My Research…

A little while back, I had a new post asking you what you wanted to see here on the blog. (Want to see something? Read about something? Comment here.) One of the comments I received was asking me to share what I am currently working on, researching, and now writing.

Well, I feel like should start with the big picture and then I’ll share the project I’m currently buried in. For me, narrowing down my focus for graduate school was the most difficult task. As an undergrad, all those years ago, I loved multiple periods of US history. But I’ve finally found my love in nineteenth-century US. I focus on gender and religion during that period. And I love what I study, I find both the development and reinforcement (and challenging of) gender roles and religions during this period fascinating. I also find that they work extremely well together. Women tended to outnumber men in Christian churches, and while this space tended to reinforce the male-dominated hierarchy, it also provided a safe space for women to act as leaders and pioneers. I also find them the most exciting topics to teach because early students to history tend to overlook the importance of both women and religion in American history.

In my current research, and really what I’ve been studying off and on for the past five years, I study Mormon women in the nineteenth century. This began with the thesis I wrote while pursuing my Masters degree. That thesis looked at how polygamy and missionary work intersected in the late nineteenth century, using the Hawaiian mission field as a case study. Now I have shifted to looking more specifically women in the Mormon benevolent organization, the Relief Society (also known as the Female Relief Society). I am looking at the period in the organization’s history before incorporated into the Church. I have been working on this specific project for just under a year. I consider the Relief Society in the same vein other historians have looked at other benevolent organizations of this period (Mary Ryan, Nancy Hewitt, Lori Ginzberg, Anne Boylan). I have my argument, but I’ll save that until after I have submitted the thesis and the thesis committee and approved it. So this might be a “to be continued” post…

At this point I both love and hate my project. I love the information I found and I love the research work. But I hate that place after writing first and second drafts of the paper. Now I’m working on my fourth draft, reading through again trying to fix the problem spots (there are many!) and make all the sections come together to form a whole. Oh the art of writing! Do you have any tips for writing that helps you construct your papers, essays, articles, or even books?  Trust me, I could use the suggestions!!

And I want to know what you are currently researching! It could be a scholarly project or such a random search on the internet trying to understand something. It may be historical or not. Share your interests, your process, and what you plan to do with what you find here!

What Do You Want to Read About in US History?

Hey all Fun With History readers!

I know, I know, its been a long time since my last post. Grad school has taken over my life and my blogging has suffered. I’ve also been a little dry on the ideas for posts … so, what do you want to read about? Post a comment about what you find interesting, curious, or completely nonsensical about US history. I’d love to start some new posts about what you’re interested in!

 

The Assassination of Garfield… No Not that One, the President.

Today in 1881, the twentieth president of the United States was shot.  Garfield was considered a healthy man and the bullet wound should not have been a fatal one. However, Garfield died three months later on September 9, 1881 from that very shot. In those three months, Americans read daily in the papers the most up-to-date medical report on his condition, including his temperature, his pulse, and his pus. His wound had become infected, largely due to doctors on the scene of the shooting sticking their fingers around where the bullet had entered his body. Garfield might have otherwise lived.
James Garfield was shot by a man named Charles Guiteau. And to understand why Guiteau shot the president, some explanation of late 19th century politics is necessary. During this time, the political world very much existed on the spoils system. Any government job was given as a reward for knowing the right person and experience for that position was not considered. Garfield’s vice president, Charles A. Arthur, had previously served as the customs collector at the New York Custom House and had been appointed by Senator Roscoe Conkling. (I know a lot of names, but bear with me it gets good). When Arthur was customs collector, Rutherford B. Hayes was president. He decided to appease those complaining about the spoils system, to stand up to the all-powerful Conkling, and fired Arthur (an entirely symbolic move in all reality). This action prompted Conkling to convince fellow members of the Republican Party to dump Hayes as presidential nominee in 1880. This allowed Garfield to become the presidential nominee and Conkling insured Arthur would be his vice president.
So now you’re thinking, what about this Guiteau character? Guiteau was a troubled man who had dropped out of college, who had joined the Oneida community in an attempt to please his father, and who wanted a politically appoint government position.
Quick tangent: The Oneida community was an outshoot of the utopian societies that sprang up during the Second Great Awakening period in U.S. history. It’s found, John Humphrey Noyes, coined the famous phrase “free love.” He did not believe in traditional marriage and instead preached group marriage. As one of my favorite authors Sarah Vowell explains, in this free love community Guiteau could not find any love at all and was often called “Charles Gitout.”
But back to the matter at hand, when Garfield was president Guiteau came to the White House every day. He begged to be appointed the ambassador to France.  He was sent to the Secretary of State James G. Blaine. Blaine also waved him off, prompting Guiteau to write a snarky letter about the Secretary. Garfield also took a stand against the spoils system, angering Conkling and angering Guiteau, who loved the senator and believed he should benefit from the spoils system. Then, according to the assassin, God told Guiteau to kill the president. Guiteau also claimed he killed Garfield so Vice President Arthur could assume the post (and in his twisted logic, Guiteau would be appointed ambassador by the new president based on his gratitude). When this information became available, Arthur was appalled.
Guiteau admitted to most of this during his entertaining trial. Guiteau had appointed himself co-counsel for the defense and often interrupted his lawyers. Eventually he was found guilty and sentenced to hang on June 30, 1882.
Guiteau’s final words were a poem he wrote especially for his execution (he also wrote a short play entitled The Almighty where God confronts Guiteau’s enemies).  In this poem, Guiteau stated “I saved my party and my land, Glory hallelujah! But they have murdered me for it. And that is the reason I am going to the Lordy, Glory hallelujah! Glory hallelujah! I am going to the Lordy!”

“Don’t Fear the Reaper!”

This is the weekend of inventions here at the Fun with History blog! Today in 1834 Cyrus McCormick received a patent for the reaper. It is necessary to first take a step back and recognize the changes in the U.S. during this time and why a reaper would be an important invention. In the early to mid-nineteenth century, the nation was experiencing a market revolution. This reflected the transformation of the North into an integrated economy with commercial farms and manufacturing cities. This would impact the lives of Americans in many ways, from the Second Great Awakening to the reform movement (but that is for another day and another blog). As the nation moved west, the Northwest became more stable as transportation and credit become more available. Farmers found themselves drawn into this market economy. This new type of farmer concentrated on growing crops and livestock to sell, rather than just produce food for his family. This commercial farmer also stopped producing other home goods, purchasing them at local stores instead. Farmers found that growing cities in the Northeast made for good markets to sell their produce and livestock. They also found credit available there. Loans from eastern banks and insurance companies financed the farmers’ purchase of more land and supplies to raise more produce for market. In the mid-nineteenth century, farmers also used these loans to buy new agricultural machinery, such as the reaper, to expand their production. Along with John Deere’s steel plow, McCormick’s reaper became a huge asset to the farmer. The reaper is a horse-drawn machine that greatly increases the amount of wheat the farmer could harvest. Soon after McCormick received his patent, his company was producing it in large quantities, up to the tens of thousands on the eve of the Civil War. Between 1840 and 1860, America’s output of wheat nearly tripled! His father, who had patented earlier versions of the reaper, largely influenced McCormick. In fact, daddy McCormick had worked on versions of the reaper for twenty-six years. He finally passed along to his soon, who made some minor changes and then patented his version. The McCormick reaper, as demonstrated earlier, sold extremely well. This was partially due to savvy marketing techniques, including the clever slogan, “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” McCormick also used innovative business practices and the newly important railroad. The reapers came on the market just as the railroad was offering distribution to distant markets. McCormick’s reaper represented the core of the market economy, one that is linked to multiple businesses and reaches across the United States. Loans from eastern-based banks financed the reaper’s production, new transportation moved across the nation, farmers purchased it (with loans from the previously mentioned banks), and then sold their produce back to the Northeast. This is the economy that would eventually evolve into our modern-day system.

Cotton Gin+Slavery= Tidy Profits for Planters

Today in 1793, inventor Eli Whitney filed a patent for the cotton gin.

By the late 18^th century, slavery was already ingrained in American culture. However, it was the rise of the Cotton Kingdom that made slavery become invaluable to Southern planters and it was Whitney’s invention that opened the door to this kingdom. Before the cotton gin, planters had discovered that short fiber cotton would grow in the lower South. This cotton, while was perfect for the cotton textile factories in the North, was extremely difficult to be harvested. The cotton contained sticky green seeds that were difficult to remove and had to be done by hand, making it a very long and expensive process.

Enter Whitney. He had graduated from Yale and was working in Georgia as a private tutor. He saw first hand the difficulties with picking the cotton. He invented a simple device that quickly separated the seed from the cotton (see illustration). The cotton gin, as it was called, made the buying and selling of cotton on a large scale possible. Whitney’s original plan for his invention was to charge the farmers for the cleaning of their cotton and charge them 2/5 of their profits. However, planters saw the simplicity in the machine and began copying his ideas. The invention revolutionizes the slavery system. The cotton gin allowed a laborer, or more likely a slave, to clean fifty pounds of cotton a day (before the gin only a pound a day could be cleaned). This meant that slaves could quickly pick and clean large amounts of cotton, which the planter could sell to the northern factories for a tidy profit. And of course, the more slaves a planter owned, the more cotton he could produce and sell. With that extra profit, this planter could buy more slaves and the cycle continued!

In the South, cotton production soared. It quickly accounted for 60% of the world’s supply of cotton and two-thirds of all American exports. Northern factories were able to make a profit from cotton by turning into cloth. From there, the Northern merchants shipped the textiles to Europe and back to the South.

In 1793, the year the cotton gin was invented, the United States produced five million pounds of cotton. By 1820, 170 million pounds of the crop had been produced! It would remain the staple of the South’s economy until the Civil War.

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