king of busi ness unless he also knows how to employ the help of oth ers.All successful operations— from Wallack's Theatre in New York to Bonaparte's army— depended upon selecting, rewarding, and keeping the right men. Turning to admonition, Parton warned that any inde pendent man might be a slave at the same time if chained to his enterprise every waking hour or if devoting his life ex clusively to amassing an ever-larger fortune. The lecturer said there were two ways to determine whether a man was a king or a slave of his business. The first was to observe how he treated his children, and the second was to observe his will for benevolence, fairness, and freedom from re strictive clauses. Parton reminded his audience that it was 96Ibid. 97lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 7 4 always better to make money "your slave and not your mas- Q p ter." Like Benjamin Franklin, all wise persons should first acquire an independence and then retire to a hobby. The Times reporter made an informative critical com ment about Parton's lecturing: Like Mr. Barton's other productions, his new lecture abounds in anecdote and illustration, is full of wit rather than wisdom, and depends for its interest and value especially upon the manner in which the subject is handled.99 By "the manner in which the subject is handled," the reporter meant that Parton selected picturesque material and enlivened it with dashing enthusiasm. Summarv The stars and superstars of the lyceum were the en tertainment idols of their time. Commanding large fees, they instructed, diverted, and amused untold thousands of people at Cooper Union upon a variety of subjects. The leading figures who crossed the platform spoke upon a vari ety of non-controversial themes: (1) general interest themes— Reverend T. DeWitt Talmage told New Yorkers how to make their homes more happy, George W. Curtis said broader education would improve the moral tone of political life, 98lbid. 99ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 7 5 and George Bagby spoke wistfully of the Old South and the "vanishing” Negro race; (2) scientific themes— Louis Agassiz revealed his findings in the Amazon Valley, John Tyndall lectured on the nature of light, and John Boynton instructed New Yorkers about the beginnings of life on our planet; (3) distant place themes— Paul Du Chaillu recounted his adven tures while exploring equatorial Africa, Anna Leonowens spoke on court life and customs in Siam, and Dr. I. I. Hayes described his experiences with icebergs while exploring northern Greenland; (4) famous person themes— Bayard Taylor eulogized famous German naturalist-scientist-traveler Alex ander Von Humboldt, Henry James sketched Thomas Carlyle from personal reminiscences, and Charles Bradlaugh contrasted George Washington and Oliver Cromwell; (5) serio-humorous themes— Mark Twain described the curious habits of the Sand wich Islanders, P. T. Barnum told the public that prosperity was simply a matter of making income exceed expenditure, and Petroleum V. Nasby lampooned the famous curse of Noah upon his son Ham; (5) personal success themes— Horace Greeley held that wealth and success were within the grasp of anyone who sought it diligently and imaginatively, and James Parton isolated the ingredients that had made successes of Ameri ca, 's kings of business. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. P A R T II CONTROVERSIAL SPEAKING R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. CHAPTER V PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS Introduction The Great Hall was a favorite political campaign meetingplace during its early years because Peter Cooper, with his interest in political and social science, encour aged party meetings for the sake of popular education and because it was the largest auditorium in New York. As time passed, the philanthropist went to his final rest, and the lecture room lost its distinction of size, but Cooper Union retained a position in the center of campaign activity through force of tradition. It was only during what politi cal historians call "the doldrums" of the 1880's, a period devoid of stimulating issues, that the Great Hall experi enced a lull in stump speaking. Hundreds of persons, ranging from the famous to the anonymous, appeared at Cooper Union between 1859 and 1897 to address political campaign gatherings that represented local, state, and national elections. In order to choose 177 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 7 8 study material from this mass of addresses, selection fo cused initially upon those speeches which represented sig nificant contributions in exemplifying the controversy that swirled about pivotal national political issues of the time. The field for examination was thus narrowed to Presidential contests because it was only on that level that national is sues were consistently discussed. Less than 10 per cent of the stump speechmaking in the Great Hall was Presidential electioneering. The selection of material^ next focused upon the speakers themselves. Statesmen such as Thaddeus Stevens or James G. Blaine were inevitable choices, but there were also the political leaders such as William L. Yancey or August Belmont who wielded tremendous power in spite of the fact that they held no public office. Also, the suffragettes who expressed themselves as Republicans were relatively in significant voices whose remarks were not memorable, yet their appearance at Cooper Union was noteworthy because they were among the first women to campaign publicly in a Presi dential election. Similarly, Robert G. Ingersoll or ^The persons, issues, and occasions that received attention in political history works discussed in Chapter I formed the nucleus for discussion in Chapter V. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 7 9 Chauncey Depew, who were not primarily stump speakers, de served inclusion simply as great orators. Or again, the national champions of labor turned to campaigning in 1896 and'dominated the Great Hall scene. From a standpoint of the gross number of speeches delivered and the area in column inches devoted to describ ing these addresses in the newspapers— extensive, dispropor tionate coverage was traceable to the journalistic era of the party press— Cooper Union unquestionably deserves to be characterized as a platform dominated by stump speaking. The statement remains true even though platform activity is narrowed to national campaigns. In terms of prominent peo ple who spoke, consistently large audiences drawn, and dis cussion of issues bearing directly upon national affairs over an extended period of years, Presidential speechmaking was the strongest force at work shaping the platform "per sonality" of Cooper Union. That a popular New York City meetingplace such as Cooper Union should become a great national political plat form is not surprising; the campaign spotlight always cen tered on New York State's huge and often crucial electoral vote, and this vote in turn was greatly influenced by the metropolitan majority. Although the reference was not to R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 180 political personalities alone, it is significant that during the 1896 campaign appearance of Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, a World reporter felt moved to comment on the sta ture of Cooper Union speakers: Seeing that the crowd was bound to give vent to its feelings he wearily took a seat in the antiquated red leather chair^ that is always reserved for the bright particular star at Cooper Union meetings— a chair in which perhaps more distinguished men have been seated than in any other chair in this city.3 The reporter's words were also important as explana tion. While token remarks might be offered by secondary speakers, mass meetings customarily featured one "bright particular star" who delivered the main address. The 1860 Election The long-standing slavery controversy reached its climax in the Presidential election of 1860. Northern anti slavery forces found expression in the Republican Party, born only six years earlier and founded on the Wilmot Pro viso principle that slavery should not be extended into the territories. The powerful new organization replaced the conservative Whig Party and chose non-abolitionist Abraham ^The chair is still used in the Great Hall. ^The World (New York), October 18, 1896, p. 1, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 8 1 Lincoln as its standard bearer. The Democratic forces were divided. Stephen A. Douglas was the choice of the northern Democrats, but southerners distrusted him as a position-shifting opportun ist. A convention of northern Democrats nominated Douglas on the proposition that the Supreme Court should be the fi nal arbiter of the slavery question in the territories. The slavery extremists, pointing to the 1857 Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case that legally sanctioned taking and holding slaves as property in any territory, con vened and nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky to de mand congressional protection of slavery extension. Final ly, Whig remnants formed a Constitutional Union Party with John Bell of Tennessee championing the simple platform: "The Constitution of the Country, the Union of the States, and the Enforcement of the Laws." Early in October, 1860 the scattered Democratic for ces fused to support a slate of Union electors with the agreement that if the ticket commanded a majority the candi date nearest to election would receive the votes. Supported by capitalists and merchants anxious to maintain peaceful southern business ties, this significant strategy was used in close and crucial states. New York City, a hotbed of R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ' 1 8 2 southern sympathy because it was a commercial center, was a prime fusionist target. Nevertheless, Abraham Lincoln won a clear electoral victory. At Cooper Union, Republicans attacked personalities in scorning northern men of pro-South sentiments. The pro slavery opposition stood upon property rights of human chattel and threatened secession; political fusion was ac complished, and New Yorkers were reminded of the blessings of union and peace as well as of their position as guardians of the public safety. Charles O'Conor; Fusion Democrat Probably the most brilliant legal mind in America, Charles O'Conor's genius was such that it "entitled him to rank with the greatest lawyers of any nation or any time,"^ Among many famous cases, he defended Jefferson Davis during his postwar treason trial, prosecuted the Tweed Ring as United States Attorney, and was chief counsel for the Demo cratic Party during the disputed 1875 Presidential election. O'Conor, the "pure" Democratic Presidential nominee in 1872, “ ^DeAlva Stanwood Alexander, A Political History of the State of New York (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1906), II, 331. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 183 was pro-South because he believed slavery could not be legally abolished. Before O'Conor addressed a packed hall at Cooper Union on October 8, 1860, a list of 35 New York State fusion electors was ratified under the direction of John A. Dix, former New York Senator but at the time Secretary of the Treasury under President Buchanan. This highly important act of confirmation at Cooper Union, one "which disturbed Lincoln," was the culmination of herculean efforts by com mittees representing all New York political organizations opposed to the election of Lincoln.^ Dix was unequivocal about the position of New York; I say we are assembled to proclaim our determination to the people of this State, because, I am sure I may add . . . that we do not desire to interfere in any manner— either by our advice or bv holding up our own action as an example for imitation— with the ar rangements of our political friends in other States. We believe we understand better than they possibly can, what course of policy is best fitted for our selves, and for the same reason we do not doubt that they will take, in the existing crisis, the course most judicious for them.G Dix's national conspiracy disclaimer was aimed at distant diehard followers of particular candidates. ^Ibid. ^The New York Times. October 9, 1860, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 8 4 When the chaos which attended the distribution of the electoral ticket and its subsequent ratification had subsided, O'Conor came forward to emphasize the importance of the accomplished act of fusion. He reminded the audience that the nation was enjoying a period of remarkable prosper ity that had been made possible by a free constitutional government. Such prosperity depended upon the well-being of the South: But, we are informed in language too plain to be mis understood by the anti-Slavery Party— if they succeed in electing their candidate they will devise means to destroy the institution upon which the prosperity of the South depends. This has been announced in a dis tinct form. The conflict with Southern interests has been described as irrepressible, and we are to destroy all that constitutes the wealth and prosperity of the South. Are you prepared that your strength shall be employed in a work so unholy?^ Shouts of "No" and "Never" shook the hall. The proceedings were interrupted by "a Hibernian, of stentorian lungs, who . . . shouted through the grating near the ceiling, 'Charley Q O'Conor's wanted outside 1 We're all waiting outside'.'" This comic relief continued as O'Conor declared the alter native of northern arms upon southern institutions was in evitable in the event of Lincoln's election because the ^Ibid. ^The World (New York), October 9, 1850, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 8 5 cotton states citizens could not be expected to submit to insult, loss of property, and "colonial vassalage" at the hands of countrymen with purely sectional interests.^ The speaker stressed the enormous responsibility which New York carried in its 35 electoral votes. Noting that all 120 southern electoral votes would inevitably be cast against Lincoln, O'Conor pointed out that the Republi can candidate could not become President without the support of New York. He said movingly: "Though every other state in the North, the West and the East should be forgetful of its duty to the Union, New-York holds in her hands the key to the public safety, and she alone can save the Union. The historic meeting at Cooper Union on October 8 brought to a crest the fusion wave that did not break until late in October when returns from Indiana and Pennsylvania indicated the depth of Lincoln's popularity. Ethically, O'Conor was the speaker for the occasion, and the appeals of his moving address were based upon secondary group loyalty motives as well as courageous justice and fair play. 9lbid. lOlbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 186 William L. Yancey; Breckinridge Democrat Wrecker of the 1860 Democratic Convention in Charleston^^ and firebrand chief of the secessionist radi cals in their schemes to rupture the Union, William Loundes Yancey was amazingly influential in view of the fact that he held no public office. He fought for years to reopen the African slave trade, and he was burned in effigy throughout the North. Yancey died in 1863 of sorrow and despair when he failed to win an English military alliance in his efforts abroad and recognized the hopelessness of the southern cause. Yancey had considerable difficulty beginning his address in the Great Hall on October 10, 1860 because of the hoots, catcalls, and stamping which greeted him. When order was obtained, the speaker addressed the disturbers: I trust:— (here the stamping and calls of "put him out" were again heard, and hisses were heard in re ply.) I trust, fellow-citizens that an Alabamian may yet speak to the citizens of New-York in the language of fellowship. I was not aware of the delicate posi- l^Yancey's Alabama delegation led a walkout of the cotton states from the original Democratic National Conven tion in April, 1860. The northern Democrats would not rati fy Yancey's platform stating that neither Congress nor ter ritorial legislatures could impair the right of slave prop erty. The three Democratic candidates were subsequently chosen by separate conventions. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 8 7 tion in which a speaker from the far South stood. Yancey then accused the Republicans of seeking to deprive the South of its vital property and labor supply through dishonest means rather than through due process of law. The Alabama lawyer declared that the Republicans called the southern extremists radicals, but the extremists only demanded basic rights they "must have and will have" if they were to stay in the Union; these rights were balked at every turn by Lincoln and his followers: The Republicans said there should be no more Slave States; that the Territories, which belonged to Ala bama as well as to New-York, should be closed to slaves and Slavery. Now, if there was to be no more Slave States, the prosperity of the country was curbed in precisely that proportion. These same Republicans said the slave trade between the States should cease. Again, the Republicans said the Fugitive Slave Law should be a nullity, and they proposed to abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia. At this point a voice called out, "Who says so?" Yancey answered: "The Abolitionists say so. The Black Re publicans say so— they are the same as the Abolitionists. Both have assailed slave property and the livelihood of the South." The verbal exchange had just been completed when a hearer on one side of the Great Hall shouted, "You are a l^The New York Times. October 11, 1860, p. 8. 13lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 8 8 Simon Legree." The remark touched off a commotion, and scuffling broke out between the name-caller and several men close to him. As police reached the center of disturbance, Yancey ordered: "Let him alone. I want him to hear some truths." Intermittent stamping and clapping interrupted the speaker, and twice fist fights threatened to turn the meeting into a melee. Yancey then accused "emissaries of the Abolition ists" with "crawling about at midnight with their torches and incitements to insurrection" and called the use of strychnia to poison slaves the most shameful provocation in bringing about "the irrepressible conflict that Mr. Seward has spoken of. " 'The disunionist told his listeners that agricultural work in the burning climate of the cotton belt could not be done by white men, and he urged those present to realize that destruction of the slave system would bring to an end the prosperity of the South and, consequently, of the nation. The fiery orator declared that the first act of ag gression committed by the North by way of so-called legal l^The World (New York), October 11, 1860, p. 2. l^ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 8 9 deprivation of property rights or abolition would abrogate the Constitution and thus free the long-suffering South. He left the platform with a threat that was followed by renewed scenes of disorder in several parts of the hall: "God put that spirit even into the worm that if it was trod on, it should turn and curl up against the foot that pressed it down? men of the South know their rights, and knowing, will dare maintain them."l& Yancey, one of the most influential voices of the South, purposely invaded the principal city in the key elec tion state to warn the North, and his speech was the most significant oration delivered at Cooper Union during the 1860 campaign. Although angry at times and less concerned with supporting Breckinridge than with condemning the Repub licans, this famed Alabama lawyer delivered a powerful ad dress that was basically a deductive argument. Yancey led from the general premise that whatever abridged the legal rights of slaveholders constituted justifiable cause for se cession, and he then moved to the specific premise that Re publican policy threatened such abridgment. His conclusion, which tacitly anticipated Lincoln's election, was hurled as l^New York Herald. October 11, 1860, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 190 a final threat. C. L. Vallandiqhaitt: Fusion Democrat Clement Laird Vallandigham became the leader of the Copperheads, or Peace Democrats, a position he assumed dur ing brief service (1858-1863) in the House of Representa tives. He opposed the war so forcefully that in 1863 Presi dent Lincoln banished him to the Confederacy. Not welcome there, he made his way to Canada and finally returned to the United States in disguise to write the Democratic peace platform of 1864 and help mastermind the campaign. Vallan digham remained a political force until his death in 1871. Speaking at the fusionist's last public pronounce ment, Vallandigham told a great throng at Cooper Union on November 2, 1860 that history had witnessed no more noble patriotic effort than the accomplishment of New York fusion to oppose the triumph of a sectional party. He said the Republicans were without representation in the 15 states which recognized slavery, and in victory that party would "inaugurate lawless changes" that would give the sectional administration all the characteristics of an alien govern- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 9 1 m e n t . He declared: "Fellow citizens, the Southern States will never submit to being governed without representation. The Union is in grave danger." A voice called, "Not at all." Vallandigham replied: "Yes it is. If Mr. Lincoln should be elected the Union will crumble." A second voice shouted, "He will not be elected." Vallandigham rejoined: I would rather see that result than hear tell of it. Men of New-York, this Republican Party is a hybrid monster, a Cyclopean party with a single eye for Slavery. Lincoln is akin to it. Unless his por traits are infernal libels, his bare appearance is enough to split rails. Our purpose here tonight is to acknowledge that however this Republican candidate, as a lawyer, might split hairs, or however, as a backwoodsman, he might split rails, he will not be permitted to split the Union. (Great laughter and applause.)18 Stating that he came as a member of the Ohio con servatives to sound a last note of warning in the East, the speaker told his audience that the people of New York held the destiny of the nation in their hands. An "uprising of New-York voters" was the only means by which "the tide of fanaticism" which threatened to engulf the land could be rolled back. The examination of Vallandigham's remarks led this l^The World (New York), November 3, 1860, p. 2. ISiLid. ISlbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 9 2 speech critic to the conclusion that the speaker implied apprehension so much more strongly than he expressed confi dence that he had already conceded the election. The dis tinct peripheral suggestion which dominated the address was, of course, traceable to the chill wind of Republican victory that had already blown across several states in early elec tions . Vallandigham achieved favorable audience response, but he did so by resorting to humor and the energetic stress of name-calling (sectionalists) and common ground (New York responsibility). Carl Schurz: Republican Carl Schurz was one of America's most powerful ora tors in both the English and German languages. Through a long and illustrious public career which saw him serve as Senator from Missouri, Minister to Spain, and Secretary of the Interior, Schurz remained always the honest statesman and fearless reformer, regardless of whom his convictions forced him to oppose. In the Civil War he served as a major general. In his address at Cooper Union on September 13, 1860, Schurz arraigned Stephen Douglas for changing his po sition time and again as befitted the interests of slavery. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 193 The Missouri Compromise, framed in 1820 as "a sacred and in violable compact," had been bought at the cost of admitting Of) Missouri as a slave state. Douglas had supported the 36° 30' slave-free dividing line religiously until the for mation of new states from Louisiana Purchase Territory be came imminent. He then discovered, Schurz charged, that the compromise was in conflict with basic constitutional prin ciples and personally destroyed it for a new kind of law which he called popular sovereignty: He told the people at first that this was a question to be decided by the Supreme Court, then he told the people that the sovereignty of a Territory remains in abeyance, suspended in the United States; in trust for the people until they shall be admitted into the Union as a State; and, at last, after the Illinois campaign, he dropped the expression "excluding slav - ery" altogether. Schurz then noted that in his Freeport Doctrine, Douglas claimed it did not matter what either the Supreme Court of the people of the territory decided because in or der to exist slavery had to be given police protection by the local legislatures. And finally, failing in his vacil lation to gain the Democratic nomination, the Little Giant had come full circle. Congress, which created popular ^^The New York Times. September 14, 1860, p. 1. 21ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 194 sovereignty, was not the final arbiter; the territorial legislatures were not the final arbiters; but the Supreme Court, which sanctioned the original Missouri Compromise, was at last the final arbiter. The speaker drew sustained laughter when he charac terized Douglas as "one of the most over-estimated men in the country" whose burning ambition for the Presidency had forced him into political positions "as thin as the homeo pathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon p p that had been starved to death." Schurz thought this address, delivered to 3,000 people, was "the greatest success of his oratorical ca- 23 reer." It was, indeed, a closely reasoned effort that was atypical of standard campaign oratory, and it drew much of its power from the refutative method of residues. Divid ing into parts (positions) the entire public career of Doug las as it applied to the slavery question, Schurz demon strated that Douglas had found each position except the last (same as first) untenable from a standpoint of political ex pediency. Of course, Schurz also employed reductio ad 22ibid. 23i>carl Schurz," Dictionary of American Biography. Centennial ed.. Vol. XVI. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 9 5 absurdum; by carrying the arguments (or positions) of Doug las to their circular conclusion, he showed them to be ridi culous. Also, Schurz was suited by appearance to deliver a philippic. Reminiscent of the Younger Pitt, he combined animated though graceless gestures with blazing eyes and rather harsh features. Thaddeus Stevens: Republican Often considered a sinister figure in American his tory, clubfooted Thaddeus Stevens became the radical Repub lican leader of the House of Representatives during the re- P4. construction period and had "more power than any senator. He and Senator Charles Sumner were the chief architects of President Johnson’s impeachment. Stevens was a masterful debater. The Pennsylvania Representative appeared at Cooper Union on September 27, 1850 to deliver a scathing attack upon the fusion forces. He said it surpassed comprehension how "live men" in commercial and financial circles could be so without conviction as to underwrite the fusion princi- ^^Eugene H. Roseboom, A History of Presidential Elections (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1957), p. 205 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 9 6 2 5 pie. The answer was that these money-obsessed men were "of no gender, cool, passionless . . , safe guardians of the Union, for the same reason that eunuchs are entrusted with the harem.Stevens spoke with derision of the "select and respectable class" of men whose personal courage was outweighed by a dollar: They tremble when Slavery frowns. They dread the black list, and fear the loss of the sale of bales of goods when the South blusters. If they knew how little credit they get for it from their Southern masters, they would not feel flattered. When to appease them some Northern doughface in Congress points to these indications of loyalty, they sneer at them. They doubt their sincerity and their power. In this they certainly do them wrong. Have they not smote the ground nine times with their foreheads in token of submission? If they have not eat sufficient dirt let the required quantity be prescribed, and you may be sure they will forthwith set about it.^7 The speaker then declared that once a Republican election victory had swept away opposition chicanery, "all shades of Democrats" would obey "strict enforcement of the Constitution, and all who oppose it will be brought to the gallows."28 He scoffed at the idea that the South would secede if Lincoln were elected, declaring it was more likely ^^The New York Times. September 28, 1860, p. 1. 26ibid. '^'^rbxd. 28 New York Herald. September 28, 1860, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 9 7 that "the road to the White House will be blocked with Southern office seekers who forgot they ever heard of 'Black' Republleans." Stevens closed his address by predicting the Demo crats would never survive their coming defeat. The party would be like the fallen man described by Dante, "doomed for his manifold sins to traverse . , . the infernal regions through illimitable time, with his entrails torn out and dragging between his legs."^^ The Pennsylvanian occasionally resorted to profanity while on the House floor; in public he was more restrained, but the withering invective he directed at the yet uncon solidated fusion forces exhibited a tendency toward gross physical reference that tested the limits of propriety. His refusal to believe the South would secede was typical of Republican leaders. However, Stevens' prediction of the Democratic Party's future was prescient; historians point to the survival of the Democrats as a political miracle. It was 1884 before they recaptured the White House. The 1864 Election Both North and South expected the Civil War to be a 29lbid. 30lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 9 8 short, decisive conflict, but as months dragged into years, the struggle took on the appearance of a costly military stalemate. Although Channing believes the people's confi dence in their President was "at no time" decisively shak en, he became dangerously unpopular with Republican lead ers in August, 1854. His political opposition virtually collapsed in September, 1864 when General Sherman captured Atlanta and divided the South, breaking the military back bone of the Confederacy. The Democrats adopted a platform declaring the war a failure, and demanding peace. George McClellan, former Union Army Commander-in-Chief, accepted the Presidential nomina tion but in his acceptance letter repudiated the platform on the ground that a peace which left the nation still divided would betray too many gallant sacrifices already made. McClellan’s stand of Union before peace put the War Demo crats at odds with the Copperhead stand of peace before Union. At Cooper Union, the basic points of conflict were mirrored in the remarks of one outstanding speaker for each ^^Edward Channing, A Historv of the United States (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1925), VI, 605. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 1 9 9 major party. August Belmont: War Democrat Banker August Belmont of New York controlled the American branch of the House of Rothschild and was one of the financial titans of the United States. For 20 years he was a controlling force behind the Democratic scene. As chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Belmont had been a deciding factor in persuading McClellan to write a war32 message into his letter of acceptance. Belmont appeared at Cooper Union on November 2, 1864. Speaking of the accomplishments of past Democratic administrations, the orator referred particularly to the Mexican War, "which gave us the golden empire of the Paci fic," the successful resistance of "British pretensions in Oregon and Central America," and the protection of interna tional extradition and asylum rights against foreign en croachment.^^ He then denounced prominent Democrats who had deserted the party and their honor for the immediate favors they expected to receive from a victorious Republican admin- ^^McClellan wanted to be President so badly that he almost followed Vallandigham's urgings to write a no-war letter. ^^The World (New York), November 3, 1864, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 200 istration. Such men would not be forgotten when the hour of peril had passed. The Democratic chairman next criticized the adminis tration's conduct of the war, dwelling primarily on Ameri ca 's position on the high seas. He declared that a Demo cratic government would never have submitted to the humilia tion of the Trentaffair. With a competent Secretary of the Navy, "our sails would again whiten every sea" rather than be chased into harbor by the unchecked marauding of a few English-built Confederate ironclads. In General McClellan the speaker saw a man whose natural abilities of leadership would right such wrongs, win and sustain the peace, and restore the high general level of healthful, non crisis stimulated prewar prosperity; General McClellan has pledged himself and the party "for the Union at all hazards." Our candidate for the vice-presidency^^ has declared for the restora tion of the Union and the Constitution, "peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must." On that platform ^^The Union warship San Jacinto seized two Confeder ate agents from aboard the British steamer Trent in viola tion of international law. England made threatening moves in Canada against the North, and President Lincoln quickly gave up the prisoners to the South. ^^The World (New York), November 3, 1864, p. 1. Gentleman George" Pendleton, a powerful Ohio Congressman. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 201 we intend to elect them, and redeem their pledge to the American people and the world . . .37 A Democratic victory, the speaker promised, would shorten the dark days through which the nation was passing. Belmont's Cooper Union appearance was politically significant. With the attention of the nation focused on a sanguinary war in which everyone was forced to take sides, the two-faced Democratic effort to play both sides had placed a heavy strain on party loyalties; on the eve of election a harmonizing address by an eminent spokesman was needed to hold the war and peace factions in some semblance of togetherness. The peace platform had become untenable, but by eulogizing McClellan and the party while attacking Democratic deserters rather than the peace platform, Belmont accomplished his solidifying purpose. Oliver P. Morton; Republican Oliver Perry Morton was the war Governor (and virtu al dictator) of Indiana and became best known as a Republi can Senatorial ruler during the Grant administrations. He was a ruthless partisan whose vigorous mind was trapped after 1865 in the body of a paralytic cripple. Almost as ^^The World (New York), November 3, 1864, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 202 close a confidant of President Grant as Roscoe Conkling, Morton wrote parts of the annual messages each year after 1870. Morton devoted his Cooper Union address on October 22, 1864 to an attack on the political motives of George McClellan. He said the position of McClellan could be de duced from the kind of men who supported him and the nature of the convention which nominated him. Those who wished most fervently for McClellan's election were the rebels, who believed his political success "will bring to them that sue- 3 0 cess which they now despair of achieving." The convention which nominated McClellan, Morton charged, had been planned and controlled by Clement Vallandigham, recently discovered to be "the Grand Commander of a secret, oath-taking con spiracy against the Government of the United States known as the Sons of Liberty.The convention by necessity defined the political existence of the candidate, and the fact that McClellan had written a letter which was out of harmony with the platform did not alter his ambitions or position: General McClellan has written a letter, which makes him apparently and possibly a war candidate, and S^The Evening Post (New York), October 23, 1864, p. 1. 39lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 203 Fernando Wood^O tells the people of New-York, and Mr. Vallandigham has substantially told the people of Ohio, perhaps in more disguised terms, that this letter is compatible with sound policy for the pur pose of success, and that if Gen. McClellan is elec ted, the Chicago platform will be the law of his political existence. I, therefore, pass the letter of Gen. McClellan, as of no importance whatever. The Indiana Governor drew tremendous applause when he developed a historical parallel to the effect that the Democratic nominee was flirting with the path taken by Pres ident Tyler, who repudiated his supporting Whig Party and left office without a friend or the respect of any man. At Cooper Union, Morton was the precise speaker whose primary attention to facts and their explanation in a compressed and energetic manner gave his style a stamp that by Quintilian's standards would be classified as definitely Attic. It was not until after 1865 when a stroke condemned him to life in a wheelchair that caustic interpretation of a thinner tissue of facts crept into Morton's speechmaking. His charges against Vallandigham were later substantiated. The 1868 Election The Republicans, who unanimously nominated General ^^Leader of the New York City Copperheads and for merly mayor. ^^The Evening Post (New York), October 23, 1864, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 204 Ulysses S. Grant and won the election easily, adopted a platform which primarily endorsed the radical program of reconstruction and denounced national debt repudiation. The Democrats, at the insistence of Congressman George Pendleton of Ohio, included in their platform of opposition to the "unconstitutional and revolutionary" reconstruction acts a plank called the "Ohio idea." This idea stated that govern ment Civil War bonds should be redeemed whenever legally possible in "lawful money," meaning greenbacks. Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, the Presidential candidate, repudiated the greenback plank, and the party found itself in an awkward position similar to that in 1864. At Cooper Union, a trend toward Republican dominance of the platform began in 1868. Tammany Hall, seating be tween 4,000 and 5,000 people, was completed in 1867, and Democratic orators flocked to it almost exclusively until the Tammany-backed Tweed Ring was exposed in 1871. Demo cratic activity then returned temporarily to the Great Hall. The 1868 election also marked the first oratorical waving of the "bloody shirt"— or reviving the sectional passions, hatreds, and memories of the Civil War. Since the addresses of Henry Wilson in 1868 and James G. Blaine and Robert G. Ingersoll in 1876 followed bloody shirt R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 205 themes, a critical note concerning their collective remarks is inserted here: a basically non-reasoned approach, the bloody shirt appeal derived its strong audience impact from an emotional reaction tendency rooted in the persuasive ba sis of common ground; effect was heightened by stressing loaded words and stereotypes. Nearly all northerners had war memories that were fresh, and their predisposition to respond was exploited by the charged terms "traitors," "rebels," etc. Henry Wilson: Republican One of the most skillful bloody shirt wavers. Sena tor Henry Wilson early made a name for himself as a fire- eating anti-slavery orator. He served 18 years as a Senator from Massachusetts; his final term was interrupted by his election to the Vice-Presidency in 1872 with President Grant. Before Wilson began his speech in the crowded Great Hall on July 1, 1858, the Union Glee Club sang "The Sword of Ulysses," a campaign song which brought shouts and applause from the audience. The orator then launched his bloody shirt tirade, declaring the South was peopled with "unre- pentent, unconverted traitors; men who do not regret the R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 206 tears and agony they have caused to flow, but who mourn only 4P over what they call their 'lost cause.'" Political par ties were judged by their acts, and the Democrats manifested little love for their native country: Measure the two parties by this standard of patriot ism. The Republican Party who voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 (great cheering) never furnished a single traitor for the war, never fired on the old flag, thank God, and never murdered one of the old flag's defenders. There are over four hundred thou sand heroes beneath the sod. Let the mothers, wives and sisters of the North remember this. Who sent them there? Democrats L Democrats'. Democrats then. Democrats now'.^^ In direct reference to General Blair's Brodhead letter,Wilson said the unregenerated traitors were being openly encouraged to "overturn the new State governments and raise up another slave-holding republic on the bruised and palpitating hearts of God's children.This remark drew immense cheering as did his final challenge: "I tell those leaders now, that I dare and defy them to the contest. We ^^The New York Times. July 2, 1868, p. 8. 43ibid. ^^General Francis P. Blair, Democratic Vice-Presi dential candidate, wrote a letter that was widely misinter preted to mean the violent overthrow of the new southern state governments. 45The New York Times. July 2, 1868, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 207 have whipped them once, and we can and will do it again'. A fine extempore speaker with a strong, clear voice, Wilson could address several audiences a day without effort on the bloody shirt theme. His Cooper Union auditors were ready to refight the Civil War when he concluded his speech, such was the emotionalism he generated. General John C. Fremont; Republican "The Pathfinder," John Charles Fremont was badly beaten as the Republicans' first Presidential candidate in 1856, and his attempts to block President Lincoln's reelec tion ended his political career. A man whose notable ac complishments were largely traceable to influential spon sors, he proved a disappointing Civil War commander. Insufficient reserve seats had been provided for in the Great Hall on the evening of September 22, 1868, and many ladies were forced to stand in the crowded aisles, a sad commentary on the chivalry of the day. The World reported, "The Faultfinder, beg pardon. The Pathfinder took for his theme government bonds" and said 47 payment of the war debt was "not a question of today." 46lbid. 4?The World (New York), September 23, 1868, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 208 He paraphrased the party plank by stating that when the time came the obligation would be met honorably and in the spirit and letter of the contract. Fremont deplored the effects of rumor and casual discussion of the subject; If it be touched at all, party politics should sieze [sic] upon it. Discussion only tends to depreciate our securities and injure their values in the hands of the people. We have lately seen that the doubts thrown out about its payment advanced gold twenty- five per cent., and took away one-fourth from the value of the currency of the country.48 Fremont maintained that with an administration in which the people had confidence, gold would return to par in two years at most, and all securities would assume their full value. Explaining that westward expansion and population growth would account for unprecedented prosperity, the speaker advised against early attempts to meet national commitments which would launch the people upon their new era "in the character of prosperous bankruptsFremont com pleted his financial discussion with the statement that chiefs of the old Democratic Party would turn away their faces in shame were they alive to hear their present-day counterparts suggest that a sacred national debt be paid 48iijew York Herald. September 23, 1868, p. 3. 49Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 209 with paper money. Fremont offered some sensible advice. A tenfold in crease in the volume of paper money had resulted in the doubling of prewar prices, and gold, which was relatively scarce, had become an object of speculation rather than a standard of value; temporary financial stability was needed. Fremont, as a Californian, could at least anticipate the magnitude and demands of westward expansion. The 1872 Election President Grant turned out to be not only the most inept Chief Executive the United States ever had, but he allowed patronage, graft, and fraudulent practices to bring government morale to a new low. Republicans \dio were ear nest civil service reformers, advocates of amnesty and home rule for the South, and believers in Grant's personal unfit ness split off to form the Liberal Republican Party. By an unfortunate convention stampede, the reform party's candi date for President became Horace Greeley, publisher of the New York Tr-ibnne. The Republicans unanimously renominated President Grant and hypocritically advocated the same things as the reform faction, except that they pointed with pride at the hero of Appomattox. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 210 Realizing that defeat was certain unless they joined the Liberal Republicans, Democrats largely swallowed their pride and supported Greeley. A few bitter-enders refused to back a lifelong Republican and nominated Charles O'Conor for President. In the election contest between the "two most unfit men ever offered to the country for the highest office," 50 Greeley was the worst beaten candidate in history. The candidates themselves were the main subject for discussion elsewhere, but at Cooper Union the speakers dwelt more generally upon issues. Lvman Trumbull: Liberal Republican A strong contender for the Liberal Republican Presi dential nomination. Senator Lyman Trumbull would have been a sensible choice for his party. He had been— with Charles Sumner and Pitt Fessenden— one of the three Senate leaders during the 1860's, but he signed his Republican death war rant when he voted for acquittal during President Johnson's impeachment trial. He obviously had a practical stake in the success of the insurgent movement of 1872. ^^Roseboom, op. cit.. p. 231. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 211 Speaking in the Great Hall on April 12, 1872 before the candidates had been chosen, Trumbull's object was to stress the necessity for a reform uprising by generally in dicting the administration and emphasizing the evils of car petbag government in the southern states. The orator main tained that hates and animosities of the war were kept alive and the rebel states forced into prolonged alienation by the continuance of political disabilities after the oc casion for their imposition had passed away. He said the interests which prevented the removal of the disabilities were of a mercenary and political nature. The mercenary interests were those of "corrupt adventurers" who had in creased southern state debts by as much as 15 times through plundering.The political interests involved men of au thority who used political disabilities as capital upon which to trade for power and favors. Discussing civil service next, Trumbull declared that patronage under President Grant had fallen to such a degraded level that appointive officers were frequently taxed a part of their salaries for party purposes. The civil service was to the administration only a means to S^The World (New York), April 13, 1872, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 212 perpetuate its power, and party loyalty was used as protec tion for dishonesty. The speaker also expressed alarm over the encroach ments of military power both in the South and in the gov ernmental agencies, charging that the soldier-President was trying to transform the Republican system into "an Imperial CO despotism." Never an effective campaign speaker, Trumbull's ner vous manner and harsh, icy voice sparked little enthusiasm in his immense Cooper Union audience. Indeed, some auditors grew restless. The speaker was well aware of his voice and mannerisms as ineffective instruments of persuasion, and the relative brevity of his address may have been a wise adapta tion to his deficiencies. Trumbull, a fine lawyer, was far more at home in court or in floor debate than on the stump. Carl Schurz: Liberal Republican C O Senator Carl Schurz was the leader of the Liberal Republican movement, and it was no secret that Greeley dis appointed him as a candidate. Historical authorities agree S^ibid■ 53por other speechmaking and identification, see p. 192. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 213 that the reform Republicans' main blunder was in electing Schurz permanent convention chairman because that action re moved their most effective leader from the floor where he might have controlled the freak stampede for Greeley. The Missouri Senator made a vigorous address in German to an overflow German audience at Cooper Union on October 1, 1872; he sought primarily to acquaint his hear ers with undesirable southern affairs and the shocking ex tent of administration power. In speaking of the South, Schurz explained that when the Civil War ended, slavery was abolished and both freedmen and southern whites sought to begin a new life under the laws of the land. A return to amicable relations at that time had been possible, and the first step in reincorporating the South into the Union was taken when the freedmen were given the ballot and guaranteed a voice in local self-government. The white men, however, needed the same rights, which should have been allowed under universal amnesty by the new administration: At this crisis the Administration, if it did not let loose, aided and encouraged the incursion into the South of a horde of the basest and vilest wretches the sun ever shone upon, and who are known as carpet baggers . These wretches looked upon the ignorant negroes as their prey . . .by means of which they might obtain power and wealth. These shrewd and un scrupulous knaves have dragooned and deceived the negroes, and brought them into secret leagues and R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 1 4 societies, where every member was led blindly to do the will of these new masters, who were left to work as they chose by the Administration because they worked in its interest.54 Speaking next of the purchased influence which the administration had acquired, Schurz declared that no foreign power, "even Kaiser Wilhelm," would dare to "dragoon" all civil officers into terrorized obedience.Through bribery and graft, even the nation's business and newspapers had been "turned into a systematized impressment for Grant. The speaker warned that if the government were not rescued from President Grant, "voting in this country will be merely what a plebiscite was in France in Louis Napoleon's time," and the despotism of "law for the ruled, not the rulers" 57 would hold full sway. Schurz then offered a rather questionable rationale for the support and election of Greeley. To defeat Presi dent Grant, he said, it was necessary to use any means at hand, and although Greeley was not his choice personally, purity of government was a more important goal than raising any particular man to power. As a problem (the corrupt Grant administration) and ^4irhe World (New York), October 2, 1872, p. 1. 55ibid. ^^Ibid. ^’ ^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 1 5 solution (elect Greeley) discourse, the address was weak be cause Schurz could not consistently reconcile his well-known reservations for Greeley with appeals in his behalf. How ever, Schurz was the strongest German-Ainerican voice in the nation's public life, and his tremendous ethical proof car ried the occasion. He received a standing ovation, Roscoe Conkling; Republican A member of the House of Representatives from 1859 until 1867 when he entered the Senate, Roscoe Conkling quickly became a member of the select coterie that influ enced most of President Grant's policies. The Chief Execu tive wanted Conkling to succeed him, but the bitter Conk ling- James G. Blaine feud robbed both men of the office. Quarrels with Presidents Hayes and Garfield over dispensing patronage in New York, Conkling's home state, brought to an end the career of "the most picturesque man of his genera tion."^® Conkling devoted his remarks at Cooper Union on July 23, 1872 to a defense of Grant's personal conduct in office regarding gift-taking and nepotism and then lauded Republican conduct of foreign affairs. In justifying the ^^Roseboom, op. cit.. p. 261. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 216 many expensive gifts which Grant had accepted from wealthy speculators, the speaker cited the gift-taking propensities of Generals Sherman, Sheridan, and the Duke of Wellington, He drew particular attention to Bismarck and General Von Moltke; "Do you believe any German, or any man with a Ger man heart in his bosom, will ever be mean enough to throw these gifts in the face of those who earned and accepted them?" Here a loud voice replied, "Carl Schurz would." The orator replied; Yes, and Carl Schurz is safer in the Greeley menagerie than he would_.be in any hiding place in Germany, Yet gift-taking, forsooth, is paraded by political Phari sees, One thing is noticeable:— The men who screech about gift-taking are those who never gave a cent, and who were never openly offered a cent— certainly not for any honorable service rendered to their country, Where nepotism was concerned, Conkling again re ferred to history for parallels, offering examples of famous men who had bestowed public offices upon relatives without receiving the abuse to which President Grant had been sub jected, He spoke at length of the family appointments in Andrew Johnson's administration, but pointed out that "when a drag net of criticism and impeachment was cast over him 59 New York Herald. July 24, 1872, p, 3, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 1 7 these things were not caught up."®® The orator added that Greeley had once told President Grant that no man should be appointed to office who was good for anything else. In speaking of foreign affairs, Conkling referred to the Alabama affair®^ as a triumph which made the flag of the United States respected in every nation of the world. He declared that the representatives of an infant nation "scarce out of its swaddling clothes" had outmaneuvered the skilled representatives of a Parliament renowned over sever al centuries for its exploits in diplomacy: Noblemen and University men were England’s commission ers; they sealed the treaty with signet rings bearing ancient coats of arms, but the gossips said that one of our untitled and self-educated Commissioners had nothing to seal with except a button. This seems the story over again of the poor boy with a pinhook and twine, who caught more fish than the rich boy with the rod, the reel, the line of silk, and the best of fishhooks.62 Conkling saw Greeley as a man unfit for public of fice because he was a man of words and odd theories rather ®Qjbid. Glgiecretary of State Hamilton Fish had just conclu ded the Treaty of Washington, providing for neutral arbitra tion of Union claims against England for losses inflicted by the Alabama and other British-built Confederate warships that cruised against northern shipping during the Civil War, ®^New York Herald. July 24, 1872, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 1 8 than a man of deeds. He classified the Liberal Republican candidate as a member of the horde of "coon minstrels and cider suckers" who were always to be found in the wake of political movementsThe phrase, he said, was originally Greeley's, Conkling's address at Cooper Union, like all his speeches, was a carefully written model of structure and coherence which was enlivened by unusual words and colorful phrases, and these stylistic elements were frequently com bined into periodic sentences. Yet the mere perusal of these remarks cannot convey the vitality they assumed when energized by the tall, handsome, muscular Conkling through his captivating though haughty and imperious mode of deliv ery. For example, many moments were required to restore order after the great orator swelled up like a pompous tur key gobbler and proclaimed with golden voice and contemptu ous stare; "When Doc-tor-r-r Ja-a-awnson said that patr-r- riotism-m was the 1-a-w-s-t r-r-refuge of a scoundr-r-rel he ignor-r-r-ed the enor-r-rmous possibilities of the word r-refa-awr-rm.He was a truly unusual and outstanding G3lbid. G^Alexander, op. cit.. Ill, 375. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ----------------------- 2 1 9 stump speaker. Reverend Olympia Brown; Republican Born in a log cabin in Michigan, Olympia Brown grad uated from Antioch College and in 1863 was the first woman in America ordained to the ministry (Universalist Church) of a regularly constituted ecclesiastical body. Inspired by Susan B. Anthony, she took up the suffrage banner and was President of the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association for 30 years. Miss Brown was the principal speaker at a mass meet ing conducted October 7, 1872 at Cooper Union under the aus pices of the Woman Rights Association of New York to endorse the Republican candidates. Other speakers who offered token remarks were Lillie (Tiger Lillie) D. Blake and Francis Gage. The speaker offered a defense of the administration against charges of military despotism in the South and then identified the President's friends. Where the southern oc cupation policy was concerned. Miss Brown maintained that 65 Greeley's much publicized "bloody chasm" was non-existent. ^^In his letter of acceptance, Greeley had urged that the North and South "clasp hands across the bloody chasm. " R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 220 She held that President Grant had always given sympathetic treatment to the South: I look back at that time when the company of starved, wearied rebels were surrounded by Gen. Grant and his army, and when standing there with his guns pointed toward the rebels, it was in his power to have wiped them out in one deluge of blood. I remember when Grant at that time sent such generous promises of peace that Lee himself was astonished, and glad to accept them. And when that army passed in review before the troops of the North, there was not from all that multitude one base reproach, not one sneer, not one s c o f f . ^6 Miss Brown added that General Grant had begged General Lee to keep his sword and had then shared his scant supplies with the rebels. From these circumstances at Appomattox she concluded: "This is all nonsensej there is no truth or justice in all this talk about despotism. Miss Brown then noted that President Grant had been criticized because of the company he kept. Indeed, she said. Grant had many very good friends. Everywhere she went she met men who bore the scars of battle, and in each of these men she found a friend of the renowned general. She declared the friends of the President were the "widows, soldiers, sailors, honest men, good men, brave men, wherever ^^New York Herald. October 8, 1872, p. 5 67lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 221 you find them who gave their all for liberty.She urged her hearers to reelect the hero general and thus show their gratitude. The occasion of Miss Brown's address was a notable one. As Luther R. Marsh, the chairman, said, "women for the first time in the history of the country" were taking active part throughout the nation in a Presidential campaign. The Republican platform had declared generally for the rights of women and labor, and although only a sop, the vague plank was sufficient to win feminine support. Unfor tunately, Miss Brown's poorly reasoned address did not equal the moment. She insisted upon using unrelated past events to draw unwarranted conclusions about the present and upon substituting General Grant's military admirers for Presi dent Grant's drinking, racing, and speculative associates; the speaker sidestepped the issues. The 1876 Election President Grant's second term was marked by shocking maladministration and the financial crash of 1873, which ended years of prosperity and ushered in a long depression. G^The New York Times. October 8, 1872, p. 8. 69ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ' 222 The Republicans attempted to counter these factors by nomi nating Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, an able and honest man with hard money sentiments. Seeking public confidence, the lame duck Republican House of Representatives— the Demo crats captured control in 1874 for the first time in almost 20 years— passed the Resumption Act of 1875, pledging the government to bring greenbacks issued during the Civil War to par with gold by January 1, 1879. Specie payment would then resume, meaning greenbacks would be redeemable in coin. Aside from urging "continuous and steady progress to specie payment," the self-conscious Republican platform was vague. The Democrats chose New York Governor Samuel J. Til- den, cleanup champion against the Tweed Ring, to lead a platform emphasizing general government reform. Without suggesting alternatives, the Resumption Act was condemned. The Greenback Party, a significant third political voice, was born in 1875 to express labor and western agrar ian demands for abundant, unsecured money. The movement can be traced to the "Ohio idea" that was included in the 1868 Democratic platform. Philanthropist Peter Cooper campaigned for repeal of the Resumption Act of 1875 and for issuance of legal tender notes "convertible into government bonds with an interest rate not to exceed one cent a day per hundred R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ......... ' ■ ■ 223 dollars." He polled 81,737 votes. In the election, the Republicans won the Presidency by shrewdly contesting the southern electoral votes. At Cooper Union, Robert G. Ingersoll and James G. Blaine waved the bloody shirt, but in the Great Hall as elsewhere, "the Hayes-Tilden campaign was the last in which 7 0 the Southern question was paramount . . ." The Republican effort was wasted, however, because Tilden's hold on his own state was too firm. The voices of the Greenbackers and the commentary of Parke Godwin offered interesting contrast. General Samuel F. Carv; Greenback The Vice-Presidential candidate of the Greenback Party, Samuel Fenton Cary was better known in the United States and England as a temperance writer and lecturer. He was an independent member of the House of Representatives by virtue of the Ohio workingmen's vote, and he advocated labor rights. Cary was the principal speaker at the Cooper Union Greenback ratification meeting on August 30, 1876, but Peter James Ford Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 (New York: The Macmillan Com pany, 1910), VII, 290. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 2 4 Cooper preceded him with a brief address. The 85 year old Presidential candidate told a crowd that filled the Great Hall "to the doors" that he was a candidate only because of his "anxiety for the welfare of millions of those now de prived of support," and his only concern was to obtain fi nancial justice for the people: Our greenbacks were given.for "value received" in the labor, property, and lives of this people, and are capable of being endowed with an exact value, and may have an unquestionable basis of redemption in the bonds of the Government. It is now proposed to sub stitute for this currency the old-fashioned system of banking upon credit; upon a currency presumably re deemable in gold, but never certain to be so redeem able; with a basis that ever slides from under the feet of the people, and leaves them periodically amid a deluge of commercial disaster, to drown or swim as they can, while a few gain some profit from the uni versal wreck.71 After briefly tracing the wrongs of labor to those government financial policies which deprived the workingman of his just dues. Cooper introduced Cary and retired wearily to his seat of honor below a large picture of himself that was decorated with tricolor streamers. Roundly applauded, he arose and bowed stiffly. Cary charged that "government swindles against the producing class" had over the years led to the present de- 7lThe New York Times. August 31, 1876, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 2 5 7P ! pression. The difficulty was traceable as far back as 1862 when Thaddeus Stevens had devised a good bill making i greenbacks legal tender for all purposes, but the Senate had added the fateful clause "except for Customs duties and in terest upon the public debt" which allowed Wall Street spec ulators to "run up gold and depreciate greenbacks every time 73 lour soldiers were driven back." The ill-gotten fortunes thus gathered were derived from the producing classes. Another swindle was the issuance of three kinds of 74 bonds to pay for the war debt: 5-20s, 7-30s, and 10-40s. The speaker drew uproarious laughter and applause when he | said that in the last analysis the issue meant the laboring j man "must get up at 5:20 in the morning and work to 7:30, 75 while the bondholder can lay abed until,10:40." Cary said everyone thought the bonds were payable in greenbacks, but after President Grant had been in office only 19 days, he signed a bill specifying that government bonds must be paid lin coin. The executive act, the orator charged, added more Ithan $80,000,000 to the burdens of an already overtaxed 72ibid. 73lbid. ^^Bonds of 20-year maturity bearing 5 per cent in- iterest. ^^The New York Times. August 31, 1876, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 2 6 people. The final swindle was identified with the efforts of monied interests to appreciate the purchasing power of their bonds. These interests obtained congressional con traction of the outstanding circulating medium from $58 per person in 1865 to $15 per person in 1875. The result was final ruin. Declaring the government had carried on a concen trated attack against the existing $80,000,000 in green backs, Cary said each bill was now called "dishonest money" and a "rag baby" that should be replaced by $100,000,000 in national bank notes convertible into gold interest-bearing bonds. The Resumption Act would make the exchange com pleted policy by January 1, 1879. The speaker explained there was not enough gold coin in existence to pay the in terest and retire the bonds, and silver coin was useless to help as legal tender since its coinage had been stopped by Treasury act in 1873. Cary expressed the conviction that the people were beginning to understand the state of affairs. They had started a Greenback revolution that would end with the gov ernment "issuing and stamping money that is made good as 7Glbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 2 7 gold and silver under all circumstances and at all times and 7 7 wiping out the national bank issue." It is noteworthy that four years later the Green backers had changed the direction of their attack. When General James B. Weaver, the Presidential candidate in 1880, spoke at Cooper Union on September 13, 1880, he singled out the railroad monopolists rather than the money system per se as the true enemy of the farmer and the laboring man. He estimated that the transportation tycoons bled off 50 from every 65* paid for a bushel of corn. Considering the 1876 rally as a political occasion, it must be classified as Cooper Union's outstanding Presi dential campaign oddity. The aged Cooper was a caricature candidate as he tottered about with his air cushion and bumbled through his speech manuscript with the aid of four- lensed spectacles. Unable to undertake a stumping tour, the most he could do was open the Great Hall to a huge crowd that gathered more out of curiosity than out of sympathy with the objects of the meeting: the soft money (inflation ary) Greenback forces represented primarily a western agrar ian movement that was out of place in the hard money East, a ■77iijid. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 2 8 fact reflected in the mere 1,400 votes it won in New York. Cary, of course, was both a humorous and vigorous speaker, but both he and Cooper distorted the Greenback profile by deemphasizing the agrarian element in their arguments in deference to the urban laborer's ear. Parke Godwin: Democrat "Independent" The best way to describe Parke Godwin is to say that he was the platform Walter Lippman of the nineteenth centu ry. Bodes notes that for almost 40 years Godwin ruled the lyceum on political science subjects, and he was enthusias tically received as long as he "represented the political liberal who . . . spoke from the platform in general 7 8 terms." He usually did not take sides with the warring parties, preferring to comment from a lofty, independent position; he also hated politics as it was "slavered through 7q the columns of newspapers." Insight into the public respect and the type of audience that Godwin typically commanded can be gained through examination of the World's comments about Godwin's ^®Bode, The American Lyceum, p. 208. 79lbid.. p. 209. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 2 9 Cooper Union address on October 11, 1876: In response to an invitation extended by a number of prominent merchants, irrespective of politics, Mr. Parke Godwin last evening delivered an address at the Cooper Union on the subject of the present campaign. The speech was listened to by an immense gathering of representative men convened under the auspices of the Young Men's Democratic Association, without the aid of fireworks or music, or any of the usual accompani ments of political meetings. Men who rarely or never attend such gatherings were seen on the platform or in the body of the hall, and the character of the assemblage was altogether above that of the average political gathering.80 Godwin had become somewhat disgusted with the Re publican regime, and his remarks indicated as much. He said the Civil War had been over for 11 years and that new ques tions and issues should claim the interest of the nation. In spite of bloody shirt waving by the Republicans, the only question to be considered by the voters, was: "Have the par ty in power discharged their duties to the country under the new aspect of affairs or have they evaded and trifled with PI them?" Unfortunately, trifling and evasion had taken place. Godwin was of the opinion that the Republican Party had entered the postwar crisis period without.a policy and was so anxious for ascendancy that it had chosen the worst S^The World (New York), October 12, 1876, p. 8. Blibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 230 possible man to lead it in the Presidency. The speaker made a passing reference to the Repub lican worship practiced by The New York Times. After men tioning the newspaper's name, he "crinkled a water glass" 82 and said, "I will have to wash out my mouth after that." Referring to the pressing financial difficulties of the nation, Godwin said the Republicans might have formu lated wise financial policies not geared to prosperity alone had they been less occupied with partisan ends. He drew attention to the fact that within two years the new Demo cratic House of Representatives had managed to reduce appro priations by $30,000,000, or $120,000 for every congression al district in the nation. Godwin credited Hayes with being a reform candidate of good qualifications and sincere intentions, but he said there was little prospect that the Republican governor could 83 "turn a Hercules to clean the Augean stable" of his party. Lacking an effective third party leader— he considered Cooper a political joke— Godwin believed the Democrats under committed reformer Tilden offered the soundest hope for clean, revitalized government. 82lbid. Q^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 231 The renowned platform commentator's Cooper Union address put the political situation into accurate perspec tive in terms that were always frank and sometimes cruelly blunt. Bode says Godwin was permitted by his audiences to talk in a barbed manner about powerful people and institu tions because he looked like "a good grandfather in a day when grandfathers were in fashion." * A better analysis would be that the speaker traded on his stature and reputa tion, and he actually derived impressiveness from speech language that would have been appropriate to few others under similar circumstances. Robert G. Ingersoll: Republican Robert Green Ingersoll was a well-known lawyer, orator, and agnostic lecturer when he was invited to nomi nate James G. Blaine for President at the 1876 Republican National Convention. During his address, Ingersoll referred to Blaine, the pre-convention favorite, as "a plumed knight" who had "marched down the halls of the American Congress" and thrown his shining lance "full and fair against the brazen forehead of every traitor®^ to his country and every ®^Bode, OP. cit.. p. 209. ®^A reference to a bloody shirt attack on Jefferson Davis. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 232 maligner^® of his fair reputation." The speech^^ made Blaine known thereafter as "The Plumed Knight" and brought Ingersoll recognition as one of the greatest of American orators, making him a national figure overnight. Ingersoll's campaign effort at Cooper Union on Sep tember 11, 1876 drew a crowd that jammed "even the organ loft," and the Times reporter said: "Col. Ingersoll's ad dress was one of the best political speeches ever delivered in New-York. He spoke for nearly two hours, and held the complete attention of his audience from the beginning to the end."88 The Great Agnostic, as Ingersoll came to be known, waved the bloody shirt and placed secondary emphasis upon the hard versus soft money issue. Addressing himself to the struggle against slavery, the speaker refought the Civil War from Port Sumter to Appomattox. He elicited both gasps and 86a reference to Blaine's spectacular defense in Congress of his own conduct regarding questionable interests in Arkansas railroad bonds. ®^Had Blaine’s opponents not effected immediate adjournment, historians generally agree that Ingersoll's address— only five minutes long because nominating addresses were just coming into vogue— probably would have won Blaine immediate nomination. 88 The New York Times. September 12, 1876, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ' 233 cheers when he dragged religion, his customary enemy, into the discourse; . . . the Presbyterian Church South in 1863 met in General Synod and passed three resolutions, two of which were, "Resolved, That slavery is a divine institution; Resolved, That God raised up the Pres byterian Church South to protect and perpetuate that institution." All I have to say is that if God did it he never chose a more infamous instrument to carry out a more diabolical object.^9 Ingersoll credited the Republican Party with moving strongly to break the influence of the fugitive slave law which "handed the poor slave, beckoned by the North star of 90 freedom, back to the hound, the Democrat, and the lash." He spoke of the war as a crusade conducted by the Republi cans to take the nation's capitol from under the shadow of the slave pens. Northern Democrats had organized with their rebel brothers into secret societies to obstruct the war, sabotage and burn northern cities, and denounce the struggle as an abolitionist plot fostered by bloodthirsty tyrants. Then the anti-Union party had dared to draft as its national platform in 1864 that the war was a failure. Ingersoll roared, "There never was, my friends, a more infamous lie told on the face of this earth." He then stretched his arms upward and peered into the ceiling as he pleaded: "Soldiers 89lbid. 90lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 3 4 who fell in support of this country raise from your graves and lift your skeleton hands on high and swear that when the Democratic Party uttered these words they lied'.'' Continuing in passion, he said: Recollect, my friends, that it was the Democratic Party that did these devilish things when the great heart of the North was filled with agony and grief; recollect that they did these things when the future of your country and mine was trembling in the balance of war; recollect that they did these things when the question was liberty, or slavery and perish; recollect that they did these things when your brothers, hus bands, and dear ones were bleeding or dying on the battlefields of the South, lying there alone at night, the blood oozing through the wounds of death; recol lect that the Democracy did these things when those dear to you were in the prison pens, with no covering by night except the sky, with no food but what the worms refused, with no friends except insanity and death.91 It was the cost of the war conducted to free the nation from slavery's shackles, Ingersoll stated, that led to forced borrowing through bonds and greenbacks, and the debt had to be paid just as surely as a personal note had to be met, He reminded the assemblage that there was a third party which believed that sound money could be produced merely by the government stamping its sovereignty upon a piece of paper. That notion was as ridiculous as a man offering a note upon which the date of payment was not 91lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 235 fixed. The orator declared the Republican Party could not be labelled with such rascality because it would redeem on January 1, 1879, "or if it fails it will fail as the soldier fails to take a fort high up on the rampart with the flag in his hand."92 Ingersoll was concluding his remarks by promising that the Republicans would bring free thought, progressive leadership, and wealth through free labor when a voice called, "How about free schools?" This audience^^ question elicited a sharp outburst of impassioned oratory; I want every school-house to be a true temple of science, in which shall be taught the laws of nature, in which the children shall be taught actual facts, and I don't want that school-house touched or that institute of science touched by any superstition whatever. Let every man be his own bishop, let every man be his own pope, let every man do his own think ing, let every man have a brain of his own, let every man have a heart and conscience of his own.94 When the sensation occasioned by this flood of anti-religious comment had quieted throughout the hall, Ingersoll assured his listeners that the men who had saved the Union would control it, come November. 92ibid. 93gectarian education was a point of controversy in New York at the time. 94 The New York Times. September 12, 1876, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 3 6 "Godless Bob/' while primarily a lecturer and cere monial speaker, was notably active on the stump, but his bloody shirt tirades did not fit into the portrait of his humane and idealistic p r i n c i p l e s .^5 These addresses were a part of Ingersoll's early campaign activity and not repre- gg sentative of his mature political speaking. The great orator otherwise performed characteristically at Cooper Union by omitting an introduction, prolonging his conclu sion, and often speaking in cadenced prose. James G. Blaine; Republican "The Plumed Knight" of Ingersoll's oratorical meta phor, James Gillespie Blaine was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1869 to 1875 and Secretary of State in 1881 and from 1889 to 1892. Binkley calls him "undoubtedly the most notable Republican leader between Lincoln and McKinley.A slightly tarnished reputation, his feud with Conkling, and unfortunate circumstances robbed him of either ^^Harold L. Brewster, "An Objective Study of the Oratory of Robert Green Ingersoll" (unpublished Ph.D. dis sertation, Department of Speech, University of Southern California), p. 343. 96lbid. 9?Wilffed E. Binkley, American Political Parties (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954), p. 322. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 3 7 the nomination or the Presidency time after time between 1876 and 1892. Blaine had not been well when he spoke at Cooper Union on October 16, 1876. However, the fact that he had taken little part in the campaign apparently only made him more popular, and he received a great ovation; So boisterous was this demonstration that the gentle man was unable to repress it for five minutes, though he continuously waved his hands and placed them sug gestively upon his ears. When silence had been at last obtained Mr. Blaine began to speak in a voice so low as to be inaudible at the farther parts of the hall, and this gave rise to further disturbance and cries of "Louder " 98 In a louder voice the speaker dwelled upon the Democratic controlled House of Representatives and upon con ditions in the South. Blaine said that when he entered Con gress in 1862, he did not expect to see the day when repre sentatives of the rebellious states would be seated under oath as lawmakers of the United States. Yet in 1874 70 of these men had been added to 110 northern Democrats to con trol the House of Representatives. In turn, the 70 southern men "have taken command of the House, and the 110 Northern democrats, their associates, are content to sit at their feet and take the policy of the democratic party from 98 New York Herald. October 17, 1876, p. 4, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. .......... 238 them." As evidence of southern control, Blaine made the charge that these 70 men, representing a population of 13,000,000, had taken possession of 21 of the 31 committees appointed by the House. The remaining 10 committees were commanded by northern Democrats, representing 32,000,000 people. Blaine's voice took on some of its ordinary power and vigor when he declared that not even under Presidents Pierce or Buchanan had such an imbalance existed. In view of the circumstances, it was not surprising that 143 bills were pending for southern war claims, sufficient to "bank rupt the Treasury in six months. Focusing his attention next on the South, Blaine asked his hearers to consider Democratic charges that the Republicans constantly "waved the bloody shirt"; there was reason to do so, he declared, when "Old Usufruct"Tilden himself had written before the Civil War that "the states are held together only by a compact of consideration" which 102 the South had been justified in breaking. This opinion 99lbid. lOOlbid. lOljn his letter of acceptance, attorney Tilden used an odd word: usufruct. It is a Roman law term referring to use and enjoyment without damage of another's property. It became a campaign nickname. lO^New York Herald. October 17, 1875, p. 4. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 239 was in direct contradiction to the arguments of Daniel Web ster, and it offered a preview of what the North could ex pect regarding southern sympathy if Tilden won the Presiden cy. Tilden, he charged, had closed his eyes to the flow of blood which kept the shirt bloody: Since the war closed in 1866 there have been more men murdered in the South for political opinions, there have been more men murdered in the South for being republicans than fell for the defense of the Union in the three bloodiest battles of the war. I make this statement on authority. And yet what is more common than to sneer at the bloody s h i r t ? 1 0 3 Blaine believed that the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution should be either supported by the Republicans or repealed by the Democrats, but not "trampled underfoot and made of no effect. A futile master stroke of campaign persuasion, the late and dramatic presentation of the ailing Republican leader in Tilden's home city was heralded by the Republican press as "Blaine's mission." Thus, a man of giant stature revealed himself at Cooper Union, a Republican bastion, as a sympathetic figure at the most opportune moment with damn ing indictments against a former enemy (the Democratic South). Audience members, who gave Blaine a standing ova- lO^ibid. lO^ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ............ 240 tion at the conclusion of his address, either were unaware or did not care that his arguments were distortions and his key statements merely unsupported assertions. His most gross and overt misrepresentation related to pending south ern war claims, a legal impossibility in light of the debt repudiation section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Con stitution. First Ingersoll, the Republicans' greatest ora tor, and then Blaine, the Republicans' greatest leader, pleaded from the traditional Great Hall platform, but still New York went Democratic. The 1892 Election As in the preceding 12 years, there was little in 1892 besides the tariff plank to distinguish the platforms of the two major parties. The nation was prosperous, a fact the Republicans attributed to the McKinley Act of 1890, written by William McKinley, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means and a close tariff student. The bill: (1) established protection to cover the production cost differential between competing foreign and domestic items, (2) admitted non-competing foreign articles duty free, and (3) tried to adjust rates to avoid favoring one domestic industry over another. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ................... 2 4 1 The Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison, the incumbent President, and the Democrats nominated ex-Presi- dent Grover Cleveland. Their simultaneous second term guest was unique in American history. Cleveland, who had created the tariff issue for his party, won easily. The "doldrum" years having passed, the Cooper Union national platform was temporarily revitalized. Renewed in terest was certainly stimulated to some extent by ex-Presi- dent Cleveland's presence^®^ during a gubernatorial cam paign meeting— state and local activity at Cooper Institute proceeding ceaselessly— in the Great Hall in 1891. Repub lican dominance continued, however. John Sherman; Republican "The most capable financier in public life" and one of the most eminent men in the United States government, John Sherman's illustrious career spanned almost 50 years.^^ He was in the Senate for almost 35 years, served as Secre tary of the Treasury throughout President Hayes' term of office, and was Secretary of State under President McKinley. Responsible for the Republican specie resumption promise in lO^infra. Chapter IX. lO^Rhodes, op. cit.. VIII, 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. .......................... ' ......... 2 4 2 1875 and its fulfillment in 1879, Sherman also wrote the Sherman Anti-Trust Law and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. He was chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance from 1867 to 1877. Sherman, attired in a black Prince Albert coat and appearing in every way "the typical Senator of American tradition," began his defense of the tariff by citing the protectionist philosophies of George Washington, James Madi- son, James Monroe, and Andrew Jackson. ' He said the prin ciple of a tax on imports to encourage the growth of home industry in native raw products had been a part of American government for 100 years, but the Democrats had only in re cent years decided it was a vital issue. Yet, Sherman not ed, Cleveland's administration had framed no legislation to put its views into action as the Republicans had done with the McKinley Act. He characterized ex-President Cleveland as a shrewd politician who did not believe in free trade sufficiently to make a specific statement on the subject in his letter of acceptance. Sherman said: "Ask him now the question, any of you: 'Well, now, do you believe in that doctrine about the tariff?' And he won't answer you. And lO^The Tribune (New York), October 11, 1892, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ............................................................. ' 2 4 3 he has not told us, the people, or the Democratic p a r t y . The speaker next clarified Republican goals as they were reflected in the McKinley Act. The law had its imper fections, "as does any law of human origin," and time would be required to test the merits of what appeared to be ex cellent legislation: We have not had quite long enough to try it, but we know something about it. Our Democratic friends when this bill was passed went around and falsely repre sented its terms and conditions. They employed tin peddlers to go around in some towns in Ohio and double the prices on tin cups, and said it was all done because of the McKinley bill— and I guess they cheated some of the York State Yankees in the same way. They said it would destroy our commerce, ex ports and imports, that it would play the devil with everything, and the people somewhat alarmed took them at their word, and they sent back a Democratic House.109 Instead, annual revenues had increased over $2,000,000, in dicating a vigorous importation trade. Sherman pointed out that only 45 per cent of imported items were controlled by the McKinley Act, and articles would constantly be added to the duty free list as American industry developed to where it could successfully compete. Describing the McKinley Act as labor's salvation, Sherman said the law kept the American workingman from com peting with "slave labor" wages which would otherwise reduce lOSjbid. lO^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 4 4 him "to the condition that exists in every European coun try. "HO He maintained that the McKinley Act protected wages through protecting prices and made it possible for the laboring classes to educate their children at public ex pense and to elevate themselves beyond a static condition. Sherman, the Republicans' most authoritative tariff voice with the exception of McKinley himself, invaded New York by way of Cooper Union on October 10, 1892 with the knowledge that the American public in general felt his party had served the industrial special interests by revising the tariff upward in prosperous times. Thus on the defensive, he hoped to win support in ex-President Cleveland’s home state by taking a conciliatory but hardly consistent posi tion. He asked that judgment be withheld on an untested measure of great promise yet stated an erroneous cause and effect relationship between the McKinley Act and both the booming import trade and the workingman's fictitious well being. Like all Republican spokesmen, Sherman was forced to equate the McKinley Act with labor benefits because manage ment’s brutal policies in the great Homestead steel strike of 1892 had hurt their party through public reaction to the llOlbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 4 5 monied class that high tariffs protected. Thomas B. Reed; Republican Thomas Brackett Reed made a significant contribu tion to American government when he used his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives to force revision of constitutional privilege governing quorum computation and the entertainment of dilatory motions. Members who previ ously prevented a quorum simply by refusing to answer roll call were counted even in the cloak room or barber shop, A powerful congressional figure from 1875 to 1898, this great debater earned the nickname of "Czar" Reed but made party responsibility a fact, A ponderous giant, Reed plowed his way to the Great Hall platform on November 5, 1892 through a crowd where "thé jostling and pushing were so tremendous that not a few peo ple became ill,"^^^ The speaker began by chiding the oppo sition party: I am talking not so much to Republicans as to the stray Democrats that may possibly be here, and I feel that I am right in saying that nine-tenths of the duty of the Republican speaker is not to instruct Republicans but to bring Democrats up to date, (Pro- lll^he Tribune (New York), November 6, 1892, p. 1, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 4 6 IIP longed laughter and applause. ) At this point a group of Democrats outside the door began to cheer lustily for Grover Cleveland, and the commo tion soon grew to proportions where even Reed's stentorian voice could not cope with it. The audience became restless. "Then there were calls for the police. 'What's the matter with the police?' was shouted all over. Mr. Reed had ceased, and the meeting came to a standstill." The occa sion was saved when law officers finally routed the distur- bers.113 Reed returned to his address to say that the Demo cratic Party fulfilled a valuable "mission" in fault-find ing: "If you were to take an instantaneous photograph of the Democratic party at any moment, you would find it de- 114 daring that something could not be done." The Repub licans had overcome Democratic objections to show the people slavery could be abolished, 11 states could be forced to re main in the Union, greenbacks could be issued, prosperity could be achieved, and a large part of the war debt could be paid. The Democrat's negative pronouncements, Reed de clared, made the people more starkly aware of Republican ^^^Ibid. ll^Ibid. ^^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 4 7 accomplishments. Where the tariff was concerned, Reed said he could defend the McKinley Act on the basis that its theory had won! the acceptance of all mankind: The doctrine of Protection has not been adopted through ignorance. . . . the people throughout the land, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, have been giving their attention to it. And the result . . . is all on one side. Every nation on earth except Great Britain, is a protectionist n a t i o n . He added that every party was also a protectionist party I jexcept "possibly" the Democratic Party. Reed emphasized ! that he said "possibly" because the opposition was advocat- iing free trade, and "one of the distinguishing characteris tics of the Democratic Party is that it never does after election what it says it is going to do before e l e c t i o n . The danger to be feared from the Democratic Party, there fore, was the danger of the unknown. Following Reed's speech, Chauncey Depew addressed the audience briefly. Depew, after dinner speaker extra ordinary, America's leading orator at special occasions. and "the peerless all-round orator" of his time. 117 was president of the Vanderbilt railroad interests and knew 117pond, Eccentricities of Genius, p. 17. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 4 8 personally every President from Lincoln to Coolidge. He ’ had just returned from a stumping tour over the state, and he attributed the general prosperity in the rural areas to I the effects of the McKinley Act. Depew said that every- Iwhere new factories, mills, and industries had sprung up by virtue of tariff protection given to native raw materials. ! The business activity in turn had brought work and happiness 118 ■ to "countless thousands" of formerly unemployed workmen. Like Sherman, Depew defended high protection as the single condition for a prosperity that was rooted in bumper grain I crops and several other causes. The crash was to come in j less than three months. I I Reed was one of the truly outstanding debaters and j analytical speakers in Congress, and his closely reasoned I addresses rarely lasted more than 10 minutes. The contrast ! between the prolonged series of quips and non-derived gen eralities— he mainly twitted the Democrats by giving full i rein to his blasting wit— that Reed delivered at Cooper I Union on election eve and his government addresses is so ; striking that one conclusion seems inescapable: Reed's j light and jocose approach in the Great Hall was his unique | llSThe Tribune (New York), November 6, 1892, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. --------------------------------------------------------------------- means of coping with the difficult Republican position of defending a tariff act that the people justifiably looked upon as a profiteering device. Judging from surface re sponse, his approach was more successful than Sherman's, although both faced partisan audiences. The tariff issue, too, lacked lustre. The 1896 Election The "free silver campaign" of 1896 was concerned with bimetallism, or the maintenance of both gold and silver as standard legal tender coin at a fixed ratio of 16 to one. The ratio meant that United States mints accepted both gold and silver for coinage purposes with a dollar's worth of silver weighing 16 times as much as a dollar's worth of g o l d . William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska forced the silver question to the front with crusading energy as he secured during 1895 and 1896 free silver declarations in 30 of the 34 state Democratic conventions. One of the greatest ora tors of his time, he then captured the Democratic nomination 119Tjj^e inherent difficulty with a fixed mint ratio is that it can not correspond for long to fluctuating market values influenced by goldsmiths, silversmiths, and money brokers. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 250 for President with his famous "Cross of Gold" speech. William McKinley, whose Republican Presidential nomination and campaign was managed by astute capitalist Marcus Hanna, won the election easily. At Cooper Union, champions of labor replaced states men as the campaign platform felt the influence of the gen eral Cooper Institute trend toward reflecting the interests of the workingman. Illustrative of the altered direction was "the first real workingmen's meeting ever held in New 120 York during a campaign" on September 22, 1896. Silver men debated gold men in the Great Hall during 10 minute stands on the floor, and every speaker was a wage earner. The speakers and their remarks were unimportant, but the occasion was indicative of a larger and permanent movement. John P. Altgeld; Democrat The illiterate son of an immigrant family, John Peter Altgeld educated himself in the law and became Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. In 1892 he became the first governor of foreign birth in Illinois history and the first Democratic governor in 40 years. During the vio lent Pullman car railroad strike at Chicago in 1894, he 120The World (New York), September 23, 1896, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. " ............................................. " 2 5 1 opposed the unrequested intervention of federal troops or dered by President Cleveland as well as the circuit court injunction issued against the strikers for supposed mail train interference. In 1892 Altgeld was branded a radical 121 for pardoning anarchists imprisoned for alleged compli city with leaders of the Haymarket labor bombing-riot in 1886. Altgeld's unusual address, delivered on October 17, 1896 before "the largest crowd in the history of famous 1PP Cooper Union," centered on a secondary plank in the Demo cratic platform which stated: We denounce arbitrary interference by. Federal authori ties in local affairs as a violation of the Constitu tion . . . and a crime against free institutions, and we especially object to Government by injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of government. Before he could speak, the governor fought a pro longed battle to reach the platform, and when at last he stood at the rostrum, he could not make himself heard be cause the huge crowd was on its feet to give "the idol of ^^^Altgeld demonstrated that the judge was preju diced and the jury packed, making the trial a miscarriage of justice. History has vindicated his release of the three surviving anarchists— four had been executed— as legally correct. 122.jhe World (New York) , October 18, 1896, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 5 2 organized labor the longest and wildest greeting ever ac- 123 corded a speaker in this city." Altgeld sat down in the red leather chair reserved for featured speakers at Cooper Union until the handkerchief-waving and hat-tossing laborers quieted sufficiently for him to be introduced. The speaker declared the American people had a vital choice to make: At present there is in addition to the gold stan dard a quartet of blighting sisters in our land, re spectively called: "Federal interference in local affairs." "Government by injunction." "Usurpation by the United States Supreme Court." "Corruption." All four are clothed in phariseeism and pretense, and all recognize the gold standard as their natural or foster mother. This campaign is to decide not only whether we shall perpetuate the experiment of the English financial system which is prostrating our nation, but also whether we shall permanently adopt these four sisters into our household and make them the ruling members of the f a m i l y . 1^4 Altgeld then proceeded to defend his actions and to condemn those of President Cleveland and Attorney General Richard Olney in the great Pullman strike. He cited Article IV, Section iv of the Constitution in attacking the Presi dent's legal right to order federal troops to Chicago when they had not been requested by either the governor or the 123lbid. ^^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 5 3 state legislature. He drew pointed attention to the fact that Olney had appointed Edwin Walker, a Chicago railroad attorney, as special counsel for the government and the con spiracy against the people the day after the Chicago super intendent of railway mail service had telegraphed that mail was flowing normally in Chicago; On July 3 Mr. Walker sent a telegram to Washington asking that Federal troops be sent to Chicago, and that afternoon they arrived. Up to this time there had been no stopped mails, no destruction of prop erty and, according to the reports of the railroad managers themselves, no serious interference with the operation of the railroads or with interstate commerce. Up to this time the State and local au thorities had been completely ignored, the State was not asked to do anything or to assist in any manner, although it was not only able to entirely control the situation, but stood ready to do it. The spe cial counsel for the Government was the representa tive of the railroads. Assistance from the State was not wanted. Every step was taken to establish a precedent that might be used in the future; that the corporations might at any time be able to get federal troops; and, that the President might inter fere at pleasure in any community; with the troops came the injunctions by Federal Judges forbidding all possible things. It was to be government by in j u n c t i o n . 1 ^ 5 The speaker then explained the non-constitutionality of the injunction. By the injunction procedure, the judge both brought the accusation and pronounced the sentence. In doing so he abridged the law by defining an act as il- 125ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 5 4 legal which up to that time had not been illegal and also by depriving American citizens of their fundamental right of trial by jury. The action had been justified as a Presi dential prerogative; "According to Judge Cooley, Mr. Cleveland gave the Constitution a new construction. This may be true, but he stabbed republican government to the vitals when he did it." Altgeld denounced the unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court on May 27, 1895, which upheld the injunction arrest of Eugene V. Debs, President of the American Railway Union and leader of the strike. He cited- the warning voiced by Thomas Jefferson in 1800 that the Supreme Court was not all knowing and all wise. Following other extended remarks on unwarranted usurpation of power by the nation's highest judges in the interests of "passion, party, and privilege," Altgeld concluded that "side-door convenience to the Federal courts" would not win for the monied classes a final victory over the toiling masses :"whose fruits they d e v o u r . " 1 ^ 7 While Altgeld was speaking to the artisans inside Cooper Union, an additional 15,000 working people milled in IZGlbid. 127lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 5 5 Cooper Square. The vast throng, becoming impatient and un ruly, attacked street conveyances and "smashed the windows 1 PR of the cars, and women in them screamed." Police fought with the disturbers, not only to keep the horsecars running, but to maintain some semblance of order. Riot reinforce ments arrived before Altgeld finally emerged and made a few brief remarks to satisfy the thousands who had "waited for 129 three hours to hear Altgeld speak for two minutes." Altgeld's Cooper Union address was highly signifi cant because it authoritatively brought into detailed and accurate focus for the first time before a great labor aud ience in the industrial East the new legal and constitution al issues which were to exert such a strong influence during the American workingman's twentieth century struggle for rights. Also, this powerful address was unusual as campaign oratory because the speaker did not appear primarily as a party advocate dealing in assertions and generalities, iRather he appeared as a knowledgeable witness on his own ; behalf— one highly competent to testify in the area under examination and bringing a wealth of expert, personal, and I original evidence. Altgeld defended his own position by 128ibid. 129lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 5 6 Iputting his opponents on trial. Terence V. PowderIv; Republican Leader of the once powerful Knights of Labor during ; the entire period of the movement's rise and fall, Terence Vincent Powderly proved too visionary and idealistic to lead labor out of the wilderness. As General Master Workman from 1879 to 1893, he opposed a labor party in politics, believ ing that the workingman must make his gains through educa tion and through alliance with the major political organi- I jzations. Powderly sought to make the Knights a general bet- jterment group that would eventually reform the world. ; ! ' : On September 10, 1896 Powderly addressed at Cooper Union "the most disorderly and boisterous meeting ever held i 130 during a campaign in this city." One reason for the dis orderly nature of the assembly was that the audience was ! i levenly divided politically. Another was that a large ele- jment was present simply to insult Powderly. A final reason ; I I jwas that just prior to the meeting a pamphlet was distribut- Jed containing a reprint of a letter purportedly written by {Powderly in 1888 to James W, Hayes, organizer of the Knights l^^The World (New York), September 11, 1896, p. 1, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 5 7 , of Labor, in which Powderly said: "Damn the Republican Par-j ty, you say. Amen', Perspiration ran down Powderly's | face as he tried to obtain a hearing amid the furor: I Finally matters got to such a pass, with men | standing and shaking their fists at each other, with some striking blows, and women making haste to get | out of the hall, that Acting Police Captain John D. i Herlihy, with his fifty men, took matters in charge. j A score or more of men were thrown from the hall. I With drawn clubs the policemen . . . took stations | along the aisles. Then Mr. Powderly got a hearing. | Before beginning his address, Powderly shook a copy | of the pamphlet toward the audience and declared it a for gery "by a creature too low and contemptible to be recog nized." Immediately a man shouted, "So are you 1" and was 133 at once ejected from the hall. Powderly then proceeded to discuss the silver issue. He pointed to constant Democratic agitation for more money in circulation, accompanied by claims that the ills of labor would be cured if the mints began to coin silver in unlim ited quantities: But just how the man who has no silver to be coined is to be benefited has not been made clear to us yet, and I believe it will do the country more good to open our mines, mills and factories to the unemployed than to open our mints to the unrestricted coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. The coinage of the dollar for the silver owner is not so important to Ibid. Ibid Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 5 8 the nation as the earning^^^ of the dollar by the laborer 135 At this point a man in a yachting cap arose and shouted, "Three cheers for William J. Bryan." The cheers jwere given lustily, and for a moment the Republicans looked astounded. Then came an answering call, "Three cheers for iMcKinley." The response was hearty. Attention then turned to the man who had started the Bryan cheer, and "a little fellow slapped him across the face with a folded newspaper. He retaliated with his open hand. Both were run up the 1 aisle by policemen." When order had been restored, Powderly went on to say that if there was insufficient money in circulation, it was because labor was unemployed rather than because the owners of silver had "not been allowed to use the stamp of the government on the white metal to their own advantage He reminded his hearers that under free coinage any foreign manufacturer could have his silver bullion coined "and buy up the factory of the ruined American manufacturer with a commodity which we have doubled in price at our mint without 134ipjie nation was just recovering from a depression. 135The World (New York) , September 11, .1896, p.. 1. i 137lbid. ' R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 5 9 . 1 3 8 asking for the aid or consent of any other nation. Powderly was again interrupted by a voice that called, "You used to believe in free silver." The speaker janswered: Yes, I once believed . . . but after I had stud ied the question longer my convictions changed. You I study it and yours will. Why, some of the loudest i shouters for free silver now sat in Congress and I voted for its demonetization in 1873. Were they fools or knaves then?^^^ Calls of "Traitor" and "Turncoat" came from all over the [hall, and Powderly "stepped to the front of the platform ilooking as though he were ready to individually fight every iman before him."^^^ More men were ejected. Order finally prevailed, and Powderly, with an air of resignation and weariness, turned his attention briefly to the Pullman strike. He deplored the legal precedents established in settling the dispute and said that govern ment by injunction was made possible because public offices were filled with truckling officials without sufficient courage to uphold their oath of duty. It was impossible to have government by injunction, he maintained, unless it had been preceded by government by incompetence. Powderly, one of labor's great voices, was consid- 138 Ibid. 139 Ibid. 140 Ibid, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 6 C ered a traitor by many union leaders because he had allowed his recently acquired money sentiments to turn him away froir the more plebian Democrats and the pro-labor plank which Altgeld so ably espoused. The 1,500 Democrats in the hall were not so successful in embarrassing Powderly as they were in disturbing him sufficiently so that he veered into a brief but vague attack on government by injunction and fed eral intervention. Although he thus moved temporarily into the enemy camp, Powderly could hardly withhold his condemna tion of the Pullman situation without being false to his first principles of labor allegiance. Summary Cooper Union, opening in 1859 almost upon the Civil War, experienced a momentous Presidential canvass during the stirring year of 1860. Charles O'Conor and Clement Vallan- digham emphasized the importance of the Democratic fusion strategy, while Alabama firebrand William L. Yancey warned of southern secession. On the Republican side, Carl Schurz attacked the changing positions of Stephen A. Douglas, and Thaddeus Stevens ridiculed the fusionists. In the 1864 campaign, Oliver Morton attacked the disloyalty of the Peace Democrats, and August Belmont sought to bring unity to the R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 6 1 divided Democratic Party. During the 1868 canvass, the first "bloody shirt" attack in the Great Hall was delivered by Republican Henry Wilson, and fellow party member John C. Fremont discussed the Civil War debt and westward expansion. The 1872 campaign found the corrupt administration of Pres ident Grant attacked by Liberal Republican renegades Lyman Trumbull and Carl Schurz; the administration was defended by Reverend Olympia Brown, among the first of a large group of women to take part in national political races, and Roscoe Conkling. In the 1876 struggle, the bloody shirt was waved for the last time by Republicans Robert G. Ingersoll and James G. Blaine; the value of greenbacks versus bonds and national bank notes was expounded by Greenbackers Peter Cooper and Samuel F. Cary; the Presidential contest was put into perspective by Parke Godwin. During the 1892 canvass. Republican tariff advocates Thomas B. (Czar) Reed and John Sherman sang the praises of the McKinley Act. The "free silver campaign" of 1896 elicited free coinage criticism from labor leader Terence V. Powderly and condemnation of government labor interference policy by John P. Altgeld. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. C H A P T E R V I THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD Introduction Platform activity of the Civil War period, occupy ing the most active portion of what this writer has de scribed in Chapter IV as the golden age of speechmaking at Cooper Union, composed the Great Hall's most important era from a historical standpoint. The events and issues which formed the core of discussion represented a time of stress without parallel in the American scene and also launched Cooper Institute at its opening in 1859 as an assembly cen ter for the argument of national questions. Moreover, at no other time and in no other phase of speechmaking activity in the Great Hall did such a galaxy of oratorical stars pass before the platform. Such men as Secretary of State William Seward and Senator Charles Sumner were prominent statesmen; Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, and Anna E. Dickinson were (excepting only John B. Gough) the three most prominent figures of the American lyceum. 262 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 6 3 Historically, authorities separate the Civil War into three periods: (1) the sectional controversy, (2) the conflict, and (3) the reconstruction era. Certain aspects of each segment were exemplified through speechmaking in the Great Hall, so the selection of study material answered the question: which speakers and speeches best illustrated sig nificant historical phases within each of the three peri ods? The speakers chosen were figures of national promi nence, either as statesmen or political leaders or as lyceum personalities, The addresses selected were those which through argument and occasion brought into focus various policies that at the time were affecting the course of na tional destiny. "The real issue" in the sectional controversy until the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 "was the continued existence or the total abolition of slavery.Abolition doctrine was the only phase of the prewar Negro problem dis cussed in the Great Hall; thus the sectional controversy was represented by three speakers who agitated against slavery per se. A larger number of speeches portrayed the years of ^"Slavery," Encyclopaedia Britannica. 14th ed. (1958), Vol. XX. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 264 conflict, but it was not the lectures by obscure speakers on such subjects as relief for needy soldiers, battle experi ences, logistics, or the problems of growing northern peren nial cotton that were of lasting significance. Addresses by leading public figures were sought which took issue with vital policies that affected the outcome of the struggle between North and South. Such policies were concerned with the conduct of the war during the 1863 "defeatism" period and the life-or-death threat posed by possible English in tervention on behalf of the Confederacy. In the reconstruction era, controversial speech- making or advocacy concerning North-South relations was limited. Upon three occasions speakers addressed Cooper Union audiences about proper treatment of the South; the historic struggle of opposing views between President John son and Congress was discussed upon four occasions. Accordingly, the forces at work in the Civil War period were dealt with under three headings: (1) anti slavery agitation, (2) conduct of the war, and (3) aspects of reconstruction. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 6 5 Anti-Slavery Agitation Abolition crusaders Wendell Phillips: the John Brown meeting.— Pond notes that the "great triumvirate of lecture kings" consist ed of Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, and John B. Gough. It was not by accident the three men shared the crown and purple mantle of the lecture world: Other men for a season, and sometimes for a few years, were as popular as any of them, but it was a calcium-light popularity, whereas the popularity of the "Big Three" endured for their entire lives. Phillips held his place the longest, beginning lyceum work about 1845, and continuing to his death nearly forty years later.^ Yet the fascinating entertainer was only one side of the Phillips platform personality. He was a zealot dedicated to abolition. Although able to command enormous fees, he lectured free on Negro emancipation. The clash of arms at Harpers Ferry was heard on October 17, 1859, and John Brown was hung in Virginia on December 2, 1859 for his abortive attempt to lead a slave uprising. On December 15, 1859 Phillips was the featured speaker at a giant meeting organized at Cooper Union to 2pond, Eccentricities of Genius, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 6 6 express eastern sympathy with the dead liberator's purpose. One week previously the Boston blueblood orator had declared over the coffin of John Brown before its burial at North Elba, New York; "How vast the change in men's hearts'. In surrection was a harsh, horrid word to millions a month ago." He believed history would date emancipation from Harpers Ferry. National excitement was at fever pitch, and the Great Hall meeting was timed to coincide with the next day's executions at Charleston, Virginia of four Brown accomplices in the raid on the Harpers Ferry Federal Arsenal. The Cooper Institute gathering was a very troubled one because the Brown sympathizers were mixed with pro-South men and with agitated, uneasy citizens who believed the abortive attempt to begin a slave uprising had seriously threatened the nation's peace. A brief introductory address was delivered by George Cheever, crusading pastor of New York's Allen Street Presby terian Church who years earlier had been tarred and feath ered by a Salem congregation for attacking an influential deacon because he sold Bibles with one hand and operated a rum distillery with the other. Cheever made several remarks to the effect that John Brown's raid was both a legal and R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 6 7 religious act. A strong audience reaction developed: It was John Brown's natural right to protest against slavery, and in every just and righteous way to put that protest into action— (disturbance)— and any state establishing slavery by law— though God has forbidden it, and forbidding such a protest by law— though God has required it— (disturbance)— instantly makes such a protest not only a right, but a duty, and doubly both. Here a man in the audience rose and said, "If you are sent here to talk about John Brown, talk about him; don't you talk about anything else, God damn you. " Cries of "Put him out" and great confusion. Mr. Pilsbury, Superintendent of the Police, here made his appearance on the platform. A Voice— Mr. Pilsbury, are we to be protected in our meeting or not? (Applause, amidst which the band played "Hail Columbia" and "The Star-Spangled Banner.")^ A number of men were escorted from the hall by po licemen, but not without difficulty. Then Cheever contin ued: "John Brown was at liberty to protest against the laws when they were wrong. God found him and man killed him." A voice shouted, "Stop that, stop that'." As the disturber was expelled, the furor' reached a wild pitch.^ Thaddeus Hyatt, who had called the meeting to order and was well known for his mass sale of John Brown photographs to finan cially aid the martyr's family, came forward and formally committed the meeting into the hands of the police. Super- ^New York Herald. December 16, 1859, p. 1. ^The New York Times. December 16, 1859, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 268 intendant Pilsbury asked friends of the meeting to remain seated so officers could locate disturbers. Cheever once again continued: One such man, one such heart, one such real Christian has done more than a million hypocrites, or all the lying in all the Pro-Slavery churches in Christendom. He refused communion with a slave-holding clergyman, and on his way to the scaffold he stooped down to kiss a little negro child whom God had put in his path.^ At this point, a woman's voice shrilled,"God bless himl" Other voices joined in a mixed chorus of cheers and jeers so loud and sustained that Cheever abandoned the rostrum. Another reason why Cheever abandoned the rostrum was that a number of men who had been put out returned to con duct a meeting within the meeting at the rear of the hall. The Times reported: "Chas. H. Haswell, Ex-President of the Board of Councilmen . . . addressed the crowd upon treason, and the speakers of the evening. A proposition to tar and feather Dr. Cheever met with unanimous approval."^ Haswell was banished permanently, but the confusion was "indescrib able." Amid the din and hubbub, Phillips came forward to speak. The principal speaker began by noting that the ^New York Herald. December 16, 1859, p. 1. ^The New York Times. December 16, 1859, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 6 9 disturbed nature of the meeting indicated the far-reaching effect of the raid in Virginia. Interrupted by almost con stant calls of "Treason," "That's a lie," or "Why didn't you go?" Phillips defended the legal basis of the Harpers Ferry incident. He declared that if John Brown had stormed into Virginia-with an army rather than 17 men, the action would have demanded sanction as revolutionary war even from Henry Clay, had that southern leader been alive: A Voice— Don't condemn a dead man. Another Voice— We are defending a dead man. Mr. Phillips— Now look at the means— seventeen men. A Voice— Twenty-two. Mr. Phillips— Well, twenty-two. Now let us look at it. In the first place, is Virginia a State? I say she is not. ("Damned treason," groans, and great confusion.) You think that is fanaticism. If it is, it is two thousand years old. Cicero, the great Roman statesman, says in his treatise on law— "Will you call a community of pirates a State? Will you call a con cord of thieves a State? Will you call an association of wicked men a state?" "Negalis," says the Roman, "thou Shalt deny it." A Voice— You better go to Rome then. Terming Virginia a despotism which had hung John Brown in order to rule by fear, Phillips declared the terror strategy would fail because the structure of bondage had begun inex orably to crumble with the first shot fired at Harpers Ferry. The speaker was then interrupted: ^New York Herald. December 16, 1859, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 270 A Voice— I want to know who constituted John Brown the judge of the laws of the United States, whether they are constitutional or unconstitutional. Mr. Phillips— God made him a judge when he made him a man. Every human being is bound to judge of the righteousness of a law before he obeys it. (A Voice— how is it with a criminal tried by the laws of his country?) John Brown had a right to judge the slave laws of Virginia on that account.® The answer, of course, was an impractical one be cause men can not obey only those laws they believe in, and the dissident section of the audience voiced its dissatis faction with the speaker's reply. Phillips then went on to put words into the mouth of the dead martyr : John Brown said, "those laws are unrighteous— (A Voice— He lied)— therefore, they are not laws. I am bound to obey God, and I do. The present generation says I am a felon, and hang me. I appeal to the next generation. If that generation says the laws were righteous, I am a felon; but if that age says that Virginia is a pirate, then I am a martyr."® Continuing his emotional argument, the speaker maintained that laws, whether written or unwritten, upheld the rights of human beings; John Brown had upheld the rights of the Negro with muskets, while Robert E. Lee with his detachment of United States Marines had upheld the rights of the slave- masters by moving upon the roundhouse in which Brown was besieged. Phillips was shouted down, and confusion again ®Ibid. ^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 1 reigned supreme. Several men were ejected when they ad vanced to the platform shaking canes and fists. When he was able to resume, Phillips touched upon several points unrelated to law. He maintained that John Brown's failure to instigate a general slave uprising had been only a matter of a few hours. Brown had not had suf- .ficient time to rally Negroes and white men to his banner. Phillips also maintained that John Brown had been 30 miles away when the Pottawatomie murders^® took place in Kansas, and the stain placed on his name through that outrage was an act of character defamation accomplished by slavery lead ers . He cited testimonial evidence to support his state ments and added: "I know Caleb Cushing^^ said he was there — and Caleb on that occasion got within thirty miles of the truth, and that is nearer than he ever got before. (Great 1 P merriment)" In addition, Phillips made the rash statement that many southerners sympathized with Brown. Pandemonium ^*^During the slavery-free soil battle in Kansas in 1855, Brown, his four sons, and several others decided to redress grievances by massacring five pro-slavery men at a settlement on Pottawatomie Creek. llpormer Attorney General of the United States and a prominent Democrat. ^^The New York Times. December 16, 1859, p . 1. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 2 broke loose with auditors all over the hall trying to ques tion the speaker. As no one was able to obtain a hearing, the abolitionist agitator retired. Several newspapers called the meeting the most dis orderly gathering within memory, and the Herald believed that only "some miracle" prevented the conclave from arriv- 13 ing at "a bloody termination" that "seemed imminent." The crowd was slow to disperse; police cleared the hall with difficulty as auditors jostled or pushed each other and oc casionally came to blows. Phillips showed real courage and considerable good humor in addressing the dangerous audience— certainly more than Cheever, who was not anxious to be tarred and feathered as he had been in Salem. At one point Phillips told his hearers they should elect him to Congress if they wished to abuse him; at no point did he become intimidated or unwill ing to stand his ground. His remarks were on the whole di gressive and at times haphazard, yet little else could be expected when interruptions and questions constantly dis rupted or altered the flow of discourse. Phillips at least succeeded in hurling considerable abolition doctrine into ^^New York Herald. December 16, 1859, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 3 the teeth of the crowd. William Llovd Garrison: "The Sin of Slavery".— William Lloyd Garrison was founder and publisher of The Lib erator . famed Boston anti-slavery newspaper, and he repre sented more than any other figure all that was courageous and uncompromising in the abolitionist spirit. In a stormy crusade that dated from 1828, Garrison was persecuted, im prisoned, and abused by mobs; once he was dragged through the Boston streets at the end of a rope. He helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society and served as its presi dent for 23 years. Garrison was also the man who dared in 1854 to burn the Constitution in public as a pro-slavery covenant with death and hell and who cursed slavery with one hand on the tombstone of John C. Calhoun. Garrison's work was nearing its end when he sounded the clarion call of human freedom at Cooper Union on January 14, 1862. For almost two hours he recited his original abo lition poetry and laid the lash of his God-ordained oratory upon the monster of slavery. His large audience was atten tive. The only disturbance during the lecture occurred at the rear of the hall where a small group of slavery sympa thizers occasionally blew penny trumpets, a heckling act R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 4 often heard in accompaniment with "Blow Ye the Trumpet/' a popular anti-slavery hymn. The speaker declared that the time had passed when northerners should make a distinction between being anti slavery or radical abolitionist. The very word abolitionist spelled enchantment: "Tho' now by Slavery's minions hissed,/ And covered o'er with shame,/ It is a spell of right and power— / A watchword of the free;/ Who spurns it in the trial hour,/ A craven soul is he."^^ The time had also passed, he exclaimed, when abolitionists should be per secuted by northern "idiots" who had hardened their hearts in complicity with the cotton kings: Oh, how thoroughly the North has given her sympathy to the South in this iniquity of slaveholdingl How everywhere the Anti-Slavery movement has been spit upon and denounced, and caricatured and hunted down as if they were wild beasts . . . but the Anti-Slavery movement is of God and cannot be put d o w n .15 Garrison declared the cry was still abroad in the land that North-South differences could be resolved quickly if the abolitionists and secessionists were hung. The statement should be turned around, he said, and if any hang- l^The New York Times. January 15, 1862, p. 8. 15ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 5 ing were to be done, "I am for hanging those go-betweens immediately." The statement was echoed by an audience voice that shouted, "That's the talk. " Garrison held that the real cause of the war could be traced to the refusal of the people to heed the preachings of the abolitionists. Suddenly, apropos only to his general theme, the speaker burst into verse; There is within thy gates a pest,— / Gold, and a Baby lonian vest;/ Not hid in sin, concealed in shade,/ But broad against the sun displayed./ Repent thee, then, and quickly bring/ Forth from the camp the accursed thing;/ Consign it to remediless fire,/ Watch 'til the latest spark expire ;/ Then strew its ashes on the wind,/ Nor let one atom reck behind. With religious fervor. Garrison then turned upon the Constitution, the hated instrument which he had so often de nounced as a covenant with death and hell because genera tions of slaves had been worked to tortured graves beneath the shadow of its protection. Although every American citi zen bore a burden of shame and hypocrisy, the founding fath ers had conceived the great wrong: Out fathers sinned. They sinned deeply when they entered into that bargain about slaves being given up; about slave representation; about prosecuting a foreign Slave-trade under our National flag for twenty years; about suppressing slave insurrections by the whole power of the Government. They were IGlbid. l?Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 6 guilty sinners before God. For a score of years prophetic voices were heard ad monishing the people, "Because ye have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid our selves." And the response to that was, "Judgment will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plum met, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding places, and your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with hell shall not s t a n d . "18 Garrison maintained that the saving grace had been the nega tion of the unholy compact by the slave states themselves when they trampled the Constitution underfoot through re bellion . Turning to the war, the abolitionist declared the North stood at the crossroads of vital decision. He main tained the Union forces had to win the war quickly or be weakened to the point where no alternative existed but to recognize Confederate independence. Garrison said President Lincoln was "lacking somewhat in backbone" because he had not declared his intention to abolish^^ slavery. The out- l%bid. l^The North at first took arms simply to maintain the Union. Slavery was not to be interfered with. When it did come in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was a mili tary measure rather than an abolitionist document, and the R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 7 pourings of "the vials of God's wrath" would not be stopped or the bloody evils that were "a judgment of God upon us" withdrawn until the President promised destruction of the PO black man's abomination. Because he felt himself to be an apostle upon a di vine mission. Garrison's oratory assumed a pulpit style in which he espoused views that were rigidly dogmatic and in tolerant. His Cooper Union remarks— he was at his crusading best even though at times characteristically tiresome and tedious— were confined to attacking the moral evil of slav ery without offering a practical system of eradication be yond demanding a declaration of intention from the govern ment. Garrison's lecture, his first since October, 1861, attracted much attention and was widely circulated in pam phlet form. The address brought urgent invitations from anti-slavery Congressmen to appear in Washington as a public speaker and as a personal adviser to the President and his Cabinet concerning the sentiments and demands of the aboli tionists in relation to the war. President approached abolition cautiously to be sure of public support. 20The New York Times. January 15, 1862, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 8 Conduct of the War Although it was at first supposed by both sides that the Civil War would be of short duration, the combatants soon awakened to the stark realities of a sustained con flict. President Lincoln by no means enjoyed the unanimous support of the northern leaders and people in his war poli cies, and the cause became very unpopular by mid-1853 as the Confederate forces on the whole outgeneraled and outfought the Federal armies. Enlistments ceased, forcing Congress to enact an unpopular conscription act on March 3, 1853. Re calcitrants called the draft discriminatory because the monied man could buy his way out by paying $300 for a sub stitute. Even though the administration passed safely through its darkest hours, the tragic, fratricidal war and its conduct were bitterly criticized before victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in the summer of 1863 provided a definite turning point in the tide of hostilities. The North also faced the threat of England moving to break the Federal naval blockade of southern ports. Al though Britain recognized North and South as equal belliger ents and declared her won neutrality, her textile industry demanded cotton, and she violated her own neutral position early in 1862 by constructing warships for the South. Par- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 7 9 1lament amiably toyed with Union protests and allowed launch ing of the Florida. Shenandoah. and the powerful and infa mous Alabama. which played havoc with northern commerce by destroying 60 merchant ships. Impressed by northern suc cesses at Gettysburg and Vicksburg and warned on September 5, 1863 that the intended launching of two new warships would be an act of war, England ceased to aid the Confeder acy . Administration and war criticism Fernando Wood; the peace meeting.— Fernando Wood had been Mayor of New York for six years before and during the Civil War, but at the time of his Cooper Union appear ance, he had recently been deposed by "Boss" Tweed. Wood was the earliest of the truly powerful and corrupt Tammany Hall leaders. Before becoming New York City's leading Cop perhead, or Peace Democrat, he had in 1861 alarmed the na tion by urging over his official signature that New York proclaim its independence and become an open city to sustain trade lines with the South. Wood was very influential until President Lincoln was reelected. The peace meeting held in the Great Hall on April 7, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 280 1863 advertised its purposes clearly in the newspapers; The people will assemble in their might to express their sentiments on the public question of the day. Let all come who are opposed to the CONSCRIPT ACT, opposed to WAR for the NEGRO, who are opposed to the ADMINISTRATION, and who are in favor of THE REUNION OF THE STATES, in favor of the CONSTITUTION, and in favor of the RIGHTS OF THE POOR.21 Wood was the principal speaker, but before he ap peared, lampoon handbills were distributed titled "Loyal Resolutions" and "Fight for the Nigger." These circulars were read with combined anger and amusement until Wood PP stepped forward and a voice roared, "Order, God damn you'." The speaker charged that the administration derived its support for continuing the war by enslaving financial institutions and by enriching the railroads and New England industrialists. Absorbing as it had the largest part of all available capital through war loans. Wood said the gov ernment had made the banks of the nation subservient to its purposes. The profiteering railroads had never carried so much freight or so many passengers, and the mills and fac tories of New England had never hummed with such activity. Next singling out the administration's wartime sup- 2J-New York Herald. April 8, 1863, p. 1, 2^The New York Times. April 8, 1863, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 8 1 pression of civil rights. Wood reminded his hearers that even during the Revolutionary War when conditions were more desperate than at present. Congress had not found it neces sary to pass a conscription hill such as that enacted in March, 1863. The Copperhead leader then struck the adminis tration 's most vulnerable spot when he pointed out that never before had the personal liberty guarantees of the Con stitution been suspended: Now, my friends, each of the amendments has been shamefully and grossly violated . . . ("That's so.") Our persons have been seized; our papers have been seized; we have been taken from our beds and fami lies at dead of night; we have been incarcerated in dungeons; we have been denied to be confronted by our accusers; we have had no charges preferred against us, either political or criminal; and, finally, after our healths were destroyed, our occupations abandoned, and all the injury that men can suffer had been in flicted upon us, we have been dismissed without know ing what the accusation was, or without any chance of redress.23 He declared that in some places freedom of assembly had also been abridged. A government, he charged, that could perpet uate its rule through despotism would never want a cessation of hostilities. Wood at length suggested a concrete plan to put an end to the abolitionists' war that everyone said he didn't 23]ÿfew York Herald. April 8, 1863, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 8 2 want and which the poor man truly did not want because he was the one who was without $300 to buy his draft exemption: Now, I will tell you what, in my judgment, he should do. In my opinion, the President of the United States should seek either directly and openly, or indirectly and covertly, officially or inofficially, to meet for a conference. I believe that there should be a cessation of hostilities. War having failed, a reunion is further off to-day than it was two years ago, and getting further off every day. If the conference failed. Wood believed the people should be allowed to vote upon whether the war would be reopened or whether the Confederacy would be allowed to form an inde pendent nation in peace. Wood's indignation at the abridgment of individual rights was a justifiable protest against the old adage: "In the clash of arms the laws are silent." To this strong ar gument on behalf of cherished institutions, the adroit and magnetic propagandist added the association of war with the loss of physical comforts and security. Although his appeal for action was an over-simplified expedient that contained no reference to the inherent and continuing causes of the war. Wood knew he was on solid ground in calling for a ces sation of hostilities and war plebiscite because the nation was sighing for peace. Indeed, the speaker's limited appeal 24ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 8 3 was sufficient for an audience composed largely of the al ready discontented. Anna E. Dickinson: "The Three Methods of Peace".— "Without question the 'Queen of the Lyceum,'" Anna Elizabeth Dickinson established a reputation as an oratorical Joan of p c Arc early in the Civil War by pleading the Union cause. Miss Dickinson was nationally famous at 20, and in 1864, at 22, she lectured by invitation of leading Senators and Rep resentatives on how to win the war before a joint meeting of the houses of Congress. President Lincoln was in atten dance. Such an honor was without precedent in an age when women had few rights. Miss Dickinson spoke at Cooper Union on May 2, 1863 in the blackest days of the Union cause. She had been de nied the use of the Academy of Music, but her "petticoat politics" did not close the doors of Peter Cooper's Insti tute or keep away 3,000 listeners. Further concessions to slavery were rejected by Miss Dickinson as one method of securing peace. She said the course of appeasement was unworkable because the North had made every conceivable concession to slavery prior to 1861 ^^New York Herald. May 3, 1863, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 8 4 in an unsuccessful attempt to maintain the Union. Another impossible means of securing permanent peace would be for the North to consent to a division of the Republic. Separa tion was impractical, the attractive lecturer maintained, because possession or responsibility concerning debts, mon ey, land, and national advantages could never be settled to the satisfaction of both sides. Miss Dickinson advocated war to the bitter end as the only means of securing peace forever. The uncompromis ing resort to arms in turn demanded "that we are to have men of active measures and determined loyalty at the head of civil and military departments to carry us on to victory and to final success.She then directed her eloquent wrath against Secretary of State William H. Seward. She labeled him "a traitor to his first principles and a traitor to the country" who had schemed to allow a "traitorous leakage" of vital information to the South and who had subverted every 27 situation to his ambition for the Presidency in 1864. The speaker charged Seward with responsibility for the surrender of Fort Sumter, the Federal defeat at Bull Run, the nation's deteriorated relations with England, and a host of other 26ibid. ^~^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 8 5 marplots. Miss Dickinson also identified H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief of the Armies, as a designing pro-slavery schemer who should be discharged along with the "fox of the PP State Department." After Seward and Halleck had been replaced, the lec turer advised that the southern rebellion could be quickly stifled by giving high commands to deposed Generals Franz Sigel, Benjamin F. Butler, and John C. Fremont. She eulo gized the tactical brilliance of Sigel, the ruthless occupa- 29 tion hand of Butler at New Orleans, and the inspirational patriotic leadership of Fremont. Miss Dickinson then launched one of the passionate perorations for which she be came so famous: Oh, men and women, people of the North, I ask you will you stand where the red light shining on you shows you with folded arms and bent head, care less and listless, while faces worn with agony and paling down in death on the battle field, looking to you and crying aloud to you for help? Oh, people of the North, will you be so seen putting down your hand under the cannon, under the rifle and under the bayonet, giving aid and help to the men gathered up against us? Oh, men and women of the North, oh, great, loyal heart of the American nation, will you 28ibid. ^^Butler's six-month tenure as occupation force com mander of New,Orleans was so corrupt and outrageous that President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy declared him a bandit and placed him outside the rules of war. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 8 6 be found as the drummer boy was found, out in the West, with his flag wrapped about him, with the shirt torn open, with the coat here and the white skin there, and the life blood ebbing out, making even in death the "red, white and blue?" Will you be found there?^^ The address was eloquent patriotic pyrotechny, but had Miss Dickingon herself been a traitor, her words could hardly have been more compatible with southern interests. Her arraignment of Seward was beyond reason; although he had indeed proved a rather poor adviser to President Lin coln, Halleck had achieved marked success as a field com mander; Generals Sigel, Butler, and Fremont together might not have given an army satisfactory leadership. The fact that the address was allegation without close argument was lost upon the audience as Miss Dickinson cast them under the spell of her magic emotionalism. As chairman Henry Ward Beecher said: "Let no man open his lips here tonight. Mu sic is the only fitting accompaniment to the eloquent utter- 31 ances we have heard." This address was Anna Dickinson's first effort in New York; it was her greatest success and one of the memor- ^%ew York Herald. May 3, 1863, p. 8. ^^Giraud Chester, Embattled Maiden (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1951), p. 63. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 8 7 able public addresses of the Civil War. Giraud Chester notes that the audience "went crazy" and that no speaker in 32 New York ever achieved such a triumph. Horatio Sevmour; anti-war rallv.— Horatio Seymour was the Democratic candidate for President in 1868, but he was Governor of New York and leader of the Empire State Copperheads at the time he spoke at Cooper Union. Objecting to the war generally, he felt the conflict should at least be fought within constitutional limitations. He bitterly opposed the unique Conscription Act and President Lincoln's suppression of the writ of habeas corpus. On July 11, 1863 when lack of military success had long since stifled enlistments and the Union cause was at its lowest ebb, attempts to carry out the conscription law in New York touched off a bloody draft riot. Huge mobs destroyed $1,500,000 in property, and more than 1,000 people were killed or seriously injured in the most exciting exper ience of any northern community during the war. Seymour addressed the rabble as "my friends," promising suspension 33 of the draft if violence ceased. Government troops shoot- ^^Ibid.. p. 61. 3^Alexander, A Political History of the State of New York. Ill, 69. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 8 8 ing to kill suppressed lawlessness after four days, and na tional attention focused on New York as President Lincoln forced delayed conscription to proceed late in August. Seymour carried on a running quarrel with the Presi dent over New York's draft quota, and the governor's senti ments bubbled to the boiling point when the Chief Executive issued an October call for additional replacements. Seymour was primarily interested in denouncing grist for the war mill when he spoke at Cooper Union on October 31, 1863. After he had been introduced by William M. "Boss" Tweed, later to become the central figure in the nation's most infamous municipal scandal, Seymour came forward to discuss manpower statistics. He noted that the government since the beginning of the war had called uponr the nation , for 1,400,000 men: We are advised that this call was more than responded to, for we are told that the Northwestern States had, under the call made by the Conscription act, large credits which were to be deducted from the amounts which they were to furnish under the act of Congress. Under the Conscription law, it is in addition to 1,375,000 men that at different times have been called into service, a demand was made for 300,000 more. I mean by this, that which had been furnished, a demand made upon the Atlantics would swell the call upon this people to 1,700,000 men. Within the last few weeks the President, in addition to that, taking into account the surplus, has called for 300,000 more, making a total of 2,000,000 of men who have been de manded thus far in the progress of the war— more than R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 8 9 1,400,000 of men gone forth to the battle-field.^^ To tnis wandering statement the speaker added that one year previously the armies of the North had numbered 700,000 men. Seymour next referred to the recent Presidential Proclamation stating that the number of men in arms needed to suppress the rebellion would have to be increased by al most 600,000 men. It was tragic, he maintained, that each passing year saw the northern armies reduced by one-half. Desertions and campaign-incurred illness robbed the ranks of almost as many men as did enemy bullets. Large numbers also returned to their homes, but in any event the absentees "are lost to the armies of our country for the time being at least."35 The governor lamented at length "the monstrous waste of human life" which brought anguish and suffering into countless homes. Dwelling upon the financial cost of the war, Seymour contrasted the prosperous, debt-free people of prewar Ameri ca with the taxed, harassed populace that staggered under a burden of taxes and obligations "variously estimated at from $1,500,000,000 to $2,000,000,000."37 The speaker pointed 3*^The World (New York) , November 1, 1863, p. 1. 35ibid. 36ibia_ 37%bid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 290 out that without immediate prospects of victory, the na tion' s financial position became ever more precarious. In his Cooper Union address, Seymour talked a long time but said little. He approached his points obliquely through a rigmarole of qualifying detail, and he at times proclaimed patriotic views that were at obvious variance with his disloyal sentiments. Administration and war support Frederick Douglass ; on the Emancipation Proclama tion .— "The ablest colored leader of his century," Frederick Douglass was the only truly outstanding Negro speaker before Booker T. Washington.^8 ge was born a slave on a Maryland plantation but escaped to carry the abolition torch for 20 years. Although a brilliant platform star, Douglass accept ed government posts after the Civil War and did little popu lar speaking. His ministerial appointment in Haiti marked the first dccupancy of a high state office by a Negro. Douglass appeared at Cooper Union on February 6, 1863 to pronounce the Emancipation Proclamation "the great est event of the century and the whole history of the United 88pond, OP. cit.. p. 29. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ................................... " ■ 2 9 1 : States."39 He pointed to the resounding international en dorsement given the January 1, 1863 edict, particularly in England and Europe where the northern cause had been criti cized for not seeking the abolition of slavery as well as the restoration of the Union. Douglass declared the Presi dent's act would rank with Catholic emancipation, British electoral reforms, the emancipation of 20,000,000 Russian serfs, and other historic declarations of freedom. The proclamation, he said, had been "wrung out by the stern dic tates" of both military and moral necessity. The speaker reminded his audience that the Emancipa tion Proclamation "suggested the conflict of unpopular truth ! I with popular error" because two years previously "good old IJohn Brown was a madman, but now the whole nation is as mad | as he. " The old liberator would smile in his grave with the knowledge that now every former slave might defend him- : S^The Sun (New York), February 7, 1863, p. 1. ; '^^Ibid. The proclamation was primarily a military measure. President Lincoln said: "I believed the indis- jpensable necessity for military emancipation and arming the ; [blacks would come unless averted by that measure. . . . I [was . . . driven to the alternative of either surrendering j jthe Union . . . or of laying strong hand upon the colored jelement" (Rhodes, History of the United States . . .. IV, 1214) . I I ^^The New York Times. February 7, 1863, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 9 2 self against his onetime master just as he would against any robber or criminal. Noting that the declaration of slave independence had met with a rather disappointing public reaction in the United States because it did not emancipate the slaves in the more or less Union "border" states of Kentucky, Missouri, Delaware, and Maryland, Douglass pleaded for public patience and forbearance. President Lincoln's action had not only "put meaning in the Constitution and the National Anthem," but had put former slaves at last at the service of the mil- 42 itary authorities. While he himself— as a slave who bore the scars of bondage on his back— looked with temporary dis appointment upon incomplete emancipation, he knew that total liberation would not lag far behind. Douglass traced the history of the Negro's progress both in the United States and abroad. He compared the col ored man to the Jew and declared that as the nations of Eu-, rope had to consult the Rothschilds before waging war, so might eventually American Negroes set national policy. Speaking of his elevation from a plantation slave to the status of an "upright man among men," Douglass said he hoped 42lbid■ R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 9 3 he might have some part in leading the greater emergence of the American Negro.The President had laid the corner stone for the future on January 1, 1863. In his address, Douglass made liberal reference to his color and to his own troubled days as a slave. In this manner he drew attention to the probity of his character (as a constituent of ethical proof) through establishing himself as an authority by virtue of personal experience and by creating an impression of unquestionable sincerity. The loval war and quota meeting.— On December 3, 1863 a meeting was organized by a number of New York's lead ing citizens to support the new Presidential troop call. No principal speaker was present, but brief addresses were de livered by Mayor George Opdyke, the reform candidate who was helped by "Boss" Tweed to oust Fernando Wood's sharpers and thimble riggers; James T. Brady, one of the foremost crimi nal lawyers in the nation; General Daniel E. Sickles, Con gressman and Minister to Spain who lost a leg but won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor in the Gettysburg Peach Orchard; and Parke Godwin,the leading political 43The Sun (New York), February 7, 1863, p. 1. ^^For other speechmaking and identification, see p. 228. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 9 4 commentator of his day. A letter from President Lincoln was read which ex pressed his regret at not being able to attend the meeting. The President said the purpose of the meeting represented a great source of comfort to the administration in a time of dire emergency. The parade of speakers pointed with pride to the contributions of New York in money, patriotic spirit, and, particularly, men to the war effort. More men had entered the armed forces from New York than from any other northern city. New York’s conscription rolls, they noted, were docu ments of honor that would continue to bear a proud name, al though tainted at first by Copperhead resistance. They urged close cooperation with the military commissioners ap pointed by the Provost-Marshal General to secure the needed men. Brady said that the "greatest service which the North can render to the Southern States is to fill the ranks of our armies with all possible haste and bring this war to a speedy end." Sickles predicted victory by the following Fourth of July. Aside from endorsing the President's new manpower 45 The Sun (New York), December 4, 1863, p. 1 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 9 5 order, the speakers as a group insisted that the government increase the pay of privates to $20 per month, deplored the treatment of Union captives in Libby Prison at Richmond, and rejoiced over the glad tidings of victory at Chattanooga. Godwin particularly drew attention to the stupendous Federal military accomplishment of blockading 3,000 miles of sea- coast and defending 2,000 miles of frontier. He said the opening of the Mississippi River by General Grant's victory at Vicksburg had been an even more important success than Meade's accomplishment at Gettysburg. The critics of the administration were far more vociferous than its friends, and the most striking fact about this Cooper Union meeting was that President Lincoln felt it was important enough that he should express at length his personal appreciation for efforts made in behalf of the Union. It is interesting that Godwin was far ahead of his time in considering Vicksburg a more important victory than Gettysburg; his views are shared today by a number of compe tent Civil War analysts. The English position Charles Sumner; "Our Foreign Relations".— Charles R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 296 Sumner was the anti-slavery leader of the Senate, and for one passionate pre-Civil War speech, he was caned into in sensibility in the Senate chamber by a southern Representa tive. The counterpart of Representative Thaddeus Stevens, he engineered President Johnson's impeachment. Sumner was chairman of the Senate Committee on For eign Relations when he delivered a major address at Cooper Union five days after Charles Francis Adams, President Lin coln's Minister to the Court of St. James, had warned the British government against launching two new ironclads it was building for the Confederacy. Parts of the three-hour speech were printed abroad; Sumner's words did not reflect Adams' admonitions. Mrs. Lincoln was in the immense audi ence that gathered on September 10, 1863. Because the French under the adventurous Napoleon III were less able to embarrass the Federal cause than Eng land, Sumner devoted the bulk of his remarks to the Brit ish. He first traced the history of England's wartime en mity to the industrial North and her friendship to the cot ton states. The Senator then developed the idea that recog- 4^Three-fifths of America's pre-war export commerce and four-fifths of her import commerce had been with Great Britain. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 9 7 nition of the slave states was a form of intervention be cause it allowed the South to negotiate for and obtain com forts from the recognizing power. He drew upon historical instances to show that the practice of nations— and espec ially Britain— did not allow foreign recognition of an in surgent power where the contest for independence was still in progress. Sumner next touched upon the frequently threatened English move of intervention through mediation, or interference to bring about an armistice that would lift the blockade against southern ports. He again drew upon historical instances to show how England, through her deter mined efforts to end the international slave trade out of Africa, was irrevocably committed against any policy which would encourage the building of a slave power upon the ruins of a republic. Sumner then launched upon the subject of ocean bel ligerency, the heart of his address. He singled out the Alabama as representative of the illegal British naval ex peditions against Union shipping: Of these incendiaries the most famous is the Alabama. with a picked crew of British sailors,47 with trained gunners out of her Majesty's naval reserve, and with every thing else from keel to top-mast British! which 47under Captain Semmes of the Confederate Navy. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 9 8 after more than a year of unlawful havoc is still burning the property of our citizens, without once entering a Rebel Slave-monger port, but always keep ing the umbilical connection with England, out of whose womb she sprung, and never losing the original nationality stamped upon her by origin, so that at this day whe is a British pirate ship— precisely as a native-born Englishman, robbing on the high seas, and never naturalized abroad, is a British pirate subject.48 Citing Parliament's Foreign Enlistment Act of 1818 which forbade any subject of the realm to "equip, furnish, fit out, or arm any ship . . . to commit hostilities against any state at peace with Great Britain," Sumner pointed with scorn at the "insulting hocus pocus" of British attempts to evade responsibility by building the cruisers in England and then taking them to the Azores or the Bahamas to receive: their heavy armament. The Senator declared that England's policy of flag- : rant violation included refusal to consider payment for damages to Federal commerce caused by British originated ad ventures . The onus of guilt could not be removed through "pettifogging" legal quibbling over the justifiability of allowing pirates to sail: Pirate ships are reported on the stocks ready to be 48ïhe New York Times. September 11, 1863, p. 1. 49ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 2 9 9 launched, and when the Parliamentary statue is de clared insufficient to stop them, the British Gov ernment declines to amend it, and so doing, it open ly declines to stop the pirate ships, saying "if the Parliamentary statute is unadequate then let them sail." This act of declension is positive and its consequences are no less positive, fixing beyond question the responsibility of the British Govern ment for these criminal expeditions and the damage they cause.50 Finally dwelling at length upon the illegality of conceding rights or recognition to a pretended power which destroyed upon the high seas without a prize court, Sumner cited international law to the effect that no ocean belli gerent could rightfully exist without a port to which it took its prizes for judgment. The Confederate raiders, with no southern port at which they could safely land, were no better than the Flying Dutchman: Indeed it is a part of International Law. A seizure is regarded merely as a preliminary act, which does not divest the property, though it paralyzes the right of the proprietor. A subsequent act of condem nation, by a competent tribunal, is necessary to determine if the seizure is valid. The question is compendiously called prize or no prize.51 Sumner compared Captain Semmes of the Alabama with Captain Kidd and recalled the memorable case in 1698 when the pi rate, operating under government commission, had been in dicted for piracy and hung by the very English government SOibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 300 under which he sailed because he robbed and destroyed his prizes rather than take them to British ports. The speaker told his audience that he despaired of the Union finding a European friend other than Switzerland, but he urged redoubled efforts to win the fight against treason and slavery in spite of whatever might come in the form of foreign interference. Sumner's address was nationally significant and one of the most memorable events in Cooper Union history. It remained the definitive statement of the Federal attitude toward England until April, 1869. At that time Sumner made an angry floor speech which won Senate approval for stronger action in pressing claims for Alabama damages. Britain, concerned over the threat of growing Prussian military might, soon made her peace with America by paying $15,500, 000 in gold for pirate losses. Although wordy, the address was a model of composi tion that relied for support upon factual examples, instan ces, considerable testimony, and a wealth of explanation. Sumner was the well-informed expert. Justin McCarthy: "England and the Alabama".— Justin McCarthy was a Member of Parliament from 1879 to 1900 and R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 301 one of the most influential and respected upholders of lib eral policies in his time. Considered one of the most bril liant men in British public life, he was a noted novelist, historian, and biographer; he was also a champion of Irish home rule and editor of the London Morning Star. McCarthy was on the first of three American lecture tours when he addressed a rather small audience in the Great Hall on June 7, 1869. He discussed the ambiguities of in ternational law and the difficulties of defining exactly the duties of one nation toward another. In spite of any prob lems of legal interpretation, however, he condemned Brit ain's conduct in the Alabama affair as "one of the greatest 52 wrongs ever done under the color of international law." He added that Laird and Sons, the firm which built the Ala bama . was in a "true, reasonable and just" position as a business establishment because it "never concealed the pur pose of the Alabama.Not only Laird and Sons and the British Parliament, but all the people in England knew the Alabama was to sail as a pirate. However, the common people of Britain, the class whose sentiments were predominantly ^^New York Herald. June 8, 1869, p. 5. 53lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 302 with the North, were powerless to intervene, McCarthy said. The English opinion leader explained that England at present knew she was in a vulnerable position and would no doubt submit the Alabama claims to arbitration after the angry public reaction to Sumner's address in the Senate had subsided. He said that Sumner's estimate of $2,110,000,000 for direct and indirect^^ damages was unrealistic and exor bitant. Sumner's speech would have aroused little feeling, McCarthy believed, had it not been that the Grant adminis tration had unwisely appointed Reverdy Johnson as Minister to the Court of St. James. Johnson, "a sort of jolly Polo- nius who laughed and talked and ate and drank with every man and woman that asked him," led the British to believe the United States was disposed toward magnanimous terms in the Alabama affair: The English were, of course, delighted to find how easily the Alabama question was to be settled, and they made much of Mr. Johnson accordingly. But they were soon aroused from this fool's paradise. Mr. Sumner's speech took them completely aback, and it was but little wonder they looked upon it in the light they did.^S ^^Indirect damages accrued through the Alabama's action supposedly prolonged the war. England steadfastly refused to negotiate indirect damages. ^^New York Herald. June 8, 1869, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 303 McCarthy believed calm consideration would prevail since negotiations had been transferred to Hamilton Fish, a man who commanded international respect. The speaker warned that the American object should be to obtain "such repara tion as a great and high-spirited nation may make" rather than to seek unreasonable claims which would force England to take a belligerent stand for the sake of national pride.^^ The British journalist's address was a successful and accurate appraisal of the English position and English sentiment in relation to the Alabama question. McCarthy’s appearance at Cooper Union was unofficial, of course, but editorial opinion in the New York press suggested that his explanatory mission was so well timed and lucid as to admit the possibility that his American trip might have been prompted by British leaders. His eminence as a voice for and a power behind English public opinion lends some support to this idea. Although McCarthy's audience was small, it was highly select and attentive; giving credence to James A. Winans' (and William James') pioneer idea that attention governs persuasion, the speaker was certainly successful in modifying attitudes toward the British position on the ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 304 reparations issue. Aspects of Reconstruction Northern radical sentiment sought to punish and plunder the South as a vanquished nation, while conservative sentiment sought to restore the once rebellious states— upon guarantees of loyalty and slavery abolition— to their former status under the interpretation that their uprising had never taken them out of the Union. President Lincoln favored the conservative approach, and after he was assassi nated in April, 1865, his lenient policies were pressed for ward by Vice-President Andrew Johnson. Although resolute and very courageous, Johnson was a tactless and egotistical man unsuited to the delicate task of reconciling factions and dealing with congressional radicals, who were a powerful whip minority. The new President moved independently to readmit and reconstruct the seceded states on "soft" terms, and he soon clashed violently with the Senate and House of Representa tives. Alienating what congressional supporters he had. President Johnson became by mid-1866 a governmental cipher whose many vetoes were automatically overridden. Congres sional radicals, not content with reducing the Chief Execu- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 305 tive to impotence, trumped up impeachment charges and brought the President to trial in 1868. The tribunal of vengeance failed by one vote. Meanwhile, the South languished in poverty and des titution. The Freedmen's Bureau, created by Congress in 1865, offered relief only to the ex-slaves. Attitudes toward the South Anna E. Dickinson: "A Glance at Our Future".— Anna c n Dickinson, whose name had become synonymous with patriotic enthusiasm, continued to thrill and enthrall audiences wherever she spoke. In a personal interview with Abraham Lincoln, this brash, 23-year-old girl had actually attempted to persuade the President to modify his lenient reconstruc tion policies. She failed, of course. The Quaker maid's stern personality and imperious individuality seemed an em bodiment of the northern "hard" view of reconstruction that she espoused. A very large and fashionable audience gathered at Cooper Institute on February 14, 1865 to listen with rapt attention to Miss Dickinson's remarks on the approaching 57por other speechmaking and identification, see p. 283. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 306 peace and how best to deal with the traitorous South. The war was to end less than two months after she spoke. The speaker first vehemently criticized the Hampton Roads Peace Conference, at which President Lincoln and Sec retary of State William Seward had met Confederate represen tatives on February 3, 1865 aboard a United States steamer anchored off Fortress Monroe. She upbraided the President for "sacrificing his dignity" in meeting with rebel agents of lesser stature than President Jefferson Davis h i m s e l f . ^8 Excoriating the whispered rumors that an armistice might be achieved by diverting the public mind through a joint North- South military campaign to drive Maximilian and the French out of Mexico, Miss Dickinson declared the President should give the rebellious states "the same terms which General Grant gave General Pemberton at Vicksburg: unconditional surrender."59 Although the air was filled with peace rum ors, she believed that arms alone could dictate lasting ar mistice terms. Next advocating the radical approach to dealing with the rebels. Miss Dickinson maintained that no concessions S^The Tribune (New York), February 15, 1865, p. 5. 59ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ....... 307 could or should be made to a "people who are, in fact, rob bers , cutthroats, and murderers who should be treated with a rope to the nearest tree."^® The speaker then declared that General Butler was "the greatest man in the country," but she wisely modified the statement by noting that his great ness existed "in spite of his faults.From her remarks it was obvious that a large part of Miss Dickinson's high regard for the controversial commander— a regard shared by many northerners— stemmed from the belief that his ruthless occupation rule of New Orleans indicated that he knew best how to deal with the insurgents. Miss Dickinson said that with the cessation of hostilities. General Butler should immediately be put in charge of Richmond, the Confederate capital, and Charleston. In these two bastions of southern sentiment, he would quickly crush the residue of rebellion which was certain to survive the war. Scoffing at any notion that "a nation of traitors" should be granted blanket amnesty. Miss Dickinson stressed the idea that lasting peace could best be insured by "whole sale confiscation of the Rebel lands.Most of the prop erty, she held, should be used as bounty land for northern GOlbid. ^^Ibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 308 soldiers, and the remainder should be sold at a nominal price to help defray the enormous war debt for which the South was directly responsible. Miss Dickinson also made a strong plea for the en franchisement of all Negroes. The black man should not be denied the right to vote when the "ignorant and degraded Irish" were granted access to the polls, especially when the Irish voted Copperhead DemocraticThe strongest state ment for Negro suffrage would not be found in her words, she said, but in those of General Sherman: "The black hand that drops the bayonet at the conclusion of the war shall be per-, mitted to pick up the ballot. The substance of neither of Miss Dickinson's wartime addresses at Cooper Union was impressive. In addition to being frequently wrong, there clings to her remarks a dis turbing aura of overconfidence, inflexibility, intolerance of the views of others, and occasional poor taste that pro duce the impression that she was not ready for the responsi bilities of mature discussion which public adoration had thrust upon her. Yet in fairness to this gifted girl of 23, it must be said that cold type can do little to bring to ^3Ibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 309 life her inimitable platform magnetism. As the Herald re porter said: Occasionally in the course of her address Miss Dick inson broke out into one of her characteristically "divine passions" and assumed that militant attitude that is never to be forgotten by those who have once heard her lecture and seen her in her highest rhetor ical moments.^ ^ Gerritt Smith; "Peace and Justice".— Wealthy phil anthropist Gerritt Smith was one of the nation's foremost abolitionists before the Civil War. He was chief engineer of the underground railroad and donated money and land for the establishment of freedom colonies in the North for escaped slaves. A financial and moral supporter of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, he went temporarily insane when the exploit failed. Like Garrison, Smith deplored the national resort to arms and became more and more of a bleeding heart as hostilities continued. Yet his voice always remained a significant one. On June 8, 1865 Smith had trouble with what was or dinarily a foghorn voice and could not be heard comfortably throughout the Great Hall. Frequently interrupted by calls of "Louder," he responded with apologies but not with in- ^^New York Herald. February 15, 1865, p. 7. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 310 creased volume. Declaring that the South had committed the crime of the age hy starting the war. Smith cautioned the North that "under the persistent clamor of . . . press and pulpit to punish the South for treason," it stood in danger of commit ting the "meanest crime of the age. He demanded a stop to the clamor for blood, not because the South was guilt- free, but because both sides had agreed to conduct hostili ties according to the international laws of war. Such an agreement was perpetual and meant that a vanquished people warranted honorable treatment as war prisoners rather than as traitors to be hung. He added: "I, for one, am not willing that it should go down to all ages that millions of my countrymen were pardoned traitors. Smith continued his discussion in a legal vein, pointing out that condemning the losers of a civil war could establish a shameful precedent which would certainly be fol lowed by other nations in years to come. At this point an elderly Quaker gentleman in the audience who spoke in "an G^The World (New York), June 9, 1855, p. 1. G7lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 1 1 Aminidab Sleek^® tone" interrupted the lecturer: "I give thee credit for thy benevolence and for thy Godlike clemen cy, friend Smith, but then thou dost fail to portray the issue."G9 Without acknowledging the interruption, the speaker went on to say that the precedent would always be applied in the name of justice because the victor in a war would always consider his cause just. Supposing, he said, Ireland should revolt unsuccessfully against England. Would not England feel it had just cause to hang the Irish insur gents? The Quaker gentleman again spoke out in meeting in measured tones— "The analogy, friend Smith, does not apply." Cries of "Put him out," "put him out," during which the venerable offensive personage maintained the most perfect equanimity and tranquility of spirit. Mr. Smith— I see my friend is but half converted, and I will give him time. I am very patient. The lecturer pointed out that hanging Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree would mean taking him out from under the laws of war to serve the cause of another justice, and justice could never be served by injustice. He added that G^The descriptive phrase is from the New York Her ald (June 9, 1855, p. 1). According to the World, the Quak er had a "squeaky little piping voice." G^The World (New York), June 9, 1865, p. 1. 70lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 1 2 North and South had entered into the bargain of war law in good faith, and the North could not morally break the bar gain merely because it was at last in a position to do so advantageously: If I ask you to suppose we had told the enemy in the day of our decisive successes, if that day should come to us, we would unfurl the black pirate flag and give no quarter, do you think he would not instantly have unfurled it, and refused to take prisoners?^! Here the Quaker interrupted, "Did he not do it?" He was rebuked by a voice that replied, "Oh, don't be asking ques tions'." Then a young man arose and inquired, "Is not a bond made under duress invalid in law?" Smith, of course, was no lawyer, but he fielded the question deftly: "Why ain't you ashamed to say that this mighty people of the North were put in a state of duress by the South? (Applause and'laugh ter .) Smith then told his listeners that both North and South bore a responsibility for sin atonement since both shared the guilt of starting the war. He declared the pro slavery spirit was as strong in the North as in the South and pointed to the New York draft riots, during which Neg- ^^New York Herald. June 9, 1855, p. 1. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 1 3 roes were hung and garroted, as a spectacle of pro-slavery passion unequaled in the South. Smith urged that the fire of vengeance be snuffed out in every heart; the defeated South had suffered enough for a rebellion that had sprung from a sentiment common on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Although his audience was hardly a quiet one. Smith was an "old stager" who could parry questions deftly or blandly ignore them. His legal arguments were specious and lacked depth. Still, he made a plausible case for the pro position that the North had no moral right to try the rebels for their war conduct and that both sides ought to sit upon the stool of repentance. The Quaker's objections were largely invalid except when he questioned the England-Ire- land and North-South analogy; the speaker's comparison was not completely sound because the cases were not alike in all essential respects, apart, of course, from the fact that the English case was hypothetical. Henrv Ward Beecher: Freedmen's Commission anniver sary.— "America's greatest divine," Henry Ward Beecher istood with Wendell Phillips and John B. Gough to form the R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 1 4 triumvirate of "three great oratorical giants.Beecher could demand $1,000 for a single lecture, the highest fee paid in his time, and his prestige abroad during and after the Civil War made him a world influence. He was pastor of Plymouth Church (Congregational) in Brooklyn from 1847 until his death in 1887. Although the shadows of scandal and ava rice touched his life, Beecher enjoyed ever-increasing pop ularity . The platform magnate was one of the prime movers of the American Union Commission, a non-sectarian, non-partisan charitable association formed to better the lot of former slaves and help the destitute South back to its feet. Beecher consented to be the featured speaker at the commis sion' s first anniversary meeting when Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court and president of the national organization, was unable to be present. An enormous crowd packed Cooper Union on October 24, 1856 when it was learned that Beecher would speak. His name alone, of course, was sufficient to fill any hall on any occasion, but the famous minister had drawn national atten tion to himself at Plymouth Church through preaching his ^^Horner, The Life of James Reduath. p. 142. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 1 5 theory of "gradual progression." That is, he believed the advancement of the Negro toward absolute equality with the white man should be by steps and after a pilgrimage akin to the 40 years' travel of the Israelites in the wilderness. In view of the perplexing questions which the freedmen posed in southern reconstruction, the audience waited with great interest and curiosity to see whether Beecher would discuss his controversial ideas. He did toward the latter part of the address. Beecher opened his remarks by noting that the com mission was supporting more than 50,000 Negro and poor white students in several hundred southern schools by supplying 760 northern teachers. Also, vast sums had been spent to relieve starvation and illness in the most destitute areas of the cotton states. If the South, as many people predict ed, decided to "vomit up" northern help when the area became self-sustaining, the reaction would be a healthy sign.74 Placid acceptance would indicate that the spirit of a proud people had been broken. The great divine then spoke at length in abstract terms about the value and necessity of education to the ^'^The Evening Post (New York), October 25, 1866, p . 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 316 state and to God's domain. Beecher addressed himself to such concepts as divine decree for the "higher realities" of the human soul in a free state, moral ideals and the "larger intellect," the refusal of ideas to be confined by boundary lines, and the holy responsibility of civilized man to "un fold the whole nature" of backward peoples.^5 He pointed out that many northern Negroes and California Chinese of fered living proof that the so-called inferior races were educable. At last Beecher considered the status of the Negro, and his patiently awaited remarks were listened to with rapt attention. After discussing the American melting pot idea and the right of every American to an education, the re nowned minister said: And now on this ground we propose to educate the ex slaves. . . . They now appear before us as men. I plead for the development of the black because he is susceptible of it and it is his right, not a charity. And let me say I beseech you don't look at it as if it were a matter of pleasure, for you are not going to get through with this work in a hurry; education has got to be the mania for the next twenty-five or fifty years.76 In a clear and well-marked statement of proposition, Beecher 75The New York Times. October 25, 1866, p. 8. 7^The Sun (New York), October 25, 1866, p. 2. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 1 7 then declared that education was the one and only key to the black man's future. Until the educational goal had been reached, it would be necessary for civilized man to "look upon this great race of outcast, infantile men with some thing of the compassion and kindness with which we all learn 77 to look upon children." They were "our wards," and their future was to be managed with caution: You may say, and some do say, give the slave his liberty; that is enough. Another says, give him his liberty and his rights before the law; give him his property. Others say give him suffrage. I say give him all these; but I say that you may give him suf frage and civic rights and land, yet without educa tion, you have not touched the marrow of the matter. If we are to raise these men to a position of equal ity with ourselves, we must make them really our equals; and this can only be done by education.^® In different words Beecher reiterated several times that Negro equality depended upon education, and educating the ex-slaves "is a work for your lifetime. This circumspect address was an important Cooper Union speechmaking event because Beecher was for the first time presenting his "gradual progression" idea to a secular audience in a public hall. The preeminence of education 77lbid. ^^The New York Times. October 25, 1856, p. 8. ^^The Sun (New York), October 25, 1866, p. 2. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 1 8 was woven throughout the fabric of the speech, but Beecher did not apply it to the reconstruction status of the Negro until he had adequately clarified the purposes of education through a theory-practice plan of discussion. After arriv ing inductively at his proposition, Beecher pressed an ap peal for action that sought emphasis through concluding re statement . Criticism of President Johnson Hannibal Hamlin; Congress approved.— Hannibal Ham lin had been replaced as Vice-President by Andrew Johnson of Tennessee for President Lincoln's second term because Repub lican leaders felt in this way they could silence charges that the party was purely sectional. Formerly Governor of Maine, Hamlin served 24 years in the Senate. I Hamlin addressed a radical Republican mass meeting organized at Cooper Union on October 15, 1866 to generate anti-Presidential sentiment. He sounded the radical recon struction keynote by declaring the rebellion could not be closed except upon terms that would vindicate the martyred President Lincoln, the fallen soldiers of the North, and the betrayed citizens of the South who had remained loyal to the R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 1 9 Constitution at the peril of their lives. Hamlin referred at length to the "eternal and immutable principles of right, liberty, and justice" that must be invoked to insure eternal peace, and he attacked President Johnson as an obstruction ist who blocked good government: And now, my friends, what is the condition of the country, what has complicated it, and why have not our conditions long ere now been met? I answer it is only because the executive of your country sought to do the work that belonged to you. (Applause. A voice— "Good.") It is only because he sought, over the legislative department of the government which was alone the power that could prescribe the terms and conditions, he sought outside of that to pre scribe his terms and conditions upon which it was to be done.... had he done just what it was his duty to do— held the rebel States in military sub jection, called Congress together, and submitted the matter to them for their deliberation, peace and quiet, prosperity and everything desirable to us, would this day have reigned all over the land. But instead of doing that, he sought to prescribe his terms and his conditions, and then to make himself superior to the legislative branch of the govern ment . And there is the whole complexity of the matter.80 The speaker accused President Johnson of "swaggering R1 around the country" trying to turn the people against their elected representatives and converting the White House ^^The Tribune (New York), October 16, 1866, p. 5. 8lThe President had just taken his case to the peo ple in his "swing around the circle" from Chicago to St. Louis. His temper and indiscretions did him more harm than good. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 320 into a refuge for "red-handed rebel traitors."^2 He then offered a veiled threat regarding the solution to the gov ernmental rift: I affirm in all these acts the President of the United States is guilty before God of high crimes and misde meanors. (Cheers.) What is the course which we pro pose to pursue to extricate the country from its pre sent condition? That belongs to Congress, and I will not now refer to it particularly. But it is for us to stand by our own Representatives.®^ Hamlin declared that Congressmen had made every concession possible "without sacrificing their manhood" in an attempt to reconcile their differences with the President.Recon ciliation was now impossible. As though there were any likelihood that Hamlin him-, self could forget, the radicals constantly reminded him that but for a quirk of political fate the reins of government would be in his hands and reconstruction all but complete. It is to his credit that his address carried no personal references to himself or traces of disgruntled jealousy. Hamlin's statement of the "whole complexity of the matter" was a remarkably accurate appraisal of the basic difference between Congress and the President. However, when speaking ®^The Tribune (New York), October 16, 1856, p. 5. ®®Ibid. ®^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 2 1 of the terms upon which the rebellion was to be closed and lasting peace insured, the ex-Vice-President avoided speci fics and relied so heavily upon patriotic generalities that his remarks would have served as a northern reconstruction speech for any occasion. Wendell Phillips: "Depose the President".— The fiery speechmaking of agitator Wendell Phillips^^ kept pub lic attention focused on the supposed threat posed by a still disloyal South and the advisability of impeaching President Johnson without delay. The great platform star could see no good in Andrew Johnson, a surprising fact in view of Phillips' strong sense of social justice. Phillips told a turnaway audience composed mainly of the fashionable element of the city that the rebellion, de feated in the Confederate capital at Richmond, had set up headquarters in the White House. He said the President's first traitorous act had been his attempt to hurry the na tion into readmitting states which had lost the right to be classified as anything but territories. The war of ideas might eventually be won in the South, but until basic atti- 85por other identification and speechmaking, see p. 265. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 2 2 tudes had heen reshaped in the cotton domain, no talk of re admission should be entertained. The speaker believed that the battle was far from over, and the fight had merely taken a different direction under the leadership of a southern agent posing as President: I believe, then, that the President of the United States has been for the last twelve months a con scious agent to serve the purpose of the leading rebels of the South— (Sensation)— to continue this war in the phase in which they originally meant to initiate it, as the Government itself, seated in Washington, recognized by foreign nations, the Trea sury and the army theirs, and the North, if necessary in the attitude of rebellion.86 The famed orator said the Cabinet was ineffectual as a check upon the President, and he individually denounced the executive advisers. Phillips singled out Secretary of State William Seward and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, the President's most faithful allies, for his strongest epithets. Seward was a blackguard "whose best friends deny his wickedness on the sole ground that age has dimmed the intellect of his prime," and Welles was an incom petent opportunist "whose corruption is so notorious that any honest act of his administration must have been an over- BSuew York Herald. October 26, 1866, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 2 3 87 sight or a mistake." Congress alone could provide the loyal North with any protection. Phillips said the course of Congress was clear: Now the first step in the work of real reconstruction is to impeach the rebel who has usurped the functions of Congress.... I say, impeach the mobocrat of the White House, as the first step. And the second step is to depose him. (Sensation.) Impeachment is of no value, if, while it drags its length through the Sen ate Chamber, the impeacher party wields the army, the navy, and the patronage of the government; but let him be removed, and then he is powerless until either an acquittal restores him to office, or a condemnation compels us to choose a new President and Vice-Presi dent to supply the places of the dead and the deposed. Therefore, I say again: Impeach the President, and while he is on trial, sequester him.^^ To these extreme views was added the statement which was the essence of radical reconstructionism, the policy which was not only a social outrage but a political blunder that pro duced the Democratic bastion of the "solid South": "Then we run the machine, then there will be the undivided North, the 8 9 loyal nation, managing its own government." Comparing the American government to that of Eng land, Phillips declared the island nation functioned more wisely because it discharged its Prime Ministers as condi- B^The New York Times. October 25, 1866, p. 8. ^^New York Herald. October 26, 1866, p. 8. ^^The New York Times. October 26, 1866, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 2 4 tions required. The Queen, too, reigned rather than ruled. Phillips disliked speaking in New York after the war because the pro-slavery attitude of men in that city dis gusted him. Yet on the two occasions when he came to the Empire City, he made Cooper Union his platform for criti cizing the Chief Executive. In his first speech, delivered on October 25, 1865, he developed the theme that the South had emerged victorious through the President's more than sympathetic and lenient policies. Exactly one year later Phillips delivered the far more important and sensational address that has been described here. He cast all restraint to the winds in calling for Andrew Johnson's deposition, an extreme position he had never before taken. Oscar Sherwin, who is Phillips' definitive biographer, offers no explana tion for why the great agitator advocated the sequestering action in New York, a city not much in sympathy with the President's impeachment. This writer believes that although Phillips may have been guilty of poor audience adaptation, he was only acting in accordance with his truly fearless crusading nature; he often hurled his most shocking thunder bolts into the teeth of the most hostile audiences. Hayes Yeager states in his study of Wendell Phillips' speechmaking (cited by Thonssen and Baird, Speech R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 2 5 Phillips' address at Cooper Union on October 25, 1866 was a model of well-expressed composition. The grace and majesty of the man's oratory— far more than that of Beecher, who derived much of his effectiveness from forceful delivery— springs even from the printed page. Like Edmund Burke, Phillips' utterances read well, but unlike Burke, he also had the power to entrance his listeners. Support of President Johnson William H. Seward; Congress and the President.— Probably best remembered for his purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000, William Henry Seward was President Lincoln's most trusted adviser, remaining as Sec retary of State through the Johnson administration. He had served as Governor and Senator from New York, and he was the disappointed leader of the Republican Party in 1860 when the nomination went to "dark horse" Abraham Lincoln. Seward was severely stabbed by a Booth compatriot in the plot which murdered President Lincoln and threatened General Criticism, p. 454) that audiences actually were often dis appointed when Phillips did not make abusive attacks on friend and foe alike. He so often faced hostile audiences and was so frequently threatened with violence that his platform occasions had a certain entertainment value "be yond the subject matter itself." R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 2 6 Grant. The aging Secretary of State had come to Cooper Un ion on February 22, 1866 at the urging of Thurlow Weed, William M. Evarts, Hamilton Fish, and other highly influen tial Republicans who wished to build up a new party or fac tion to support the administration. Seward was introduced by David Dudley Field, the eminent jurist known for his work in codifying civil and international law, and the immense audience rose as one man to give the statesman a memorable welcome. The demonstration "affected visibly the grand old man who, by merciful Providence, was spared from assassina tion for the guidance and protection of a great nation. Seward maintained there was nothing very serious about the political situation. The Union had been saved. According to his metaphor, the ship of state had passed from tempest and billows to within the verge of a safe harbor, and had yet to pass only some small reefs; the dispute was only a difference of opinion between pilots. Seward then illustrated by means of an extended analogy the basic cause of the conflict between the President and Congress. Refer ring to a popular play titled The Nervous Man and the Man of ^^The New York Times. February 23, 1866, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 2 7 Nerve. he likened Congress to the nervous man and the deci sive President to the man of nerve. The man of nerve had a daughter, and the nervous man had a son. Palling clandes tinely in love, the two young people ran away and were mar ried when their parents, who were fast friends, announced separately to each child that a contract had been made for him to marry a person of undisclosed identity. Of course, the children were to marry each other. When they were brought trembling and confessed before the two fathers by the agents of the man of nerve, the nervous man refused to forgive his son: The nervous man refused altogether to be comforted, propitiated, or even soothed. He refused, and de clared that he would persist forever in refusing to receive back again the son who had been so disobedi ent. When his outburst of passion had somewhat sub sided, the man of nerve said: "Well, now, old friend, why won't you forgive him? Have you not got the mat ter all your own way after all?" "Why, yes," replied the nervous man ..." "Then why will you not for give him?" asked the man of nerve. "Why, damn it, I haven't had my own way of having it."^^ Thus it was with the nervous men in Congress, who were not willing to settle for the fact that the Union had been restored without slavery, compromise, assumed rebel debts, compensated emancipation, or any important points of 92 New York Herald. February 23, 1866, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 2 8 friction. Turning to the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, which the President had vetoed earlier in the month and the Senate had been unable to override, the Secretary of State defended the Chief Executive's action of refusing to sign a measure that was unconstitutional and expensive. From his remarks, which were generally conciliatory in tone and gave every evidence of having been carefully prepared, Seward could not have known that during the day the President had received at the White House a group of his supporters who had come to con gratulate him on the Freedmen's veto and its subsequent con firmation. Egged on by voices from the crowd, the hot- tempered President forgot all decorum and delivered a vit riolic, boastful speech that estranged his supporters and launched full scale war between himself and the congression al radicals. Seward noted why the specific conflict that had arisen between the President and Congress over the Freed men's Bureau Bill had assumed unwarranted importance; That conflict is, in its consequences, comparatively unimportant, and would excite little interest and produce little division if it stood alone. It is be cause it has become the occasion for revealing the differences that I have already described that it has R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 329 attained the importance which seems to surround it.^^ He pointed out that the Freedmen's Bureau had been estab lished by congressional act on March 3, 1855 for a period of one year to protect freedmen and refugees from persecution and suffering during the transition period between war and peace. Its renewal, with extended power and patronage, was entirely unnecessary. In vetoing the measure, the President had only protected the Constitution and the public monies. Even more important, the Chief Executive was to be commended "for refusing, in the absence of any necessity, to occupy or retain, and to exercise powers greater than those . . . ex- 94 ercised by any imperial magistrate in the world." Regarding the provisional state governments that the President had organized without the consent of Congress, Seward maintained that the Chief Executive had taken the shortest and only logical path to reunion: There never was and never can be any successful pro cess for the restoration of the Union and harmony among the States, except the one with which the President has avowed himself satisfied. Say what you will or what you may, the States are already organized, in perfect harmony with our amend ed national Constitution, and are in earnest co-oper ation with the Federal government. It would require 93lbid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 330 an imperial will . . . and imperial powers greater than the Emperor of France possesses, to reduce any one of these States with the consent of all the oth er States, to what you term a territorial condition. Seward constructed an excellent address through fol lowing a disjunctive discussion approach that openly stated rather than implied the "this or nothing" choice of alterna tives in reconstruction policy. Also, in seeking to miti gate the difficulties between the President and Congress, the speaker's frequent reliance upon light anecdote and fig urative analogy was very appropriate. Had it not been for the President's unfortunate outburst that afternoon, Sew ard's Cooper Union address might have become a major policy keynote rather than a historic political trial balloon. The impeachment opposition meeting.— On February 28, 1868, less than a week before President Johnson's impeach ment trial began in the Senate, a group of prominent New Yorkers organized a non-partisan mass meeting at Cooper Un ion to formally protest the indefensible prostitution of the ^constitutional safeguard of impeachment to the ends of po litical vengeance. There was no featured speaker; brief extemporaneous addresses were delivered by a number of men. I_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ■ ^^The New York Times. February 23, 1866, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 3 1 The most prominent spokesmen were John T. Hoffinan, the not- too-honest Mayor of New York; James W. Gerard, noted attor ney and President of the New York Bar Association; and James Brooks, editor of the New York Express and a Democrat ic Congressman. All the speakers focused their remarks upon the Tenure of Office Act, created on March 2, 1867 as a device to entangle the President in charges thought sufficiently plausible to form the basis for impeachment. The law pro hibited the Chief Executive from removing officials without the consent of the Senate, and he disobeyed the statute by dismissing Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, in August, 1867. Hoffman expressed the crux of the objection meeting most clearly; From the earliest history of the American Government, the President of the United States has chosen his own Cabinet, and never has there been any exception to that proposition. Mr. Johnson, coming into office on the death of Mr. Lincoln, retained some officers of his Cabinet, but never appointed them. Mr. Stanton held office by the pleasure of the,President for the time being. Differences have arisen,^6 it is no lon- I ger pleasant for Mr. Johnson to have in his Cabinet ■ a man at war with his ideas and policy. He requests him to resign. Mr. Stanton declines. Mr. Stanton .declined to go, and the President issued an order for ; — — ------- — — — — 96The President was convinced that Stanton was a I Cabinet spy. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 3 2 9 7 his removal, and designated a general in the army to take his place until his successor should be appointed. It was an exercise of power which had always been exercised by the President . . . and he . . . pressed the question before the proper tribu nals in order to determine whether he had a right to exercise that power or not. In less time than it would take to draw up the declaration upon a promis sory note and have it served upon the City of New- York, a majority of the members at Congress voted to impeach the President for high crimes and misdemean ors.^® The point which received most attention at the meet-; |ing was that the President was under no obligation to honor j ; appointments made by the dead Abraham Lincoln. Several ' ; speakers voiced the fear that the highly active and influ- | jential whip minority radicals were pressing the impeachment ! so that in their moment of triumph they could control the ! selection of a new President. : i In criticism of the radicals, especially by Gerard, | there was injected a surprising amount of bitter anti-Negro ; i sentiment. Indeed, of the significant digressions from the j Imain line of argument by all the speakers, feeling against I the Negro was dominant. Gerard was correct when he charged ®^Ulysses S. Grant, by now a radical tool because of his Presidential ambitions. Grant was no longer the magnanimous friend of the South who had written generous surrender terms for Lee. 98 The New York Times. February 29, 1868, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 3 3 the radicals with attempting to perpetuate their rule by enfranchising the Negro, and he attacked the policy as un- Iwise in view of the fact that the former slaves as a group were illiterate menials whose votes would constitute a travesty on governmental process. Strong resolutions were passed which supported the policies of President Johnson, condemned the impeachment proceedings, and expressed fear that the Constitution stood in jeopardy. The Cooper Union meeting offered a good cross sec tion of minority opinion, although New York was less anti- Jbhnson than many parts of the North. The resolutions that were adopted and sent to Washington did no good, of course. Still, they represented a rare expression of sincere non- party concern by influential men for the great political vendetta which placed on trial constitutional safeguards and the Presidency itself rather than a man. Few such meetings were held in the East. Summary The Civil War was ushered in at Cooper Union by fa mous abolitionists who had done much to bring about the con flict. The voices of George Cheever, Wendell Phillips, and R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 334 William Lloyd Garrison espoused the cause of Negro liberty until the Emancipation Proclamation made further agitation unnecessary. Before Federal victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburc turned the tide of war. President Lincoln, his advisers, anc his policies were attacked in the Great Hall by Anna E. Dickinson, the Union's Joan of Arc, and powerful Copperhead peace advocates Fernando Wood and Horatio Seymour. Sustain ing the administration were Negro orator Frederick Douglass and such prominent New Yorkers as Mayor George Opdyke, Gen eral Daniel Sickles, lawyer James T. Brady, and political analyst Parke Godwin. Discussing England's piratical inter ference with northern shipping and her subsequent contrite ness were Senate leader Charles Sumner and British liberal spokesman Justin McCarthy. The end of the war found Anna E. Dickinson advocat ing dire punishment for the conquered South; Gerritt Smith, a compassionate abolitionist, said the equally guilty North had no right to treat the rebels as traitors; and renowned minister Henry Ward Beecher urged education before civil rights for the freedmen. Over these voices at Cooper Union sounded the clash between President Andrew Johnson and the radical Congress. Hannibal Hamlin, former Vice-President, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 3 5 and Wendell Phillips, the incomparable agitator, advocated the President's impeachment; Secretary of State William Seward, New York Mayor John Hoffman, lawyer James Gerard, and Congressman James Brooks defended the Chief Executive. | R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. CHAPTER VII THE STRUGGLE OF OPPRESSED GROUPS Introduction Millionaire philanthropist Peter Cooper never forgot the desperate trials of his early life, and he encouraged meetings in the Great Hall that sought to correct the im balance in advantage so heavily weighted against the larger but less articulate classes of society. Over the years Cooper Union came to serve as a significant platform for this purpose— particularly in the interests of labor— and it ultimately became closely identified with the liberal and even ultra-liberal social element. The three oppressed groups whose spokesmen agitated in the Great Hall were victims of dominant forces which brought oppressive power to bear upon them for purposes of selfish exploitation. If pressure of insistent issues be made the test, the speechmaking that surrounded the struggle of these groups was highly significant in the history of Cooper Union; only during the Civil War period were the 336 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 3 7 opposing social forces so unyielding and the basic rights at stake so vital that the clash of interests led to bloodshed. If platform reputation and stature of speakers be made the test, the spokesmen for oppressed groups deserve on the whole a secondary place in the spectrum of Great Hall repre sentation. Yet the commendable fact remains that the often untutored men who addressed generally large and sympathetic audiences on behalf of struggling groups had thorough and usually firsthand knowledge of their causes and were sin cerely preoccupied with ideas rather than with style or de livery. The oppressed groups which expressed their grievan ces in the Great Hall are discussed under three headings; (1) the rights of labor, (2) Ireland versus England, and (3) Indian chiefs seek justice. The Rights of Labor While Presidential stump speaking was the strongest force at work shaping the platform "personality" of Cooper Union, agitation for workingmen's rights must be considered the most powerful secondary force. The voice of labor had been loudly and clearly heard in the Great Hall almost from the time it opened, but by the late 1880's this voice was R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 3 8 heard so frequently that it came to dominate the platform. Between 1863 and 1896— mainly after 1876— 62 labor speech- making occasions at Cooper Union were found^ in the New York newspapers. The large mass of this labor platform activity was local in scope, reflecting such agitation as the organi zational struggles of the New York City barbers, the strike threat of the horsecar conductors, or the bickerings of the trash cartmen with the rag pickers over infringements on each other's rounds. In preference to this limited view, study material was selected which reflected the larger na tional scene through events that related to the greater struggles of the American workingman. It inevitably fol lowed that sentiments crucial to large numbers of the rank and file of wage earners were expressed by influential lead ers whose names are prominent in the history of labor. Such men as Samuel Gompers, Eugene V. Debs, and Terence V. Pow- ^Many others were held but never reported. The People. the small Socialist weekly, made passing references to a host of protest meetings that it had neither the space nor editorial staff to cover. The larger "plutocratic" press, as the People liked to call the great metropolitan dailies, drew the veil of silence over these meetings be- . cause they were angry gatherings organized to express in dignation over scandalous fires, accidents, brutalities, or working conditions in the tenement sweatshop districts. It was not in the interests of the press of the Gilded Age to report such goings on. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 3 9 derly were inescapably associated with vital labor speech- making occasions. Figures such as labor theorist Horace Greeley, Anarchist leader Johann Most, Socialist leaders Keir Hardie and Daniel DeLeon, and others made lasting con tributions on significant occasions. The shorter hours movement One of the oldest and most persistent of labor's major demands, agitation for a shorter day dates back to 1827 when the 10-hour ideal was established. The eight-hour day was first nationally urged in 1866 as a panacea for un employment caused by the shutting down of war industries, but success was not to be achieved for more than half a cen tury . ^ Horace Greelev: the "early closing" meeting.— Hor- 3 ace Greeley, publisher of the New York Tribune and one of the most influential journalists and speakers in America, was a close student of the writings of Charles Fourier, the French Socialist. He had urged shorter hours since 1847; he p ^Foster Rhea Dulles, Labor in America (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1949), p. 108. ^For other speechmaking and identification, see p. 169. Reproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 340 also sought to establish a union labor exchange in New York. Greeley was the featured speaker at the March 13, 1863 meeting— a large gathering most representative of the early agitation— of the Dry Goods Clerks' Early Closing As sociation. Like the large city-controlling trades assem blies of skilled artisans, the associations of unskilled workers achieved considerable success toward shorter hours during the Civil War boom years. The dry goods clerks had just obtained employer consent for 10 hours, but they also sought public sympathy and support. Father Kamp's Old Folks entertained the audience with vocal selections, the most appreciated offering being Aunt Rachel's solo rendition of "The Old Maid's Lament." When the closing strains had died away, Greeley congratulat ed the clerks on their success in winning merchant agreement to close stores at 7 P. M. He urged women in the audience to support early closing by abstaining from evening shopping and by urging their friends to do the same. The speaker complimented the "exceedingly liberal nature" of the New York merchants, but at the same time he cautioned the clerks not to be "lured back" to the original long hours through R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 4 1 overtime pay inducements.^ Also complimenting the associa tion officers on the tactful manner in which they had pre sented their case to the merchants, Greeley said he was con vinced that "two-thirds of the strikes could be avoided if workmen would lay the facts before their employers to show they are fair minded men who want to avoid a collision."^ It was, the publisher declared, gratifying to see that both workers and employers were learning that it was in the pub lic interest to settle disputes without strikes. Greeley then launched upon an extended and somewhat rambling philosophical discussion of life goals. His prin cipal thread of argument was that America's great national mistake was in working too hard. People forgot, "in the hot pursuit of gain," that man was "more than his work, and that the true end of life is . . . usefulness and development."® The speaker made an extended closing appeal to the associa tion to see that its members used wisely their new leisure time. Greeley, a theorist of perhaps too many ideas, de livered an encouraging and appropriate address until he ^The World (New York), March 14, 1863, p. 3. 5Ibid. ®Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 4 2 digressed into philosophy; his remarks then became typical of the utopian reformers who sought to dignify labor. The speaker's appeal concerning organized supervision of leisure time was without doubt aimed at countering a common employer argument that too much free time would bring moral decay to the working classes. Samuel Gompers; the A. F. of L. eight-hour declara tion .— A cigarmaker's apprentice at the age of 10 and a journeyman at 14, Samuel Gompers became the founder of the American Federation of Labor and "towered over all other labor leaders" from 1880 until his death in 1924.^ He be lieved that labor must live side by side with capitalism, and he therefore rejected class warfare and labor party political action as means of advancing the workingman's cause. Gompers organized his Federation because he was con vinced that skilled craftsmen should utilize the economic force theory; that is, artisans could force concessions from employers through united strike action and withholding val uable services. Gompers established the Federation of Trades and ^Charles A. Madison, American Labor Leaders (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950), p. 73. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 4 3 Labor Unions as a popular force in 1881 when as Federation president he promoted the declaration "that eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886." Two years later when his growing organization became the American Federation of Labor, the crusading Gompers made the eight-hour day a policy cornerstone along with collec tive bargaining for trade agreements and avoidance of radi cal economic theories. The meeting at Cooper Union on February 24, 1890 was part of a simultaneous nationwide American Federation of Labor demonstration to put teeth in the eight-hour movement.; jAmid a rather festive attitude the leader of American ; skilled labor came forward and drew wild applause when he informed the audience that on the commemorative date of May 1, laborers in major cities throughout the nation would de clare eight hours a day's work. Gompers traced the history of shorter hours agitation in the United States and then re iterated the policy of gradual action that had marked the early efforts to establish a 10-hour day before seeking an ieight-hour day: i We propose to make our movement aggressive. Don't think me so crazy as to imagine that on May 1 every one will begin to work but eight hours a day, but I believe that a great many will get the reduction, and many others will get nine in place of ten hours. We R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 4 4 must concentrate our efforts first to get eight hours for those selected to demand it, and then they can help us get it for others.® Gompers pointed out that one of the most formidable obstacles to the eight-hour day had been removed through favorable conditioning of employers' minds during the pre ceding decades. He said: "Even . . . employers and capi talists hold nowadays that the eight-hour day is in itself a good thing. Their only objection now is that it is imprac ticable."^ The speaker maintained there only remained to prove more extensively in selected trades and areas that the skilled work of the world could be done in eight hours per i 'day. Opposition would then collapse. He pointed to the 25,000 artisans in Chicago and the 23,300 craftsmen in St. Louis who had won the eight-hour day in 1886. The success- ; ful performance of these labor pacesetters had furnished strong living proof for the practicality of a shorter work iday. More such examples were needed in the East. Looking over the several hundred empty seats, in the ■Great Hall, Gompers told his audience he was in New York ispecifically to generate that enthusiasm for the shorter ®The World (New York), February 25, 1890, p. 7. ®Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 4 5 hours movement which was strangely lacking in the Empire City. New York, like Chicago, should be a leading strong hold of labor. Once known as "Stuttering Sam," Gompers developed "no real gift for oral expression" beyond eloquently booming forth exhortatory platitudesHowever, the famed organiz er was at his best at Cooper Union. His remarks were well chosen and riveted in hard, earthy language upon an organi zational framework that was roughly chronological in struc ture . The national railroad strikes Wages, not hours, precipitated the most costly labor uprisings in nineteenth-century America. The railroad strike of July, 1877 was "the first great nationwide con flict in American history.Caused by successive wage cuts during the depression years following the Panic of 1873, the strike began on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad but spread spontaneously. Scores of persons were killed and untold millions of dollars in property destroyed before federal troops— called out for the first time in an indus- ^^Dulles, O P . cit.. pp. 155-156. l^Nevins, ihe Emergence of Modern America, p. 387. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 4 6 trial dispute— brought order to rail centers. Although its immediate objectives failed, the great upheaval turned pub lic attention and support to the side of the workingman. A similar situation developed at the national rail center in Chicago after the Panic of 1893. A wage reduction at the Pullman Palace Car Company in June, 1894 involved the American Railway Union, formed in 1893 by Eugene V. Debs, in a devastating strike that again spread over the nation. As President Hayes had done in 1877, President Cleveland sent troops to the center of disturbance and added the new weapon of the court injunction, produced by Attorney General Rich- i ard Olney. The fearful uprising, which destroyed $80,000, 000 in property, taught labor that nothing could be gained through revolutionary striking and that "employers had ob- 12 tained a formidable ally in the courts." Svmpathv with the 1877 strike.— The fury of the strike was beginning to wane when a gigantic workers' sym- jpathy meeting was held at.Cooper Union on July 26, 1877. Many labor figures made brief addresses at the gathering. iThe most prominent speakers were J. P. McDonnell, leader of R. Commons, History of Labor in the United i States (New York; The Macmillan Company, 1926), II, 503. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 4 7 New Jersey labor, originator of the term "scab," and editor of The Labor Standard, the official trades organ; Adolph Strasser, President of the Cigar Makers' International Union and one of the prime movers of the trade union movement; and journeyman tailor Robert Blissert, who founded the Central 13 Labor Union of New York at a Cooper Union meeting in Feb ruary, 1882. The Central Labor Union was the most imposing of all city central (single city trades) organizations in the United States, popularized the boycott, inaugurated the first Labor Day demonstration in 1882, and tried unsuccess fully to begin an independent labor party strong enough to compete with the Republicans and Democrats. The speakers all appealed for contributions to a fund for the orphans and widows of the strikers who had lost their lives. They pointed out that the engineers, firemen, and brakemen were brother workingmen of the trades people and unskilled laborers, and their efforts to compel decent wages should be supported by every legitimate means. They ^^No account of this meeting appeared in the New York press. The establishment of the organization at Cooper iUnion was substantiated by references to the event in later ; ■newspaper articles and by Commons, op. cit.. II, 442. 14ihid.. pp. 442-443. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ............................................................... " ' 3 4 8 also formally protested against the use of troops to subdue citizens who were seeking their rights in a "so-called Re public" and sent "fraternal greetings" to the volunteer sol diers who fraternized with the strikers and deliberately missed when ordered to fire upon them.^^ The idea dwelt upon most forcibly by all the speak ers was that unions must be strong and well organized enough to call effective strikes rather than resort to mob lawless ness. They referred to newspaper articles which stated that the railroad strikers were not organized or prepared to con duct a long battle. McDonnell expressed the gist of reason- jing most frankly: It does us no good to growl and grunt, but we must act. How shall we act? (A voice— "Give the remedy") We cannot do so so long as we are disorganized. With out organization we are a mob and a rabble; organized we are a power to be respected. If we had been better organized the strike would have been more of a success than it is. It is your own fault. You have been dragged by the nose by every scheming politician, and you have neglected your trades unions. If workingmen had strong unions, if there was a National Federation of Labor, do you think that any man could reduce 100, 000 or 500,000 or 1,000,000 men to starvation?!^ In addition, the speakers engaged in considerable ! class warfare talk that was rife with thinly veiled threats !^The Tribune (New York), July 27, 1877, p. 8. IGlbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ■ ■ 3 4 9 against the capitalists and monopolists. For example, Blissert declared: "It will be better not to provoke the tiger of labor too far. Perhaps this blind Samson of labor may awake even before Monday, and shake from its limbs the 1 7 parasites that enfeeble him." Deplored also was the fact that while many men of wealth agreed the railroad workers had a just wage complaint, these same capitalists also felt the strikers were wrong to physically interfere with the scabs who had been hired to replace them. The oratory at this gathering was typical of multi- ; speaker Cooper Union labor mass meetings. A few basic ideas were stressed in street language that was directed in an al most angry and didactic manner toward an eagerly accepting 'audience that was very enthusiastic. The remarks about there being no national organization could only have been intended as a masked appeal for support of the secret, oath- taking Order of the Knights of Labor, a national representa tive body in existence since 1859. Sympathy with the Chicago strike.— Almost 10,000 I laboring people, most of them still in working clothes, at- ■ tempted to crowd into the Great Hall on July 12, 1894 to l^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 350 offer moral support to the strikers who were at the moment battling in Chicago and elsewhere. All the demonstrators wore white ribbons to indicate their sympathy. The immense throng listened to a parade of labor figures, the most out standing among them being Henry George, the single-taxer; Frank Foster, a leader of the International Typographical Union; John Swinton, fiery agitator and editor of John Swin- iton's Paper for labor; James A. Hearne, the noted actor; and Charles Frederick Adams, a well known lawyer. Even as the Cooper Union meeting— described by the World as "one of the great mass meetings in the history of 18 ;New York" — was in progress, Samuel Gompers was in confer- I ence at Chicago with leaders of the American Federation of Labor to decide whether 750,000 craftsmen should walk out everywhere in sympathy with Eugene Debs' railroad strikers. Gompers' subsequent non-strike decision spelled doom for the struggle of the railway union. The bulk of the oratory was criticism directed at president Cleveland and the railroad monopolists. It was I ! asserted that the President had betrayed public trust by I - I sending federal troops to the center of a local disturbance ; 18, The World (New York), July 13, 1894, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ---- over the protests of Illinois Governor John Altgeld on the flimsy pretext that the strike was interfering with mail de livery. The strikers had been called conspirators, but "the real conspirators are the railroads" which had attached mail cars to every train to manufacture an excuse for government intervention.^^ Had regular mail trains been made up as usual. Debs would have made sure such trains went through. The President's interference had shown him clearly to be on the side of the monopolists and railroad tycoons. Attorney General Richard Olney, who had advised use of the court in- : junction, was described as a tool of the diabolical Chief Executive, while Debs was characterized as a saint "battling 20 in the cause of humanity." George Pullman, Pullman Com pany owner, was severely castigated for his refusal to sub mit the dispute to arbitration. George and Adams were particularly adamant in insis ting that capitalistic money power had given the courts ap- Iparently unlimited jurisdiction, and it should now be clear | to all that workingmen would never win their rights simply Iby striking. Instead, labor would ultimately be successful I ;by more efficient use of the ballot, "a weapon more effec- ISlbid. ^Qlbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 5 2 21 tive than all the guns and swords ever forged." The speakers all believed that a strong, independent labor party would serve their interests best, but, of course, no such powerful party ever emerged. What was not said at the meeting was more important than the waves of indignation which emanated from the plat form. Not one of the speakers suggested that New York workingmen leave their jobs in a sympathy strike. In view of the conference Gompers was conducting at the moment, the lack of discussion on this point is odd. Sympathy among other workingmen for the railroad employees was undoubtedly ; sincere, but those in knowledgeable positions had evidently concluded that the cause was lost. Eugene V. Debs: the Chicago strike.— Eugene Victor Debs rose from a fireman on the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad to the Indiana State Legislature. Founding the American Railway Union in 1893, he immediately won a histor ic strike against the Great Northern Railway. His defeat in the Pullman strike turned Debs to socialism, and he merged his union with that party in 1897. A frequent Socialist candidate for President, Debs polled 1,000,000 votes even 21ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ............... 3 5 3 while serving a prison term in 1920 for 1918 violation of wartime sedition laws. The shrewd, magnetic labor leader had just been released from his injunction jailing in Chi cago when he was brought to Cooper Union on October 19, 1894 by New York labor leaders to tell the real story of the Pullman strike. In a very long address. Debs first asserted that the public idea of the pleasant town of Pullman in the Chicago suburbs was distorted. Built by George Pullman to house em ployees of his Palace Car Company, the town was a business enterprise rather than a model philanthropic community. High rents were the worst feature of a living plan which kept the employees deeply in debt to the company. When Pullman announced the 25 per cent wage reduction in May, 1894, the residents of the town were hard pressed to live, but they "would have made the best of the situation had Mr. Pullman not met pleas to arbitrate with the unbending dec- 22 laration, 'We have nothing to arbitrate.'" The work stoppage that followed was a combination strike and lockout. Debs disclaimed responsibility for the strike, ex plaining that the walkout had been ordered by a commission ^^The World (New York), October 20, 1894, p. 16. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ' ■ ' " ' 354 of 400 men who represented all membership phases within the American Railway Union and who were "prompted by as holy and 23 righteous motives as ever prompted any men in the world." The speaker declared that the strike would have been won had not President Cleveland sent federal troops to the scene and employed the revolutionary court injunction, Both unconsti tutional acts. Debs said, had been justified on the basis of incidents manufactured by the Railroad Managers' Associa tion, which represented more than 40 railroad corporations. The association had hired thugs to commit violent acts as evidence that the orderly, non-violent strikers had "gotten : j out of hand."^^ He noted that the irony of the great strike was that it had been started not by significant wage or hour demands but by a meager request to arbitrate wage reduc tions . Declaring that "there is not a star or stripe in the American Flag that is not the result of a strike," Debs said it was evident the courts had determined through the injunc- 25 tion to destroy labor's right to refuse to work. He pre dicted that in the future workingmen would strike less and ! 23ibid. ^^Ibid. The Tribune (New York), October 20, 1894, p. 12. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 5 5 seek more earnestly to influence legislation by judicious use of the ballot. At Copper Union, Debs rarely spoke in the extreme terms that were a trademark of his colorful oratory. In deed, his remarks formed a commendably dispassionate and accurate appraisal of strike-related events. The temporary restraint of this truly courageous, honest and generous man : may have been an outgrowth of his harrowing recent experien ces or the responsibility he surely felt for the momentous events of the previous summer. Only when he digressed to an attack on the press did he employ severe language, lean far i ! forward on the platform with "flaming countenance," and ! i transfix various portions of his audience with an arrowlike | forefinger. Radical agitation During the turbulent years between 1873 and 1885 when labor suffered through a financial depression and the secret Order of the Knights of Labor enlisted a national membership, the International Anarchists preached their doc-; i I trine of bloody revolution to a growing audience. Then the | Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago on May 4, 1886, a pitched ^^The World (New York), October 20, 1894, p. 16. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 5 6 battle between extremists and police precipitated by an un known bomb thrower who killed eight officers, cooled public sentiment toward violent revolution and checked the Anar chists as an influential element in the American labor move ment. Four Anarchists were hung on November 11, 1887 and three were given life sentences for their connection with the Haymarket Square tragedy. In the late 1880's and the 1890's the radical element came to reside more in the So cialist Party with its advocacy of ballot revolution to achieve collective ownership of the means of production and distribution. The Socialists and Anarchists made Cooper Union their public headquarters because they usually could not hire any other major hall in New York. The revolutionary ideas espoused at these gatherings did much to establish the "lower East Side reputation" acquired by Cooper Insti- 27 tute toward the end of the nineteenth century. Johann Most; the execution anniversary.— An inter- ; nationally famous bomb-carrying Anarchist, fiery Johann Most Iof Germany came to America after imprisonments on the Con- ! 27peopie's Institute papers, unindexed file, in the Cooper Union Library. Letter from Charles Sprague Smith to Gano Dunn, December 3, 1901. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 5 7 tinent and in England. He ran afoul of American authorities and was several times incarcerated on Blackwell's Island. A close friend of Karl Marx and Michael Bakounin, Most quickly assumed leadership of the Black International in the United States and published the incendiary Die Freiheit. This zealot with a face deformed by a childhood operation was "the ideal man to gather the . . . elements in the so cialist movement of America under the banner of revolt and destruction." Most had been welcomed to the United States on De cember 12, 1882 by an Anarchist mass meeting at Cooper Un ion, but on that occasion he had said little other than to 29 promise continuing advocacy of "propaganda by deed." This type of propaganda consisted of violent acts against capi talists and the officers of church and state, leading to confiscation of all capital by the people. The terrorist speaker was at no loss for words at a igiant mass meeting at Cooper Union on November 10, 1888. Gathered to commemorate the first anniversary of the hanging ^^Morris Hillquit, History of Socialism in the Uni- : ted States (New York: Funk and Wagnall Company, 1910), pp. 214-215. 29 The World (New York), December 13, 1882, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ........................3 5 8 of the Haymarket Anarchists, the radicals had decked the Great Hall with blood-red flags and crape trimmed in black. Most mounted the platform, and "at the sight of their be- 30 loved leader the audience had a spasm." Those in front crowded around the platform and sang the "Marseillaise," just as their comrades had gathered around the scaffold in Chicago a year earlier. Most told an audience that wore flaming red neckties and bands of red silk around their hats that the voices "strangled by the capitalist courts a year ago" would speak 31 out ever more loudly as time passed. With an obviously firm grasp of general legal principles, Most examined the Anarchists' trial at Chicago point by point to show that the proceedings had been a gross travesty on justice. He drew attention to the facts that the jury had not been drawn in the customary way— the majority of the jurors even admitting prejudice against Anarchists— that the eyewitness testimony iwas a "comedy of contradictory perjury," and that in every case contested points were ruled in favor of the prosecu- jtion.^^ He pointed out that while the defendants were S^The Sun (New York), November 11, 1888, p. 2. 3^Ibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. " 3 5 9 charged with murder, an unknown person was on trial because no one yet knew who threw the bomb out of a dark alley. The real charge, he maintained, was not murder but the belief in anarchy. He called presiding judge Joseph E. Gary "a capi talist cat's paw" who had condemned but not crushed the spirit of violent uprising: It is not for the party of war to weep and cry. We are here to proclaim again the war between the rich and the poor, and we do not fear the gallows. Long live anarchy1 Whenever our courage fails let us look back upon the Chicago gallows, which is to us what the cross is to the Christians. We can well swear never to rest until the bloody 11th of Novem- ber is avenged."' Indicating with a wave of his hand the white and red bordered photographs of the dead Anarchists on the wall be- ; hind the rostrum. Most predicted there would be "larger and more prominent graves than those near Chicago" before the class struggle was settled.^4 Finally, he attacked the "pure and simpleton" union mass meeting at Cooper Union on October 20, 1887 that was held in connection with the ap- 3 C proaching executions. He correctly declared that the lo cal voices of union labor at that gathering had been more ‘ Concerned with disclaiming any connection with anarchy and ■decrying the supposed harm anarchy had done the labor move- 33lbid. ^^Ibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 360 ment than in seeking to redress the injustice of the impend ing act. The Anarchists held their anniversary meetings at Cooper Union for the next five years. While the speeches of Most and his comrades always dwelt on the Chicago tragedy, the wording each year became less peppery because of ever- increasing police restrictions. One hundred fifty officers were the minimum duty force at the meetings, Most, a compelling and fearless speaker whose black, bushy hair and beard combined with piercing blue eyes to jgive him the appearance of a demon, was always in trouble i jfor what he said rather than what he did. Yet a functional i ! I appraisal of his Cooper Union ideas reveals there was little cause for alarm because: (1) there is no evidence that his : incendiary words prompted others to actual violence, (2) he appealed to a lunatic fringe that had actually become an intellectual minority, and (3) his principal ideas failed to itake root in society. However— as to a lesser extent in the lease of Debs— history vindicated his objections to gross jlegal irregular ities. 36 Commons, o p . cit.. p. 393. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ‘ V ■ ' ' ' 361 Keir Hardie: greetings to America.— James Keir Har die, English Socialist agitator who struggled from the coal pits to a seat in Parliament, was the founder of Britain's enduring Independent Labor Party and led the Laborites in the House of Commons for many years. Quickly earning the reputation of an extremist. Hardie became "the best hated 3 7 and best loved man in Great Britain." The colorful Scot appeared at Cooper Union in his cloth cap and baggy-kneed tweed suit on August 26, 1895 to open his American tour on behalf of international socialism. He addressed the meeting as "Comrades." Hardie attacked business monopoly, urging Socialists and working people in general to seek untiringly the control of industries and the means of production "until capitalism 3 8 is destroyed." He stressed his belief that "commercialism is doomed and the competitive system is an outrage upon 39 humanity that shall not be maintained." He said he had learned that American railroads were in particularly desper ate financial straits, and he intended to conduct a personal 37g. J. w. Passfield, History of Trade Unionism (London: Longmans Green and Company, 1950), pp. 681-684. ^^The Sun (New York), August 27, 1895, p. 5. ^^The People (New York), September 1, 1895, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ...... 362 investigation on behalf of the Socialists to discover if these particular corporate monsters were ripe to topple, The speaker then discussed the British Independent Labor Party and criticized American workers for not having established an effective political force in the United States : I find that labor has small representation in your legislative halls. How, men of America, does it happen that, with all your political advantages, every imaginable voice is heard in Congress except the voice of labor? Whose fault is that? A Voice: Our own. Another Voice: It is on account of the labor fakirs. Mr. Hardie: Yes, me lads, 'tis your own fault, but as to the labor fakirs, as you call them, they are just what you have made them; just as soon as they go wrong, send them back to the bench. Let them know that if they can sell themselves they do not carry you in their pocket to sell.^O After further chastising working people for not us ing their political rights to the best advantage. Hardie branched off into brief comment on the usefulness of Sunday closing laws, the unfortunate bitterness of rival labor fac tions in New York, his lack of familiarity with American labor terms, his manner of dress, and the invasion of the privacy of his lodgings by the press. Hardie's brief speech was more a series of desultory 40ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. personal impressions about the American scene as it related to labor and socialism in general than a set address. His real purpose seemed to be to enjoy himself, although he was diplomatic at all times in doing so. He sprinkled his homey remarks with anecdotes and aphorisms, addressed informal comments to men seated on the platform, and even stopped to sing Robert Burns' song, "A Man's a Man for A' That" in his strong Scotch accent to the great delight of the audience. Organizational upheaval After the decline of the National Labor Union, the first country-wide organization, in 1872, the Knights of Labor assumed leadership of the nation's working forces. However, skilled craftsmen became disenchanted with the "one big union" idea that lumped skilled and unskilled workers together for the supposed good of all. The artisans, who bore the real burden of winning labor's rights, split off in 1881 to form what became the American Federation of Labor. The parent Knights fought the upstart organization without success; then just as the Federation's autonomy seemed as sured, the Socialist Labor Party, which emerged as a nation ally significant movement in 1892, tried to force the trade unionists into a political alliance. Partially successful R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ' " 3 6 4 in 1894 but decisively beaten in 1895, the rejected Social ists then made their "greatest mistake" in launching the 41 Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance as a Federation rival. The test of strength saw the Alliance fail and the Federa tion emerge supreme. Meanwhile, the Knights declined to I impotence. Terence V. PowderIv; the Knights declare war.— 42 Terence Vincent Powderly, leader of the Knights of Labor during the golden years of the Order, was a good organizer, but he opposed strikes and was too much the visionary re former. As he drifted ever closer to a cooperative and I ! utopian philosophy and away from the practical needs of workingmen in a capitalistic society, the tradesmen desert ed, leaving him with the less influential industrial workers who could exact few concessions because they were more easi ly replaced by scabs. The General Master Workman of the Knights had issued la challenge to Samuel Gompers to meet him in a public debate ion the differences between the Knights and the Federation, i I ^^Selig Perlman, History of Trade Unionism in the limited States (New York: Augustus M. Kelly, Inc., 1950), p. 1211. i I ^^For other speechmaking and identification, see IP. 256. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ' 3 6 5 In a letter to intermediaries, which Powderly read to a jhuge, expectant gathering at Cooper Union on June 20, 1890, i Gompers called his rival a "pettifogger" and declared he would accept the challenge if the Great Hall doors were kept closed until 7:30 P.M. so he would not be "entrapped into a ipacked meeting."^3 Although the doors were kept closed, IGompers did not appear, and Powderly had the platform to jhimself. The leader of the Knights, who had unwisely assailed the Federation's hallowed eight-hour movement in a secret circular that had been traced back to him, first made an adroit attempt to justify his position in regard to the vital workday question: The officers of the American Federation of Labor have wilfully and deliberately lied when they have said I opposed the eight-hour movement of 1886. I issued that circular because'I am not in favor of making fool efforts. Eight hours! We all want it. The question is how to reach it. We believe in prac tical effort. The Knights never took part in the movement of 1886. The organization which did start it crawled under the barn, and when the fight was over it pulled its name under the barn after it, and 1 . 44 I . . . never came out since. He declared the Knights had publicly affirmed their alle- i 43The Sun (New York), June 21, 1890, p. 1. 44ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 6 6 glance to the eight-hour movement in 1878, and he ridiculed Federation officers for having fixed May 1, 1890 as the date to move strongly and formally for the ideal day when they 45 "knew that failure was inevitable" for years to come. Powderly next analyzed the last annual report of the Federation to discredit rival membership claims. He noted that the Gompers group claimed membership of 540,000, but less than one-fifth of that number were actually en rolled; organizations were listed which had no Federation connection, and local bodies had in many cases been counted two or three times. The worst crime of the "frenzied sub scription drive" of the opposition, however, was its sly embracement of many labor outcasts who, by mutual agreement -of the two national leaders, should be expelled from the labor movement in general. The General Master Workman finally reviewed a long list of grievances to illustrate the lack of good faith in herent in the rival organization, adding in strong terms ithat he had tried in vain to settle differences with Gompersi in private meetings. Always the pride of the Knights had suffered under Gompers' scornful indifference; 45ibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 367; I do not regret that the day has come when our organi zation has taken its last insult in silence. From this time forth . . . whenever a snarling cur snaps at our heels we propose to take whatever weapon is nearest at hand to drive that cur from the ranks of l a b o r 7 At this point Powderly was greeted by resonant his ses, which prompted a standard retort that had become fa mous: "The only things that hiss are geese and serpents, and we are fighting them both right along." Defiant voices answered, "We are all workingmen here L " Powderly angrily irejoined: "Well, put Samuel Gompers in my place if he is the man to lead labor'." This retort triggered outbursts and ^demonstrations against the hecklers, and a number of men iwere put out. Then voices shouted,"Go on, Terry," or "You're our man." The speaker thanked his audience for their loyalty, said "the devil is no more an enemy of labor : than Samuel Gompers," and strode "majestically" from the 48 platform. Powderly was right about Gompers' uncompromising attitude. The trades union leader, aware that he was play-' ling an increasingly strong hand, stood aloof from anything | ! f i I Ibut "pure and simple" unionism without cranks, independent ! {political action, or class warfare. Gompers was also 47lbid. 48jbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 368 shrewd in avoiding direct public clash with the more elo quent Powderly. Rhetorically, Powderly's address lacked soundness in attack because he often failed to reveal clear ly the relation of his opponent's claims to his own; he primarily substituted unclarified terms (fool efforts, prac tical efforts) for the relevant points of clash in the eight-hour controversy.^^ He also employed araumentum ad personam against Gompers (liar, cur, devil). The 1895 A. F. of L. convention.— At the 1894 con- -------------------- vention, Gompers defeated a strong attempt to insert a plank endorsing socialism in the Federation platform. He substi- I I : tuted a plank which ambiguously suggested some kind of po- j litical action, a policy the Socialists considered para mount. Not satisfied, the vengeful and influential Social ist contingent combined with the miners to elect John McBride, principal miners' leader during the 1880's and 1890's, to the presidency, thus depriving Gompers of that office for the only time in his life. However, when Gompers 49powderiy distorted the position of Federation of- | jficials. The building trades won many shorter hour conces- | Isions through 1890, but the movement carried from the 1880's did lose momentum in 1891 and 1892 when Gompers was unable to find a powerful union willing to spearhead fur ther attack. The Federation had not "crawled under the barn" in 1890. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 6 9 regained leadership in 1895, he led the convention to rein terpret his plank as a rejection of political action out side of lobbying. The Socialists were furious. Many speakers crossed the national convention plat form during the evening session at Cooper Union on December 9, 1895. Platitudes were heard from Gompers, McBride, and George McNeill of Boston, a leading pioneer of the labor movement in America. The Socialists hissed through all the speeches except McBride's, but only two men were willing to fan discordant flames by answering the disgruntled members. John Lennon, National Secretary of the Tailors' Union of America, said the men who hissed "would not stop the pro gress of trade unionism, nor switch it into the mud of any 50 'isms.'" Henry Weismann, National Secretary of the Ba kers' Union of America, declared that he was proud of the enemies he had made. Interrupted by a semi-chant of "so cialism, socialism," Weismann spoke out boldly; There are men in the American Federation who are better Socialists than our hissers. It is a dis grace that the intolerance of the Socialists could not . . . be put aside for the decent sentiment of unity. The enemies of the" American Federation draw their inspiration from Europe, and it does not con form to the American idea. I am glad to call myself ^^The Sun (New York), December 10, 1895, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. a trade unionist pure and simple. Weismann maintained to the cheers of the larger part of the audience that labor’s struggle in 1896 should be for : an eight-hour day, and "all suggestions of a political na- 52 ture should be cast aside." Gompers' apparent decision to allow secondary fig ures to attack the Socialists from the platform must be * construed as a strategic move. Federation policy was stated by Lennon and Weismann, yet Gompers’ silence toward the (dissident faction guaranteed a face-saving retreat for the j leftists if they chose to subordinate themselves to the i jtrade union organization. Daniel DeLeon; launching the alliance.— Editor of ! The People and leader of the American Socialists, Daniel DeLeon defeated his own ends because he was too intolerant land dictatorial. He helped found the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies), and his writings were later admired Iby Lenin. DeLeon's Socialist Labor Party was to become a I secondary force to Eugene Debs' competing Socialist Party. IA brilliant political economist, DeLeon once held a prize ilectureship at Columbia University. I - — '— - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Slibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 7 1 On December 13, 1895, four days after the American Federation of Labor convention closed, the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance was created at Cooper Union. Although the alliance was doomed from the start, it took DeLeon until I i 1898 to realize that by forcing the moderate sympathizers to ! : I take sides, he had driven a large part of his following intq jthe Gompers camp. DeLeon, known as "the socialist pope," told the : faithful throng that crowded the Great Hall that the capi- jtalist-labor war would require many changes and sacrifices before at last all classes were abolished and all the land ' land machinery of production were transferred to the whole people as a corporate body. He called upon "all our fellow | workingmen throughout the United States" to support the al liance, which was "now being organized for the purpose of Iplacing the American labor movement bn its only true and natural lines . . ."53 The Socialist leader declared the "old wreck of pure land simple trade unionism" had been abandoned because it I represented the belief that capital and labor could live I Ihappily together and that the economic and political move- i _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - — - - — — - - ■ ■ - I ^^The People (New York), December 22, 1895, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 7 2 ments were separable.Moreover, he maintained, it was Iridiculous for workingmen to proceed on the mercantile theo ry that labor must be paid a demanded price before "taking its goods from the shelf." He said: "If a capitalist puts a silver dollar on the shelf you have a silver dollar at I the end of a year, but if you put a workingman on the shelf I 55 you have a skeleton at the end of a month." ; In a nation where the ballot was common property, the only logical solution to the workingman's problems, jüeLeon believed, was independent political action. He [blamed the influx of British old-style trade unionists dur ing the formative years of American labor for the pure and simple union fixation, and he called for united political 'activity to win "the only part of the battlefield where I 5 5 [Capitalism does not have the controlling advantage." Considering DeLeon's views, it is interesting that of the eminent British labor leaders, only Keir Hardie would i I ihave agreed with him. John Burns, Cabinet Minister and one | I ! iof the most respected names in English labor, denounced i ; ; labor leaders who sought to be politicians when he spoke at | Cooper Union on December 3, 1894. Thomas Hughes, long a I ------ : 54ibid. ^^Ibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 7 3 ' j labor champion in Parliament and author of Tom Brown's I School Days, expressed similar views in the Great Hall on October 21, 1870, Thus Burns and Hughes would have seen eye to eye with Gompers. While Britain's Independent Labor Party became a dominant political force, its counterpart Inever developed in the United States. Labor's political Iefforts in nineteenth century America were primarily at tached to the coattails of third parties, such as the GreenH backers and the Populists. Other abortive efforts were in- I I {Significant. I Ireland versus England I The Irish independence movement claims the distinc-| tion of being the only agitation at Cooper Union on behalf Iof a foreign cause. However, lacking urgent issues that involved nationwide American interests, the platform signi ficance of the movement derives from several prominent speakers and from sincere expressions of man's higher as- Ipirations for freedom and human rights. This phase of Great iHall activity occupies an unusual detached position where j ! sympathy was paramount; the Irish minority that crowded the | immediate audience could identify closely with the oppressed country across the sea from whence they had so recently R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ' 3 7 4 emigrated, but to the many citizens of other nationality extractions who listened, international separation trans formed Ireland's plight into a more romantic and sentimental ' 57 cause. The non-Irish responded primarily as freedom-lov ing people who had themselves thrown off the British yoke I to attain independence. ! Irish rights were advocated on a limited number of ! speechmaking occasions. Of three early Fenian meetings isimilar in character and agitation, the February, 1866 gath- j ■ering was the most representative and dynamic. The cause Iwas otherwise represented as described, omitting one largely ceremonial meeting on the occasion of the one hundred fif tieth anniversary of the birth of Robert Emmet, an early: : : I Irish patriot. The Fenian movement Through a series of wars, England gradually con- Iquered Ireland and usurped title to its land. British landH ilords began in the eighteenth century to impose such op- i ! ipressive rents and related abuses upon the tenant agricul- S^Terence V. Powderly was notably active in the Irish cause. In his autobiographical The Path I Trod (New York: Columbia University Press, 1940), p. 178, Powderly discusses the sympathy and makeup of the heterogeneous audi-r ences at Irish agitation meetings. ; R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. , .............. ' ■ ■ ■ 3 7 5 tural nation that Irish hearts yearned passionately for in dependence . Following the great potato famine— analogous to a rice famine in China— of 1846-1848, large numbers of Irish emigrated to the United States and England where they established the Fenian Brotherhood, a secret revolutionary jsoçiety. The many Fenians who fought in the Civil War were mustered out with both their muskets and an apprenticeship in arms. Eager to strike at England in any way, the revo lutionists unsuccessfully invaded Canada from New York and IVermont in 1866 and 1870. United States forces frustrated ithe merely nuisance military action because the government i jdid not wish to endanger war claims negotiations with Eng land. The 1866 agitation meeting.— Held virtually on the eve of the April and May, 1866 invasion of Canada— a larger military threat than the 1870 clash— by a force of almost 1,000 Fenians, the Cooper Union meeting on February 12, 1866 sought to arouse revolutionary spirit. The current of pa triotic fervor ran strong, and the Times reporter declared the "tumultuous upheavals in the hall itself were absolutely unparalleled in the history of public meetings in this R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 376 city."58 A number of men delivered short speeches to the huge! gathering. The more significant speakers were John O'Maho- ny,‘ principal founder of the American movement and respon sible for the Fenian^S name; Fernando Wood,^^ corrupt ex- Mayor of New York and deposed Tammany Hall leader who truckled to the Irish in the hope of recouping his political fortunes; and George Francis Train, eccentric millionaire father of railroads who rarely spoke to adults except from I the platform and whose love for controversial adventure led him to embrace causes and to circle the world in 80 days. | The speakers as a group pointed up the unpleasant aspects of Anglo-American history and the ancient wrongs of Ireland in order to characterize England as a nation which professed sympathy for democracy but which was in reality a selfish and despotic colonial power. In fact, they went so far as to say there was nothing in diplomatic history to indicate that Great Britain looked upon either Ireland or the United States with anything but contempt. 5^The New York Times. February 13, 1856, p. 8. ^^The Irish militia name in pre-Christian times. G^For other speechmaking and identification, see p. 279. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 7 7 Having completed a portrait of English tyranny, the : speakers next developed the idea that it was America's duty ; to uphold everywhere the cause of liberty and free govern ment. After all, the United States had publicly expressed sympathy for the libertarian struggles of France, Poland, Greece, South America, and even Mexico under Maximilian. Making a long inferential leap, they therefore reasoned that the conflict for Irish independence was also America's fight. As Train said: "I spit upon the idea that our Gov ernment is to keep aloof from this war. I want it to take an active part in it, and I counsel acts, want acts against | the British G o v e r n m e n t . i Such inflammatory statements stirred the crowd to a frenzy. They stood on seats, milled in the aisles, and surged toward the platform shouting "Hang the Queen'." or "We march tomorrow.A very sensitive audience nerve was touched by O'Mahony when he said the real reason why Ireland was ground more mercilessly beneath the English heel than any other colony was because the Irish clung to their Catholic faith. The true soreness of this religious point i G^The World (New York), February 13, 1865, p. 2. 62ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ..................... " ' ' ' ' 3 7 8 became apparent in 1869 when Prime Minister W. E. Gladstone ! took the momentous step of disestablishing the Protestant Church in Ireland— forced upon the subject nation more than two centuries earlier by Oliver Cromwell— as a concession to Fenian activity and American hostility. The sentiment of the conclave was well expressed by Wood. He asked; "Now, friends of Ireland, what do you pro pose to do?" He was answered by angry shouts of "Shoot the landlords" and "War to the knife." He went on; You have gone thus far well, but what you have done has created a necessity for doing more. Your course here has been responded to elsewhere. It has caused not only commotion, but renewed oppression in Ire land. You dare not retreat. Go on, then I Strike for your early homes and your firesides; for your altars and your God; for your kinsmen and your na tive soill^j The closing scenes of the meeting were an indescrib able demonstration of crazed patriotism. However, re straint, logic, and judgment were not the only things lost to the passion of highly emotional speechmaking; pickpockets made a rich haul, and even O'Mahony's wallet was lifted. The dvnamite meeting.— The Fenian Brotherhood was I ^dissolved by Papal pressure, but another society, the Clan- ^^The New York Times. February 13, 1866, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ' 3 7 9 na-Gael, was founded in its place by patriotic Irish-Aitieri- icans "who refused to let their dreams of Irish independence be extinguished by any authority either clerical or civ il. In 1883 the Clan launched a dynamite terror cam paign against Great Britain. The most daring plot, an ef fort to blow up London Bridge and key government buildings, barely misfired. The boldest element of the Clan came out in public advocacy of the use of dynamite at a mass meeting in Cooper Union on July 3, 1883. The violent patriots also paid hom age to five martyrs just executed for the Phoenix Park mur- i 65 iders in Ireland. The list of speakers did not include the leaders of the Irish liberation movement in America. Rath er, the names of those who addressed the meeting read more like what is best described as the cream of the "Irish ma fia." There were P. J. Sheridan, a firebrand so renowned that he was indicted in absentia by England; "Professor" I ^^Charles Tansill, America and the Fight for Irish iFreedom (New York: The Devin-Adair Company, 1957), p. 27. i G^The five conspirators cut the throats of Lord Frederick Cavendish, new Chief Secretary for Ireland, and T. H. Burke, Under-Secretary, in a plot that Tansill (op. cit.. p. 83) points out may have originated in America with the Clan. England was, of course, infuriated by the crime. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 380 ‘ John Mezzeroff, "the maker of explosives and the wildest 'dynamiter' of them all";^^ O'Donovan Rossa, arch-plotting member of the "Cuba Five"^^ and the author of dynamite cir culars; and a number of other desperate agitators. The speakers stated that they had met to pay homage to the Phoenix Park murderers and to all other patriots who ihad given their lives for Irish independence and to make clear their intention of carrying on unceasing hostilities against Great Britain. They emphasized by motion that "henceforth any person who enters Ireland officially accred-: ited by England, shall do so at his peril."^8 The time for | patient working and waiting had passed, and the Irishman's 'recourse now was "to use every weapon of . . . nature and ! s c i e n c e . i The apostles of violence were constantly interrupted Iby shouts for "Dynamite!" and at each reference to physical : G^The Tribune (New York), July 4, 1883, p. 5. I number of Fenians held in English prisons for I revolutionary acts were also American citizens. The United | Kingdom responded to American diplomatic pressure by "ban ishing" the five worst conspirators to the United States aboard the Cuba. thus giving them a nickname. ^^The Tribune (New York), July 4, 1883, p. 5. 69lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 8 1 ; force, the audience cheered. Sheridan summed up the senti- ! ment of the meeting: I will not defend physical force where moral suasion is sufficient, but is there any sane man left among us who thinks moral suasion is enough for England? In France, where formerly we couldn't get a paragraph, now we get, since . . . Phoenix Park . . . and the explosions we have had in London and Glasgow (loud laughter and cheers) leading arti cles. If half the energy and one-tenth the money that have been spent on Ireland had been devoted to scientific warfare, Ireland would be better off today. A God has inspired these methods, and by them we hope to carry the warfare into the heart of England, and do her more harm than Germany's in vasion did France , . .^0 Before dismissing, the group passed a resolution that in the future the families of patriots who died in the fight against England would become wards of the Clan. The meeting, which was "the most open and public expression of the dynamite party that has yet taken place in 71 New-York," was the oratorical high-water mark of the revo lutionaries. Activity decreased as the destructive acts of : : Captain Midnight, the Irish spirit of violence, only goaded lEngland to more oppressive measures. In both Cooper Union imeetings, the speakers' purpose was to reinforce existing iattitudes and predetermined courses of action. The oratory Ï j ■ : iwas an inciting connective link between such action and 70lbid. 71lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 382; covert planning. The Irish Land League In 1879 increasing potato crop failures in Ireland brought renewed famine conditions, and Michael Davitt found ed the Irish Land League, an agrarian reform organization based upon the "3-F" principles of fixity of tenure, fair rents, and free sale. A formidable agitation developed when Davitt was joined by Charles Stewart Parnell, parliamentary ! leader of Ireland’s Home Rule Party and soon the League's guiding force. To obtain funds and moral support, spirited appeals were made in America. I ; James Redpath: Irish misery and want.— James Red- path was best known for his establishment in 1868 of the : Redpath Lyceum Bureau, the leading booking agency for plat-; form stars of the time. He also edited the North American Review and won fame as a roving New York Tribune correspon- ident. Redpath made two trips to Ireland when he became deeply interested in that country's plight in 1879. On May 6, 1880 Redpath discussed at Cooper Union the evils of the English landlord system in Ireland and the ; (Widespread suffering it caused. The only attainable remedy for Ireland's ills, he believed, lay in the repeal of the R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. '...............................3 8 3 oppressive land laws through Land League action. He spoke of famine and the landlords as "the twin curses of Ireland" and said the torturous rack rents were extracted without 7P mercy and without regard for prevailing famine conditions, In pleading for donations to the Land League, Red path described to his large audience— many of whom were "visibly affected" by his words— the unplumbed depths of human misery that prevailed in Ireland: There is nothing on this earth so sacred as human sorrow. Christianity itself has been defined as the worship of sorrow. And if this definition is a true one the Holy Land of our time is the West of Ireland. Every sod there has been wet by tears. The murmurs of every rippling brook there have been accompanied from time immemorial by a chorus of sighs from breaking human hearts. Every breeze that has swept across their barren moors has carried with it beyond the tops of their bleak mountains the groans and the prayers of a brave but despairing people. I have heard so much and seen so much of the sorrows of the West that when the memory of them rises before me, I stand appalled at the vision. The destitution of the peasants in all sections of Ireland was scarcely less severe than in the West. Everywhere the spectre of hopeless misery stalked the wretched land. The lecturer accused the landlords of conducting a systematic program to drive the peasants from their native 7^The Tribune (New York), May 7, 1880, p. 5. 73lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 384, land. Those tenants unable to meet rents were evicted, their thatched cabins burned, and the property converted to more profitable grazing land. He concluded that only the Land League could defeat the landlords' vicious campaign, and if the efforts of the League were successful, the Irish people would rise from conditions of servitude in many re spects worse than those suffered by the former slaves in the southern United States. Redpath's address was pathos oriented, and although the spoken word was not his most effective medium, he touched the heights of eloquence when describing conditions ; in western Ireland. An element of bathos crept in when the I speaker abandoned his exalted plane of description for a less moving discussion of the landlords' eviction campaign. Michael Davitt; farewell to America.— Founder of the Irish Land League, Michael Davitt was the son of an evicted tenant. He became a Fenian as a young laborer in England, and his revolutionary activities earned him a num- Iber of years in British prisons. Davitt was an ardent sep-: ‘ aratist who saw the agrarian reform League as a necessary ! first step toward home rule. The League founder's appearance at Cooper Union on R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 385 November 8, 1880 marked the climax of his United States tour to generate support for the reform organization. His ef forts, coupled with the strategy of legislative obstruction in Parliament by Parnell and his Home Rule Party, were in strumental in forcing Gladstone to introduce his Land Act of 1881, which made large concessions. However, Parnell was under arrest when Davitt spoke on his eve of departure, and the League founder told a World reporter he would "take my chances" on imprisonment when he arrived in Ireland. The eminent agitator told the familiar tale of woe of the Irish people and discussed the hopes and fears of the Land League. He explained that since the potato crops had begun to fail in 1878, the existing tenant system had become intolerable. The English landlords, "the cutthroats of the kingdom," demanded payment out of food, the very sap of existence, and their merciless acts had brought forth the League: Now what is rent? John Stuart Mill has defined it as "surplus profit"— that is, repayment after the entire cost has been paid. Surplus profit in Ire land during the past three years is a misnomer. There was not enough to pay the cost of cultivation. How could they [the peasant farmers] meet any rack- rents? We had either to ask them to sell out all they possessed to pay a rack-rent, or to keep the ^^The World (New York), November 9, 1880, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 386 food they had raised and to live on that food. I was in the south and west of Ireland, and I know what the consequence would have been if the people had not eaten their rent in place of paying it out. The right of existence is higher than the right of the . . . land-lords. We saved over one hundred thousand lives . . . last winter by that advice, Davitt added that the competition of American grain in the Irish market made it impossible for the farmers of the pure ly agricultural country to pay the rents they had managed to meet 10 years earlier. Declaring that the success of the Land League de pended upon "planned inaction" by the Irish people, Davitt explained that the cornerstone of peasant passive aggression was to refrain from occupying farms from which tenants had been evicted for non-payment of rent.^^ The anti-occupancy policy was most effective in the fertile regions where land lords were hesitant to convert prime holdings into pasture. The property class had replied by soliciting thousands of constables and troops ; the English channel fleet had even steamed to the west coast of Ireland in a show of force in tended to crush the League. The imprisonment of Parnell and other leaders was an intimidation farce. The great politi cal tragedy of the situation, Davitt held, was that so much 75lbid. 7&Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. trouble was instigated by and on behalf of the 744 English men who owned the largest portion of Ireland and took their rent money to London. Yet the reform cause would not die, the League founder promised. He noted with satisfaction that a branch of his organization had been established "in every city in the Union, and we know that whatever assistance we want will be given us by the branches in this country," Davitt paused, surveying his audience, and then asked: "Now, when I get back can I say that we can look for your active coop-! eration in any emergency that may arise?" He received a 77 Ideafening affirmative reply. Davitt summed up the League's position by declaring it was the reformers' intention "to shoot Irish landlordism, ' and not the landlords. Tansill points out that from the first Davitt "used the drive against landlordism as a steppingstone to national jindependence. Because this strategy was not publicly Iavowed, the proposition in Davitt's major address at Cooper : Union was simply that landlordism should be reformed in 77lbid. ~ ^^Ibid. ^^Tansill, OP. cit.. p. 54. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 8 8 keeping with Land League principles. Yet every Irish sym pathizer was keenly aware that the basic issue in the Ire- land-England struggle was not land rights but home rule; therefore, by attacking the foundation of British occupancy of Ireland, Davitt indirectly and by suggestive persuasion forged an implicative link between the subsidiary and main issues. The Irish unitv meeting.— It was inevitable that the Irish Land League become openly synonymous with home rule. Led by indomitable Charles Parnell, the separatists gained wide support in England and America, and prospects seemed bright in the late 1880's that Great Britain would concede national government to Ireland, Then by intrigue, the Eng lish government entangled Parnell in scandalous divorce pro ceedings with a married woman. Gladstone announced that his nonconformist followers would not cooperate further if Par- ; jnell retained the leadership, and in Ireland the Catholic Church also insisted on his retirement. Parnell refused to : resign. His party was bitterly divided, and he died in Oc- i jtober, 1891, fighting vehemently as leader of the minority. ; Factional struggles developed which delayed home rule. The movement in America also disintegrated into R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ■ ■" 389 factional quarrels with three organizations— the Irish Fed eration, the Clan-na-Gael, and the Irish National League— vying for leadership. The Irish National League held a mass meeting at Cooper Union on June 20, 1892 to promote harmony and to honor an Irish-American delegation of peacemakers ibound for the homeland. Three speakers were prominent. iThey were M. N. Gannon, President of the Irish National League; Thomas James, former Postmaster General; and O'Neil Ryan, a St. Louis judge who was highly respected by all fac tions . The speakers traced the progress of the Irish cause : since the Civil War, and with only passing reference to iMichael Davitt and other luminaries of the Land League move- jment, credited Parnell with advancing Ireland far along the road to home rule. As Gannon said: "For this, and all this, let the wreath be placed upon the brow of Charles Stewart Parnell." At these words, an "old gray-haired gen- Itleman stood up and shouted, 'Turn Healy^^ out when you go iover.'" Instantly the audience rose as one man, and "for ^^Timothy Healy, Parnell's protege, was considered a traitor by many because he turned his influence against ithe home rule leader when his political fate hung in the balance. This defection embittered Parnell but enhanced IHealy's power. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ■ ... ' ' ' “ " 3 9 0 fully five minutes the speaker was unable to proceed owing 81 to the storm of groans for 'Tim' Healy that arose," After making it clear that factional squabbling must : cease in the interest of the cause, the speakers maintained that the only sensible means of American unity was undivided loyalty to the Irish National League. They all voiced sup port for a resolution stating that the Irish National League was "the only body in America duly authorized to speak in the name of Irish Americans on the Irish question," This bigoted attitude made a mockery of Ryan's words : To stop discord we go across the ocean. We shall insist that "Ireland" shall be the battle-cry and not the name of any individual. If we find any man standing in the way of union, then before the world we shall brand him as a Judas Iscariot. What do we tell our committees to say when they reach Ireland? Just this, that the old flag must be kept flying, and that unity must exist before our support can be secured.82 The Unity meeting at Cooper Union generated more disunity than had previously existed. While paying lip service to abolishing discord, the speakers denounced the ;Irish Federation and the Clan-na-Gael because a hostile circular found its way into the hall. The rival organiza- 8J-The World (New York), June 21, 1892, p. 3, 82ibid, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 9 1 tions in reply sent word ahead to Ireland that the peace delegation was traveling without majority sanction. Eight years were to pass before cohesiveness was brought to the home rule forces with the founding of the Sinn Fein (Ourselves Alone) Party in Ireland. The patriots won political independence at last in 1921. Indian Chiefs Seek Justice Like the Irish, the Indians were concerned with is sues of self-determination and property rights, but platform expression of the Indian question at Cooper Union was more vital because it was dynamically and inherently a part of American national policy. The addresses of the chiefs were i additionally significant because; (1) they were the only genuine expression of Indian sentiment before popular east ern audiences, (2) they represented a brief but highly cru cial period in Indian-American affairs, and (3) the compe tence, integrity, and good motives of the speakers were be yond question The oratorical efforts of the noble savages stand in contrast to other phases of Cooper Union platform activir ty. In terms of long-range effect, the chiefs' appeals were the only Great Hall agitation connected with an ultimately R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 9 2 lost cause. Rhetorically, these addresses were structurally rambling oddities delivered in broken though piquant English or through the distorting medium of an interpreter. From an audience viewpoint, those who came to listen appear to have 83 been attracted as much by curiosity as by reforming zeal. The New York Indian Peace Commission The American Indian's familiar history of broken treaties and dwindling lands began on a large scale between 1831 and 1840 when most of the eastern Indian population was forced by the Indian Removal Act to relocate west of the Mississippi. After gold was discovered in California, scheming treaties were devised to extinguish Indian title to the land lying in the pathway of the various overland routes to the Pacific. A horde of settlers in thousands of wagon trains slaughtered the prairie and mountain game which was the Indians' food, and bloody wars resulted. On March 3, 1871 Congress declared that making treaties with savage tribes was a legal absurdity. The national legislature ar bitrarily undertook control of the red man's affairs. Westerners wanted the savages exterminated, but S^The New York Times. June 17, 1870, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rsi3 easterners were in a position to take a more detached and tolerant view. Few men were more prominent in defending the Indian than Peter Cooper, who conducted an organizational -meeting on May 18, 1868 in his Cooper Union. The meeting, more of a business session than a speechmaking occasion, first briefly chronicled the injustices to which the sava- Iges were subjected and to which the Indian wars could be traced. The New York Indian Peace Commission was then for mally created. The commission was to act as a voice for the Indians to "expose and counteract the falsehoods which un principled men circulate to their prejudice." The organiza tion's larger purpose was to agitate for policies that would "prepare the Indian for citizenship by educating him on 84 suitable reservations." The commission's most notable accomplishment was to bring about appointment of the United States Indian Commis- i sion in 1869. This governmental agency was composed of 10 jmen who acted in an advisory and recommendatory capacity under honest Secretary of the Interior J. D. Cox. The fed- | eral organization opened a New York office, and Cooper do- I I jnated use of the Great Hall to important Indian receptions. Q^The Tribune (New York), May 20, 1868, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 9 4 , The Cherokee Chief Lewis Downing, Chief of the Cherokee Nation, had won greater renown as a statesman than as a warrior. He was respected by the authorities in Washington as much as by his own people for his wisdom, patience, and courage. He spoke English with effort but "exhibited a natural inclination to a picturesque and glowing eloquence for which he is famous in his own language. When Downing spoke at Cooper Union on May 18, 1870, ;he was the featured guest at the closing session of the United States Indian Commission convention, which had been j jcalled "to consider the subject of a peaceable settlement of ; I I all our Indian difficulties."®^ The Cherokee Chief had been ;at Washington in conferences regarding the rights of auto nomous tribal government guaranteed his people by the Indian Treaty of 1866. Downing's nation retained sovereignty over its people and remained as it was before the Civil War, virtually an independent republic. The Indians were as jeager to retain their status as the opportunist politicians, lagents, and cutthroat traders were to control and exploit ®^The New York Times. May 19, 1870, p. 8. 8®Ibid. Italics mine— the goal was simply unreal istic. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 9 5 the Cherokee empire. The Indian leader told a large audience that his people were a peaceful people who had kept their word in Ievery treaty made with the white man. They had tried hard Ito follow the counsel of President Washington when he ad vised their forefathers to lay aside the how and arrow for Ithe tools of industry. The Cherokees were trying "with all ; our might to improve our condition as Washington told us i . . In refuting the charge that tribal government : slowed civilizing processes too greatly. Downing said his :people had established 41 schools, had churches throughout j Itheir nation, had a constitution, and had never asked the ; federal government for charity. The Cherokees had made igreat advances under their own government, but they needed to retain self-determination if their progress was to con tinue: And yet we are not right, we are not prepared for the power of Government to be thrown over us. It would crush us like children not able to walk. We not hate the white people, we are friendly and intermarriage is greatly in our nation, but white man's government would be like a flood, it would overwhelm us. We are growing. By and by we shall be strong enough and then we will say come.®® Downing said that in his opinion Indian wars came ®7lbid. ®®Ibid. : R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. .... 396 about because a few unruly individuals committed acts of violence. That wars should result from isolated outrages, however, he felt was as uncalled for as an invasion of New York State by Pennsylvania because a few culprits from the Empire City committed crimes in Philadelphia. The Cherokee leader concluded with an appeal for the permanence of his people's location: It is as if a great power should come over the seas to the great City of New-York, and say you must leave your homes and your beautiful gardens; your fathers are buried here, but you must go. O, how near the sad feeling would come to every heart. I remember in 1838 my people were living in a beautiful country in Georgia and Tennessee, where the streams delight the valleys, and the sweet birds sing; but they were seized in a day, and pushed with the bayonet west of the Mississippi. 0, as the great God has mercy for you, have mercy for us, and leave us our last home in which we have been protected so long.®^ Downing's words, so utterly stripped of any adaptive platform pretense or restraint, communicate their poignancy even in type. His appeals tug hardest at the heartstrings of today's reader because historical distance allows the knowledge that Downing's mission could not succeed. i The Sioux Chief Red Cloud, principal Chief of the enormous Sioux ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 3 9 7 Nation, was, with Geronimo, the greatest Indian war leader of the western frontier. His name derived from 80 feats of courage on the warpath, and between 1866 and 1868 his at tacks forced closing of the Bozeman Trail. Shorn at last of his prestige and chieftainship by the government in 1881 when he threatened a dishonest agent, the noble warrior aged rapidly. He was finally reduced to appearances with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The Sioux leader went to Washington to lay his grievances directly before President Grant and Interior Secretary Cox. Having done so, he continued with his en tourage to Cooper Union under the sponsorship of the United States Indian Commission. At high noon on June 16, 1870, he addressed a primarily curious crowd that packed "every available foot of space." His appearance, he explained, had been prompted by poor communications: I have sent a great many words to the Great Father [President Grant] but they never reached him. They were drowned on the way, and I was afraid the words ; I spoke lately to the Great Father would not reach you, so I came to speak to you m y s e l f . ^0 Drawing his blanket majestically about him. Red | Cloud refused the seat of honor and sat on the edge of the 90, The Tribune (New York), June 17, 1870, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. .................. 398 platform. He pointed to the West as he explained that white men were raised on chairs, but he came from where the sun set. The Sioux Chief, a tall, imposing specimen of manhood in full costume, spoke through an interpreter after being introduced by Peter Cooper. Almost every translated sen tence "was received with loud applause . . , while the other chieftains and warriors signified their assent by a guttural 'Ugh.'"91 Noting that he saw before him many men with gray hair or bald heads. Red Cloud declared these older men— like; himself— should know it was time to reason and have peace. He ordered the audience to look at him well and realize that his words of peace bound the Sioux Nation. It disturbed him that the Great Father had not looked at him when he spoke. The demand that everyone look at him was repeated several times, particularly when Red Cloud first brought up the things he did not want for his people; dishonest traders land agents, firewater, and government troops. Where agents and firewater were concerned. Red Cloud said that before 1852 white government representatives had | i . ! been good men. Later a different kind had come: 9^The New York Times. June 17, 1870, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. The riches we have in this world, Secretary Cox said truly, we cannot take with us to the next world. Then I wish to know why Commissioners are sent out to us who do nothing but rob us and get the riches of this world away from us? I was brought up among the traders, and those who came out there in the early times treated me well. . . . They taught us to wear clothes and to use tobacco and ammunition. But, by and by, the Great Father sent out a different kind of men; men who cheated and drank whiskey.92 !The Sioux were tired of receiving rotten tobacco, dirty flour, and old army clothes dyed black. Red Cloud made an indicative gesture toward Red Dog, a lesser chief with a squat, thickset figure and a pair of cogged wheels in his 93 "swarthy" ears. Red Dog, he said, lived on the Missouri River and dealt with the traders all the time. Red Dog had Inot grown fat from drinking whisky, as the white men claimed; his once slim body had become bloated from absorb- i ing the lies of dishonest traders and commissioners. Obvi ously not aware that President Grant drank heavily. Red Cloud asserted that the Great Father banished whisky drink ers to the Indian country because he "did not want them around him" in Washington. / ■ Speaking of military forces in the West, Red Cloud ^^The Tribune (New York), June 17, 1870, p. 1. 9^The New York Times. June 17, 1870, p. 1. 9^The Tribune (New York), June 17, 1870, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 0 0 said that troops and forts were unnecessary. Fort Laramie had always been a good trading post for the Sioux, but the establishment of Ports Fetterman, Sully, and Rice had been a needless expense to the Great Father and a threatening ges ture toward the Indians. When Red Cloud had several years pearlier demanded the removal of the latter three forts, ly ing, whisky-drinking General William T. Sherman had said the : forts would be removed, but "he did not tell it Straight." Sioux who had tried to farm near the forts as the Great Father had instructed were badly treated by the soldiers and the settlers. At one point in his address. Red Cloud made a state-j ment which expressed the crux of his grievances: j At the mouth of Horse Creek in 1852, the Great Father made a treaty with us. We agreed to let him pass through our territory for fifty-five years. We kept our word. We committed no murders, no depredations, until the troops came there. When the troops were sent there trouble and disturbance arose. In 1868 men came out and brought papers. We could not read them, and they did not tell us truly what was in them. We thought the treaty was to remove the forts, and that we should then cease from fighting. When I reached Washington the Great Father explained to me what the treaty was, and showed me that the interpre ters had deceived me. I have tried to get from the Great Father what is right and just. I have not al together succeeded. I want you to help me get what is right and just.^G 95ibid. S^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 401 He said that although his land had been stolen and his peo ple abused, he would remain at peace because his white friends had assured him that non-violence was the best means by which to obtain governmental concessions. Two years later, after President Grant inaugurated his peace policy. Red Cloud returned to Cooper Union to re port that the Great Father had sent an honest agent and that the Sioux were trying their best to imitate the white man. He pointed out that he had kept his peace promise, but he still wished the soldiers would be removed. It was a brief speech which Red Cloud gave on June 7, 1872, and it carried an undercurrent of resignation. Red Cloud's first address was the most remarkable platform novelty in the annals of Cooper Union. The legend ary war chief, his foreign words, and all he stood for were grotesquely out of place in the largest eastern metropolis; still, the burlesque aspects of the speech occasion were subservient to other more serious factors. Like Downing, the more famous Red Cloud was really ambassador without portfolio for all American Indians because the complaints he discussed were universal injustices. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 402 The Arapahoe. Wachita. and ; Cheyenne Chiefs On June 1, 1871 the United States Indian Commission arranged a Cooper Union reception for Little Raven, Chief of the Arapahoes; Buffalo Goad, Chief of the Wachitas; and Lit tle Robe, Chief of the Cheyennes. The chiefs, all of whom spoke briefly, had been to Washington for hearings before Interior Secretary Cox. Little Raven said he hoped that before he died he would see justice done his people. The white man had taken a great deal of wealth out of his country, and he thought it only fair that some of the wealth be returned to the race that owned the land. Food rations intended for seven days were not sufficient for two, no matter what the Indian au thorities said. Although his people wanted to learn the white man's ways, the new life could have been adjusted to more easily had the Arapahoe not been driven into a new land where they were very poor. Formerly they had been able to care for themselves, but now they were dependent and uncom- ; Ifortable. He then voiced the familiar complaints against I I traders and agents. j Buffalo Goad said much the same things as Little iRaven, although he declared he had no illusions about jus- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 0 3 tice being done the Wachitas. He said he had been told at Washington that the wrongs of his people would be righted, but "I have heard that so often I think it is a lie. Little Robe "was diffident about speaking, but he indorsed what Little Raven had said."^^ With these discouraging words from the aborigines, the eastern platform movement for Indian rights faded into oblivion. Summarv Historic phases of the American labor movement that found expression at Cooper Union were; (1) the shorter hours movement, reflected locally during its years of growth by Horace Greeley and later as an American Federation of 'Labor policy plank by Samuel Gompers; (2) national conflict, exemplified by sympathy meetings for the great railroad strikes and an address by Eugene V. Debs; (3) the radical element, seeking to bring the revolutionary ideas born in (Europe into the ascendancy in America under such spokesmen |as Anarchist Johann Most and Socialist Keir Hardie; and (4) | the forces of reorganization, in which the American Federa- | S^The New York Times. June 2, 1871, p. 8. 98jbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 404 tion of Labor defeated Terence V. Powderly's Knights of Labor and Daniel DeLeon's Socialist Labor Party in the struggle for a dominant national labor policy and the work ingman 's allegiance. Efforts to defeat the poverty-producing landlord system in Ireland during its subjugation by England were supported by many speakers for the revolutionary Fenian movement. James Redpath and Michael Davitt spoke on behalf of the Irish Land League at Cooper Union before the death of Charles Parnell, League leader, reduced the movement to factional quarrels. The Indian history of broken treaties and govern mental abuse was related at Cooper Union in simple but forceful terms by Chiefs Lewis Downing of the Cherokees, Red Cloud of the Sioux, and Little Raven, Buffalo Goad, and Little Robe of the lesser Arapahoe, Wachita, and Cheyenne nations. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. C H A P T E R V I I I SOCIAL REFORM Introduction Although Cooper Institute incorporated a unique School of Design for Women and radically liberal co-educa- tional policies, Peter Cooper was no believer in woman's rights. He was, however, more friendly toward the temper- | ance cause and helped found the Business Men's Moderation Society of New YOrk. Until the scandal broke. Cooper sup ported "Boss" Tweed; that non-partisan Tweed Ring agitation should be launched at Cooper Union was a marked tribute to the unwavering spirit of public service, public interest, and free speech that Cooper and his Union symbolized. As in the case of oppressed groups, discussion of social reform issues at Cooper Institute represented only one side of the controversy. The types of causes were un like, however, in that social reform was concerned with sub-j sidiary betterment-of-society problems rather than burning public questions demanding national policy decisions. Also, ..............4Û5 ................ .......... R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 0 6 the social reform theme was sustained by relatively few ispeechmaking occasions, although the roster of advocates jsparkles with great public names, brilliant platform stars, and distinguished agitators. Social reform elements at Cooper Union are discussed junder three headings: (1) woman's rights agitation, (2) Itemperance agitation, and (3) anti-Tweed Ring agitation. Woman's Rights Agitation The national Constitution left voting qualifications; to the states, and females were universally excluded. Women struggled without success before the Civil War to secure equal rights amendments to state constitutions, even though | suffrage sentiment made some public gains after its leading ! spokesmen became linked with anti-slavery agitation. The movement officially began with the first woman's rights con vention, held in July, 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York.^ With the close of the Civil War, a constitutional amendment was submitted to enfranchise the newly liberated jmale slaves. Suffrage leaders urged that the amendment in- | ! elude females as well as Negroes, but their pleas went un- I i ^Eleanor Flexner, Century of Struggle: The Woman's ; Rights Movement in the United States (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959), p. 77. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. heeded in both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Un-; dismayed by their failure, the woman's rights agitators— the majority of women remained somewhat indifferent spectators— in 1869 organized the National Woman Suffrage Association, which sought the ballot through a federal amendment, and the American Woman Suffrage Association, which sought the ballot through state action. At last realizing they were two blades of the same scissors, these parent societies united in 1890 under the name of the National American Woman Suff- 2 rage Association. In 1920 the Nineteenth (Woman Suffrage) Amendment was ratified. During the tense post-Civil War years when the Four teenth and Fifteenth Amendments were being adopted, most ! significant woman's rights agitation in New York City took I place at Cooper Union, Steinway Hall, or the Church of the Puritans. As Cooper was cold to the pleas of suffrage lead ers,^ the women abandoned Cooper Institute as a meetingplace ^Arthur M. Schlesinger, The Rise of the City (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933), p. 146. ^Mack, Peter Cooper; Citizen of New York, p. 263. However, the suffragettes established their headquarters of-| ifice in the Cooper Institute building between 1862 and 1865 i when they devoted all their attention to the needs of the war through the Woman's National Loyal League. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Gage discuss this work in their monumental Historv of Woman Suffrage (Rochester; Charles Mann, 1887), II, 50-51. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. i 408 after 1871 when they gathered primarily at Steinway Hall, i Thus only a small segment of the time span of the .Woman's rights crusade belongs to Cooper Union, but that segment was as brilliant as it was brief. Suffrage agita tion in the Great Hall was remarkable in four respects: (1) lif Lucretia Mott's introductory remarks are included, the six women who spoke from the platform were the outstanding suffrage personalities of their century and the nation's leading female orators; (2) no other type of speechraaking in I ■ : |the Great Hall (or elsewhere) was dominated by women; the (domination was markedly true of Cooper Institute because of ! I the influential men interested in the movement, only Henry Ward Beecher was represented; (3) several of the speakers advanced bold, new arguments in the Great Hall, ruffling the! press and alarming the male citizenry; and (4) the time span iOf suffrage speechmaking at Cooper Union represented a pi- ' votai period when women cast the die for the aggressive typq of crusade that led them to eventual success.^ ^An outstanding overview analysis of the woman suf frage campaign strategy, arguments, and problems after the Civil War is to be found in Kirk H. Porter's A Historv of Suffrage in the United States (Chicago: The University of jChicago Press, 1918), pp. 233-254, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 409 Lucv Stone; the woman's rights meeting Founder and President of the American Woman Suffrage; Association, Lucy Stone Blackwell— she used her maiden name i with her husband's consent— was also a renowned anti-slavery iorator. She headed the call for the first National Woman's ! ; I (Rights convention at Worcester, Massachusetts in 1850. Mrs. Stone also founded the Woman's Journal. the definitive suf- ifrage newspaper, and edited it until 1893. On February 2, 1860, Mrs. Stone addressed a large meeting organized by woman's rights sympathizers. Directing her remarks toward wives and mothers who were indifferent to; the suffrage movement because they apparently felt secure ■ and protected, the lecturer maintained that the only married I I ; woman who felt secure was one who did not realize what a nonentity she was before the law. Asserting that no loss of legal existence was so (flagrant as that which "blotted out the mother so far as her; Irelation to the child was concerned," the suffragette cited I (instances to prove that mothers were consistently denied I custody even though they were more able to care for their i Ichildren than the fathers.^ she declared: "Yet any father, ^The New York Times. February 3, 1860, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. : $ ! < : ) whether under age or not, may agree to give away the unborn ’ 6 jchild from its mother's care." The spirit of justice de- ! I manded that father and mother should stand equal before the | ‘ law and allow the merits of the case to decide which parent ishould have custody. Mrs. Stone held that the laws of God land nature leaned toward the right of the mother, but man I ! jhad seen fit to nullify these higher statutes. Another vital consideration was the fact that mar riage cost a woman her right to sue in the courts. The nul lification of rights of person were a vital consideration to i iworking women. The speaker cited the case of a woman who I jhad suffered a crushed foot but had no legal redress because ! I only her husband, who was in California and did not care, could commence the suit. Mrs. Stone also attacked the loss of female property rights. While women could make wills only under certain iconditions, the law gave husbands permanent use and inheri tance of their wives' estates. The lecturer pointed out i i 'that wives were the last survivors to share in their dead i i ! husbands' estates. Moreover, a husband owned anything his i ! wife earned, and a wife or widow was liable for the debts of 6Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. i ^ " 4 Ï Ï |her husband. Upon the conclusion of Mrs. Stone's address, Henry iWard Beecher, the world-famous pastor of Plymouth Church in | ^Brooklyn, stepped to the rostrum and remarked that the de- imands of a growing industrial nation had complicated woman's' I I Irole; her place too often was no longer simply in the home. ; i ' I H e a g r e e d w i t h M r s . S t o n e ' s p o s i t i o n , d e c l a r i n g i t w a s " t h e j I c h r i s t i a n d u t y o f e v e r y m a n t o h e l p w o m e n o b t a i n s u c h r i g h t s I ■ ! as they needed" to keep social progress in step with indus- | I 7 i Itrial progress. Beecher's brief statements were only a j I supplement to the featured speech of the suffragette, ! i In relation to the other Cooper Union suffrage ad- j I dresses, Mrs. Stone's lecture was an anachronism. It was | I i I typical of the early, pre-Civil War messages which urged | 'recruitment to the cause more strongly than the legal rights I of enfranchisement to which every citizen was entitled. In ! iother words, the speech seemed much more concerned with I building an army than with winning the battle. Where the ; perils of the marriage contract themselves were concerned, i I Mrs. Stone had dealt with the theme so frequently that she ; moved gracefully from one major point to another within a 7Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. i " 412 ! iwell structured speech plan. Unfortunately, a careful 11s- ! tener would have detected a looseness in her persuasive | jthread; she spoke in all-inclusive terms when many of the j i i ! ; abuses she singled out were peculiar to particular states, i The result was that the speaker seemed to be exaggerating i her bill of complaints. [ ! j The Woman's Rights Convention I ! On December 6, 1866, the suffrage advocates convened I I iat Cooper Union to make their views public and to establishj i I jthe Citizens' Equal Rights Association, which was the fore- | runner of the National Woman Suffrage Association. The ob- | Iject of the newly established organization was to seek in- | I ■ ! I elusion of female suffrage with Negro suffrage in the con- I I Istitutional amendment proposed at that time. The first of I two principal speakers was Susan B. Anthony, the convention| Ipresident. I ! j More than that of any other person, the name of i Susan Brownell Anthony is synonymous with woman's rights. I She organized, lectured, wrote, and even importuned Presi- | dents and congressional committees on behalf of suffrage i I i from 1848 until her death in 1906. She founded the National Woman Suffrage Association and from 1892 to 1900 was Presi R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ! ^ 4 l F dent of the merged National American organization. Her slo gan, "Failure is impossible" became the watchword of the movement from 1892 until 1920. Miss Anthony quickly struck the keynote of the con vention: We believe this is the hour to establish the equality of every individual who is subject to the government of the United States. Not the hour for races, but the hour for human beings to be established in equal ity. All over the country. North and South, we have impartial, universal, and equal suffrage organiza tions, but in ever% case they mean men only. Thus, we occupy a position above that of any other organi zation in the country. This Association is estab lished for the express purpose of reminding the nation that women form a part of the people, if men will talk in Congress and out of it of impartial and uni versal suffrage, we mean to have them understand that women are to be included in the impartiality and uni versality too. 8 The speaker asserted that women had heard the "'glittering generality' that all men are created equal long Q enough, and now we propose to have the actual fact." The initial step toward accomplishing the fact would be to launch a county-by-county campaign to secure an equal suf frage amendment to the New York State Constitution. The New York example would bring pressure to bear upon other states %^ew York Herald. December 7, 1866, p. 7 9Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4141 to consider an equal rights clause in the proposed national amendment. The work "must start at home," Miss Anthony maintained, and "no other state" could set such a powerful precedent as New York.^^ The dedicated suffragette then launched upon a know ledgeable discussion of the five legal disabilities to the exercise of suffrage in the United States; age, color, sex, property, and education. The crux of her analysis was that the first four barriers were unwise and arbitrary, while the fifth was unrealistic, impractical, and impossible to justly enforce. In an otherwise able discussion. Miss Anthony con cluded rather lamely as her statements regarding education lapsed into loose analogical reasoning. She declared in part: Before the art of printing, were all men fools? But, some say, such a qualification would be a stim ulus to learning. . . . The dignity and responsibil ity of the ballot is a far better stimulus. A boy learns to swim much quicker floundering in the water than practicing the motions on land.^^ However, as a speaker Miss Anthony had the reputation of driving unequivocally to the point. She certainly did so at Cooper Union. More important, she served public notice that lOlbid. l^The Tribune (New York), December 7, 1855, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 1 5 : a hard core of resistance had been organized, and it would conduct a systematic campaign to gain its ends. Miss Anthony then relinquished the rostrum to Eliza beth Cady Stanton. Almost Miss Anthony's equal as a famous figure in the woman's rights movement, Mrs. Stanton served as President of the National Woman Suffrage Association from 1869 to 1890. From 1890 to 1892 she was the first President' of the merged National American Woman Suffrage Association. She and Miss Anthony were inseparable personal and working friends for 50 years. Upon coming forward, Mrs. Stanton charged that it was only because women could not speak for themselves through the ballot that they were barred from the profes sions and other lucrative avenues of employment and forced to work for starvation wages until poverty drove many into the "living hell" of prostitution: Fathers Husbands ' . Brothers L Ponder well this prob lem of woman's wages. Perchance to-morrow your daugh ters may stand face to face with the stern realities of life, struggling with poverty and temptation. . .. If in a moment of despair ease and rest is offered her for a price, and she be drawn down into the whirl pool of vice, her sin lies at your door. Shall Sena tors tell us in their places we have no need of the ballot when 40,000 women in this city are living at starvation prices by the needle? And below these in lower depths are a mighty multitude, over whose misery and crimes society draws the veil of forgetfulness, and before that inexplicable problem stands hardened R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ..................... " 4 1 6 or appalled'. Had women the ballot, some of those ... would themselves be capitalists, school commission ers, superintendents and trustees, and vote them selves wages and salaries equal to their labor.12 Leaving the ballot as a panacea for woman's social ills, Mrs. Stanton attacked two frequently heard anti-suff rage arguments. She reduced to an absurdity the allegation that if women were enfranchised, they would neglect their homes : What becomes of house and children now when women go to the opera, the dance, the ball, and spend months in Washington, or in Europe? It takes no more time to vote than to put a letter in the post office, and they might as well say that it would be dangerous to teach women to write for fear they would not have time to attend to house and children.^3 Mrs. Stanton also took issue with the argument that ; if women could vote they would merely vote as a unit with men. The interests of the sexes were too divergent, she said, and there were "too many wrongs sanctioned by male ballots" to be corrected before men and women could ever vote alike. The Herald said Mrs. Stanton's lecture "fell like a iwet blanket" on the audience,!^ the Tribune ignored her presence at the convention, and the Sun considered her l^New York Herald. December 7, 1866, p. 7. lljbid. l^ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. - ■ 417 remarks "impudent."^® What disturbed the press was that for the first time in New York a female speaker had dared to equate woman’s immorality with disfranchisement. The wifely |Mrs. Stanton, who spoke with a vivid, colorful style, es poused and articulated the idea very forcefully; Miss An- ithony, the prudish, austere bachelor lady, could hardly have dealt as effectively with the argument. lAnna E. Dickinson: "Nothing i Unreasonable " 17 Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, so famous as the Joan of Arc of the Union cause during the Civil War, was enjoying iher greatest days as queen of the lyceum when she embraced the woman's rights cause. Although a speaker of unmatched talent among her sex. Miss Dickinson was too angry, inde pendent, and fearlessly aggressive to retain her lyceum throne forever in a man's world. The wrongs and torments of Imen and the press, combined with frustrated attempts to be- | come an actress— she was not content to be a talented play- : iwright— eventually drove her insane. The suffragettes des- ; I : I I ‘ perately wanted her to lead their cause, but she worked i . — - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - — - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - : l^The Sun (New York), December 7, 1866, p. 2. l^For other speechmaking and identification, see ipp. 283, 305. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ........................ 4 1 8 alone, unable to subordinate her ideas to the efforts of a ! group. The National Woman Suffrage Association was founded at Steinway Hall in New York on May 24, 1869. Anna Dickin son was to have been the inaugural speaker, but since other business kept her out of the city at that time, she deliv ered the inaugural address at Cooper Union on May 26, 1869. Miss Dickinson was introduced as "our suffrage evangel" by Lucretia Mott, one of the earliest pioneers of the woman's IQ rights movement. On the platform were such suffrage not ables as Julia Ward Howe, Moses Coit Tyler, Susan B. An- ithony, Parker Pillsbury, Mary Livermore, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Olive Logan. The speaker branded the government a usurpation and a despotism that "condemned women to a political death" by a !law to which the fairer sex had never assented, taxed them without representation, and deprived them of inalienable 19 rights.> She warned that she would neither be governed I _ : jwithout her consent nor intimidated; ; You [all men] offer opposition against the demand which I make when I rise as an American citizen; but ^^The World (New York), May 27, 1869, p. 2. ^^The Tribune (New York), May 27, 1869, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 1 9 I give fair warning that I am not to be terrified by hard names or unpleasant titles. You call me infi del, free-lover, strong-minded, unsexed, but these names don't touch me. I am proof against them, having the right on my side. I give fair warning again that the leaden bullet of slander, and malice, and envy, and detraction fall away harmless from me 20 Attacking the argument that most women did not want the ballot. Miss Dickinson said such an allegation was un acceptable unless "women have once exercised this right at the polls and then renounced it. The speaker then lashed out at hostile newspaper reports of the internal disagree ments that had marred the convention which formed the Na tional Woman Suffrage Association, charged in reply that men were as a rule "undignified and stupid" in their délibéra- PP tive assemblies. She blamed male legislative assemblies ! for slavery, war, crime, polygamy, and vice and declared the tempering influence of women would make politics less of a mere scramble for office and patronage. Miss Dickinson next expressed her opinion of what i i :men thought of suffragettes and what suffragettes thought | iof many men: : i That we are not the women that most men would | want to see in their midst is true. We are the women who have to bridge over the rivers and make ! Z O l b i d . ^ ^ I b i d . ^ ^ I b i d . R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 2 0 the roads, and that being the case, it may well be that we have grown stern, and our features have be come somewhat hardened. Be it so. It shall not swerve us from our purpose. But are women always pleased with the habits of men, with their tobacco chewing, smoking and spitting, their late hours and their surly manners? I think not.23 After presenting a list of specific personal griev ances against various newspapers, the speaker predicted she : would vote in five years and sit in Congress in 10. In its account of the speech, the Tribune was highly critical of Miss Dickinson: No platform orator excels her in the felicitous state ment of a position and subsequent effective marshaling of facts and fictions that seem to sustain or defeat it. . . .We all laugh at her sharp little jabs at dignitaries; we all applaud her quick wit, and her charm of youth and modesty, and the judicious among us grieve that she just falls short of being great. Her capacity is far better than her work, and for one who has accomplished so much Miss Dickinson must soon grow impatient that she does not accomplish m o r e .24 The Tribune was applying salve to wounds it had received from the speaker's sharp tongue, but criticism was justi fied. Expectations were high among suffrage leaders that iMiss Dickinson's address would be an historic and definitive i ; Istatement of woman's position; it was instead a haughty, | I ! Iquarrelsome, bitter polemic that was intensely speaker- ioriented. Miss Dickinson's personal declaration of war 23ibid. ^"^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. '421 stood badly in need of "we-ness" rather than "I-ness," and she used the suffrage platform to express her disdain for PS men in general. In spite of this, her tremendous powers of ethical persuasion made the occasion a success. Her audience was held spellbound. Victoria Woodhull: "Constitu- I tional Equality" A noted professional mesmerist, spiritualist, and clairvoyant, charlatan Victoria Claflin Woodhull made a fortune when she captured the interest of the eccentric elder Cornelius Vanderbilt and followed his advice in open- |ing and operating a stock brokerage office. In 1870 she launched a weekly newspaper which advocated equal rights and free love. Following a plea for woman suffrage before Congress in 1871, Mrs. Woodhull ran for President on the Equal Rights Party ticket in 1872, climaxing her campaign with poll crashing and an unsuccessful attempt to vote. Mrs. Woodhull had just returned from jousting with I Congress when she spoke at Cooper Union on March 1, 1871. 'General admission was $1, but every seat in the Great Hall i I was filled. I ^^She never married, although famous men courted ! her. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. %22 Giving what she termed a "broad interpretation" to jthe wording of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth constitutional Amendments, the colorful suffragette attempted to demonstrate that women were already legally enfranchised.^^ She cited the wording of the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amend ment : "All persons born or naturalized in the United States; i : land subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the! United States and of the State wherein they reside." Draw- I ; ling attention next to the opening sentence of the Fifteenth ; Amendment that declared that the "rights of citizens of the I United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged . . . ; on account of race, color, or previous condition of servi tude, " Mrs. Woodhull placed particular stress upon the words] i I "persons" and "citizens." If, she argued, all persons born I or naturalized in the United States were citizens, and no citizen could be denied the right to vote, it should be per fectly clear to any court of law that women were citizens I ' i i Iwith the right to vote. The government's erroneous inter- I I ipretation therefore needed correction in order to avoid I litigation: I Therefore, I would have Congress, in the pursuit of its duty, to enforce the Constitution by appropri- ^^The New York Times. March 2, 1871, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ........................................- .............. 4 2 3 ate legislation, pass a Declaratory Act plainly set ting forth the right of all citizens to vote, and thus render unnecessary the thousands of suits for P7 damages which will otherwise arise. ' At this critical passage in the lecture, a black cat "made its stately way" from the wings and sniffed at the speaker's black skirts. A hubbub arose as audience members I : jclapped, whistled, and shouted "Black cat" or "Bad luck, Vic " Mrs. Woodhull discovered the source of distraction and "patted it affectionately" before a gentleman on the I PP iplatform removed the animal. Marshaling further argument for what appeared to be : a sound case, Mrs. Woodhull described the most vital phase of her Washington mission: On the 12th of January I appeared before the House Judiciary Committee and submitted to them the Con stitutional and Legal points upon which I predicated . . . equality, January 20th, Mr. Bingham [John A, of Ohio], on behalf of the majority of said Committee, submitted his report to the House, in which, while he admitted all my basic propositions. Congress was recommended to take no action. February 1st, Messrs. Loughridge [William of Iowa] and Butler [Benjamin F. of Massachusetts] of said Committee submitted a report in their own behalf, which fully sustained I the position I assumed, and recommended that Congress should pass a Declaratory Act, for ever settling the mooted question of s u f f r a g e . 2$ ^^The World (New York), March 2, 1871, p. 4. 28ibid. 29lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 2 4 The speaker then dwelt upon the often heard argu ments that women were held in bondage "more pleasant" but just as binding as any southern slave, and that women were subjected to tyrannous taxation without representation,^^ Mrs. Woodhull's address was one of the most powerful and impressive suffrage speeches delivered in the last half of the nineteenth century.New and startlingly logical, it derived its persuasive impact from the massing of admit ted ideas. Mrs. Woodhull's logical interpretation of con stitutional law, in conjunction with the facts that she was ,the first woman ever to be heard in a suffrage memorial to Congress and that Butler's minority report became famous, provoked wide comment. She delivered the lecture only once in Washington, D. C. before giving it at Cooper Union. The suffrage forces dropped Mrs. Woodhull when her growing free 32 love fame embarrassed their cause. Temperance Agitation The age-old alcohol problem gained recognition as a 30lbid. ^^Alice Blackwell, Lucy Stone (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1930), pp. 223-224. 32lbid.. p. 225. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 2 5 health and social welfare question in the nineteenth cen tury, and reform efforts were stimulated in the United States. Until approximately 1870, activity to control the I problem centered about suasion crusades on the individual level, seeking signatures or "pledges" of drinkers and non drinkers alike for total abstinence. The goal of teetotal- ism was set because it had early been discovered that recov ery from alcohol addiction usually required total absti nence . Organized temperance agitation began in 1825, Its subsequent history is a troubled story of wracking factional feuds which left the reform legions fragmented into many bodies. The largest and most powerful of these was the Good Templars, formed in 1850; the National Temperance Society, renamed in 1865 from the moribund American Temperance Union, was also significant. The American Temperance Society was a third national force. During the post-Civil War years, the old fashioned warfare was seen to be ineffective, and the major temperance organizations began to turn their attention more toward se curing the prohibition of production and sale of intoxicat ing beverages.33 The prohibition movement gained national 33Qevins, The Emergence of Modern America, p. 336. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ” 4 2 6 momentum gradually. The National Prohibition Party was formed in 1869; the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1874, concentrated upon prohibition after 1879; the Anti-Saloon League came into existence in 1895. The unworkable federal amendment for prohibition was, of course, subsequently ratified and repealed. At Cooper Union, the five speechmaking occasions comprising the anti-dramshop platform— four meetings devoted solely to clique dissension were omitted— left the prohibi tion movement unrepresented. Yet, except for John B. Gough's appearance, agitation took place during the years when legal proscription sentiment was growing stronger. In the majority on the Great Hall platform were the personal crusaders, the revivalist—type speakers whose dramatic ex hortations were reminiscent of the early rural camp meetings of moral suasion in which the temperance movement was root ed. William E. Dodge, the lone prohibition voice, was not cast in the same matrix as Francis E. Willard, Green C. Smith, or Neal Dow, the leaders who demanded results more tangible and lasting than pledges. Yet the names of the suasion advocates who offered an eloquent cross section of total abstinence persuasion in the Great Hall stand high on the temperance reform roll of honor. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. “ 4 2 7 If the oratory of temperance does not rate a high position in relation to other speechmaJcing at Cooper Union, it is because such oratory suffered from an inherent weak ness of theme: it lent itself too readily to pathos-laden pleas, primarily supported by personal experiences and tes timonials, to attain persuasive success that was measured in terms of the number of pledges solicited. Pledges were too often ephemeral and meaningless. John B. Gough: return to America Pond says of this man: John B. Gough deserves the title of King of the Lecture World, if popularity be made the sole test, and only Henry Ward Beecher and Wendell Phillips had any claim to contest the title with him if eloquence — the power to hold and charm audiences— be made the test. Mr. Gough was a more popular lecturer for a longer term of years than any other favorite of the lyceums.34 John Bartholomew Gough was primarily a temperance lecturer, although after 1870 he spoke on miscellaneous top ics. Pond says: "He did more to promote the temperance cause than any man who ever lived. An immigrant English 34pond, Eccentricities of Genius, p. 3. 33ihid.. p. 4. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ........ 428 bookbinder who turned to liquor when his mother died, Gough spent from 1839 to 1843 in Boston gutters as a hopeless al coholic. He began his oratorical career when a kindly stranger took him to a temperance meeting where he told his ilife story and signed the pledge. He thereafter lapsed tem porarily from abstinence only twice. When Gough spoke at Cooper Union under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association on October 1, 1860, he had just returned from one of his several lecture tours of the British Isles. Gough's lectures were rarely reported — never extensively— in the press. The reason for such poor; publicity was revealed by the Times reporter, who at the same time offered an incisive analysis of the speechmaking of the platform king during the height of his career: All who have heard Mr. Gough, must be aware of the great difficulty which attends telling what he says or how he says it. It is about as easy . . . to catch the ever changing tints of a tropical sky and fasten them on canvas, as to put an impression of his action on paper. As to "thread of discourse," he has none, or if he has it is not perceptible. ..........* ....................•••••* j In fact, anecdote seems to be the lecturer's main resource; he draws upon it at all times, and very often twists sentences into parenthesis that they may include a story. His stock is illimitable, and i of a most varied character, melting to tears and moving to laughter, as pleases his humor to select them. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 2 9 A full report of Mr. Gough's speech would make the Times a story-book, and the stories, though pleasant enough in themselves, would lack much of their in terest if bereft of the dramatic acting which accom panies their recital. Looking at Gough on the serious and on the light side is probably the best way to form an account of his lecture at Cooper Union. On the serious side, the temper- ! ance apostle discussed the connection between alcohol and crime, declaring there was nothing which debased human re lationships like liquor: It dries up the fountain of pure and holy affection. Is there anything that transforms man and woman like drink? Crime'. A man was brought up and tried for taking his boy, three years of age, griping [sic] him by the shoulders and pitching him from the window, and on the pavement, in the mud and mire and bits of broken glass, lay the bruised little boy. Would the man have done that if he had not been crazed by drink? It is natural for a young man to love his mother. Young ladies, avoid a young man who has no affection for his mother— he is not to be trusted. But there are young men in your city that see their mothers' faces grow paler day by day, and the eye dimmer, and the wrinkles deeper, and the step more tottering; and when that young man sees his mother, he knows that her heart is broken— he knows it is his work— no young man ever broke his mother's heart but he knew it. I will take him. Come, young man, I want to lead you to that chamber door. There is a tone of wailing from it. Listen I Did you ever cry that she did not listen? What are the words of supplication that you hear? "O'. God, for Christ's sake, have mercy on my wandering boy." That's you. Will you drink any more now? He goes out— he comes 36 The New York Times. October 2, 1860, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 3 0 among young companions— he is tempted and drinks, though he knows every drop is a thorn in the heart of his mother.37 Gough said it was very natural for a young man to love his sister as well as his mother. He then recalled a case he had seen in England of a dissipated young man supported by a consumptive sister. To obtain money for liquor, the j drunkard stooped to pilfering from the burial fund that the dying girl was amassing for her last rites. On the lighter side, Gough regaled his audience by telling of a woman who had been reprimanded by an English ■magistrate for scratching her drunken husband's face. The jcourt had advised her that she should "honor her husband who was her head— she defended herself by asking if a woman ; oo ; had not a right to scratch her own head." As illustrative: of the fact that it was not always wise to be with the ma jority, the lecturer cited the question he recalled being asked of a man who maintained that the majority was always right: "Would you not have liked to be in the minority at the time of the flood? 37The World (New York), October 2, 1850, p. 3. 38The New York Times. October 2, 1860, p. 8. 39lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ......... " ......................... 4 3 1 Toward the end of his lecture, Gough related a num- ; her of non-temperance anecdotes drawn from his travels in the British Isles. Then, dripping with perspiration from the physical exertion of his lecture, the tired speaker as usual put on two overcoats and left the hall immediately for his hotel. There he ate his customary bowl of bread and i milk and was rubbed down by his valet. Gough's rapid exit deprived him of the sight of 500 people signing pledges at the doors and the platform. It was a temperance triumph which the World said was "unequalec^ ;in our city."^^ The response of the audience was the best answer Gough could make to those detractors who called him an evangelical comedian able to attract only sin-conscious I crowds that found in his stories and dramatic delivery a i substitute for the theatre. The famed lecturer's perfor mance in pledge solicitation made it easily the most note worthy event in temperance speechmaking at Cooper Union. i The National Temperance Society i annive'rsarv The fourth anniversary of the National Temperance | : i I ^ I ISociety was commemorated at Cooper Union on May 12, 1869. *^%he World (New York), October 2, 1860, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ....................... 4 3 2 The gathering reelected millionaire-Congressman William E, Dodge of New York, who held the presidency of the Society from 1865 until his death in 1883. The election was fol lowed by a report describing the success of the Society's temperance and prohibition literature publishing house. Finally, brief remarks were heard from Dodge; Edward Zane Judson (Ned Buntline), madcap writer-adventurer who invented the dime novel technique and brought it to perfection; Sena tor Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, soon to be Vice-President with Ulysses S. Grant; and other lesser speakers whose re marks were too short to warrant newspaper coverage. i Dodge expressed satisfaction with the work of the organization: . . . looking back it is a pleasing reflection that we find the cause in which we are engaged progress ing, and though the Society has not the means at its command that its opponents have, yet its means of usefulness have been materially augmented. The Society also feels encouraged to go on seeking the absolute prevention of the manufacture and sale of spirits in the land, the aggregated value of which would in a very brief period pay off the national debt and relieve our overtaxed people. I Following mention of receipts and expenditures in leading American cities. Dodge relinquished the rostrum to jBuntline, who testified that he had been unsuccessful in his ^^The Sun (New York), May 13, 1869, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ■ 4 3 3 early career as a journalist because he had attempted to substitute alcohol for food. It had taken him several years to discover there was "no more nutriment in a glass of whis^ ky than in a keg of ten-penny n a i l s , " 4 2 He also attacked the clergy for devoting themselves too much to grace, mercy, |and rebirth instead of fighting liquor, the great evil of i the day. Wilson's comments were to the effect that a teeto taler could outwork a drinking man every time under equal conditions. He added the prediction that with perseverance ; the temperance forces would win their uphill fight to "wipe i jthis foul blot from the face of the nation."43 The Society's redesigned pledge card was revealed and circulated among the audience, but no direct appeal was I made for signatures. The meeting, more of a business ses sion than a speechmaking occasion, illustrated the epoch- making trend of the national temperance organizations to work for prohibition as well as individual salvation. lAmerican Temperance Societv imeetinq i A large meeting was held at Cooper Union on August I ; 42%bid. 43The New York Times. May 13, 1869, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ‘ '...................... " 4 3 4 5, 1877 under the auspices of the American Temperance Soci- ;ety. Short speeches were heard from Susannah Evans Peck, a | tireless crusader since 1865 when at the age of 16 her ex hortations had taken America and England by storm; P. T. jBarnum,^^ father of the circus and America's greatest show man; "Mother" Francis Stewart, well known among the Baptist ’ temperance crusaders; and William Noble, a reformed drunkard of seven years' standing. Prior to the speaking, the Tre maine Brothers sang "The Sweet Bye-and-Bye" and "Dare to Say ’ No When You're Tempted to Drink." Mrs. Peck read a pathetic letter from a child who wished her father to stop drinking. The speaker then vivid-. !ly related the youngster's situation to her own childhood, a nightmare existence with her father until through prayer, ; treating his whisky with alum, and running away, she had in duced him to sign the pledge. Arguing next,that the very ‘ existence of liquor was wrong, Mrs. Peck maintained that if iGod had meant man to use liquor instead of water, "he would have furnished it in the same abundanceHowever, until Ithe Creator sent beer gushing through the gutters, set i I I 44por other speechmaking and identification, see |p. 162. ^^The Tribune (New York), August 6, 1877, p. 8. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ............. 435 springs of brandy bubbling throughout the countryside, and directed cascades of wine tumbling over the waterfalls, i • there was no reason to believe that man was intended to de part from water as his beverage, A humorous change of pace was brought to the rostrum! by Barnum, who declared that a daily drunkard able to con- jduct a successful business would be a greater wonder than such Barnum Museum attractions as the "Woolly Horse" or the "Peejee Mermaid." He had drunk a good deal in his younger years, particularly while on tour in England with General Tom Thumb. Because of his small stature, the engaging i dwarf had been unable to match Barnum drink for drink, no Imatter how sportingly he tried, and alcohol began to under- ' Imine his health. The showman and all his employees became | permanent teetotalers after a doctor had warned that only total abstinence could save the midget's life. Stating that he considered "the animals in my show more sensible than a man who drinks," Barnum declared that promotion of the mil- ; jlion-dollar Jenny Lind enterprise would have been an impos- ! ! I j I'sibility for "a liquor-fogged brain. Mother Stewart held that every man was his brother's 46 New York Herald. August 6, 1877, p. 10, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. , 436, keeper, and it was the responsibility of everyone to fight ■"the mighty evil abroad in the land."^? The land she spoke of actually included both England and America, and she sin gled out the maraudings of the demon rum among the fairer sex as the most tragic aspect of the alcohol problem. While describing the pitiful condition of drunken and destitute Iwives and mothers in the poorer sections of Liverpool, the lecturer became highly agitated: She lost control of her voice and her feelings. Tears stood in her eyes, and her voice suddenly rose to a sharp, shrill pitch until she shrieked out: "God has a controversy with us for all this suffer ing. Oh,that He may not come in wrath and avenge the blood of mothers and children crying to Him'." The audience sympathized strongly with the speaker, and many were affected to t e a r s ' lOvercome, Mother Stewart retired and made way for Noble, a retired prizefighter. After recounting several instances of how his former jassociates had tried to lure him back into the paths of de- ' jbauchery. Noble related temperance to labor reform. He said ithat instead of shedding blood and destroying property— an I i jobvious reference to the national railway strike then in its Idying throes— workingmen "should strike against the drinking ^^The World (New York), August 6, 1877, p. 4. 48ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 3 7 customs of society. They would then be striking against poverty and crime." He maintained that no workingman should spend his wages on liquor and then blame capital for his troubles. About 200 people signed the pledge at the end of the ^meeting, which was in the best tradition of the old fash- |ioned revivalist individual suasion gatherings. Although the American Temperance Society was by this time highly ac- ;tive in the prohibition movement, there was no talk at Cooper Union of closed saloons, local option, or state and ' national restrictive laws. The turnaway audience, many of whom signed the pledge frequently, came prepared to hear the ; i liquor evil flayed, and they were ready to laugh with Barnum jor cry with Mother Stewart. Nor did it seem to matter that i Susannah Evans Peck's argument concerning the natural abun- i ■dance rule for human needs was highly illogical or that Noble chose to relate labor problems to alcohol consumption . 1 Apparently anything was acceptable as long as it generated salvation fervor. [Francis Murphy : the Murphy iNew York crusade I Rivaled only by Henry A. Reynolds for the title of ^^New York Herald. August 5, 1877, p. 10. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 3 8 greatest of the one-man evangelical or revivalist crusade conductors, Francis Murphy gathered 12,000,000 signatures for the Murphy pledge, signified by a blue ribbon badge, be-| tween 1870 and 1895. He had been a delirium tremens alco holic for several years and was converted while in prison for drunken assault. He addressed 25,000 meetings in the United States and abroad, and in England he was received by I [Queen Victoria, Although Murphy conducted a two-week crusade at I ■■■ ' iCooper Union in December, 1878, the press unaccountably iignored his efforts except on December 14 and 18, 1878. He i received tremendous publicity on December 14 because on the i I j previous day he had attempted without success to deliver a [temperance oration in the board room of the New York Stock Exchange. Taken hurriedly to the visitor's gallery, he [completely disrupted business by smiling benignly, making expansive gestures, and dropping one of his blue ribbons | [onto the floor of the Exchange. The ribbon was scrambled for, and toasts of water were drunk to him from tumblers | that appeared as if by magic, Murphy finally harangued | I "bears" and "bulls" on the liquor evil amid a scene of fren-j j I jzied disorder as the Exchange was closing at 3 P.M. I I I "The stock exchange— what a place to study theolo- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 3 9 ; Igy," Murphy said that night at Cooper Union. He waggled a finger at the audience and continued: Yes, men are in earnest there. They cry "forty-five- and-a-half," crowd a man up against the wall, almost throw him down and still cry, "forty-five-and-a- half. " These men are in earnest. The minister who puts on a white choker and drags along from his firstly to his fifthly can learn something from them.^O ^ jWith voice and gesture he mimicked the brokers. He "gave a | little jump on the platform also, and remarked that ... his heart was as light and joyous as a lark" that he was not 51 privileged to hold a chair on the Exchange. Contrasting the Wall Street capitalists with laboring men, Murphy said the rich men had only to "hold on to their wits and mon- SP I ey." It was far more difficult for the workingman to hus-l band not only his wits and the means for the necessities of ; life but also his strength and health, which represented thé only real capital he would ever possess. It was a sin for the laborer to endanger or destroy his human capital through intemperance. Murphy then pantomimed and drew verbal pictures of several drunkards he had known: a timid Washington clerk, | _—— --------- -- - ' ' I ^*^The Tribune (New York) , December 14, 1878, p. 10. ; ^^New York Herald. December 14, 1878, p. 5. ; S^ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 4 Q :an overbearing rich man, and a backwoodsman from Illinois. |His antics, which carried him up and down the platform, drew riotous applause. The meeting consisted mainly of music. The Williams jchorus of New York Gospel Temperance Singers led the audi- ■ence in a number of songs. Among the selections were such ; favorites as "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," "Why Not To- inight?" and "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?" The format of the December 17 meeting was largely the same. Murphy's theme was that a person might hide many sins from his fellow men, but he could not hide them from IGod or the Devil. He pictured drunkards as men with a choice; they could take the pledge and win their battle by I [confiding in God, or they could begin the long descent to | the realm of the Devil, who gloatingly awaited those of I little faith. Murphy was forced to cut short his crusade in the iGreat Hall because the attending crowds were generous with I i I : their pledges but not with their monetary contributions. | Times were not prosperous, and Cooper Union, located in a | transitional area of the city, had reached that stage in its I ■ 'history where it began to draw to its doors men who sought Iany warm, free spot on a cold night. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. — Like Gough, Murphy's speechmaking was highly ani mated, and no small part of his appeal derived from a gifted sense of dramatic timing and presentation. However, his unstudied and apparently impromptu oratory that drew so heavily upon personal anecdote atnd the contrast of antithe ses simply lacked the ineffable Gough platform magic, Diodesian Lewis: "On Prohibi tion and Health" Dr. Diodes ian (Dio) Lewis was a temperance re- ; former and pioneer phys ical culturalist. The Vic Tanny o f his day, he operated a chain of gymnasiums from Boston to Hew York, which he later expanded to include sanitariums . His promotion was directed primarily toward women. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union had its origin in the Woman's Temperance Crusade movement of New York and Ohio, and the latter had its inception in the addresses of Lewis, who urged women to begin a praying crusade to close the saloons. On December 23, 1883, the tenth anniversary of the Ohio crusade, Lewis spoke at Cooper Union under the auspices ^^For his widely read books and papers on gymnas tics, nutrition, and health, he was awarded an honorary medical degree by Homeopathic Hospital College in Cleveland, Ohio. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 4 2 jof the Manhattan Temperance Association, one of the largest : I I local organizations in the United States. A dedicated foe I ; iof prohibition legislation, he devoted his strongest remarks to that subject: Prohibition . . . is the deadliest enemy to the tem perance cause. The whole question hinges upon the distinction between vice and crime. Vice is harm done by a human being to himself; crime, one done to i another; and vice cannot be made a crime by the vote I of a majority, however large. If the Salvation Army, in pursuance of their worship, obstruct the streets j and disturb public peace, they become a nuisance and liable to punishment. If a grog-shop sells liquor quietly and without disturbance, it must have the protection of the government. An unjust law will not be efficacious; and thus the prohibitory laws of Massachusetts and Maine have been officially declared | incompetent.54 ! I I I Lewis held that the law should confine its activi- | ; j I ties to prosecutions of liquor adulteration and the sale of j I I I spirits to minors. Similarly, the efforts of temperance I workers should be confined to moral suasion. With shrewd I insight he maintained that "the more you prohibit, the more | I [- c I [people will want to drink." ^ The speaker declared that I I Iprohibition was an attempt to legislate against a moral [nuisance, and the law did not recognize moral nuisances. It would be, he said, as sensible to legislate against a S^The Tribune (New York), December 24, 1883, p. 10, 55ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ■■ 443, hotel that cooked its food so palatably that people overate j land thus endangered their health. Lewis then departed from | a most sensible thread of argument to take the extreme and unrealistic position that too many laws had already been i imade. "It would be a great deal better," he declared, "if I ' jthe Legislature only met for ten days once in ten years.; Directing his attention next to good health, Lewis advised his listeners to banish the craving for liquor jthrough proper nutrition. He explained that the body needed iboth heat producing and brain nourishing food, and most or dinary diets did not produce as much nerve material as the drain demanded. Because the brain required phosphorus, ILewis recommended a diet which included eggs only warmed jthrough, bran middlings or grudgeons, plain boiled oatmeal i with goat's milk, sea foods, tripe, and the brains of dif ferent animals. Beans were excellent food, but they should I inever be baked less than eight to 10 hours. The speaker I I jalso carried on a tirade against corsets, which he saw as a i Ihealth menace because they pinched and displaced internal ; 57 I organs. ' I " ■ 56Ibid- I 57jje estimated, according to the New York Sun (De- icember 24, 1883, p. 4), that corsets exerted a pressure of between 40 and 90 pounds. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. . 444 The lecture was an interesting though odd combina tion of good sense and crank ideas. There is no doubt, how-; iever, that Lewis' veiled main purpose was to express disap-: proval with the militant prohibition stand taken by the iWoman's Christian Temperance Union under the leadership of ■Francis E, Willard. There was also enough anger sprinkled I in his remarks to reflect the disappointment he felt at no longer being a guiding inspiration to the great woman's movement, a role he enjoyed in the pre-Willard days before | I I ;1879. In any event, he weakened his anti-prohibition re- 1 marks by mixing them with grudgeons. | Anti-Tweed Rina Agitation The Tweed Ring was a conspiracy of New York City elective officials who stole between $45,000,000 and $200, 000,000^^ between 1858 and 1872, creating the most scanda lous municipal fraud in the history of the United States. |The leading men in the Ring were William Marcey Tweed, Petef :B. Sweeney, Richard Connolly, and A. Oakey Hall. Tweed was | j in general charge and held a number of concurrent elective jpositions, Sweeney manipulated elections and judicial posi- I ! — — --------------------------------------------------------------------- 58&ccounts vary because the Ring destroyed so much I evidence. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 4 5 : tions, Connolly was the financier and comptroller of the city, and Hall, a trained lawyer, was mayor and adviser on all legal matters. Years later, when he was dying, Tweed explained why the Ring had been formed: I was elected to the State Senate; I found it was i impossible to do anything there without paying for ; it, and money had to be raised for the passage of bills up there; that was the way the Ring first became organized, to pay for bills to protect our selves in the city. However, the organization of the Ring and all the i secondary agents it involved would not have been possible | iif the leaders had not been controlling forces in New York ' s| Tammany Hall,^^ the most powerful Democratic group in the | ; I ination. "Boss" Tweed, Grand Sachem of Tammany, came to pow- i 1er under a cloak of respectability by engineering the down- I ; ifall of Mayor Fernando Wood, earliest of the corrupt Tammany bosses. Fortifying himself through appointments, Tweed camel S^Morris R. Werner, Tammany Hall (New York: Double- day, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928), pp. 112-113, GOgriginally known as the Society of St. Tammany, the organization took its name and rituals from Tammany, a legendary Indian chief and patron saint. The society was the earliest of the oath-taking patriotic lodges born in the Revolutionary War era. An excellent account of its purely republican origin and aims is given by Gustavus Myers in The History of Tammany Hall (New York: Boni and Liveright. 1917), pp. 1-4, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ... ^ .'.... ' 446: ! I to control the state supreme court and the legislature. He i I j jnext proceeded to obtain from the legislature a new charter | for the city that allowed the mayor to centralize financial | control in a small group, The Ring then plundered at will. : The frauds were exposed by The New York Times when I I jthe newspaper was given copies of incriminating ledger en- jtries by a secondary conspirator who had used them in an un-: successful attempt to extort a fortune from the Ring's lead-i iers and feared assassination. Editor George Jones refused ; ia $5,000,000 bribe offer to withhold publication of the evi-; jdence. Soon Tweed was being pressed on disclosures that th^ ' ' I iTimes published on July 22, 1871. His reply to one reporter ibecame famous: " 'Well,' he responded with a half snarl, | I'what are you going to do about | The people gave their answer to Tweed's challenge at Cooper Union. If The New York Times had been successful Iin stirring public indignation, that indignation found ex pression in the Great Hall during a series of three reform meetings that were without parallel in early municipal his tory. That the forces of reform should choose the Great Hall as their headquarters for attack upon a compelling G^Denis Tilden Lynch, "Boss" Tweed (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1927), p. 370. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ......... ^ ^ ........................ 4 4 7 public issue of su'Ch magnitrude is eloquent, testimony to what Cooper Ins ri tu te had came to stand for both as a school and as a public platform: the open dissemination of ideas for the public good. The holding of the meetings at Cooper Union and only at Cooper Union underlines the fact that in the minds of reform leaders and in the public mind there was but one central location entirely in character with the ur gent purpose of the moment. In relation to other Cooper Union platform activity, the anti-Tweed Ring agitation was unique for two reasons: (1) it was the only great cause that was bom. li\;ed. and died exclusively in the Great Hall; and (2) in no other speechmaking was there such a direct and significant cause and effect relationship. The Hew York Times set the stage, but the Tweed Ring was literally smashed as a result of what was said and done at Cooper Union. The Organizational Meeting In order to organize opposition to the Tweed Ring, a mass meeting which was a combination of indignation and action was held at Cooper Union on September 4, 1371. william F. Eavemeyer. ma\nDr in 1B44 and 1847. chaired the meeting. Although 67 years old, this merchant and eneny of R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. ' 4 4 8 'corruption was to be elected as reform mayor again the fol- | Ilowing year. Other prominent citizens who led the proceed-| ! 1 lings were Edward Salomon, founder of the New York Legal Aid ; .Society; Oswald Ottendorfer, publisher of the Staats-Zei- j _ ! i tunq. largest German language newspaper in New York; and I non-corrupted Democratic judges James Emott, Edwards Pierre- j ; ipont, and Joseph H. Choate. Havemeyer and the parade of speakers who followed him stressed that comptroller Connolly had admitted that thé I debt of the city and county, which had stood at $34,407, 047.91 on January 1, 1869, had increased to $100,955,383.33 j in 30 months. The known increase, coupled with the revenue j i of $72,547,112.11 in the same period, indicated that the iRing had paid out at least $139,005,447.53 in two years and six months. All the speakers pointed out that no one knew how much had been stolen. In reviewing the frauds as pub lished in the Times. the Democratic judges stressed that Imuch of the Ring's most evident activity had been carried out in collusion with rascally plumbers, pavers, plasterers,! I furnishers, and builders. Andrew J. Garvey, "the Prince ofi ; , I : Plasterers," had collected $45,966.99 for one day's piaster^ ling on the new court house on July 2, 1869. Judge Emott ; I iexpostulated; "Gentlemen, there is no denial of these R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 4 9 payments and no justification for them. But now^ what are j 6? you going to do with these men?" A man in the audience rose and shouted, "Hang theml" His suggestion stimulated utter pandemonium which did not {subside for several minutes. Resolutions had been drafted. These were presented i by Judge Choate, who advanced to the platform waving the papers. "This is what we are going to do about it," he ex c l a i m e d . ^3 The response to Tweed's challenge brought the audience to its feet in a demonstration equal to that when hanging had been suggested. The resolutions demanded repealj of the Tweed city charter and declared that "the credit of ! i the City of New York and the material interests of its citi^ zens demand that they [the Ring] quit or be deprived of the I offices which they are a b u s i n g . "^4 unanimously adopted, the resolutions empowered Havemeyer to appoint an executive Com mittee of Seventy to fulfill the objectives of the meeting, ; I including funds recovery. The suggestion of hanging remained in the minds of (many men who clustered in small groups at the rear of the G^The New York Times. September 5, 1871, p. 1 G^lbid. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 5 0 Great Hall, muttering that Tweed controlled all justice machinery and was untouchable. Formation of a vigilance committee was discussed, and two days later a reporter asked Tweed if he had heard the ominous rumblings : I was born in New York and I mean to stay here, too. You don't seem to be afraid of a violent death. Are you? Tweed stamped his foot and he answered: "Well, if they want me to come. I'll be there. That's all I have to say about it. I'll be there. I'll be there, sir (with a smile.) Calmer heads prevented vigilante action. The Committee of Seventy meeting After Havemeyer had appointed the Committee of Sev enty, the group carefully selected and endorsed a list of reform candidates for the state legislative and judicial elections of November 7, 1871. Tweed, realizing that jus tice might be thwarted if the Ring were sustained at the polls, conducted a vigorous campaign after he had been ar rested in late September and freed on $1,000,000 bail. His efforts did not stop a ballotbox revolution for good govern ment . The Committee of Seventy organized a non-partisan meeting at Cooper Union on November 2, 1871 to make sure 65lynch, op. cit.. pp. 373-374. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. : .. " . 451 the public knew who the reform candidates were, to support jthe candidates, and to fan anew the enthusiasm of the peo ple . The two principal speakers. Democrat Samuel J. Tilden land Republican William M. Evarts, represented the most re spected elements of the two major parties. I The leader and dominant strategist of the reform jmovement, lawyer Samuel Jones Tilden was chairman of the Democratic State Committee but had never held public office The Democrats made him spokesman of their housecleaning efforts, confident that he could help destroy Tweed as an j individual malefactor without destroying their party as well! : ' ! iTilden's reform efforts led to his election as governor and | ■ 1 jthen to the Democratic nomination for President in 1876. ! j i In his address, Tilden identified the instruments | of Ring power, named Mayor Hall as the worst of the corrupt leaders, and urged support of the Committee of Seventy can- ; ’ didates. Of the instruments of power used by the Ring, ITilden said the city charter of 1869-1870 was the fountain- ! . I head of evil. The charter gave the mayor power to appoint | I the heads of city departments for terms ranging from four | i I to eight years, and the appointees were not removable ex cept upon motion of the mayor to a six-member appointive board of impeachment, all of whom had to be present to form| R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 5 2 a quorum and who had "no other governmental function. Another useful instrument of the Ring was "the deceitful section 4 of the County Tax Levy, which provided that lia bilities against the County should be audited by three per sons, Mr. Tweed, Mr. Hall and Mr. Connolly, and that the amount found to be due should be paid."^^ A final instru ment was the standing resolution by the three auditors that all claims certified by Tweed should be received as author ized with sufficient evidence to be paid. Tilden then charged that Mayor Hall, not Tweed, had been the architect of the charter, the contriver of the mischievous section of the county tax levy, and the mover and draftsman of the auditors' resolution. He declared: "... the chief con spirator and the man whom the public ought to hold account able for the crime is Mr. Mayor A. 0. Hall."^® Urging support of the Committee of Seventy candi dates, Tilden asked that the public welfare be the only con sideration in the existing time of crisis: I know no duty paramount to that of standing by the people in this emergency. I happen to know that Tweed's plan was to carry the Senatorial districts of this City, and then elect eight of the twelve G^The New York Times. November 3, 1871, p. 1 G^lbid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 5 3 Republican Senators if possible in the rural dis tricts, whom he brought up last year. He thus expects to control the Senate, and it was because I had misgivings that his plan might succeed, that I deemed it my duty to aid you in this conflict, not feeling sure that the Republicans could accom plish the work unaided, and I felt it to be a duty that I owed to the people to take my place there and stand or fall with those who had gathered around me .69 Cautioning that "plenty of men can be found who say that Tweed, Hall, Sweeney & Co. have not been proved thieves," Tilden concluded with an urgent plea for "prompt action informing the mechanic and laborer of the true posi- 7 0 tion of affairs" to insure reform success. Tilden's address proffered a shrewd political gam bit, which was contained in his condemnation of Hall. Til den 's legal mind knew very well that no one leader of the Ring could be singled out for total responsibility, yet he was also aware that the crowd mind wanted to focus on one 71 individual. In seeking to make Mayor Hall the scapegoat, he tried to minimize damage to the state Democratic machine by confining the approaching election catastrophe to the city. His effort failed. GSlbid. 70lbid. ^^Tweed was inevitably made the scapegoat. Tilden, ambitious for the Presidency, lost his original reform fer vor . R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 5 4 When the applause from Tilden‘s speech had subsided, William Maxwell Evarts came to the rostrum. Evarts, pre eminent lawyer-statesman of the nineteenth century, twice almost became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, but the enmity of Roscoe Conkling deprived him of the honor, He was a Senator and served four years as Secretary of State under President Hayes, As a lawyer his most famous cases included acting as chief counsel for President Johnson during his impeachment trial, chief counsel for the Republi can Party during the disputed election of 1876, chief pro secutor of Jefferson Davis for treason, and chief counsel for Reverend Henry Ward Beecher during his adultery trial. Evarts cited as a particular admission of guilt the conduct of the Ring in burning 3,500 vouchers in the furnace of the city hall. Pointing out that duplicates of the vouchers were easily traced in one form or another through city banks, Evarts said destruction of the original docu ments indicated the desperate conspirators at least hoped to escape the charge of forgery. He noted that duplicates were sufficient to "establish the City's liability," but they "don't answer the purpose of the forged instrument to be R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 5 5 7P submitted to Courts and juries to convict the forger." Such was the nature of the grim men, the speaker said, who put the institutions of liberty— rather than them selves— on trial at a crucial election. The governmental system of checks and balances had been challenged through the very existence of such an unbelievable conspiracy: Talk about the possession of power by the people. What power had the people, if the machinery by which they exercise it is wrested from their hands by falsehood and perjury? Why talk about this wise scheme of checks and balances of power, where tyranny is impossible and freedom is secure? Why, before the eyes of all the world, under this demonstration of crime and this demonstration of the ballot, all the checks in our system of government in municipal affairs are checks in the City Treasury, that these rascals have pocketed, and all the balances are the false voting of the polls at election.^3 It was, he said, for the people to decide at the election— f no matter how fraudulently conducted— whether their system of government had forever been subverted to the cause of despotism. Evarts appealed to the Cooper Union audience to carry the word that questions of nationality background and religious affiliation should be put aside where the reform candidates were concerned. He declared that no one robbed ^^The New York Times. November 3, 1871, p. 1. 73lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 456 by a highwayman would ask the bandit about which version of the Bible he had read to learn the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal. The remarks of the great lawyer leave the careful reader with an impression of planned overstatement. As the leading Republican reformer, Evarts' purpose apparently was to spur the electorate to a record turnout by exaggerating the breakdown of democratic machinery. He knew, for exam ple, that public feeling was running so strongly that troops would be used to guard the polls against irregularities, and the election itself was hardly the final trial of democracy. After the reform candidates, many of them indepen dent citizens unaffiliated with the major political parties, swept the election, the Committee of Seventy drafted a new city charter which was read, explained, and endorsed in pub lic meeting at Cooper Union on February 20, 1872. This re markable document reformed the operating departments, re vised tax levy provisions, created a board of aldermen with minority representation, and made all appointive officials subject to removal by action of the elected mayor, common council, and board of aldermen. The board of aldermen could 74ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 5 7 veto any appointee of the mayor upon majority vote, and all legislative power was vested in the common council. The new charter was adopted in 1873. The Consolidation Meeting Although it was the principal reform group, the Com mittee of Seventy became one of several organizations seek ing good government. On September 23, 1872, the scattered forces of honesty gathered in the Great Hall under the ban ner of The Council of Political Reform of New York City to consolidate the energy-dissipating units, some of which covertly promoted confusion and concealment; The p'romise had been made when Connolly resigned . . . that a complete list, showing . . . every person who had dealings with the city, and the amount of money awarded him by The Ring, would be published. Yet this was not done, and never has been done. Too many good people would be shown as participants in the wholesale looting of the taxpayers.^5 Tweed, the scapegoat, was the only conspirator imprisoned. The others fled to Europe but returned unmolested after re funding a fraction of the loot. Of the stolen millions, only $1,353,410.96 was recovered. The investigation became so farcical that the prosecution toyed with Tweed's efforts to turn state's evidence between 1876 and 1878. ^^Lynch, op. cit.. p. 405. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 5 8 The "Boss" succumbed to a heart attack in Ludlow Street Jail in 1878. The well intended words spoken at Cooper Union on September 23 were the last to be heard at a non-partisan gathering, although the Tweed Ring was good political ammu nition for years. The principal speaker at the meeting was William Cullen Bryant. One of America's most renowned poets, Bryant composed the enduring Thanatopsis at the age of 18. He be came publisher of the New York Evening Post in 1829 and was from that time forward a major voice in national politics. A man who stood for principles rather than measures, Bryant was chairman for Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union appearance. Lincoln later said: "It was worth the journey to the East to see such a man as Bryant." The 78-year-old Bryant spoke on the merits of uni fied action to "a highly respectable audience of about two thousand high-toned reformers who were too awfully respect- 77 able to cheer or whistle." He emphasized that "an army scattered is an army defeated," a fact with which rogues ^^Alexander, A Political History of the State of New York. II, 394. 77 New York Herald. September 24, 1872, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 5 9 7 8 were only too familiar. The poet in Bryant emerged as he drew upon nature to illustrate the power inherent in cumu lative force: I came a few days since from a rural neighborhood which had been visited by a shower of rain more copious and violent than any living person remem bered, In two hours . . , bridges were swept away; huge stones were rolled down before the waters, Yet this sudden flood was composed of single drops of rain, each one of which as it reached the earth had not force enough to displace the smallest pebble. It was combination, it was concert of action, it was organization that gave them their fearful power. The drops were gathered into rills, the rills into streams, the streams into torrents.79 He declared that the efforts of honest men would be as ir resistible as the raindrops if one course of action could be combined with one purpose. The poet-journalist next cautioned his hearers to turn a deaf ear to'those who preached the doctrine of in herent political corruption: You remember the ingenious parable: A fox among the reeds of a stream was tormented by gnats. A swallow, I think it was, saw his distress and offered to drive them away. "Do not," said the fox, "for if you drive these away a hungrier swarm will come in their place and drain my veins of their last drop of blood." The lesson which this fable seems to inculcate— that they who plunder the public should not be disturbed in their guilty work— is a b s u r d . 80 By way of encouragement, Bryant traced the history 78lbid. 79lbid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 6 0 of the reform wave that rose against the corrupt New York Common Council 40 years earlier and declared that what had been done once for honesty in the city could be done again. Chairman Bryant retired, and Dorman B. Eaton came to the rostrum. Eaton was known as the father of the Amer ican civil service system for his drafting in 1883 of the Pendleton Act, the Magna Carta of civil service reform and one of the enduring pieces of legislation upon his nation's statute books. Because of his attacks upon the corrupt Tweed judges, Eaton was almost fatally assaulted by an as sassin, and was just regaining his health when he spoke briefly at Cooper Union. He had gone abroad to rest. In his short address, Eaton urged the need for re vision of unnecessarily complex and ambiguous municipal laws. The appointment of a commission to codify and clari fy city laws so they could be understood by everyone was, in Eaton's opinion, a step which the regrouped reform forces should quickly take: It is . . . the scheme of those practicing frauds that the laws be made so complicated that none but a trained villain can understand them. It is part of the scheme to construct a legislative network, into which mercenary politicians may crawl and wriggle and hide themselves in their subterranean passages with the greatest possible facility. Slibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 6 1 The civil service authority informed his hearers with real sorrow in his voice that in his trip abroad "the condition of this city is accepted as the condition of the 82 United States; as the exponent of our civilization ..." The nation's largest and most influential city, he felt, could only discharge its debt to society by setting a better example in the future. There was something symbolic in the appearance of both Bryant and Eaton. Bryant represented what the anti- Tweed Ring and anti-Tammany movement had become: a thing venerated and bright with honor, yet sputtering and falter ing in its forward progress. The aged poet was much more the "literary orator"— his highly figurative language and imagery, drawn from the world of natural phenomenon, exem plified the stylistic elegance so prominent during the first 83 half of the nineteenth century — than the compelling advo cate who presented a practical solution to the problem he posed. The effectiveness of the grand old man of letters 82lbid. ®^Howard Martin, "Style in the Golden Age," Quarter ly Journal of Speech. VIII (December, 1957), 377, 379. Martin suggests that the stylistic tendencies of the time were traceable to the Romantic Movement in America. As a poet, Bryant would readily identify with that trend. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 6 2 was hardly aided by his obvious physical struggle to send a 84 spent, tired voice into the far reaches of the Great Hall. Eaton, the wounded warrior, was taxed severely to offer a few helpful words. Summary Social reform activity at Cooper Union consisted of agitation for woman's rights, temperance reform, and aboli tion of the Tweed Ring. The woman's rights cause was es poused mainly during the years immediately following the Civil War by suffragettes who were primarily concerned with winning citizenship privileges at the ballot box equal to those granted the liberated slaves. The advocates were Lucy Stone (Blackwell), Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anna E. Dickinson, and Victoria Woodhull. Temperance agitation took the form of moral suasion efforts to reclaim drunkards or prevent sober citizens from becoming drunkards. Speakers who flayed the demon rum in an effort to persuade their hearers to sign pledges of total abstinence were John B. Gough, William E. Dodge, Ned Bunt- line, Senator Henry Wilson, Susannah Evans Peck, P. T. Bar- num, "Mother" Francis Stewart, William Noble, Francis Mur- ^*%ew York Herald. September 24, 1872, p. 3. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 463 phy, and Dioclesian Lewis. Indignant New Yorkers opened the floodgates of pub lic protest and action upon the monstrous thefts of the Tweed Ring at three non-partisan meetings in the Great Hall. These were: (1) the sentiment-expression and organization meeting on September 4, 1871, at which a number of speakers appeared; (2) the reform candidate support meeting on Novem ber 2, 1871, at which Samuel J. Tilden and William M. Ev arts urged all citizens to cooperate in breaking the power of the Tweed Ring in the state election; and (3) the con solidation meeting on September 23, 1872, at which William Cullen Bryant and Dorman B. Eaton spoke on behalf of con certed reform action. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. CHAPTER IX SELECTED PLATFORM EVENTS Introduction It was inevitable that between 1859 and 1897 a num ber of unrelated but noteworthy events should take place at Cooper Union which did not lend themselves to classification into the major thematic categories that emerged during this study. From the 31 such occasions that were incompatible elsewhere, platform incidents were chosen for analysis on the same basis of larger implication which guided the selec tion of study material in previous chapters: emphasis was placed upon the prominence of personalities and upon the national, and sometimes international, significance of the occasion, Of course. President Lincoln's renowned Cooper Union address overshadowed all associated happenings as an histor ic occurrence; other incidents were significant as fragmen tary illustrations of social protest or movement, but all were to some degree unusual. Just as popular lyceum lec- 464 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 46 5 tures occupied a fringe position in the Cooper Union spec trum of speechmaking but nonetheless offered a vital cultur al contribution, so the selected occurrences transmitted to the Great Hall platform a peripheral aura of the bizarre without which it would have been less vivid and picturesque. Selected platform events at Cooper Union are dis cussed under three headings: (1) future Presidents, (2) controversial lectures, and (3) singular meetings. Future Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S, Grant, Theodore Roose velt, and Grover Cleveland^ were men fated to become Presi dent of the United States when they spoke at Cooper Union. These four men added an inimitable lustre to Great Hall history by virtue of the high office they came to occupy. However, only in the case of Lincoln did the individuals marked by destiny also add to the stature of the platform by delivering addresses which were to prove of lasting soci etal significance. Abraham Lincoln The reason Lincoln visited New York was traceable to ^Already once Chief Executive, 1884-1888. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 6 6 the fact that he was recognized as both an able orator and a Republican leader after the Linccln-Douglas debates of 1858. The Young Men's Association of Brooklyn extended an invita tion to him in October, 1859 to speak in their lyceum course at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn where Henry Ward Beecher was pastor, but Lincoln diplomatically insisted upon giving a political speech rather than a lecture. For this reason the Young Men's Republican Union of New York assumed sponsorship of the event. Arriving at Cooper Union on February 27, 1860, Lin coln found 2,500 people drawn from "the intellect and cul- ture of our city" waiting to hear what he would say. Many who came to laugh at the unpolished giant from the prairies left the Great Hall feeling respect rather than scorn. Ac counts differ as to the extent of audience reaction upon the close of the speech, ranging from no comment to the notation that one auditor burst out, "He's the greatest man since St. Paul'."^ Where the address as reasoned discourse is concerned, Earl Wiley offers a brief but trenchant statement of Lin- ^The Tribune (New York), February 28, 1860, p. 1. ^William Baringer, Lincoln's Rise to Power (Boston; Little, Brown and Company, 1937), p. 158. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 6 7 coin's argumentative approach based on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854, which Stephen A. Douglas had maneuvered through the Senate and which Lincoln saw"as the origin of the issue: Resolved to its lowest terms, the Cooper Union argument comes to this : Did the statesmen who founded the Republic believe (with Lincoln) that the control of slavery in Federal territories rested with the Congress? Or did they believe (with Douglas) that this authority rested with the territories? In terms of partisanship it came to this: Did the Republican or the Democratic party represent the policy of the founders of the Constitution in dealing with slavery in Federal territories? In terms of personalities the question came to this: Who stood closer to Wash ington and Jefferson, politically, as regarded the claim that Congress possessed the authority to con trol slavery in Federal territories, Lincoln or Douglas?^ A more extensive running analysis of the elements of the address may be constructed from the writings of sev eral Lincoln authorities. Lincoln took for his theme the saying of Douglas, his old adversary: "Our fathers, when they framed the government under which we live, understood this question [the slavery question] just as well, and even better than we do now."^ This provided him and Douglas with ^Earl Wiley, "Abraham Lincoln: His Emergence as the Voice of the People," A History and Criticism of American Public Address, ed. William Norwood Brigance (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1943), II, 863. ^Arthur Brooks Lapsley fed.). The Writings of Abra ham Lincoln (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1906), VIII, 187. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 468 a common focus for discussion.^ Lincoln then proved that of the 39 signers of the Constitution 21, a clear majority, to gether with the 76 members of the Congress that passed the initial 10 Amendments, "certainly understood that no proper division of local from federal authority, nor any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal Government to control slavery in the federal territories," while all the rest of the signers of the Constitution probably shared that opin ion.^ He defied anyone to show that the Constitution in any way forbade the federal government to control slavery in the territories : Now, and here, let me guard a little against being misunderstood. I do not mean to say we are bound to .follow implicitly in whatever the fathers did. To do so would be to discard all the lights of current experience— to reject all progress, all im provement. What I do say is that if we would sup plant the opinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we should do so upon evidence so conclusive, and arguments so clear, that even their great au thority, fairly considered and weighed, cannot stand. . . . If any man at this day sincerely believes that a proper divisi'~^n of local from Federal authority, or any part of t ; Constitution, forbids the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the Federal Territories, he is right to say so, and to enforce his position by all truthful evidence and fair argu- Glbid. ^Benjamin P. Thomas, Abraham Lincoln (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952), p. 203. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 6 9 ment which he can. But he has no right to mislead others . . . into the false belief that "our fathers who framed the government under which we live" were of the same opinion— thus substituting falsehood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argu ment . ^ The next section of the speech was an appeal to the people of the South. Lincoln took up one after another the accusations which Democratic leaders were bringing against the Republicans. His party was not, he said, sectional, radical, or revolutionary, "except as the South made it so."^ He absolved Republicans of responsibility in the John Brown raid and likened secession threats to a highwayman holding a pistol to his victim's head.^^ The final paragraphs of the speech were addressed to the Republicans in an appeal for peaceful effort insofar as possible without betraying the basic belief that slavery was wrong.Lincoln voiced the fear that having the North call slavery right was the only thing which would placate the South: ^Baringer, o p. cit.. p. 156. ^Albert J. Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1928), IV, 342. lOhapsley, op. cit.. VIII, 187-188. ^^Rhodes, History of the United States . . . , III, 388. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 470 If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our duty fearlessly and effectively. . . . Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.^^ The peroration was a stirring one, and the "right makes might" phrase has been so singled out as to become an adage. The most famous speech ever delivered at Cooper Union and "one of the most remarkable ever delivered in the city of New York," Lincoln's address has been widely an thologized and cited,Indeed, "many historians have told how this great speech boosted Lincoln's reputation so vigor ously that he became Seward's leading competitor for the presidential nomination.Lincoln himself said: "Brady^^ and Cooper Institute made me PresidentParrish and ^^Thomas, op. cit.. p. 204. l^Lapsley, op. cit.. VIII, 185. l^Baringer, op. cit.. p. 159. ^^Matthew Brady, famous photographer, who produced a flattering picture of Lincoln the day before the address. "Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech," an unpublished pamphlet prepared by The Cooper Union Public Relations De partment under the direction of Frank A. Culver, 1959. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 7 1 Hochmuth are more cautious about the far-reaching political effect of the Civil War President's words when they preface his address with the remark that it "is sometimes considered to be his 'president-making' address.Yet since "every one" agrees that the oration offered the best analysis of the slavery question heard before the Civil War, it is as sured of a lasting place among America's great addresses. Ulysses S. Grant General Grant came to New York from Washington, D.C. by special invitation to attend a Cooper Union meeting on June 7, 1865. The gathering had been organized by influen tial New York citizens to express confidence in the charac ter and patriotism of recently installed President Johnson and to pledge support to his administration's policies. The official reason for the meeting actually became of secondary importance because "the heroic general who has principally achieved . . . Union triumphs was, however, the object of the popular ovation last evening. l^Wayland Maxfield Parrish and Marie Hochmuth, Amer ican Speeches (New York: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1954), p. 284. ^^Thomas, op. cit..p. 204. ^^New York Herald. June 8, 1865, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 7 2 The night before the hero of Appomattox appeared at Cooper Institute, he had been serenaded by a huge throng and also honored by a banquet at the Astor House. He was eulo gized during the banquet, but even after a toast had been drunk to him. Grant declined to speak. "Gentlemen," he said, "I know you will excuse me for not attempting to reply 20 to the toast which has just been drunk." These few words foreshadowed the nature of Grant's Cooper Union address. . . . The Great Hall meeting was very disorderly: The building was filled one to two hours before the hour set for the commencement of the meeting; and thousands of persons remained outside unable to get into the building. The reserved seats were occupied by a miscellaneous crowd at seven o'clock, notwith standing the police, who could exercise no control; and after that time no order whatever was preserved. The Times said it could remember "no row, disturbance, or scene of confusion . . . to compare with the first hour of 22 the Cooper Union meeting." Other famous military person alities were present as speakers, but the multitude was so eager to hear Grant, who had been delayed, that no one else could be heard. The chairman became angry: ^^The Evening Post (New York), June 8, 1865, p. 1. Zlibid. ^^The New York Times. June 8, 1865, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 7 3 He [Moses Grinnell] called on the people, saying if they were American citizens, they should pay some respect to an occasion of this kind; but the crowds in the aisles and every part of the building . . . were too dense and too enthusiastic to heed . . .^3 Voices were constantly heard to call, "Give us a joke," "More air," or "Where's the General?" Some of the tumult was caused by a series of false alarms created by "the more jolly sports" who would call out at intervals "There he is'." 24 and "start everyone to their feet and set the band going." Eventually Grant arrived and with great difficulty made his way to the platform: There was the wildest enthusiasm. The band struck up "Hail, the conquering hero comes." He reached the stage . . . advanced to the front of the platform and bowed, but said not a word, and retired. Finally the tumult became so uproarious, so wild, that General Grant was obliged to make a speech. . . . He was understood to say: "I thank you for this kind reception. If I was in the habit of speaking, I am so impressed by it that I could not respond to it as I would like to, and you will have to excuse me." Only the Tribune offered a longer version of the speech: "Ladies and Gentlemen: I have never been accus tomed to speaking in public, and you will pardon me if I think I am now too old to learn. I thank you— thank you deeply for these great manifestations of ^^The Evening Post (New York), June 8, 1865, p. 1. ^^ew York Herald. June 8, 1865, p. 1. ^^The Evening Post (New York), June 8, 1865, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 7 4 your esteem, and only wish I deserved them better. I can do nothing more than this— I thank you."^^ Grant then walked up and down the front of the plat form and stood on a chair that he might be seen better. He next shook hands with everyone he could reach from the plat form and finally left the hall amid a scene of wild acclama tion. Many hearers in the suffocating crowd made their exit when Grant left, but others remained to hear short addresses by General John A. Logan, later a founder of Memorial Day but sooner to become a Republican leader among the radical reconstructionists in Congress; George Bancroft, noted his torian and founder of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis; General F. P. Blair Jr., controversial commander and Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate with Horatio Seymour in 1868; Daniel S. (Scripture Dick) Dickinson, nick named for his Biblical quotations in speechmaking and a powerful Democratic figure; and General Daniel E. Sickles, who lost a leg but won the Congressional Medal of Honor in the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg. The Grant "address" stands unchallenged as Cooper Union's highest moment of oratorical anti-climax. Never did so many wait so eagerly for so little. The general, who 26 The Tribune (New York), June 8, 1865, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 7 5 was even more reticent than Calvin Coolidge, was always ex cused on the grounds that he was a fighter, not a talker. Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt entered politics at the age of 23 when he served with marked reforming zeal from 1881 to 1884 in the New York State Legislature. Retiring to his Dakota ranch for three years following the death of his first wife, he returned abruptly to New York in 1885 to run for mayor upon the urging of Thomas Platt, New York Republican boss. The Republicans wanted "The Cowboy" as a reform name to oppose Tammany Hall when both Elihu Root and Levi P. Morton de clined the nomination. Arrayed against Roosevelt in an un usual three-cornered fight were Henry George, popular sin gle-tax author who was reluctantly heading New York's first labor ticket, and Abram S. Hewitt of the Democrats. With many other Republicans, the ambitious Roosevelt entertained hopes of victory because he believed George's appeal with the workingmen would split the Democratic strength. How ever, Hewitt, an ex-Congressman, proved a brilliant cam paigner and won with 90,522 votes. George received 68,110 and Roosevelt 60,435 in the heaviest balloting for the R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 476 2 7 mayoralty in the city's history. On October 27, 1886, Roosevelt was introduced to a Republican rally at Cooper Union by Elihu Root, later to become a distinguished American statesman and Secretary of State under President Theodore Roosevelt, The future Presi dent, who was not yet 30 years old, delivered a rather short address in which he first noted that George's supporters had asserted he did not take issue "directly and squarely" with their candidate; We most emphatically take radical and complete issue with all the theories of Mr. George, and what is more, we claim that our whole past record entitles us to stand as the chief opponents of those theories far more than does the past record of the men who have nominated Mr. Hewitt. I would also take issue most emphatically with Mr. George when he states that he would be one whit bet ter a representative of the workingmen of this city than I. I am, if I am anything, an American. I am an American from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet. If I take office I will take it as a free man, the equal of his fellow-freeman. I will take it to serve loyally and faithfully in so far as in me lies every citizen of this great commonwealth. I don't care what his creed or his birthplace or his wealth or his poverty or his color may be; all I ask is whether he is loyal and honestly striving to ful fill the duties of American citizenship, and if he be, I am his representative.28 ^^Stefan Lorant. The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1959), p. 238. ^ ^The Tr ibune (New York), October 28, 1886, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 477 Next pointing out that he had stood inflexibly on the side of reform in the state legislature, Roosevelt warned that his position would not change if he were elected to the city's highest office. If, as mayor, he found a pub lic servant who was "either incompetent or dishonest, I would take off his head if he were the most prominent poli- pQ tician in the Republican party." He promised a radical reform in city hall which would respect no party, class, or individual. Roosevelt's summary was an excellent restatement of his principal ideas; I . . . wish to state to you again that we stand against Mr. George on account of the theories that he has enunciated and we stand against Mr. Hewitt on account of the practices of his followers. We will not only try to preserve law and order . . . but will endeavor to work a complete and radical reform in the City Hall. If I am elected Mayor, I shall strive to be the representative of every body of citizens in this community and to show equal favor to all . . .as they stand upon a common plane of American freemen and American citizenship.^0 The real campaign battle was between George and Hewitt, and this address shows why. Roosevelt sidestepped the issues and spoke in platitudes and indirect generalities 31 because he did not know enough about George's theories to 29Ibid. 30lbid. 33-George ' s theories are discussed more at length R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 478 attack them directly with specific arguments. Hewitt, a 32 close student of George's writings, effectively challenged the value of a political agitation based upon the barren idealism of land tenure without a practical constructive plan. Grover Cleveland Cleveland traditionally represented the non-machine or reform element of the Democratic Party in his home state of New York. During the 1880's and early 1890's. Governor David B. Hill of New York represented the influential state Tammany Hall Democratic machine faction. There was bitter friction between the two men due to Hill's strong Presiden tial aspirations; Hill made every effort to block President Cleveland's renomination in 1888 but was unsuccessful. The governor tried once more in 1891 and 1892 to checkmate the ex-President, but in a jumble of events in 1892, the blunt, honest Cleveland outmaneuvered his enemy to win a third later in this chapter; briefly, however, he believed that the expense of government could be met by a single tax on ground rent alone, making landlords mere agents of collec tion for a profit margin on land that was commonly owned. ^^According to Alexander (A Political History of the State of New York. IV, 81), Hewitt strengthened his cause by drawing the attention of the city to the seriousness of George's propaganda. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 479 nomination and subsequently a second term as Chief Execu tive , When Cleveland appeared at Cooper Union on October 8, 1891, it was to participate in an expedient public love feast with Hill on the pretext of supporting the Democratic candidacy of Roswell P, Flower over Republican J. Sloat Fassett for I the New York governorship which Hill was aban doning. Hill was then a candidate for the Senate because he saw a seat in the upper house as a steppingstone to the Presidency. The meeting produced a show of party unity which masked the cloak-and-dagger political operations in progress behind the scenes. Cleveland's function was to chair the meeting at which Hill was the principal speaker. "Thousands without and thousands within" cheered as the ex-President took his position at the speaker's stand with the "printed slip of 33 his speech that he had only to refer to once." In definite and positive terms, Cleveland developed the theme that it was essential to dwell upon national is sues in the state campaign then in progress; I do not forget that we are gathered together to ratify State nominations, and that we are immediately ^^The World (New York), October 9, 1891, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 480 concerned with a State campaign. It seems to me, however, that while National questions of the great est import are yet unsettled and when we are on the eve of a National, campaign in which they must be again pressed upon the attention of the voters of the country, the Democracy of the great State of New York can not and will not ignore them. It is evident that if our opponents are permitted to choose the line of battle they will avoid all Na tional issues. I am very far from having any fear of the result of a full discussion of the subjects which pertain to State affairs. We have an abundance of reasons to furnish why on these issues alone we should be fur ther trusted with the State government, but it does not follow that it is wise to regard matters of National concern as entirely foreign to the pending canvass, and especially to follow the enemy in their lead entirely away from the issues they most fear and which they have the best reasons to d r e a d . The future President pointed out that the Republican Party was on the defensive because of its "misdeeds" in na tional affairs, but he cautioned that the apparent lack of defensive spirit shown on that level by the opposition was only a ruse "hidden under a cloud of dust raised by their iteration of irrelevant things" to allow the opportunity for regrouping forces "to gain a new opportunity for harm."^^ Cleveland emphasized strongly that Democrats were in an excellent position to be aggressive by virtue of the reforms their party had undertaken on the national level since winning a three-quarter majority in the national House 34ibid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 8 1 of Representatives during the elections of 1890. The repu diation of the Republicans in 1890 was only part of what he called a "stupendous revival" that would show in November, 1892 that the American public knew which party was truly the party of the people.The voters had in the previous year given a part of their answer to President Harrison’s "ex tortion" of public money through the high-tariff McKinley Act, his extravagance with the Treasury^surplus, and his condonement of the high-handed and "brutal" methods of 37 Speaker of the House Thomas B. Reed. Cleveland relinquished the rostrum with a plea for a party "united and zealous" in fulfilling the responsibili- 38 ties of the remarkable revival it was experiencing. It is noteworthy that he did not once refer to Hill directly or by name. After Hill, who frequently referred to the ex-Presi dent in the most laudatory terms, had spoken, the two Demo cratic stalwarts stood side by side and clasped hands as the band significantly played "Comrades." Grover Cleveland, a singularly straightforward and honest man, would work for party unity but could find no words of approbation or endearment for Hill. Abrupt, 3Glbid. 37lbid. ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 482 bluntly positive, and even harsh at times, the uncompromis ing and manly eloquence of this man— so refreshing at the political rostrum— recalled the plain civil style brought into prominence many centuries before by Demosthenes. Controversial Lectures Standing quite apart from other lyceum programs at Cooper Union were several controversial lectures that left a marginal tint of oddity— perhaps even mild sensational ism— upon the platform. This tincture, a part of the liber al reputation generated in the Great Hall by oppressed groups and social reformers, was evidently distinct by late 1873 when the Herald said that "Cooper Institute may be filled to overflowing at any time by whoever will announce a lecture of the 'Black Crook' kind."^^ These lectures in volved some of the most unusual and arresting personalities and the most absorbing incidents and topics of the time, making the programs of surpassing popular interest. John H. Surratt; "The Lincoln Assassination Plot" John Harrison Surratt left study for the Catholic priesthood in 1862 to become a secret dispatch rider for ^^New York Herald. October 18, 1873, p. 12. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 483 the Confederacy. Making the acquaintance of John Wilkes Booth in Washington, he became a key figure in the seven-man conspiracy to abduct President Lincoln and thus force the North to release or exchange its war prisoners. Kidnapping plans were frustrated, and Surratt apparently was in Canada as a courier when the President was assassinated. Hunted as the attacker of Secretary of State William H. Seward, Surratt was captured once in Rome but made a daring escape to lead government agents on an international chase that ended in the Middle East. A civil court^^ tried him in 1867, but the jury could not agree. He was freed in 1868. Surratt delivered his lecture for the first time in Washington, D. C. three days before he spoke at Cooper Union on December 9, 1870. After drawing gasps by intimating that he felt he was on trial before the public, the lecturer described his movements as a secret information carrier in the vicinity of Washington, D. C. He said the life of out witting government detectives was a stimulating and fascin ating one. ^^The other conspirators, including Surratt's mother, were tried before a military commission, and four of them were executed. Historians agree that Surratt probably would have suffered had he stood before the same tribunal. Lewis Thornton Powell was the attacker of Seward. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 484 The speaker then discussed at length how he met Booth and learned of his daring abduction plans. Booth, he explained, had sought him out in 1854 as a man who could give him exhaustive information on exit routes from Washing ton, but the information was withheld until the rebel ex tremist explained why he wanted it; "I will confide my plans to you ..." There was a long and ominous silence, which I at last was com pelled to break by saying, "You know well I am a Southern man. If you cannot trust me we will sepa rate. What is your proposition?" He sat quiet . . , then . . . arose and looked under the bed, into the wardrobe, in the doorway and the passage, and then said: "We will have to be careful, walls have ears." He then drew his chair close to me, and in a whisper said: "It is to kidnap President Lincoln, and carry him off to Richmond."4i Surratt declared he at first stood aghast at the idea but became enthusiastic after several days. Each man enrolled accomplices, and midnight meetings were soon being held in the Washington boardinghouse of Surratt's mother, who was entirely in sympathy with the plot. As time passed, the conspirators became convinced that federal authorities were suspicious of some intrigue. They gathered in council where Booth brought his fist down ^^The World (New York), December 10, 1870, p. 3. Also see the World of December 8, 1870 for an extended transcript of the same manuscript lecture delivered in Wash ington . R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 8 5 on the table and said: "Well, gentlemen, if the worst comes 4P to the worst, I shall know what to do." Four of the group, including Surratt, said they would abandon the plot immediately if "anything more than the capture of Mr, Lin coln is intimated,Booth became conciliatory, and noth ing more was heard of extreme measures, As all preparations for abduction and flight to Richmond stood in readiness, the kidnappers agreed to communicate in code rather than in meeting until the moment to strike arrived. Two months later information was at last received that the President would visit a Washington hospital within the hour, So well organized were the conspirators that they were at the scene on swift horses within one-half hour. However, Salmon P, Chase, new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, appeared instead of the Chief Executive, Now sure their plot was suspected, the kidnappers separated perma nently, Surratt claimed he never saw Booth again. The lecturer also dwelt in detail on his flight to Canada, his success in eluding the law, and his innocence of the charge that he had deserted his mother in her darkest ^^The World (New York)> December 10, 1870, p, 3, 43lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 486 hours of trial and execution.' Friends, who supposedly ad vised him of all that transpired, had "assured him, up to the last moment . . . that his mother could not and would not be convicted. The specific speech purpose of Surratt's lecture, a chronological account woven about incidents carefully se lected from the complex events surrounding the plots against President Lincoln, was to convince the public that the speaker was guilty of a daring military conspiracy but in nocent of the larger charge of premeditated murder. How ever, Surratt's remarkably poor manuscript reading did lit tle to help him attain the desired audience response; audi tors left noisily as he spoke, and only a handful were left at the close of the lecture. Yet it is difficult to believe that poor speaking alone could destroy the intense interest which was initially shown in the program. Surratt's trial had left strong doubts about his innocence, and he may have fared better had he dramatically hinted at his guilt. As it was, the newspapers implied that his lecture was a confes sion . 44The New York Times. December 10, 1870, p. 8, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 487 Victoria Woodhull: "The Naked Truth.” Reared as a spiritualist and mesmerist, Victoria Claflin Woodhulland her sister Tennessee (Tennie C . ) a lifelong companion, told fortunes on the Claflin's traveling medicine show while the parents sold an elixir of life and hrother Hebem posed as a cancer doctor. Demosthenes. whom Victoria claimed as a familiar spirit, instructed her to go to New York where she ingratiated herself with the eccentric elder Cornelius Vanderbilt through his spiritualistic inter ests . Establishing on Wall Street the first female broker age house in America, the sisters made a fortune following Vanderbilt's tips and used much of it publishing Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly, a woman's rights, free love, and scandal newspaper which exposed the Henry Ward Beecher-Elizabeth Tilton adultery scandal. In 1877 Vanderbilt's children brought suit to annul his will, and when the Claflin sisters moved to Europe permanently that year, it was whispered that Vanderbilt money had paid them to go. In London Victoria married her third husband, a wealthy banker who proposed after hearing her lecture at St. James' Hall. Called "Queen ^^For other speechmaking and identification, see p. 421. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 488 of the Prostitutes," "The Bewitching Broker," and other names, Victoria Woodhull was the most talked about woman of her time and one of the most picturesque figures of the Gilded Age.^6 Following her editorial allegations^^ about the Beecher-Tilton trysts— the November 2, 1872 scandal issue sold at $40 per copy by nightfall--Mrs. Woodhull found pow erful forces leagued against her. She was jailed on trumped-up charges and generally persecuted. Then an in dictment was issued charging that sending Woodhull & Claf lin's Weekly of November 2, 1872 through the mails violated a federal statute against obscene and indecent material. The newspaper suspended publication. Determined to lash back at her enemies, Mrs. Woodhull scheduled a lecture for January 9, 1872 at Cooper Institute, the only hall she could 4-8 hire in the city. Her sister and Colonel James H. Blood, her chief editorial adviser, public conduct planner, and ^^Emanie Sachs, The Terrible Siren (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1928), p. xi. ^^Sachs says (ibid., p. 144) that Mrs. Woodhull made her disclosures to retaliate against Beecher's sisters, who hounded her for allegedly extorting money from the renowned minister. 4 8 l b i d . . p. 276. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 489 supposed husband since 1866, were arrested the day of the lecture, and federal marshals with warrants surrounded Cooper Union. Laura Cuppy Smith was to read Mrs. Woodhull's lecture if she were arrested. Apologies were just being made for Mrs. Woodhull's inability to appear when she slipped past the officers disguised as an old Quaker woman in a bonnet and shawl, which she triumphantly removed upon the platform to the wild delight of the audience. She dared the marshals to arrest her before she de livered her lecture. The huge crowd "went mad."^^ The hall fairly rocked. The officers hesitated, then desisted. Almost choked with rage and emotion, Mrs. Woodhull marched back and forth on the platform and spoke for a time in a disconnected fashion. She charged that Henry Ward Beecher's agents and friends were behind the government in dictment and all her troubles.The newspapers never 49lbid.. p. 194. ^^In her discussion of the arraignment, Sachs (ibid.. p. 203) notes the district attorney's declaration that the Claflin sisters had libelled a gentleman whose character "is well worth the while of the Government of the United States to vindicate." Of course, vindicating a private citizen was extraordinary government practice and beyond the scope of the indictment. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 490 printed her side of the case. Officers of the law seized her types, destroyed her business, purloined her letters and private papers, and threw her and her associates into jail without allowing them to communicate with the public. The people were outraged, she said, when an individual was wronged by the law. A revised edition of the suppressed Weekly would be on sale soon because the United States had no case. Since her material had been reprinted in other newspapers, they, too, were guilty of obscenity if it were obscene. The audience cheered, then hushed to hear more as the speaker warmed to her principal theme. All the hubbub, she declared, was not a question of Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore Tilton, Mrs. Tilton, Brigham Young, or Victoria Woodhull; it was the question of a "new gospel," and the world always maltreated the annunciator of a new gospel. Mrs. ■ Woodhull vehemently maintained that every third person in the audience was a conscious rebel against a galling do mestic tyranny. The others were "unconsciously wretched." Repulsions, discontent and mutual torment, haunt the household everywhere. Brothels . . . crowd the streets . . . to assuage passional starvation, en forced by law and a factitious public opinion. There Sllbid.. p. 197. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 491 are legions of sick and weary wives, and even hus bands . . . overwrought, disgusted . . . in their utter incompetency to meet the legitimate demands of healthy natures coupled with them; ten thousand forms of domestic damnation and everybody crying, "PeaceI PeaceL" when there is no peace. Rising up out of our false notions of propriety and purity; coming to know that everything is proper which enhances happiness and injures no one; and that everything whatsoever is pure that is healthful and natural, we shall . , . prepare . . . for the perfect and pure blessedness of the coming millenium of the absolute liberty of the human heart.^2 The speaker whirled off the stage and surrendered to the marshals who escorted her to Ludlow Street Jail. Any critical note regarding Victoria Woodhull's speaking must bring out the fact that all her addresses were ghost-written by Stephen Pearl Andrews or, occasionally. Colonel Blood, both visionary reformers and social philoso- 53 phers of many theories. Although a number of the ideas she expressed were her own, she was mainly a platform puppet through whom Andrews ventriloquized. When agitated, how ever, Mrs. Woodhull often extemporized passages; she did so at Cooper Union during the first part of her address. The marked force of her delivery was the only apparent influence that the spirit of Demosthenes exerted upon her oratory. 52ibid. ^^Ibid.. p. 217. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 9 2 Theodore Tilton: "The Problem of Life" Theodore Tilton, a strikingly handsome man, was a bright lyceiam star and a successful journalist when he shattered his life by suing Henry Ward Beecher, his pastor and close friend, for $100,000 damages for alleged criminal misconduct with his wife. The sensational trial^^ lasted six months; the jury deliberated a week before reporting that it was hopelessly deadlocked. The case involving America's most famous minister was never re-tried, even though Elizabeth Tilton, who had abandoned her children and husband to stand by her pastor, declared four years later 55 that her spouse's charges were true. Husband and wife were never reconciled, and Tilton went abroad permanently in 1883. On September 29, 1875, Tilton made his first public appearance since the trial to deliver for the first time his new lecture, "The Problem of Life." Every inch of space in ^^Victoria Woodhull figured prominently in the case as the scarlet woman who had driven Mrs. Tilton from home by adulteries with her husband. Sachs states that although Tilton's six-month liaison with Mrs. Woodhull was common knowledge (ibid., p. 106) and Mrs. Woodhull was specific about her own sexual intimacies with Beecher (ibid., p. 213), neither side dared put her on the witness stand. ^^The New York Times. April 16, 1878, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 9 3 the Great Hall was occupied. The trial had ended only two months before, and public feeling still ran high. The Times reporter described the spirit of the occasion in detail: In anticipation of a rush for seats the hall was filled at an early hour, and by clapping, stamping, and general demonstrations of impatience it was sought to hasten the lecturer to the platform. Spirit and feeling were expressed in loud cheers at every possible opportunity. When Messrs. Fuller ton, Morris, and Pearsall, counsel for Mr. Tilton in the recent memorable trial, entered the hall, their appearance was greeted with loud cheers, and later, when the lecturer presented himself upon the platform he was the recipient of such an ovation as no mere lecturer could elicit. It was manifestly based upon an active sympathy . . . not unmixed, however, with a natural feeling of curiosity as to the character of his utterances, He entered the platform unattended, and flinging his hat and over coat on the floor, without introduction began his lecture.56 Tilton equated the problem of life with the develop ment of human character. He held that posterity could easi ly forget men who achieved no higher goals than wealth, pow er, fame, or even learning; however, posterity would long remember those who surrendered ambition and vanity in order to obtain mastery over themselves. The lecturer asserted that while character building was directly under man’s own control, it had nothing to do with reputation building. These two human aspects were 5^The New York Times. September 30, 1875, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 9 4 entirely separate; character was what a man actually was, while reputation was what people imagined him to be. There were many types of character as expressed in asceticism, luxury, cruelty and gentleness, pride and humiliation, medi tation and mirth, and all the other forces of nature that existed within the realm of human emotion. As to reputa tion, Tilton reminded his hearers in passionate tones that "public men are constantly making and losing reputations, as the stars go down and come up, but there is this differ ence, that a star that sets will rise again, but a star that falls is lost forever. This remark brought a storm of applause which died quickly because the speaker barely paused to acknowledge it. Tilton declared that in nineteenth-century civili zation, a man forgave an injury^^ at the expense of his reputation. Public morals were such that they had "conver ted religion into a pious fraud and pulpit preaching into sentimentality that has no holy view of accountability."^^ S^Ibid. ^^Elizabeth Tilton allegedly told her husband of intimacies with Beecher in 1870. Tilton promptly forgave her, but neither of them could forget. S^The New York Times. September 30, 1875, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 9 5 Again a sensation swept over the hall. After denouncing the lack of character prevalent in the pulpit and in the female boudoir, the lecturer urged that the false system of public morals be amended so it "did not damn to perdition in a woman what was pardonable in a man."^0 Relating happiness to good character, the lecturer expressed the belief that the man of character found happi ness within himself rather than seeking to fashion another man's happiness to fit himself: Carlyle said happiness was cheap if men only knew the proper merchant to apply to for it. . . , Immortal and exquisite is the story of the king whose malady could be cured only by wearing the shirt of the happy man, and when he found him, he had no shirt. Tilton ended his remarks abruptly and strode from the hall, rarely to appear on a lyceum platform^^ again. His lecture, often a disconnected jumble of thoughts, was a highly emotional effort filled with thinly-veiled references to social values that related to his personal problems. The Times noted Tilton's agitation: GOlbid. Gllbid. G^Tiiton's fortunes and career were ruined by the scandal. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 9 6 Throughout its [the lecture's] delivery there was an evidence of personal feeling . . , unknown in his former methods and styles, and when, with im passioned eloquence, he made indirect references to his recent troubles, he exhibited a passion and force which drew down loud cheers.^3 Tilton had a flair for the dramatic, and he gave it full rein in expressing the cynicism and bitterness that would logically be expected of a man in his personal posi tion. yet he was also apparently intent upon stimulating the audience to a greater awareness of the social paradox so common in life. Indeed, the rather abstract theme of character and the illusions surrounding it would have been without dynamic interest had it not been supported by the speaker's personal allusions. Henry Ward•Beecher ; "Evolution and Revolution" When the great adultery trial ended in 1875, Henry Ward Beecher was 62 years old. He spent several years re storing his influence and popularity, both considerably shaken by the scandal. Then after 1880— only a few years before his death— Beecher opened a new era of his career by leading American religion in its first transitional steps toward tolerance of the biological evolution theory. Fol- G^The New York Times. September 30, 1875, p. 5. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 9 7 lowing his example, an increasing number of ministers during the 1880's came to embrace Darwinism as a new and grander revelation of the mysterious way God moves His wonders to perform.That Beecher should come to adopt evolution and, "indeed, fairly link himself with the skeptics and atheists by his tolerance" was not as shocking as it seemed when his sermons and then his lectures first shook theological bul warks to their foundations.^^ The renowned minister's sym pathy with the scientific view fitted his optimistic confi dence in the possibilities of human nature and his convic tion that man had never fallen but had ever been ascending.^^ Furthermore, he recognized the fact that American scientists as a group had come to support Darwinism. Beecher's appearance at Cooper Union on January 6, 1883 was of marked significance because it was the first time America's foremost minister had expressed his evolu- G4gchlesinger, The Rise of the City, pp. 322-323. ^^Constance Mayfield Rourke, Trumpets of Jubilee (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1927), p. 231. ^^Beecher's pulpit advocacy of the evolutionary hy pothesis subjected him to much criticism. Paxton Hibben points out in Henry Ward Beecher: An American Portrait (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1927), p. 337, that Beecher withdrew from the Association of Congregational Ministers in October, 1882 to relieve that body of responsibility for tolerating his views. R eproduced with perm ission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 9 8 tionary views in a popular lecture rather than from the pul pit of Plymouth Church."Evolution and Revolution" was the touchstone of Beecher's success during his 1883 lecture tour, an 18,500-mile excursion to all sections of the nation that was the most ambitious of his career. This address was also singled out by Abbott as most characteristic of Beech er's philosophical utterancesFor an unknown reason, the pastor of Plymouth Church chose to introduce "Evolution and Revolution" on the Cooper Union Saturday Night Free Lecture series. It is possible the speaker may have considered his lecture a tribute to science that would be most in keeping with the educational philosophy to which his friend Peter Cooper had dedicated his Institute. The Great Hall was so crowded one-half hour before the program was to begin that the police closed the doors. The speaker began by stating that the divine method of creation was not God's command, "Let there be light." Instead, creation began with "the very smallest elements" and gradually, "through the force of divinely ordained nat ural laws, unfolded little by little the whole terraqueous ^^Lyman Abbott, Henry Ward Beecher (Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, 1887), p. 565. ^^Ibid., p . xi. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 4 9 9 6 9 globe. In short, he said, this was the theory of evolu tion, the most revolutionary hypothesis to appear in 500 years. He briefly distinguished between the atheistic, ag nostic, and theistic, or Christian, classes of evolutionists and explained that he held with the theistic view that "there were superadded to natural forces certain direct in fluences that conduced to the formation of the human 7 0 mind." All three views, however, had come to permeate the public consciousness, and Beecher warned that evolutionary doctrine would never be suppressed by "throwing the Bible at 71 it." In further clarifying his position, the minister said he was not prepared to say he believed that man came from the lower animals, but "if he did it will afford ex planation of difficulties for which I can find no solution 72 anywhere else." Evolution, Beecher declared, helped to sustain the belief in the existence of a supreme intelligence. God's existence could not be proved through scientific means; the best proof of the existence of God was moral intuition. The divine presence was no more physically tangible than the G^lbid.. pp. 566-567. 7°Ibid.. p. 567. 71lbid. 72lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 0 smell of a rose or the magnificence transmitted to the eye by blended colors, yet this presence made itself undeniably felt. God had evolved the highest form of life in His image and through the highly moral among that image made Himself known: Now, it is given to highly organized moral natures to have a sense, a luminous incoming conviction, of the existence of God; to feel it as plainly as one feels the balmy spring air and knows that it is spring, and not winter, without his almanac. We know it as we know the highest and noblest truths of human life. The interpreting power of the highest development of human conscience is far greater than most men have ever dreamed. The speaker next maintained that the influence of evolution on the Scriptures was friendly. The Bible itself, he held, was a unique work of evolution because it had taken 10,000 years to write. Characterizing the Bible as an en cyclopedia of man's progress, Beecher said the Old Testament was unparalleled as a "history of . . . the process by which men rose from the lowest stages of animalism and came to the 74 effulgence of modern civilization." The New Testament, "a charter of the rights of the weak," illustrated God's preoccupation with the "low and unfolded" being: He goes down so low there is nothing below . . . and takes the poorest and meanest; it [the New Testament] 73ibid.. p. 568. ' ^ ^Ibid. . p. 569. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 1 places him at his highest value, by the judgment of him who judges man not by what he is in this world, but by what he is to become in better soil and a finer clime, when he will have another chance for 7 R development. Similarly, Beecher held that the doctrine of the descent of man from his lowest form or, perhaps, an inferior race, threw light on the question of the origin of sin and evil. Pointing out that within every man there still raged the killing and marauding animal instincts of his early bestial history, the speaker said it was the development of moral consciousness in the "upper man" that sublimated the sinful and evil instincts of the "under man. " The strug gle of humans to bring their acts up to the level of their purposes was endless. Considering finally the effect of evolution on theo logy and the church, Beecher expressed the opinion that many changes would be wrought upon theology but not upon estab lished churches. Without being specific, the minister said he felt theology was a dense thicket that needed to be "cut 77 Up" and "pruned." Too much of theology was useless. By contrast, churches were utilitarian schools of moral culture 75ibid.. p. 570. ^^Ibid.. pp. 570-571. 77lbid.. p. 573. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 2 that were— regardless of denomination— seeking to "carry out the basic principles of the doctrines of Christ and . , , introduce them in all matters, manners, and customs in the whole community."^8 Because they promoted concord, sympa thy, mutual love, and helpfulness, they were divine ships upon the sea of life which at worst would have to "throw 79 overboard their deck-load to reach the harbor." Churches should stand aloof from "meddling" with creeds and current theologies This "new" lecture was composed of pulpit thoughts from the preceding two years, and Beecher delivered it en tirely without notes. Such was the fluency of this man that he was able to instantaneously adapt his discourse to the level of his audience of working people. It was undoubtedly for this adaptive reason that the lecture exhibited the bold distinctions, exuberant picturings, and popular vocabulary that were more typical of Beecher's eloquence during youth and middle age. Where consistency is concerned, it is in teresting to note that the lecture illustrated Beecher's tendency to retain his belief in miracles and special provi dences even as he identified religion with the inflexible 78ibid. 79lbid. ®°Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 3 dictates of science. Singular Meetings Several meetings which formed a contrast of tradi tional (revivalistic activity) and progressive (single-tax agitation) tendencies were held in the Great Hall during its later period when the liberal protest element had come into ascendancy. These assemblies of religion and political economy represented two areas of highly active social fer ment in later nineteenth-century America. The revivalistic speaking assumes particular platform significance because it offered fragmentary evidence of activity that continued at Cooper Union over a long period of time. Single-tax agitation Henry George; the 1886 mayoralty campaign.— Henry George, a destitute printer during his youth, evolved a panacea for poverty which he expounded in Progress and Pov erty. the most widely read book since Uncle Tom's Cabin. He maintained that land, like air and sunshine, should belong to all the people. George proposed that land ought to be occupied and used without size restriction by those who would pay most for that privilege, but much of the rent thus R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 4 derived would go to support all the expenses of government. This single tax upon ground rent— paid by the landlords who as collection agents were allowed an inducement profit mar gin— should be levied on the value of land exclusive of im provements . All taxes upon industry and thrift would be abolished. Free trade would, of course, rule. By the early 1880's, George had an international reputation. His concern for the common man made him popu lar with labor, and the Irish were devoted to him for his efforts in Ireland on behalf of the Irish Land League. Thus he was virtually forced to run for Mayor of New York in 1886 when the powerful Central Labor Union of New York decided that an independent labor ticket was the best means by which to attack court tendencies to punish the boycott. George, who never had any political aspirations, consented to run when 40,000 citizens pledged themselves over their signa tures to vote for him. George's dangerous popularity and the novelty of his ideas stimulated a spirited contest that has been briefly considered earlier in this chapter under Theodore Roose velt's speechmaking. Commons terms the campaign "one of the most spectacular and romantic epochs in the history of the R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 5 81 labour movement in America." Paradoxically, however, George was not really a labor candidate, and his campaign was not really a labor campaign. Asked to write his own platform, he ran on his single-tax doctrine of land reform at the expense of labor's demands. This man, who was not even a convinced trade unionist, would rather have called his party by the name of "Free Soil" than "Labor." Perlman states that the enthusiasm expressed for George among work ingmen, intellectuals, and members of the liberal profes sions in frequent and unusual open-air meetings gave the proceedings "more . . . the nature of a religious revival o O than . . . a political election campaign. The campaign was a freak affair. On October 5, 1886, George announced his formal ac ceptance of the nomination at Cooper Union. After the chairman had held up the bundles of signatures for display, George delivered his acceptance address to a huge and ex cited crowd. He spoke at length about the internationally - ^^Commons, History of Labor in the United States. II, 450. ®^Ibid., p. 449. Commons adds (ibid., p. 447) that the labor movement appealed to George merely as a vehicle for the spread of his single-tax teaching. 83 Perlman, History of Trade Unionism . . . , p. 103. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 6 infamous corruption in the city government of New York, promising to attempt reform of the odious tradition of civic dishonesty by employing the two outstanding powers of the mayor: the power of visitation and inquisition and the pow er of appeal to public opinion. After declaring that he would solicit the endorsement of no man, George said he planned to live upon his mayor's salary and his publishing income rather than enrich himself like most politicians through the "boodle" he could steal. The candidate then arrived at the social reform heart of his address: This movement aims at political reform, but that is not all. We aim too at social reform. As declared in the platform you heard here to-night we aim at equal rights for all men. Look over our vast city— what do we see? We have a horde of citizens living in want and in vice born of want existing under con ditions that would appal a heathen . . . and as men and citizens on us devolves the duty of removing this wrong. Why should there be such abject poverty in this city? There is one great fact that stares in the face of any one who chooses to look at it. That fact is that the vast majority of men and women and children in New York have no legal right to live here at all. Most of us— 99 per cent at least— must pay the other 1 per cent . . . for the privilege of staying here and working like s l a v e s .^5 George cited figures to show that New York was more ^^The World (New York), October 6, 1886, p. 1. GSibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 7 densely populated per square mile than either London or Can ton , The tragedy in New York was, however, that Manhattan Island contained miles of unoccupied land. "Why can't we have that to build homes on?" he asked. "Simply because it is held by dogs in the manger, who cannot use it and won't let anybody else use it. " Declaring that the value of land increased with population, George said that the great mass of the population had even then arrived at the point where they paid one-fourth of their earnings for rent; it was "monstrous" that profits thus accruing should be harves ted by a few individuals.^7 The most tragic element of the situation was that the ownership of God's real estate by the few disinherited the many who belonged to unborn genera tions . Drawing attention to the theory that real estate value was governed by demand for the land itself rather than what stood upon it, George revealed a remedy that was sim plicity itself: Now, what do we intend to do about all this? We pro pose . . . to make buildings cheaper by taking the tax off them, and put the tax on the land, exclusive of improvements, so that the men who hold land vacant will have to pay for it as if they were using it. . . . In that way we plan to drive out the dog in the SGlbid. G^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 8 Q Q manger who is holding what he cannot use. George saw in his election an individual home for every man. Children would have a place to play, and the 89 "slaughter of the innocents" in the tenements would cease. Also, he promised strenuous agitation for government owner ship of railways and telegraphs. The theorist did not express himself further on his doctrine at Cooper Union until September 1, 1890 when a na tional convention of single-tax advocates met in the Great Hall. George, who had just returned from spreading his gos pel abroad, had made it clear since his second unsuccessful New York mayoralty campaign in 1888 that he would never again run for public office. This fact, coupled with the tariff issue that absorbed Republican and Democratic inter est, led the convention to pledge its support to the low- tariff Democrats and reject independent political action. George nevertheless made it clear in his address that the ultimate single-tax goal would remain that of completely free world trade and international land reform. He ex pressed the belief that his movement could make its greatest immediate gains by riding the Democratic bandwagon that was 88lbid. 89j^^_ R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 0 9 steadily becoming more closely identified with free trade than with mere tariff reform.His hopes proved overly optimistic. As practical problem-solution advocacy, George's agitation to establish an economic system based upon the single-tax poverty principle suffered from lack of a working plan. His indictment of existing social evils was convinc ing, but he offered no functional means by which to arrive at or sustain the specious utopian conditions that he main tained ought to exist. The persuasive basis of his appeals related, of course, to subsistence motives. Father McGlvnn: the excommunication furor.— Father Edward McGlynn was educated in Rome and sent to New York as pastor of teeming St. Stephen's parish. Soon he was "by far the most popular and eloquent priest in New York."^^ Troubled by the fact that the legions of poor who sought his aid wanted employment more than alms, McGlynn turned to the single-tax doctrine as a means to help the destitute. He was forbidden to speak on behalf of George by Archbishop Michael Corrigan, who believed Catholic representatives ^^The World (New York), September 2, 1890, p. 1. S^Alexander, op. cit.. IV, 91. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 0 should stand aloof from a movement that appeared to attack property rights. McGlynn disobeyed. Corrigan suspended him for two weeks. McGlynn spoke out unreservedly for George. The Cardinals demanded he retract his land theories, but McGlynn refused. The Pope summoned him to Rome. He again refused and was excommunicated, a rare punishment for in subordination. McGlynn took with him virtually all his parishioners, who defied threats that they might also be ex communicated. The case, which for a time "threatened to cause a serious disruption in the Church in this country," stirred the Roman Catholic world to its depths and caused a QO national sensation. Because most of the George mass meetings were held in the open air, McGlynn did not speak at Cooper Union in the 1886 campaign. He first spoke in the Great Hall on November 4, 1887 at an organization mass meeting of the United Labor Party, as George's political group came to be called. McGlynn arrived as the meeting was about to adjourn, but he was greeted with a ringing ovation and called immed- ^^The Tribune (New York), November 5, 1887, p. 1. A group of 25,000 Catholics paraded to express disapproval of the action taken against McGlynn. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 1 lately to the rostrum. The former priest, who had arrived in an agitated state, announced with deep emotion that he would soon be back in the Church. This disclosure banished all election thoughts. With cheers, shouts, and the raking of cane tips across the floor, the audience expressed its insistence that McGlynn elaborate on his startling news. In reply he traced his difficulties of a year's standing and then declared: I think I need no longer keep it a secret that steps have been recently taken, and are being taken now, to bring before the highest authorities of the Cath olic Church the view of the propriety of ending the blunders that have been committed, and of inviting me to a proper hearing of the case, after having made some reparation for the outrage upon justice and decency and common sense that has been committed.^3 At this revelation, utter pandemonium broke loose. The Tribune said the scene "baffles description."^^ Women wept and men cheered themselves hoarse, The howling crowd urged McGlynn on, and he spoke until almost midnight. An attempt had been made to divest him of his manhood and citizenship rights. He had been ex communicated for preaching a doctrine his tormentors had never read or studied. His punishment was unprecedented in harshness and severity. He had been allowed no hearing. 93%bid. ^"^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 2 Denied the pulpit, he had spoken with "a potency I never equalled before" from the "strange pulpits" of political platforms, theatres, and the backs of carts. He concluded: And so when . . . I shall go back to the Chris tian altar— (cheers)— I shall go back feeling there is no stain upon these priestly hands, that these priestly lips have not been polluted, that this priestly heart is none the less the heart of a priest for any word spoken, for any step taken, for any deeds done since they excommunicated me, (Cheers.) Encouraged by the crowd, McGlynn became overly im passioned. He seemed bent on implying that he had forced concessions^^ from the Church through his power to command • parishioner loyalty. He voiced indiscretions that resulted in his not being reinstated, McGlynn kept his case before the public through his activities as President of the Anti-poverty Society, a sin gle-tax organization upon a religious basis. Unfortunately, he occasionally used the platform to ridicule the bishops, thus fanning discordant flames and postponing reconcilia tion. At last, on Christmas. Eve, 1892, McGlynn was rein stated. He had been widely advertised to deliver a society 95lbid. ^^The Tribune (ibid.) stated that McGlynn's rebel parishioners withheld their financial support from the Church, causing great concern. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 3 benefit lecture at Cooper Union on Christmas Day dealing with the significance of Christmas. The lecture became his first sermon since 1887, attracting a crowd of more than 7,000 persons to Cooper Square, The occasion was an emotional one, McGlynn's faithful parishioners placed on the speaker's stand a laurel wreath "such as was given only to the Roman conquerors When the priest made his appearance, women wept openly, and men swallowed hard; the entire audience stood up and con ducted a memorable demonstration. After eloquently thanking his hearers for their ex pression of affection and their loyalty and faith during his troubled years, McGlynn said he "was not born to be a mere agitator or a professor of political economy, but , , , I t 98 was born to be a teacher of God's truths to men," To truly feel the priestly calling was to be conscious of the tremendous responsibilities of that office. Thankful that his mission was to be a priest, he referred often to the joy he felt at his restoration, McGlynn declared that he had left the altars unwillingly to minister from secular ^^The World (New York), December 25, 1892, p, 7, ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 4 altars as a matter of principle: But if . . . I came . . . to speak to my fellow men as a brother, to my fellow citizens as a citizen, as a man to men, it was always the paramount thought with me, that while exercising my rights and even fulfilling my duties as man and brother and citizen, even as the priest, whether from the secular plat form or the tail of a cart or the head of a barrel, I still, as the priest of Christ, might feel that no place was so merely secular or so unholy in any part of God’s world as not to be eminently fit to preach to my brother men of the fatherhood and the brotherhood of men. The priest then spoke of the day as the most memor able of his life and stressed one thought: when men forgot the fatherhood they could not perceive the brotherhood. He then delivered a brief Christmas sermon devoted to the theme that the natal day of Christ marked the passing of the old and the coming of the new, a time when hope was eternal ly reborn. The speaker's lengthy introductory remarks dominated the "sermon," but they were actually forced by the climactic timeliness of events that were of truly transcendent inter est to the audience. The priest was under such tremendous personal obligation to his listeners that he was in no po sition to simply deliver a Christmas sermon or withhold remarks relating to himself until the close of his theologi- 99lbid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 5 cal discourse. As the World reporter so aptly remarked, "The great question with the audience was whether Dr. McGlynn would say anything . . . touching the restoration of his priestly functions.It is interesting that while Father McGlynn expressed deep appreciation to his followers, he had no word of forgiveness for the Church authorities. Revivalistic activities Dwight L. Moody: the fifth anniversary celebra tion .— Although the institutional church^^^ was emerging in the late 1870's, it was still flanked by "old-time reli gion." The evangelistic soul harvesters were many, but none were as famous as Dwight Lyman Moody, the Billy Graham of his time, who conducted tremendously successful campaigns in the British Isles and America from 1855 until his death in 1899. He usually carried on his conversion work with the invaluable aid of Ira D. Sankey, the famous singing revival-, ist whose fine baritone voice, appropriate selections, and 10°Ibid. IG^Schlesinger explains (The Rise of the City, p. 340) that Protestant churches in downtown districts began to develop "institutional" features; that is, conduct or ganized philanthropic and educational work among the un churched and the poor. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 6 melodeon accompaniment stirred huge throngs. An unschooled layman of great ability. Moody never sought ordination; neither did he, however, succumb to the temptation to set up as a faith healer. On May 20, 1883 Moody commemorated five years of successful revivalistic activity which had been conducted 1 DP at Cooper Union under C. W. Sawyer. More than 1,000 people were unable to gain admission to the Great Hall, and many of them attended an overflow meeting in a hall across the street from the Institute. The first hour of the meet ing was devoted to prayer and song. Sankey led the congre gation in singing "Bringing in the Sheaves," "It Is Well with My Soul" and other hymns. Moody said he was convinced that nine out of 10 people in the audience who "profess to be Christians" would say that it was "too hot for religious work" in New York during the summer months: I remember that five years ago, when we talked about starting these meetings, the people said: "It can't be done in New York; the people are all out of town in summer." But we thought there would be enough of them left for one meeting anyhow, and they have been ^®^How often meetings were held is not known. Acti vity probably concluded in 1884 when foundations repairs in the Great Hall forced the religious conversion forces to establish new headquarters. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 7 going ever since. There is not a better time to work for the Lord than during the next four hot months. Many ministers will be gone, and that will give the laymen a chance.103 He declared that the 400,000 people who might leave the city would never be missed. The speaker urged his listeners to bear in mind that "everything we do in this work is everlasting, no matter how small it seems.Even if he led only one soul to Christ, a man could consider himself a success in doing the Lord's work. "It's a mistake to do nothing because you can't do a great thing," Moody declared. "If people can only do a little thing God is willing to use them."^^^ He also empha sized that God took joy in employing human weakness and frailty rather than strength: When God wanted a book written that would be a bles sing to all people he didn't go to Cambridge or Ox ford. He went down to Bedford and picked out a drunken tinker in jail, and the book has made a Pil grim's Progress through the w o r l d . 106 The famed revivalist then said he had found Brother Sawyer discouraged because so many workers had fallen. In spite of such distressing news, the great work need not fal ter. Out of the death of Stephen had come the conversion of lOlThe Tribune (New York), May 21, 1883, p. 10. lO^Ibid. lOSlbid. ^‘ ^^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 8 Saul. The success of the past five years would be added to the sixth. The speaker's advice to Brother Sawyer was "to 107 go right out into deep water and throw the net." He maintained that instead of one meeting at Cooper Union, there should be meetings in every theatre and circus tent in New York. There were many good speakers who would spread the word of God for nothing. Pointing to such men on the platform as William E. Dodge and Cyrus W. Field, the reviv alist insisted that if they could address groups of business men about business, they could as easily preach about God's kingdom. Regarding Moody's address, the Tribune noted: Mr. Moody's voice was in poor condition, and soon after he began to speak he had to stop for a time to recover the use of it. He spoke in his familiar, energetic way, and in an informal, dis connected manner . . .108 When Moody was at his "energetic" best, the full force of his 280 pounds was behind almost every sentence. Although the discourse was digressive, it did follow a basic distributive order. Moody divided his material according to the parties involved in bringing the masses under the in fluence of popular evangelization: the common man. Brother lO^Ibid. lO^Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 1 9 Sawyer, and prominent businessmen. General William Booth; the salvation festival.— William Booth was a Methodist minister in England who sev ered his connection in 1854 to become an independent evan gelistic preacher. He founded the Salvation Army in an effort to adapt the Methodist revivalistic technique to the needs of the city wilderness. Preaching the reality of sin and redemption and the supreme duty of self-sacrifice for the sake of the salvation of others. Booth inspired a grow ing organization that in 1878 he patterned after the British army. His Army was extended to America in 1880 and grew rapidly during the next two decades. Its uniformed bands, parading the downtown districts with drums, trombones, and tambourines, preached the gospel of repentance and reform to "rumdom, slumdom, and bumdom."^®^ After 1889 the Army added social service to its evangelism. Its employment bureaus, slum brigades, cheap vagrant lodgings, and rescue homes carried on a vital Christian service. Booth conducted a salvation festival at Cooper Union on October 24, 1894 that was part of a week-long "jubilee congress" held in New York in honor of his visit to America. 109gchlesinger, The Rise of the City, p. 336. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 2 0 The General began to speak at 10:30 A.M. and finished some time in the vicinity of 10 or 11 P.M., the oratorical mara thon being interrupted by hour-long refreshment pauses at irregular intervals. Each time he returned to the platform he supposedly began a nev/ address of recruitment and con version, but Booth's speeches actually rambled on endlessly. The Tribune described his mode of operation: The face of the big clock behind the platform had been covered with a sheet of paper, only the brazen pendulum to show that time went forward. The Salvation Army takes no note of time. Nobody, even if he had wanted to, could have told how long the General's speeches were. In the evening the hall was packed in every quarter and the air was rent, as usual, with shouts of ecstasy. The General began to speak slowly each time, moving up and down the stage and slapping his scarlet vest in char acteristic fashion. A man with strong features, a flowing white beard, wild looks, and a tall, attenuated form. Booth was an arresting figure upon the platform. He was at times interrupted by questions that he usually answered in the form of contrived personal illustrations with conclusions twisted to moralistic points. An example will illustrate these exchanges : "Do you like flowers. General?" llpThe Tribune (New York), October 25, 1895, p. 14. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 2 1 "Of course I like the flowers. For I promised my wife she shall have all of them she wants in the next world if she can't have them in this. I love to look at gardens and off the tops of mountains, over rivers and green meadows, and if I did what I wanted to do, perhaps I should have a hut in the corner of some wood near a stream and go a-fishing all day. In which case ... I should fulfill that definition of a fisherman as a long pole with a worm on one end and a fool on the other. I am a fisher of men, and I come here to-night to catch big fish among you all." (Cries of "Hallelujah. Booth declared that all men were divided into the righteous and the wicked, and that the destinies of Heaven or Hell awaited each in the next world. Those earnestly seeking the kingdom of Heaven could be saved by washing in the precious blood of the Lamb. A man was either for God or against Him. Happiness was the condition of goodness, and both were desirable to please God. The General believed that people were in bondage to their lusts and appetites, the fashions of the world, and the influences of men. No matter how hard they strived alone, they could not with stand the forces of evil, and their eternal salvation lay within the power of the Holy Ghost. They should come for ward and make their pact with God to become daily witnesses for Christ in public and private. As the General spoke about Judgment Day, the wages 111 Ibid. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 2 2 of sin, and the eternal punishment to which the unconverted were doomed, a snare drum would periodically pick up and augment his words, and the audience would suddenly burst into song. The entire brass band on the platform would quickly join in accompaniment. A frequently repeated verse was one of Booth's favorites: "Her passage lies across the brink/ Of many a yawning wave,/ And devils wait to see her sink,/ But Jesus lives to save."^^^ The conclusion of sing ing would bring screams from individuals in various parts of the hall, echoing such phrases as "Let me be washed in the Blood of a crucified Lord," "The Lamb, the Lamb," or "Oh, He saves me. He saves me'." One hundred and sixty-eight converts trooped forward during the long hours. As each new one dropped to his knees, there were cries of "Ahmen," 113 "Aymen," "Bless the Lord," and "Who'll be the next?" Begbie says Booth's inspiring enthusiasm, passionate sympathy, and resistless masterfulness moved the heart of the world.Possibly these qualities combined to form the magnetic attraction which prompted Vachel Lindsay to ^^^Harold Begbie, The Life of General William Booth (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1920), II, 194. llSThe Tribune (New York), October 25, 1894, p. 14. ll^Begbie, op. cit.. I, 335. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 2 3 immortalize him in General William Booth Enters into Heaven. a widely anthologized poem with a ragtime rhythm and in strumental accompaniment that captures something of the ir repressible spirit and revivalistic energy that was so dis tinctively a part of Booth's platform crusading. But it appears that the enduring persuasive success of the Gener al's propaganda relates to motives of social approval. He was successful in establishing a community feeling that the first and vital step in personal salvation or rescue con sisted in making spiritual and social outcasts feel that other people cared about whether they were lost or saved. Unfortunately, the dictatorial and explosive Booth quarreled with his son Ballington, leader of the American Salvation Army forces, over development of officers for service in the United States. On March 8, 1896 the younger Booth defected and formed at Cooper Union the Volunteers of America, which had less military autocracy but otherwise the same mission as the Salvation Army, Ballington Booth addressed a wildly enthusiastic crowd of Salvation Army secessionists, prospective converts, and all manner of curious onlookers: Mrs, Booth and myself have not come to this gath ering for the purpose of alluding to recent sad events in our experience. But it is quite true that , . , we R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 524 have resolved to inaugurate a new movement. (Cheers.) Could it have been avoided, it most assuredly would have been, on our part. Recognizing the great field for religion here in the United States, that there was room for . . . a hundred more Salvation Armies, we have resolved . . . to do something that shall win over the middle and artisan peoples of this country to the cause of C h r i s t . 1^5 we do not intend to en gage in any battle or strife with the Salvation Army. It is informative to note that use of the Great Hall on Sundays was contested: It was anticipated by many that the regular army, which has held services in the hall for some years, would not lose the privilege of using Cooper Union without some show of opposition. William E. Dodge, who has for a long time been a zealous supporter of the army, rented the hall for every Sunday night for Ballington Booth. When . . . Eva Booth^^' applied to Mr. Dodge to have the same opportunity, he replied that with Ballington Booth rested the question of the transfer. The latter decided to retain the hall for his own use. A retrospective observation seems in order here. The lengthy Salvation Army work, coupled with the six-year Sawyer evangelical Meetings, indicates that Cooper Union ex perienced a local revivalist tradition based upon the acti vities of minor spokesmen over an unknown but extended per- ll^Another source of friction between the General and his son Ballington. ll^The Tribune (New York), March 9, 1896, p. 1. ll^Evangeline Booth, loyal daughter of William Booth and later General and successor with her brother Bramwell. ll^The Tribune (New York), March 9, 1896, p. 1. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 2 5 iod of time, Summary A measure of unusual color was imparted to Cooper Union through a number of selected platform events which were of marked interest though not compatible with principal thematic categories developed in the study. These events involved: (1) future Presidents, (2) controversial lec tures, and (3) singular meetings. Four future Presidents spoke on unrelated occasions. Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "right makes might" address in 1860; Ulysses S. Grant excused himself at a giant reception in 1865 with a "speech" of two sentences; Theodore Roosevelt spoke as a callow and boyish reformer of 29 in the 1886 New York mayoralty campaign; and Grover Cleveland pro moted party unity while urging discussion of national issues in the New York gubernatorial campaign of 1891. Four uniquely controversial lectures occurred. In 1870 John H. Surratt explained the part he played in John Wilkes Booth's plot to abduct President Lincoln; Victoria Woodhull attacked her persecutors and advocated free love in 1872 after exposing the alleged adulteries of the Rever end Henry Ward Beecher; Theodore Tilton, plaintiff in the R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 526 adultery case against Beecher, expressed his bitterness through transparent allusions during a post-trial lecture in 1875; and Henry Ward Beecher inaugurated his pro-evolution ary lyceum lecturing in 1883. Several meetings relating to single-tax agitation and revivalistic activity took place. Henry George espoused his single-tax doctrine during the novel New York mayoralty campaign of 1886 and in 1890 addressed a national single-tax convention; Father Edward McGlynn, excommunicated for es pousing single-tax theories, announced his reinstatement prematurely in 1887 but five years later delivered his first sermon as a reinstated priest; Dwight Moody sought to ener gize a sixth summer of evangelistic soul harvesting in 1883; General William Booth conducted a Salvation Army soul-saving festival in 1894; and the Volunteers of America, a Salvation Army offshoot, was established in 1896. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. CHAPTER X SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS It was the chief purpose of this study to provide an account of the significant ideas, issues, and movements and the people who expressed them at Cooper Union from 1859 to 1897. It was an ultimate purpose to attempt to assign the Cooper Union platform a place in the history of American public address. Thus the problem posed several constituent questions. What significant ideas, issues, or movements were discussed at Cooper Union? Who were the speakers that gave expression to.these ideas, issues, or movements? What place should an anthology of speaking at Cooper Union occupy in the history of American public address? The first two questions can best be answered in the summary section of this chapter; the third question requires a general assess ment which can best be made through the drawing of conclu sions and evaluative observations that transcend chapter boundaries. 527 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 2 8 Summary Peter Cooper overcame an impoverished childhood and a lack of formal education to amass a fortune through the manufacture of glue and iron; hard work and a remarkable in ventive talent were the keys to his success. In spite of his wealth, he always felt he had more in common with work ingmen than he did with opulent merchants, bankers, and stock market barons. Cooper's social conscience moved him to seek charitable outlets for the $2,000,000 he had ac quired, and he spent most of it during his lifetime on the establishment and continuance of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (or Cooper Institute), the best known of his philanthropies. This free night school assisted needy and worthy young people in their struggle for technical and vocational education as well as self-improve ment— a goal reflecting the privations of Cooper's youth. Today the Cooper Union is an active, fully accredited free college of engineering and art. Of most interest to stu dents of public address is the fact that Cooper built a lec ture auditorium seating 2,500 people in the basement of his school. This auditorium early became known as the Great Hall because of its size and because the founder dedicated it to free speech and assembly. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 2 9 Speechmaking in the Great Hall was divided into activity on the educational platform and on the public plat form. The educational platform consisted of a free series of generally didactic adult education lectures for the work ing classes which began in 1863 and continues until the pre sent time under the sponsorship of Cooper Union by order of its trust deed. The public platform was quite the opposite. Renowned speakers, who appeared independent of Cooper Insti tute sponsorship, addressed attentive audiences on a variety of non-controversial and controversial subjects that were of national interest. While the audience attending the educational plat form was composed of working people, the public platform drew a heterogeneous listening public from all walks of life in the greater New York area. Attendance was usually large, ranging between 2,000 and 2^500, and auditors were quite demonstrative in expressing their approval or disapproval. The absentee audience of the public platform, those who heard about the speeches or read about them in the news papers, was a tremendous group. The wide dissemination of New York news occurred because of the national influence of the New York press and its collective formation of the Asso ciated Press newsgathering agency. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 3 0 Non-controversial speaking centered upon entertain ing or informative popular lyceum programs by platform ti tans of the time. Notable among this group were the Rever end T. DeWitt Talmage, George W. Curtis, Louis Agassiz, Anna Leonowens (Anna of Anna and the Kina of Siam). Henry James, Mark Twain, and Horace Greeley. They discussed themes of general interest, science, distant places, famous people, humor, and personal success. Controversial speaking cen tered upon national issues, causes, and movements of the time. Leading public figures and orators delivered addres ses which fell naturally into subject divisions or categor ies that included Presidential campaigning, the Civil War period, protests of oppressed groups, social reform agita tion, and selected controversial lectures and meetings. A number of statesmen and political leaders appeared during the Presidential election campaigns of 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872, 1876, 1892, and 1896. The slavery campaign of 1860 found such Democratic leaders as Clement Vallandigham and William L. Yancey threatening southern secession and attempting to defeat Abraham Lincoln through a coalition of electors ; Republicans Carl Schurz and Thaddeus Stevens criticized their threats and strategy. In the wartime elec tion of 1864, Oliver Morton attacked the disloyalty of the R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 3 1 Peace Democrats, and August Belmont sought to unify the di vided Democratic Party. During the 1868 canvass, future Republican Vice-President Henry Wilson "waved the bloody shirt," while fellow party member John C. Fremont discussed the Civil War debt and westward expansion. The 1872 cam paign found the corrupt administration of President Grant attacked by Liberal Republican renegades Lyman Trumbull and Carl Schurz; Roscoe Conkling defended the administration. In the 1876 struggle, the "bloody shirt" was waved for the last time by Republicans Robert G. Ingersoll and James G, Blaine. During the 1892 canvass. Republican high tariff advocates Thomas B. (Czar) Reed, John Sherman, and Chauncey Depew praised the McKinley Act. The "free silver campaign" of 1896 elicited free coinage criticism from Republican labor leader Terence V. Powderly and condemnation of govern ment interference in state labor affairs by Democrat John P. Altgeld. The Civil War period was ushered in at Cooper Union by the insistent abolitionist voices of Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison. During the war. President Lincoln's policies were attacked by lyceum queen Anna E. Dickinson but defended by Negro orator Frederick Douglass and political analyst Parke Godwin. England's piratical interference with R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 3 2 northern shipping was condemned hy Senate leader Charles Sumner. After the war, Miss Dickinson advocated punishing the South, but the opposite view was taken by compassionate reformer Gerritt Smith; the renowned minister Henry Ward Beecher urged education before civil rights for the freed- men. Over these voices sounded the clash between President Johnson and the congressional radicals. Agitator Wendell Phillips and former Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin advocated impeachment while Secretary of State William Seward and others defended the Chief Executive. Speechmaking on behalf of oppressed groups represen ted historic phases of the American labor movement, agita tion for Irish independence and freedom from English "rack- rents," and pleas for justice by Indian chiefs. Among the labor spokesmen, Samuel Gompers sought a shorter work day; railroad union leader Eugene V. Debs stated labor's view point regarding the memorable Pullman strike; Anarchist Johann Most and Socialist Keir Hardie expressed radical sen timents; reorganizational competition created a power strug gle between Knights of Labor chieftain Terence V. Powderly, President Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labo% and policy leader Daniel DeLeon of the Socialists. The Irish free land cause was espoused by a number of sympathi- R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 3 3 zers, among whom were eccentric millionaire George Francis Train and Michael Davitt, founder of the Irish Land League, The tragic Indian story of broken treaties and government abuse brought unforgettable pleas for justice from Chief Lewis Downing of the Cherokees and Chief Red Cloud of the Sioux. Social reform activity consisted of agitation for woman's rights, temperance reform, and abolition of the Tweed Ring. Advocating that females as well as Negroes be enfranchised were such suffrage champions as Lucy Stone (Blackwell), Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Famous temperance crusaders John B. Gough, Francis Murphy, and Dioclesian Lewis urged the signing of pledges for total alcoholic abstinence. Among the illustrious New Yorkers who opened the floodgates of public protest against the thefts of "Boss" Tweed and his Ring were lawyers Samuel J. Tilden and William Maxwell Evarts, poet-editor William Cullen Bry ant, and civil service reformer Dorman B. Eaton. Selected platform events included the remarks of four future President, four controversial lectures, and several meetings related to single-tax and revivalistic activity. Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "right makes might" address in 1860, Ulysses S. Grant excused him R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 534 self with a few words at a giant reception in 1865, Theodore Roosevelt spoke as a boyish reformer of 29 in the 1886 New York "single-tax" mayoralty campaign, and Grover Cleveland promoted party unity in the New York gubernatorial campaign of 1891. In unusual controversial lectures, John H. Surratt in 1870 explained the part he had played in John Wilkes Booth's plot to abduct President Lincoln; Victoria Woodhull advocated free love in 1872 after exposing the alleged adul teries of the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher; Theodore Tilton, defeated plaintiff in the sensational Beecher adultery case, expressed his bitterness through allusions during a post trial lecture in 1875; and the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher inaugurated his famed pro-evolutionary lyceum lecturing in 1883. In single-tax agitation during 1886 and 1890, author Henry George espoused his community land ownership doctrine with the aid of chief apostle Father Edward McGlynn. Reviv alistic activity found celebrated evangelist Dwight L. Moody and General William Booth of the Salvation Army conducting soul-saving festivals in 1883 and 1894, respectively. Conclusions In the 38 years between 1859 and 1897, a procession of nationally prominent figures crossed the Cooper Union R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 3 5 platform, and it was in the interests of the history of ideas that the remarks of these speakers were incorporated into an account which formed this study. The general con clusions presented here are intended to help establish the place of Cooper Union in the history of American public ad dress . 1. The nature of the Cooper Institute platform was controversial (persuasive or advocative) rather than non- controversial (entertaining or informative). In non-contro- versial speaking, a number of famous lecturers presented memorable programs, but too few of the lyceum idols of the time came to the Great Hall to establish a really strong tradition for this type of speaking. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Josh Billings, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Charles Dickens are but a few of the landmark figures who bypassed Cooper Union to appear elsewhere at the select New York strongholds of lyceum speaking. The Great Hall might have blossomed fully as an en tertainment center had Peter Cooper's interests inclined in that direction. However, he did not attempt to develop a commercial lyceum reputation for his Institute by encourag ing and sponsoring the lecture series or courses which charged admission and featured the star professionals. The R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 3 6 brilliant succession of scientific lectures by Louis Agassiz and John Tyndall are the notable exceptions. Cooper was mainly intent upon offering free lectures to working people, a policy which resulted in a community service tradition. Although destined for fame in the twentieth century, the didactic free adult education series boasted too few notable speakers or discourses in the nineteenth century to attract widespread attention. By contrast, the controversial platform was respon sible for most of the public attention which Cooper Union attracted between 1859 and 1897. It is especially notewor thy that when the four preeminent figures of the lyceum world— Wendell Phillips, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, John B. Gough, and Anna E. Dickinson— appeared at Cooper Institute, they did not come as touring commercial enter tainment orators commanding hundreds of dollars in fees. Rather, they came as advocates to plead causes with which they were lastingly identified and from which a measure of their fame accrued. 2. Controversial speaking was limited most fre quently to discussion of one side of a question. Pro and con voices were heard on the same subject only in Presiden tial campaign speaking (with the Republican voice dominant) R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 3 7 and in the sections of the Civil War period relating to con duct of the war and reconstruction. It poses something of an anomaly that upon a completely free and open platform some important subjects failed to stir up even the froth of controversy. The anomaly of one-sided speaking probably is relat ed to the nature of the causes and movements that found ex pression in the Great Hall. The issues which these causes and movements agitated were inherently of a protest or re form nature, and the forces seeking change tended to be more vociferous than the forces of the status quo. Also, the advocates of moral and social reform represented minority views, and minority groups gravitated to Cooper Union be cause they were welcome there. The majority forces of the status quo may have felt advised to express themselves upon a platform less available to the opposition. It is worth noting that while Peter Cooper made the platform accessible to spokesmen for all points of view, he did not assume the responsibility for the representation of opposing ideas. Thus Cooper Union became more an agency for popular persuasion that whipped enthusiasm or appealed for action among minority groups sympathetic to change than as a forum devoted to multi-sided discussion of issues for R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 3 8 the purpose of attitude modification. 3, The platform was dominated by speechmaking of a political nature. In terms of prominent people who spoke, consistently large audiences drawn (only at campaign meet ings did police customarily allow crowding beyond seating capacity), and discussion of issues bearing directly upon vital national affairs over an extended period of years. Presidential campaign speaking was the strongest force at work shaping the platform "personality" of Cooper Union be tween 1859 and 1897. There were also a number of additional speechmaking occasions which had political overtones, al though they were more compatible with other thematic cate gories . President Abraham Lincoln's famous address was a partisan political effort, as was the mayoralty address of Theodore Roosevelt and the gubernatorial address of Grover Cleveland; Hannibal Hamlin and William H. Seward appeared before Republican gatherings when they discussed President Andrew Johnson's difficulties with Congress; the second meeting to protest Tweed Ring activities was non-partisan but nevertheless an election occasion; and single-tax agita tion was entwined with the New York mayoralty campaign of 1886. Furthermore, there was an interlocking relationship during 1896 between Presidential stump speaking and labor R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 3 9 agitation, the strongest secondary platform influence. These two major influences merged during the "free silver campaign" when the forces of labor, led by Terence V. Pow derly and John P. Altgeld, monopolized stump speaking in the Great Hall. With bimetalism, federal interference in state labor affairs (a secondary Democratic plank) was emphasized. 4. Peter Cooper's personal ideology encouraged platform emphasis upon Presidential campaign speaking and labor agitation. The founder inaugurated his free lecture series to promote responsible democratic citizenship through knowledge of the "science" of the republican form of gov ernment. His preoccupation with and enthusiasm for discus sion of current political issues eventually led him to run for President of the United States in 1876 on the Greenback ticket; the philanthropist actively encouraged political gatherings in the Great Hall and was frequently present on the platform. In like manner. Cooper never forgot his humble be ginnings, and he widely advertised his sympathy for the wage earning classes and his desire to better their lot. His attitude, coupled with his insistence upon free speech and assembly in the Great Hall by any well disposed group, en couraged the forces of labor protest and agitation during R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 4 0 an era when the demands of workingmen were not kindly re ceived. Cooper was unusual in that he was one of the few capitalists of his day who understood the laborer's point of view. It is of interest to note that only in the cause of Indian justice did Cooper function as a prime mover for ma jor platform activity. That anti-Tweed Ring agitation was launched at Cooper Union marked a popular tribute to the unwavering spirit of public service, public interest, and free speech that Cooper and his Union symbolized rather than leadership on the founder's part. In another instance the shadow of Cooper's influence appears to have hovered over the platform; he was in sympathy with temperance, not legal proscription as a means of coping with the liquor problem. Corresponding with Cooper's beliefs, only moralistic exhor tations for the signing of a&stinence pledges were heard in the Great Hall during the 1870's and early 1880's. The ad vocates of prohibition were gaining power in these years, and the fact that they were not represented on the platform left Cooper Union in the position of emphasizing a waning mode of social reform; to this extent, the Great Hall lost step with the times. 5. Cooper Union enjoyed what may be called its R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 4 1 golden age of speechmaking between 1859 and approximately 1875. The larger and more illustrious share of platform activity took place within this time span, both in terms of non-controversial and controversial speaking. The chrono logical dividing line is particularly sharp where non-con- troversial speaking is concerned, although actually most of the titans of the lyceum appeared during the brief period between 1866 and 1875; only Bayard Taylor (1859) and P. T. Barnura (1865) spoke during the very early years. The 1872- 1875 interval was marked by striking lyceum activity, but by 1873 novel and sensational programs were being offered more and more frequently. Second-rate lecturers kept this brand of entertainment alive until the late 1870's. Also, the free lecture series that was later to become so famous was launched in 1863; the series became firmly entrenched in 1868 as the Saturday Night Free Lectures. On the controversial platform, chronological separa tion is more gross because Presidential campaign speaking, labor agitation, the Irish cause, temperance crusading, and some selected events extended into the 1890's. However, the early period definitely contained the larger portion of significant speechmaking. Most of the Presidential stump oratory had been heard by the close of the 1876 campaign; R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 4 2 the Civil War period with its most impressive role of na tional speakers and historic issues was complete even through its reconstruction phase by early 1868; the woman's rights movement, the Indian cause, anti-Tweed Ring agita tion, and several selected platform events were all matters of record by the early 1870's. Although many noteworthy meetings were held after 1876, the large majority of re nowned personalities had appeared before that time. The demise of the golden age may be described as the transition of the platform from a period of remarkable and varied activity by a speechmaking aristocracy to an era of protest and reform speaking with a nucleus of labor agi tation. This change was brought about by four impinging forces. First, other halls replaced the Great Hall as New York's leading meetingplace within 10 years of its opening. The new locations had advantages of size, acoustics, and unobstructed view (no pillars) of the platform. Second, Cooper Union's geographical location was disadvantageous. As the fashionable center of the city moved ever farther uptown and The Bowery acquired an ever more unsavory repu tation, Cooper Institute became trapped in a deteriorating section of New York, an area in which the protest and reform speaking and listening element was most comfortable. Third, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 543 the liberal protest and reform element had always been ac tive at Cooper Union, and it was assisted into ascendancy by the sympathy for the lower classes that was a charter principle of Cooper Institute. Fourth, an unrelenting pressure was indirectly exerted upon the public platform by the ever-increasing emphasis upon free adult education lec tures for working people; this same emphasis culminated in the establishment in 1897 of The People's Institute. Work ing together, these four forces gradually transformed the Great Hall into a labor and liberal reform citadel with a marked "Lower East Side" reputation; even Presidential stump speaking was drawn into the labor orbit by 1896. 6. The rise and decline of Cooper Union's golden age of speechmaking brought about a corresponding change in audience composition. Although New York's large transient population (seaport and immigrant debarkation) from the be ginning imparted a characteristically heterogeneous cast to Great Hall gatherings, observer comments indicate that the upper classes were more generously represented in the audi ence before 1876. After the passage of the golden age, the audience tended to become dominated by the working classes that were principally interested in social change and reform through agitation or in self-improvement through the free R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 544 lectures. The exception to this changing audience trend was that vital segment of the listening public customarily seated upon the stage. This elite "platform audience" was composed primarily of celebrities who attended in an honor ary capacity; in numbers and in public stature, they were present in direct proportion to the magnitude or importance of the event, and their presence made a substantial contri bution to the significance of the occasion. During the en tire period from 1859 to 1897, the cast of celebrities pre sent upon the Cooper Union stage remained impressive. 7. The audiences that gathered for controversial occasions were partisan and primarily interested in the dis cussion of ideas. Those who listened came together with apparently similar sentiments and were most often receptive to the persuasive direction of the meetings they attended. Only in isolated instances were significant portions of the audience openly hostile to the proceedings as a whole. While the groups that gathered at Cooper Union were not oblivious to matters of platform adroitness or the gra ces of eloquence, observer comments indicate that listeners seemed principally interested in the ideas and arguments of the speakers. It was the "hits," as those points of R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 545 salient reasoning and argument were called by reporters who wrote accounts of the addresses, that won most enthusiastic response and approval. Somewhat the opposite was true in non-controversial speaking, where the success of the occa sion many times depended upon manner of presentation. 8, An anthology of speechmaking at Cooper Union comprises an enduring and significant body of historical literature. Even though some occasions (primarily non-con troversial) were ephemeral, others retain their historical vitality as authoritative statements of marked value by leading public spokesmen of the time. Many occasions are especially significant as uniquely interpretative statements regarding the particular issues, causes, and movements of which they were a part. The fact that Cooper Union meetings frequently were contributing elements in key phases of large social enterprises which ultimately achieved their goals allows this speechmaking to claim a decided— though gener ally long-range— social impact. Although this study was selective and discriminating in choosing speakers of stature and issues of national mo ment, some platform events quite naturally overshadowed others. However, these outstanding individual occasions do not demand that Cooper Union be thought of principally in R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 546 terms of what may be called its great moments. While there is a popular tendency to define Cooper Union in terms of Abraham Lincoln's immortal address, this predisposition should not find additional support from this study. Plat form activity imparts an impression that is constructed more in terms of total discussion within thematic subject cate gories than in terms of isolated incidents. If at some future time certain memorable occasions come to be mentioned synonymously with Cooper Union, it will nevertheless be the addresses as a group which maintain a strong collective po sition in the records of the era within which they figured. Implications This dissertation has only begun the study of the famous Cooper Union platform. Subsequent investigation may focus profitably upon three areas and periods: (1) the Sat urday Night Free Lectures, 1868 to 1897; (2) The People's Institute, 1897 to 1934; or (3) The Cooper Union Free Forum, 1934 to the present time. These spheres of activity are concerned basically with adult education, although the Free Forum has become so illustrious that it ranks as first-rate social history; since approximately 1946, some of the most famous public figures and scholars of our time have appeared R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 4 7 in the Great Hall. Fruitful research could also be pursued in connec tion with political campaign speechmaking between 1859 and the advent of radio in the late 1920's. A real contribution to the campaign history of New York State and New York City could result from such investigation. Similarly, a highly informative description of metropolitan labor organization activity might be constructed from an examination of labor speechmaking in the Great Hall between approximately 1863 and the close of World War I. It is in the interests of American public address that this historic platform should soon become the object of additional scholarly study. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. B I BLI OG RAP HY Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Abbott, Lyman. Henry Ward Beecher. Hartford, Conn.: Amer ican Publishing Company, 1887. Albig, William. Modern Public Opinion. New York: McGraw- Hill Book Company, Inc., 1956. Alexander, DeAlva Stanwood. A Political History of the State of New York. 4 vols. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1906. Auer, J. Jeffery. An Introduction to Research in Speech. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959. Baringer, William. Lincoln's Rise to Power. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1937. Barnum, P. T. The Life of Barnum. Philadelphia: Globe Bible Publishing Company, 1892. Begbie, Harold. The Life of General William Booth. 2 vols, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1920. Berger, Meyer. The Story of The New York Times. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1951. Beveridge, Albert J. Abraham Lincoln. 4 vols. New York: Houghton Mifflin Ccmpany, 1928. Binkley, Wilfred E. American Political Parties. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954. Blackwell, Alice. Lucv Stone. Boston: Little, Brown and C ompany, 1930. 549 R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 5 0 Bode, Carl. The American Lyceum. New York: Oxford Uni versity Press, 1956. Brigance, William Norwood (ed.). A History and Criticism of American Public Address. 3 vols. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1943. Channing, Edward. A History of the United States. 6 vols. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1925. Chester, Giraud. Embattled Maiden. New York: G . P. Put nam's Sons, 1951. Churchill, Allen. Park Row. New York: Rinehart and Com pany, 1958. Commons, J. R. History of Labor in the United States. 2 vols. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926. The Cooper Union. First Annual Report of the Trustees of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art for the Year Ending December 31. 1859. New York: John F. Trow, Printer, 1860. Curti, Merle. The Social Ideas of American Educators. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935. Dictionary of American Biography. Centennial edition. Donald, David H. and Randall, J. G. The Civil War and Re construction . Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1961. Dow, Clyde W. (ed.). An Introduction to Graduate Study in Speech and Theatre. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1961. Dulles, Foster Rhea. Labor in America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1949. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 14th edition (1958). Flexner, Eleanor. Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 5 1 Francis, C. S. Francis's New Hand-Book for the City of New York. New York: C. S. Francis and Company, 1859. Gramling, Oliver. AP: The Story of News. New York: Far rar and Rinehart, Inc., 1940. Hibben, Paxton. Henry Ward Beecher: An American Portrait. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1927. Hillquit, Morris. History of Socialism in the United States. New York: Funk and Wagnall Company, 1910. Horner, Charles F. The Life of James Redpath. New York : Barse and Hopkins, 1926. Hughes, Thomas. Life of Peter Cooper. London: Macmillan and Company, 1886. Katz, Elihu and Lazarsfeld, Paul F. Personal Influence. Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1955. Lapsley, Arthur Brooks (ed.). The Writings of Abraham Lin coln . 8 vois. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1906. Locke, David Ross. The Struggles of Petroleum V. Nasbv. Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1888. Lorant, Stefan. The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1959. Lynch, Denis Tilden. "Boss" Tweed. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1927. Mack, Edward C. Peter Cooper: Citizen of New York. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1949. Madison, Charles A. American Labor Leaders. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950. Mott, Frank Luther. American Journalism. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962. Myers, Gustavus. The History of Tammany Hall. New York; Boni and Liveright, 1917. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 5 5 2 Nevins, Allan. Abram S. Hewitt, with Some Account of Peter Cooper. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1935. ________ . The Emergence of Modern America. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1927. Parrish, Wayland Maxfield and Hochmuth, Marie. American Speeches. New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1954. Parton, James. The Life of Horace Greeley. New York: Mason Brothers, 1855. Passfield, S. J. W. History of Trade Unionism. London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1950. Perlman, Selig. History of Trade Unionism in the United States. New York: Augustus M. Kelly, Inc., 1950. Pond, J. B. Eccentricities of Genius. London: Chatto and Windus, 1901. Porter, Kirk H. A History of Suffrage in the United States. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1918. Powderly, Terence V. The Path I Trod. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. Reed, Thomas B. (ed.). Modern Eloquence. 12 vols. Phila delphia: John D. Morris and Company, 1901. Rhodes, James Ford. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850. 9 yols. New York: The Mac millan Company, 1910. Roseboom, Eugene H. A History of Presidential Elections. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1957. Rourke, Constance Mayfield. Trumpets of Jubilee. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1927. Ruesch, Jurgen and Bateson, Gregory. Communication: The Social Matrix of Psychiatry. New York: W. W. Nor ton and Company, Inc., 1951. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 553 Sachs, Emanie. The Terrible Siren. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1928. Schlesinger, Arthur M. The American as Reformer. Cambridge; Harvard University Press, 1951. ________ . The Rise of the City. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933. The Rise of Modem America. New York: The Mac millan Company, 1951. Schramm, Wilbur (éd.). The Processes and Effects of Mass Communication. Urbana; University of Illinois Press, 1954. Smith, Charles Sprague. Working with the People. New York: A. Wessels Company, 1904. Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, Anthony, Susan B., and Gage, Matil da. History of Woman Suffrage. 6 vols. Rochester: Charles Mann, 1887. Tansill, Charles. America and the Fight for Irish Freedom. New York; The Devin-Adair Company, 1957. Thomas, Benjamin P. Abraham Lincoln. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952. Thonssen, Lester and Baird, A. Craig. Speech Criticism. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1948. Werner, Morris R. Tammany Hall. New York: Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1928. Wright, Augustus A. Who's Who in the Lyceum. Philadelphia: Pearson Brothers, 1906, Articles and Periodicals Adams, Herbert B. (ed.). Milton Reizenstein, "The Economic History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Politi cal Science. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. - 554 1897. XV, Parts VII-VIII. Brock, H. I. "A Century of Service to Free Speech," The New York Times. November 1, 1959, Section XI, p. 10. Lyon, Peter. "Peter Cooper, the Honest Man," American Heri tage . X (February, 1959), 4-11, 104-107. Martin, Howard. "Style in the Golden Age," Ouarterlv Jour nal of Speech. XLVII (December, 1957), 374-382. National Teacher's Association. Journal of Proceedings and Lectures. Chicago, August 5-7, 1853, pp. 41-47. Reinhart, Charles Stanley. "The Lyceum Committeeman's Dream— Some Popular Lecturers in Character," Har per 's Weekly. XVII (November 15, 1873), 1013. "Repairing the Cooper Institute Building," Scientific Amer ican . I (December, 1885), Frontispiece, 39. Wrage, Ernest. "Public Address: A Study in Social and In- ' tellectual History," Ouarterlv Journal of Speech. XXXIII (December, 1947), 451-457. Newspapers Daily Alta California (San Francisco), September 6, 1871. The Evening Star (Washington, D. C.), September 23, 1868. The Los Angeles Times. October 12, 1891. New York Herald. 1858-1897. The New York Times. 1858-1897. The People (New York), 1891-1897. The Post (New York), 1859-1897. Sacramento Daily Union (California), April 6, 1863. The Sun (New York), 1859-1897. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission. 555 The Times (London), September 27, 1853. The Tribune (Chicago), May 19, 1870, Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly (New York), January 17, 1873. The World (New York), 1859-1897. Unpublished Materials Brewster, Harold L. "An Objective Study of the Oratory of Robert Green Ingersoll." Unpublished Ph.D. disser tation, University of Southern California, 1940. The Cooper Union. "Index to Speakers and Lecture Titles for the Saturday Night Free Lectures." 1868-1900. (Typewritten.) ________ . The People's Institute papers. Unindexed file. In the Cooper Union Library. The Cooper Union Public Relations Department. "About the Great Hall of the Cooper Union." New York, 1959. (Mimeographed.) McBath, James Harvey. "Speechmaking at the Chautauqua Assembly, 1874-1900." Unpublished Ph.D. disserta tion, Northwestern University, 1950. Minnick, Wayne C. "British Speakers in America^ 1866-1900." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Northwestern Univer sity, 1949. Other Sources Consultation with Matthew C. Ek, consulting engineer, regis tered professional license No. 212823, Los Angeles, California. December 21, 1962. The Cooper Union. Letter from Frank A. Culver, public rela tions director, March 29, 1960. R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Ek, Richard Almo (author)

Core Title A historical study of the speechmaking at cooper union, 1859-1897

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Speech -Theater

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,Theater

Language English

Advisor McBath, James H. (committee chair), [illegible] (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c17-155500

Unique identifier UC11351680

Identifier 6409302.pdf (filename),usctheses-c17-155500 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 6409302.pdf

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Document Type Dissertation

Rights EK, RICHARD ALMO

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