A 'Crisis of Americanism'
| Autor: | Brian Gabrial |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2008 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journalism History. 34:98-106 |
| ISSN: | 2641-2071 0094-7679 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00947679.2008.12062761 |
| Popis: | John Brown's October 16, 1859, raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, created a flashpoint in the United States, sparking what can be called a "Crisis of Americanism. "As this article shows, evidence of this discourse appeared frequently in extensive southern and northern newspaper coverage of his raid, trial, and subsequent hanging on December 2 as editors on both sides of the slavery issue accused one another as well as prominent Americans of disloyal, treasonous behavior. This unhealthy, often shrill, debate, which helped lead to the Civil War in 1861, hardly promoted democratic ideals or best served the nations values and founding ideals. Instead, such incendiary rhetoric only added to the increasing division of two Americas, both of which laid valid claims to being rightful heirs to the legacy of the United States' founding. On October 25, 1859, nine days after John Brown led his invasion into Virginia, an editorial in the Souths leading Democratic newspaper, the Richmond Enquirer, observed, "The Harper's Ferry invasion has advanced the cause of Disunion more than any other event."1 Joining the chorus of angry southerners, pro-slavery, pro-Democratic editors, like that of the stridently secessionist Charleston Mercury on October 19, had blamed it on northern Republicans and abolitionists. Referring to the raid as a "pregnant sign of the times," the Mercury's editor had called it "the progress of sectional hate" promoted by the "Black Republicans."2 Another Mercury editorial on October 21 observed that the raid could only be interpreted as "a warning profoundly symptomatic of the future of the Union with our sectional enemies."3 The editors of leading Republican, anti-slavery newspapers saw things differently, holding Democrats and pro-slavery advocates responsible for Harper's Ferry. An editorial from the Albany Evening Journal in the October 21 New York Tribune remarked, "'Curses, like chickens, come home to roost, and lies return to plague their inventors." Continuing, the editorial observed, "The slaveholders and the Democratic Party are proving these trite truths by their experience."4 Just as Brown's bungled October attempt to seize the federal arsenal in northern Virginia rattled the nation, it fueled the fiery rhetotic of partisans of the slavery question, who flung accusations, insults, and innuendoes at one another. Their words, on the pages of the nation's newspapers, reflected a discourse that can be called a "Crisis of Americanism." Such a discourse is embedded with meaning as to what the nineteenth-century American experience represented to the states and to their citizens. Because Brown's raid, arrest, trial, and execution generated extensive newspaper coverage, a critical mass of this "Crisis of Americanism" discourse emerged to reveal a powerfully vocal confrontation between equally valid interpretations of America's past and future. This study examines that coverage, which appeared during a period of heightened sectional animosity that focused national attention on the Harper's Ferry events, their aftermath, and, most importantly, slavery. Terms such as Americanism, nationalism, and patriotism are closely linked but are not identical. Nationalism, in historian Wilbur Zelensky's words, "crushes all competing loyalties" while patriotism is something that evokes an emotional response.5 Americanism, on the other hand, is considered a distinct characteristic of the United States that combines patriotism and nationalism into what he called America's "civil religion."6 Because religion, language, and ancestry are not necessary common bonds among Americans, U.S. citizens instead share and revere common political and historical symbols and texts such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. These bind Americans to a common "American" ideology, which asserts and defines the compelling cultural force that is Americanism.7 Even Canadian historians have noted that fears of spreading Americanism prompted that country's confederation in 1867, following the Civil War. … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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