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CONCORD REVIEW
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Kung-fu-tzu (551-479 BC) The Analects
A Quarterly Review of Essays by Students of History
Volume 23, Number Two $15.00 Winter 2012
Caesar Augustus Katherine Rosenberg
Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua, New York
The New York Times Gabriel Grand
Horace Mann School, Bronx, New York
Tuberculosis Theresa L. Rager
Summit Country Day School, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commercial Revolution Gabriel Kelly
Franklin Regional High School, Murrysville, Pennsylvania
Miscegenation Malini Gandhi
Newton North High School, Newtonville, Massachusetts
Eugenics in Massachusetts Reid Grinspoon
Gann Academy, Waltham, Massachusetts
Boss Tweed Kaitavjeet Chowdhary
Glastonbury High School, Glastonbury, Connecticut
Mughal Empire Aleez Qadir
University of Chicago Laboratory High School, Chicago, Illinois
U.S.U.K in WWII Andrew Burton
Upper Canada College, Toronto, Ontario
Conditions for Democracy Edyt Dickstein
Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, Livingston, New Jersey
Childrens Literature Anna Elizabeth Blech
Hunter College High School, Manhattan Island, New York
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Volume Twenty-Three, Number Two Winter 2012
THE CONCORD REVIEW
1 Katherine Rosenberg
Caesar Augustus
21 Gabriel Grand
The New York Times
49 Theresa L. Rager
History of Tuberculosis
101 Gabriel Kelly
Commercial Revolution
129 Malini Gandhi
Miscegenation
147 Reid Grinspoon
Eugenics in Masschusetts
173 Kaitavjeet Chowdhary
Boss Tweed
199 Aleez Qadir
Mughal Empire
211 Andrew Burton
U.S.UK Relations in WWII
231 Edyt Dickstein
Conditions for Democracy
261 Anna Elizabeth Blech
Childrens Literature
282 Notes on Contributors

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1
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Copyright 2012, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
Katherine Rosenberg is a Junior at Horace Greeley High School
in Chappaqua, New York, where she wrote this paper for Robert
Zambernardis Advanced Placement European History course in the
2011/2012 academic year.
EXPLOITER OF TRADITION:
AUGUSTUSS MANIPULATION OF ROMAN RELIGION
FOR POLITICAL POWER
Katherine Rosenberg
In establishing an empire in Rome, Augustus claimed to
preserve old Republican institutions when in fact he was destroy-
ing them. To achieve his political ends, Augustus was similarly
deceptive with regard to Romes religious traditions. In order to
gain and maintain political power, Augustus manipulated religion
under the pretense of reviving it. Despite claims to be preserving
established religion customs, Augustus followed tradition only
when it suited him. When it was to his advantage, he subtly and
cleverly altered and arranged religious themes almost beyond
recognition. Through such manipulation, Augustus connected
himself with the legendary founders of Rome and even the gods
themselves. In this way, he created a persuasive justication for
his actions that enabled him to gain popular support and assume
an unprecedented level of power.
Before the Empire
Before the 31 B.C. naval Battle of Actium, Augustus
1
and
Marc Antony were vying for power. During this competition, Antony
issued coins depicting Sol, the sun god, with Antonys own features.
With this display of divine imitation, Antony explicitly stated that
he was godlike. Augustus however was more careful not to alien-
ate holders of republican ideals, and he did not ofcially portray
himself as a god.
2
Instead, Augustus adopted a more original, less
offensive method of expressing a divine relationship. In 42 BC, at
the Ludi Victoriae Caesaris (the celebration of Caesars victories) a
comet appeared in the sky, and the people declared it a sign that
Caesars soul had been made a god.
3
Augustus jumped at this chance
and ofcially deied his adoptive father, thereby achieving three
important goals for himself. The rst was to neutralize Caesars
unpopularity: Caesar the dictator was disliked by the people, a
fact that harmed Augustuss own standing. With the deication of
Julius Caesar, Augustus was able to focus the minds of the people
on the Julium Sidus, Caesars soul, which had been purged of any
earthly taint and supported Augustuss bid for power.
4
Even more importantly, Augustus could now claim a close
familial relationship to a god. While Antony was minting coins
showing a god with features similar to his own, Augustus issued
coins bearing the inscription Divi Iuli F (short for Divi Iuli Filius,
or son of the Divine Julius).
5
By doing so, he managed to give
himself divine attributes without portraying himself as divine
(which might offend traditional values and be seen as the obvious
bid for power that it was). Additionally, his relationship to Caesar
gave Augustus an excuse to ght for power: pietas.
6
As the religious
value of family loyalty, pietas was the perfect reason for Augustus to
ght Brutus and insist on vengeance, thus legitimizing his military
claims. Pietas even gave an excuse for Augustus to ght Antony,
who had been disloyal to Caesar by agreeing to work with his as-
sassins.
7
Now Augustus could claim that he did not actually want
power; he was merely fullling his obligation to avenge his father
3
THE CONCORD REVIEW
and save his country. Without ever explicitly saying so, Augustus
clearly delivered the message that he was not just like one of the
gods, and did not just have the support of the gods: he was one
step away from being a god.
In order to gain support after he won the Battle of Actium,
Augustus needed to make the people forget that the conict
between Augustus and Antony had been a civil war. To achieve
this goal, Augustus portrayed Actium in ofcial myth as a contest
between East and West, with Rome and its gods on one side and
Egypt and the bestial divinities of the Nile on the other.
8
Not only
did this erase the idea of a civil war, but it also showed Augustus
having divine favor. Augustuss defeat of Antony, who was depicted
as Egyptian, was ordered by the gods, not merely a personal bid
for power. In suppressing Egyptian cults in Rome, Augustus aided
his elimination of all things related to Antony while claiming that
he strove in every way to restore the old spirit of rm, dignied,
and decent worship of Roman gods.
9
Augustus expanded upon
this declared religious obligation and devotion as he strengthened
his imperial power, and it became an integral part of his rule.
Use of the Aeneid
There has been much debate in recent times over whether
Vergils Aeneid was originally written as Augustan propaganda.
However, Vergils intent was largely irrelevant, as Vergil died be-
fore he could edit and publish the epic. Augustus made clear his
own purpose when, despite Vergils dying wish that the Aeneid be
burned, Augustus ordered it to be published, claiming that such
a great work must not be destroyed.
10
Whatever Vergil intended,
Augustus clearly recognized the great potential the epic had to
express his own message. Aeneas, from whom Augustus claimed
descent, was portrayed as a fate-driven wanderer
11
acting against
his own desires while obeying the will of the gods. Although
extremely valiant and patriotic, Aeneass devotion and actions
reminded the reader of those of a priest.
12
He had incredible faith
in his mission and trust in divine guidance, striving to found the
city of Rome because he had been told to by the gods. Addition-
ally, Aeneass main virtue, the reason for everything he did, was
pietas.
13
If the names and specic events were overlooked, these
attributes could also describe the ofcial image that Augustus
sought to project: divinely guided, reluctant to take power, deeply
devout, and driven by pietas.
For Augustus, the other important aspect of the Aeneid was
its many instances of prophecy, which Augustus used to support his
regime. These predictions were never made in Vergils own voice,
but were instead offered by gods or spirits, giving them greater
authority.
14
When Aeneas went to the Underworld, he met the
souls of his father Anchises and his former lover Dido, as well as
the souls of those who would be born again as heroes of Rome:
Romulus, Numa, Brutus, Caesar, Pompey, the Gracchi, and many
othersincluding Augustus himself.
15
Whatever Vergils reasons,
he included Augustus in the line of Roman heroes and reminded
the reader that Augustus was a descendant of Aeneas through
Caesar, and therefore a descendant of the gods (Aeneass mother
was Venus). Jupiter promised that Rome would establish an empire
without limit,
16
and that Rome would continue conquering until
an heir of Aeneas came to power, when at last peace would reign.
17

This prophecy, along with a similar one by Apollos oracle, justied
not only Augustuss rule, but also the wars he had fought, and it
now promised peace to the war-weary people. Augustuss reign was
shown as the Golden Age to which Rome had been progressing,
and Augustus as destined to become a god.
18
The Aeneid also proved useful to Augustus in its descrip-
tion of the shield given to Aeneas by Venus. On the shield were
12 important scenes from the future of Rome, such as Remus
and Romulus with the she-wolf. Four of these events were from
the time of Augustus, including the Battle of Actium, which was
once again portrayed as a battle between the gods of Rome and
Egypt.
19
The reader was reminded once again of Augustuss con-
nection to Aeneas, but this time there was a reminder that he was
also descended from Romulus (and therefore Mars). By placing
5
THE CONCORD REVIEW
the victory at Actium on the shield with Remus and Romulus,
Vergil had accorded to the battle an importance equal to that
of the founding of Rome. Whatever Vergils actual intent for the
Aeneid, the very fact that it was not obvious propaganda made it
a more effective vehicle for Augustus to use in his campaign of
self-aggrandizement and justication.
Building of Religious Temples
Augustus justiably proclaimed his own devotion to build-
ing public works; however, he did not note the particular promi-
nence he accorded to religious structures. Although Augustus did
restructure the city and create secular buildings as well as religious
ones, his crowning architectural achievements were all religious.
Of the 35 articles in his Res Gestae Divi Augusti,
20
in which Augustus
listed what he believed were the most noteworthy aspects of his
life, 13 gave signicant mention to his religious achievements.
Among such achievements were restoration or construction of
many temples, including those of Mars Ultor, Apollo, divus Julius,
and Quirinus.
21
Augustus restored 82 temples in the year 28 BC
alone, as well as at least 14 others in the rest of his reign.
22
This
might signal incredible religious devotion, but it went far beyond
what was necessary for restoration, and had a more cynical reason
behind it. While Augustus was building all these temples, no one
else was, even though it had been the custom for victorious gener-
als and others to build public works (both secular and religious)
on their return from battle. Other people continued building
secular monuments, but the erection of temples was reserved for
Augustus and his family.
23
This monopoly increased Augustuss
importance even more by making him unique, but it also allowed
him to spread messages to the people, and the messages he chose
to send were about his own power. All the public temples built
at the time were directly or indirectly related to Augustus; some
were dedicated to his victories, others to imperial values, and still
others to divine ancestors.
24
Augustus may not ofcially have dei-
ed himself, but in practice he came very close to doing so.
Of the at least 96 temples with which Augustus was associ-
ated, the Temple of Apollo and the Temple of Mars Ultor were
two of the most important. Apollo, whom Augustus had claimed
as his patron god and who was also rumored to be Augustuss fa-
ther,
25
was supposed to have helped Augustus overcome Antony
and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium.
26
In thanks, Augustus built
a new temple for Apollo on the Palatine Hill, and in the process
greatly changed Apollos prominence and signicance. Before the
construction of the new temple, which was built on land adjacent
to Augustuss home that had been the private land of Augustus,
the previous temple of Apollo had been outside of the pomerium,
the sacred boundary of Rome. By building a new temple, Augus-
tus brought Apollo not only into the city, but practically into his
own house. Now, according to Ovid, a single house [held] three
eternal gods: Vesta, Apollo, and Augustus.
27
Augustus still did not
claim divinity outright, but when he placed two gods in his own
household, the implication was quite clear.
In addition to building a new temple for Apollo, Augustus
built a new image for the god. Before Augustus moved Apollos
temple, the latter had been mainly a rather unimportant healing
god. Now, however, he became the supporter of Augustuss rule,
the maker of an empire. The iconography of the temple recalled
Augustuss establishment of the empire. The doors also showed
Apollo punishing those who had disobeyed him, recalling his
aid in Actium, where Apollo helped Augustus to punish his op-
ponents.
28
In justifying his own rule, Augustus transformed the
role of Apollo from minor healing god to important guardian of
righteousness, a rectier of wrongs, and a supporter of the new
monarchy.
The Temple of Mars Ultor, the Avenger, was also the rst
temple of Mars inside the pomerium.
29
It too was built on Augustuss
personal property,
30
and it too served to commemorate Augustuss
victories. Augustus had vowed after killing his adoptive fathers
assassins to build a temple to Mars Ultor; he dedicated it 40 years
later after he had defeated the Parthians and regained the lost
standards from them.
31
(The standards, which represented the
7
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Roman army, had been lost by Crassus, a great disgrace to all
of Rome.
32
) The recovery was important enough that Augustus
mentioned it in his Res Gestae, and he placed the standards in the
new Temple of Mars Ultor,
33
thereby proclaiming that the god had
helped him to avenge both Caesars death and Romes disgrace
at the hands of the Parthians.
The Temple of Mars contained statues of three gods: Mars
(next to the standards), Venus, and Divus Iulius (Julius Caesar
deied),
34
Augustuss three divine ancestors. The references to
Augustuss godly ancestry did not end there. The porticoes on
either side of the temple were lled with two series of statues. On
one side was Aeneas, who represented both Augustuss lial piety
and his descent from Venus; with him were his descendants, includ-
ing the kings of Alba Longa (the civilization prior to Rome) and
the Julii (the family of Augustus). The other side held the statue
of Romulus surrounded by gures of republican history famed
for their military prowess,
35
reminding the viewer of Augustuss
military victories. Together the 108 statues, which stretched back
to Aeneas and Romulus, and through them to Venus and Mars,
36

heralded both Augustuss virtues and his near divinity, providing
his rule with both support and legitimacy.
The representation of Mars himself, like that of Apollo,
changed greatly with his move to the Forum. Previously depicted
as youthful, wild,
37
and often a sower of strife, Augustus redened
Marss image, showing him as a dignied fatherly gure.
38
A statue
of Eros was shown giving Marss sword to Venus, representing
the peace that followed the war,
39
and his breastplate was full of
imagery that referred to Mars as the guardian of peace. The stan-
dards were placed at the base of Marss statue, showing that he
was responsible for the recovered glory.
40
Augustus made it clear
that Mars had helped him in his victories, which would mean that
his cause was just. Rather than remind people of the terrible civil
war that had occurred, which might breed discontent, Augustus
called to mind the glory these wars had made possible. Augustus
emphasized the peace he had created, and reminded them that
all of this was thanks to Mars. Romes current peace and prosper-
ity were not despite Augustuss wars, but because of them.
Manipulation of Traditional Religious Institutions
In the Res Gestae, Augustus described his revival of the tra-
ditional religion. In doing so, Augustus listed his priestly roles: he
was the pontifex maximus, an augur, a quindecimvir sacris faciundis,
a septemvir epulonum, a member of the Arval Brotherhood, one of
the Titii sodales, and a fetalis.
41
His many priesthoods were empha-
sized during his reign, and he issued coins with the signs of all
four major priesthoods on it,
42
showing that his devotion to the
traditional religion was so great that he was a member of seven
priesthoods. Similarly, Augustus was often depicted veiled and in a
toga, the attire of religious sacrice.
43
Despite his professed desire
to restore tradition, however, that Augustus was a member of so
many priesthoods was in fact very untraditional. Before this time,
it was deemed inappropriate for one man to hold more than one
major priesthood,
44
but it suited Augustuss needs to be seen as a
man so devout that he held four of them.
Augustus was offered the position of pontifex maximus,
the highest priesthood, while his predecessor was still in ofce.
However, he declined the position until he could be elected to it
after Lepidus, his predecessor, died in 13 BC.
45
Augustus wanted
to be able to say that he had assumed the post legitimately, unlike
Lepidus, who had been given it as a political gift.
46
Having so vis-
ibly expressed his devotion to tradition, Augustus was now more
able to deviate greatly from ritual, while still claiming to respect it.
Until this time, the post of pontifex maximus had been an elected
one, without power over any of the other colleges or religion
in general.
47
However, upon gaining the position via election,
Augustus began to change and expand the power of the pontifex
maximus so that he had control over the entire Roman religion,
and after Augustuss election to the post, it became customary for
the emperor to become pontifex maximus on assuming the throne.
Additionally, tradition required the pontifex maximus to
live in a public building in the Forum adjacent to the temple of
9
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Vesta. This arrangement did not please Augustus, who did not
want to leave his home on the Palatine hill. Instead, he nominally
satised the obligation by making part of his house public; within
two months of becoming pontifex maximus he dedicated a shrine
to Vesta in his house. The old shrine remained in the Forum
with its sacred ame and the Vestal Virgins,
48
but in moving the
seat of the pontifex maximus and building a shrine to Vesta in his
own home, Augustus inextricably linked himself with Vesta. The
sacred ame, an important symbol of Romes eternity and safety,
49

represented the public hearth, so Augustus had closely linked
his own hearth to the public one of Rome.
50
Augustuss personal
health and safety were now one and the same as those of Rome.
With this move, Augustus enabled himself to stand for the state;
any harm to him was also harm to Rome, and vice versa.
Moving the home of the pontifex maximus was only the be-
ginning of Augustuss policy of restructuring Romes many cults
in order to t his own needs. Under the guise of restoring the
old traditions, Augustus was able to make many major changes.
Unsurprisingly, given that he had created a shrine to Vesta in his
own home, Augustus devoted much energy to the restoration of
the cult of Vesta and the Vestal Virgins. When there was a problem
appointing new Vestal Virgins (as most Romans did not want to
give up their daughters for 30 years of devotion to the goddess),
Augustus attempted to make the position more popular. He gave
increased privileges to the Vestals, and declared that if his own
daughters or granddaughters were the right age, he would have
put them forward for candidacy without hesitation.
51
While this
seemed to show dedication to the religion, Augustus was once
again showing dedication mainly to himself. When he brought
Vesta under his own roof, Augustus had brought himself under
the protection of Vesta. Now he needed to make sure that Vesta
was strong and popular, so that he would be too.
One of the reasons Augustus had intentionally linked
himself with this particular cult was that the Temple of Vesta was
home to the Palladium, a statue said to protect the state, which
had been brought to Rome by Aeneas. Aeneas had saved the
statue once, and now his descendant Augustus was doing it again
by preserving the state
52
and saving its guardians, the Vestals. In
saving the cult that housed the Palladium, as well as the sacred re
that protected Rome, Augustus established his claim to the role of
savior of the state. By modifying the duty of the Vestals, Augustus
was able to claim his role as the state. Among other changes, it
was established that the Vestal Virgins, guardians of Rome, would
make a yearly sacrice in honor of Augustus on the new holiday
known as Augustalia
53
and a different yearly sacrice at the Ara Pacis
Augustae, the altar of Augustan Peace.
54
Additionally, the Vestal
Virgins were put in charge of the cult of Livia, Augustuss wife.
55

By devoting the Vestals to his life and that of his family, Augustus
was making a bold statement. The Vestals were caretakers of the
state; if they were sacricing to Augustus and overseeing the cult
of Livia, then Augustus and Livia must be the state.
The senatorial priesthoods were among the few aspects of
religious life that did actually continue more or less as they had
before the empire. However, this was not done out of Augustuss
desire to follow tradition, but out of his recognition that the
existing system required little manipulation to t his purposes.
The senatorial priesthoods had always been the subject of intense
competition; they were prestigious positions that were held for
life, and there were a limited number of them, which meant that
not many senators could obtain the desired honor.
56
Augustus
capitalized on this tradition, encouraging the competition as a way
to garner support for his own policies. Since the priesthoods were
now at least partly appointed by the emperor, the senators vying
for priestly positions had to compete for imperial favor.
57
Augustus
used this to his advantage, granting posts not necessarily to the
most devout or the most worthy, but to the most supportive of his
regime. The granting of a priesthood became a political favor,
rather than a religious honor.
58
In this way, Augustus strengthened
his position greatly; no one who wanted a priesthood dared anger
him, which allowed the emperor to institute his changes with less
opposition than there otherwise might have been. At the same
time, he weakened the religious system, as such positions came
to be nothing more than social and political distinctions. Despite
11
THE CONCORD REVIEW
his claimed desire to strengthen religion, Augustus felt no qualms
about weakening it in instances when weakening religion meant
strengthening his own power.
One of the great religious traditions that Augustus claimed
to revive was the Saecular Games, a three day religious festival
to mark the beginning of a new saeculum (era), which Augustus
called the Golden Age.
59
While such games had been held in the
past, they had not been held in a long time, and many of the
customs associated with them had been lost.
60
This provided the
perfect chance for Augustus to make as many changes as he felt
necessary and further whatever point he desired, all under the
pretense of following tradition. The main sources for the rituals
of Augustuss Saecular Games were the Sibylline Books.
61
These
books were supposed to contain prophecies concerning the future
of Rome, and should have been a reputable source. However, Au-
gustus had previously collected over 20,000 prophetic works and
burned them; he kept only the Sibylline Books, which he edited
before moving them to Apollos temple.
62
Having destroyed the
works of other oracles that might contradict the new content in
the Sibylline Books, Augustus was now able to supply a prophetic
justication for all his actions. He found a passage saying that
the Golden Age could only be reached after conquering the
Parthians
63
(which both justied his war and signied that the
Golden Age had come); having now done so, Augustus heralded
the arrival of this new Golden Age with the Saecular Games.
Despite using rituals ostensibly found in the Sibylline Books,
the Saecular Games were remarkably Augustan
64
and very differ-
ent from what little was known about previous Saecular Games.
Although the original Saecular Games honored the Underworld
gods Dis Pater and Proserpina, Augustuss games made no men-
tion of either. Instead, the new Games emphasized the Fates, the
Goddesses of Childbirth, Terra Mater (the goddess of fertility),
Jupiter, Juno, Apollo, and Diana. The emphasis on the gods of
the Underworld in tradition had marked the passing of a previ-
ous era; the emphasis in the new version marked the beginning
of a new one.
65
Instead of recalling an era of bloodshed, in which
Augustus himself was not wholly innocent, he oriented peoples
minds forward to the benecial age he had brought about. The
Saecular Games had practically nothing to do with their namesake,
but they very effectively served Augustuss purpose, justifying the
past and looking toward a positive future built by Augustus.
Imperial Construction
Another of Augustuss important building projects that
he deemed worthy of mentioning in his list of accomplishments
was the Ara Pacis Augustae, the Altar of Augustan Peace, which
was commissioned by the Senate in honor of one of Augustuss
victories in the provinces.
66
The altar itself depicted an anonymous
animal sacrice to Pax (the goddess of peace), as well as repre-
sentations of the provinces. This was tting, since the purpose of
the altar was to celebrate the peace that now reigned throughout
the empire, including the recently pacied provinces.
67
However,
the most impressive part of the altar was on the four precinct
walls surrounding it. The two long walls showed the procession
of the imperial family when Augustus became pontifex maximus.
68

Augustus was easy to recognize, as was the rest of his family, all of
whom were present among the crowd of priests.
69
Augustus was
portrayed not as divine, but as a humble mediator between gods
and men,
70
a different, equally important status.
Unsurprisingly, however, Augustuss association with the
divine was not ignored. On the shorter walls were four smaller
scenes. In one of these Mars was shown with the infants Remus
and Romulus, recalling both Marss support of Augustuss cam-
paigns, and Augustuss descent from the founder of Rome.
71

Another showed Aeneas in the act of sacrice to the Penates
(household gods) with his son Julus Ascanius, a scene taken from
the description in the Aeneid. Aeneas was shown in a very similar
position to that of Augustus in the procession, highlighting their
relationship, and the presence of his son reminded the viewer of
Aeneass descendants, the Julii (whose name came from that of
13
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Julus Ascanius).
72
The other two panels showed an unidentied
goddess surrounded by symbols of prosperity, to show the benets
of peace, and the goddess Roma seated with weapons,
73
remind-
ing the viewer that Augustuss wars were necessary and just. Pax
herself is not shown on the altar, because all the images that are
there combine to represent the Pax Augusta more completely
than the goddess herself would.
74
Augustus, the bringer of peace,
was thereby able to link himself with yet another on a long list of
divinities.
At least once every year, the people would be reminded of
the Ara Pacis Augustae and what it represented. The altar was not
alone in the Campus Martius but part of a complex that contained
a sundial, with the shadow cast by a giant obelisk imported from
Augustuss Egyptian conquests. The obelisk was positioned so that
on Augustuss birthday, the shadow it cast would fall directly on
the altar.
75
In this way, the viewer was reminded not only of the
peace and prosperity brought by Augustus, but also of how that
had been accomplished. The obelisk was a spoil of war; Egypt had
been turned from enemy into colony, and through such wars,
peace had been achieved.
76
The wars could not be condemned,
therefore, because they were necessary to bring about the current
Golden Age that Augustus claimed was in place.
Even Augustuss restructuring of the city contributed to
his association with the state religion and subsequent additional
power. Rome had long been divided into different districts and
wards, with shrines to the Lares (deied spirits of the dead) at each
crossroad. When Augustus restructured the districts and wards in
7 BC, he also changed the shrines. Instead of being devoted to
the public Lares, the cults were now shrines to the Lares Augusti
(Augustuss ancestors) and the Genius Augusti (the divine spirit
of Augustus.) A new holiday for the worship of Augustuss genius
was also added to supplement the traditional celebration of the
Lares. The shrines, which had been devoted to the ancestors of the
city, were now devoted to the ancestors of Augustus.
77
Although
he had not called for actual worship of the emperor, Augustus
was coming ever closer. His ancestors were now the ancestors of
the people, his spirit was as important as those of the gods, and
Augustus himself was now uniquely connected to both the people
and the gods.
Augustuss revival of religion had little to do with a love of
tradition. Despite his claims otherwise, he used his religious inu-
ence as he used his military inuence: to achieve and maintain
power. On the rare occasions that Augustus actually followed cus-
tom, it was because doing so happened to benet him. Much more
common was his tendency of claiming to preserve and strengthen
religious tradition while actually manipulating it, sometimes chang-
ing customs beyond recognition. Just as he purported to preserve
the Republic but actually replaced it with the Empire, Augustus
claimed to preserve ancient religion but actually replaced it with
his own version in order to expand his power.
15
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Notes
1
At the time of the Battle of Actium, Augustus was
still known by his birth name of Octavian. Augustus was
actually the title granted to Octavian by the Senate when the
Roman Empire was founded in 27 BC. To avoid confusion, all
references in this paper will be to Augustus.
2
J. Pollini, Man or God: Divine Assimilation and Imitation
in the Late Republic and Early Principate, in Between
Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and His
Principate ed. Kurt Raaaub and Mark Toher (Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1990) p. 336
3
Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1939) p. 117
4
Ibid., p. 318
5
Pollini, p. 346
6
Syme, p. 157
7
Ibid., p. 157
8
Ibid., p. 448
9
Ibid., p. 448
10
Richard J. Tarrant, Poetry and Power: Virgils Poetry
in Contemporary Context, in The Cambridge Companion
to Virgil ed. Charles Martindale (Cambridge: Cambridge
11
Wendell Clausen, An Interpretation of the Aeneid, in
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. 68 (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1964) p. 139
12
Ibid., p. 141
13
Syme, p. 462
14
Tarrant, p. 178
15
Clausen, p. 145
16
E. S. Gruen, The Imperial Policy of Augustus, in
Raaaub and Toher, p. 395
17
Mabel G. Murphy, Vergil as a Propagandist, The
Classical Weekly (April 12, 1926) http://www.jstor.org/stable/
info/4388771?&Search=yes&searchText=Mabel+Gant+Murp
hy&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery=au%
3Mabel+Gant+Murphy%26wc=on-bibInfo, p. 173 (accessed
April 6, 2012)
18
Ibid., p. 172
19
Ibid., p. 172
20
Meaning The Deeds of the Divine Augustus, the
Res Gestae Divi Augusti was Augustuss list of his own
accomplishments, which was carved into two bronze pillars
next to his mausoleum.
21
Augustus, Res Gestae Divi Augusti [The Deeds of the
Divine Augustus], trans. Thomas Bushnell, http://classics.mit.
edu/Augustus/deeds.html (accessed June 1, 2012)
22
Mary Beard, Simon Price, and John North, The Re-
placing of Roman Religion, in Religions of Rome vol. I: A
History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) p. 196
23
Ibid., p. 196
24
Ibid., p. 197
25
Pollini, p. 350
26
Syme, p. 448
27
Beard, Price, and North, p. 198
28
Ibid., p. 199
29
Ibid., p. 199
30
Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988) p. 195
31
Ibid., p. 194
32
Ibid., p. 175
33
Augustus, Res Gestae Divi Augusti
34
Syme, p. 471
35
36
Ibid., p. 200
37
Zanker, p. 199
38
Ibid., p. 198
39
Ibid., p. 196
40
Ibid., p. 200
41
42
43
Ibid., p. 186
44
Ibid., p. 188
45
G. W. Bowersock, The Ponticate of Augustus, in
Raaaub and Toner, p. 380
46
Ibid., p. 382
47
48
Ibid., p. 189
49
Bowersock, p. 383
50
51
Ibid., p. 193
52
Zanker, p. 208
53
54
Ibid.
55
17
THE CONCORD REVIEW
56
Ibid., p. 192
57
Ibid., p. 192
58
Syme, p. 381
59
Zanker, p. 167
60
61
Ibid., p. 205
62
Gaius Tranquillus Suetonius, Augustus, in Lives of the
Twelve Caesars trans. Robert Graves (New York: Welcome Rain
Publishers, 2001) p. 63
63
Zanker, p. 176
64
65
Ibid., p. 203
66
67
Kleiner E.E Diana, The Ara Pacis Augustae, in Roman
Sculpture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992) p. 90
68
Bowersock, p. 392
69
Kleiner, p. 92
70
Pollini, p. 337
71
Kleiner, p. 96
72
Ibid., p. 93
73
Ibid., p. 96
74
Ibid., p. 99
75
Bowersock, p. 386
76
Ibid., p. 393
77
Bibliography
Augustus. Res Gestae Divi Augusti (The Deeds of the Divine
Augustus), translated by Thomas Bushnell, (accessed June 1,
2012) http://classics.mit.edu/Augustus/deeds.html
Beard, Mary, Simon Price, and John North, The Re-placing
of Roman Religion, in Religions of Rome, pp. 181210, Vol. I:
A History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998
Bowersock, G. W., The Ponticate of Augustus, in Between
Principate edited by Kurt Raaaub and Mark Toher, pp.
380394, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990
Clark, Mark E., Spes in the Early Imperial Cult: the Hope
of Augustus Numen 30, no. 1 (July 1983): 80105, (accessed
April 9, 2012) doi:10.1163/156852783X00168
Clausen, Wendell, An Interpretation of the Aeneid, in
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, pp. 139147, Vol. 68,
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964
Diana, Kleiner E.E., The Ara Pacis Augustae, in Roman
Sculpture, pp. 9099, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992
Gibbon, Edward, Of the Constitution of the Roman
Empire, in the Age of the Antonines, in The History of the
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, pp. 6591, Vol. I,
London: Methuen & Co., 1914
Grant, Michael, Augustus, in The Twelve Caesars,
pp. 5280, New York: Charles Scribers Sons, 1975
Gruen, E. S., The Imperial Policy of Augustus, in Between
Kellum, B.A., Display at the Aedes Concordiae Augustae, in
Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and
His Principate edited by Kurt Raaaub and Mark Toher, pp.
Murphy, Mabel G., Vergil as a Propagandist, The Classical
Weekly (April 12, 1926) http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/4388
771?&Search=yes&searchText=Mabel+Gant+Murphy&search
Uri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery=au%3AMabel+G
ant+Murphy%26wc=on-bibInfo (accessed April 6, 2012)
Pollini, J., Man or God: Divine Assimilation and Imitation
in the Late Republic and Early Principate, in Between
19
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Suetonius, Gaius Tranquillus, Augustus, in Lives of the
Twelve Caesars translated by Robert Graves, pp. 4798, New
York: Welcome Rain Publishers, 2001
Syme, Ronald, The Roman Revolution New York: Oxford
University Press, 1939
Tarrant, Richard J., Poetry and Power: Virgils Poetry in
Contemporary Context, in The Cambridge Companion to
Virgil edited by Charles Martindale, pp. 169187, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997
Virgil, Eclogue I translated by Alexander Hollmann, 2009
Williams, G., Augustan Literary Patronage, in Between
Zanker, Paul, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988
Charles O. Hucker, China to 1850
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975, p. 68
In historiography the Han ofcial Ssu-ma
Chien (145-87 B.C.?) was Chinas rst identiable
major gure, and he has won recognition as one of
the greatest, most innovative, and most inuential
historians the world has produced. Inheriting his
fathers court post as Lord Grand Astrologer, which
gave him access to court archives, he carried to
completion a project initiated by his fathera history
of the world up to his time (the world known to him
and to China, of course). The resulting work, called
the Historical Records (Shih-chi) is a masterpiece
of both organization and style. Its 130 chapters
include, in addition to a chronology of important
events from the legendary Yellow Emperor down into
Emperor Wus reign, chronological tables for easy
reference, historical treatises on topics such as music,
the calendar, and waterways, and most important,
hundreds of biographies of prominent or interesting
people, the notorious as well as the famous. Ssu-ma
Chien established a pattern for organizing historical
data that was used subsequently in a series of so-
called dynastic histories, which preserve the history
of imperial China in unsurpassed detail and uniquely
systematic order. Moreover, Ssu-mas lively style made
his work a literary monument that has been read with
delight by educated classes throughout East Asia.
21
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Gabriel Grand is a Senior at the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, New
York, where he wrote this paper for Dr. Dominique Paduranos Advanced
Placement U.S. History course in the 2011/2012 academic year.
THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE HOLOCAUST,
AND A CONFLICT OF JEWISH IDENTITY, 19391945
Gabriel Grand
I. All the News Unt for Print: How The New York Times Quietly
Obscured the Holocaust.
November 26, 1940. To the average American, sitting at
the breakfast table and reading the morning edition of The New
York Times, it was a typical day in the newsif any day could be
considered typical with the storm clouds of World War II loom-
ing to the East. Although it was just over a year until the United
States would ofcially join the worldwide conict, the country was
already brimming with patriotism, eager to hear the latest news
of the war. On the front page, the Greeks were making progress
against Italian forces in Southern Albania, the British city of Bris-
tol had just fallen victim to a German bombing run, and the rst
wave of Army recruits was off to training camps throughout the
nation.
1
Inside the newspaper, the upcoming Army-Navy football
game had sold out Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, while the
Broadway play, The Corn is Green, starring Ethel Barrymore,
was starting its run at the National Theater.
2
Only a particularly
committed reader would have noticed on page eight, tucked
away below the fold, the headline Walls Will Enclose Warsaw
22 Gabriel Grand
Jews Today; 500,000 Begin New Life in Nazi-Built Ghetto.
3
The
following article, written not by a New York Times reporter but by
the Associated Press, revealed that Warsaws Jews had been re-
quired to take up residence in the ghetto by the Nazis, with as
many as seven persons living in one room in some buildings.
4

This 10-sentence piece was easy to miss among the dozen other
stories that appeared on page eight that day.
The placement of the Warsaw ghetto story was not an
isolated incident. Instead, it is representative of the way in which
The New York Times regularly treated stories about Jewish suffering
during the Holocaust as second-tier news, choosing to place them
not on the front page, but rather to allow them to be buried on
the inside pages of the newspaper among the ood of other war-
time articles. Many historians, with a few notable exceptions, are
content to excuse the Times and other American media by insisting
that information about Hitlers Final Solution was not available
during World War II, that it was unreliable, or that newspapers
simply were not able to see the trend of Jewish persecution until it
was too late.
5
Yet The New York Times alone published 1,186 articles
that dealt with the Holocaust between September 1939 and May
1945.
6
The real issue is not that there was a lack of information,
or even that the information was suspected to be inaccurate and
therefore was not published, but that only 26 of these stories ap-
peared on the front page of the Times, and all but six obscured
the fact that the primary victims were Jews.
7
The main reason that The New York Times failed to ad-
equately draw attention to the Holocaust is directly related to the
newspapers origins and lineage. At its core, the Times was created,
published, and owned by a family of German Jewish descent whose
members wanted to both cultivate and preserve the perception
that the newspaper was unbiased and to assimilate into American
society. In doing so, they often avoided publishing stories that
were too favorable to Jews so that the Times would never be seen
as a Jewish newspaper. As a result, between 1939 and 1945, The
New York Times consistently downplayed Jewish suffering during
the Holocaust in an effort to distance itself from its Jewish heri-
23
THE CONCORD REVIEW
tage and to maintain an image of impartiality in the eyes of the
American public.
In examining how the Times obscured news of the Ho-
locaust, it is important to understand the crucial role that the
front page played (and continues to play) in the dissemination
of information for a newspaper. It is the goal of a newspaper to
publish headlines that catch a readers attention. As a result, it
has always been the practice of newspaper editors to pay special
attention to what appears on each editions front page, a practice
to which the Times staff during the late 1930s and 1940s was well
accustomed. Max Frankel, a former executive editor at the Times,
said the paper took great pride in ranking the importance of
events each morning.
8
Aside from helping sell newspapers, the
front page was used to show the reader which news stories The New
York Times deemed important. Between 1937 and 1945, the Times
published more than 23,000 stories on its front pages, averaging
between 12 and 15 per day.
9
In the six years between the Nazi inva-
sion of Poland and the opening of the Nuremberg Trials, in only
six instances did the Times front page mention Jews as Hitlers
central target for total annihilation.
10
Although there are several
other ways in which the Times underplayed the Holocaust which
will be discussed later, the failure to emphasize Jewish suffering
on the front page set the tone for the newspapers Holocaust
coverage throughout the war. As Frankel concludes, the ordinary
reader of [the Times] pages could hardly be blamed for failing to
comprehend the enormity of the Nazis crime.
11
One of the primary arguments used to justify the Times
lack of front page Holocaust stories is that information concern-
ing the murder and mistreatment of European Jews was not
available and/or was mistrusted by the newspapers staff. Laurel
Leff, leading historian of The New York Times reporting during the
Holocaust, writes, World War Is fake atrocity stories bred skepti-
cism about death factories and mass gassings, especially among
hard-bitten editors who had been young journalists during the war
two decades earlier.
12
Coupled with the extensive use of atrocity
stories as propaganda in the media during the recently terminated
24 Gabriel Grand
Spanish Civil War, this abundance of false horror stories led Time
magazine to dub news of civilian killings from German-occupied
Poland in 1939 the atrocity story of the week.
13
Yet during World
War II, The New York Times published multiple stories about the
Holocaust that stated that the information they contained was
unconrmed. This implies that in the hundreds of other articles
that it published inside its pages, journalists and editors did not
signicantly doubt the validity of their facts, most of which proved
to be accurate and were conrmed later by the State Department,
the United Nations, the President, or other reporters. In fact, the
Times most prominent non-front-page Holocaust story of 1943, an
account of the slaughter of 50,000 Kiev Jews on page three, was
published with the disclaimer, On the basis of what we saw it is
impossible for this correspondent to judge the truth or falsity of
the story told to us.
14
Although the true gravity of the Holocaust
would not sink in for many Americans until the end of World War
II, it is clear that the Times did not lack information about the
Holocaust. Furthermore, whether or not this information was in
doubt, the newspaper was willing to publish Holocaust stories, so
long as they were not placed conspicuously.
In 1942, as some of the rst reports claiming the deaths of
millions of Jews were reaching the American press, The New York
Times placed Holocaust stories on its inside pages just as other
newspapers featured them, all the while reafrming the credibility
of its sources. On June 27, the Times ran a United Press article in
a page ve column detailing the separate shootings of ve Polish
natives who had struck back after being physically attacked by
Germans in Poland. Attached directly below the story appeared
the following three sentences:
According to an announcement of the Polish Government in Lon-
don, 700,000 Jews were slain by the Nazis in Poland. The report was
broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation and was recorded
by the Columbia Broadcasting System in New York yesterday.
To accomplish this, probably the greatest mass slaughter in history,
every death-dealing method was employedmachine-gun bullets,
hand grenades, gas chambers, concentration camps, whipping, tor-
ture instruments and starvation, the Polish announcement said.
15

25
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Three days later, on June 30, the Times ran a similar story, again
by the United Press, which reported that the Germans have
massacred more than 1,000,000 Jews since the war began in car-
rying out Adolph Hitlers proclaimed policy of exterminating
the people, spokesmen for the World Jewish Congress charged
today.
16
The article, which quoted a report that about one-sixth
of the pre-war Jewish population in Europehad been wiped
out in less than three years and that Jews, deported en masse to
Central Poland from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and the
Netherlands, were being shot by ring squads at the rate of 1,000
daily, appeared on page seven.
17
In attempting to explain why a
story revealing the death of one million Jews was so obscured by
the Times, historian Walter Lacquer writes that because the edi-
tors were not certain of the information in the story, they opted
for a compromise: to publish, but not in a conspicuous place.
18

Yet in other instances, The New York Times published stories on the
front page that it openly acknowledged could not be conrmed.
19
The Times demonstrated remarkable reluctance to feature
some of the rst reliable Holocaust reports in 1942 even as other
newspapers and organizations vigorously afrmed their validity. The
information contained in the two Times articles actually originated
from a report that a Polish Jewish Socialist organization called the
Bund had sent to the Polish government in exile in London.
20

In contrast to the Times two short inside stories, which were not
reported or written by Times reporters but rather by the United
Press, the Herald Tribune published a much longer story about
the Bund report which it ran on its front page on June 30.
21
The
Times had little reason to doubt its sources, which included CBS,
the BBC, the World Jewish Congress, and the Polish Government
in London. It even ran a third story about the Bund report two
days later on July 2, in which it quoted Polish National Council
representative Szmul Zygielbojm in saying that the sources for the
Bund report were absolutely reliable, although the story seemed
too terrible and the atrocities too inhumane to be true.
22
In the
article, which was placed on page six, Zygielbojm made a plea for
immediate action on the part of the Allies, which he called the
only way to save millions of Jews from certain destruction.
23
Zyg-
26 Gabriel Grand
ielbojm committed suicide the following year, having written in a
suicide note, Perhaps by my death I shall contribute to destroying
the indifference of those who are able and should act in order to
save now, maybe at the last moment, this handful of Polish Jews
who are still alive from certain annihilation.
24
The Times ran a
story about his death on page seven.
Still others argue that the ood of military and political news
during World War II made the Holocaust difcult to separate from
the deaths of millions of Allied and American soldiers throughout
the war in the minds of the Times editors. It is true that The New
York Times devoted at least several of its 12 to 15 front page articles
per day to war news, going so far as to cut advertisements to make
room for more wartime stories (a fact that the newspaper proudly
announced on several occasions).
25
But there were countless in-
stances in which The New York Times relegated Holocaust stories
to the inside pages while the front page contained news that was
seemingly trivial. On September 12, 1939, the Times ran a story
on a special report from the German News Bureau in Poland
revealing that a solution of the Jewish problem in Poland is on
the German-Polish agenda. The story, which appeared on page
ve, warned that the implicationswere it carried out on the
German model, are ominous, and observed that it was hard to see
how the removal of Jews would alter the situation without their
extermination.
26
Meanwhile, a story about a retired steel manu-
facturers decision to continue living in Switzerland in protest of
federal tax policies appeared on the front page.
27
In fact, war news
was so slow during this period that in October, one article carried
the headline 38 Reporters Search for a War/ Correspondents
with British in West Do Not Expect a Nazi Offensive this Fall/
RAIN STEADY IN WIDE AREA.
28
Similarly, On March 5, 1944,
as the war was dragging into its sixth year in Europe, Times corre-
spondent Ralph Parker reported from Ukraine, With horrifying
precision, the German anti-Semitic policy had been applied to this
region of cherry orchards and elds of sunowers.
29
Under the
headline Many Jews Killed in Cherkassy Area/ Tour of Ukraine
Reveals How Nazis Followed Plan to Exterminate Them, the ar-
ticle ran on page six. Meanwhile, on page one, the Times ran an
27
THE CONCORD REVIEW
article about how the Monte Carlo casino was nally beginning
to feel the economic pressures of the war. In an ironically solemn
tone, it reported: The last session of roulette was desolating.
People played only 10 and 20 franc notes. In the baccarat game,
last hope of the desperate, only 3,000 francs were risked and the
game closed for lack of the banker.Nobody wanted to buy any
whisky.
30
Needless to say, Jewish suffering was clearly not shunted
aside to make way for more pressing news.
The handful of Holocaust stories that did make the front
page of The New York Times between 1939 and 1945 were no more
effective than the inside stories at informing readers of Jewish suf-
fering because they de-emphasized the role of Jews as the primary
victims of the Nazis crimes. I have just seen the most terrible
place on the face of the earth, wrote Times Moscow correspondent
William Lawrence on August 30, 1944, the German concentra-
tion camp at Maidanek, which was a veritable River Rouge for
the production of death, in which it was estimated by Soviet and
Polish authorities that as many as 1,500,000 persons from nearly
every country in Europe were killed in the last three years. The
article later states that the dead were Jews, Poles, Russians, and in
fact representative of a total of twenty-two nationalities.
31
While it
was certainly true that Maidanek (sometimes spelled Majdanek)
claimed the lives of many non-Jews, including Poles and Belorus-
sians, approximately 76 percent of those who died there were
Jewish, a fact which both the article and its headline obscured.
32

Other front page stories bearing headlines like, Refugee Ship
Off Palestine Sunk by Blast; Casualties Feared Among 1,771
Homeless (November 26, 1940); 580,000 Refugees Admitted
to United States in Decade (December 11, 1943); Roosevelt
Board is Negotiating to Save Refugees from Nazis (January 30,
1944); and President Predicts Murder Orgy by Nazis to Wipe Out
Minorities (June 13, 1944) all primarily concerned Jews, yet did
not clearly identify them as such. In shying away from use of the
word Jew on the front page, the Times made a conscious decision
to downplay Jewish suffering, which likely would have severely
impaired readers understanding of the single most fundamental
aspect the genocide: Hitlers desire to exterminate the Jews.
28 Gabriel Grand
Perhaps the clearest illustration of The New York Times re-
luctance to explicitly portray Jewish victimhood is the American
press response to a conference held in late November of 1942 by
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, chairman of the World Jewish Congress,
which conrmed the death of 2,000,000 Jews and announced that
Hitler had ordered the murder of all Jews in Nazi-occupied Eu-
rope.
33
Almost all American newspapers, both local and national,
ran the story in some form, with headlines such as: 2 Million
Jews Slain by Nazis, Dr. Wise Avers (Chicago Tribune, page 4), 2
Million Jews Slain, Rabbi Wise Asserts (Washington Post, page 6),
Wise Says Hitler Has Ordered 4,000,000 Jews Slain in 1942 (New
York Herald Tribune, page 1), Jewish Extermination Drive Laid to
Hitler by Dr. Wise (Baltimore Sun, page 3), Wise to Reveal Nazis
Program to Kill Jews (New York Journal American, page 3) and Two
Million Jews Slain, Wise Says (Los Angeles Examiner, page 1). In
contrast, the headline to the corresponding New York Times article
read Wise Gets Conrmations/Checks with State Department
on Nazis Extermination Campaign.
34
The article, which ap-
peared on page 10, was the only story in more than 18 American
newspapers whose headline did not reference Jews and did not
contain the 2 million gure cited in the Wise announcement.
35
Aside from The New York Times failure to focus attention on
Jewish suffering on the front page, the other major area in which
the newspaper signicantly underplayed the Holocaust was in its
special sections, including the editorials and review sections. Out
of the nearly 17,000 editorials that the Times published during the
six years of World War II, only 16, less than one in 1,000, focused
on Jews in the Holocaust. Only once, on December 2, 1942, was
the Nazi persecution of Jews the subject of a lead editorial. Titled
The First to Suffer, the nine-paragraph piece seems to deliberately
draw attention away from Jewish victimhood. The Jew was the rst
number on a list which has since included people of other faiths
and of many racesCzechs, Poles, Norwegians, Netherlanders,
Belgians, Frenchand which, should Hitler win, should take in
our own mongrel nation. The editorial goes on to assert, The
horror of the persecution of the Jews, viewed in this perspective,
covers all free humanity. What the Jew has suffered is a prediction
29
THE CONCORD REVIEW
of the suffering that would be reserved for all who dare to stand
against Hitlerism.
36
Still other editorials concerning the Holocaust
did not even mention Jewish involvement whatsoever. Six months
after the Warsaw ghetto uprising, the Times published an editorial
titled, Supermen at Warsaw, extolling the men who resolved
that if they had to die they would die free, with arms in their
hands. Nowhere did the October 28, 1943 piece mention that the
Warsaw ghetto and its defenders were almost all Jewish.
37
Such
a conspicuous absence of information did not go unnoticed. In a
December 31 editorial, the Jewish Times of Philadelphia criticized
The New York Times for portraying the news in a way as if no Jews
were involved in the tragic fray.
38
Arguably the most pronounced lack of attention to the
Holocaust in the Times, however, took place in the newspapers
review sections, which were published at the end of each week and
each year to summarize notable events in the news. On September
3, 1944, The New York Times review section ran a full page titled,
Outstanding Events and Major Trends of the Second World War
without mentioning Jews.
39
The mass murders at concentration
camps in Auschwitz and Maidanek never appeared in the papers
Highlights of the Week In Review, even after their respective
liberations at the end of the war.
40
Jews were neither included in
Fifty Memorable Dates in the History of 1944, nor were they ref-
erenced in A Chronology of the War in Europe: 100 Outstanding
Dates, both of which also made no reference to concentration
camps such as Dachau, Auschwitz, Maidanek, Bergen-Belsen and
others, even when the camps were liberated.
41
Following Hitlers
suicide, a Times review story remembered the civilian toll that
his murder agenda had caused. Despite the fact that historians
have estimated that nearly 6 million Jews were killed by Hitlers
Nazi regime, the Times chose to remain silent about Jewish victim-
hood.
42
Despite the overwhelming evidence, it is not fair or accu-
rate to say that during the course of World War II there were no
instances in which The New York Times took steps to expose Jewish
suffering to its readers. Some shining exceptions include: a short
30 Gabriel Grand
but passionate essay in 1942 by novelist Sholem Asch in the Times
Magazine which pleaded for Jewish aid, and a front-page article
on Kristallnacht in 1938. Also noteworthy is a striking half-page
article by Times correspondent Anne OHare McCormick about
a rally at Madison Square Garden to Save Doomed Jews, which
warned:
If the Christian community does not support to the utmost the belated
proposal worked out to rescue the Jews remaining in Europe from
the fate prepared for them, we have accepted the Hitlerian thesis
and forever compromised the principles for which we are pouring
out blood and wealth.
43
Yet stories like Ms. McCormicks, the rst three paragraphs of
which appeared on page one of the Times on March 3, 1943, under
the smallest of 11 headlines, were anomalies in a paper otherwise
devoid of accessible information about the Jewish Holocaust.
None of the reasons offered so far seem to explain the
extent to which The New York Times so severely and uniformly
downplayed Jewish suffering during the Holocaust. As previously
demonstrated, a lack of information cannot account for the more
than 1,000 articles about the Holocaust which contained news
of the Nazi murder of Jews in explicit detail, but never received
any prominent position. Furthermore, the Times professed the
accuracy of its facts in Holocaust stories on inside pages, and was
simultaneously willing to publish and feature unconrmed reports.
The theory that these stories were overshadowed by war news does
not explain why, when genocide stories did appear on the front
page, the Times went out of its way to de-emphasize the roles of
Jewish victims, hesitated to follow up in the editorial section, and
almost never mentioned the word Jew in connection with World
War II in its review sections. To truly understand why The New York
Times would have minimized the Holocaust during World War II,
we must look to the newspapers connection to Judaism, starting
with its roots.
31
THE CONCORD REVIEW
II. Not a Jewish Newspaper: Ochs, Sulzberger, and Jewish Identity
at The New York Times
Adolph Simon Ochs was born March 12, 1858, on the
eve of the U.S. Civil War. His parents, Julius and Bertha Levy
Ochs, were Jewish immigrants from Germany who had arrived in
Knoxville, Tennessee prior to the war. Ochs began his career in
the industry at age 11 as a paper boy for the Knoxville Chronicle in
an effort to support his family. Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones,
authors of The Trust, the denitive source on the history of The
New York Times family ownership, write, As the oldest son of a
nearly impoverished Jew with a distinct German accent, Adolph
learned to value compromise, work harder than anyone else, and
seek harmony whenever possible.
44
By age 14 he had dropped out
of school, and by 17 he had risen through the ranks of both the
Chronicle and the Tribune, earning the nickname Muley Ochs, a
pun on his work ethic and the Americanized pronunciation of his
last name. His role model was Horace Greeley, the owner of the
inuential New York Tribune, who had struggled up from rural pov-
erty in New Hampshire. After moving briey to Kentucky to work
as a typesetter at The Courier-Journal, Ochs returned to Tennessee
and, at the age of 19, borrowed $250 to purchase a controlling
interest in the Chattanooga Daily, becoming publisher.
45
Although Adolphs father Julius was deeply pious and a
student of the religious writings of the Hebrew faith, none of his
three sons grew up in a particularly religious household, largely
because in Knoxville, the Ochs family was more focused on earning
a living than on Judaism.
46
However, Adolphs religious views shifted
when, in 1883, he married Iphigenia Efe Miriam Wise, daughter
of the Cincinnati Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, founder of the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations and the leading proponent of
Reform Judaism in the United States.
47
Through his wife, Ochs
learned and came to embrace the beliefs of Reform Judaism. He
gave credit to his Jewish home life and the Jewish religion for his
high moral standards and strong work ethic.
48
In addition, this
brand of Reform Judaism, which was widely embraced among
German Jewish immigrants in the late 19th-century, compounded
32 Gabriel Grand
with Ochs pre-existing desire to assimilate into American culture.
Sociologist Ewa Morawska writes, Reform Judaisms philosophi-
cal and practical purpose was to modernize Jewish religion by
eliminating the characteristics that set apart its practitioners from
mainstream (Christian) society.
49
As a Classical Reform Jew, Ochs
sought to reconcile ancient traditions with the values and social
norms of contemporary America. Key to this effort was the asser-
tion that Judaism did not represent a culture; it was merely a set
of religious beliefs. Ochs would later state, I know nothing else,
no other denition of a Jew except religion.
50
This denition of
what it meant to be Jewish became a fundamental part of Ochs
ideology, which would later steer the course of development of
The New York Times.
Adolph Ochs, like the more than 200,000 German-Jewish
immigrants who came to the United States between 1820 and 1880,
worked hard to minimize the public attention that he, as a Jew
and a foreigner, drew.
51
A 1944 book about the history and chang-
ing nature of the American newspaper business described Ochs
as naturally a very timid man, kindly, well-meaning, but above
all else anxious not to get into many personal controversies and
not to offend many readers.
52
For Ochs, political visibility was a
luxury that could not be afforded by Jews seeking to t into the
American lifestyle. Like many other assimilationist German Jews, he
saw turn-of-the-century Eastern European Jewish immigrants, with
their Orthodox customs, thick accents, full beards, and long, black
frock coats, as an immediate target for stereotype and ostracization
by the American public. Paula E. Hyman, professor of modern
Jewish studies at Yale University, writes, The new immigrants
were so numerous and visible in their Yiddish-speaking ghettos,
so conspicuous in their radical politics, that they threatened to
displace the prosperous, respectable German Jewish banker or
merchant as the representative Jew in the popular imagination.
53

The same ethnic group that would later bear the brunt of the
suffering during the Holocaust created a new reason for Ameri-
can Jews of German descent to be self-conscious of their religion
by undermining their efforts to t unobtrusively into American
culture. We should live quietly, happily, unostentatiously, Ochs
33
THE CONCORD REVIEW
once advised the Jews of Chattanoogas Mizpah congregation.
Dont be too smart. Dont know too much.
54
Ironically, however,
he would come increasingly close to violating his own wisdom as
he strove to gain a footing in the industry. By 1895 Ochs had set
his eyes on acquiring a newspaper in New York, and in 1896 he
negotiated a deal to purchase the bankrupt New-York Times.
55
The moment that the paths of Adolph Ochs and the Times
crossed was the beginning of an era in which the newspaper would
be shaped and guided by the beliefs and goals of its publisher: to
assimilate in the face of a nations harsh anti-Semitism, to adhere
to the principles of Reform Judaism, and above all, to remain un-
biased and publish a clean, dignied, trustworthy and impartial
newspaper, as Ochs announced in the Times on August 18, 1896.
56
For Adolph Ochs, the fear of racial and religious judgment by the
American public and the objective of journalistic neutrality gave
rise to a strong reluctance to feature Jewish issues in his publica-
tion; he was determined not to have the Times ever appear to
be a Jewish newspaper.
57
During the Dreyfus affair of the late
1890s, in which the Jewish French army captain Alfred Dreyfus
was wrongly court-martialed and imprisoned on Devils Island,
where he was subjected to inhumane treatment, Adolph Ochs
refused to let the his paper take the lead in reporting the story.
I thought it would be unwise for The New York Times to begin the
campaign, as it would be at once attributed to a Jewish interest,
he later explained.
58
Tifft and Jones write, When other papers
took up Dreyfus plight, the Times followed suit, carefully avoiding
the use of words such as Jew, Jewish, or anti-Semitism in headlines.
59

Garet Garrett, a younger member of the Times editorial council,
wrote in his diary in 1915, Mr. Ochs is a non-Jewish Jew. He will
have nothing to do with any Jewish movement.
60
With the death of Adolph Ochs in 1935, the job of New
York Times publisher carried over to his son-in-law, Arthur Hays
Sulzberger; along with it came Ochs attitude toward the role of
Judaism and Jewish-ness in the Times, which Sulzberger not only
perpetuated, but also intensied throughout his term as publisher
until 1961. Although Sulzberger was not raised in a particularly Jew-
34 Gabriel Grand
ish family environment, he found himself nonetheless occasionally
forced to confront his identity when faced with anti-Semitism dur-
ing his early life. After graduating from the Horace Mann School,
Sulzberger attended Columbia University, where he was refused
entrance into multiple fraternities because of his Jewish lineage,
evident from his last name. Though bitterly hurt, he declined an
invitation to Zeta Beta Tau, Columbias Jewish fraternity because
to him Judaism was a religion, and a religion only, andshould
not be a common denominator of social intercourse or political
activity.
61
This conviction strengthened when, in 1917, Sulzberger
married Iphigene Ochs, Adolphs daughter, thus inheriting not
only the spot of heir to the Times publisher position, but also a
direct tie to Reform Judaism.
As publisher of the Times, Sulzberger was even more
adamant than Ochs that the newspaper not seem to be biased
in favor of Jews. According to Leff, If other publishers worried
about appearing neutral with respect to Republicans or Democrats,
business or labor, the Dodgers or the Giants, Sulzberger worried
about the Jews.
62
Max Frankel, a former executive editor at The
New York Times who wrote and edited at the newspaper from 1952
until his retirement in 1996, said in an interview, Jews were kept
from some conspicuous jobs in Washington and abroad as a gesture
to the publishers fear of having too many Jews in prominent posi-
tions.
63
Yet Jews held key news jobs at the Times, such as Sunday
editor Lester Markel, Washington bureau chief Arthur Krock,
and cable editor Ted Bernstein, who was responsible for editing
foreign correspondence during World War II. There were always
a lot of Jews, but they were for the most part on the inside, Mr.
Frankel explained in a later interview.
64
Of Bernstein, Frankel
said, He literally made up page one after the meetings; he was
the one who designed itIn another era he would have become
top man. It was precisely because of this fear of moving a Jew up
to the number one spot that he was kept [as] number two.
65
Sulzberger was especially conscious of how small details
could affect the newspapers image. Adolph Ochs had already im-
posed strict rules in 1912, at the insistence of the Anti-Defamation
35
THE CONCORD REVIEW
League, that governed the use of the word Jew, deeming it inappro-
priate to use the word in the context of phrases like Jew boy, Jew
store, and to Jew down.
66
As publisher, Sulzberger strengthened
these rules. In a memo to his editors, he wrote, Thus, when the
American Jewish Congress meets our headline does not say Jews
Meet but emphasizes the fact that it is the Congress. When the
Zionists meet it is not Jews, but Zionists.
67
Even before the anti-Semitic press made much of the fact that Times
spelled backwards was Semit(e), [Sulzberger] was vigilant about cor-
recting any suggestion that he or the paper might represent Jewish
interests. When Time [magazine] referred to the paper as the Jewish
owned New York Times, Arthur complained to the proprietor, Henry
Luce, alleging that the phrase implied that the Times was biased.
68
From examining the history of The New York Times, it becomes
evident that the newspaper was particularly sensitive about its
relationship to Judaism. Ochs and Sulzbergers shared desires to
assimilate; beliefs that Judaism was a religion, not an ethnicity;
and principles of journalistic impartiality resulted in a tendency to
minimize the appearance of and deny the Times connection with
Judaism. This attitude was primarily responsible for The New York
Times failure to emphasize the Holocaust during World War II.
Yet there is still one missing connection. Although Sul-
zberger held the highest position at The New York Times during
World War II, as publisher he was not directly responsible for the
decisions about writing, editing and placing stories made on a daily
basis in the newsroom. How did his distinct feelings about Juda-
ism carry over to the Times itself? As Max Frankel puts it, Arthur
Hays Sulzberger created the atmosphere in which those decisions
were made and made no secret of his desire to avoid having the
Times judged or criticized for being a Jewish newspaper.
69
Neil
MacNeil, the night managing editor at the Times, along with Ted
Bernstein, was one of three men who made up the bullpen,
which was exclusively responsible for deciding which stories to
place on the front page during World War II.
70
In 1940, he wrote:
There is a tendency, even on the best newspapers, for the economic,
political, and social views of the owners to seep down through the
entire organization. Reporters viewing the event and editors passing
36 Gabriel Grand
judgment on it are inclined, be it ever so slightly, to see it from the
publishers angleFew will bite the hand that feeds them. Almost
without knowing it the news favors the owners viewpoint. The story
in which the publisher is interested becomes a good story, and vice
versa.
71

Similarly, Turner Catledge, who worked at the Times from 1929 to
1968 and held the position of managing editor for 12 years im-
mediately after World War II, wrote in his autobiography,
Sulzberger made his likes and dislikes known via memoranda which
we called the blue notes because they were written on blue paper.
Hundreds of these blue notes rained down on me over the years, on
great matters and small. Since James (referring to Edwin L. James,
the managing editor during World War II) passed on the publishers
instructions, as well as his own, a code had been worked out to denote
Sulzbergers requests. If James said in a memo, It is desired that,
the bullpen editors understood the particular instruction came from
Sulzberger, and was not to be ignored.
72
The inuence of the publisher on the content of The New York
Times is undeniable; Sulzberger and Ochs very presence at the
New York Times created what Times reporter and author Gay Talese
has called a sensitivity to Semitismwithin the institution.
73
Although no written record of a policy to minimize Jew-
ish issues at the Times has been discovered, another explanation
is that such a rule would not have even needed to be in writing.
Leff argues, Such a memo might not have been included in
the Times less-than-comprehensive les, or the policy may have
been communicated verballybut the more likely explanation
is that no record exists because there was no need for an explicit
policy.
74
Leffs conclusion is supported by Frankels statement,
[Sulzberger] had very good friends in charge of both the news
and the editorial departments, and so they would have known
his mindset.
75
Sulzbergers friendship with Charles Merz, whom
Sulzberger convinced Ochs to hire and named editorial director
in 1938, was well known at the Times. Sulzberger and his editorial
page editor vacationed together, did jigsaw and crossword puzzles,
and played backgammon, Chinese checkers, gin, and canasta.
76

Sulzberger and Merzs propinquity led to an almost telepathic
relationship between the two. They thought alike, they talked
37
THE CONCORD REVIEW
alike, said Daniel Schwarz, who started at the Times in 1929 and
eventually became its Sunday editor. Sulzberger wouldnt have
to say to Merz what he should do and not do. They could have
talked about it while playing cards. They would have traded feel-
ings about it. But nothing had to be told.
77
On this subject, Max
Frankel said, There was a spoken attitudewhere possible we
do not want to feature Jewish suffering except in the context of
larger, more widespread suffering. I think that was close to a
policy.
78
Sulzbergers personal beliefs clearly penetrated the Times
on multiple levels, and it is impossible to fully understand the
newspapers treatment of the Holocaust without viewing it in
light of the conict between the Jewish and American identi-
ties of its publishers, Adolph Ochs and Arthur Hays Sulzberger.
Nevertheless, it is important to understand how both mens views
were ultimately the product of the predominant American anti-
Semitism of the era. In 1939, an Elmo Roper poll found that 53
percent of Americans felt Jews were different and therefore
deservedsocial and economic restrictions.
79
In June of 1944, a
poll asked Americans which groups represented the greatest threat
to the United States. While 6 percent responded Germans and
9 percent Japanese, 24 percent said that the greatest threat to
America was posed by the Jews.
80
It is therefore unsurprising that
a successful man like Sulzberger would have wanted to minimize
his Jewish-ness in order to be perceived as more American, and
that this desire extended to the Times. When youre running a
big enterprise and you want to be a signicant newspaper in Wall
Street and with inuence in Washington and so on, the idea that
you might be called, as you probably were called by anti-Semites,
just a Jewish newspaper, that was a reputation to be lived down,
said Frankel.
81

While he ultimately succeeded in preserving the Times
image of impartiality, in the process Sulzberger failed to alert
Americans to the greatest genocide in human history. By 1940,
the New York Times was one of the of the largest newspapers in the
world in terms of circulation and inuence.
82
What Harvard is
38 Gabriel Grand
to U.S. education, what the House of Morgan has been to U.S.
nance, The New York Times is to U.S. journalism, announced Time
magazine on April 12, 1943.
83
A 1944 book comparing American
newspapers said of the Times,
In the years that have elapsed since the death of Adolph S. Ochs in
1935, the New York Times has more than ever established itself as the
foremost daily of the world. As an institution it outshines the London
TimesIn America no other journal approaches it in the volume of
news and coverage of the worldit has literally made itself indispens-
able to anyone who desires to be thoroughly informed as to what is
happening on this globe.
84
The American public looked to The New York Times to inform it of
All the news thats t to print.
85
Because the newspaper never
emphasized the Holocaust, all but the most careful readers were
barely aware of its existence. In 1943, a Gallup poll asked Ameri-
cans whether they believed that 2,000,000 Jews had been killed
since the start of World War II. Despite the fact that the Allied
governments had publicly conrmed this number at the end of
1942, 28 percent said it was a rumor, 24 percent had no opinion,
and only 47 percent thought it was true.
86
The Times underplaying of the Holocaust affected not only
its readers understanding of the genocide, it also inuenced that
of other American and foreign media. David Wyman, author of
The Abandonment of the Jews, writes, Other newspapers recognized
the Times guidance in foreign news policy. A perception that the
Jewish-owned Times did not think the massive killings of Jews was
worth emphasizing could have inuenced other newspapers.
87

Deborah Lipstadt adds, various dailies subscribe(d) to The New
York Times foreign wire service and reprint(ed) important stories
from the paper. Only rarely were stories concerning the Jews
treated in a way that would have prompted other papers to think
them signicant or worthy of reprinting.
88
A 1944 survey of Wash-
ington correspondents found that more than ve in six believed
the Times to be the nations most reliable, comprehensive, and
fair paper.
89
Given the improbability of nding direct evidence to prove
that the lack of emphasis on the Holocaust by The New York Times
39
THE CONCORD REVIEW
resulted in a corresponding lack of effort to stop the suffering
of Jews in Europe, it is unreasonable to conclude that the Times
prolonged the Holocaust. However, like the millions of other by-
standers in the American public, the State Department, the White
House, and abroad, it made little attempt to reach out to help
Europes Jews. Unlike most other bystanders, however, the Times
had a responsibility to make others aware of the genocide. If the
systematic campaign to annihilate European Jewry was a critical
story, it should have been on the front page regardless of whether
Jews could have been rescued as a result, writes Leff.
90
Instead,
the way The New York Times relegated stories of Jews suffering to
the inside pages and diluted Jewish victimhood in its reporting
during World War II provided no opportunity for its readers to
take note. The only reasonable conclusion is that of The Trust:
Had the Times highlighted Nazi atrocities against Jews, or simply
not buried certain stories, the nation might have awakened to the
horror far sooner than it did.
91
There is, however, one benet that arose from the tragedy
of The New York Times; the failure to draw attention to the Holo-
caust catalyzed several positive changes for the newspaper. After
the departure of Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Jewish correspondents
at the Times began to receive equal treatment in assignments in
Washington and abroad.
92
Several Jews, including Max Frankel,
ascended to prominent jobs, including managing editor. Led by
Arthur Hays Sulzbergers son and grandson, the Times abandoned
its sensitivity to its Jewish roots and supported Jewish issues, includ-
ing Israel, in stories and editorials.
93
Finally, the determination
to avoid its past mistakes has driven the Times to take the lead on
genocide stories in Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia, Uganda, and Kosovo.
As Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel has stated, There may
be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there
must never be a time when we fail to protest.
94
The New York Times
seems to have taken this wisdom to heart.
40 Gabriel Grand
1
A. C. Sedgwick, Greeks Closing In; Fall of Second Vital
Fascist Center in Albania Near, New York Times (November
26, 1940); Percival Knauth, Wide Bristol Ruin Pictured in
Berlin, NYT (November 26, 1940); 1,937 Trainees Go to
Camp in Nation; 17% Rejected Here, NYT (November 26,
1940)
2
Allison Danzig, Service Rivalry, Bowl and Title Races
Keep Football Flame Alive; Army-Navy Clash Still a Big Show,
New York Times (November 26, 1940); The Corn is Green Will
Open Tonight, NYT (November 26, 1940)
3
Associated Press, Walls Will Enclose Warsaw Jews Today,
New York Times (November 26, 1940)
4
Ibid.
5
See Peter Novick, The Holocaust in American Life
(Boston: Houghton Mifin, 1999); William D. Rubinstein, The
Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies Could Not Have Saved
More Jews from the Nazis (New York: Routledge, 1997)
6
Laurel Leff, Buried by The Times: The Holocaust and
Americas Most Important Newspaper reprint ed. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2005) p. 2
7
Ibid., pp. 23
8
Max Frankel, 150th Anniversary: 18512001:
Turning Away from the Holocaust, The New York Times
(November 14, 2001) late, nal edition, http://www.nytimes.
com/2001/11/14/news/150th-anniversary-1851-2001-turning-
away-from-the-holocaust.html?pagewanted=all
9
Leff, p. 6
10
Max Frankel, Turning Away From the Holocaust: The
New York Times, in Why Didnt the Press Shout?: American
and International Journalism During the Holocaust, ed. Robert
Moses Shapiro (New York: Yeshiva University Press, 2003) p. 80
11
Ibid. p. 80
12
Leff, p. 6
13
Deborah E. Lipstadt, Beyond Belief: The American Press
And The Coming of The Holocaust, 19331945, paperback ed.
(1986; repr., New York: Free Press, 1993) p. 137
14
Leff, p. 172
15
United Press, (title unknown), New York Times (June
27, 1942)
16
United Press, 1,000,000 Jews Slain by Nazis, Report Says,
New York Times (June 30, 1942)
17
Ibid.
18
Leff, p. 4
41
THE CONCORD REVIEW
19
See Leff, p. 4, footnote 4
20
Leff, p. 138
21
Ibid., p. 140
22
New York Times (July 2, 1942)
The Bund Report went on to list the numbers of thousands
of Jews killed at certain locations in Poland. Upon receiving the
report in London, the Polish government in-exile passed the
information on to the BBC, which broadcast the information
on radio on June 2, 1942. Historian Martin Gilbert writes that
The details given in the Bund Report were precise, and, as we
now know, accurate.
23
London Bureau, Allies Are Urged to Execute Nazis,
New York Times (July 2, 1942)
24
Leff, p. 174
25
Owing to a recent one and a half inch decrease in the
width of the printed newspaper and changes in its layout, New
York Times now carries fewer stories on its front page than
it did during World War II. See Katharine Q. Seelye, Times
to Reduce Page Size and Close a Plant in 2008, New York
Times (July 18, 2006), http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/
business/media/18web.html. For information on the Times
wartime advertising cuts, see Leff, p. 9
26
Berlin Bureau, Nazis Hint Purge of Jews in Poland,
New York Times (September 13, 1939)
27
Expatriated U.S. Tax Foe Wont Return During War,
New York Times (September 13, 1939)
28
Harold Denny, 38 Reporters in Search for a War, New
York Times (October 22, 1939)
29
Ralph Parker, Many Jews Killed in Cherkassy Area, New
York Times (March 5, 1944)
30
AP, Monte Carlo Ends 3-Year Spree When Germans
Install Rationing, New York Times (March 5, 1944)
31
Nazi Mass Killings Laid Bare in Camp; Victims Put at
1,500,000 in Huge Factory of Gas Chambers and Crematories
New York Times (August 30, 1944)
32
Reszka P. Pawel, Majdanek Victims Enumerated.
Changes in the history textbooks? Aushwitz-Birkenau
Memorial Museum, last modied December 23, 2005, http://
en.auschwitz.org/rn/index.php?option=com_content&task=vie
w&id=44&Itemid=8
Interestingly, the 1.5 million death gure that the Times
article cites is signicantly skewed; contemporary estimates
put the actual death toll at around 360,000, while a disputed
42 Gabriel Grand
2005 study by the Majdanek Museum claims the real number
to be 59,000 Jews and 19,000 others. At the time, the Soviets
overestimated the Majdanek death toll at 1.5 million with
400,000 Jewish victims. It is likely that this is the source of
Times correspondent William Lawrences misinformation.
33
Lipstadt, p. 180
34
Associated Press, Wise Gets Conrmations/ Checks with
State Department on Nazis Extermination Campaign, New
York Times (November 25, 1942)
35
For more information, see Lipstadt, p. 180
The only other newspaper which did not use the 2 million
gure in the headline for the Wise story was the New York
Herald Tribune, which included the European Jews targeted by
Hitler in the 4 million referred to by the headline.
36
The First to Suffer, New York Times (December 2,
1942)
37
Editorial, Supermen at Warsaw, New York Times
(October 28, 1943)
38
Leff, p. 221
39
Ibid., p. 292
40
Ibid., p. 292
41
Ibid., pp. 293, 312
42
Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy (New
York: William Collins and Sons, 1985) p. 18
43
Sholem Asch, (Title unclear), New York Times
Magazine (February 7, 1943); Otto D. Tolischus, Bands Rove
Cities/Thousands Arrested for Protection as Gangs Avenge
Paris Death, New York Times (November 11, 1938); Anne
OHare McCormick, Save Doomed Jews/ Huge Rally Pleads,
New York Times (March 3, 1943)
44
Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones, The Trust: The Private
and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times (Boston: Little,
Brown and Co., 1999) p. 10
45
Ibid., pp. 11, 13
46
New York Times, Adolph S. Ochs Dead at 77; Publisher
of Times Since 1896, The New York Times Learning Network,
last modied April 9, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/learning/
general/onthisday/bday/0312.html
47
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/
bday/0312.html
Neither Iphigenia Wise nor her father Isaac has any
direct relation to Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of the World Jewish
Congress.
43
THE CONCORD REVIEW
48
Stephen J. Whiteld, The American Jew as a Journalist,
Brandeis University Online (accessed March 4, 2012) http://
www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/bitstreams/10113.pdf,
p. 169
49
Ewa Morawska, Assimilation in the United States:
Nineteenth Century, in Jewish Women: A Comprehensive
Historical Encyclopedia (Jewish Womens Archive, 2005) last
modied March 11, 2012, http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/
article/assimilation-in-united-states-nineteenth-century
50
Whiteld, p. 170
51
Morawska
52
Oswald Garrison Villard, The Disappearing Daily (1944;
repr., New Hampshire: Ayer Company Publishers, 1969) p. 84,
Google Books
53
Paula E. Hyman, Eastern European Immigrants in the
United States, in Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical
Encyclopedia (Jewish Womens Archive, 2005) (accessed
March 13, 2012) http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/eastern-
european-immigrants-in-united-states
54
Tifft and Jones, p. 25
55
Ibid., pp. 2830
56
New York Times, Adolph S. Ochs Dead at 77
57
58
Ibid., p. 95
59
Ibid., p. 95
60
Ibid., p. 94
61
Ibid., pp. 215216
62
Leff, p. 21
63
Max Frankel, e-mail interview by author, December 20,
2011
64
Max Frankel, telephone interview by author, December
22, 2011
65
Ibid.
66
Whiteld comes to a similar conclusion about Bernsteins
religion preventing him from becoming managing editor.
67
Leff, p. 30
68
69
Max Frankel, e-mail interview by author, December 20,
2011
70
The bullpen was the nickname for the corner of the
Times newsroom that contained the desks where the night
managing editors sat.
44 Gabriel Grand
71
Harrison Salisbury, Without Fear or Favor (New York:
Ballantine Books, 1980) p. 367
72
Turner Catledge, My Life and The Times (New York:
Harper and Row, 1971) p. 189
73
Gay Talese, The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the
Scenes at the New York Times; The Institution That Inuences
the World 1969 reprint (New York: Random House 2007) p.
114
74
Leff, p. 190
75
22, 2011
76
Leff, p. 31
77
Ibid., p. 32
78
22, 2011
79
The Journalism of the Holocaust, Marvin Kalb lecture
at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.
org/lectures/kalb.htm
80
Charles H. Stember, Jews in the Mind of America (New
York: Basic Books, 1996) p. 127
81
22, 2011
82
In May 1946 the circulation of the Sunday New York
Times reached 1 million copies, surpassing that of the Los
Angeles Times, New York Daily News, and the Chicago Tribune.
Furthermore, that year for the rst time, the Times advertising
took the lead over the Herald Tribune. See Tifft and Jones,
pp. 236, 316. In 1944, the Times bought the radio station
WXQR and began broadcasting an hourly newscast in 1946.
1948 marked the start of the publication of the New York
Times international edition. See New York Times Company,
New York Times Timeline 19411970, The New York Times
Company Online, last modied 2012, http://www.nytco.com/
company/milestones/timeline_1941.html
83
The Press: Jimmy James Boys, Time Magazine
(April 12, 1943), http://www.time.com/time/magazine/
article/0,9171,802675,00.html
84
Oswald Garrison Villard, The Disappearing Daily (1944),
from Google Books
85
The slogan All the news thats t to print was coined by
Adolph Ochs in 1896 after a public contest failed to produce
a better one. The slogan rst appeared on the front page
of the newspaper on February 10, 1897, and has remained
45
THE CONCORD REVIEW
there ever since. See New York Times Company, New York
Times Timeline 18811910, The New York Times Company
Online, last modied 2012, http://www.nytco.com/company/
milestones/timeline_1881.html
86
Kalb lecture
87
David S. Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews: America
and the Holocaust, 19411945 new ed., 1984, reprint (New
York: New Press, 2007) p. 323
88
Lipstadt, 220
89
Ibid., p. 171
90
Leff, p. 16
91
92
22, 2011
93
Frankel, p. 85
94
Elie Wiesel, Hope, Despair, and Memory, Nobel
Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo City Hall, Norway, December
10, 1986, http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/
laureates/1986/
Bibliography
Catledge, Turner, My Life and The Times New York: Harper
and Row, 1971
Frankel, Max, 150th Anniversary: 18512001: Turning Away
from the Holocaust, The New York Times November 14, 2001,
late, nal edition, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/14/
news/150th-anniversary-1851-2001-turning-away-from-the-
holocaust.html?pagewanted=all
Frankel, Max, E-mail, interview by author, December 20,
2011
Frankel, Max, Telephone, interview by author, December
22, 2011
Frankel, Max, Turning Away From the Holocaust: The
New York Times, in Why Didnt the Press Shout?: American
and International Journalism During the Holocaust, edited by
Robert Moses Shapiro, pp. 7987, New York: Yeshiva University
Press, 2003
Garrison Villard, Oswald, The Disappearing Daily 1944,
reprint, New Hampshire: Ayer Company Publishers, 1969,
Google Books
Gilbert, Martin, The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy New
York: William Collins and Sons, 1985
46 Gabriel Grand
Jewish Virtual Library, Adolph Ochs, Jewish Virtual
Library, accessed December 21, 2011 http://www.
jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/ochs.html
Kalb, Marvin, The Journalism of the Holocaust, United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum, last modied February 27,
1996, http://www.ushmm.org/lectures/kalb.htm
Leff, Laurel, Buried by The Times: The Holocaust and
Americas Most Important Newspaper reprint ed., Cambridge:
Leff, Laurel, Why the Facts Didnt Speak for Themselves,
in Why Didnt the Press Shout?: American and International
Journalism During the Holocaust, edited by Robert Moses
Shapiro, pp. 5175, New York: Yeshiva University Press, 2003
Laqueur, Walter, The Terrible Secret: Suppression of the
Truth About Hitlers Final Solution Boston: Little, Brown,
1980
Leiter, Robert, Buried by The Times: Horror Story,
review of Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and Americas
Most Important Newspaper, by Laurel Leff, New York Times,
May 15, 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/books/
review/15LEITER.html
Lewis, David Levering, Parallels and Divergences:
Assimilationist Strategies of Afro-American and Jewish Elites
from 1910 to the Early 1930s, Journal of American History 71,
no. 3 (December 1984): 543564, JSTOR
Lipstadt, Deborah E., Beyond Belief: The American Press
And The Coming of The Holocaust, 19331945 paperback
edition, 1986, reprint, New York: Free Press, 1993
The New York Times, Adolph S. Ochs Dead at 77;
Publisher of Times Since 1896, The New York Times Learning
Network, last modied April 9, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/
learning/general/onthisday/bday/0312.html
The New York Times Company, New York Times Timeline,
18811910, The New York Times Company Online, last
modied 2012, http://www.nytco.com/company/milestones/
timeline_1881.html
The New York Times Company, New York Times Timeline,
19411970, The New York Times Company Online, last
modied 2012, http://www.nytco.com/company/milestones/
timeline_1941.html
Morawska, Ewa, Assimilation in the United States:
Nineteenth Century, Jewish Womens Archive, last modied
March 1, 2009, http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/
assimilation-in-united-states-nineteenth-century
47
THE CONCORD REVIEW
New York Times, 19381946, New York Times Online
Archives 18511980
Novick, Peter, The Holocaust in American Life Boston:
Houghton Mifin, 1999
Pawel, Reszka P., Majdanek Victims Enumerated.
Changes in the history textbooks? Aushwitz-Birkenau
Memorial Museum, last modied December 23, 2005, http://
en.auschwitz.org/m/index.php?option=com_content&task=vie
w&id=44&Itemid=8
Rubinstein, William D., The Myth of Rescue: Why the
Democracies Could Not Have Saved More Jews from the Nazis
New York: Routledge, 1997
Salisbury, Harrison, Without Fear or Favor New York:
Ballantine Books, 1980
Seelye, Katharine Q., Times to Reduce Page Size and Close
a Plant in 2008, New York Times July 18, 2006, http://www.
nytimes.com/2006/07/18/business/media/18web.html
Shapiro, Robert Moses, Why Didnt the Press Shout?
American & International Journalism During the Holocaust
New York: Yeshiva University Press, 2003
Stember, Charles H., Jews in the Mind of America New York:
Basic Books, 1966
Talese, Gay, The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the
Scenes at the New York Times: The Institution That Inuences
the World 1969, reprint, New York: Random House, 2007
Tifft, Susan E., and Alex S. Jones, The Trust: The Private
and Powerful Family Behind the New York Times Boston:
Little, Brown and Co., 1999
Time Magazine, The Press: Jimmy James Boys,
April 12, 1943 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/
article/0,9171,802675,00.html
Whiteld, Stephen J., The American Jew as a Journalist,
Brandeis University Online, accessed March 4, 2012, http://
www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/bitstreams/10113.pdf
Wiesel, Elie, Hope, Despair, and Memory, Nobel Lecture,
Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo City Hall, Norway, December 10,
1986, http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/
laureates/1986/
Wyman, David S., The Abandonment of the Jews: America
and the Holocaust, 19411945 new ed. 1984, reprint, New York:
New Press, 2007
48 Gabriel Grand
Bertrand Russell, after his rst disastrous experiment
in organizing a school, observed that the rst task of
education is to destroy the tyranny of the local and
immediate over the childs imagination.
Kieran Egan
Social Studies and the Erosion of Education (excerpts)
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia
Childrens Minds, Talking Rabbits & Clockwork Oranges
Teachers College Press, 1999, pp. 131-146
=============
Cicero remarked that the purpose of education is to
free the student from the tyranny of the present.
Neil Postman
Amusing Ourselves to Death
New York: Penguin, 1985, p. 146
49
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Theresa L. Rager is a Senior at the Summit Country Day School in
Cincinnati, Ohio, where she wrote this paper for Kelly A. Cronins Honors
Research Seminar in Social Studies during the 2011/2012 academic year.
THE HISTORY OF
MEDICAL RESEARCH ON TUBERCULOSIS
Theresa L. Rager
ABSTRACT:
I am studying the history of medical research on tuber-
culosis to nd out how this research changed elds of medicine
so that I might better understand why they exist as they do today.
In order to do this, the rst part of my paper will explain tuber-
culosis as a disease. The next section will introduce some minor
scientists who were important to tuberculosis research and several
discoveries. The main section of my paper will include several
scientists who had a major impact on various elds of medicine
through their tuberculosis research. After this, the paper will go
into how thoracic surgery and the BCG vaccine were inuenced
by tuberculosis and changed their respective disciplines of medi-
cine. Finally, I will show the current state of tuberculosis and its
research to demonstrate how research is still inuencing medicine.
This section will also discuss the progression of the disease over
the course of time. Therefore, the paper will suggest that several
elds of medicine were shaped by research projects and health
programs which were developed with a common goal of eradicat-
ing tuberculosis.
50 Theresa L. Rager
Introduction
Tuberculosis has threatened world health since ancient
times. The earliest known observation of tuberculosis dates back
to the 13th century B.C. In the 34 centuries following this observa-
tion, tuberculosis has affected world politics, civil society, sports,
literature, and art. As British explorers sought relief from tuber-
culosis in natural environments, they moved into territories of
Africa, expanding the British Empire. Francis of Assisi contracted
tuberculosis in jail. At age 43, Louis Braille lost his battle with
tuberculosis after making reading possible for the blind.
1
Famous
athletes also struggled with tuberculosis. The pitcher Christopher
Christy Matty Mathewson died from tuberculosis. The disease
also infected the great female tennis competitor Alice Marble.
While she did not lose her life from tuberculosis, it did affect her
game and career for several years. Through tuberculosiss inuence
on sports, the disease became more well-known throughout the
world.
2
Tuberculosis appeared in literature through the Bronte
novels. The famous sisters depicted tuberculosis as a typical cause
of death in their novels, showing the prevalence of the disease.
John Keats lost his life to tuberculosis. In fact, his battle with tu-
berculosis is one of the most famously documented cases. Keats
wrote about tuberculosis in his poetry and spread awareness of
the disease through his writing. Edvard Munch often illustrated
death in his paintings as a reection of his own struggle with
tuberculosis. While tuberculosis strongly affected politics, sports,
literature, and art, this disease had the most powerful effect on
the practice of medicine.
3
No disease has had a longer impact and greater presence
in the world than tuberculosis.
4
The disease has survived as a con-
tinuous epidemic for thousands of years. Medicine has advanced
in knowledge and practice from tuberculosis research, resulting in
the decline of the disease. Therefore, the two have a closely con-
nected and intertwined past.
5
The medical research on tuberculosis
has advanced many aspects of medicine.
6
Pathology advanced by
improving the methods for discovering how a bacterium affects
51
THE CONCORD REVIEW
a host. The pathologists contributed to tuberculosis research and
learned a great deal about this disease and its diagnosis over the
years. Tuberculosis inspired the establishment of sanatoria across
the world. Sanatoria created a parallel health system devoted to
the care of tuberculosis patients. In addition, bacteriology has
advanced with the identication of the infecting bacteria, or ba-
cilli, along with the chemistry of the cell. After the discovery of
the infecting material, public health campaigns and laws began to
protect communities from the spread of tuberculosis. Immunolo-
gists found the tuberculin skin test and immune processes as they
advanced their eld through tuberculosis research. Fundamental
epidemiological concepts were developed in an effort to track and
stop tuberculosis outbreaks. Once these outbreaks and sources
were identied, physicians needed a method to attack the disease.
Thus, the clinician has learned to recognize, predict, and to some
extent control the manifestations of the disease
7
through effective
treatments developed by scientists. Tuberculosis antibiotics were
created from soil fungi to cure patients infected with the disease.
Tuberculosis and medical research also advanced the eld of
thoracic surgery as a means of treating the disease. In the quest
to nd an effective vaccine against tuberculosis, medical research
has improved the understanding of vaccines for many diseases.
8

Medical research and health programs on tuberculosis shaped
several elds of medicine into the specialties they are today.
Tuberculosis and Transmission
Tuberculosis is a complex disease. There are three types
of bacilli, or rod-like bacteria, which have the ability to infect a
host with tuberculosis. The scientic name for these bacilli is My-
cobacterium tuberculosis. The rst type of bacilli is human bacilli. It
is spread across moist environments or humid air but rarely dry
surfaces.
9
Therefore, these bacilli typically infect the respiratory
system. The second type of bacilli, the bovine bacilli, is found in
the abdominal and cervical glands of a tuberculous person, since
it spreads through ingestion of infected material.
10
The third type
52 Theresa L. Rager
of bacilli is the avian bacilli. These bacilli are found in birds but
rarely in humans.
11
The transmission of human and bovine bacilli
typically causes human infection.
Tuberculosis is transmitted by the complex cycle of in-
fection instigated by human and bovine bacilli. These types of
bacilli can infect both man and cattle. Human bacilli rst infect
man. After this initial infection, the bacilli can spread to either
man or cattle for subsequent infections. However, once cattle are
infected with human bacilli, they cannot transmit the bacilli back
to man but only to other cattle. The initial infection by bovine
bacilli operates similarly to human bacilli. The bovine bacilli rst
infect cattle before spreading to cattle and man. With this type
of bacilli, man can infect fellow man but not cattle.
12
With both
human and bovine bacilli, transmission is typically attributed to
older adults.
13
While tuberculosis is very contagious, the spread of
the disease is limited by a few conditions. In order to escape the
host, either man or cattle, the bacilli must break the surface of
the infected tissue. The break causes a lesion in the host, result-
ing in extensive damage of the tissue surface. However, it is very
hard for the bacilli to create this lesion and thus spread to other
individuals.
14
Besides creating a lesion, there are several other factors
that inuence the transmission of tuberculosis in humans. In order
for the disease to spread, there must be a conformation between
the bacilli and environmental conditions.
15
There must also be a
large amount of bacilli frequently taken into the body to cause an
infection.
16
Resistance and previous exposure to tuberculosis from
the environment can prevent an individual from communicating
the disease. Race can also be a factor in infection. Various types of
tuberculosis have a greater chance of infecting different races.
17

The degree of hypersensitivity,
18
immunity, dose, and virulence of
the bacilli are additional infection factors.
19
A combination of the
bacilli and these factors inuences the probability of infection in
the host.
The environmental conditions of the host inuence the
probability of tuberculosis transmission. Environmental conditions
53
THE CONCORD REVIEW
such as housing, daily habits, nutrition, and exposure to infected
individuals can increase a persons natural immunity. Therefore,
a resistance can be built up to tuberculosis through daily life
and contact with the disease. Overcrowded living conditions are
a major factor in communicating tuberculosis. Such conditions
increase a persons chances of coming in contact with an infected
individual. This contact may increase his or her chances of becom-
ing infected. Additionally, nutrition can affect the probability of
infection. In communities with poor diets, tuberculosis infection
rates tend to be higher. Conversely, well-fed individuals are less
likely to develop tuberculosis.
20
Therefore, various environmental
conditions, particularly living conditions and nutrition, have an
effect on the probability of tuberculous infection.
The prevalence of tuberculosis in different environments,
namely urban and rural regions, varies. Tuberculous infection
through the bovine bacilli is more common in rural than urban
regions. Because cattle are primarily found in the countryside, rural
populations have a greater exposure to bovine bacilli and have a
greater chance of contracting tuberculosis from bovine bacilli.
21

Conversely, urban populations have a greater exposure to human
bacilli as a result of poor urban housing and overcrowded living
conditions. Yet, humans who live in urban areas also develop a
greater natural immunity to the human bacilli than those who
live in rural regions. Therefore, those inhabiting rural regions are
more likely to be infected with human bacilli than those in urban
regions. On the other hand, rural populations do not develop a
natural immunity to bovine tuberculosis, because immunity can
only be gained from human bacilli.
22
Human populations in urban
regions still do not fully escape exposure to bovine bacilli. Bovine
bacilli are found in the milk the population drinks, because cattle
have the ability to pass bacilli through the milk they produce.
23
The primary site of infection in humans is the respiratory
system, because the bacilli are easily inhaled with moist air. Infec-
tion in this area is rst visible as a lung lesion.
24
This symptom is
common for tuberculosis in the respiratory system, but is not an
indicator for tuberculosis in other areas of the body. Symptoms
54 Theresa L. Rager
depend on the location of tuberculous infection.
25
Symptoms may
not appear at the site of infection but in another system of the
body.
26
Therefore, tuberculosis diagnosis is a difcult task. A physi-
cian must be thorough in searching for symptoms of tuberculosis,
because external symptoms may not indicate tuberculous infec-
tion. Instead, x-rays and auscultation
27
may be needed to discover
a lung lesion or other primary symptom. In fact, these internal
symptoms are necessary components of a diagnosis, and the ex-
ternal symptoms help more to reinforce the claim of tuberculous
infection.
28
However, tuberculous infection can only be proven
if bacilli are isolated and cultured from the host. Isolation can
be completed using the sputum that is typically produced by an
infected individual. If that individual is not producing sputum, a
saline solution can be inhaled to entrap any bacilli which may then
be used for examination.
29
Tuberculosis is not easily diagnosed,
which makes it difcult to identify and treat infected individuals.
If a person is diagnosed and treated, his or her chances
of survival increase. Nonetheless, tuberculosis can leave lifelong
effects on an individual. For example, the lung lesions that are
so common often leave scars once they heal.
30
These lesions also
have the ability to re-infect a person. This type of infection, called
latent infection, often occurs because bacilli remain alive in the
healed lesions but are not active in the body.
31
In fact, 10 percent
of all individuals infected with tuberculosis will be infected a
second time, and of this population with recurring infection, 90
percent will be infected because of latency.
32
Recovering from
tuberculosis once does not ensure that an individual will not be
infected a second time.
55
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Advances in Tuberculosis Research
The earliest observation of tuberculosis was reported in the
Ordinances of Manu in India during the 13th century B.C.
33
Sir
James Clark, the personal physician of Queen Victoria and John
Keats in the 19th century, advanced thinking of tuberculosis. He
did not believe in bloodletting.
34
He also encouraged moving to
a different climate for therapy. This concept was the precursor to
sanatoria. Sir William Osler supported this idea of moving patients
to a different climate or environment. He suggested the mountain
air of the Adirondacks based upon reports of other tuberculosis
patients improved health from similar experiences. Osler recom-
mended healthier diets as well.
35
These early observations and
advances enabled further scientic discoveries.
After initial observations, discoveries were made regarding
the infectiousness and spread of tuberculosis. However, these dis-
coveries did not come about quickly. Until the middle of the 19th
century, reputable scientists such as Richard Bright and Thomas
Addison disregarded contagiousness. Finally, in 1868, Jean Antoine
Villemin discovered that tuberculosis is an infectious disease.
36

Villemin made this discovery through a series of experiments on
animals. These experiments and subsequent discoveries sparked
greater interest in tuberculosis research.
37
Antoine Bernard-Jean
Marfan is credited with rst observing a potential immunity from
tuberculosis. He saw that healed tuberculosis in one form, namely
cervical glands, protected from tuberculosis in another form, such
as pulmonary.
38
Theobald Smith then realized that there were at
least two types of bacilli responsible for tuberculous infection. He
did not isolate individual bacilli, but he realized the difference
between the two.
39
In 1914, studies in Glasgow found that there
were very few cases of tuberculosis from bovine bacilli when 95
percent of the milk was heat-treated in some manner. A. C. Ruyss
1946 study in Amsterdam found similar observations. This nd-
ing spurred the use of pasteurization and heat treatment to kill
bovine bacilli in urban regions.
40
Pasteurization or heat treatment,
in addition to the ability to locate and treat infected individuals
56 Theresa L. Rager
in urban areas, contributed to the shift in the concentration of
tuberculosis epidemics from urban to rural regions.
41
Following discoveries of infectiousness and the spread of
tuberculosis, scientists learned how to better diagnose and treat
the disease. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen developed the x-ray ma-
chine to examine the lungs for tuberculosis. In 1895, he found
that spots and shadows on the x-rays showed lesions, the tell-tale
signs of tuberculosis. With the x-ray machine, physicians could
determine if the lung was infected and conclude that active ba-
cilli were present. This discovery became a great diagnostic tool
for physicians.
42
Another signicant advancement came with the
rst well-designed, documented trial. J. Burns Amberson, B. T.
McMahon, and Max Pinher conducted a trial in 1926 and 1927
to test the efcacy of sanocrysin, a gold salt, in tuberculosis treat-
ment. This trial was held at the William H. Maybury Sanatorium
in Detroit, Michigan. The trial was not only important in tuber-
culosis research, but was the rst to be completely randomized,
placebo-controlled, and double-blind. Therefore, the sanocrysin
trial was important for statistical research in general.
43
Signicant Advances in Tuberculosis Research:
Ren Thophile Hyacinthe Laennec (17811826) and Pathology
Ren Thophile Hyacinthe Laennec was one of the rst
scientists to make signicant progress in the realm of tuberculosis
research. Laennec is credited with dening the eld of pathology
44

from his research on tuberculosis. He made his rst discovery as a
medical school student while studying 400 autopsies of tuberculosis
patients. A lecture in March 1804 on this study led Laennec to
claim that the term phthisis, the previous name for the disease,
should be replaced with tuberculosis.
45
In this same lecture, he
argued that tuberculosis was one disease that had the ability to
infect many parts of the body.
46
Additionally, he was the rst to
realize that tuberculosis did not always cause symptoms in those
infected. He also wanted to reform the methods for identifying
57
THE CONCORD REVIEW
tuberculosis. He reasoned that tuberculosis should be diagnosed
according to pathologic features for more accurate diagnoses. This
claim enabled Laennec to begin his career as a famous patholo-
gist. Laennecs study of 400 autopsies in medical school opened
his career as a pathologist.
47
Laennec was not content with the current methods of
diagnosing tuberculosis. The contemporary methods included
laying the ear against the chest to listen to sounds of the chest
cavity. This method was called direct auscultation.
48
In order to
improve auscultation, Laennec invented the stethoscope in 1816.
49

He used the law of conductivity of sound to invent the device
with diagnosing tuberculosis in mind.
50
His fame grew with this
invention. The stethoscope was used immediately, demonstrating
the impact of such an invention on medicine.
51
In addition to
inventing the stethoscope, Laennec described many of the signs
and sounds heard through the stethoscope. He determined the
meanings of these signs and sounds. His interpretations are still
used in the medical community today.
52
The signs and sounds
Laennec described are the same ones relied on today.
53
Laennecs
invention of the stethoscope greatly affected medicine, as it im-
proved physicians ability to examine the lungs and chest cavity.
By directly studying tuberculosis cases, Laennec made
great observations of the disease. Yet, after many years of study,
he never realized that tuberculosis was an infectious disease.
54
Instead, Laennecs work described in detail the progression of
tuberculosis through its various stages. He viewed the stages as
continuous, which enabled him to determine tuberculosis was
one disease with the ability to infect many parts of the body.
55

Laennecs observations were remarkable for the time, yet the
method of his work was even more remarkable. Laennec rarely
used a microscope. Rather, he used a hand lens or his unaided
eyes to make his observations. He analyzed tuberculosis through
gross dissections and with virtually no magnication enhancing
tools. Laennec made great observations of tuberculosis for such
a lack of magnication, showing his intelligence and meticulous-
ness.
56
58 Theresa L. Rager
Through Laennecs work with tuberculosis, he changed
medicine and the eld of pathology. From his descriptions of
tuberculosis, he enhanced the scientic approach to medicine
by demonstrating the importance of writing down only facts and
observations. This contribution is considered one of his greatest.
He is considered one of the fathers of modern pathology for
his dedication to the eld.
57
He was the rst scientist to connect
symptoms of a disease to pathology. This correlation is regarded as
standard in modern medicine, but it had escaped the attention of
Laennecs predecessors.
58
Laennec is included among the greatest
researchers of tuberculosis.
59
He reshaped medicine by making
discoveries in the eld of pathology on a disease responsible for
more deaths in France then and throughout the world to this day
than any other.
60
Like many men so passionate about their work with tu-
berculosis, Laennec was infected by the disease. He was young
when he was rst infected. It is believed that he rst contracted
tuberculosis from either his mother or his uncle. Laennec survived
this rst battle with tuberculosis, but he developed tuberculous
infection a second time in 1803. While performing an autopsy on
an individual with central nervous system spinal tuberculosis for
his study of 400 autopsies, Laennec cut his nger and developed
a tuberculous lesion at the site. Again, Laennec survived this
infection.
61
However, Laennec was not as lucky the third time. In
April 1826, he contracted tuberculosis once again and fell to the
disease on August 13, 1826 at the age of 55. His body weighed
less than 100 pounds. After three bouts of tuberculosis, Laennec
died from the disease to which he had dedicated his life.
62

Edward Livingston Trudeau (17641836) and Sanatoria
Edward Livingston Trudeau is most recognized for es-
tablishing sanatoria for tuberculosis patients. Still, he is also
acknowledged for research on tuberculosis. Trudeau performed
experiments on rabbits to test their immunity to tuberculosis in
59
THE CONCORD REVIEW
different environments. He placed ve rabbits in environments
with the best light, air, and nutrition. He placed ve more rabbits
in a dark, damp box with inadequate air and insufcient food. He
found that four out of ve rabbits inhabiting good living conditions
survived when injected with tuberculosis. Of the rabbits inhabiting
poor living conditions, all ve rabbits survived a tuberculosis injec-
tion but had serious disabilities. Trudeau demonstrated from this
experiment that various environments had different effects on an
individuals immunity to tuberculosis. This conclusion led to the
idea that weak strains of tuberculosis could produce immunity in
people.
63
Trudeaus initial work on tuberculosis was revolutionary
to medicine.
Trudeau continued his tuberculosis research and discov-
ered a liquid substance of great importancetuberculin. Trudeau
was aiming to produce preventive inoculations of substance
derived from the liquid cultures from which the bacilli had been
ltered.
64
Through this research, he created tuberculin in 1890.
Trudeau, seeking a valuable immunizing substance, did not see
the value of tuberculin. He did not believe it was capable of im-
munizing humans. Therefore, he did not publish his discovery.
Technically, Trudeau beat his rival Robert Koch by a few months
in discovering the substance. However, Koch announced his nd-
ings in August 1890 and published in January 1891, giving him
credit for developing tuberculin. Koch believed tuberculin was
of great importance. While Trudeau may not have been credited
with the discovery of tuberculin or have seen its potential, he ad-
vanced tuberculosis research in his quest to nd an immunizing
substance.
65
Like Laennec, Trudeau contracted tuberculosis himself.
Yet, he decided to experiment with his own health to nd rem-
edies and cures for tuberculosis.
66
In 1873, Trudeau moved to the
wilderness for a regimen of fresh air, a healthy diet, and rest. He
found that his health greatly improved, so he began to promote
moving tuberculosis patients to the wilderness or countryside. He
opened a cottage in Saranac Lake called Little Red for other
tuberculosis patients to recover. Little Red evolved into a large
60 Theresa L. Rager
sanatorium. This sanatorium was the rst established in the United
States. From Trudeaus establishment of Little Red, the sanatoria
craze in the United States began. This form of treatment is still
used today.
67
From this craze, an entire parallel health system that
specialized in caring for tuberculosis patients evolved. This health
system created new methods of treatment for tuberculosis patients
and other infectious disease patients.
68
Trudeau advanced the
treatment for tuberculosis and other infectious diseases through
his experiments with immunity and his establishment of sanatoria
in the United States.
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch (18431910) and Bacteriology
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch made some of the greatest
discoveries in tuberculosis research, and improved bacteriology.
His rst signicant discovery was the isolation of the tuberculosis
bacilli. To start his research, he studied Villemins work on the
transmission of tuberculosis. From Villemin, he learned that tu-
berculosis could be transmitted from person to animal. Therefore,
he needed to nd the bacilli responsible for infecting the animal
to isolate the bacilli infecting the person.
69
In August 1881, Koch
ofcially began his research on the bacilli.
70
His research took place
at the Imperial Health Ofce in Berlin. He hired two laboratory
assistants to help with his experiments.
71
His rst hypothesis called
for a procedure of drying specimens of infected organs and then
crushing tubercles to isolate the bacilli. However, this procedure
was unsuccessful.
72
Koch then formed a new hypothesis that the
bacilli would be at the bottom of the infected organ. He began
searching specimens to nd evidence to support his claim.
73
It was
Kochs initial work that led to his signicant discoveries.
While searching through tuberculous tissues, Koch found
a rod-like organism much smaller and ner than most of those
that had hither to been observed.
74
Good light and magnication
were needed to see the organisms, but with these aids they were
clearly visible. Koch went on to nd that the bacilli survived best
61
THE CONCORD REVIEW
in a temperature range from 36 to 40 C. This temperature range
is notable, because it is much higher than the range for most bac-
teria. The amount of time required to reproduce a fair number
of offspring was also unusual for bacteria. The bacilli required
approximately seven to 10 days to reproduce, while most bacteria
need only minutes to hours. The bacilli grew as dry, whitish-gray
scales in sigmoid shape. Lastly, the most important piece of evi-
dence Koch found was that animals inoculated with the bacilli
were infected with tuberculosis. This observation showed that these
bacilli were the organisms responsible for causing tuberculosis.
75

With these observations, Kochs hypothesis that bacilli would be
present in the bottom of infected tissues was conrmed.
Koch kept his discoveries secret because many similar in-
vestigations were occurring at the same time. He wanted to ensure
that his results were free from error before announcing a major
discovery.
76
He completed his studies in six months, a deadline
he had set for himself. This timeframe ensured that he could
present his results quickly before other scientists had a chance to
present their own results.
77
On March 24, 1882, Koch announced
his discovery of the tubercle bacillus at the Berlin Physiological
Society meeting.
78
He described the types of cases in which he
found tuberculosis in addition to the methods he used to nd
them.
79
Koch also presented his personal illustrations of the tu-
berculosis bacillus and bacilli cultures. After this presentation, the
drawings were made public for all medical professionals to see.
80

For the discovery to be accepted by the medical community, the
experiments and results had to be repeated by other scientists.
These experiments were conducted by a variety of researchers with
different relationships and associations with Koch. All produced
evidence supporting Kochs ndings. Therefore, Koch was cred-
ited with the discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus, a momentous
breakthrough in tuberculosis research.
81
After Kochs isolation of the tuberculosis bacillus, he de-
veloped several laboratory techniques that are still used in science
laboratories today.
82
The most notable laboratory technique Koch
developed was the staining of tuberculosis bacilli with methylene
62 Theresa L. Rager
blue. Koch found that only the bacilli turned blue, while all other
materials were colored brown. Thus, the bacilli were marked sepa-
rately from the other material in the tuberculous tissues. Koch
noted that,
The tubercle bacillus holds no strictly exceptional position in its
behaviour towards coloring materials, and it is, therefore, not im-
probable that in time other bacteria may be discovered which have
the same staining properties as the tubercle bacillus.
83
Koch saw possibilities of using his staining method to isolate
other bacteria in the future.
84
His prediction of the use of the
methylene blue staining method was correct. The methods are not
used now exactly as Koch designed, but the essential elements are
still preserved.
85
Koch also developed plate cultures, which allow
organisms in a pure culture to be isolated from a single colony.
Other laboratory techniques he developed include microscope and
sterilization procedures.
86
Kochs laboratory techniques advanced
bacteriology research.
Although Koch was well-known and respected in the
medical community, he was criticized for his work involving bovine
bacilli and immunity. The issue stemmed from an experiment
he conducted on cattle. The experiment consisted of infecting
a group of cattle with the human bacilli and infecting a second
group of cattle with bovine bacilli. He found that only the cattle
given a dose of bovine bacilli developed tuberculosis. Koch con-
cluded that cattle only contract tuberculosis when infected with
the bovine bacilli. Therefore, the human and bovine bacilli must
differ. Kochs conclusion led to questioning as to why butter and
milk contaminated with bovine bacilli did not harm humans when
ingested. In attempting to answer this question, Koch was accused
of saying that bovine bacilli are incapable of harming man. In
reality, he was encouraging further experimentation, while specu-
lating that experimentation would show that there is no relation
between bovine bacilli and human immunity. Nonetheless, these
accusations weakened Kochs credibility.
87
Kochs experiments on
cattle did spark a debate on a possible correlation between bovine
bacilli and human immunity.
63
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Koch believed that nding animal immunity could be a start-
ing point for nding human immunity.
88
He thought that human
bacilli could be injected in cattle to build an immune response.
The cattles immunity could then be tested by administering a
fatal dose of bovine bacilli. Koch conducted this experiment and
found that immunized cattle were not killed by the bovine bacilli.
However, the milk and butter produced by immunized cattle could
be dangerous for humans, because it could contain human bacilli.
While these experiments were important in developing immunity,
they could not be reproduced in humans, since humans would
be killed by the bovine bacilli. Still, the principle of developing
immunity in cattle advanced research for developing human im-
munity.
89
Kochs work on immunity in cattle and the development
of new smallpox and rabies vaccines inspired him to experiment
with creating a tuberculosis vaccine.
90
Koch invented tuberculin,
which he described as a brownish transparent liquid.
91
Koch cre-
ated this substance when he boiled bacilli cultures and extracted
the dead bacilli. He then increased the substance concentration
when he evaporated other material.
92
Koch found that tuberculin
seemed to be a cure for tuberculosis in animal lab tests.
93
The
material also appeared to heal lesions in animals.
94
He hoped that
human tests would have the same result.
95
Koch announced his second discovery on tuberculosis on
August 3, 1890, in a lecture to the Tenth International Congress
of Medicine held in Berlin. In his lecture, he stated that tuber-
culin appeared to stop growth of tuberculosis in test tubes and
animals.
96
Much hype was created over Kochs tuberculin, because
the medical community thought it was a curative agent. Up to
this point, the name tuberculin had not been created. However,
the substance was given its name by Dr. Libbertz in January 1891.
Also in this month, Koch admitted that further experimentation
showed tuberculin did not have any immunizing power.
97
These
experiments demonstrated that tuberculin could kill an individual
if given too large a dose. Another problem was that tuberculin
appeared to be curative initially, but it did not improve patient
64 Theresa L. Rager
health over time. Patients did not respond to increased doses
either. Therefore, tuberculin was determined to be ineffective
as a long-term curative agent.
98
However, tuberculin was found
to be useful in diagnosing tuberculous individuals. It was shown
that previously infected animals had a more severe reaction to
tuberculin than those never infected. Therefore, the substance
could be used to nd individuals who had been or were infected
with tuberculosis.
99
These reactions could be produced in both
humans and cattle. Tuberculin was injected subcutaneously to
produce the most effective and visible reaction.
100
With these
advances, tuberculin switched its role from a substance used as
an immunizing agent to one as a diagnostic tool.
101
Although tu-
berculin was unsuccessful as a vaccine, it is still an important tool
in testing for tuberculosis.
Tuberculin was an important discovery for both patients
and members of the medical community. It was the rst example
of cell-mediated immunity, which enhanced knowledge of the
human immune system.
102
Therefore, the discovery of tuberculin
has been regarded as one of Kochs greatest accomplishments.
103

Preventing tuberculosis has been seen as the most effective step
to eradicate tuberculosis. Tuberculin later became a great method
to prevent tuberculosis with the development of the tuberculin
skin test. This test is used as a diagnostic tool today. Thus, it has
signicant value in moving towards tuberculosis eradication.
104
Koch was an inuential person in medicine and bacteriol-
ogy during the late 19th century and his legacy is evident today.
In 1905, Koch received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his tuber-
culosis studies and his outstanding achievements in the eld of
bacteriology.
105
Koch advanced the concept of disease transmission
by microorganisms and found that infectious diseases could be
transmitted aerially.
106
In advancing these concepts, he isolated
four organisms including Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
107
Koch is also
credited with creating public awareness regarding the contraction
and transmission of tuberculosis with his isolation of the bacilli.
His ndings taught the public how to avoid bacilli and tuberculous
infection. The people knew what they were ghting, which enabled
65
THE CONCORD REVIEW
them to put forth a stronger campaign against tuberculosis.
108

Kochs studies advanced medicine and bacteriology not only by
isolating the tuberculosis bacillus and developing tuberculin but
also through his laboratory techniques and methods of research.
Robert Koch is one of the greatest researchers of tuberculosis and
infectious diseases.
109
Herman Michael Biggs (18591923) and Public Health
Although Hermann Michael Biggs did not conduct re-
search on tuberculosis himself, he charted the path for public
health through his work in New Yorks health systems. During
the beginning of his career at New York Citys Board of Health,
he and his colleagues requested that a report be submitted that
focused on the transmission of tuberculosis.
110
At this time, Biggs
and the public became aware of the aerial transmission partially
responsible for spreading tuberculosis.
111
The combination of
the publics concern and the Board of Healths report led Biggs
to create an agenda to attack tuberculosis in the realm of public
health. The rst item on this agenda was to develop sanitary laws
that were often viewed as extreme. Biggs employed a rather harsh
regulation to decontaminate handkerchiefs, which carried the
greatest amount of bacilli, when he required that all handker-
chiefs be washed with carbolic acid. The public was encouraged
to cover their cough in order to prevent discharged bacilli from
entering the air. Biggs and his colleagues also reasoned that better
ventilation could reduce the amount of bacilli in the air. Thus, the
amount of bacilli inhaled could be reduced to lower tuberculosis
infection rates.
112
Biggs and his colleagues regulations led to the
establishment of the New York Sanitary Code of 1913, which gave
the health commissioner the power to enact these regulations.
113

While these regulations were strict, better sanitation proved to be
benecial to public health.
114
After developing sanitation laws, Biggs moved to make
case reporting mandatory. Biggs recommended that institutions
66 Theresa L. Rager
such as hospitals be required to report and physicians requested
to report cases of tuberculosis. This recommendation angered the
medical community, because they saw case reporting as unneces-
sary and irrelevant. Many physicians at this time did not believe in
the contagious nature of tuberculosis. Despite these complaints
from the majority of the medical community, the press and a
fair number of medical leaders supported Biggss idea. With this
support, Biggss case reporting recommendation became law on
February 13, 1894.
115
Biggss pioneering idea for case reporting
was expanded to 24 other communicable diseases.
116
The concept
of case reporting was critical during the height of tuberculosis
epidemics, because active case nding could result in individuals
receiving treatment faster. A quick treatment response was impera-
tive to stopping the spread of tuberculosis.
117
Biggs is responsible
for the development of case reporting that was important to re-
ducing tuberculosis infection rates.
With his sanitation and case reporting regulations made
into laws, Biggs moved to the next item on his agenda for his
anti-tuberculosis campaign. Biggs was concerned with patients
treatment in hospitals and other care institutions. Biggs lobbied
for money from the state to ensure that infected individuals could
receive sanatorium care. He was given money from the state of
New York in 1905 and was able to purchase 1,200 acres of land
for the rst municipal sanatorium in the world. The sanatorium
was located in Otisville, New York, which was 60 miles outside of
the city in the Shawnagunk Mountain Range. Receiving money
from the state for public health was rare during the early 1900s,
but Biggs believed he had to be proactive in order to improve
the health of New York City residents. Biggs received support for
this sanatorium movement from an unlikely group. This group
included high society members who did not necessarily have a
desire to end tuberculosis. Instead, their motive was to remove
tuberculous patients from the city, because they were seen as out-
casts of society. While Biggs did not like their motive, he welcomed
their support with open arms.
118
67
THE CONCORD REVIEW
As Biggss career progressed, he became the Health Com-
missioner of New York in 1914. He immediately brought in a
dynamic group of colleagues to support him and his agenda for
eliminating tuberculosis. He continued to ensure better care for
tuberculous patients by opening many clinics and hospitals in New
York counties.
119
He established 37 public hospitals outside New
York City and seven private hospitals specializing in tuberculosis
care. In addition to hospitals, Biggs created several tuberculosis
dispensaries throughout the state. To ensure that all physicians
and health professionals were knowledgeable about tuberculosis,
Biggs established education courses for medical staff. A mobile
chest radiography or x-ray unit was purchased by the New York
State Health Department in 1920. This new piece of technol-
ogy served as an example of Biggss progressive attitude towards
tuberculosis treatment. The radiology unit was immediately put
into service, since it allowed lesions in the lungs to be seen read-
ily and easily.
120
Biggs also increased the number of medical staff
available to treat tuberculosis patients.
121
With his many actions
to better the treatment for infected individuals, Biggs advanced
the eld of public health.
Biggss agenda to ght tuberculosis required a signicant
amount of funding. He believed that this funding for health care
should come from the rich to help cover the cost of treatment for
the poor. In support of this thought, Biggs felt that an individuals
rights should be restricted in order to better protect the health of
the public as a whole. The amalgamation of these two concepts
led Biggs to imagine ideas of a public health care system similar to
the one instituted today. Biggs felt that everyone needed to con-
tribute in relation to their wealth in order to protect the publics
health.
122
With Biggss emphasis on funding, the New York State
Health Department operated under the view that public health is
purchasable, and the community can pay for the health they wish
to receive.
123
Inspired by this philosophy, Biggs developed ideas
for modern public health care programs such as Medicaid and
Medicare long before they were enacted. New York State passed
laws in 1923 allocating state funding to the Health Department
to support public health programs and institutions.
124
Biggs was
68 Theresa L. Rager
aware of the price of public health and worked to receive adequate
funding.
With the advancement of Biggss anti-tuberculosis cam-
paign in New York, other cities and countries began to start similar
campaigns and to look for government funding in their localities.
Government assistance usually came from administrations that
were not in support of laissez-faire policies. Through his work in
New York, Biggs demonstrated to the world that anti-tuberculosis
campaigns could be effective. The tuberculosis death rate in New
York decreased dramatically from 1907 to 1921, without taking
into account the signicant increase in population by one and a
half million people. The New York campaign inspired a similar
anti-tuberculosis campaign in Denmark. This campaign was widely
successful with the support of the Danish government. Due to this
campaign, Denmark became the leader in Europe with the lowest
tuberculosis death rates.
125
The Denmark campaign is only one
example of several campaigns throughout the world that were
modeled after Biggss New York anti-tuberculosis campaign.
Biggs lost his life to pneumonia on June 28, 1923, after
several years of failing health. However, he left a legacy in the
eld of public health.
126
He made use of the monetary resources
of several public agencies to improve public health. Biggs brought
sanitation, case reporting, treatment, and diagnostic services to
those in need of care.
127
In addition, he promoted the special-
ties of infant health and public health nursing to diversify the
health departments capabilities. Biggs was forward-thinking and
concerned for the health of New York citizens. His valiant ght
in the anti-tuberculosis campaign is considered his greatest ac-
complishment.
128
Biggs was aware of the criticism he received for
his hardline approach to tackling tuberculosis but remained per-
sistent, because he knew aggressiveness was required to diminish
this disease.
129
His hard work paid off when bovine tuberculosis
was virtually eliminated, along with the threat of transmitting the
disease through milk, in the early 1900s.
130
Many of his innova-
tions for this campaign remain to this day the foundation of
tuberculosis control.
131
Biggs has been universally recognized as
the father of modern public health in North America.
132
69
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Clemens Freiherr von Pirquet (18741929) and Immunology
Clemens Freiherr von Pirquet advanced the eld of im-
munology through his work on tuberculosis. He developed the
tuberculin skin test and made discoveries regarding immune
responses. After Koch had developed the tuberculin substance,
von Pirquet transformed the useless immunizing agent into an
effective diagnostic tool.
133
He decided to use the intracutaneous
injection method employed with the smallpox vaccine. From
this injection, he realized that a person currently or previously
infected with tuberculosis would have an inammatory reaction
at the injection site. Such a reaction indicated the test result was
positive.
134
Von Pirquet decided that the tuberculin test could al-
low physicians to recognize tuberculosis in its early stages when it
typically had undetectable clinical symptoms. He was cautious and
recommended that the test be administered twice in a dual-test
fashion to avoid false negatives.
135
With the test fully developed,
von Pirquet presented his paper to the Sixth International Con-
gress on Tuberculosis on September 28,1908, in Washington, D.C.
With this ofcial announcement, von Pirquet was credited with
the invention of the tuberculin skin test.
136
While von Pirquets development of the tuberculin skin test
was a momentous innovation, he was best known for his work on
immune processes.
137
He was the rst to recognize that a person
acquires a greater immune response and subsequent immunity
when they receive a booster immunization after a primary immu-
nization. Additionally, he developed the idea of toxin-antitoxin
reactions, which grew into the modern immunochemical concept
of antigen-antibody reactions.
138
Furthermore, he discovered the
host-parasite relationship in tuberculosis from his research on
the natural history of tuberculous infection. This nding enabled
him to better understand the bodys response to bacilli.
139
Besides
developing the tuberculin skin test, von Pirquet made several
advances in immunological reactions and relationships.
70 Theresa L. Rager
Von Pirquet is considered the father of immunology for
his innovations in the eld based upon his work on tuberculosis.
140

His fascination with the natural history of tuberculosis led him to
many of his discoveries.
141
While von Pirquet did a great amount
of research on immunology as a whole, his specic research on
tuberculosis led him to make his major advances. These are most
notably the diagnostic use of the tuberculin skin test and immune
processes. The tuberculin skin test was not only an innovation for
immunology but also changed preventive measures for tubercu-
losis.
142
Von Pirquet changed the eld of immunology through
his tuberculosis research.
Wade Hampton Frost (18801938) and Epidemiology
Wade Hampton Frost improved the eld of epidemiology
143

in his studies of tuberculosis. One of his major contributions was
the development of the index case, common to all epidemiologists
today.
144
An index case is the rst person known to have tubercu-
losis in a household, although, this individual may or may not be
the rst person to contract tuberculosis, because he or she may
not be the rst to show symptoms. Nevertheless, this individual
would be the rst case known to the investigator.
145
The impor-
tance of the index case was realized soon after Frost developed
the concept. Because it is easiest to contract tuberculosis from a
currently infected person or animal, it is imperative that the index
case be found to stop the transmission of the disease.
146
Frosts
idea for index cases came from the household surveys he began
collecting at the beginning of his tuberculosis studies. Through
household surveys, he realized the signicance of starting epide-
miologic investigations with index cases.
147
In his 1930 Kingsport
Study in Tennessee, he used the surveys to trace the spread of
tuberculosis through the household until the origin, the index
case, was found. Such a household epidemic was then termed a
microepidemic. Frosts development of the index cases allowed
mortality and morbidity rates to be calculated over long periods
of time, since the origin of the epidemic became known.
148
The
71
THE CONCORD REVIEW
concept of an index case advanced epidemiology by improving
methods for investigating epidemics.
Frost also contributed the concept of age cohorts and
life tables to epidemiology. While studying morbidity and mor-
tality rates, Frost began to separate and organize the data into
age cohorts.
149
He then entered data for these age cohorts into
life tables. Life tables had been utilized in previous tuberculosis
studies and were common in insurance company data. Basing
his tables on person-years, Frost modied these techniques and
used life tables for epidemiological studies of tuberculosis in Ten-
nessee.
150
This use of age cohorts and life tables allowed Frost to
conclude that mortality rates decline in childhood, but rise again
in young adulthood. His paper demonstrating this conclusion was
published posthumously.
151
Still, Frost receives credit for the use
of age cohorts and life tables in epidemiology.
Frost left a major impact on epidemiology when he popu-
larized index cases and life tables.
152
He recognized that the key
problem for epidemiologists was the length in time between
when a person became infected and when they were diagnosed
and treated. Frost aimed to solve this problem and minimize the
transmission of tuberculosis.
153
In addition to index cases and life
tables, Frost developed the concept of R
0
to better statistically ana-
lyze epidemiological data.
154
This concept represents the ratio of
secondary infectious individuals to primary infectious individuals.
Frost realized that R
0
must exceed one for a pathogen to survive
in a population. The R
0
model inspired many of the mathematical
equations for infectious diseases used by epidemiologists today.
155

Through his many contributions, Frost established the modern
science of epidemiology.
156
Selman Abraham Waksman (18881973) and Antibiotics
Selman Abraham Waksman is known for recognizing the
potential use and benets of antibiotics in his research on tuber-
culosis. Antibiotics have become a common treatment method
72 Theresa L. Rager
in the modern medical world. They are derived from cultures of
bacteria and some strains of soil fungi. Although these medications
can be effective in treating disease, organisms can also develop
a resistance to antibiotics. The rate at which organisms become
resistant depends on environmental and genetic factors, but it can
inuence the effectiveness of antibiotics. Thus, this resistance rate
can determine the dosage of antibiotics given to a specic organism.
A greater dosage would be needed to eliminate a bacteria popula-
tion that quickly develops resistance to an antibiotic. Conversely, a
high dosage would be unnecessary to eradicate a colony that does
not become resistant in a rapid manner. Aerosol administration
of antibiotics is growing in popularity, especially for treatment
of respiratory diseases. By inhaling antibiotics, an individual not
only takes in the treatment in a similar manner that they take in
tuberculosis bacilli, but he or she sends the medication directly
to the infected organ system. Antibiotics have been proven highly
effective for respiratory infections such as tuberculosis.
157
Waks-
man introduced these medications to the realm of tuberculosis.
Waksman made his rst observations of tuberculosis and
antibiotics in 1932. He noticed that bacilli were only able to
survive in clean soil and not fungi-infested soil. Therefore, the
fungi must be killing the bacilli. However, Waksman did not real-
ize this inference and its importance at the time.
158
In discussing
the methods Waksman had used to isolate fungi for antibiotic
substances, his son Byron wondered if exactly the same method
could not be used with equal ease to isolate a number of strains of
fungi or actinomycetes
159
which would act against M. tuberculosis.
160

With this thought in mind, Waksman attended a conference on
tuberculosis-ghting enzymes. He studied the work completed
on these enzymes, but he did not have faith in its ability to ght
tuberculosis. With this inspiration and his sons idea, Waksman
began searching for an antibiotic to combat tuberculosis.
161
In this search, Waksman developed the antibiotic strep-
tomycin. It was the rst antibiotic found to have an inhibiting
effect on tuberculosis in humans.
162
Streptomycin was rst tested
in guinea pigs. Waksman asked William H. Feldman to test the
73
THE CONCORD REVIEW
effectiveness of streptomycin against tuberculosis in these animals
and return samples to him. Feldman conducted the study with
his colleague Corwin Hinshaw, and they found the antibiotic
to be both harmless to guinea pigs and helpful therapeutically.
The rst tests of streptomycin on tuberculosis in humans were
not performed by Waksman but again by Feldman and Hinshaw.
These two men administered the antibiotic to a woman without
Waksmans permission. The woman recovered from tuberculosis
completely, producing positive test results. Similar test results
were found in subsequent trials, indicating that streptomycin was
effective in treating tuberculosis.
163
Streptomycin proved to be effective for tuberculosis as
well as many other common bacteria. The high potency of the
antibiotic was unique.
164
Also, there was no cross sensitivity found
between streptomycin and other antibiotics. Cross sensitivity was
only evident with streptomycin and its dihydro derivatives. This
antibiotic showed particular effectiveness in miliary tuberculosis,
tuberculosis of the kidney, tuberculosis meningitis, and pulmonary
tuberculosis.
165
Other drugs intended to treat tuberculosis such
as para-amino salicylic acid and Prontosil were not as effective as
streptomycin.
166
However, bacilli could quickly develop resistance
to streptomycin, minimizing its power to eradicate tuberculosis
from an organ system. Additionally, the antibiotic was not effec-
tive in treating more advanced stages of pulmonary tuberculosis,
the primary type of tuberculosis, or lesions.
167
While streptomycin
showed great effectiveness in tuberculosis treatment, it also had
some drawbacks that suggested it could not be a cure for the
disease.
Although Waksman has been credited with the discovery
of streptomycin, there was a great deal of conict over this discov-
ery between Waksman and a man by the name of Albert Schatz.
Waksman hired Schatz on June 30, 1943, to assist him in search-
ing for tuberculosis antibiotics. Within two months, Schatz had
isolated streptomycin from the actinomycete Streptomyces griseus.
While Schatz discovered the antibiotic for tuberculosis research,
Waksman isolated and classied the actinomycete prior to Schatzs
74 Theresa L. Rager
nding. In the rst publication of streptomycin that appeared in
early 1944, Waksman was listed as the third author, and Schatz
was listed rst. However, the paper had little discussion on the
anti-tuberculosis properties of streptomycin. Waksman was the
second author in the second publication that contained more
information on streptomycins ability to ght tuberculosis in ad-
dition to comparing the drug to six other antibiotics. Yet, Schatz
was once again the rst author. Waksman lost credit for the study
he oversaw when he was not listed as rst author. The conict
between Waksman and Schatz evolved into a public brawl and
lawsuit.
168
The court involvement began when Schatz led a suit
against Waksman and Rutgers University in March 1950 for his
lack of credit and fame regarding the discovery of streptomycin.
The suit was ultimately settled when Schatz was given $125,000 and
3 percent royalties.
169
Although Waksman has been credited with
the discovery of streptomycin, not everyone thought he deserved
this credit.
After the discovery of streptomycin, Waksman went on to
discover 22 other antibiotics. The only one proven to be benecial
is neomycin. This antibiotic was used in treating tuberculosis for
a short time but was not as effective as streptomycin. Today, it is
the active ingredient in Neosporin.
170
Few organisms develop
resistance to neomycin, and of those that do, the resistance is
minimal. This drug contains half the toxicity of streptomycin,
making it less harmful to the body.
171
Although neomycin did not
give Waksman the fame that he received from streptomycin, the
drug has demonstrated medical practicality.
Waksman had many achievements in his life regarding
the development of antibiotics, but he is most widely recognized
for his discovery of streptomycin. From this nding, he received
countless awards and honors including the 1952 Nobel Prize in
Medicine or Physiology.
172
Waksman felt that the greatest event
in the history of modern antibiotics was not the discovery of
penicillin but the studies of his early student at Rutgers, Ren
Dubos. Dubos became a researcher who worked on antibiotics
for tuberculosis. Waksmans interest in such work demonstrates
75
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his loyalty to tuberculosis studies.
163
Waksmans impact can still
be seen in the medical community today. Dihydrostreptomycin
is used in thoracic surgery on tuberculosis patients. Thoracic
surgery has become a safer practice due to the use of antibiotics
before surgery.
174
Waksmans development of streptomycin and
neomycin, in addition to years of tuberculosis research, advanced
the medical communitys knowledge of antibiotics.
Thoracic Surgery
The history of thoracic surgery is also intertwined with the
history of tuberculosis. The rst thoracic surgery was performed
in the time of the ancient Greeks and most likely by Hippocrates.
The surgery was designed to drain uid build-up in the lungs
from tuberculosis. Modern thoracic surgery was established after
the isolation of the tuberculosis bacilli by Koch in 1881. Once
surgeons were aware of the organism responsible for tuberculosis,
they were able to advance thoracic surgery to better treat the dis-
ease. Minimally invasive thoracic surgery grew out of techniques
to treat tuberculosis patients as well. Tuberculosis is still on the
list of diseases treated by thoracic surgeons. Such a listing is ap-
propriate in that the disease responsible for advancing thoracic
surgery throughout history is still regarded as important in the
eld. Throughout history, interest in thoracic surgery has been
linked to interest in tuberculosis.
175
For many years, thoracic surgery
was the primary method of treatment for tuberculosis. Therefore,
this practice also grew with tuberculosis management in mind.
The basic skills for thoracic surgery were created in experimental
procedures aimed to kill tuberculosis. The thoracotomy incision
was developed when surgeons used it in operations on tuberculous
individuals. Such skills are considered fundamental to the eld
of thoracic surgery today. Jacobaeus developed techniques for
pleural biopsy and adhesiolysis.
176
Tuberculosis advanced thoracic
surgery through the development of various skills commonly used
in thoracic surgery today.
76 Theresa L. Rager
BCG Vaccine
BCG was thought to be an effective vaccine that could
provide immunity to tuberculosis. Developing immunity is the
most effective means of protecting people from a disease. Unlike
disease, immunity is nondiscriminatory of race, gender, or age.
178

Immunity can be developed naturally by taking in bacilli through
the air or other modes of transmission. However, this method of
immunity can be risky in that the bacilli may or may not cause
an infection based on an individuals immune response.
179
The
smallpox vaccine was so successful that it triggered an interest in
creating a vaccine for tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.
180

Vaccination is strictly a preventive measure, but prevention of any
disease is imperative to its eradication.
181
Therefore, the BCG vac-
cine was developed to prevent and eventually eliminate tuberculosis
from the modern world.
Interest in tuberculosis vaccine research peaked after Koch
isolated the tubercle bacillus and created tuberculin. Microbiolo-
gists Albert Calmette and Camille Gurin began working together
in 1900 to develop a tuberculosis vaccine.
182
The men chose to work
with the attenuated bacilli, so the body could produce an immune
response strong enough to ght infection without losing protec-
tion from highly virulent strains of tuberculosis. A few trials at the
start of their research allowed them to reach this conclusion.
183

These attenuated cultures were made with the addition of ox bile
to highly virulent bacilli. The bacilli of subsequent generations
had a low virulence, making it the perfect material with which to
develop a vaccine.
184
Once the vaccine was developed, a name was
chosen. The rst name was Bacilli Bili Calmette-Gurin, but Bili
was removed at a later time. The vaccine then became known as
BCG.
185
The next step of Calmette and Gurins research was to
test their vaccine on animals. In 1906, tests on guinea pigs were
performed and showed that the animals became resistant through
77
THE CONCORD REVIEW
oral administration.
186
The rst test on cattle was conducted in
1913, after 11 years of laboratory work. This test was particularly
important to the researchers, since the vaccine contained a bovine
strain of tuberculosis.
187
The cattle tests were successful. Tests of
mice, rhesus monkeys, and chimpanzees followed and also pro-
duced positive results.
188
With successful animal tests, Calmette
and Gurin were ready for the rst human test.
In 1921, Calmette and Gurins rst human test was per-
formed on a newborn. The newborn was considered at high-risk
for developing tuberculosis, because his mother had died from
the disease after childbirth and his tuberculous grandmother was
in charge of his care. The child was given inoculations of BCG
on the third, fth, and seventh days of his life at the Hpital de
la Charit in Paris. The newborn showed resistance initially and
remained free of tuberculosis for the rest of his life.
189
From this
rst human test and subsequent tests, Calmette and Gurin learned
that BCG could be recognized by the immune system in merely
four hours. This rapid response could create immunity against
tuberculosis bacilli.
190
Despite the success of the animal and human tests of
BCG, Calmette and Gurin faced a problem when it came to the
strains of BCG. The original strain of BCG was not saved, so several
variations of this strain were created.
191
Variations accumulated
over time.
192
The vaccines made with these different strains had a
different level of efcacy.
193
The accumulation of strain variation
and efcacy variation led to catastrophe in Lbeck, Germany. In
1929, 251 children received the BCG vaccination that was made at
a location near Lbeck. Out of those 251 children, 72 died from
the vaccine.
194
After researching the path of the vaccine strain re-
sponsible for this catastrophe, investigators found that the strain
did not contain BCG but virulent bacilli. These bacilli were sent
to Lbeck after passing through the Koch Institute in Berlin and
Kiel. The virulent bacilli had been stored in the same incubator as
the BCG cultures, and both cultures were ineffectively labeled. As
a result, the children of Lbeck were not vaccinated but injected
with tuberculosis.
195
78 Theresa L. Rager
After realizing that such a catastrophe could occur from
strain variation and carelessness, the medical community decided
to preserve only certain strains of the BCG vaccine. Four strains
that originated from Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Copenhagen, and
Moscow were chosen for preservation.
196
In order to guarantee the
BCG vaccine would be safer for patients, many regulations for the
creation of a BCG vaccine were enacted. The vaccine had to be
prepared from only attenuated and non-virulent bacilli cultures.
Once prepared, the vaccine had to be used within a week. Lastly,
the vaccine had to be administered gradually and in increasing
doses at seven day intervals.
197
In 1960, the freeze-dried vaccine
replaced the liquid vaccine.
198
Later, in the 1960s, a seed lot was
created that served to further reduce strain variation.
199
Vaccine
research was advanced when scientists learned to reduce strain
variation.
Besides strain variation, several disadvantages of BCG have
been noted since its creation. Of primary concern is BCGs risk
of infection and potential side effects. Because the bacilli of the
vaccine are alive, there is always a risk of infection.
200
Addition-
ally, tuberculin tests show positive results in a person inoculated
with BCG, because the vaccine is live.
201
One rare but serious side
effect is BCG-itis. This complication results in severe immunode-
ciency.
202
It is not entirely clear as to whether BCG is effective or
not, because the efcacy depends on the region where the vaccine
is administered.
203
Booster vaccines have proven to be ineffective
in regenerating an immune response to assist in lowering these
rates.
204
Overall, BCG is estimated to be 50 percent effective.
205

It is often argued that BCG does not provide full immunity to
tuberculosis.
206
Additionally, BCG may not provide long-term
immunity.
207
Some studies have already begun to show that the
BCG-provided immunity dwindles over an individuals lifetime.
208

Scientists are learning to control these disadvantages to BCG and
are advancing vaccine research in the process. There is a need
for an improved tuberculosis vaccine to prevent and eventually
eradicate tuberculosis. BCG has advanced medical research as
scientists begin to understand its shortcomings. This vaccine is a
step in the right direction.
209
79
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Although there are many disadvantages to BCG, there are
several notable advantages of the vaccine as well. It has been shown
to lower the risk of contracting tuberculosis in individuals with
a healthy immune system, particularly children.
210
BCG has also
demonstrated effectiveness in young adults in several European
countries.
211
Furthermore, a 20-year study indicated that BCG is
capable of providing long-term immunity.
212
A separate study at
an all-girls school illustrated that BCG provides immunity for up
to 12 years.
213
BCG has several advantages for use in Third World
countries as well. There is no need for booster shots to enhance
immunity. Also, the BCG injection leaves a scar as a sign of vac-
cination. There is no limitation on the age of vaccination. Most
importantly, BCG is inexpensive, making it easy to administer
throughout Third World countries.
214
BCG also has advantages in
First World countries. BCG is recommended to high-risk groups
by the United States Public Health Service.
215
BCG is useful in
providing immunity to those in Third World countries and those
with high-risk exposure. A successful vaccine such as BCG improves
vaccine research by serving as a model for future vaccines.
BCG has been used in trials and studies throughout the
world for nearly 100 years. In the 1920s, children were vaccinated
in high numbers. In 1924, more than 600 children had been vac-
cinated. By 1928, more than 100,000 doses had been administered
to infants alone.
216
Also in 1928, the League of Nations recom-
mended the vaccine for widespread use to prevent the transmission
of tuberculosis.
217
In 1929, Calmette reported a 33 percent death
rate for unvaccinated children with tuberculous infected parents.
Children in the same condition who had received BCG had only
a 4 percent death rate.
218
For up to 50 years, some populations
administered BCG orally. However, most populations stopped
this procedure after the discovery that the pH of gastric juices
reduces the viability of live bacilli in the vaccine.
219
These initial
administrations of BCG were often met with success and helped
develop the BCG vaccine known today.
80 Theresa L. Rager
BCG was often given to immigrants and European popula-
tions. Great Britain made it mandatory that emigrating citizens be
given BCG to prevent the spread of tuberculosis around the world.
Conversely, Irish immigrants were required to take the vaccine
before entering Great Britain. Once they landed in Great Britain,
a subsequent examination was demanded.
220
Europe increased its
use of BCG after World War II.
221
Europe and Canada embraced
widespread administration of BCG more quickly than the United
States.
222
This increasing use of BCG prompted further trials of
the vaccine.
The largest trial conducted on BCG to date took place in
South India during 1968. Once the data of this trial was analyzed
several times, it showed that BCG had some protection for unin-
fected children, but this protection was minimal. The vaccine did
not appear to be a great preventive measure.
223
The trial also found
that one age group did not have a higher level of protection than
another. After 10 to 12 1/2 years, there were approximately an
equal number of tuberculous patients in each group. Following
vaccination, individuals experienced a time of increased suscep-
tibility to tuberculosis. The immunity that was given from BCG
was short-term.
224
The South India trial did not produce positive
results for BCG.
BCG is now administered differently in various regions
of the world. In Third World countries, BCG is administered in
order to eradicate tuberculosis.
225
BCG administration is directed
especially towards newborns in these countries that are severely
threatened by tuberculosis.
226
BCG administration does not fol-
low the same protocol in developed countries as it does in Third
World countries. BCG has never been routinely administered in
the United States.
227
Some developed countries still administer
BCG universally at birth. Other countries only give the vaccine to
high-risk infants and other high-risk groups that can be catego-
rized by occupation, living condition, age, history of disease, and
more. These countries include the United Kingdom, Finland, and
Sweden.
228
Many First World countries are moving away from giv-
ing BCG to high-risk groups and moving towards screenings with
treatment if necessary. This shift is occurring because the benets
81
THE CONCORD REVIEW
are lower than the risk of infection.
229
BCG administration in First
World countries greatly differs from that in Third World countries.
Today, BCG is used for different purposes and given to
different groups across the world. Nevertheless, this vaccine is a
part of the WHOs list of recommended childhood immuniza-
tions. In tuberculosis-endemic countries, the BCG administration
rate is greater than 80 percent.
230
By 1989, over 3 billion doses of
BCG had been administered in the world. This widespread use
can be attributed to a WHO report that urged BCG vaccination
in areas where infant tuberculosis was a major health problem.
231

As of 1994, BCG was the most widely administered vaccine in the
world.
232
Although there has been controversy over the advantages
and disadvantages of BCG and trials have been completed with
varying degrees of success, the BCG vaccination has been inu-
ential not only on tuberculosis research but on vaccine research
as a whole.
Current State of Tuberculosis and Tuberculosis Research
Tuberculosis infection and mortality rates have been at
various levels throughout the world for centuries. In civilized
communities, tuberculosis epidemics progressed and spread
more easily. It appeared that childhood was the primary age for
infection.
233
The disease affected areas devastated by World War II
more harshly than other areas.
234
Despite epidemics in these areas,
tuberculosis mortality rates have been in an overall decline since
1928.
235
Still, tuberculosis around the world remains the primary
cause of death in the young adult age group. The mortality rate
decline in the western world is unexplainable. For science, this
decline was not in their control.
236
While tuberculosis has been in
decline in several areas, the decline has not always been explain-
able and productive for eradicating tuberculosis.
Today, there are several factors that have inuenced the
overall decline in tuberculosis. Since 1900, the diseases mode
of transmission has changed. Around the beginning of the 20th

82 Theresa L. Rager
century, there was a heavy concentration of bacilli in the environ-
ment. Now, there are series of local epidemics keeping tuberculosis
in existence.
237
The discovery and distribution of BCG may be a
contributing factor in lowering the tuberculosis mortality rate.
However, BCG is not a major contributor to the decline, since
areas with concentrated immunization programs do not have
lower rates than those without such programs. However, the use
of index cases and sanatoria most likely had an inuence in low-
ering mortality rates. Nevertheless, it is a combination of several
signicant factors that have lowered such rates. These factors are
a part of preventive medicine.
238
There is a vast difference in the prevalence of tubercu-
losis in First and Third World countries. Third World countries
face the threat of tuberculosis every day. On the other hand, rst
world countries rarely speak of tuberculosis.
239
However, in these
developed countries, outbreaks of tuberculosis during the past
several decades were typically found in hospitals, schools, homeless
shelters, prisons, bars, and factories. Passengers on commercial
airlines can easily be infected by fellow travelers through recirculat-
ing air in the aircraft. In 1998, the WHO estimated that 8 million
people became infected with tuberculosis each year. These cases
are new instances of tuberculosis, not cases from previous years.
Also, the WHO calculated that 3 million people lose their lives
to this disease each year. With these infection and mortality rates,
33 percent of the world population is infected with tuberculosis
each year. This statistic makes tuberculosis the number one killer
of all infectious diseases.
240
While these estimates are astonishing,
it is important to remember that infection and mortality records
are kept differently in many countries. Such variety in tracking
statistics makes estimating global rates complex.
241
Nevertheless,
it is clear that tuberculosis still has a strong presence in the world.
Tuberculosis is a prominent disease compared to other
infectious diseases. In 1871, 16.8 percent of deaths from diseases
were due to tuberculosis. By 1921, this percentage had dropped
to 9 percent. Still, this number was high for a single disease. Over
the 40-year period between 1881 and 1921, tuberculosis declined
83
THE CONCORD REVIEW
faster than any other disease. Data for this statistic was gathered
every 10 years. While such a great decline is evidence of great
improvement, tuberculosis had such a high frequency in the
population beforehand that a steep decline does not mean that
it was suddenly a rare disease. Overall mortality rates during this
time period decreased as well. These rates did not decrease as fast
as tuberculosis rates but inuenced the decline.
242
Other diseases
also have the ability to mask the symptoms of tuberculosis. This
concealment inhibits physicians ability to diagnose tuberculous
patients and report more accurate infection rates.
243
The inter-
play of other diseases in tuberculosis infection has inuenced the
frequency of tuberculosis in the past three centuries.
Tuberculosis research is ongoing. The medical community
recognizes a need for antibiotics and effective treatments. Drugs
are currently the most effective method for treating tuberculo-
sis.
244
Such medications lower the communitys risk of exposure
to the disease by treating and healing the infected. Therefore,
the population of bacilli is reduced with antibiotic treatment.
245

However, antibiotics will never replace the importance of case nd-
ing. In searching for active cases, infected individuals are found
for antibiotic treatment.
246
The advancement of antibiotics will
improve the treatment of discovered active cases. A new mecha-
nism that produces a wide variety of M. tuberculosis mutants has the
ability to assist antibiotic and vaccine development. Through the
generation of a large number of mutants, scientists can discover
how tuberculosis bacilli survive. This information is crucial to
understanding how to attack the bacilli with drugs and vaccines.
247

Antibiotic research is advancing to better treat tuberculosis.
Despite great strides made in this eld of research, scientists
continue to face many challenges. Many patients fail to comply with
treatment standards. The most effective antibiotic treatment to
this date involves the antibiotics isoniazid, streptomycin, rifampin,
and ethambutol. These four drugs must be taken for two months.
Then, a patient must continue treatment with two drugs for four
months. While this is a lengthy treatment time, it is critical that
patients comply with the treatment plan set by their physician. If
84 Theresa L. Rager
the patient decides to not take the medications, not all bacilli are
killed. Instead, the living bacilli populations develop resistance to
the drugs that are used. These bacilli are then able to escape the
body and infect other individuals. If the secondary infectious indi-
viduals try the same antibiotic treatment, they will nd it ineffective,
since their bacilli are resistant. These bacilli that are resistant to
many antibiotics are called multi-drug resistant (MDR). There is
an increasing number of MDR tuberculosis cases.
248
To ght MDR
bacilli, scientists have developed new antibiotics. A few of these
drugs include rimifon, nydrazid, and marsalid. These antibiotics
have shown great potential in defeating MDR tuberculosis.
249

While such drugs may be benecial in lowering the prevalence of
MDR bacilli, antibiotics cannot defeat such bacilli alone. Other
preventive measures such as vaccines must be used to defeat all
types of tuberculosis bacilli.
250
Vaccine research for tuberculosis has been in progress for
many decades. Because BCG is not the perfect tuberculosis vaccine,
researchers are working to develop a new vaccine. The BCG vac-
cine and current research is enhancing scientists understanding
of tuberculosis and the relationship between this disease and the
immune system. The hope is that this understanding will lead to
the control and eradication of tuberculosis.
251
In analyzing mistakes
and errors related to the BCG vaccine, researchers have come
closer to nding the perfect vaccine. The BCG vaccine research
has helped narrow methods in need of experimentation.
252
It is
important that these experiments are conducted and a solution is
found soon, because tuberculosis is currently killing morethan1.4
million people each year.
253
There are several potential solutions for a tuberculosis
vaccine. Scientists have come to the general conclusion that the
vaccine debacle can be xed by either developing booster shots
for BCG or creating a new two-dose vaccine. It should be kept in
mind that all booster shots have been ineffective so far.
254
Never-
theless, researchers are currently developing booster shots for
BCG. If successful booster shots are made, a new vaccine regimen
may need to be developed.
255
In the route of developing a new
85
THE CONCORD REVIEW
vaccine, researchers must rst nd mechanisms that produce
greater immune responses.
256
In the end, it does not matter which
approach is taken, as long as a vaccine is developed to prevent the
transmission of tuberculosis.
BCG is not the only tuberculosis vaccine that has been de-
veloped. In the early 1900s, Nathan Raw and one of his colleagues
developed Vaccine R in England. The vaccine contained attenu-
ated bacilli. A reasonable level of immunity was not established
for two years and long-term immunity went unknown. Therefore,
the vaccine was not predicted to be highly effective. However, it
was an additional experience with immunization that could lead
to new paths in current tuberculosis vaccine research.
257
Killed
bacilli vaccines have shown promise. An advantage of these types
of vaccines is that they do not run the risk of infecting people,
since the bacilli are not active in the body.
258
These vaccines have
demonstrated some efcacy in reducing tuberculosis and death
for several populations. However, only BCG is used in current
eradication plans. There is also the possibility of creating a new
vaccine with a bovine strain of tuberculosis or nontuberculous
mycobacteria.
259
It has also been suggested that the pulmonary
system should be taken into consideration when developing an
immunizing agent. Because tuberculosis primarily infects the re-
spiratory system, it could be advantageous to immunize through
this system. Aerosolized BCG was used in guinea pigs with great
success. Such a method could be used for human immunization.
260

There are several possible methods for developing a tuberculo-
sis vaccine. The method that researchers choose is not of great
importance to humanity, but the end result they achieve could
impact humanity for many years to come.
Molecular research of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is also ad-
vancing current knowledge of the disease. In 1998, Stewart Cole
and an international team of scientists mapped the bacilluss en-
tire genome. Through this mapping, several drug-resistant genes
were identied. This discovery leads scientists to research possible
mechanisms to turn off these genes and prevent the bacilli from
becoming MDR. Researchers also found clues of what causes the
86 Theresa L. Rager
virulence of bacilli through the genome mapping.
261
William R.
Jacobs and Barry R. Bloom of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
were able to create a shuttle phasmid.
262
DNA in an E. coli plasmid
263

was injected into a mycobacteriophage.
264
The phage then injected
the shuttle phasmid into tuberculosis bacilli. The DNA contained
transposons,
265
which had the ability to change the DNA sequence
to create mutant versions of tuberculosis bacilli. This mechanism
could be used to identify the bacilli genes responsible for infec-
tion. This research may be inuential in developing drugs and
vaccines from a certain strain of bacilli capable of producing an
immune response without causing infection.
266
Molecular research
is assisting antibiotic and vaccine research. The combination of
these projects may lead to the eventual elimination of tuberculosis
from the world.
Plans for eradicating tuberculosis center on preventing the
disease through case nding. The infected must rst be found and
treated in order to improve the public health of a community. By
treating active cases and preventing non-active cases from becom-
ing contagious, the transmission of tuberculosis can be reduced.
267

One cured case of tuberculosis prevents the infection of new cases.
To eliminate tuberculosis, the number of active cases must stay
below the level where the cases can maintain themselves through
transmission. In epidemiological terms, R
0
must be less than
one.
268
To reach this point, a balance between vaccines similar to
BCG, antibiotics, and public health programs must be distributed
throughout the world.
269
It is easier to eradicate disease with vac-
cines and drugs than public health initiatives alone, because these
medical innovations serve as preventive measures and effective
treatments.
270
Once tuberculosis is isolated to a small group of
people, these patients should be treated individually with greater
attention to their care.
271
This stage of the eradication plan can
only be met if there is world-wide cooperation between the in-
fected and uninfected. Cooperation must be met from country to
country, city to city, and social class to social class. The uninfected
must help the infected in order for tuberculosis to disappear. If
this level of cooperation is not met, the uninfected could one day
nd themselves among the infected.
272
Ever since 1953, the medical
87
THE CONCORD REVIEW
community has been hopeful that tuberculosis will be eradicated
from the world. This hope stems from not just the great efforts
but the great achievements of medical researchers to date.
273
Conclusion
Several elds of medicine have been advanced by tuber-
culosis research and health programs. Radiology was developed
to enhance physicians diagnoses of tuberculosis in the lungs.
Laennec invented the stethoscope to better examine the chest
cavity of tuberculous patients as well. He also connected clinical
symptoms to the pathology of this disease, while establishing a
scientic approach to medical observations. Trudeau triggered the
sanatoria craze, rst in the United States and then in the world.
Through his own experience with tuberculosis, Trudeau was able
to improve the health of millions of tuberculous patients. Although
Koch is most noted for his isolation of the tubercle bacilli, he ad-
vanced the eld of bacteriology with his discovery of tuberculin
and various laboratory techniques as well. Additionally, Koch made
people realize the importance of public health. However, public
health could not have progressed so quickly if it was not for Biggss
determination to defeat tuberculosis. Biggs implemented better
diagnostic services, case reporting, sanitation, and treatment as
a part of his anti-tuberculosis campaign that impacted New York
and the entire world. Diagnoses became more precise when von
Pirquet forever changed immunology with the development of
the tuberculin skin test. This test has become the primary means
for diagnosing tuberculosis in the United States today. Cases of
tuberculosis can be followed and analyzed with Frosts advance-
ments in epidemiology. Because of index cases and life tables,
epidemiologists can examine data and study the transmission
of tuberculosis in populations. With better methods for nding
and diagnosing tuberculosis, better treatments were developed.
Waksman contributed to researchers knowledge of antibiotics
in his quest to nd an antibiotic capable of curing tuberculosis.
Through his studies, streptomycin and neomycin were produced.
88 Theresa L. Rager
The basic skills and techniques for thoracic surgery were established
to treat tuberculosis patients and were expanded to the larger
eld of study it is today. BCG was the rst major vaccine created
to prevent tuberculosis. This vaccine has demonstrated varying
degrees of success. Because of its inconsistency, new research on
vaccines and antibiotics is being conducted to eliminate tubercu-
losis. Molecular research is enhancing this research as it increases
scientists understanding of the bacilli genome. Because of previous
and current medical research on tuberculosis, numerous aspects
of medicine have evolved in an effort to eradicate tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis has signicantly impacted modern medicine.
Yet, medicine has inuenced the history of tuberculosis as well.
While tuberculosis has been aiding the advancement of medicine,
medicine has been reducing the presence of tuberculosis in the
world. The practice of medicine has reduced the number of ac-
tive cases, causing a drop in the transmission of tuberculosis. The
recognition of clinical symptoms allowed tuberculous patients to
receive care sooner. Sanatoria gave more patients the opportunity
to heal from tuberculosis. Isolating the bacilli gave insight into
the growth, development, and reproduction of the bacteria. Im-
proved public health minimized peoples exposure to tuberculosis
bacilli. Simpler methods for diagnosing tuberculosis hastened the
discovery of infected individuals and the implementation of their
treatment. Understanding the spread of tuberculosis gave epide-
miologists the power to predict which individuals were subject to
infection. By identifying these individuals, their contraction of
tuberculosis could be prevented. Antibiotics, thoracic surgery,
and BCG played a part in preventing the spread and treating the
symptoms of tuberculosis. Although these achievements led to a
decline in tuberculosis, medicine has not stopped attacking this
disease. Tuberculosis is still a highly contagious disease that in-
fects approximately 33 percent of the world each year. Therefore,
medical research on tuberculosis continuously strives to reduce
this percentage and eliminate tuberculosis from society.
Currently, medical researchers are combating tuberculo-
sis through antibiotic, vaccine, and molecular research. Despite
89
THE CONCORD REVIEW
the rare appearance of tuberculosis in rst world countries, the
disease maintains a high infection rate in third world countries.
The medical community is ghting tuberculosis for these plagued
countries. When tuberculosis is eradicated in these countries, rst
world countries will follow suit in the elimination of the disease
within their borders. However, medical leaders must emphasize
the need for better treatments to cure active cases of tuberculosis
in these countries in order to enhance preventive measures. When
better treatments are in place and preventive medicine becomes
the forefront of the battle with tuberculosis, the eradication of the
disease will be imminent. Because of current medical research,
tuberculosis is losing the ght to medicine, the discipline it ad-
vanced for thousands of years.
90 Theresa L. Rager

1
Thomas M. Daniel, Tuberculosis in History:
Did It Change the Way We Live?, in Tuberculosis and
Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infections ed. David
Schlossberg, 6th ed. (Washington, D.C.: American Society for
Microbiology Press, 2011) p. 5
2
Ibid., p. 6
3
Ibid., p. 9
4
D. M. Dunlop, Modern Views In The Prevention of
Tuberculosis, The British Medical Journal 2, no. 4068 (1938)
p. 1297, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20301803 (accessed 2012)
5
Tuberculosis in History, p. 9
6
Daniel, Pioneers of Medicine and Their Impact on
Tuberculosis (Rochester, New York: University of Rochester
Press, 200) p. 4
7
Rene J. Dubos, The Tubercle Bacillus and
Tuberculosis, American Scientist 37, no. 3 (1949) p. 353
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27826280 (accessed 2012)
8
Barry R. Bloom and Paul E. M. Fine, The BCG
Experience: Implications for Future Vaccines against
Tuberculosis, in Tuberculosis: Pathogenesis, Protection, and
Control ed. Barry R. Bloom (Washington, D.C.: ASM Press,
1994) p. 552
9
John W. S. Blacklock, The Epidemiology of
Tuberculosis, The British Medical Journal 1, no. 4507 (1947)
10
Ibid., p. 710
11
Ibid., p. 708
12
Ibid., p. 708
13
Bloom, pp. 551552
14
Thomas Parran, Tuberculosis: A Time for a Decision,
Public Health Reports (18961970) 68, no. 10 (1953) p. 924,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4588593 (accessed 2012)
15
Blacklock, p. 708
16
Ibid., p. 709
17
Robert Philip, An Address On the Causes of The
Decline in Tuberculosis Mortality, The British Medical
Journal 1, no, 3512 (1928) p. 701, http://www.jstor.org/
stable/253286257 (accessed 2012)
18
Hypersensitivity is an abnormally high sensitivity to
infecting material that causes a reaction more easily than in
someone without the condition.
19
Blacklock, p. 709
20
Dunlop, p. 1299
91
THE CONCORD REVIEW
21
Blacklock, p. 710
22
Ibid., p. 711
23
Ibid., p. 710
24
Ibid., p. 708
25
Philip C. Hopewell, Overview of Clinical Tuberculosis,
in Bloom, Tuberculosis, p. 25
26
Ibid., p. 26
27
Auscultation is listening to the chest wall for breathing
patterns. Different sounds and rhythms of breathing can
indicate infection or good health. A stethoscope is commonly
used for auscultation today.
28
Hopewell, p. 29
29
Ibid., p. 31
30
Ibid., p. 30
31
Blacklock, p. 711
32
Hopewell, p. 25
33
Blacklock, p. 707
34
Bloodletting is the surgical removal of an individuals
blood as a method of treatment.
35
Daniel, Tuberculosis in History, p. 3
36
Blacklock, p. 707
37
Robert Koch, Kochs Work upon Tuberculosis, and the
Present Condition of the Question, Science 4, no. 76 (1884)
38
Milton D. Rossman and Rob Roy MacGregor,
Tuberculosis (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1995) p. 109
39
Blacklock, p. 707
40
Ibid., p. 710
41
Philip, p. 704
42
The Great Quintet: Lannec, Koch, Roentgen, von
Pirquet, Trudeau, The American Journal of Nursing 34, no. 12
(1934) p. 1151, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3411820 (accessed
2012)
43
44
Pathology is the study of disease and its diagnosis. This
science also deals with the causes and effects of disease.
45
Daniel, Pioneers, p. 43
46
47
48
The Great Quintet, p. 1151
49
50
51
92 Theresa L. Rager
52
Ibid., p. 46
53
Thadepalli Haragopal, Women Gave Birth to the
Stethoscope: Laennecs Introduction to the Art of Auscultation
of the Lung, Clinical Infectious Diseases 35, no. 5 (2002) p.
587, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4462131 (accessed 2012)
54
55
Ibid., pp. 5566
56
Ibid., p. 54
57
Ibid., p. 61
58
Ibid., p. 39
59
Ibid., p. 53
60
Ibid., p. 61
61
Ibid., pp. 5859
62
Ibid., p. 60
63
Stevenson Lyle Cummins, Tuberculosis in History: From
the l7th Century to Our Own Times (London: Baillire, Tindall
and Cox, 1949) p. 172
64
Quoted in Cummins, p. 173
65
Cummins, pp. 173174
66
Ibid, p. 159
67
68
69
Thomas M. Daniel, Captain of Death: The Story of
Tuberculosis (Rochester, New York: University of Rochester
Press, 1977) p. 80
70
71
Ibid., p. 78
72
Cummins, p. 183
73
Koch, p. 60
74
Ibid., p. 60
75
Ibid., p. 60
76
Ibid., p. 60
77
78
Daniel, Captain, p. 80
79
80
Cummins, p. 185
81
Koch, p. 61
82
83
Quoted in Cummins, p. 185
84
Cummins, p. 185
85
Ibid., p. 187
86
Daniel, Pioneers, pp. 9697
87
Cummins, pp. 189191
93
THE CONCORD REVIEW
88
89
Cummins, pp. 195197
90
91
Quoted in Daniel, Captain, p. 114
92
93
Cummins, p. 191
94
95
Cummins, p. 191
96
97
98
Cummins, p. 193
99
100
Cummins, pp. 192193
101
Ibid., p. 193
102
103
Cummins, pp. 194195
104
Nathan Raw, An Attenuated Tubercle Vaccine, The
British Medical Journal 1, no. 3094 (1920) pp. 538539, http://
www.jstor.org/stable/203405595 (accessed 2012)
105
106
107
Ibid., p. 96
108
Dunlop, p. 1297
109
110
Ibid., p. 113
111
Ibid., p. 99
112
Ibid., pp. 117178
113
Ibid., p. 127
114
Philip, p. 705
115
116
Ibid., p. 127
117
Rossman, p. 119
118
119
Ibid., pp. 125126
120
Ibid., p. 128
121
Blacklock, p. 711
122
123
Ibid., p. 126
124
Ibid., p. 129
125
Philip, pp. 703704
126
127
Ibid., p. 131
128
Ibid., pp. 126128
94 Theresa L. Rager
129
Ibid., p. 122
130
Ibid., p. 11
131
Ibid., p. 131
132
Ibid., p. 100
133
The Great Quintet, pp. 11511152
134
135
Ibid., pp. 147148
136
Ibid., p. 150
137
Ibid., p. 134
138
Ibid., pp. 140141
139
Ibid., p. 147
140
Ibid., p. 134
141
Ibid., p. 150
142
Ibid., p. 155
143
Epidemiology is the study of distributions and patterns
of health events and characteristics of diseases in a population.
144
145
146
Dunlop, p. 1297
147
148
Ibid., p. 170
149
Ibid., p. 165
150
Ibid., p. 170
151
Ibid., p. 174
152
Ibid., p. 172
153
Ibid., p. 167
154
Ibid., p. 177
155
Ibid., p. 173
156
157
Artell Egbert Johnson, Antibiotics, The American
Journal of Nursing 50, no. 11 (1950) pp. 688689, http://www.
jstor.org/stable/3459332 (accessed 2012)
158
159
These organisms are rod-shaped, gram-positive bacteria
that are typically pathogenic.
160
Quoted in Daniel, Pioneers, p. 195
161
162
Johnson, p. 690
163
164
Ibid., p. 197
165
Johnson, p. 690
166
167
Johnson, p. 690
168
95
THE CONCORD REVIEW
169
Ibid., pp. 199200
170
Ibid., p. 201
171
Johnson, p. 690
172
173
Ibid., p. 191
174
Johnson, p. 690
175
Alan D. L Sihoe and Wing Wai Yew, Role of Surgery
in the Diagnosis and Management of Tuberculosis, in
Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infections
ed. David Schlossberg, 6th ed. (Washington, D.C.: American
Society for Microbiology Press, 2011) p. 141
176
Adhesiolysis is the surgical removal of adhesions.
177
Sihoe, p. 141
178
Cummins, p. 195
179
Ibid., p. 198
180
Parran, p. 921
181
Raw, p. 538
182
Daniel, Captain, pp. 133134
183
Raw, p. 538
184
185
Ibid., pp. 135136
186
Bloom, p. 531
187
188
Bloom, p. 532
189
Ibid., p. 532
190
Ibid., p. 549
191
Ibid., p. 539
192
193
Bloom, p. 541
194
Ibid., p. 533
195
196
Rossman, p. 112
197
Raw, p. 539
198
Rossman, p. 112
199
Bloom, p. 539
200
Blacklock, p. 711
201
Frederick Heaf, Prevention of Tuberculosis, The
British Medical Journal 2, no. 5006 (1956) p. 1384, http://www.
202
Rossman, p. 124
203
Bloom, p. 531
204
Timothy Lahey and C. Fordham von Reyn,
Mycobacterium bovis BCG and New Vaccines against
Tuberculosis, in Schlossberg, p. 172
96 Theresa L. Rager
205
Bloom, p. 534
206
Heaf, p. 1387
207
Bloom, p. 552
208
Lahey and von Reyn, p. 172
209
Parran, p. 926
210
Hopewell, p. 25
211
Rossman, p. 125
212
213
Rossman, p. 110
214
Bloom, p. 531
215
Robert J. Anderson Some Factors in Tuberculosis
Control, The American Journal of Nursing 53, no. 1 (1953)
216
217
Bloom, p. 532
218
219
Bloom, pp. 549550
220
Heaf, pp. 13861387
221
Bloom, p. 533
222
223
Ibid., p. 141
224
Rossman, pp. 114115
225
Parran, p. 925
226
Lahey, p. 171
227
228
Rossman, p. 125
229
Lahey, p. 171
230
231
Bloom, p. 531
232
Ibid., p. 544
233
Anderson, p. 52
234
Philip, p. 701
235
Parran, p. 923
236
Ibid., p. 927
237
Philip, p. 702
238
Ibid., pp. 705706
239
240
TB: New Research on An Old Disease, Environmental
Health Perspectives 106, no. 11 (1998) p. 532, http://www.jstor.
org/stable/3434248 (accessed 2012)
241
Philip, p. 702
242
Ibid., p. 702
243
Hopewell, p. 27
97
THE CONCORD REVIEW
244
TB: New Research on An Old Disease, p. 532
245
Heaf, p. 1383
246
Anderson, p. 52
247
248
Ibid., p. 532
249
Anderson, p. 52
250
Bloom, p. 552
251
Ibid., p. 552
252
253
254
255
Ibid., p. 175
256
Bloom, p. 547
257
J. J. Thomson Immunization Against Tuberculosis, The
British Medical Journal 1, no. 3346 (1925) p. 333, http://www.
258
Blacklock, p. 711
259
Lahey, p. 162
260
Bloom, p. 550
261
262
This term was created by Jacobs and Bloom for their
mechanism of injecting genetic material into a bacteriophage
using a plasmid, which then injects the material into the bacilli.
263
A plasmid is a small, circular segment of double-stranded
DNA that carries additional genes from those in a bacteria
genome. The plasmid can be incorporated into the genome
through the use of restriction enzymes that act as molecular
scissors.
264
A mycobacteriophage is simply a virus that infects
mycobacteria.
265
Transposons or jumping genes are segments of DNA
that can move throughout the genome and alter the DNA
sequence.
266
267
Heaf, p. 1383
268
Parran, p. 924
269
Heaf, p. 1386
270
Parran, pp. 925926
271
Heaf, p. 1386
272
Ibid., p. 1388
273
Parran, p. 922
98 Theresa L. Rager
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Anderson, Robert J., Some Factors in Tuberculosis
Control, The American Journal of Nursing 53, no. 1 (1953):
5253, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3459947
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American Scientist 37, no. 3 (1949): 352370 http://www.jstor.
org/stable/27826280
Dunlop, D. M., Modern Views In The Prevention Of
Tuberculosis, The British Medical Journal 2, no. 4068 (1938):
Koch, Robert, Kochs Work upon Tuberculosis, and the
Present Condition of the Question, Science 4, no. 76 (1884):
Thomson, J.J., Immunization Against Tuberculosis, The
British Medical Journal 1, no. 3346 (1925): 333, http://www.
jstor.org/stable/25444276
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Articles
Blacklock, John W.S., The Epidemiology Of Tuberculosis,
The British Medical Journal 1, no. 4507 (1947): 707712,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20369647
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Medical Journal 2, no. 5006 (1956): 13831388, http://www.
jstor.org/stable/20360124
Johnson, Artell Egbert, Antibiotics, The American Journal
of Nursing 50, no. 11 (1950): 688690, http://www.jstor.org/
stable/3459332
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Public Health Reports (18961970) 68, no. 10 (1953): 921927,
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THE CONCORD REVIEW
Philip, Robert, An Address On The Causes Of The Decline
In Tuberculosis Mortality, The British Medical Journal 1, no.
3512 (1928): 701706, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25328625
Raw, Nathan, An Attenuated Tubercle Vaccine, The
British Medical Journal 1, no. 3094 (1920): 538539 http://
www.jstor.org/stable/20340595
TB: New Research on An Old Disease, Environmental
Health Perspectives 106, no. 11 (1998): A532A533, http://
www.jstor.org/stable/3434248
Thadepalli, Haragopal, Women Gave Birth to the
Stethoscope: Laennecs Introduction of the Art of Auscultation
of the Lung, Infectious Diseases 35, no. 5 (2002): 587588,
The Great Quintet: Lannec, Koch, Roentgen, von Pirquet,
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Books
Bloom, Barry R., ed., Tuberculosis: Pathogenesis,
Protection, and Control Washington D.C.: ASM Press, 1994
Cummins, Stevenson Lyle, Tuberculosis in History; From
the 17th Century to Our Own Times London: Baillire, Tindall,
and Cox, 1949
Daniel, Thomas M., Captain of Death: The Story of
Tuberculosis Rochester, New York: University of Rochester
Press, 1997
Daniel, Thomas M., Pioneers of Medicine and Their Impact
on Tuberculosis Rochester, New York: University of Rochester
Press, 2000
Rossman, Milton D., and Rob Roy MacGregor, Tuberculosis
New York: McGraw-Hill Inc., 1995
Schlossberg, David, ed., Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous
Mycobacterial Infections 6th

ed., Washington, D.C.: American
Society for Microbiology Press, 2011
100 Theresa L. Rager
Professor David Hackett Fischer, 2005 Pulitzer
Prize-winner for Washingtons Crossing, in an in-
terview with Donald A. Yerxa, Senior Editor of
Historically Speaking, April 2009 issue.
Like Herodotus, I think of history as inquirynot
a story but an inquiry, which often (but not always)
generates a story in its turn...I always try to begin
with simple questions. My books never begin with
an ideology, a model, a hypothesis, an argument,
or an attempt to prove a particular point. All of
these things may or may not come in their turn,
but I always start with very simple questions. For
Champlains Dream I asked: Who was this man?
Where did he come from? What difference did
he make? Why should we care? This question-
framing approach for me is fundamental. The
most interesting things I nd in my inquiries are
always things I could not have known in advance.
That process of discovery is where history really
comes to life for me, and I think for others...
101
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Gabriel Kelly is a Senior at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville,
Pennsylvania, where he wrote this paper as an Independent Study during
the 2011/2012 academic year.
THE GREAT GLOBALIZATION:
THE COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION IN CHINA, INDIA,
THE MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA, AND SUB-SAHARAN
AFRICA FROM THE 12TH TO THE EARLY 15TH CENTURY
Gabriel Kelly
During the 11th century, Western Europe was embroiled
in a major societal conict. Attempting to repel the Norman con-
querors, emerge from the feudal Middle Ages, and responding
to the sudden split of the Christian Church into the Byzantine
Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in 1054,
1

Western Europe stood at the precipice of a social upheaval that
would embroil all of Christendom in internal conict.
During this age of uncertainty, in Clermont, France on No-
vember 17, 1095, Pope Urban II made his famous Call to Crusade
in order to reclaim the Holy Land in the name of Christianity.
2

This quest, in the words of the Pope Urban II and those of modern
historians, would be to keep Christendom united under one banner
of faith in order to preserve peace and stability in Europe.
3
Led
by Crusader Baldwin, in 1098, the Crusaders captured their rst
Islamic kingdom in their Crusade: the Kingdom of Edessa.
4
Soon
after, on July 15, 1099, the Crusaders took the city of Jerusalem,
102 Gabriel Kelly
and Crusader Baldwin was crowned King of Jerusalem in the year
1100.
5
This conquest of a small sliver of plains and desert along
the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean, was a signicant event in
European history. From their castles, hoisted up above the shrub-
grass plains, the Crusaders, for the rst time, looked through a
gurative window into a world that was far different from the
one they knew in Europe. Islam, a faith that had begun its ex-
pansion in the 7th and 8th centuries, enveloped and integrated
cultures and peoples from Spain to the Hindu Kush Mountains.
6

The Kingdom of Ghana along the Niger River in Sub-Saharan
Africa, was ourishing under a protable trade with the Muslim
merchants of North Africa. In South East Africa, the Kingdom of
Great Zimbabwe traded raw materials, including gold and precious
metals, for nished goods from the Arabian peninsula. Across the
Indian Ocean, regional leaders on the Indian Subcontinent made
prosperous trades in spices between themselves and Southeast
Asia. And even in Southern China, the Song Dynasty was rapidly
developing a booming economy in international trade from port
cities such as Huangzhou. What Europeans saw from their castle
windows and in the colorful bazaars of Jerusalem, teeming with
spices, silks, and precious gems, was the beginnings of a commer-
cial revolution that would tie together the economies of East Asia,
the Indian Subcontinent, the Middle East, Spain, North Africa,
East Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa through international trade.
This commercial revolution in international trade, begun in the
12th century and lasting until the beginning of the 15th century,
would serve as a model of development that Crusaders would take
back with them to Europe, from previously Muslim-controlled
Jerusalem, for its own Renaissance and subsequent commercial
revolution.
7
This revolution in international trade, lasting from the
12th century to the early 15th century, was facilitated by expand-
ing involvement in existing methods of transportation, investing
in new infrastructure, the commissioning of envoys and explorers
to seek out new lands, government support of international trade
and commerce, and the development of societies that relied on
this revolution in international trade.
103
THE CONCORD REVIEW
In order to facilitate the commercial revolution in inter-
national trade that dened the 12th to early 15th century, nations
expanded their involvement in various methods of transportation.
Beginning with the Mongol conquests in Asia at the end of the
12th centurywhich overran China, splitting it between the Song
Dynasty in the South and the Yuan Dynasty in the Norththe horse
was one of the major methods of transportation that promoted
international trade. Mongol troops traditionally traveled with four
horses under each persons command.
8
By doing so, riders could
carry more belongings, as well as trade goods, throughout the areas
they conquered, thus expanding the revolution in international
trade through extended inventories with which they could buy
and sell needed and desired goods. The Mongols also invested in
technological inventions to improve the long term usability of the
horse which, after being adopted by various groups of people across
East Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East, led to more extensive
international trade. The creation of a wood and leather saddle,
greased with sheeps fat to prevent it from cracking or shrinking,
and the adoption of the sturdy stirrup,
9
allowed the Mongols to
transport themselves and trade goods over longer distances, thus
promoting a commercial revolution in international trade through
long distance travel and trade.
While Mongolian innovation and use of the horse in-
creased, other traders and travelers used the donkey, which was
equally effective in facilitating a revolution in international trade.
Donkeys, according to Marco Polo in his accounts of exploration
during the 12th

Century, were able, to make long journeys in
the course of the day[and] get sooner over the ground and
require a smaller allowance of food,
10
allowing for traders to
expend more effort and expense on trade goods than on upkeep
for their pack animals.
The swiftness of the horse and the staying power of the
donkey, would subsequently be outmatched by the camel. Used
as pack animals during the 3rd and 4th century for trading gold
across the Sahara Desert with North Africa,
11
the camel had been
tested as an effective means of transportation prior to the 12th
104 Gabriel Kelly
century. With an amazing ability to store and survive up to one
month in winter without access to water,
12
the camel became es-
sential for traveling long distances in desert climates along trade
routes, such as the Gold-Salt trade in West Africa, which connected
the Kingdom of Ghana, and its successor the Malinese Empire at
the dawn of the 13th century, to the North African coast. In addi-
tion to the camels ability to store water, the camel can consume
just about any shrub, grass, or vegetation to be found,
13
allow-
ing it to survive along trade routes that move through extreme
environments, without much vegetation. And most importantly,
the camel is an extremely effective pack animal for transporting
both people and trade goods. One camel can carry approximately
600 pounds of weight,
14
and when fully loaded can travel 20 to
25 miles per day,
15
allowing it to cover reasonable distances while
carrying substantial goods to facilitate a Commercial Revolution
in international trade.
On land, the horse, the donkey, and the camel all played
an important role as methods of transportation that facilitated this
revolution in trade, but on the seas new methods of shipbuilding
enabled even greater advances in trade. The dhow, a ship designed
by Muslim traders in the 5th century that possessed three triangu-
lar sails,
16
made it possible for traders to sail on yearly monsoon
winds from East Africa to India and back in order to maintain
international trade.
More than the dhow, the advent of the junk, a type of ship,
in China enabled societies to transport both people and trade
goods internationally. Designed with 60 cabins for merchants, the
ability to hold 150 to 300 crewmen, with watertight bulkheads,
and even gardening tubs to produce food for the ship, the junk
was an impressive engineering achievement for the time.
17
The
capacity the junk had for international trade, however, would still
need to be tested. During the early 15th century in Ming Dynasty
China, successor to the Yuan and Song Dynasties, a grand eet
composed of junks was amassed for Admiral Zheng He to explore
Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.
18
Deployed from Nanjing
in the Fall of 1405 with more than 27,000 crew members and 317
105
THE CONCORD REVIEW
ships, this eet was designed to undertake long journeys at sea in
the name of trade.
19
The armada of junks was made up of horse
ships, supply ships, troop transports, and two different kinds of
warships to protect the expedition.
20
On each ship, there were
various methods of communication used to successfully command
the eet including: one ag, signal bells, ve banners, one large
drum, used to signal ships to seek harbor from a coming storm,
gongs, carrier pigeons, ten lanterns, and a black ag stitched with
a specic white letter used to indicate its squadron in the eet.
21
The eets crew was composed of 93 commanders for regi-
ments, 104 battalion commanders, 103 company commanders,
one senior secretary from the Ministry of Revenue who moni-
tored grain supplies, two ofcials from the Ministry of Rites who
conducted ofcial receptions of the eet, one ofcial astronomer
and geomancer as well as four students tasked with interpreting
weather and natural phenomena, 10 instructors in foreign lan-
guages individually called Tong ji fans hu jiao yu guan, translated
as teacher who knows foreign books, and 180 medical ofcers
and pharmacologists tasked with collecting medicines and taking
care of the crew.
22
The eet even possessed its own water tankers,
which could keep the armada aoat for almost a month without
having to stop for fresh water.
23
The eet, according to a tablet
erected by Admiral Zheng He, leader of the expedition, in Changle,
Fujian in 1432, traversed more than one hundred thousand li
[approximately 31,068 miles] of immense waterspacesset eyes
on barbarian regions far away hiddentraversing those savage
waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare.
24
This great expedition, using the junk, stood at the zenith
of the many methods of transportation that helped dene the 12th
to the early 15th century revolution in international trade. The
horse, the donkey, the camel, the dhow, and the junk, expanded
involvement in various methods of transportation, on both land
and sea, which facilitated a Commercial Revolution in international
trade from the 12th to the early 15th century.

106 Gabriel Kelly
Along with this expanded involvement in various methods of
transportation, including the junk, the dhow, the camel, the don-
key, and the horse, was the infrastructure that made it possible to
create a commercial revolution in international trade from the
12th to the early 15th century.
The rst form of infrastructure that enabled this age of
international trade was the road. Prior to the 12th century, roads,
such as the Silk Road that connected East Asia to the Middle East,
were no more than commonly-tread paths that travelers took to
reach one location from another. Methods of transportation on
landincluding the camel, the donkey, and the horse, discussed
in the previous sectionwere in fact so reliable that they bypassed
the need to rmly establish roads.
25
But, in order to facilitate true,
widespread, international trade from the 12th century through
the early 15th century, this system of roads would need to become
more clearly dened.
In the regions dominated by Islam, caliphs and sultans
heeded the advice of the Book of Government or Rules for Kings, in
order to develop roads and infrastructure.
26
Published by Sejulkid
Wazir Al-Mulk in 1092 CE, this treatise states that the Caliph, who
rules the nation, has been placed into power by God, and in return
he must direct his nation to serve God.
27
As part of the sultan or
caliphs obligation to serve, as mandated by this treatise on rule,
the sultan or caliph should engage himself in:
Constructing underground channels, digging main canals, building
bridges across great waters, rehabilitating villages and farms, raising
fortications, building new towns, and erecting lofty buildings and
magnicent dwellings; he will have inns [ribats] built on the highways
and schools for those who seek knowledge; for which things he will
be renowned forever; he will gather the fruit of his good works in the
next world and blessings will be showered upon him.
28
Messages such as these led leaders of the Islamic world to build
roads and infrastructure that connected their societies to the
international network of trade from the 12th through the early
15th century. In modern day Iraq, Islamic leaders facilitated the
construction of a pontoon bridge that crossed the Tigris River,
29

107
THE CONCORD REVIEW
which runs through the city of Baghdad, connecting Iran to the
western portion of the Middle East.
Roads established by caliphs, sultans, regional, and local
leaders were maintained for global trade because of their ideal loca-
tions. Marco Polo recounts that during his travels from the town of
Yasdi to Kierman in present day Iran, The road [between the two
towns] lies through extensive groves of date-bearing palm, in which
there is abundance of game, as well as beasts such as partridges
and quails; and those travelers who are fond of the amusements
of the chase, may here enjoy excellent sport.
30
These roads were
also maintained, in terms of security for travelers and traders, by
the caliphs or sultans mandates on the local population. Accord-
ing to Marco Polos accounts of the road system present in Iran:
all roads where danger is apprehended, the inhabitants shall be
obliged, upon the requisition of the merchants, to provide active
and trusty conductors for their guidance and security, between one
district and another; who are to be paid at the rate of two or three
groats [a Venetian type of coin] for each loaded beast, according to
the distance.
31
Outside of the Islamic world, other leaders were just as devoted to
road development and road safety in order to facilitate international
trade. In Yuan China, leaders marked out all public roads by plant-
ing trees on either side, or erecting columns in unforgiving soils,
in order to designate roads for travel, even in harsh conditions.
32

And in the Charchan Desert, found in Western China, villagers
would hide food stores in hidden desert caverns, and migrate two
days to a safe oasis in order to avoid marauders and bandits that
assaulted major roads.
33
Adding to the effectiveness of these roads in transporting
people and trade goods internationally, from the 12th to the early
15th century, was an intricate system of rest stops and way-stations.
In the Middle East, this system of way-stations was com-
monly called the caravansary system.
34
Made up of a series of inns,
commonly called funduqs, khans, or caravansaries, every 18 or 20
miles, these walled-in courtyards served as a place for people to
rest, water their animals, and trade along global road systems.
35

108 Gabriel Kelly
The extent of its adoption became apparent in Al-Idrisis, an
Islamic geographer, reports, which stated that in 1150 CE there
were 750 funduq rest stops in a single town called Almeria, found
in southern Spain.
36
These systems of way-stations, like the caravansary system
in the Middle East, took on many forms as they moved between
societies, but all maintained the same purpose of easing the
transportation of people and trade goods internationally from
the 12th to the early 15th century. In the city of Lar, found in
the Turkish Kingdom of Rum in Anatolia, hospices made up of
single mencalled Al-Futuwwa, meaning youthfulnessled by
male leaders called Akhi, catered to travelers moving along trade
routes.
37
Ibn Battuta, a famous Muslim explorer from the 14th
century, reported that the city of Lar itself was willing to help the
hospice host travelers, donating one or two loaves of bread per
household, upon request, for these wayfarers.
38
Similarly, in the Sultanate of Delhi in India, successor to
the amalgamation of local kingdoms found in North Western
India, leaders employed the barid system, translated as messenger
system, to transport people and trade goods across the Indian Sub-
continent.
39
The barid system employed ulaq, horses belonging to
the sultan, which traveled between relay posts placed strategically
every four miles, as well as foot-runners, who traveled one mile,
kuruh, in triplets, with each runner running one dawa, or third of
a mile.
40
These foot-runners, also employed by the Sultan, each
carried a staff of bells with them when running their leg, or dawa,
to the next station, so that they could prepare the next runner to
pick up the trail of the last runner, ensuring maximum efciency.
41

Practical uses of this system in India, as cited by Muslim explorer
Ibn Battuta, included but were not limited to: transporting fruit,
grown in Khurqsan Province, Iran, to the Sultans palace in India,
42

transporting water from the Ganges River to the Sultans palace,
43

and even transporting criminals, carried on stretchers, from one
region to another.
44
These ingenious systems of way-stations, used in the Middle
East and in India to transport people and trade goods, were not
109
THE CONCORD REVIEW
only very effective in promoting international trade, but they were
even adopted in Central and East Asia, through the yamb system.
The yamb system, translated to the horse post-house system,
45
was
a system used in Mongol domains to transport government mes-
sages, as well as travelers and trade goods, along roads throughout
the empire. One should say, that the yamb systems use and size
were unparalleled in Europe, the Middle East, or in the Indian
Subcontinent, from the 12th to the early 15th century. With each
yamb supported by a designated surrounding village placed every
2530 miles,
46
the entire yamb system employed 200,000 horses and
10,000 buildings in total.
47
Each post, or yamb, maintained up to
400 horses for use by travelers,
48
and in Manchuria alone, there
were an estimated 146 of these posts.
49
At posts where it might
be required to cross a lake or river to reach the next yamb, the
supporting village for the yamb maintained three to four boats to
cross that particular body of water.
50
In between each individual
yamb, every three miles, was a fort and approximately 40 houses
stationed to serve as supporting institutions for the yamb system:
providing rest points for foot-messengers traveling between yambs.
51

Foot-messengers traveled distances of 3 miles individually, each
wearing a girdle adorned with bells in order to signal their arrival
and to prepare another runner at the upcoming village.
52
Runners
provided the main means of communication in the yamb system,
and were kept moving at a swift pace by a government clerk, sta-
tioned at each three mile point and yamb, who wrote down arrival
and departure times for all of the runners.
53
The efciency of this yamb system in facilitating trade,
was cited by some of the great explorers of the day. Marco Polo,
who made his way to China in the 13th century, passing through
Mongol territory, cited the luxury of the yamb buildings, If even
a king were to arrive at one of these, he would nd himself well
lodged.
54
Marco Polo cited the efciency and speed of the yamb
system itself, stating:
the Emperor [of Yuan/Mongol China], who has an immense num-
ber of these runners, receives dispatches with news from places ten
days journey off in one day and night; or, if need be, news from a
hundred days off in ten days and nights; and that is no small matter!
110 Gabriel Kelly
In fact in the fruit season many a time fruit shall be gathered one
morning in Cambaluc, and the evening of the next day it shall reach
the Great Kaan at Chandu, a distance often days journey.
55
And Marco Polo even cited the acceptance of the importance of
the Yamb system amongst Mongol subjects, explaining that each
postal worker, carries with him a ger falcon tablet, in sign that
he is bound on an urgent express; so that if perchance his horse
breakdown, or he meet with other mishap, whomsoever he may
fall in with on the road, he is empowered to make him dismount
and give up his horse.
56
Muslim explorer Ibn Battuta mirrored
Marco Polos veneration in his own accounts from the 14th century,
stating that the Yamb system makes travel and trade in China a safe
enterprise,
57
explaining that even, A man travels for nine months
alone with great wealth and has nothing to fear [in China].
58
Infrastructural systems such as the yamb system, helped to
dene the revolution in international trade, which lasted from the
12th to the early 15th century. Investment in infrastructure such
as the road, bridge, hostel, and international postal-system made
it easier for trade goods on the backs of pack animals and in the
arms of international traders, to move between continents and
create a revolution in international trade from the 12th to the
early 15th century.
Capitalizing on the international investment in infrastruc-
ture from the 12th century to the early 15th century, governments
began actively to support an emerging revolution in international
trade through the commissioning of envoys to seek out diplomatic
contacts in foreign lands.
In 1245 CE, after the Mongol armies of the Khanate of the
Golden Horde in what is now Russia began to advance on Poland
and Hungary, an ecumenical council of the Papacy in Rome sent
out its rst expedition to East Asia.
59
John of Piano Carpini and
William of Rubruck, monks of the Franciscan order, spearheaded
the expedition, designed to persuade the Mongol Khan to stop
his expansion into Eastern Europe and to make formal contact
with the Mongols, and recorded their travels through the Mongol
domains from 1253 to 1255.
60
111
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Similarly, Mongol explorer Rabban Sauma, who departed
from Mongol China in 1275,
61
was sent on an expedition by Sultan
Arghun of the Ilkhanate to secure an alliance with Europe against
the Mamaluks of Egypt.
62
He departed from the Ilkhanate in 1286
bearing spoken and written messages for the Pope, the Byzantine
Emperor, the King of France, and the King of England; presents
for the Pope and each of the monarchs; as well as gold, riding
animals, and a letter-patent for his travels.
63
Such an expedition
reaped no results in terms of forging an alliance against the Ma-
maluks, but the expedition did create an undeniable link between
the East and West for further diplomacy and international trade
to develop.
64
Some of these invaluable links between East and
West that explorer Rabban Sauma established, included: meet-
ing with the Council of Cardinals in July of 1287,
65
meeting with
Pope Nicholas IV in 1288,
66
and even with King Phillip of France
in September of 1287, who rose to greet him,
67
this being a gesture
of recognizing equality between the two peoples,
68
essential for
establishing diplomatic relations and international trade.
These contacts commissioned by governments, however,
were not solely limited to traveling from East Asia to Western
Europe, they were an international phenomena.
Shortly before the expedition of Rabban Sauma from the
Ilkhanate, Marco Polo departed from Venice, Italy, in Southern
Europe, for China, then called Cathay, in 1271, where he was
employed in the Yuan Emperors court, an experience he left an
account of in his travel log when he returned to Venice in 1295,
called collectively The Travels of Marco Polo.
69
The 21-year-old Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta, similarly
departed from Tangiers, Morocco, in North Africa, in 1325 on
Hajj,
70
a pilgrimage to Mecca as ordained by one of the Five Pillars
of Islam, and ended up being commissioned by the Delhi Sultan-
ate on September 12, 1333 as a diplomatic envoy to Mongol/Yuan
domains in East Asia.
71
In 1324 the King of Mali, commonly referred to as Mansa
Musa, made a legendary trip to Cairo, Egypt from Sub-Saharan
Africa while on the Hajj.
72
While in Cairo, Mansa Musa spent
112 Gabriel Kelly
enough gold to depress the economy of Egypt for several years;
and upon meeting the Sultan of Egypt, Mansa Musa refused to
grovel before him, claiming that he would only grovel before
God.
73
And in 1403, the eet, under Admiral Zheng He, was com-
missioned by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China, Zhu Di,
to promote trade, and to make contact with foreign nations that
could possibly provide tribute to the Ming treasury.
74
These expeditions and envoys, from Timbuktu to Cairo or
from the Papacy to China, connected peoples who had, prior to
the 12th century, only briey been engaged with each other. The
accounts left by explorers, such as Rabban Sauma, Marco Polo,
and Ibn Battuta, facilitated the connection of continents, which
would be used from the 12th to the early 15th century to enable
a revolution in international trade.
Along with sending out explorers, expeditions, and envoys
tasked with making international contacts with other nations, gov-
ernments also began to actively support and sponsor a revolution
in international trade from the 12th to the early 15th century.
In the regions dominated by Islam, supporting trade was
one of the key roles of the government of Muslim sultans and ca-
liphs from the 12th century to the early 15th century. According
to the Book of Government or Rules for Kingswritten by Sejulkid
Wazir Nizam Al-Mulk who was mentioned in a previous section,
the role of government was to create and protect long-distance,
or international, trade routes.
75
In Muslim Egypt, the Sultan maintained 12,000 water
carriers on camels, 30,000 hirers of mules and donkeys, as well
as 36,000 boats, in order to facilitate trade up and down the Nile
River.
76
Along the border between Egypt and Syria, the Sultan of
Egypt established qatya, government border posts.
77
Manned by
Bedouin nomads, these qatya collected a tax, called the zakat, on
travelers passing across the border.
78
An estimated 1,000 dinars
per day were collected at these border posts, and the government
used the money accordingly to further international trade, or its
113
THE CONCORD REVIEW
own internal infrastructure.
79
During the reign of the Mamaluk
Sultan Baybars, 12601277, Egypt befriended the Golden Horde
in Russia for a supply of mercenaries.
80
These mercenaries were
transported by the Italian city state of Genoathrough the Bospo-
rus strait, to Alexandria, by a treaty with the Byzantine Empirein
exchange for international trading rights for Genoa in Egypt.
81
In North Africa, Muslim traders of the Fatimid and Al-
moravid Caliphates continued a long tradition of exchanging salt
for gold over the Sahara Desert with Sub-Saharan Africa.
82
This
government-sponsored practice of sending caravans across the
Sahara Desert doubled regional trade in West Africa.
83
Some communities in places like Syria even paid people
to travel: creating local funds for Muslim citizens, who could not
make the Hajj, to pay someone else to perform the Hajj for them,
84

thus facilitating a movement of people and international trade
through travel.
And one of the most important aspects of all in this age of
international trade, was Muslim leaders regulation of exchange
rates and of marketplaces in order to protect the integrity of in-
ternational trade routes.
Claude Cahen, a Muslim judge from the period who sup-
ported the Muslim governments regulation of exchange rates,
stated boldly, established in an age of pluralism and monetary
uctuation commanded that coins not be taken at face value, but
according to weight (allowing for alloyage), in order to assure
honesty, as one would deal in any other form of merchandise.
85

The governments of the Islamic world responded to such cries
for regulation and for the furtherance of international trade with
the appointment of sayras, money-changers who weighed coins
to determine their proper and just exchange rates, as well as the
sale of government stamped purses, which had the exact amount
of money labeled on the outside of the purse that was contained
within the purse,
86
allowing for traders to change their money fairly
and with ease internationally. To check the power of the sayras,
Muslim governments appointed muhtasib, or scale checkers, in
114 Gabriel Kelly
the marketplaces of their nations to ensure reliable exchange
practices.
87
Following the words of Sejulkid Wazir Nizam Al-Mulk,
In every city a [market inspector] must be appointed whose duty is
to check scales and prices and to see that business is carried on in an
orderly and upright manner. He must take particular care in regard
to goods which are brought from outlying districts and sold in the
bazaars to see that there is no fraud or dishonesty, that weights are
kept true, and that moral and religious principles are observed,
88
Muslim leaders strove to establish states that were, also in the
words of the Sejulkid Wazir, the product of justice,
89
when it
came to international trade.
In the marketplace, very much similar to the way muhtasib
were appointed to check the power of the money changers, or
sayras, sultans and caliphs appointed eunuchs, or market overseers,
to ensure unadulterated dealings in the bazaar.
90
Appointed by the
Sultan or Caliph himself, these employees could not be bought
off, and enforced their ideals of fair international trading and
marketplace conduct strictly.
91
But this policy of supporting international trade and fair
marketplaces was not unique to Muslim-dominated nations.
Governments sponsored global trade in Mongolian do-
mains by granting permits, called pai-tzu, to traders for travel
between friendly khanates when the contingent empire splintered
into four separate khanates in the 14th century.
92
When Chiggis
Khan conquered the city of Samarkand, he not only commanded
his troops not to attack the artisan population, essential for
making products for global trade, he freed them from corvee, or
yearly servitude, and gave them tax benets.
93
Mongolian China
gave loans at reduced interest rates to merchant unionscalled
ortogh, which reduced risk on individual merchants by pooling
funds together to make one collective expenditure on a caravan
moving from China to the West.
94
And the Mongols even used
paper money, which allowed traders to move large distances with-
out having to carry large sums in gold and silver.
95
Similar to the
check, developed in Islamic countries during the 11th century
in which traders could redeem their money for precious metals
115
THE CONCORD REVIEW
at their destination,
96
Mongolian paper money was built on the
faith that their government was backing their paper money with
precious metals and gems.
97
In the words of traveler Marco Polo,
such a vast quantity of this [paper] money, which costs him
nothing...must equal in amount all the treasure in the world.
98

Marco Polo continues to explain that, all merchants arriving
from India or other countries, and bringing with them gold or
silver or gems and pearls, are prohibited from selling to any one
but the Emperor,
99
and by being one of the few institutions able
to purchase precious metals, gems, or pearls, the Mongolian gov-
ernment was able to back up their paper currency with tangible
wealth.
The Mongolian domains enforced the ideas present in
Islamic domains about fair international trading and their unique
system of paper money, with their strong-armed rule and strict
code of laws. For example, if a person stole a traders horse, the
Mongolian government enforced law and order by making the
robber return the horse and pay nine times the horses value on
top of the original horses cost.
100
People caught robbing from
merchants along trade routes were beaten with a cane an amount
of times deemed equal to the value of the goods stolen.
101
Even
princes and nobles were subject to the strict trade laws of the
Mongolian domain. A story about the brother of the Great Khan
Mangu in India, best explains the extent of Mongol protection of
international trade. A prince, called The Old Man of the Mountain,
paid bandits to rob travelers moving along the roads in his land,
102

but after a three-year siege by the Khans brother, from 1252 to
1255, The Old Man of the Mountain was forced to surrender and
his castle was dismantled.
103
And even in Ming China, at the dawn of the 15th century,
the government supported the idea of fair international trading.
The Hui Tong Hall in Nanjings Imperial Palace became the epi-
center of Ming Chinese trade with the rest of the world.
104
Foreign
dignitaries, not permitted to intermingle with the local population,
were given wood block ID cards that were stamped each time they
entered or left Hui Tong Hall on diplomatic missions.
105
For three
116 Gabriel Kelly
to ve days, when a foreign dignitary visited the palace, Chinese
merchants were permitted to enter the hall courtyard and buy
foreign goods the traders had brought with them to trade with
from around the globe.
106
Emperor Zhu Di stated that the goals of
the Chinese government in personally regulating trade through
the Hui Tong Hall System, was to give all parties equal access to
trade with China and to encourage, Now all within the four seas
one familylet there be mutual trade at the frontier barriers in
order to supply countrys needs and to encourage distant people
to come.
107
Muslim merchants traveling outside of the imperial
palace in China had to turn over their money to the merchant or
hostel attendant they were living with.
108
The merchant or hostel
attendant would then go to the market for the merchant and
purchase all the things the merchant requested, on the basis that
the Chinese government does not want it said in the Muslim
countries that they lose their money in our country, and that it is
a land of debauchery and eeting pleasure.
109
Whether it be in Damascus or Nanjing, governments around
the world were deeply involved in perpetuating international trade
routes and protecting their integrity from the 12th century to the
early 15th century. By establishing regulatory agencies like the
Qatya border posts in Egypt, or the Hui Tong Hall System of court
trading in Ming China, governments had protected international
trade routes from marauders and thieves seeking to disrupt this
system of international trade. Other investments, such as the Sultan
of Egypts creation of a Nile eet and land-based water carrying
system, the invention of the Muslim check, or the adoption of the
Mongolian system of paper money, all were government projects
that allowed people to travel with trade goods over longer-distances
with less difculty.
As leaders from Cordoba to China expanded existing meth-
ods of transportation, invested in infrastructure developments,
and sponsored international trade, the fruits of their investments
began to show in the development of their societies based on the
revolution in trade which lasted from the 12th to the 15th century.

117
THE CONCORD REVIEW
In the Muslim world, travel had been an important part of
society ever since the foundation of Islam in the 7th century.
110
The
Hajj, or ritual pilgrimage to Mecca as mandated by the Five Pillars
of Islam, encouraged people from all walks of life to move from
the far corners of the world to the place where three continents
meet: the Middle East.
111
Mecca was truly, as traveler Ibn Battuta
stated in his travel log, the pole upon which revolves the axis
of the world,
112
and this travel, facilitated by the investments
of world leaders in methods of transportation and infrastructure,
encouraged people to exchange traditions and goods from around
the Islamic world, which in turn helped to create a commercial
revolution based on the exchange of ideas and products.
113
Pil-
grims from places like Tangiers were welcomed along their path
to Mecca by a friendly host of Islamic leaders, promoting the
movement of people from one place to another.
114
The tradition
of Raq, or traveling with a companion on journeys,
115
also helped
to transport more people and goods between societies in order
to create international trade.
The benets of the Hajj were seen in the transfer of goods
and ideas internationally. From Asia, a international trade route
was opened that had been closed since the time of Alexander the
Great, fostering the exchange of ideas from Asia to the Islamic
world.
116
In Baghdads House of Wisdom, Islamic scholars trans-
lated the texts of the Greek philosophers into Arabic.
117
Muslims
adopted the concept of the zero from the Hindus in the Sultan-
ate of Delhi.
118
In Europe, disseminating from Muslim cities like
Cordoba in Southern Spain, came wordssuch as orange, lemon,
sugar, syrup, sherbet, julep, elixir, jar, azure, arabesque, mattress,
sofa, muslin, satin, fustian, bazaar, caravan, checkmate, tariff,
trafc, douane, magazine, risk, sloop, barge, cable, and admi-
ral, musical instrumentssuch as the lute, rebeck, guitar, and
tambourine, scientic termssuch as algebra, cipher, azimuth,
alembic, zenith, and almanac, architectural designssuch as
the ribbed vaulting, windows, and towers of Gothic architecture,
modeled after the Islamic mosque, pottery techniques, metal-
working, glass making, book binding, and even gardening,
119
all
of which promoted the development of societies.
118 Gabriel Kelly
Outside of the traditional Muslim Hajj, the exchange of
goods and ideas across international trade routes continued to
ourish due to the development of societies based on trade.
In Persia, where international trade routes connected the
Middle East and Central Asia to China, motifs that were Chinese
in origin, such as the dragon, phoenix, and depictions of land-
scapes, appeared in Persian art, evidence of the exchange of ideas
from this international trade.
120
In return, weaving communities
relocated from Persia to Mongol China along these international
trade routes in order to produce a prized gold cloth for the Mon-
gol courts.
121
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the gold-salt trade routes, running
through the Sahara Desert connecting the Muslim-dominated
North African coast to the West African interior, led to the adop-
tion by Africans of Islam, grid-pattern city planning, courtyard
architecture, prominent placement of the mosque in towns and
villages, and in the Gao Empire, which preceded the Malinese
Empire along the Niger River in the 13th century, where salt was
a form of national currency.
122
From the Persian Gulf, traders from the Middle East and
India intermingled along established international sea routes to
create one of the most illustrious trading regions in the world. The
city of Basra, located near where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
meet in modern day Kuwait, was a major producer in this inter-
national trading network, exporting a great diversity of products
including: silk and linen, 24 types of sh, pearls, gems, antimony,
cinnabar, verdigris, silver, 49 types of dates, henna, violet essence,
and rose water.
123
Pearl sheries that crossed the Persian Gulf, be-
tween Siraf and Al-Bahrain, were frequented by the merchants of
Fars, in modern day Iran, during the months of April and May.
124

Even Hormuz, an island in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of
the Persian Gulf, according to traveler Marco Polo was ourish-
ing in this trade, frequented by traders from all parts of India,
who bring spices and drugs, precious stones, pearls, gold tissues,
elephants teeth, and various other articles of merchandise.
125
119
THE CONCORD REVIEW
From East to West and back again, international trade
affected every corner of this revolutionized world. According
to the great explorer Ibn Battuta, pottery made in the Imperial
kilns of Zaitun and Sin Kalan, in China, could be found for sale in
North Africa.
126
Ermine, found only 40 miles outside of Bulghar
in Southern Russia, went for 1,000 silver dinars a pelt in India.
127

Turkish traders from Anatolia drove packs of 600 horses, in order
to triple their prots, to sell in India.
128
And international trade
allowed for the transfer of goods at such an affordable rate, that
when a slave boy in the city of Damascus accidentally broke a pre-
cious porcelain plate, imported all the way from China, a local
charity simply offered to replace it, free of charge.
129
From Tripoli to Timbuktu and from the Strait of Hormuz
to Hangzhou China, a commercial revolution had transformed
the economies of East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, the Middle
East, East Africa, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Spain.
Traders capitalized on the ability to travel internationally
by using methods of transportation on landincluding the camel,
the horse, and the donkeyas well as those on the seainclud-
ing the dhow and the junk. Traders gained the ability to travel
internationally with ease due to the development of new roads,
bridges, hostels, and international postal systems. In just under
one year, one could travel from Cordoba, in Southern Spain, to
the steppes of the Hindu-Kush Mountains in Pakistan.
130
Expedi-
tions, like those of Marco Polo, Rabban Sauma, Ibn Battuta, Mansa
Musa, and Admiral Zheng He, introduced a variety of cultures to
one another, and established diplomatic links along which inter-
national trade routes could be fostered in the coming centuries.
On a diplomatic mission from Malaca, in Southeast Asia, the
Emissary presented the Chinese court with a glass lens from the
Middle East, which would become the foundation of the modern
telescope.
131
Government support of international trade and com-
mence, led to the rallying of nations to face a more global world.
And nally, the development of societies based on commerce led
to the creation of a world focused on this commercial revolution
in international trade. A world where gold from Timbuktu, silks
120 Gabriel Kelly
from China, rubies from Ceylon, and pearls from the Strait of
Hormuz, could all intermingle in the bazaars, right under the
very noses of the Crusaders of Jerusalem, who would take them all
back, along with valuable ideas about mathematics, hygiene, and
astrology from Islam, to add to the foundations for the European
Renaissance and subsequent trade revolution.
132
The commercial revolution, lasting from the 12th century to
the early 15th century, was facilitated by expanding involvement in
existing methods of transportation, investing in new infrastructure,
the commissioning of envoys and explorers to seek out new lands,
government support of international trade and commerce, and
the development of societies that relied on these great changes
in patterns of trade.

121
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Endnotes
1
Will Durant, The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval
CivilizationChristian, Islamic, and Judaicfrom Constantine
to Dante: A.D. 3251300 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1950)
p. 586
2
University of Michigan, First Crusade (10961099),
(accessed June 18, 2012) http://www.umich.edu/~eng415/
timeline/detailedtimeline.html#AnchorFirst
3
Durant, p. 586
4
Michigan, First Crusade (10961099)
5
Ibid.
6
Islam: Empire of Faith, directed by Robert Gardner
(2005; Washington, DC: PBS & Devillier Donegan Enterprises,
2005) DVD
7
Durant, p. 342
8
The Mongols in World History, Columbia University,
(accessed June 6, 2012) http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/
mongols/conquests/khans_horses.pdf
9
Ibid.
10
William Marsden, The Travels of Marco Polo by Manuel
Komroff, ed. (New York: Modern Library, 2001) p. 35
11
Christopher Rose, Minerals, Medals, Faith and Slaves:
The Trans-Saharan Commodity Trade (Presentation at the
Hemispheres Summer Teachers Institute 2003, Austin, Texas,
June 9, 2003)
12
James E. Lindsay, Daily Life In The Medieval Islamic
World (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2005) p. 40
13
Ibid., p. 40
14
Ibid., p. 40
15
Ibid., p. 40
16
Ibid., p. 77 This invention of the triangular sail would
reappear prior to the European Renaissance in 13th-century
Italy, according to the source, demonstrating the broad-based
adoption of this trading technology.
17
Louise Levathes, When China Ruled the Seas: The
Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 14051433 (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1994) p. 49
18
Ibid., p. 73
19
Ibid., p. 54
20
Ibid., p. 82
21
Ibid., p. 83
22
Ibid., p. 83
122 Gabriel Kelly
23
Ibid., pp. 8283
The author notes, however, due to the nature of the
expedition being for trade, the eet stopped at a port
approximately every 10 days, but the technology was there if a
longer time at sea were to be expected.
24
Ibid., p. 18
25
Lindsay, p. 109
26
Ibid., p. 20
27
Ibid., p. 19
28
Ibid., p. 109
29
Ibid., p. 109
30
Marsden, p. 37
31
Ibid., p. 36
32
Ibid., p. 142
33
Ibid., p. 61
34
Morris Rossabi, Voyager from Xandu: Rabban Sauma
and the First Journey from China to the West (New York:
Kodansha International, 1992) p. 104
35
Ibid., p. 104; H.A.R. Gibb, ed., The Travels of Ibn
Battuta: A.D. 13251354: Translated with revisions and notes
from the Arabic text by C. Defremery and BR. Sanguinetti Vol.
1 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1958) pp. 7172
36
Lindsay, p. 110
37
H.A.R. Gibb, ed., The Travels of Ibn Battuta: A.D.
13251354: Translated with revisions and notes from the Arabic
text by C. Defremery and BR. Sanguinetti Vol. 2 (New York:
38
Ibid., p. 406
39
Ibid., p. 594
40
Ibid., p. 594
41
Ibid., p. 594
42
Ibid., p. 594
43
Ibid., pp. 594595
44
Ibid., p. 594
45
mongols/gures/ser_xxvi.pdf
46
Marsden, p. 137
47
Ibid., p. 138
48
49
Rossabi, p. 48
123
THE CONCORD REVIEW
50
51
Ibid.
52
Marsden, p. 139
This use of a girdle adorned with bells is not unlike the
Barid Systems use of a pole adorned with bells to signal the
arrival of a messenger, adding to the idea of a globalized trade
and exchange of ideas.
53
Ibid., p. 139
54
55
Ibid.
56
Ibid.
57
H.A.R. Gibb, ed., The Travels of Ibn Battuta: A.D.
13251354: Translated with revisions and notes from the Arabic
text by C. Defremery and BR. Sanguinetti Vol. 4 (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1994) pp. 893894
58
Ibid., p. 893
59
mongols/history/history3.htm
60
Ibid.
61
Rossabi, p. 46
Rabban Saumas exact departure date is unknown due to
incomplete records, but the author explains, The two monks
could not have gone after 1278, because they arrived in Persia
by late 1279 and Saumas account reveals that they spent six
months in one town en route. They must have left after the
Polo brothers return with the holy oil in 1275; at that point the
Khan would have assumed that, like the Polos, they could reach
Jerusalem and hence have felt condent entrusting them with
his assignment. A date closer to 1275 to 1278 appears probable,
given their six-month stopover and the fact that the monks
most likely tarried in other locations as well.
62
Ibid., p. 99
63
Ibid., p. 99
64
Ibid., pp. 178180
65
Ibid., pp. 119125
66
Ibid., p. 158
67
Ibid., pp. 140141
68
Ibid., p. 141
124 Gabriel Kelly
69
Marsden, pp. 125
70
Gibb, Vol. 1, p. x
71
Ibid., p. xii
72
Christopher Rose, Minerals, Medals, Faith and Slaves:
The Trans-Saharan Commodity Trade (Presentation at the
June 9, 2003)
73
Ibid.
74
Levathes, p. 73
According to Ming tong jian, an unofcial history of early
15th century China, the eet was commissioned partly to seek
out a rival Emperor Jianwen, who might threaten Emperor Zhu
Dis claim to the throne of Ming China.
75
Lindsay, pp. 1920
76
Gibb, Vol. 1, p. 42
77
Ibid., p. 72
78
Ibid., p. 72
79
Ibid., p. 72
80
Lindsay, p. 81
81
Ibid., p. 81
82
Rose
83
Ibid.
84
Gibb, Vol. 1, p. 149
85
Lindsay, p. 113
86
Ibid., p. 113
87
Ibid., p. 114
88
Ibid., p. 114
89
Ibid., p. 114
90
Ibid., p. 116
91
Ibid., p. 116
A tale told by the Sejulkid Wazir demonstrates the
incorruptibility of these ofcials: Ali-Nustigin, one of the Sultan
of Rums generals, goes out to the bazaar drunk, and feels that
he can do whatever he pleases. The market inspector sees him
drunk and beats him with a cane 40 times for his improper
conduct.
92
Rossabi, p. 46
93
94
mongols/history/history4_b.htm
125
THE CONCORD REVIEW
95
mongols/gures/ser_xxiv.pdf
96
Gardner
97
98
Ibid.
99
Ibid.
100
To compound on the severity of this law, according to
Ibn Battuta, if the thief did not have enough money, the
government would take his sons, and if the thief had no sons,
the thief would subsequently die.
101
Marsden, p. 81
102
Ibid., p. 61
103
Ibid., p. 61
104
Levathes, p. 118
105
Ibid., p. 118
106
Ibid., p. 119
It is important to note that nations like Korea were given
unlimited time to trade in the courtyard of the hall, making the
Chinese devotion to equality in trade questionable.
107
Ibid., p. 88
108
109
Ibid., p. 893
110
Gardner
111
Ibid.
112
Gibb, Vol. 1, p. 5
113
Gardner
114
Gibb, Vol. 1, p. 13
The arrival of Ibn Battuta in the city of Balash in Algeria was
initially ignored, but a man who lived in the city saw him as a
stranger and welcomed him openly.
115
Lindsay, p. 110
116
Ibid., p. 110
117
Ibid., p. 110
118
Ibid., p. 110
119
Durant, p. 342
120
mongols/history/history6_a.htm
121
Ibid.
126 Gabriel Kelly
122
Rose, Trans-Saharan Commodity Trade
123
Lindsay, p. 102
124
125
Marsden, p. 41
126
127
Gibb, Vol. 2, pp. 491492
128
Ibid., pp. 478479
129
130
Gardner
131
Levathes, p. 119
132
Durant, p. 342
Bibliography
Battuta, Ibn, The Travels of Ibn Battuta: A.D. 13251354:
Translated with revisions and notes from the Arabic text by
C. Defremery and B.R. Sanguinetti edited by H.A.R. Gibb, 5
Volumes, New York: Cambridge University Press, 19582000
Columbia University, The Mongols in World History,
mongols/conquests/khans_horses.pdf
mongols/history/history4_b.htm
(accessed June 6, 2012) http://afe.easia.columbia-edu/
127
THE CONCORD REVIEW
mongols/pop/maps/1227_map.pdf
Durant, Will, The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval
CivilizationChristian, Islamic, and Judaicfrom Constantine
to Dante: A.D. 3251300 New York: Simon and Schuster, 1950
Islam: Empire of FaithThe Awakening directed by Robert
Gardner, 2005, Washington, DC: PBS & Devillier Donegan
Enterprises, 2005, DVD
Levathes, Louise, When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure
Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 14051433 New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1994
Lindsay, James E., Daily Life In The Medieval Islamic World
Westport: Greenwood Press, 2005
Marsden, William, The Travels of Marco Polo edited by
Manuel Komroff, New York: Modern Library, 2001
Rose, Christopher, Minerals, Medals, Faith and Slaves:
The Trans-Saharan Commodity Trade, Presentation at the
June 9, 2003
Rossabi, Morris, Voyager from Xandu: Rabban Sauma and
the First Journey from China to the West New York: Kodansha
International, 1992
University of Michigan, First Crusade (10961099),
(accessed June 18, 2012) http://www.umich.edu/~eng415/
timeline/detailedtimeline.html#AnchorFirst
128 Gabriel Kelly
Elizabeth Longford
Welllington, The Years of the Sword
London: Panther 1971, pp. 74-75
Among the rubbish lay a secret resolve to read. The
voyage to India gave it a ne excuse. From Dublin, Arthur brought his
small library, to which he added in England over fty pounds worth
of books. Among the Oriental dictionaries, grammars and maps,
the military manuals and histories of India, were works of a more
general interest. Voltaire, Rousseau, Frederick the Great, Marchal
de Saxe, Plutarchs Lives and the Caesaris Commentariain Latin; for
law, Blackstones Commentaries; for economics, Adam Smiths Wealth of
Nations; for philosophy, Locke and Human Understanding reappear; for
theology, ve volumes of Paley, gilt; and for the good of his Anglo-
Irish soul, twenty-four volumes of Swift at 2s. 10d.
At least one person had an inkling of something
else which lay among the rubbishsomething rare but not yet
denable. There was a Dr. Warren (probably Richard Warren the
court physician) whom Arthur had consulted as well as Dr. Hunter
before leaving England. I have been attending a young man, says this
Dr. Warren to a friend, whose conversation is the most extraordinary
I have ever listened to...if this young man lives, he must one day be
Prime Minister.
What was it in Arthurs manner which told
Dr. Warren he had the necessary sense of direction, critical
understanding, vigour, personality and vision? Or was it in the subjects
he talked about that he revealed the mystic trade-mark? One guess
is as good as another. But if this slight young man, recently sick and
battered by the incompetence of his superiors, held forth on his
prospects in Indiahis chance to emulate Clives victories, to extend
the settlement of Cornwallis without the controversy, and to achieve
the power of Warren Hastings without his suspected corruptionthe
doctor may well have thought himself in the presence of either brain
fever or genius.
Arthur and his trunkload of books followed the 33rd
[Regiment] at the end of June. Ireland was already a month away. It
had been high time to break out from the Castle, where his spirit had
been a prisoner for more than nine years. Perhaps, indeed, he had
never yet known what it was to feel truly free.
129
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Malini Gandhi is a Senior at Newton North High School in Newtonville,
Massachusetts, where she wrote this paper for Susan Wilkins Advanced
Placement U.S. History course in the 2011/2012 academic year.
MISCEGENATION LAWS:
A MICROCOSM OF RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICA
Malini Gandhi
In June 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that bans
on interracial marriage were unconstitutional, ending more than
300 years of miscegenation laws. The trial was anti-climactic, the
ruling expected, and the response from the public hardly notice-
able. Richard Loving, a white man who had instructed his lawyer
in the most memorable lines of the trial to simply tell the Court
I love my wife, quietly took his black wife Mildred back home to
Virginia.
1
Yet the Loving v. Virginia decision put an end to a set of
laws that many argue underpinned the entire system of the Jim
Crow South. There were three major reasons for the persistence
of bans on interracial marriage over the centuries and for their
continued presence almost a decade after the bulk of civil rights
legislation had been passed. First was white Southerners obsession
with maintaining racial purity and relegating the black race to
a separate, blood-based caste. Second, interracial intimacy was
bound to a stigma of illicit sex that contradicted the model of a
respectable Progressive-era family. Third, the black public was un-
willing to support campaigns against miscegenation laws because
130
Malini Gandhi
of a growing race pride as well as a desire to make gains in areas
of greater priority, such as jobs and schools. The contribution of
these forces in keeping miscegenation statutes alive is reected in
the shifting stance taken by the NAACP on this issue. The group
refused to address the issue during the civil rights movement
because the three factors were so entrenched that to challenge
them would threaten their other campaigns, and it was only when
these attitudes were weakened during the changing atmosphere of
the 1960s that the NAACP nally decided to ght for interracial
marriage rights. The response of the NAACP to miscegenation
laws reveals the powerful ties among interracial intimacy, the ra-
cial identities of both blacks and whites, and American ideals of
family, sex, and marriage.
The rst and perhaps the most passionately articulated rea-
son for the maintenance of miscegenation laws was white Southern-
ers profound fear that amalgamation, by destroying racial purity,
would undermine whites attempts to keep blacks in a separate and
immutable caste. Early miscegenation laws had evolved to bolster
the stringent racial hierarchy of slavery. Thus, when the U.S. Civil
War demolished the overarching framework of the slavery system,
paranoia mounted among Southerners that emancipation was the
beginning of an inevitable amalgamation and assimilation of the
races.
2
Though in the short term Reconstruction-era rhetoric did
topple many miscegenation statutes, the collapse of Reconstruction
and the solidication of the Jim Crow mentality in the late 1860s
meant that these decisions were quickly discarded. Miscegenation
laws once again blanketed the South, helping chart the path
to postwar white supremacy.
3
Gunnar Myrdal expressed the idea
that miscegenation laws provided the bedrock for the Jim Crow
system in his classic study An American Dilemma, writing, When
white Southerners are asked to rank various types of discrimina-
tion, highest in this order stands the bar against intermarriage
and sexual intercourse involving white women.
4
For what made
these bans on interracial marriage so powerful and, ultimately, so
much more fundamental to segregation than other forms of Jim
Crow discrimination was the fact that racial purity resulted in a
permanent, blood-based hierarchy. According to Myrdal, the power
131
THE CONCORD REVIEW
to control breeding among the races was the power to perpetually
separate; by casting blacks as a group that would never mix with
or in any way be part of white America, the boundary between
whites and blacks became something more than simply a class
line which can be successfully crossed by education, integration
into national culture, and individual economic advancement.
The boundary is xed.
5
Whites and blacks were positioned as
nameless members of skin-color groups in which they are xed
for life.
6
The Virginia Court of Appeals echoed the rhetoric of
hundreds of courts across the country when it justied its misce-
genation statutes in 1878, by stating that: The purity of public
morals, the moral and physical development of both races, the
highest advancement of our cherished southern civilizationall
require that they [the two races] be kept distinct and separate.
7
Playing on the white publics profound fear of race pollu-
tion, white segregationists defended other forms of discrimination
by invoking the prospect of interracial marriage.
8
Segregationists
promoted the seemingly paradoxical theory that, while black politi-
cal and economic advancement would theoretically not threaten
the superiority or purity of the white race, granting blacks small
concessions such as housing rights or job opportunities would
promote societal acceptance of blacks and would gradually lead
to a greater acceptance of intermingling. In short, they believed
that equal political and economic rights for blacks would eventu-
ally lead down a slippery slope to the caste-breaking debacle of
intermarriage.
9
This sentiment was expressed again and again
throughout the Jim Crow era, used by white segregationists as a
sort of political trump card.
10
A member of the Ku Klux Klan,
when asked to express the purpose of his mission, stated that he
worked to keep [blacks] from marrying and to keep them from
voting, as if he found the connecting link self-evident.
11
In an
impassioned defense of Jim Crow, Senator Theodore Bilbo of
Mississippi wrote in 1947:
We are today standing at the crossroads, and there are but two roads
ahead. Separation leads to the preservation of both the white and
Negro races, to a future which belongs to God. Mongrelization leads
to the destruction of both races, to the destruction of our Nation
132
Malini Gandhi
itself. Take your choiceseparation or mongrelization. The America
of tomorrowwhite or mongrel?
12
Thus, the Jim Crow South was built on maintaining an untouch-
able, blood-based barrier between blacks and whitesand this
separation required a ban on interracial marriage.
In addition to the notion of racial purity, the second fac-
tor sustaining the ban on interracial marriage was the fact that
miscegenation became staunchly tied, both legally and culturally,
to a stigma of illicit sex that contradicted the model of a respect-
able, white middle-class Victorian family. The sexualization of
miscegenation law was given legal weight in the infamous case
Pace v. Alabama (1883), in which the Court jointly criminalized
interracial sex and interracial marriage and justied these bans
by enshrining the equal application rationale, which stated that
miscegenation laws do not discriminate by race because both blacks
and whites are punished equally.
13
In effect, the Pace v. Alabama
decisions most lasting impact was to tightly wind the stigma
of illicit sex around interracial marriage.
14
Depriving interracial
couples of the ability to claim marriage in their defense meant
that all interracial relationships were automatically dened as
illicit sex, because interracial couples were denied access to the
strategy that many same-race couples accused of fornication used
to avoid conviction, which was to turn an illicit relationship into
a legitimate one by marrying.
15
Miscegenation laws rendered
criminal and lascivious behavior that, aside from the matter
of racial identity, was entirely legal, normal, and respectable. For
living together outside marriage, two people could be charged
with fornication. For living together inside marriage, they could
be charged with fornication. The fact of a marriage could be im-
material.
16
No matter what form they took, interracial relation-
ships were deemed illegitimate.
In an era when Progressive-era reformers, with their focus
on the foundations of family, white womanhood, and the glory of
marriage, reigned supreme, this stigma of illicit sex meant that
interracial intimacy was deemed vile, wicked, and most of all, un-
natural. The stamp of illicit sex helped widen the gap between
133
THE CONCORD REVIEW
interracial relationships, seen as illegitimate and immoral, and
marriage and family life, seen as both legitimate and virtuous.
17

Any interracial relations were assumed to be scandalous displays of
sexual lust; women with black men were labeled prostitutes, while
white men and black women were also assumed to be engaged in
casual or commercial sexual relationships rather than married.
18

Meanwhile, many state courts conrmed these prejudices as they
began to lump interracial marriages into the category of improper
marriages, along with incest and polygamy. States argued that if
they could not monitor interracial marriages, then the nephew
may marry his aunt, the niece her uncle, and the son his mother
and grandmother, according to an 1883 Missouri Supreme Court
statement.
19
If interracial marriage, with its connotations of il-
licit sex and immorality, could not be restricted, then the entire
Progressive-era model of a respectable white middle-class family
would be undermined. Thus, miscegenation laws could not end
until the sex taboo did.
The nal factor in maintaining miscegenation statutes
was the fact that much of the black public was unwilling to push
for the right to interracial marriage. Many blacks were as hostile
to the prospect of interracial intimacy as whites were, and psy-
chological studies conrm the ndings of public opinion polls
that there is a deep strain of opposition to miscegenation among
Negroes.
20
Omatte Carrasco, a child of an interracial marriage
raised in Oakland, conrmed in 1949 that, marrying a white per-
son was not toleratednot where I grew up, not by my experience
of life, not from my family experiences, not from my community,
school, nowhere. It was unacceptable.
21
Drawing from a sense of
burgeoning race pride, much of the black public made a point of
condemning blacks who engaged in interracial intimacy as trai-
tors. Black women viewed marriage between black men and white
women as infuriating, claiming that these relationships left them
husbandless and promoted an image of white women as being
the ideal of beauty.
22
Meanwhile, black women dating white men
were condemned for subjecting themselves to sexual and racial
exploitation.
23
Interracial marriage was considered the ultimate
disowning of ones race and a despicable lack of race pride. Indeed,
134
Malini Gandhi
Marcus Garvey, a man who championed early Black Nationalism
and the Back-to-Africa movement in the 1920s, argued forcefully
against amalgamation and rallied hundreds of thousands of blacks
to his side. He declared: Not all black men are willing to commit
race suicide and to abhor their race for the companionship of
anotherThe men of the highest morals, highest character and
noblest pride are to be found among the masses of the Negro
race who love their women with as much devotion as white men
love theirs.
24
Garveys Universal Negro Improvement Association
(UNIA), which was based on a platform of black nationalism and
anti-amalgamation, caught on like wildre among working-class
blacks.
25
The black opposition towards interracial intimacy was
so strong that even W.E.B. Du Bois admitted that, So far as the
present advisability of intermarrying between white and colored
people in the United States is concerned, both races are practi-
cally in complete agreement. Colored folk marry colored folk and
white marry white, and the exceptions are very few.
26

Not all blacks were hostile to interracial relations. Yet even
those who accepted interracial intimacy did not see promoting it
as a priority, at least not compared to basic reforms such as gaining
equal access to jobs or housing. In their eyes, tampering with social,
sexual, and personal relations was irrelevant to black advancement
and would most likely cause backlash from the white population.
Since Booker T. Washingtons famous Atlanta Compromise
speech, many blacks agreed that promoting what Washington
deemed social equality was counterproductive; according to
Washington, the social system should not be challenged.
27
Gunnar
Myrdal noted the powerful inuence of Washingtons rhetoric by
commenting on the black mans list of concerns: while the white
mans list began with intermarriage then progressed downwards,
through segregation of public facilities, discrimination in law
courts, and nally discrimination in securing land and jobs, the
black mans list was, strikingly, exactly the inverse.
28
Blacks were
most concerned with getting jobs, food, and money, and least
concerned with the distant and doubtful matter of interracial
marriage.
29
In fact, many blacks spent a signicant amount of
time trying to disabuse Southern whites of their conviction that
135
THE CONCORD REVIEW
all blacks wanted was to become intimate with whites.
30
Charles
H. King wrote an article in The Negro Digest in 1964 that ercely
denied that the black man had any interest in the white woman,
declaring that, Miss Anne [a generic white woman] does not fall
into the category of our present needs; his essay was entitled I
Dont Want to Marry Your Daughter.
31
Similarly, Langston Hughes
scoffed at the white Southerners belief that all black people wanted
to do was work their way into whites beds:
Millions of people in New York, Chicago, and Seattle go to the same
polls and vote without ever cohabitating together. Why does the South
think it would be otherwise with Negroes were they permitted to vote
there? Or have a decent education? Or sit at a stool in a public place
and enjoy a hamburger? Why they think simple civil rights would
force a Southerners daughter to marry a Negro in spite of herself,
I have never been able to understand
32
Ottley summed up this sentiment perfectly: Negroes do not
struggle for equal rights to marry white womenEssentially, the
masses of Negroes are concerned only with jobsfor they believe
that fundamentally their problem is an economic one.
33
When this
sentiment was combined with the growing sense of black nation-
alism, the black population as a whole ironically lent a powerful
hand to the persistence of miscegenation laws.
By the early 1900s, these three essential forces bolstering
laws against interracial marriagewhite Southerners obsession
with racial purity, the equating of interracial marriage with inter-
racial sex, and blacks unwillingness to counter the statuteswere
rmly in place. Into this legal and emotional quagmire came a
edgling civil rights group called the NAACP, which displayed a
striking awareness of these three factors and whose response to
the issue of intermarriage over time would reect the power of
these forces in keeping miscegenation law alive. The NAACPs rst
foray in their shifting approach to intermarriage came in the early
20th century, when the young group challenged miscegenation
laws proposed in the North in response to a nationwide scandal
involving a black boxer and his white wife.
34
The enactment of
miscegenation statutes in the North would have been a setback
for the NAACP, which hoped to build its organization upon the
136
Malini Gandhi
extension of the legal rights black voters had already won in the
North.
35
Yet the group was young, vulnerable, and wary of the ex-
plosive nature of the issue they were tackling. Thus, the NAACP
crafted a careful, clever argument based on the point that, in the
Northern states where it was permitted, the frequency of interracial
marriage was negligible. By contrast, the South, where miscegena-
tion law prevailed, was a cesspool of illicit sex.
36
According to the
NAACP, anti-marriage laws actually encouraged illicit sex between
Southern white men and their black concubines by protecting
white men from having to take social and economic responsibility
for their sexual activity.
37
Displaying the young organizations striking awareness of
the fears, concerns, and desires of both whites and blacks regard-
ing intermarriage, this complex argument paradoxically played
into the very forces underlying miscegenation laws in order to
tear these laws down. First, the group eagerly drew on societys
model of a respectable family, which had previously been used to
bolster miscegenation law, in order to strengthen their case. By
arguing that Southern white men took advantage of miscegena-
tion laws to sexually exploit their black concubines, the NAACP
was essentially trumpeting their position as a protection of two of
the central tenets of Progressive America: marriage and woman-
hood.
38
They argued that the real destruction of the respectable
family model came not from intermarriage, but from laws that
prohibited intermarriage and, thus, promoted illicit sex. As Du
Bois wrote:
If twohuman beings of any race or color propose to live together
as man and wife, it is only social decency not simply to allow, but to
compel them to marry[The Bourbon South] would rather uproot
the foundations of decent society than to call the consorts of their
brothers, sons, and fathers their legal wives.
39
In addition to drawing on the stigma of disrespectable illicit sex,
the NAACP also assuaged the white mans concern for racial
purity. In fact, the group actually portrayed itself as opposing the
mixture of the races, claiming that miscegenation laws promoted
racial degradation when Southern white men had sex with their
137
THE CONCORD REVIEW
black concubines. Archibald Grimke, co-founder of the NAACP,
expressed this idea in his essay, The Heart of the Race Problem:
The real peril of an admixture of the races in the South lies not in
intermarriage but in concubinage, the key to which is in the hands of
the white men of the SouthFor through such segregation [of the
black woman] runs the white mans secret way to the black womans
world, and therefore to miscegenation of the races, to their widespread
moral degradation and corruption. Amalgamation is not thereby
made hard, but appallingly easy.
40
And nally, the carefully crafted argument the NAACP put forth
satised black public opinion: according to the NAACP, allowing
interracial marriages would actually preserve black womens in-
tegrity by protecting them from being targeted by white male ag-
gressors.
41
Du Bois summed up this sentiment perfectly by writing,
We must kill [miscegenation laws], not because we are anxious
to marry white mens sisters, but because we are determined that
white men shall let our sisters alone.
42
Thus, the NAACPs clever approach to the issue revealed
the power of the major fears and desires driving laws banning in-
terracial marriage. And the group was successful in their efforts,
at least in the North. At the end of 1913, after a year of intense
lobbying, the campaign was declared successful; none of the newly
introduced miscegenation bills the group lobbied against were
enacted. And for the next decade, the NAACP continued to ght
incoming proposals until nally the ood of proposed new laws
in the North had stopped.
43
In the South, however, the NAACPs tactic of simply
playing with and twisting the rmly engrained notions of race
and sex did not gain much ground; the three factors remained
solidly in place, and miscegenation laws persisted.
44
As the Civil
Rights movement gained momentum and the NAACP grew into
a mass organization, the group proceeded to turn their back on
the issue of interracial marriage completely, an approach that
was maintained for more than 20 years. This course of action was
well reasoned: to shift their focus to the private sphere of sexual
and social matters would incite uproar from even liberal-minded
whites, while simultaneously jeopardizing the NAACPs ght for
138
Malini Gandhi
equality in the public sphere that blacks profoundly desired.
45

Already, white segregationists were trying to exploit the fears
of the American public by arguing that the NAACPs push for
desegregation in public institutions was just a precursor to their
ultimate desire for amalgamation.
46
The 1955 book Black Monday,
for example, harnessed this point to criticize the school segregation
movement: [Little white and negro children] will sing together,
dance together, eat together, and play together. Constantly the
negro will be endeavoring to usurp every right and privilege, which
will lead to intermarriage.
47
Among NAACP leaders, paranoia at
being labeled as an amalgamation organization grew. Cloyte M.
Larsson, editor of the 1965 book Marriage Across the Color Line,
summed up this sentiment perfectly: Defend interracial marriage
on principle! Principle costs too muchFirst things do come rst.
Survival comes rst. Food. Clothing. Jobs. Shelter. Recreation.
Creature Comforts. But interracial marriage? That is for the few.
The very few.
48
And the few that did pursue interracial marriage
were met by a cold response from the NAACP. With every success
of the NAACPs Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the more careful it
became when choosing cases, and it soon became clear that cases
addressing miscegenation law were pointedly avoided.
49
This
tactic of ducking was evident in the case Stevens v. U.S. (1944):
the NAACP initially expressed interest in assisting the interracial
couple, but they soon severed their ties to the case, stating that
we feel as you do, yet it would be extremely hazardous at this
time to press the issue.
50
The three forces bolstering the laws
were as strong as ever in the South, and as long as they persisted
miscegenation law could not fall; the NAACP realized this.
Thus, it was not until the 1960s, a time of dramatic political
and social changes in the South and the rest of the country, that
the three foundations of miscegenation law nally began to crack
and the NAACP threw off its mid-century hesitation and attacked.
While the rst force grounding miscegenation statutes, the notion
of maintaining racial purity, was still strong in the South, what was
gone was the legal structure that had sustained this belief. The
NAACPs underlying goal throughout the civil rights movement
was to persuade the Court to take on a radically different inter-
139
THE CONCORD REVIEW
pretation of equal protection, one where separate but equal
was not viable and the persistence of a distinct black caste was
against the law.
51
The organization began this struggle by focus-
ing its attention on the school segregation issue, and once it had
succeeded, it proceeded to expand the range of its demands and
slowly amass a long list of precedents that supported their broad
denition of equal protection. It was only when this separate but
equal principle was thoroughly debunked and the rst factor
sustaining miscegenation law no longer held legal weight that the
NAACP was ready to confront the long-avoided Pace decision.
52
But perhaps the most important change during the 1960s
was the demise of Progressive-era morals governing marriage and
sex. Sickels, in response to the profound stigma of illicit sex tied
to interracial intimacy, predicted that, The miscegenation taboo
is destined to lose some of its power if sex taboos in general lose
theirsIf sexuality is more easily accepted, intermarriage will
increase.
53
And indeed, this is exactly what happened. During
the 1960s, a sexual revolution was creating new ideas about sex
outside of marriage, and there was a decline in the enforcement
of adultery and fornication laws.
54
The baby-boomer generation
was one of the primary forces behind this change in social cur-
rents that toppled the old family image; young people, in the
midst of challenging accepted social values and rejecting the
conformist morality of the 1950s, scoffed at their parents wari-
ness of interracial intimacy.
55
A 1968 Gallup poll found that 34
percent of whites in their 20s approved of interracial marriage
as compared to only 13 percent of those over age 50.
56
With the
sexual revolution having released interracial intimacy from the
stigma of illicit sex, dating interracially became a hip way to
challenge authority and to strike a blow for sexual freedom.
57

The model of a respectable family and the necessity of deferring
to familial authority had all but disappeared: the children of the
1960s seemingly did not care what their family thought of their
marital partners, claiming the right to act as individuals, free of
familial and societal restraints.
58
In general, the 1960s provided an
open atmosphere and a new beginning; though the total number
of interracial unions remained small, the civil rights movement
140
Malini Gandhi
brought an increase in interracial dating and marriage, with the
rate of new interracial marriages during the decade rising by 63
percent.
59
As for the unwillingness of the black population to chal-
lenge miscegenation statutes, with successes in other civil rights
areas rmly consolidated, the act of nally delving into the intimate
and the sexual was not as threatening. There was no longer a fear
of provoking white backlash and undermining higher priorities.
The black public was making a nal push to get into the white
world, undergoing a vast effort at integration.
60
And by the
1960s, nothing, not school integration, not the vote, and not even
intimate matters of marriage, would be spared. As for the spirit
of black nationalism, while black racial pride was still very much
present, it was largely suppressed during the 1960s to heighten
this nal, unconditional drive and accentuate protest against
miscegenation laws, which most black enemies of mixed marriage
also opposed.
61
Interestingly enough, once miscegenation laws
fell, black nationalism emerged once again as powerful as ever:
By the late 1960s, with the burden of de jure racial stigmatization
having been considerably lightened, increasing numbers of blacks
felt emboldened to air their disapproval of mixed marriages. As
We Shall Overcome gave way to Black Power, the rejection of
interracial intimacy gained in prestige and prominence.
62
But
until then, the desire to enter the white world and topple all
existing forms of segregation was so strong that black nationalist
opposition to ghting miscegenation statutes declined.
And so the NAACP, recognizing that the major forces
supporting miscegenation laws had been substantially weakened,
turned its eyes to an issue they had ignored for decades. After
tackling the link between interracial sex and marriage head on
in the case McLaughlin v. Florida (1964), the NAACP threw its full
support behind the Virginian interracial couple Richard Loving
and Mildred Jeter in the legendary 1969 case Loving v. Virginia.
63

On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court, citing the violation of the
guarantee of equal protection of the laws and the denial of the
fundamental freedom of marriage, voted unanimously to strike
down miscegenation statutes once and for all.
64
141
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Three hundred years after they had rst been enacted and
almost a full decade after the majority of the civil rights legisla-
tion blazed into the books, the laws banning interracial marriage
were nally removed. Unlike other, more prominent civil rights
campaigns such as the ght against school segregation or the
struggle for voting rights, the fundamental right to marry a per-
son of ones choice could not be achieved until whites obsession
with racial purity, the sexual taboo, and black unease had been
undermined by the changing times. Thus, the heart of the Jim
Crow system was, ironically, the last issue to be tackled and, with
little of the drama of previous civil rights breakthroughs, the last
barrier to fall.
142
Malini Gandhi
1
Peter Wallenstein, Tell the Court I Love my Wife: Race,
Marriage, and Law: An American History (New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2002) p. 223
2
Peggy Pascoe, What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law
and the Making of Race in America (Oxford, England: Oxford
3
Ibid., p. 50
4
Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro
Problem and Modern Democracy (20th Anniversary Edition)
(New York: Harper & Row, 1962) p. 60
5
Ibid., p. 58
6
Robert Sickels, Race, Marriage, and the Law
(Albuquerque: University of Mexico Press, 1972) p. 10
7
Randall Kennedy, Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage,
Identity, and Adoption (New York: Pantheon, 2003) p. 19
8
Ibid., p. 22
9
William Zabel, Interracial Marriage and the Law,
Interracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History,
Literature, and Law ed. Werner Sollors (Oxford: Oxford
10
Kennedy, p. 24
11
Nancy Cott, Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the
Nation (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,
2000) p. 98
12
Theodore Bilbo, Take Your Choice: Separation or
Mongrelization, (Internet Archive) p. 227, (accessed January
24, 2012), http://archive.Org/stream/TakeYourChoice#page/
nl3/mode/2up
13
Pascoe, p. 69
14
Ibid., p. 62
15
Ibid., p. 59
16
Wallenstein, p. 129
17
Pascoe, p. 72
18
Renee Romano, Race Mixing: Black-White Marriage
in Postwar America (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
19
Wallenstein, p. 128
20
Sickels, p. 25
21
Romano, p. 86
22
Ibid., p. 87
23
Ibid., p. 85
24
Marcus Garvey, ed. Amy Jacques-Garvey, Philosophy and
Opinions of Marcus Garvey (New York: Atheneum, 1973) p. 17
143
THE CONCORD REVIEW
25
Pascoe, p. 183
26
W.E.B. Du Bois, Intermarriage, (The Modernist
Journals Project: The Crisis, Brown University and University
of Tulsa), (accessed January 24, 2012) http://dl.lib.brown.edu/
pdfs/1305048415734379.pdf
27
Romano, p. 100
28
Myrdal, p. 61
29
Ibid., p. 61
30
Kennedy, p. 109
31
Ibid., p. 110
32
Langston Hughes, What Shall We Do About the South?
The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Essays on Art, Race,
Politics, and World Affairs ed. Christopher De Santi (Columbia:
University of Missouri Press, 2001) p. 223, (accessed January 24,
2012) http://books.google.com/books?id=9JPL7qNp20wC&pr
intsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepa
ge&q&f=false
33
Roi Ottley, New World A-Coming (Boston: Houghton
Mifin Company, 1943) p. 346
34
Kennedy, p. 257
35
Pascoe, p. 169
36
Ibid., p. 177
37
Ibid., p. 177
38
Ibid., p. 178
39
Du Bois, Intermarriage
40
Archibald Grimke, The Heart of the Race Problem,
The Arena ed. B.O. Flower (Trenton, New Jersey: Albert Brandt
Publisher, 1906) Google Books, p. 608, (accessed January 24,
2012) http://books.google.com/books?id=3AnZAAAAMAAJ
&pg=PA684&lpg=PA684&dg=The+Heart+of+the+Race+Probl
em+by+Archibald+Grimke&source=bl&ots=BaYCTXu5hr&sig
=Bi_eT0Wm-cnzzyn4haxcKwl8CRU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vGHwT
6HyNqLp6gGCqI2JBg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&qT
he%20Heart%20of%20the%20Race%20Problem%20by%20
Archibald%20Grimke&f=false
41
Alex Lubin, Romance and Rights: The Politics of
Interracial Intimacy, 19451954 (Jackson: University Press of
Mississippi, 2005) p. 75
42
Du Bois, Intermarriage
43
Pascoe, p. 173
44
Kennedy, p. 259
45
Lubin, p. 76
46
Ibid., p. 76
144
Malini Gandhi
47
Kennedy, p. 24
48
Ibid., p. 25
49
Pascoe, p. 202
50
Wallenstein, p. 177
51
Pascoe, p. 251
52
Ibid., p. 251
53
Sickels, p. 16
54
Pascoe, p. 253
55
Romano, p. 208
56
Ibid., p. 207
57
Ibid., p. 209
58
Ibid., p. 211
59
Joel Williamson, New People: Miscegenation and
Mulattoes in the United States (New York: Free Press, 1980)
p. 189
60
Ibid., p. 184
61
Kennedy, p. 110
62
Ibid., p. 111
63
Pascoe, p. 248
64
Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. (1967) (U.S. Supreme
Court Cases from Justia & Oyez) (accessed January 3,
2012) http://caselaw.lp.ndlaw.com/scripts/getcase.
pl?court=us&vol=388&invol=l
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Arendt, Hannah, Reections on Little Rock,
Responsibility and Judgment edited by Jerome Kohn, New
York: Schocken Books, 2003, pp.193213
Bilbo, Theodore, Take Your Choice: Separation or
Mongrelization, Poplarville, Mississippi: Dream House
Publishing Co., 1946, Internet Archive, (accessed January 24,
2012) http://archive.org/stream/TakeYourChoice#page/n13/
mode/2up
Du Bois, W.E.B., Intermarriage, The Crisis 5,4,
February 1913: 180181, The Modernists Journal Project,
(accessed January 24, 2012) http://dl.lib.brown.edu/
pdfs/1305048415734379.pdf
145
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Garvey, Marcus, and Amy Garvey, Philosophy and Opinions
of Marcus Garvey New York: Atheneum, 1969
Grimke, Archibald, The Heart of the Race Problem, The
Arena edited by B.O. Flowers, Trenton, New Jersey: Albert
Brandt Publisher, 1906, pp. 606610, Google Books, (accessed
January 24, 2012) http://books.google.com.books?id=3AnZAA
AAMAAJ&pg=PA684&lpg=PA684&dq=The+Heart+of+the+Race
+Problem+by+Archibald+Grimke&source=bl&ots=BaYCTXu5hr
&sig=Bi_eT0Wm-cnzzyn4haxcKwl8CRU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vGH
wT6HyNqLp6gGCqI2JBg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q
=The%20Heart%20of%20the%20Race%20Problem%20by%20
Archibald%20Grimke&f=false
Hughes, Langston, What Shall We Do About the South?
The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Essays on Art Race,
Politics, and World Affairs edited by Christopher De Santi,
Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001, pp. 219224,
Google Books (accessed January 24, 2012) http://books.
google.com/books?id=9JPL7qNp20wC&printsec=frontcover&s
ource=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
LOVING V. VIRGINIA, 388 U. S. 1 :: Volume 388 :: 1967 ::
Full Text:: U.S. Supreme Court Cases from Justia & Oyez, U.S.
Supreme Court Cases from Justia & Oyez (accessed January
3, 2012) http://caselaw.lp.ndlaw.com/scripts/getcase.
pl?court=us&vol=388&invol=1
PACE V. ALABAMA, 106 U. S. 583 :: Volume 106 :: 1883 ::
Full Text:: U.S. Supreme Court Cases from Justia & Oyez, U.S.
Supreme Court Cases from Justia & Oyez (accessed January
3, 2012) http://caselaw.lp.ndlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.
pl?court=us&vol=106&invol=583
Zabel, William, Interracial Marriage and the Law,
Interracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History,
Literature, and Law edited by Werner Sollors, Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2000, pp. 5461
146
Malini Gandhi
Secondary Sources:
Cott, Nancy, Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the
Nation Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2000
Kennedy, Randall, Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage,
Identity, and Adoption New York: Pantheon, 2003
Lubin, Alex, Romance and Rights: The Politics of Interracial
Intimacy, 19451954 Jackson: University Press of Mississippi,
2005
Moran, Rachel F., Interracial Intimacy: The Regulation of
Race & Romance Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001
Myrdal, Gunnar, An American Dilemma: The Negro
Problem and Modern Democracy 20th anniversary edition,
New York: Harper & Row, 1962
Novkov, Julie, Racial Union: Law, Intimacy, and the
White State in Alabama, 18651954 Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, 2008
Ottley, Roi, New World A-Coming: Inside Black America
Boston: Houghton Mifin Company, 1943
Pascoe, Peggy, What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law
and the Making of Race in America Oxford, England: Oxford
Romano, Renee, Race Mixing: Black-White Marriage in
Postwar America Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University
Press, 2003
Sickels, Robert, Race, Marriage, and the Law Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, 1972
Wallenstein, Peter, Tell the Court I Love my Wife: Race,
Marriage, and Law New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002
Williamson, Joel, New People: Miscegenation and Mulattoes
in the United States New York: Free Press, 1980
147
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Reid Grinspoon will start at Harvard in the Fall of 2013. At Gann Academy
in Waltham, Masschusetts, he wrote this paper as an independent study
in the 2011/2012 academic year.
THE BURDEN OF FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS:
THE HISTORY OF EUGENICS AND STERILIZATION
IN MASSACHUSETTS
Reid Grinspoon
In the rst 30 years of the 20th century, the United States
underwent signicant economic and social change. Industrializa-
tion altered how people worked and lived. Large numbers of rural
people moved to the cities, and immigrants from Southern and
Eastern Europe ooded into the country. With these changes,
many states saw rises in urban squalor, crime and poverty. Reports
of increasing criminality, immorality, alcoholism and feeble-
mindednessa loosely dened term describing various degrees
of mental retardationcaused concerned citizens to turn to a new
eld of science that promised a remedy to social ills: eugenics.
The term eugenics (which literally means good birth
1
)
was coined in 1883 by English scientist Sir Francis Galton, and
referred to the science of genetics and heredity with the aim of
creating a superior human race, one without the problems caused
by inferior people. Eugenicists worked to encourage healthy and
t people to procreate (positive eugenics) and to prevent the birth
of the unt in society (negative eugenics). Eugenics was adopted
148 Reid Grinspoon
by many American doctors, biologists, and Progressives around
the turn of the 20th century as a method by which to improve so-
ciety and prevent the degeneration of the American stock. The
center of eugenic activity in the United States was the Eugenics
Record Ofce (ERO), located in Cold Spring Harbor, New York.
This ofce compiled family genealogies and conducted eugenical
studies, publishing eugenics pieces such as The Trait Book,
2
a
manual that listed undesirable traits and assisted eld workers in
identifying those who were eugenically unt. Other groups, such
as the American Eugenics Society
3
and The American Breeders
Association,
4
were dedicated to the study and propagation of eu-
genics. At this time, states began passing marriage laws preventing
idiots, imbeciles, and others deemed unt from legally marrying,
5
increased the sizes of mental institutions, and implemented a still
more extreme eugenic measure: surgical sterilization.
As eugenic beliefs gained a foothold, many states began al-
lowing asexualization surgeries to be performed on the mentally
retarded, the insane, and criminals. In 1907, Indiana became the
rst state to allow the compulsory sterilization of institutionalized
patients in the name of eugenics.
6
In 1927, the legality of eugenic
sterilizations was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in
the landmark case of Buck v. Bell.
7
Eventually, 31 other states fol-
lowed Indianas lead and implemented sterilization laws of their
own.
8
California led the nation in sterilizations, performing more
than 20,000 surgeries during the period in which sterilization was
legal.
9
Ultimately, more than 60,000 people were sterilized in the
name of eugenics in the United States.
10
In Massachusetts, eugenic thought was embraced and
accepted. In fact, the state was home to eugenic family competi-
tions,
11
marriage laws preventing the partnerships of the unt,
12

and a system of institutions used to house defectives to prevent
them from procreating.
13
However, despite the presence of pro-
eugenic and pro-sterilization attitudes, Massachusetts, unlike the
majority of states, did not pass eugenic sterilization legislation. In
1934, a bill legalizing compulsory eugenic sterilization was brought
before the state legislature, but it failed in both the House and
149
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Senate. Legalization of compulsory sterilization never gained the
popularity in Massachusetts that it did in other states for several
reasons, including disagreement within the scientic community
as to the merit of the claims made by eugenicists, the social objec-
tion to mandated sterilization and its societal ramications, and
Catholic opposition to sterilization and other essential elements
of eugenics. These factors helped to ensure that coercive eugenic
sterilization never became legal in the Commonwealth.
Eugenics in Massachusetts
Many in Massachusetts shared the belief that societys
problems could be alleviated through the application of eugenic
principles to the population. Because eugenics promised to improve
society during a time of great change, the movement became quite
popular. Adherents were not limited to certain areas of the state
or certain groups of people. Eugenics was discussed, popularized
and celebrated in a range of places, from fairgrounds to state-run
schools for the retarded, and its supporters included a diverse
group of people, from Harvard biology professors to pastors.
Harvard University, an academic center and a top scientic
institution in Massachusetts and the United States, counted among
its faculty many eugenicists and believers in hereditarianism (that a
persons heredity determined his life and human potential). Many
of the most inuential eugenics advocates in Massachusetts and
throughout the country had roots in and connections to Harvard
University. Included among the ranks of Harvard eugenicists were
former university president Charles Eliot, who helped to sponsor
the First International Eugenics Congress,
14
and William E. Castle,
who taught a course at Harvard entitled Genetics and Eugenics
15

and wrote: Feeble-mindedness is inherited as a simple recessive
Mendelian unit-character.The evidence presentedrenders it,
I think, beyond question.
16
Edward M. East, another eugenicist
afliated with the university, displayed his belief in eugenics in an
article from The Journal of Heredity:
150 Reid Grinspoon
[I]t is probable that 1 person in 14 carries the basis of serious mental
defectiveness in one-half of his or her reproductive cells [which] un-
derstates rather than overstates the factsIt will be a different future
if a stupid government persists in refusing to countenance rational
parenthood among those least tted to reproduce the race, the while
shutting one eye and winking the other at what has become a national
practice among those best tted to build a greater America.
17
Even Charles B. Davenport, arguably the most important man in
the development of eugenics in America, had a strong connec-
tion with the university. Davenport, the founder and head of the
Eugenics Record Ofce,
18
earned his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. from
Harvard,
19
and taught zoology at the university from 1891 to 1899.
20

Harvard graduates also founded the Immigration Restriction
League, an organization that aimed to limit the immigration of
the eugenically less t to the United States.
21
Harvard was a hub
of eugenics, a home for foreign eugenicists (one foreign eugeni-
cist who worked at Harvard, William McDougall, attributed his
failures to the fact that he was an F1 hybrid between a Saxon
and a Mediterranean ) and a haven for academics to develop their
own eugenic beliefs.
22
Its presence and prestige in Massachusetts
certainly increased the popularity and prominence of eugenic
thought in the Commonwealth.
Harvard, however, was not the only place in Massachusetts
where eugenics was popular. Eugenics was adopted, preached, and
in some cases, implemented, by many citizens of the Bay State who
had no connections to Harvard. One of the most important eugen-
ics advocates in Massachusetts was Dr. Walter Fernald. Fernald was
an expert on mental retardation and served as the superintendent
of the Massachusetts State School for the Feeble-Minded, an im-
portant mental institution in Eastern Massachusetts.
23
Fernald was
also the Massachusetts Medical Societys delegate at the Second
International Eugenics Congress
24
and headed the Commission
to Investigate the Question of the Increase of Criminals, Mental
Defectives, Epileptics, and Degenerates.
25
He publicized his belief
in eugenics in works such as The Burden of Feeble-Mindedness,
writing that the feeble-minded are a parasitic, predatory class
who produce defective children and thus should not be allowed
to procreate.
26

151
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Eugenics also had some grass-roots popularity among the
people of Massachusetts who were unafliated with academia or
state institutions. A number of Bay-Staters participated in the Fitter
Family Competitions that were held at the popular Eastern States
Exposition in West Springeld.
27
These competitions, sponsored
by the American Eugenics Society,
28
aimed at nding eugenically
ideal families. Family genealogies were studied, participants were
physically examined, and eventually the most t families were
declared winners. Through these competitions, the American
Eugenics Society was able to spread to the public information
and propaganda about the menace of feeble-mindedness, social
problems and the supposed hereditary bases of these issues.
Eugenics also counted supporters among the religious
clergy in Massachusetts. Reverend C. Thurston Chase, a pastor
at the Central Congregational Church in Lynn, managed to con-
vince Lynns Methodist, Episcopal, Congregationalist and Baptist
clergy not to marry a couple if they could not produce evidence
of eugenic tness.
29
Reverend Kenneth C. MacArthur (a Harvard
graduate
30
) of the protestant Federated Church in Sterling was
another clergyman in support of eugenics. His family won the
average family category in a eugenical Fitter Family contest at
the Eastern States Exposition in 1925,
31
and his sermon on eugen-
ics won second place in the 1926 American Eugenics Societys
eugenic sermon contest.
32
MacArthur also served as the secretary
of the Massachusetts State Eugenics Committee and secretary of
the American Eugenics Societys Committee on Cooperation with
Clergymen.
33
Out-of-State Support for Sterilization
Many proponents of Massachusetts eugenic sterilization
legislation did not live in Massachusetts. Some, such as Harry
Laughlin of the Eugenics Record Ofce, believed there should
be a universal law that all states could implement to allow eugenic
sterilization. Laughlin thus wrote a model eugenic sterilization
152 Reid Grinspoon
law that was aimed to stand up to opposition in court and be ap-
plied around the country.
34
Other out-of-state supporters were
well known eugenicists such as H. H. Goddard, Director of Re-
search at the Training School for Feeble-Minded Girls and Boys
in New Jersey.
35
Goddard feared for the well-being of the people
of Massachusetts, threatened as they were by the feeble-minded,
claiming: In the state of Massachusetts there are at least 14,000
feeble-minded people. It would require 10 institutions the size of
Waverly [the Massachusetts State School for the Feeble-Minded]
36

to keep the sexes effectively segregated. Later in the same article,
Goddard advocated for the sterilization of those deemed unt,
asking Is it not best to begin hunting these defective children
wherever they may be found?
37
Many prominent out-of-state
sterilization enthusiasts were from California, the state in which
sterilization was most popular.
38
Dr. Elmer E. Stone, the medical
superintendent of the Napa State Hospital, showed his support
for sterilization legislation in a letter to Harvard professor and
eugenics supporter Dr. George Washington Gay: I have not yet
collected statistics sufcient to give you a detailed account [of
the effectiveness of sterilizations] but can assure you that I am
heartily in favor of the plan, and it is my opinion that this is one
of the means which will lessen the number of commitments to
our Institutions.
39
Dr. E. Scott Blair, medical superintendent at
the Southern California State Hospital, had a similar message for
Dr. Gay: I thoroughly believe in the operation both in the male
and female cases and believe it to be one of the best methods
of handling the ever increasing number of mental defectives.
40

Finally, Dr. James Ewing Mears, a Philadelphia physician who had
visited Harvard one summer and eventually attempted to endow
the school with a fund to teach eugenics, was outspoken in his
desire for sterilization legislation:
41
Is it asking too much, is it requiring more than is due, when the State,
through carefully considered legislation, which in every detail shall
safeguard the inalienable rights of the individual, seeks to protect
itself against the degrading inuences of the continually growing
stream of transmitted pollution, which saps the mental, moral, and
physical vitality of its citizens, by asking the parents and guardians of
153
THE CONCORD REVIEW
the irresponsible defectives to yield their consent to the performance
of an operation which in some instances may prove to be curative
and in many be palliative, by abrogating the sexual perversions and
thus establishing conditions favorable to mental and moral cultiva-
tion, and in all, through its far-reaching results, is able to render
them impotent to do harm? Failing to obtain this consent, has not
the State the right to adopt such measures in the interest and in the
protection of its citizens? Nay, further, is it not compelled to so act
in the performance of its full duty to its citizens?
42
Dr. Mears was unlike many of his fellow asexualization enthusiasts,
however, because of the method for sterilization he desired. While
most of these doctors advocated for vasectomy as a means to pre-
vent procreation, Dr. Mears was a supporter of what he claimed
to be a more extreme procedure, called ligature of the spermatic
cord.
43
While vasectomy renders the patient infertile, it does not
destroy his sexual abilities. According to Dr. Mears, ligation of the
spermatic cord destroys all sexual abilities, similar to castration.
Dr. Mearss reason for supporting such a procedure was his belief
that if the feeble-minded were allowed to have sex without the
fear of pregnancy (as would be the case if they received vasecto-
mies), they would spread immorality.
44
These non-Massachusetts
doctors were prominent in medical and institutional circles and
their backing of sterilization created an atmosphere of support
for sterilization supporters within the state.
Massachusetts Support for Sterilization
There also existed a group of homegrown Massachusetts
sterilization enthusiasts who supported such legislation. Among
these supporters was Dr. Everett Flood, the superintendent of the
Massachusetts School for Epileptics in Palmer. Flood was alleged
to have castrated 26 patients at his institution during the early
20th century and reported good results.
45
Although the operation
was not legal, it gained approval from the Board of Control of
Institutions.
46
Flood also served on the Massachusetts Commission
to Investigate the Question of the Increase of Criminals, Mental
154 Reid Grinspoon
Defectives, Epileptics, and Degenerates.
47
Another Massachusetts
eugenicist, William E. Castle, believed that the feeble-minded
should be sterilized if institutional segregation was not possible.
48

As eugenic ideas became more prominent, support for eugenic
legislation was also present in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,
which became the ofcial publication of the Massachusetts Medi-
cal Society after 1921, and in 1928 was renamed The New England
Journal of Medicine.
49
The journal was often home to articles and
editorials advocating for sterilization and sterilization legislation.
In one such article, Dr. Samuel Woodward spoke of his belief in
the necessity of sterilization:
I picture a gloomy future for our distant successors unless suitable
provisions were made by the State for more extensive segregation
or the passage of laws which would permit of the sterilization of the
majority of these unfortunates.
50
Dr. Woodward went on to discuss the strain on institutions and
how the state facilities were massively underprepared to handle
the number of feeble-minded in the community.
51
Another piece
published in the journal, an editorial, spoke of how scientists needed
to seriously consider the practicality and necessity of sterilization:
One far reaching scheme, which if feasible would probably carry with
it the most satisfactory results of all, we have heretofore left almost
unmentioned in our columns. We refer to sterilization. There are
so many reasons, sentimental and moral, which might possibly be
advanced as valid objections to such a plan that we have been slow
to espouse the cause of those ultra-eugenicists who would treat the
human race exactly as the animal breeder does the stock which he
wishes to make physically perfect. However, it would seem that public
opinion is rapidly approaching the view point of the animal breeder,
and if the lay mind is ripe for such drastic measures we see no reason
for the scientists to object.
52
The editorial, while wary of possible objections to sterilization,
ultimately claimed sterilization to be acceptable, concluding that:
[The feeble-minded] cannot be reformed of their bad habits because
they are incapable of reform. It seems almost self-evident that any
plan which does not make the individual feeble-minded person seri-
ously ill or unhappy would be justiable in ridding the race of his
defective blood.
53
155
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Another Massachusetts sterilization supporter was Samuel R.
Meaker, a professor of gynecology at Boston University. Meaker,
in an address to the Harvey Society, spoke about sterilization and
eugenics, stating that the reason for sterilization is self-evident
and that it is more effective when performed in males.
54
Perhaps
the most visible Massachusetts native in support of eugenic steril-
ization was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the Supreme Court Justice
who voted for the compulsory sterilization of Carrie Buck in the
1927 case of Buck v. Bell. In his ruling, he made very clear his belief
in the necessity of eugenic sterilization:
We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon
the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call
upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser
sacrices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to
prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the
world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime,
or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those
who are manifestly unt from continuing their kind. The principle
that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting
the Fallopian tubes. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11, 25 S. Ct.
358, 3 Ann. Cas. 765. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.
55
Although Holmess opinion was for sterilization to be legal in
Virginia, it is still signicant that such a prominent Massachusetts
resident felt so strongly about the sterilization movement. These
Massachusetts residents were among a larger group who believed
in the necessity of legalized eugenic sterilization.
Opposition to Forced Sterilization
While eugenic sterilization had advocates in Massachusetts
and was popular around the country, there still existed a strong
anti-asexualization movement in Massachusetts. The opposition
to sterilization primarily came from three avenues: scientic
objection to the tenets of eugenics, social opposition to both cas-
tration and vasectomy (the means of sterilization), and religious
opposition to eugenics and birth control methods. These three
156 Reid Grinspoon
anti-sterilization fronts helped to ensure that Massachusetts did
not enact compulsory sterilizations.
Despite its championing by some top academics and physi-
cians, eugenics was certainly not accepted by all in academia or
medicine. In fact, many biologists and other scientists refuted the
claims of eugenicists. Such anti-eugenical beliefs were often as
visible as their pro-eugenic counterparts, and were showcased in
the same scientic publications. The scientic objections to eugen-
ics can be divided into two categories: the belief that the human
knowledge of heredity is too limited to attempt to improve the
gene pool through drastic measures, and the belief that natural
selection must be completely natural and not engineered.
One line of scientic objection to eugenics rested on the
fact that scientists did not know for certain the role that heredity
played in the transmission of feeble-mindedness, pauperism, drug
addiction, and other supposedly genetic traits. A Boston Medical
and Surgical Journal editorial from 1915 pointed out the limits of
knowledge concerning genetics and heredity:
In spite of the universally accepted hereditary nature of most defective
conditions, little is known of the method or scheme of transmission.
It is for this reason that this form of euthanasia by sterilization of
defectives is opposed by many scientic and race-proud people. It
must be remembered that not all the offspring of known defectives
are necessarily defective.
56
The editorialist noted also that sterilization laws only applied to
those within institutions, neglecting to prevent the procreation
of the majority of the unt who were not in state institutions. He
concluded:
To sanction this procedure in known defectives would consistently
be to sanction it in individuals who, while themselves not defective,
come from defective stock, or in individuals of grossly bad environ-
ment and great fecundity. The question is a new one, with scientic
knowledge still meager, and it will, therefore, perhaps be better until
more is known about the ethnic tendencies of the human race, to go
slowly with radical innovations. Euthanasia and eugenics, in whatever
forms, are yet but idealsperhaps only feti[s]hes.
57
157
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Like this editorialist, some Massachusetts scientists did not accept
the simple Mendelian explanation for feeble-mindedness. They
believed that something as complex as human intelligence could
not be determined by a single unit character. One such scientist
was Elmer Earnest Southard, a Harvard neuropathologist.
58
South-
ard, despite the contact he had with Charles Davenport and his
position on a eugenics subcommittee at the American Breeders
Association,
59
grew to believe that eugenicists were oversimplifying
complex causes: I am entirely surethat the hereditary hypothesis
has been greatly overdrawn in the eld of feeble-mindedness.
60

Another Boston Medical and Surgical Journal editorial from 1916
discussed the lack of knowledge about heredity and the rush by
some eugenics supporters to support sterilization:
It is the opinion of those best informed in the matter that the ques-
tion of sterilization was entered into rather too hurriedly, before
in fact it was denitely known just what part heredity played in the
propagation of criminals.
61
Some scientists could not accept the eugenic reasoning that many,
if not all, traits were simple unit characters, and thus rejected
eugenics and its proposed policies.
Additionally, some Massachusetts gures rejected eugen-
ics because they thought evolution to be a natural process, one
in which human interference would not be benecial. A 1911
editorial in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal warned against
trying to breed a superior race of humans because inbreeding
would lead to species degradation, thus defeating eugenics goal
of creating a superior race of humans:
Now it is a fairly well-established fact that any living strain bred ex-
clusively from its own like tends after a certain time to retrograde.
Barring a few exceptional instances, it seems impossible for a high
grade of evolution to be maintained long in a pure stock without
retrogression or extinction.
62
A similar editorial stated that although the defectives were out-
breeding the t, this reality was just the natural course of evolution,
and not a bad thing in any way:
158 Reid Grinspoon
Lamentable though it may appear, racial experience indicates that the
constant perishing of valuable stocks is not an irretrievable calamity.
This is the price of evolution, as blood is the price of admiralty.
Through all past time, natural process has succeeded in steadily ad-
vancing the quality of its product from crude material.
63
These doctors acknowledged the appeal of eugenics, yet strongly
believed that only natural selection would lead to the creation
of the ttest humans, and that eugenic interference would have
either a negligible or detrimental effect on the overall quality of
the germ plasm.
The push for a sterilization law also met opposition from
dedicated believers in eugenics who were wary of the social rami-
cations of sterilization. Many of these people agreed that the
unt should be prevented from procreating and propagating
their defective genes, yet disagreed that sexual sterilization was
the best method for achieving this. One such person was Dr. Wal-
ter Fernald, the head of the Massachusetts State School for the
Feeble-Minded in Waltham. Fernald strongly believed in eugenics,
yet was opposed to sterilization as a remedy. Fernald believed that
sterilization by vasectomy would lead to a class of defectives who,
knowing they could not reproduce, would go around spreading
immorality and sexually transmitted diseases:
The presence of these sterile people in the community, with unim-
paired sexual desire and capacity, would be a direct encouragement
of vice and a prolic source of venereal disease. Sterilization would
not be a safe and effective substitute for permanent segregation and
control.
64
Fernald instead advocated for institutional segregation for the
unt, ensuring they did not procreate and preventing them from
damaging society.
65
Fernalds opinions are echoed in the 1911
work The Report of the Commission to Investigate the Question
of the Increase of Criminals, Mental Defectives, Epileptics, and
Degenerates (Fernald was a member of the commission):
It is hard to understand how this expedient could be resorted to in
large numbers of cases without being a direct encouragement of
sexual vice. If the seducer or libertine could truly promise immunity
from the natural consequences of his act, could this possibly become
159
THE CONCORD REVIEW
a means of diminishing crime? Would it not tend to make such sexual
vice much more frequent, and would not such immunity from the
natural consequences of the act tend to enormously spread venereal
disease?...The commission does not believe that it has yet been dem-
onstrated that this operation is an efcient substitute for permanent
segregation and control of conrmed criminals and defectives.
66

Dr. George Washington Gay, a Harvard professor, was of a similar
opinion. He believed that there were some benets to steriliza-
tion, but that it also had drawbacks that rendered segregation
the better option:
Surgical sterilization is safe and efcient in preventing procreation,
but it does not diminish immorality or the spread of social diseases
It [segregation] is the only method thus far suggested that affords
absolute control of irresponsible persons.
67
Dr. Gay was more in favor of sterilization than Fernald, declar-
ing that vasectomy has been performed upon several hundred
males in Indiana with no ill results, but with much satisfaction
to all concerned, victims and patients alike.
68
However, he, like
Fernald and other Commission members, (excluding the afore-
mentioned Dr. Flood, who had performed sterilizations and
thought them to be successful) did not advocate that it become
mandatory state policy because of the risk it posed to increase im-
morality and sexually transmitted diseases. Another pro-eugenic,
anti-sterilization voice can be found on the editorial board of the
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. A 1913 editorial claimed that
there were probably close to 10,000 feeble-minded people in the
state, and that [s]egregation is undoubtedly the only rational or,
in fact, possible solution of the problem.
69
The writer does not
mention sterilization as a possible solution, despite its use else-
where by 1913. The fact that these esteemed eugenic supporters
opposed eugenic sterilization laws diminished the chance that a
law would be passed. Dr. Fernald, Dr. Gay, and the others were all
prominent, and by throwing their weight against a sterilization law,
they convinced others in their eld that legal forced sterilization
would be a bad idea.
The nal front of the anti-sterilization movement in Mas-
sachusetts was the Catholic Church and its opposition to eugenics
160 Reid Grinspoon
and any form of birth control, including sterilization. The Catholic
Church voiced its opposition to eugenics in the 1930 encyclical of
Pope Pius IX, Casti Connubii. The encyclical outlined the opinion
of the Church on eugenics, eugenic laws, and sterilization, basi-
cally issuing a prohibition on birth control and eugenics of any
sort, and specically state-mandated eugenic sterilizations:
70. Public magistrates have no direct power over the bodies of their
subjects; therefore, where no crime has taken place and there is no
cause present for grave punishment, they can never directly harm,
or tamper with the integrity of the body, either for the reasons of
eugenics or for any other reason.
70
Additionally, according to the Catholic pamphlet Sterilization
and Public Policy, Christians [Catholics], accordingly, have
not only a right but a duty to resist the legislative sponsoring of
such projects, and to work for their repeal where they have been
enacted.
71
(Despite the fact that this booklet was printed in the
1960s, it cites the ideas and rhetoric that would have been used
earlier in the century, before the creation of the Massachusetts
bill.) Even Catholics who supported some eugenic ideas did not
support sterilization. In his book The Church and Eugenics, Reverend
Thomas J. Gerrard acknowledged that some aspects of eugenics
were potentially advantageous,
72
yet expressly prohibited steril-
ization (interestingly, he cites Dr. Fernalds school as a model of
eugenic segregation).
73
In addition to being against sterilization,
Catholics in Massachusetts were also numerous. During the early
20th century Catholicism was the largest religious denomination
in Massachusetts.
74
Because the majority of Massachusetts residents
at this time were Catholics, it is fair to assume that a large section
of the Massachusetts population thus did not support mandating
sterilization based on clearly articulated religious grounds.
All the arguments and opinions raised by both sides on
the sterilization debate remained only hypothetical until 1934.
In that year, a State Representative from Taunton name Harold
Cole proposed a bill before the State Legislature to allow for the
sterilization of idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded or insane persons
being held in state and county institutions.
75
The bill was very
similar to the Virginia sterilization bill which had been passed
161
THE CONCORD REVIEW
into law, borrowing some of the same language.
76
The bill was
voted down in the House 150 to 29, and later killed in the State
Senate.
77
Many of the arguments made by legislators discussing
the bill echoed the earlier points made for or against compulsory
sterilization. For instance, Representative Cole took the position
of Henry H. Goddard when he claimed that Massachusetts is
faced with a real problem, and it cannot be laughed aside. This
problem has been dealt with in 27 other States of the country, four
of them, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, New
England States.
78
He later claimed that the cost of institutional
care for such people was skyrocketing, and invoked Oliver Wendell
Holmes Jr. in his statement that three generations of imbeciles
are enough.
79
Those who opposed the bill took the same position
as the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal articles from the 1910s,
claiming that doctors did not know enough to make sterilization
a legitimate and valid operation: Our knowledge of heredity and
mental functions is too limited at present to grant authority to any
board or pseudo experts who shall be expected to declare with
certainty that a certain man or woman is the potential parent of
a mental defective.
80
Perhaps most signicant to the bills failure,
several articles articulating the Churchs anti-sterilization policy
appeared in The Pilot, the ofcial newspaper of the archdiocese
of Boston, just days before the sterilization law was voted on in
the State Legislature.
81
The failure of this bill was a victory for the
social, scientic, and religious opponents of sterilization.
Conclusion
The eugenics movement in Massachusetts had support-
ers across the social landscape, from blue-collar people enjoying
Fitter Family competitions at the Eastern States Exposition to
Harvard intellectuals to clergymen to legislators. Many people,
both within and from outside the state, believed that eugenics was
a true science and that its principles should be applied legally to
the populace for the good of society. However, despite such sup-
port, Massachusetts remained one of the minority of states that
162 Reid Grinspoon
never legalized the forced sterilization of those deemed eugeni-
cally unt. The inability to pass such a law was due largely to three
main bases of opposition: scientists who disagreed with eugenics,
eugenicists who disagreed with sterilization, and Catholics who
were opposed to eugenics on moral grounds. At the same time
as this bills failure, support for eugenics was starting to falter,
as more and more scientists began to challenge its assumptions.
The eugenics movement in America was dealt the largest blow
about 10 years later, when the world began to learn of the atroci-
ties committed by Nazi Germany in the name of eugenics. Never
again would there be support for eugenics in the Bay State.
The failure of eugenic sterilization in Massachusetts is
an interesting and stark example of how local culture can shape
policy. Despite the fact that Massachusetts doctors, politicians, and
voters had the same information, and were exposed to the same
rhetoric as those in California, North Carolina, and Virginia (and
all the other states that legalized sterilization), they decided to
vote against mandated asexualization. The unique combinations
of people and institutions in the Bay State ensured that it would
remain in the minority of states opposed to legalized forced eu-
genic sterilization.
163
THE CONCORD REVIEW

1
Daniel Kevles, preface to In the Name of Eugenics:
Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1985) p. ix
2
Paul Lombardo, Three Generations, No Imbeciles
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008)
pp. 3435
3
Kevles, p. 59
4
The head of the ABA, Bleecker Van Wagenen, believed
that defective people should be removed from the gene pool.
Lombardo, Three Generations, No Imbeciles, pp. 4243; Ruth
V. Schuler, Some Aspects of Eugenic Marriage Legislation in
the United States, The Social Service Review 14, no. 2 (1940)
pp. 304305
6
Lombardo, Three Generations, No Imbeciles, pp. 2425
7
Virginia Eugenics, The University of Vermont, (accessed
May 21, 2012) http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/VA/
VA.html
8
Lombardo, Three Generations, No Imbeciles, p. 294
9
California Eugenics, The University of Vermont,
(accessed May 21, 2012) http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/
eugenics/CA/CA.html
10
Lombardo, Three Generations, No Imbeciles, p. 294
11
Christine Rosen, Preaching Eugenics (New York: Oxford
12
Schuler, Some Aspects of Eugenic Marriage Legislation
in the United States, pp. 304305
13
Walter Fernald, The Burden of Feeble-Mindedness,
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 166, no. 25 (June 20,
1912) pp. 911915
14
Kevles, p. 63
15
Jason Jonathon Jones, Eugenics at Harvard (Bachelors
thesis, Harvard University, 1992) p. 18
16
William E. Castle, review of Feeble-mindedness, Its Causes
and Consequences by H.H. Goddard, in Journal of Abnormal
and Social Psychology 10, 3 (August 1915) p. 214, as seen in
Jones, p. 24
17
Edward East, Hidden Feeblemindedness, Journal of
Heredity 8 (May 1917) pp. 216217, as seen in Jones, p. 42
18
Kevles, p. 45
19
Oscar Riddle, Biographical Memoir of Charles Benedict
Davenport, 18661944, in Biographical Memoirs National
Academy of Sciences 25 (1947) pp. 7578, as seen in Jones, p. 8
164 Reid Grinspoon
20
Announcements of the Department of Zoology, 189394,
Harvard University and Announcements of the Department of
Zoology, 189596, Harvard University, as seen in Jones, p. 8
21
Jones, p. 92
22
William McDougall, William McDougall, Carl
Murchison, ed., History of Psychology in Autobiography
International University series in Psychology 1 (1930) p. 192, as
seen in Jones, pp. 8687
23
C. Mace Campbell, Walter E. Fernald (18591924),
Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 60,
no. 14 (December 1925) pp. 624626
24
Massachusetts Medical Society, Stated Meeting of the
Council, October 5, 1921, Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal 815, no. 17 (October 27, 1921) p. 508
25
Recommendations for the Prevention of Degeneracy,
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 164, no. 12 (March 23,
1911) p. 428
26
Walter Fernald, The Burden of Feeble-Mindedness,
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 166, no. 25 (June 20,
1912) pp. 911915
27
Rosen, p. 113
28
Ibid., p. 113
29
Pastor Adopts Eugenics, Wont Perform Marriage for the
Physically Unt, New York Times (May 26, 1913) p. 1
30
Rosen, p. 171
31
New and Notes, Eugenics 3 (April 1930) p. 149, as
noted in Rosen, pp. 170171
32
Ibid., pp. 170177
33
Rosen, p. 171
34
Lombardo, introduction to Three Generations, No
Imbeciles p. xii
35
Henry Herbert Goddard, last Modied July 25, 2007,
http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/goddard.shtml
36
Henry H. Goddard, The Menace of Mental Deciency
from the Standpoint of Heredity, Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal 175, no. 8 (August 24, 1916) pp. 269271
37
Ibid., pp. 269271
38
California Eugenics, The University of Vermont,
(accessed May 21, 2012) http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/
eugenics/CA/CA.html
39
Elmer E. Stone to George Washington Gay, December 28,
1910, George Washington Gay Papers (henceforth GWGP),
Harvard Medical School, Countway Rare Books, Harvard
165
THE CONCORD REVIEW
40
E. Scott Blair to George Washington Gay, December 30,
1910, GWGP, Harvard Medical School, Countway Rare Books,
Harvard University
41
J.C.W., James Ewing Mears, M.D., L.L.D. (A Personal
Recollection), Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 181, no.
19 (November 6, 1919) pp. 552554
42
J. Ewing Mears, M.D., LL.D., Asexualization as a
Remedial Measure in the Relief of Certain Forms of Mental
Moral, and Physical Degeneration in The Problem of Race
Betterment ed. J. Ewing Mears, et al. (Philadelphia: Wm. J.
Dornan, 1910) p. 12
43
J. Ewing Mears, The Value of Surgical Procedures in the
Solution of The Problem of Race Betterment in The Problem
of Race Betterment, pp. 2628
44
Ibid., p. 34
45
Martin W. Barr, Mental Defectives: Their History,
Treatment, and Training (Philadelphia: P. Blakistons Son and
Co., 1904) p. 196
46
J. Ewing Mears, The Law, The Protector of the
Community, and the Benefactor of the Defective Subject, in
The Problem of Race Betterment, p. 36
47
The Commission to Investigate the Question of the
Increase of Criminals, Mental Defectives, Epileptics, and
Degenerates, Report of the Commission to Investigate the
Question of the Increase of Criminals, Mental Defectives,
Epileptics, and Degenerates January, 1911 (Boston: Wright &
Potter, 1911) n.p. (hereafter Report of the Commission)
48
William Castle, Genetics and Eugenics: A Text-book for
Students of Biology and a Reference Book for Animal and Plant
Breeders (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920) p. 291,
as noted in Jones, p. 28
49
About NEJM Past and Present, The New England
Journal of Medicine (accessed July 2, 2012) http://www.nejm.
org/page/about-nejm/history-and-mission
50
Samuel B. Woodward, Eugenics and the Feeble-Minded,
The New England Journal of Medicine 200, no. 10 (March 7,
1929) pp. 509510
51
Ibid., pp. 509510
52
Sterilization of the Unt, The Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal 168, no. 15 (April 10, 1913) pp. 548549
53
Ibid., pp. 548549
166 Reid Grinspoon
54
Dr. Samuel R. Meaker Addresses Harvey Society The
New England Journal of Medicine 204, no. 13 (March 26, 1931)
pp. 688689
55
Buck v. Bell 274 U.S. 200, 47 S.Ct. 584 (1927)
56
Modern Euthanasia, Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal 173, no. 27 (December 30, 1915) p. 1008
57
Ibid., p. 1009
58
Jones, p. 75
59
Ibid., p. 76
60
Elmer Southard, An Attempt at an Orderly Grouping
of the Feeble-Mindednesses (Hypophrenias) for Clinical
Diagnosis, Journal of Psycho-Asthenics 234 (191819) p. 113,
as noted in Jones, p. 84
61
The Sterilization of Criminals, Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal 175, no. 17 (October 26, 1916) p. 612
62
Nature and Eugenics, Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal 164, no. 20 (May 18, 1911) pp. 725726
63
Education and Eugenics, Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal 173, no. 11 (September 9, 1915) pp. 398399
64
Fernald, p. 12
65
Ibid., pp. 910
66
Report of the Commission, p. 40
67
George Washington Gay, What Can be Done to Better
the Race, The Boston Herald (May 1, 1913)
68
George Washington Gay to the Committee to Investigate
the Question of the Increase of Criminals, Mental Defectives,
Epileptics, and Degenerates, undated, GWGP, Harvard Medical
School, Countway Library, Harvard University
69
The Question of the Feeble-Minded, The Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal 169, no. 6 (August 7, 1913) p. 212
70
Pius XI, Casti Connubi, Encyclical on Christian Marriage,
Vatican Website, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/
encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_31121930_casti-connubii_
en.html, (accessed July 2, 2012) sec. 70
71
Norman St. John-Stevens, Sterilization and Public Policy
(Washington: Family Life Bureau, National Catholic Welfare
Conference, 1965) p. 34
72
Rev. Thomas J. Gerrard, The Church and Eugenics
(Oxford: The Catholic Social Guild, 1921) p. 5
73
Ibid., pp. 2627
74
In 1911, Catholicism was the largest denomination in
Massachusetts, consisting of 69 percent of the population. The
Catholic Encyclopedia vol. 10, ed. Thomas Harrington (New
167
THE CONCORD REVIEW
York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911) s.v. Massachusetts,
(accessed June 1, 2012) http://www.newadvent.org/
cathen/10024c.htm
75
An Act Providing for the Sexual Sterilization of Inmates
of State and County Institutions in Certain Cases Ma. H. 160,
Session of the General Court (1934)
76
An Act to Provide for the Sexual Sterilization of Inmates
of State Institutions in Certain Cases, Virginia SB 281 (1924)
77
Journal of the House of Representatives, 1934, Including
Extra Session of 1933, Room 433 (Boston: Wright and Potter
Printing Co., Legislative Printers, 1934) p. 215
78
Sterilization Bill Meets Opposition: Coles Measure
Aimed at Feeble-Minded, The Boston Globe (January 24,
1934)
79
Ibid.
80
Sterilization Bill Killed: House Votes Against It, 150 to
29; Drogan Says it Might Hit Legislators, The Boston Globe
(January 31, 1934)
81
The Church on Sterilization, The Pilot (January 27,
1934) p. 6 and Pope Cites Rules against Sterilization The Pilot
(January 27, 1934) p. 12
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
An Act to Provide for the Sexual Sterilization of Inmates of
State Institutions in Certain Cases, Virginia SB 281, 1924
Barr, Martin W., Mental Defectives: Their History,
Treatment, and Training Philadelphia: P. Blakistons Son and
Co., 1904
Blair, E. Scott, E. Scott Blair to George Washington Gay,
December 30, 1910 Letter, from Countway Rare Books,
Harvard University, George Washington Gay Papers
Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200, 47 S. Ct. 584, 1927
Campbell, C. Mace, Walter E. Fernald (18591924),
Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 60,
no. 14, December 1925: 624626
168 Reid Grinspoon
Dr. Samuel R. Meaker Addresses Harvey Society, The New
England Journal of Medicine 204, no. 13, March 26, 1931:
688689
Education and Eugenics, The Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal 173, no. 11, September 9, 1915: 398399
Fernald, Walter, The Burden of Feeble-Mindedness, The
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 166, no. 25, June 20, 1912:
911915
Gay, George Washington, George Washington Gay to the
Committee to Investigate the Question of the Increase of
Criminals, Mental Defectives, Epileptics, and Degenerates,
Undated letter, from Harvard Medical School, Countway Rare
Books, Harvard University, George Washington Gay Papers
Gay, George Washington, What Can be Done to Better the
Race, The Boston Herald May 1, 1913
Gerrard, Rev. Thomas J., The Church and Eugenics Oxford:
The Catholic Social Guild, 1921
Goddard, Henry H., The Menace of Mental Deciency
from the Standpoint of Heredity, The Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal 175, no. 8, August 24, 1916: 269271
Journal of the House of Representatives, 1934, Including
Extra Session of 1933, Room 433 Boston: Wright and Potter
Printing Co., Legislative Printers, 1934
Massachusetts, House, An Act Providing for the Sexual
Sterilization of Inmates of State and County Institutions in
Certain Cases H. 160 Session of the General Court, 1934
Massachusetts Medical Society, Stated Meeting of the
Council, October 5, 1921, The Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal 185, no. 17, October 27, 1921: 504516
Mears, J. Ewing, The Problem of Race Betterment
Philadelphia: Wm. J. Dornan, 1910
169
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Modern Euthanasia, The Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal 173, no. 27, December 30, 1915: 10081009
Nature and Eugenics, The Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal 164, no. 20, May 18, 1911: 725726
Pastor Adopts Eugenics, Wont Perform Marriage for the
Physically Unt, New York Times May 26, 1913
Pius XI, Casti Connubi, Encyclical on Christian Marriage,
Vatican Website, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/
encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_31121930_casti-connubii_
en.html (accessed July 2, 2012)
Pope Cites Rules against Sterilization, The Pilot January
27, 1934
Recommendations for the Prevention of Degeneracy, The
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 164, no. 12, March 23,
1911: 427428
Schuler, Ruth V., Some Aspects of Eugenic Marriage
Legislation in the United States, The Social Service Review 14,
no. 2, 1940: 301316
St. John-Stevens, Norman, Sterilization and Public Policy
Washington: Family Life Bureau, National Catholic Welfare
Conference, 1965
Sterilization Bill Killed: House Votes Against It, 150 to
29; Drogan Says it Might Hit Legislators, The Boston Globe
January 31, 1934
Sterilization Bill Meets Opposition: Coles Measure Aimed
at Feeble-Minded, The Boston Globe January 24, 1934
Sterilization of the Unt, The Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal 168, no. 15, April 10, 1913: 548549
The Church on Sterilization, The Pilot January 27, 1934
Stone, Elmer E., Elmer E. Stone to George Washington
Gay, December 28, 1910 letter, from Harvard Medical School,
170 Reid Grinspoon
Countway Rare Books, Harvard University, George Washington
Gay Papers
The Commission to Investigate the Question of the Increase
of Criminals, Mental Defectives, Epileptics, and Degenerates,
Report of the Commission to Investigate the Question of
the Increase of Criminals, Mental Defectives, Epileptics, and
Degenerates: January, 1911 Boston: Wright & Potter, 1911
The Question of the Feeble- Minded, The Boston Medical
and Surgical Journal 169, no. 6, August 7, 1913: 212213
The Sterilization of Criminals, The Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal 175, no. 17, October 26, 1916: 612613
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Recollection), The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 181,
no. 19 (November 6, 1919): 552554
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509510
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CA.html
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Inspiring True Story of American Eugenics and The Men who
Overcame It New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004
Harrington, Thomas, ed., The Catholic Encyclopedia 10,
Massachusetts, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911,
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10024c.htm (accessed June
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171
THE CONCORD REVIEW
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modied July 25, 2007) http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/
goddard.shtml
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thesis, Harvard University, 1992
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Uses of Human Heredity Berkeley: University of California
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Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010
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172 Reid Grinspoon
In our pre-romantic days, books were seen
as key to education. In a 1786 letter to his nephew,
aged fteen, [President Thomas] Jefferson
recommended that he read books (in the original
languages and in this order) by the following
authors: [history] Herodotus, Thucydides,
Xenophon, Anabasis, Arian, Quintus Curtius,
Diodorus Siculus, and Justin. On morality,
Jefferson recommended books by Epictetus, Plato,
Cicero, Antoninus, Seneca, and Xenophons
Memorabilia, and in poetry Virgil, Terence,
Horace, Anacreon, Theocritus, Homer, Euripides,
Sophocles, Milton, Shakespeare, Ossian, Pope
and Swift. Jeffersons plan of book learning was
modest compared to the Puritan education of the
seventeenth century as advocated by John Milton.
E.D. Hirsch, Jr., The Knowledge Decit
Boston: Houghton Mifin, 2006, pp. 9-10
173
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Kaitavjeet Chowdhary is a Senior at Glastonbury High School in
Glastonbury, Connecticut, where he wrote this paper for Ms. Maureen
Perkins AP United States History course in the 2011/2012 academic year.
BOSS TWEED, TAMMANY HALL,
AND THE POLITICS OF THE GILDED AGE
Kaitavjeet Chowdhary
The late 19th century, the Gilded Age, was a time of
great change in American history. On the one hand, the great
mechanization of the Second Industrial Revolution had taken
place. The result was an increasingly urbanized landscape with
many opportunities for prosperity. On the other hand, however, a
political revolution was also brewing. The politicization of society
occurred at a blistering pace, supporting the system of party politics
and amboyant campaigning that would characterize American
politics for many years to come. Such times were ripe for politi-
cal machines and organizations like Tammany Hall. What had
originated as a revolutionary society in the United States now was
inuenced in part in elections in every cycle by some corruption
and graft.
1
For a brief period, Tammany ourished, controlling
almost all of the politics of New York City while gaining exorbitant
prots from kickbacks. Behind this transformation was a stout,
portly, seemingly innocuous gureWilliam M. Tweed, or Boss
Tweed, as he was later known.
2
Tweeds ruthless methods had far-
reaching effects for the politics and development of New York
City. Nevertheless, one compelling question still remains to be
answered in an effective analysis of the politics of this time period:
How did Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall come to exemplify the
politics of the Gilded Age for some people?
The Gilded Age led to a shift of America from a largely
rural, isolated, and traditional society to an urban, integrated, and
modern one. The Gilded Age in United States History describes
roughly the last third of the 19th century, between 1870 and 1900.
3

This era was witness to great feats of business, science and tech-
nology, as well as the advancement of society. As a result of this
transformative period, the nation that entered the 20th century
was one very different from the country that had emerged from
the end of the U.S. Civil War.
For most of the 19th century, political apathy was rampant,
with only 1 to 10 percent of all eligible voters participating in
the election process. Few prominent issues at the national stage
motivated signicant turnout, and widespread participation in
primaries was not typical.
4
Indeed, local party organizers sometimes
even went as far as to discourage large attendances so as to ensure
the desired, politically-planned outcomes at party conventions.
5

Although in theory voters initiated and formed the foundation of
this system of electing ofcials, the reality was quite the contrary.
It had changed in the last half of the century, especially in the
Gilded Age.
The Gilded Age ushered in a newer system of politics in
the United States. All politics now evolved around party politics.
Political parties increasingly dominated and dened the political
scene. Through widespread and aggressive campaigns, parties suc-
ceeded in mobilizing and politicizing late-1800s society.
6
Candidates
and individuals were far less important to the political process
than were the parties themselves. Between the time of selection of
party candidates and Election Day, specially appointed party com-
mittees organized and executed planned party campaigns. Party
organizers identied all potential supporters and vied to ensure
the maintenance of their votes. Candidates went on speaking tours
and participated in party-organized activities such as parades and
barbeques to stir enthusiasm. As a result of these techniques, more
175
THE CONCORD REVIEW
than 70 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in most presidential
elections from 1840 to 1900.
7
The political culture of the party politics of the Gilded
Age encouraged intense party loyalties. Strong partisanship became
the norm during this time of prolic campaigning. Each citizen
aligned himself or herself with a certain party and defended this
choice. Adding to this development in the political culture was the
common practice among newspapers of forming afliations with
one party and subsequently giving decidedly biased accounts of
events. Thus, for voters, nearly all news about politics or govern-
ment came through the lters of their respective parties.
8
Election
Day represented the climax of this partisanship. At polling places,
party workers distributed party tickets, containing printed names
of all party candidates. In order to vote, citizens had to deposit
this ticket in the ballot box. The culture of party loyalty as well as
the extra effort required to actually change one of the names on
the ticket encouraged the practice of straight voting, in which
a person voted for all candidates from a certain party. To further
safeguard against voters splitting a ticket, party organizers lled
up all extra space on tickets with decorative designs to make the
task of changing any names on the ticket nearly impossible.
9

Nevertheless, most voters were content to vote the straight party
ticket without any further manipulation.
However, patronage was the principal determinant in
motivating party loyalists. Many politicians and party workers
used the elections themselves as merely a means to an end. The
historian Richard Jensen likened Election Day during the Gilded
Age to military combat: Elections were treated like battles in
which the two main armies [parties] concentrated on elding the
maximum number of troops [voters] on the battleeld [polls] on
Election Day.
10
Keeping with this metaphor, the victors of war
also received spoils commensurate with their efforts. The spoils
system, along with patronage, meant that victorious candidates
were obligated to ll available appointments with those who had
contributed most during the campaign. Although some argued
that this system encouraged corruption, most people at the time
were accepting of the exchange.
11
The gains from victory were the
key incentives for party ofcials in the party politics of the Gilded
Age. In the words of George Plunkitt, a local political leader of
the Democratic Party in New York City, Men aint in politics for
nothin. They want to get somethin out of it.
12
The demand for the effective organization and execution
of campaigns in an environment of high-stakes politics facilitated
the emergence of political machines. These machines were
essentially large networks of political activists who were bound
together by a common loyalty to a certain party and who worked
to mobilize voters in their own areas.
13
By tying together party
members across various districts and exercising their inuence,
machine politicians became key managers of the political system.
These professional politicians and organizations guaranteed
voter mobilization in all legislative districts and stopped at almost
nothing to ensure victory.
14
At the helm of each of these machines
was a boss, who oversaw and directed its operations. Although
usually not ofceholders themselves, machine bosses were some
of the most powerful gures in any given state. Most successful
politicians had some sort of connections to these machines, and
because even national politics ultimately depended on success at
a municipal or state level, bosses had the potential to exert inu-
ence on a national stage.
15
Political machines fed on and further propagated the
practice of patronage and the spoils system. In exchange for the
results machines delivered on Election Day, they received a fair
share of patronage appointments. In this way, machines were able
to wield inuence in still more areas of government and thus also
increase their power. The consequences of these recurrent ap-
pointments and the accompanying political clout were two-fold.
First, machines became breeding grounds for corruption and
graft as members used political appointments to obtain lucrative
contracts and to further the system of patronage by appointing
other machine members.
16
Second, this created an annual cycle
in which the monopoly and power of political machines increased
with every election. Machine politicians did not use the political
177
THE CONCORD REVIEW
process to get elected to ofce but rather to achieve the author-
ity and status that came with such positions. Elections were but a
means for self-advancement. However, the rule of political machines
was not conned solely to the realm of politics. Because most ma-
chines were based in cities and large urban environments, their
reach extended into the spheres of inuence of their respective
municipalities as well.
17
The most famous, and arguably most compelling, example
of the urban political machine was Tammany Hall. Based in New
York City, this organization eventually assumed inuence over the
entire city. The Society of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order,
was founded on May 12, 1789 by William Mooney, an ex-soldier
in the American army.
18
Named after a Native American chief,
Tamanend, the Society was an amalgamation of former members
of several revolutionary societies from the American Revolution,
such as the Sons of St. Tammany and the Sons of Liberty. The
Order was formed out of protest over the aristocratic tendencies
of the new federal government designed by Hamilton.
19
Tammany
Hall was very secretive and mysterious, adopting Native American
names, such as Grand Sachem for the leader and wigwam
for meeting places. It soon became a powerful and very partisan
body, made up of Anti-Federalists. The Society became a leading
Democratic-Republican Society, countering the Society of Cincin-
nati, which was led by Hamilton and those on the opposite side
of the political spectrum from Tammany.
20
Aaron Burr, a leading
Democratic-Republican, soon saw Tammanys potential and, after
turning it into a political machine, used Tammany in the Election
of 1800, in which he became the vice-president.
21

After this initial stint as a political apparatus, Tammany
ascended to larger prominence from 1805 to 1810, as it became
an organized machine dedicated to preventing Federalists and
one of Burrs rivals, Dewitt Clinton, from gaining control of the
New York City government.
22
In this period, the organization laid
the basic framework for its operation. A Common Council of 30
members was created, to be elected by all of the ward leaders, and
to act as the executive body of the political society. Such measures
attempted to cater to the varied interests the group represented.
Slowly, in the 1820s, by gaining the support of immigrants and
poor citizens of New York, Tammany Hall became one of the
dominant political factors in New York politics.
23
In the Election
of 1828, Tammany Hall agreed to endorse Andrew Jackson, and
was rewarded with several federal jobs upon his election.
24
From
this point on, Tammany became the Democratic Party base in
New York City, and by controlling elections, achieved its greatest
level of dominance yet.
However, despite these early successes, Tammany Hall did
not reach the apogee of its ascendancy until the Gilded Age, un-
der the direction of another leader, William M. Tweed, who took
advantage of the urban conditions of that period. Tweed brought
Tammany to new heights and extended its inuence into other
areas of municipal dealings outside of just the political machina-
tions upon which Tammany had built its original prominence.
First, an understanding of the sociopolitical context of Gilded
Age cities is required to analyze his methods and ascent to power.
Industrial developments drove the Gilded Age and dened
many of its social, economic, and political characteristics. The
last third of the 19th century saw the heated pace of the Second
Industrial Revolution. The economy of the United States transi-
tioned from an agrarian society to a heavily industrial one, as the
steel industry boomed, rail lines reached across the country, and
an abounding entrepreneurial spirit pushed along invention.
25

This rapid growth created unprecedented opportunity in the city,
sparking an impetus for migration from rural to urban areas, and
from other countries. For example, by 1900, nearly 40 percent
of the population lived in urban areas, where only 19.8 percent
had done so in 1860.
26
Furthermore, the number of urban places
grew by a remarkable 343 percent in this same period.
27
As the
new hubs of all activity, cities were greatly altered by the advent
of industrialization and the Gilded Age.
For one thing, the need for labor in the new industrial
centers caused a shift in population patterns. The population
nearly doubled during this approximately 30-year period, reaching
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THE CONCORD REVIEW
almost 76 million at the turn of the century.
28
Much of this growth
in population derived from a large inux of immigrants; more than
13.2 million immigrants had arrived from 1866 to 1900, more than
in the previous two and a half centuries combined. The number
of foreign-born people in the population rose 86 percent during
the last 30 years of the 19th century.
29
These immigrants tended
to concentrate overwhelmingly in cities, especially those in the
Northeast. The 1870 Census showed that close to half of all immi-
grants lived in the Northeast, which had less than one-third of the
nations overall population. Furthermore, while constituting only
14 percent of the total population, immigrants constituted more
than 30 percent of the population of U.S. cities with populations
of 25,000 or greater. In fact, in the nine largest American cities,
immigrants accounted for almost 40 percent of the population.
30

Although not all immigrants were poor, most were relegated to
the lower rungs of industrial society, given the unskilled labor and
menial tasks that factories required. One Italian immigrant best
captured the general sentiment of many immigrants: We thought
the streets were paved with gold. When we got here we saw that
they werent paved at all. Then they told us we were expected to
pave them.
31
Moreover, cities became increasingly stratied as the tra-
ditional walking cities gave way to sprawling metropolises. For
much of the 19th century, the lack of public transportation had
necessitated that citizens live within walking distance of their places
of work. The resulting compactness of the city had allowed for
social and economic integration, as different ethnic and economic
groups lived in close proximity to one another.
32
The transportation
revolution that accompanied the industrialization of the Gilded
Age chipped away at this model of the traditional city. As street
railways became more common, those who could afford the fare
began to move farther away from industrial centers. A process
of residential diffusion ensued, in which the poorest industrial
workers, especially new immigrants, were left in the centers of
cities near the factories that employed them, while middle-class
and upper-class citizens moved to the outskirts of industrial areas.
Evidently, with the characteristic urbanization of the Gilded Age
also came some level of suburbanization. Furthermore, cities
became compartmentalized, with different districts being used
for different functions, leading to the development of nancial
sectors and a segregation of different industries, among other
novel changes to the archetypical blueprint for urban organiza-
tion. More importantly, the emerging patterns of reorganization
in cities led to the creation of different ethnic neighborhoods, in
which most immigrants had to deal with the realities of inner city
life, often living in tenements.
33

The social stratication and complex developments in
urban areas presented problems that municipal governments were
unable to effectively master. New York City, Americas denitive
urban center, was not immune to these developments itself; in
fact, it epitomized them. Like in other urban areas, the mayor
of New York City had little authority, as cities were at the whims
of the state legislature. With legislatures unwilling to cede much
control to city governments, and municipal councils fragmented
and focused on respective local, rather than citywide concerns, a
vacuum formed in city governments.
34
The rst to feel the negative
effects of this lack of effective rule were the poor and the newly
immigrated. Into this hole stepped the urban political machines
and their respective bosses.
35
By helping the immigrants and the
poor deal with their problems in the city, machines earned the
trust and the votes of the affected groups. Tammany did not shy
away from this method. Rather, it was prepared to play middleman
between the powerless individual and the huge, bafing city.
36

Political machines like Tammany were ready to provide essential
services to these citizens in return for their votes. Taking the lead
for Tammany in this matter was young William M. Tweed, whose
personal following among the the poor and others, as well as his
exploits in government positions, would catapult him to decisive
command of both New York City and Tammany Hall.
37
Tweeds rise to power reected the methods that would
dene both his rule of Tammany Hall as well as Tammanys suc-
cess well into the future. After trying to go into the family chair-
181
THE CONCORD REVIEW
making business, and then a brush-making business, William M.
Tweed sought more excitement. Whether he realized it or not at
the time, Tweeds political career began during his tenure as a
volunteer reghter. Tweed relished the fun, excitement, and ca-
maraderie that characterized his experiences at Engine Company
No. 12. His distinguished reghting skills earned him an invita-
tion to start a new Engine Company, No. 6. Named the Americus
Company, the newly created re company had Tweed at its helm
as foreman, and the companys renowned exploits in reghting
circles earned it the name of Big Six.
38
Although Tweed was soon
expelled from his coveted company for questionable ax-wielding
assaults on other companies, his encounters there lent him his
rst experience in ward politics. New leaders in the Gilded Age
rose to power not from boardrooms but from intensely masculin-
ist working-class streets.
39
Volunteer reghting companies were
often fertile grounds for recruiting new ward politicians because
of the courage and generosity demonstrated by the individuals
found there. Thus, Tweed was nominated for the position of
assistant alderman in 1850. Although he lost his rst election,
he won his next one the following year, becoming alderman of
the 7th Ward on the East ank of the Lower East Side.
40
Tweeds
resourcefulness in making connections allowed him rst to gain
his initial nomination in these early stages of his career and then
to win the subsequent election.
As a member of the Board of Aldermen, Tweed gained
insight into various techniques that would benet him later in
his career. The particular session of leaders that Tweed joined
was so corrupt and participated in graft so industriously, that it
earned the nickname of the Forty Thieves. Tweed quickly caught
on, and became one of the strongest leaders, buying property
and awarding contracts for amounts tens of thousands of dollars
higher than what they were actually worth, then splitting up the
extra prot as kickbacks among board members.
41
Deciding he
was ready for a larger arena, Tweed ran a successful campaign
for U.S. Congress. However, after two undistinguished years in
Washington, he returned to New York a largely forgotten man.
When Tweed realized he was in no position to win any elected
ofce, he intelligently changed direction and instead decided to
build up his reputation and inuence within Tammany.
42
Tweeds
experiences with the Forty Thieves led to his recognition of the
inherently intertwined relationship between money and power
in ward politics. Either one had the potential to bring in the
other. He earned an appointment to the citys Board of Educa-
tion, where he gained key insight into the processes of awarding
contracts, while maintaining an active role in the party. When, in
1857, a group of Republicans tried to take away power from the
Democratic mayor Fernando Wood by changing the city charter
to create a highly inuential and bipartisan Board of Supervisors,
Tweed got his largest windfall by being appointed as one of the
Democrats on the Board.
43
Tweed used his appointment to the Board of Supervisors
as a stepping-stone to greater prominence and then began to
implement his trademark methods. Tweeds appointment to the
Board of Supervisors was signicant for two major reasons. First, it
gave him the chance to build up power and to oppose Fernando
Wood, his main Tammany rival, for inuence. Second, Tweed saw
that anyone capable of buying off one of the Republicans on the
Board, and thus shifting the balance towards the Democrats, could
wield substantial leverage. Tweed exercised his new authority to
begin some important machinations. First, in a classic show of
patronage, Tweed had several key allies appointed to instrumen-
tal positions in the city. For example, Peter Brains Sweeny, who
would later become Tweeds chief political advisor and strategist,
was appointed district attorney. Similarly, another strategic gure,
Richard Slippery Dick Connolly, became the county clerk. He
would be important to Tweed because of his mastery of nancial
matters. Finally, George Barnard was made recorder. A corruptible
lawyer and judge, Barnard would prove invaluable in coming years
for Tweed.
44
In this way, Tweed took advantage of his position on
the Board to install useful friends in vital positions, and, in doing
so, to also extend his reach into new areas. Additionally, Tweed
used his new power to gain dramatic inuence among ward and
183
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Tammany leaders. Unsurprisingly, in 1858, Tweed was appointed
to the Tammany Hall General Committee, the organizations
executive governing body. Tweed found another way to use his
power in what would become one of his trademark tactics. Along
with two other Supervisors, John Briggs and Walter Roche, Tweed
formed the so-called Supervisors Ring. Exploiting the Boards
ability to audit all expenditures, the Ring systematically levied
an extra 15 percent fee on all contracts. Tweed used his power to
engage in widespread graft, beneting both his and his friends
pocketbooks.
45
Thus, Tweed used his political muscle to engage in
the practices of both patronage and graft, hallmarks of the Gilded
Age political machine.
Strong inuence, key allies, and knowledge of Tammany
structure in hand, Tweed attempted his rst overt grab at power.
Tweed had already been admitted into the actual Tammany Society
by this point, and thus understood Tammanys inner workings.
Wood, Tweeds rival, had lost the mayoral election in 1857, and was
now attempting to run again using his own organization, Mozart
Hall. Tweed used his political clout to handpick special election
inspectors that would permit repetitive voting, false registration,
and other illicit activities that could give Tammany Hall the up-
per hand on Election Day. Despite Tweeds best efforts, however,
Wood won the election.
46
His rst attempt at widespread political
machinations a failure, Tweed returned to his graft with the Su-
pervisors Ring. Tweeds second opportunity at power came when
the Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall, Isaac Fowler, was convicted
of stealing more than $150,000. Tweed, a member of the Council
of Sachems, proposed that Fowler be replaced with the Irish and
Roman Catholic James Conner, in order to appeal to the immi-
grant constituency. Tweed saw the deteriorating conditions of the
immigrants in the city and realized that helping this growing seg-
ment of the population would gain votes for Tammany. Indeed,
instantly after the new appointment, Tammanys image improved as
countless numbers of Catholics and immigrants turned to support
of Tammany, away from the recent nativist tendencies of Wood.
Thus, in the mayoral election of 1861, as a result of this astute
political maneuvering, Tweed won the ultimate prize, the defeat
of Fernando Wood. Now known as a shrewd politician with great
political acumen, Tweed became Grand Sachem of Tammany less
than a year later, earning the title of Boss alongside this achieve-
ment.
47
Tweed completed his control of the entire Tammany Hall
machinery and expanded its inuence into all areas of the New
York City government. Tweeds appointment as Grand Sachem was
important to the development of Tammany Hall for two reasons.
First, before Tweed, the Grand Sachem position had never been
a political position. It certainly would be now. Second, Tweed had
concentrated all power of Tammany in his own hands. Never be-
fore had the Grand Sachem also been the Chairman of the Halls
General Committee.
48
However, this was a positive development,
because Tweed had managed to unify Tammany Hall using his
charm and political skill. Now, nothing could stop him as long as
he remained successful in maintaining this internal stability. In
order to complete Tammanys hold on the city, Tweed extended
into two vital areas of the government. First, Tweeds protg, John
T. Hoffman, was elected mayor with Tweeds help and organization.
A basically irreproachable gure who was completely free of vice,
Hoffman served as a good front man. Additionally, he completed
Tweeds permeating control of New York City. Eventually, this power
would extend even further after Hoffman was elected governor.
With Hoffman in City Hall, the nucleus of the Tweed Ring was
formed.
49
Every day, Tweed, Hoffman, Comptroller Richard Con-
nolly, and Peter Sweeny would meet in the basement of City Hall.
Soon, the amboyant district attorney, Oakey Hall, joined them
as well. Whenever Hoffman was present, they would discuss only
politics, but upon his departure, the topic of the Rings conversation
turned to potential sources of further graft and money. Second,
Tweed established a friendly judiciary. Four key members of the
Court were brought under Tweeds control. Albert Cardozo served
to appoint whichever commissioner Tweed wanted and to pardon
or free countless criminals. Judge John McCann functioned to help
Tweed increase the size of the immigrant electorate by naturalizing
185
THE CONCORD REVIEW
hordes of foreigners. John Hackett specialized in doing favors for
ward chiefs and discharging criminals who were friendly with the
Ring. Finally, Richard OGorman allowed the Ring and its allies to
le fraudulent claims against the city. Rather than ghting these
claims, he instead recommended their payment in full and then
collected a commission. This collusion with the judiciary afforded
Tweed the room he needed to carry out his schemes.
50
Boss Tweed organized the workings of the Tammany Hall
political machine to facilitate acquisition of his two most valued
itemsvotes and money. Before implementing his upheaval of
the machines functional apparatus, Tweed rst consolidated his
power as leader of Tammany Hall. He created a new elite body
within Tammany, the Tammany Executive Committee. This upper
council would be composed of the citys 22 ward leaders, all of
whom had received their jobs through Tweeds patronage. The
Executive Committee would ensure that the historically powerful
Tammany General Committee, whose members were elected by
their districts, would play a decidedly minor role, while the main
force behind the machine would lie in the Bosss hands.
51

The hierarchical organization of Tweeds machine was
generally straightforward. The city was divided into several dis-
tricts, or wards, the smallest political units. Ward bosses were made
responsible for their respective areas, and were subject to every
whim of Tweed.
52
These leaders had to perform several vital func-
tions for the effective operation of the machine, most of which
were carried out by still a lower group of sub-leaders and work-
ers for the Tammany machine. The ward leader was responsible
for monitoring payment of protection costs from all associated
businesses and other illegal entities that Tammany sheltered. Ad-
ditionally, these leaders had to ensure that the needy, poor, and
immigrant groups within their districts were always helped, in
order to ensure a robust supply of votes. Third, the leader had to
constantly be alert to the local political scene in his ward, updat-
ing Tweed on any changes. Most importantly, however, the ward
leader had to guarantee delivery of his wards voters on Election
Day; defeat was not an option. As a further stipulation, these lead-
ers had to be popularly accepted by the constituents they were
held accountable for. Leaders losing their popularity were quickly
replaced.
53
Thus, Tweed established a far-reaching network, an
army, of leaders under machine control that spread into the very
foundation of the municipal political system.
54

An aggressive patronage system ensured incentivized
guarantees on expected political returns. An additional method
of Tweeds was that of ensuring that all workers of the political
machine had an incentive to accomplish the tasks he asked of
them. The most common way in which Tweed accomplished this
was the classic Gilded Age policy of patronage. Tweed held many
minor municipal positions throughout the New York City govern-
ment, which allowed him to recruit a broad network of potential
workers. For example, Tweed had himself appointed deputy street
commissioner. From this perch, Boss Tweed commanded an army
of thousands of street cleaners. Because many of these cleaners
owed their jobs to patronage from the Tammany machine, they
were always available to help do any dirty work that Tweed needed
them to do.
55
These extra workers augmented his effective political
force and ensured that he would always have enough minions to
perform the necessary duties of Election Day. The extra votes from
controlling so many men only added to the systems efciency.
Ultimately, patronage was the grease that allowed the Tammany
Hall machine to function smoothly.
The Tammany system looked after the needs of the poor
and of the immigrant population in order to create a solid electoral
base. The Tammany Hall power structure paid special attention
to ensure that every potential voter was won over. For example, at
the very bottom of the chain of command, block captains assigned
to several sub-districts of wards had the job of knowing the indi-
vidual voters and their problems. It was this workers job to give
personal attention to the voter in order to build trust that would
win votes on Election Day.
56
The Gilded Age put excess strains on
municipal governments, causing the poor and new immigrant
populations of cities to slip through the administrative cracks.
Due to the large social stratication that had been taking place,
187
THE CONCORD REVIEW
ethnic neighborhoods and poverty-stricken areas provided easy
targets for Tammany to collect new voters in bulk. In the so-called
saloon-clubhouse system, Tammany established its agents in
popular gathering areas of struggling, especially immigrant-rich,
sections of the city, breaking down a vast and impersonal city
to the warm and familiar level of the peasant village in the old
country.
57
Tammany provided latent functions to these groups
that the city failed to afford them.
58
In the bewildering city, the
grassroots efforts of Tammany made the political machine seem
like a large and welcoming family. For the insecure citizen, Tam-
many Hall functioned as a de facto government that provided food,
fuel, and several services in exchange for simply casting the correct
ballot on Election Day.
59
Tammany assisted, and thus also took advantage of, immi-
grant groups in three key ways and areas. First, it provided them
with emergency and absolutely necessary services on a regular
basis. Examples of such functions included food, coal, money,
or employment. Often, Tammany even incorporated immigrants
into the workings of the machine. Second, Tammany served as
the intermediary between the city and the individual, acting as
a crude form of public welfare. This comforted immigrants and
established a connection with the organization. Finally, Tammany
aided immigrants in the process of assimilating into their new home
and society. The most overt method of doing this was to force the
cases of Tammany-friendly immigrants through naturalization
processes. Tweed exploited this process in one famous example
from the gubernatorial election of 1868. In order to ensure vic-
tory for Hoffman, Tweed embarked on a massive naturalization
campaign a few weeks before the election with the backing of his
friendly judiciary, resulting in 41,112 new voters for the Tammany
effort.
60
This broadened the electoral base and built further onto
the trust relationship between immigrants and Tammany. The
intricate system designed to woo immigrant voters was simply
another form of patronage, one which immigrant voters found
much more appealing than simple charity, however.
61
One famous
Tammany leader, George Plunkitt illustrated the workings of this
system in relating how he aided re victims in his district:
What tells in holdin your grip on your district is to go right down
among the poor families and help them in the different ways they
need helpIf a family is burned out I dont ask whether they are
Republicans or Democrats, and I dont refer them to the Charity
Organization Society, which would investigate their case in a month
or two and decide they were worthy of help about the time they are
dead from starvation. I just get quarters for them, buy clothes for them
if their clothes were burned up, and x them up till they get things
runnin again. Its philanthropy but its politics toomighty good
politics. Who can tell how many votes one of these res bring me?
62
Tweed also used Tammany as a source of personal gain. Most
ostensibly, this came in the form of engineering massive prots
for himself and those close to him from methods of bill padding
and graft. The Tweed Ring he had formed earlier facilitated these
activities. Similar to his actions in the Supervisors Ring at the be-
ginning of his career, Tweed and his cohorts tacked on anywhere
from 15 percent to upwards of 35 percent onto contractors bills
for public projects.
63
The extra money was always divided among
the members of the Ring, providing a steady supply of illegal
income. Additionally, Tweed authorized projects for prices astro-
nomically higher than what they were actually worth. The listed
costs for construction of the new New York County Courthouse
reected the conuence of these two practices. The total cost
exceeded $13,000,000 (approximately $178 million in modern
US dollars), including $7,500 for thermometers, $404,347 worth
of safes, and over $133,000 to a plasterer for only two days work.
64

Another avenue of Tammany-derived prot for Boss Tweed came
through his large investments in the New York Printing Company.
Because he held a controlling interest in this company, Tweed used
his inuence to direct it to begin printing everything at inated
rates.
65
Furthermore, he demanded that railroads, public ofces,
and private businesses buy from the Printing Company, threaten-
ing disfavor with Tammany if they failed to comply. Thus, Tweed
enjoyed inated returns as both a government ofcial condoning
bill padding and a contractor selling at increased rates.
66

The publics perception of Boss Tweed and Tammany
Hall varied among individuals and at different points in time.
189
THE CONCORD REVIEW
For a long time, many in certain circles had suspected Tweed and
Tammany of wrongdoing. However, this sentiment was not wide-
spread. Tweed had done well to buy off many reporters and news
organizations that posed potential threats to his image.
67
After
all, Tammany Hall was a political organization and maintaining
a degree of popularity among the electoral base was necessary.
Nevertheless, a substantial number of New York Times reporters
refused to be bought off, and the publications Republican bias
gave an added motive to attack Tweed and his Democratic Tam-
many Hall.
68
However, one of the board members of the Times,
James Taylor, was associated with Tweed in the New York Printing
Company scheme and thus maintained a pro-Tweed stance, thereby
preventing any public attacks on Tweed. As a result, Taylors death
in the summer of 1870 opened the oodgates for an inundation
of criticisms in the New York Times questioning the expenditures of
the city under the Tweed Ring. At the same time, another Tweed
critic, Thomas Nast, was attracting great attention for his cartoons
in Harpers Weekly, depicting Tweed as an unscrupulous and avari-
cious thug.
69
Despite the intensifying opposition against the Boss,
the public remained unmoved. The allegations simply provided
insufcient evidence to change the opinions of Tammanys main
electoral base, especially given the benets they received from the
political machine. Many poor and immigrant supporters viewed
Tammany as the only helpful institution in their difcult lives.
Hence, many of these citizens dismissed media attacks as traps set
up by the same elite of the city who had failed to provide them
with the necessary services they so desperately sought.
70
Two events changed the publics view of Tweed and Tam-
many, and subsequently resulted in their collective downfall. First,
James Watson, the Tweed Rings paymaster, who had kept track of
all of the secret nancial actions of Tweed and his allies, suffered
fatal injuries in a sleighing accident. Matthew J. ORourke was
chosen to replace him in his supercial duties. However, ORourke
was secretly working with the former sheriff, James OBrien, whose
prior experiences with Tammany had left him with a bitter hatred
of the organization.
71
ORourke worked surreptitiously to collect
incriminating nancial evidence against Tweed, which he even-
tually turned over to the New York Times in the spring of 1871.
72

While this occurred covertly, a second event brought Tammanys
effectiveness into questionthe Orange Riot of 1871. Tweed
and Tammany had instructed many Irish Catholic constituents to
not protest Protestant celebrations of the Protestant victory over
Catholicism at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, because the same
parade during the same celebration had resulted in a riot causing
eight deaths the previous year. However, due to mounting pressure
from newspapers and from the Protestant elite of the city, Tweed
reversed his ban. During the parade, as feared, a riot occurred,
this time killing 60 and injuring 150.
73
This tragedy resulted in
sinking popularity among Tammanys large Irish constituency,
and led the elite to perceive that Tammany did not hold as secure
a command over the people as had been previously supposed.
74

The New York Times story containing much of ORourkes evidence
broke a few days later on July 8, 1871.
75
As public discontent grew inamed from increasingly ef-
fective anti-Tweed attacks and unrest among government leaders,
Tweed and Tammanys control spiraled downward. The Orange
Riot asco resulted in greater traction for the campaigns of The New
York Times and Nast in Harpers Weekly. The Times published a series
of articles, each one providing new pieces of evidence pointing to
the excessive corruption of Tweed and Tammany. These exposs
both enthralled and disgusted the audiences who read them.
76

At the same time, Nasts cartoons became increasingly caustic,
condemning those implicated in the large-scale scandal. In fact,
the cartoons had a larger effect on the poor, illiterate constitu-
ency of Tammany, because they used cartoons rather than only
words. Tweed himself remarked Stop them damned pictures. I
dont care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents
dont know how to read, but they cant help seeing them damned
pictures!
77
Tweeds intricate machinery was unraveling as the fuel
for his machine, his electoral base, diminished drastically in size.
Alarmed about the nancial state of the city, and galva-
nized into action by new anti-Tweed riots, the citys elite leaders
191
THE CONCORD REVIEW
decided at Cooper Union to assume control of the city and allow
the wisest and best citizens to lead. They formed the Commit-
tee of Citizens and Taxpayers for Financial Reform of the City, or
the Committee of Seventy as it was popularly known, to crush
Tammany by choking its funds.
78
Slowly, by inltrating the Ring
from the bottom up, the city succeeded in wrenching power from
Tammany and Tweed. All members of the Ring were indicted, and
Tweed died in Ludlow Street Jail on April 12, 1878, after several
attempts at avoiding punishment. While Tammany would quickly
rebound, the Bosss reign had ended.
79
Tweed left a mixed legacy for his career and actions. Al-
though his corrupt practices are often emphasized much more
than his other contributions, there was more to his career. First, he
pioneered a system for Tammany which could cater to the masses,
making him easily understood by many of the poor.
80
His version
of politics provided a primitive form of welfare to those in need,
albeit motivated mostly by political and personal ambition and
greed. Tweed also contributed to charitable causes. For example,
uncovered documents enumerating Tweeds expenses indicated
that the politician had donated at least $288,805 in some form
over the course of his career.
81
Finally, he oversaw the develop-
ment of New York City. Tweed spent more than $10 million on the
development of Central Park. Although this was certainly stained
with corruption and graft, the surrounding real-estate values still
increased almost two and half times that amount.
82
In the end,
Tweed did provide some substantial contributions to New York
City, even if they were motivated principally by the advancement
of his career and of his pocketbook.
Undoubtedly, however, the most enduring legacy of Tweed
and the Tammany Hall he created was the impact on the politics
of the Gilded Age. Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall most denitely
exemplied the politics of the Gilded Age. The parallels are
overwhelming. Gilded Age politics were based on the principle of
being rewarded for ones contributions to politicspatronage.
83

Tweeds Tammany Hall exploited patronage in order to reach
across all possible political spheres. Each level of the Tammany
machine had an inherent incentive to support the overall political
goals of the organization because of the potential for the tangible
rewards from patronage, creating a very efcient setup.
84
On the
other side, Tweed and other members of Tammany used patron-
age at will to appoint close allies to positions of power within the
infrastructure of the political arrangement. The upward mobility
presented by such methods as well as the immediate incentives
they provided created a self-propagating cycle of patronage that
brought Tammany to its original seat of control.
85
Tammany Hall utilized the most important political re-
source, votes, in the politically mobilized society of the Gilded Age.
Tammany spoke the language of the poor while also maintaining
relations with the rich. Tweeds vision of Tammany Hall provided
a personal connection for every voter to the organization.
86
As was
illustrated by the widespread loyalty of the Tammany electorate in
the initial stages of the Tweed scandal, these methods produced
durable trust. In the days preceding elections, Tweed allocated
$1,000 to every ward for electioneering campaigns that would
insure that this trust translated into votes.
87
Tweed, and the rest
of Tammany Hall under him, understood the importance of win-
ning and maintaining votes, a necessity in the Gilded Age. Thus,
unsurprisingly, his fall came as a result of a disappearing electoral
base due to rising unpopularity and skepticism.
Boss Tweed was a man who took advantage of his oppor-
tunities. In the post-Civil War boom era, he recognized the close
relationship between money and power. As another Tammany
leader, Richard Croker, stated in an article on the infamous po-
litical machine, organization in the case of political partiesis
one of the main factors of success, and without it there can be no
enduring result.
88
Indeed, Tweed ushered in a new era of politics
for Tammany Hall, one exemplifying the politics of the Gilded
Age, by creating a powerfully organized system. Through it, he
was able to take advantage of the motivational force of patronage
and extend his political reach into every ward of New York City.
By placing the emphasis squarely on the importance of the voter
in the electoral process, Tweed captured the very essence of the
193
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Gilded Age style of politics. He created a method more powerful
and efcient than any other in employing the basic principles
of Gilded Age politics, and pioneered a new role for political
machines. Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall not only exemplied
Gilded Age politicsthey redened it.
Notes
1
Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (New
York: Dover Publications, 1971) p. 1
2
Ibid., p. 212
3
Charles W. Calhoun, ed., The Gilded Age: Perspectives
on the Origins of Modern America (Lanham, Maryland:
Rowman & Littleeld Publishers, 2007) p. 1.
4
Robert W. Cherny, American Politics in the Gilded Age,
18681900 (Wheeling, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, 1997) p. 5
5
Ibid., p. 7
6
Ibid., p. 8
7
Ibid., p. 13
8
Ibid., p. 12
9
Ibid., p. 13
10
Ibid., p. 12
11
Ibid., p. 14
12
Ibid., p. 15
13
Ibid., p. 8
14
Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Rise of the City, 18781898
(Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1999) p. 388
15
H. Wayne Morgan, From Hayes to McKinley: National
Party Politics, 18771896 (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse
16
Cherny, p. 16
17
Schlesinger, p. 390
18
Myers, p. 1
19
Ibid., p. 3
20
Ibid., p. 10
21
Ibid., p. 22
22
Ibid., p. 24
23
Ibid., p. 48
24
Ibid., p. 76
25
Cherny, p. 3
26
Calhoun, p. 103
27
Ibid., p. 102
28
Ibid., pp. 12
29
Ibid., p. 2
30
Ibid., p. 83
31
Ibid., p. 88
32
Ibid., p. 108
33
Ibid., p. 114
34
Ibid., p. 115
35
Ibid., p. 116
195
THE CONCORD REVIEW
36
Oliver E. Allen, The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany
Hall (Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing,
1993) p. 82
37
Lyle W. Dorsett, The City Boss and the Reformer: A
Reappraisal, Pacic Northwest Quarterly 63, no. 4 (October
1972) pp. 150151, JSTOR (40489030)
38
Allen, p. 83
39
Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History
of New York City to 1898 (New York: Oxford University Press,
1999) p. 823
40
Allen, p. 85
41
Ibid., p. 85
42
Ibid., p. 86
43
Ibid., p. 87
44
Ibid., p. 89
45
Burrows and Wallace, p. 837
46
Allen, p. 89
47
Ibid., p. 92
48
Ibid., p. 92
49
Ibid., p. 96
50
Ibid., p. 98
51
Ibid., p. 93
52
Ibid., p. 93
53
Ibid., p. 94
54
Alfred Connable and Edward Silberfarb, Tigers of
Tammany; Nine Men Who Ran New York (New York: Holt,
Rinehart, and Winston, 1967) p. 182
55
Ibid., p. 183
56
Ibid., p. 181
57
Ibid., p. 185
58
David R. Colburn and George E. Pozzetta, Bosses and
Machines: Changing Interpretations in American History,
The History Teacher 9, no. 3 (May 1976) pp. 450459, JSTOR
(492336)
59
Connable and Silberfarb, p. 186
60
Allen, p. 103
61
62
Calhoun, p. 115
63
Kenneth D. Ackerman, Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of
the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York
(New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2005) p. 52
64
65
Ackerman, p. 50
66
Allen, p. 95
67
Ibid., p. 90
68
Ackerman, p. 98
69
Ibid., p. 31
70
Allen, p. 118
71
Ibid., p. 119
72
Ibid., p. 122
73
74
Ibid., p. 1009
75
Allen, p. 123
76
77
Allen, p. 121
78
79
Allen, p. 142
80
Walter L. Hawley, The Strength and Weakness of
Tammany Hall, North American Review 173, no. 539 (October
1901) pp. 482486, JSTOR (25105228)
81
Mark D. Hirsch, More Light on Boss Tweed, Political
Science Quarterly 60, no. 2 (June 1945) pp. 273274, JSTOR
(2144524)
82
Ackerman, p. 358
83.
Cherny, p. 13
84
Louis Seibold, The Morals of Tammany, North
American Review 226, no. 5 (November 1928) pp. 526529,
JSTOR (25110609)
85
86
Dorsett, pp. 151154
87
Allen, p. 99
88
Richard Croker, Tammany Hall and the Democracy,
North American Review 154, no. 423 (February 1892) pp. 225,
JSTOR (25102328)
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199
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Aleez Qadir is a Senior at the University of Chicago Laboratory High
School in Chicago, Illinois, where she wrote this paper for Paul Hortons
AT Modern World History course in the 2011/2012 academic year.
THE FALL OF THE MUGHALS:
HOW THE BRITISH COLONIZED MUGHAL INDIA
Aleez Qadir
The Mughal Empire was one of the greatest Islamic
empires in history. During the time of Shah Jahan, there was a
high level of tolerance of all peoples in India. However, after the
rule of Shah Jahan, his third son, Aurangzeb, gained control of
the empire and ruled with an Islamist mindset; therefore, his
rule was intolerant, which some, like Amy Chua, believe was the
cause of the fall of the Mughal Empire.
1
However, the fall of the
Mughal Empire was not so monocausal as that. The Mughals fell
when the British colonized India, and intolerance did indeed
help in weakening the Mughal Empire before it fell to the British.
However, the British were able to colonize India because of other
reasons as well, which included the political fragmentation of the
Mughal Empire, the economic and trade problems that Mughal
India was encountering, and the increasing inuence of Europe
affecting Asia.
The Mughals were descendants of the Mongols, specically
Chinggis Khan and Tamerlane. The empire was founded in 1526
by Zahir Al-Din Muhammad Babur and lasted for more than two
centuries after that.
2
Babur, a Chaghatai-Turkish prince, led his
200 Aleez Qadir
army to Delhi to collect the treasure that was stored there, and
established the Mughal empire. He then dispersed the money
within his army before going to Agra. Delhi and Agra then became
the two twin capitals of the empire.
3
Prior to Baburs invasion and the establishment of the Mu-
ghal empire, India was ruled by fragmented tribal alliances, minor
sultanates and small independent states. Babur was responsible
for uniting the independently ruled areas under a strong central
authority that became the basis for the Mughal empire. Even
though Indias population was majority Hindu, Muslim rulers
had mostly ruled it for about 800 years prior to the establishment
of the Mughal empire. Thus, rule by the Mughals, who were also
Muslim, was not always viewed favorably by the majority Hindu
population. Many Hindus opposed the Mughal rule and there
were numerous Hindu-led revolts against the Muslim Mughals
over the years. Not until the third Mughal emperor, Jalaludin
Muhammad Akbar, did the Mughals consolidate power in India
and rule a truly united India.
Akbar succeeded to the Mughal throne at the age of 13
in 1556. Akbars early years as ruler were turbulent; however, he
was able to consolidate power and eventually rule most of India.
Thus began what can be termed as the foundation of the golden
age of the Mughal empire, and the Mughal empire in the strict
sense of the term, with all its regalia and splendor, came into
being in Akbars time.
4
Akbar began the tradition of tolerance,
diplomacy and coopting within the Mughal empire. He married
non-Muslim Rajput princesses, which was a taboo at the time,
to placate the local Hindu populations apprehensions about a
Muslim ruler. He reduced the role of strict sharia law and allowed
non-Muslims to practice their religions more freely. He allowed
non-Muslims to be promoted to senior positions in the govern-
ment and the administration. In addition, he was a patron of the
arts and promoted literature and architecture. Hence, Akbars
rule can be considered what would in current times be termed a
secular government and society.
201
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The society of tolerance and enlightenment started by
Akbar, after his death enabled the 17th century to become the
most prosperous age of the Mughals. It was the time of three
important Mughal emperors: Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurang-
zeb. Jahangir continued with the traditions of religious tolerance
started by his father and was successful in expanding the Mughal
empire in the east and in the north towards the Himalayas. He
made justice the cornerstone of his rule and left intact much of
the administrative structure put in place by Akbar. During his
rule, there was a lot of focus on the arts and cultural enrichment.
Paintings of princesses, servants, and embracing couples became
popular.
5
The signicance of this is extremely important because
in the puritanical Sala traditions of Islam, any depiction of a hu-
man likeness is prohibited. Even more important is the depiction
of women in paintings, which the Salas consider an even greater
sin. In addition, natural beauty became popular as animals were
often portrayed in art, oftentimes elephants.
6
Also, calligraphic
verses from the Quran were frequently used to frame artwork, as
well as geometric patterns. The underlying thread in Jahangirs
rule was that of tolerance, liberalism, and letting a society ourish
mostly without signicant regard to religious prejudices.
Following Jahangirs rule of art, women, wine, and gardens,
Shah Jahan began to rule the empire. His rule lasted for three
decades, and he also ruled with great tolerance of other religions.
He married Mumtaz Mahal, for whom he erected the famous Taj
Mahal. Shah Jahan spent a signicant time of his rule trying to
control the rebellion happening in the Deccan (the south). The
Mughals had never had much success in ruling southern India.
During Jahangirs reign, as well as Shah Jahans reign, several
wars were fought to bring different parts of the south within the
Mughal empire. However, rebellions would always arise as the
Deccan would not accept rule from a power of the North. The
Deccan problem distracted Shah Jahan signicantly from other
issues in the empire.
7
A huge power struggle ensued at the end of Shah Jahans
reign as emperor between his oldest son Dara Shikoh and his
202 Aleez Qadir
third son Aurungzeb. The two brothers had different personalities
and belief systems. Dara was an intellectual and practicing Su,
while Aurungzeb believed in a more puritanical version of Islam.
Dara was Shah Jahans heir apparent; however, through intrigues,
betrayals, cunning, and after several battles, Aurungzeb was able
to arrest and later behead his brother.
8
Aurungzeb took an extremely religious view in ruling
India.
9
The idea of tolerance for other peoples diminished, and
Aurangzeb ruled as a strict Sala Muslim, whereas Dara would
have been extremely tolerant of all religions, like his father and
grandfather. Religious bigotry took hold in the affairs of the state
during Aurungzebs time, which brewed discontent among the
non-Muslim majority population of the empire. As is often the
case, empires start decaying when large parts of their populations
feel they are discriminated against, and injustices based on race,
creed and religion become part of the states policy. This point
is when most historians say that the Mughal empire also began
to decline. Not only did the decline of the Mughal empire start
with Aurungzebs rule, but contemporary analysts are even going
as far as to say that the current extremist strain of Islam in South
Asia and the resulting terrorism associated with it is also a result
of something that happened because of Aurungzebs rule more
than 300 years ago.
10
Aurangzeb was the last of the prominent and powerful
emperors of the Mughal Empire. The Mughal Empire continued
as a dynasty after Aurangzeb, but it eventually became so weak that
when the British decided to colonize India, the Mughals were un-
able to hold them off. Instead, the colonization effort was weakly
resisted on the Mughals part, and so ended the Mughal Empire.
Even though religious intolerance and bigotry played a
signicant role in weakening the Mughal empire, a major aspect
that contributed to the fall of the Mughals was also that the politi-
cal structure of the empire was crumbling. The Mughal empire
had been served very well by the Chinggisid-Timurid system of
governance by royal appanages. In this system, princes were as-
signed semi-autonomous regions within the empire with one of
203
THE CONCORD REVIEW
the brothers dominating the empire as the emperor.
11
The princes
would enjoy military, economic and political autonomy and the
emperor would in return enjoy their loyalty in governing smaller
parts of the empire. As inherently conicted as this system was, it
worked very well for most Timurid rulers who possessed charisma,
like Timur.
In the beginning of the Mughal Empire, adhering to
Tamerlane-like political charisma also helped them gain control
of and effectively govern the native people of the South Asian
region.
12
Babur, like Tamerlane, possessed charisma and was also
a very successful military leader, which was a trait that also legiti-
mized those who would follow him as emperor.
13
His rule was very
thoroughly thought out and well-crafted in order to have people
follow his lead. However, after Babar and the other prominent
Mughal emperors, in-ghting that resulted in not adhering to the
political and governance structure that had served the Timurids for
centuries further weakened the empire. Aurungzebs betrayal of
his brothers likely accelerated this decline. This caused the central
authority to weaken, allowing rebels who resented Mughal rule
to get stronger. As stated previously, rebels in the southern part
of India were always uncomfortable with the idea of being ruled
by the northern power. The rebels of the Deccan wanted their
own freedom, and with growing political tension and weakening
central power were able to further diminish the authority of the
emperor.
Even though Aurangzebs rule was the last powerful rule of
the Mughal Empire, the empires decline had started during his
time. After his rule, the empires decline accelerated because of the
weak Mughal leaders who followed him, who could not stay true
to the principles of governance that had served their ancestors so
well over the centuries. As central power waned, rule in India again
became fragmented as it had been prior to the Mughals, with the
center yielding power to local rajas who started controlling small
parts of the empire. New Mughals came in from Britain to take
control of the now feeble Mughal Empire, which caused further
instability to the political situation in India.
14
The rebels continued
204 Aleez Qadir
to revolt, even as English control over India increased. However,
the British believed that they should make India part of their own
empire after seeing how horribly the rajas were doing as political
leaders.
15
The British saw the rajas as useless, as they did not have
much of a function. The Mughals had no other political leaders
to rely on. Although they did react harshly to the idea, eventually,
they were forced to join the British Empire. Since there was no
strong political structure to protect the Mughals from the British,
the Mughals were forced to become part of the British Empire.
As much as the rst two factors contributed to the demise
of the Mughal empire, another signicant factor was the decline
of the Indian economy. There were two primary reasons for the
eventual collapse of the Indian economy. One was a hugely bur-
densome taxation system and the other was the lack of maritime
capabilities.
The Indian Ocean housed a huge world-economy of trade,
where India supplied textiles for places like South East Asia, Iran,
East Africa, and the Arab nations.
16
However, a system of taxation
was put into place that allowed the state to take as tax a propor-
tion of the crop from the peasants, while the ruling class could
obtain income from the land without any permanent attachment
to it.
17
In a regressive tax system like this, the entire burden of
the tax fell on the poor peasants. What exacerbated the problem
was that in trying to improve their yields for the crops and to im-
prove processes, the farmers had no money to make investments
in tools and other new technology. While the ruling class had the
money, they had no incentive to make an investment since there
were no large plantations that would have allowed them to recoup
their investment In addition, the ruling elite would get earnings
from the land based on the amount of land they owned in any
case. Also adding to the farmers misery was the fact that the tax
collectors used to be appointed in their jurisdictions for limited
durations, so they were incentivized to over-collect before they
were transferred out. All of this combined to choke the peasants
who eventually began to stop growing the crops, and that resulted
in the collapse of the Indian economy.
205
THE CONCORD REVIEW
The second reason for the collapse of the Indian economy
was the lack of focus on building a navy and advancing maritime
trade.
18
The Mughal empire was preoccupied with expanding
its power within the subcontinent and was mainly interested in
building its armies to further that end. However, from a trading
perspective, Europe served as the worlds top market, and as its
demand for traded products grew, it could only be met by maritime
trade. This required Indian goods to be transported there by sea.
The lack of maritime trade also reduced the value of Indian trade
with Europe as a percentage of overall trade.
19
The lack of a navy
also meant that the sea transportation industry was controlled by
the Europeans. This gave the Europeans enormous bargaining
power over Indian goods. Because of a lack of a domestic market,
local Indian traders were forced to sell their goods to the Euro-
pean trading and transportation companies at low prices. This
allowed the trading companies to make most of the prot and
kept Indians from exporting their own products. For instance,
Bengal silk was mostly exported through European traders like
the Dutch and the English.
20
Only one-third of their own products
were exported by the Indian commodities traders.
21
Eventually,
the result was the monopolization of all trade from India by the
East India Companies that pretty much wiped out all competition
along with wiping out the local trading community.
22
Iran, which
was a traditional trading partner of India, was also no longer the
main market for Indian products because of a declining economy,
and India could not buy Iranian products as well, which made the
situation worse for both.
In addition to monopolizing trade, whenever any disputes
arose, the navies supporting the trading companies always came
to their rescue and the lack of a Mughal navy further magnied
Mughal Indias weaknesses.
23
The combination of lower produc-
tion and the monopolization of trade by the East India Company
devastated the Indian economy. The loss of its trade earnings and
a weak economy further weakened the Mughals, which further
contributed to them being overthrown so easily by the British.
206 Aleez Qadir
Lastly, the British colonized the Mughals with ease because
of the growing impression and inuence of the West on Asia. The
East has always been very different and separate from the Western
world throughout history. However, increasing interaction with
the West is what caused the Mughal Empire to lose its cultural
boundaries and make colonization simple for the British. Dur-
ing the time of the Mughal Empire, European countries traded
with India often.
24
With such interaction frequently happening,
inuence of the West most likely traveled with the trade. The
West regularly interacted with Mughal India, and each interaction
has been said to inuence India thoroughly, not just penetrat-
ing economic, political, and legal levels, but the entire cultural
spectrum as a whole.
25
As stated earlier, the British came to India
after the more prominent and effective Mughal rulers had ended
their rule. Instead of having the native Indians control the em-
pire, it was run by British men who tried to keep control over the
constantly revolting people of the South and elsewhere. Also, by
trading with Asian countries, European culture made its way into
Mughal India.
26
The increased use of European products led to
replacement of old Eastern ways. Europes culture replaced that
of Mughal India, and with that, Mughal India lost its denition;
the use of European products diminished Indian culture and
increased Western culture in India. Without this denition, the
idea of indigenous rule was diluted and the Mughals were easily
overthrown.
The British would not have been able to colonize Mughal
India as quickly if it were not for the crumbling political structure,
the collapse of the Mughal Indian economy, and the impact of
the Western world on Asia. Others could possibly argue that the
greatest factors of the Mughal downfall and the British coloniza-
tion of India were not the political and economic conditions and
the inuence of Europe on Asia. Chua, for instance, believes that
the fall of the Mughal Empire was purely based on religious in-
tolerance from the time of Aurangzeb. However, Aurangzeb had
died long before the time the British colonized India. This does
not take away from the fact that the intolerance of Aurangzeb was
denitely a signicant factor in the decline of the empire, but it
207
THE CONCORD REVIEW
was not the only factor. Just as signicant reasons for the collapse
of the Mughal Empire were the political and economic problems,
as well as the cultural inuence of the West. These problems were
very important to world history because the Mughal Empire prob-
ably could have lived on for a bit longer if such difculties had
not stood in the Mughals way. If the empire had been stronger
and less penetrated by Western society, perhaps it would have
lasted longer than it did. In that case, the British would not have
colonized so easily. They probably would have had to ght harder
and expend more signicant resources to colonize India, or let
it alone. That would make a huge impact on the country of In-
dia now, on current world history and on recent events as well.
Pakistan may not even have existed if it were not for the British
colonization of India. Instead, it would be a part of a larger India,
and the probability of the 9/11 attack on the United States would
have been much diminished. Still, India was colonized by Britain,
which then created two separate countries for the Muslims and
Hindus with the idea of stopping communal violence between
these people who believe in two very different religions. However,
violence and conict between these two countries continues.
208 Aleez Qadir
Endnotes
1
Amy Chua, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to
Global Dominance-and Why They Fall (New York: Doubleday,
2007) p. 184
2
Farhat Hassan, review of The New Cambridge History of
India, 1.5The Mughal Empire by John F. Richards, Modern
Asian Studies (Cambridge) May 1995, p. 441
3
Stanley Wolpert, A New History of India (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000) p. 122
4
Ruby Lai, Rethinking Mughal India: Challenge of a
Princess Memoir, Economic and Political Weekly 38, no. 1
(2003) p. 53
5
Wolpert, p. 151
6
Ibid., p. 150
7
Ibid., p. 153
8
Maheen Bashir Adamjee, The Untold Story, Newsline,
August 26, 2010, [online], available from http://www.
newslinemagazine.com/2010/08/the-untold- story-2/
9
Wolpert, p. 154
10
Ayaz Amir, The Evil of Our Circumstances, Khaleej
Times (October 2, 2010)
11
Lisa Balabanlilar, Lords of the Auspicious Conjunction:
Turco-Mongol Imperial Identity on the Subcontinent, Journal
of World History 18, no. 1 (2007) p. 14
12
Ibid., p. 4
13
Ibid., p. 4
14
Wolpert, p. 207
15
Ibid., p. 227
16
Ravi Palat, et al., The Incorporation and
Peripheralization of South Asia, 16001950, Review (Fernand
Braudel Center) 10, no. 1 (1986) p. 174
17
Ibid., p. 173
18
Ibid., p. 176
19
M. Athar Ali, The Passing of Empire: The Mughal Case,
Modern Asian Studies 9, no. 3 (1975) p. 387
20
Ibid., p. 388
21
Ibid., p. 388
22
Palat, et al., The Incorporation and Peripheralization of
South Asia, 16001950, p. 181
23
Ibid., p. 176
24
Frank Perlin, Precolonial South Asia and Western
Penetration in the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries: A
209
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Problem of Epistemological Status, Review (Fernand Braudel
Center) 4, no. 2 (1980) p. 270
25
Ibid., p. 271
26
Ibid., p. 273
Bibliography
Adamjee, Maheen Bashir, The Untold Story, Newsline,
August 26, 2010, [Online], available from http://www.
newslinemagazine.com/2010/08/the-untold-story-2/
Ali, M. Athar, The Passing of Empire: The Mughal Case,
Modern Asian Studies 9.3 (1975): 385396
Amir, Ayaz, The Evil of Our Circumstances, Khaleej Times
October 2, 2010
Balabanlilar, Lisa, Lords of the Auspicious Conjunction:
Turco-Mongol Imperial Identity on the Subcontinent, Journal
of World History 18.1 (2007): 139
Chandrashekar, S., Colonialism, Conict, and Nationalism:
South India, 18571947 New Delhi: Wishwa Prakashan, 1995
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2007
Cossim, Considerations on the Danger and Impolicy of
Laying Open the Trade with India and China Including an
Examination of the Objections Commonly Urged Against the
East India Companys Commercial and Financial Management
London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1812
Crawfurd, John, A View of the Present State and Future
Prospects of the Free Trade & Colonization of India 2nd
edition, London: J. Ridgway, 1829
Dirks, Nicholas B., Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the
Making of Modern India Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
210 Aleez Qadir
Hasan, Farhat, Rev. of, The New Cambridge History of
India. 1.5The Mughal Empire by John F. Richards, Modern
Asian Studies 29.2 (1995): 441447
Krishna, Bal, Commercial Relations Between India and
England 16011757 London: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.,
1924
Lai, Ruby, Rethinking Mughal India: Challenge of a
Princess Memoir, Economic and Political Weekly 38.1 (2003):
5365
Palat, Ravi, Kenneth Barr, James Matson, Vinay Bahl, and
Nesar Ahmad, The Incorporation and Peripheralization of
South Asia, 16001950, Review (Fernand Braudel Center) 10.1
(1986): 171208
Pearson, M. N., Shivaji and the Decline of the Mughal
Empire, The Journal of Asian Studies 35.2 (1976): 221235
Perlin, Frank, Precolonial South Asia and Western
Penetration in the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries: A
Problem of Epistemological Status, Review (Fernand Braudel
Center) 4.2 (1980): 267306
Richards, John F., The Mughal Empire Cambridge:
Sutton, Deborah, Other Landscapes: Colonialism and the
Predicament of Authority in Nineteenth-Century South India
S.I.: Nias Press, 2009
Wolpert, Stanley, A New History of India New York: Oxford
211
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Andrew Burton is a Senior at Upper Canada College in Toronto, where
he wrote this International Baccalaureate Extended Essay for Jeff Hill
in the 2011/2012 academic year.
A STRUGGLE FOR DOMINANCE:
U.S.-BRITISH RELATIONS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Andrew Burton
I) Introduction
a) Background Information and Context
We have toiled and suffered and dared, shoulder to shoulder against
the cruel and mighty enemy. We have acted in close combination
or concert in many parts of the world, on land, on sea and in the
airI am proud that you have found us good allies, striving forward
in comradeship to the accomplishment of our task.In those days,
after our longand for a whole year lonelystruggle, I could not
repress in my heart a sense of relief and comfort that we were all
bound together by common peril, by solemn faith and high purpose,
to see this quarrel through, at all costs, to the end.
1
This 1943 address, in which British Prime Minister Win-
ston Churchill also refers to the fraternal association of the U.S.
and Great Britain, formed the foundation for Churchills famous
speech The Sinews of Peace, delivered at Westminster College,
Fulton, Missouri on March 5, 1946. In his address, Churchill
included a phrase that would subsequently be used by historians
to describe the close diplomatic, military, economic and cultural
212
Andrew Burton
ties between the United States and the United Kingdom both
during and after World War II: The Special Relationship. The
close association that developed between the two powers was
unprecedented. However, as the war progressed, it became clear
that the relationship was not one of equality or even the harmony
Churchill described. It was a relationship of necessity, made special
only by the extreme nature of the danger facing both countries.
Once the crisis of 19411942 had passed, Anglo-American relations
developed into an uneven collaboration, increasingly dominated
by the United States due to its overwhelming superiority in war
production and manpower.
As World War II progressed, it became evident that this
Special Relationship, a phrase used largely by the British (par-
ticularly Churchill) after-the-fact to emphasize the importance
of the two countries bonds, was partly a struggle for dominance
between allies while it was a collaboration to defeat the Axis Pow-
ers. Churchill knew that in order for the British to defeat the
signicantly stronger German and Japanese forces in World War
II, they would have to strategically align themselves with the strong
and resource-rich Americans. As historian, David Reynolds noted:
Anglo-American cooperation grew out of a sense of shared threat
and mutual need. For Britain after the fall of France, American aid
was essential for survival, victory and a stable peace. For disarmed
America, the British Isles and its eet were initially the last bastion
against Hitler and later the essential base for liberating the continent
of Europe.
3
Debate regarding the Special Relationship between later histo-
rians such as Reynolds who saw an uneven association, and that
of British war leaders, most notably Churchill, who sought in
retrospect to dene a relationship in which Britain was a critical
and at least an equal partner throughout the war, continues to
this day. Reynolds however notes:
This concept of an Anglo-American special relationship was, how-
ever, a largely British invention. It never had the same currency in
Washington, let alone among the American public
4
213
THE CONCORD REVIEW
b) Research Question, Historiography and Thesis
This paper examines the question to what extent did one
nation dominate the other in the Special Relationship between
the United States and the United Kingdom in the Second World
War? In choosing the word dominance as a basis for assessing
the relationship, one must focus on the factors that contribute
to one partys ascendancy over the othernamely control over
resource allocation, leadership of military forces and ultimately
the formation of strategic decisions.
There has been signicant debate among historians about
which country prevailed in shaping the strategy and means of
victory. Winston Churchill, in his six-volume history of World
War II, extensively chronicles the relationship between the U.S.
and Britaincolouring it with rosy hues and little or no critical
view. His words have dened the relationship for many. However,
John Keegan in his book The Second World War suggests that the
war was a predominately American effort, while Martin Gilbert,
in his history Churchill and America, appears to have a view more
supportive of the British perspective of an equitable partnership.
Other scholars such as David Reynolds, in his book From World
War to Cold War: Churchill, Roosevelt and the International History of
the 1940s, note that the relationship was a marriage of necessity.
5
The perspective of this paper is that as the war progressed,
it became largely an American-dominated effort, even though
the British began as the foremost power. Although the United
States did not formally enter the war until the end of 1941, their
collaboration during these initial years strengthened the relation-
ship between the two countries and laid the foundations for the
defeat of Germany in 1945. However, American dominance of the
Special Relationship was solidied with the invasion of Normandy
in June 1944 and continued in increasing measure through to the
victorious end of the war.
214
Andrew Burton
II) 19391941
The close personal relationship between Prime Minister
Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt was the foun-
dation of the Anglo-American alliance.
6
This association began in
late 1939, at the beginning of World War II, when British Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain appointed Winston Churchill to the
war cabinet as the First Lord of the Admiralty. Chamberlain had a
poor relationship with Roosevelt at the time.
7
Animosity between
the leaders of these powerful nations was nothing new, as the bond
between David Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson in World War
I was not particularly close.
8
However, Roosevelt saw Churchill
as a leader who was prepared to ght and one who might actu-
ally bring his nation to military victory.
9
Roosevelt and Churchill
began a series of personal communications while Churchill was
a cabinet minister under Chamberlain. More than 1,700 letters
and telegrams passed between them before wars end.
10
The beginning of World War II was disastrous for Britain
and France. Although outnumbered, the German army quickly
overwhelmed Europe, moving toward total control of the continent.
By 1940, German leader Adolf Hitler had his eyes set on the United
Kingdom, one of the few remaining countries in Europe not under
German control. All Allied plans up to this point to stop Hitler,
whether on land, in the air or on the sea, had failed. Churchill was
desperate for support and looked to his warm-hearted friend
who at the time occupied the White House: Franklin Roosevelt.
11
Even though the U.S. had yet to enter the conict, the close
personal relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill resulted
in the provision of critical support by America to her ally.
12
This
bond culminated in two important policies drafted in 1940 and
1941 respectively that would dene the U.S.-British relationship for
the balance of the war: The Destroyers for Bases Agreement and
Lend-Lease. In fact, three of the turning points of the warthe
American decision to support Britain in the months before Pearl
Harbor, the victory over the Germans in North Africa, which kept
the Middle East out of German control, and the timing of the lib-
215
THE CONCORD REVIEW
eration of Western Europewere largely products of Roosevelts
and Churchills personal collaboration.
13
a) Destroyers for Bases Agreement
In past wars, Britains isolation as an island from mainland
Europe, and the Royal Navy, had made it, since 1066, exceedingly
difcult to invade herno one had done it. However, by 1940,
Churchills greatest fear was enemy action at sea.
14
Germany had
built up a submarine navy powerful enough to potentially strangle
the British Isles and was succeeding in signicantly reducing the
ow of food and materials to Britain.
15
The British eet was not
large or powerful enough to defeat the advanced German U-Boats
and conduct all of its other wartime duties.
16
For the rst time,
Churchill looked to America for tangible help. After a series of
negotiations with Roosevelt, on September 2, 1940, the Destroy-
ers for Bases Agreement was signed.
Under the agreement, the United States Navy would send
50 old mothballed destroyers to the Royal Navy in exchange for
military bases on a number of British colonies in the Americas.
17

This deal was seen in retrospect as being more advantageous to
the Americans. The destroyers were old, obsolete and required
extensive and expensive rets to make them useful.
18
The Brit-
ish had little choice but to accept what they considered grossly
unfair terms. This rather smacks of Russias demands on Finland,
John Colville, a private secretary to Churchill, wrote sourly in his
diary.
19
b) Lend-Lease
Although Roosevelt was reluctant to send troops to ght
the German armies, he agreed to send munitions to the Allies.
However, the price of American aid was high. All material was to be
paid for in hard currency on the date of purchase, which resulted
216
Andrew Burton
in various European countries (namely Belgium) lending money
to Britain.
20
By late-1940, Britain was essentially out of reserves.
21

Churchill was under intense political pressure from the British
people to defy Hitlers forces but understood that he did not have
the necessary resources to do so. He was heard to remark bitterly,
We have not had anything from the United States that we have
not paid for, and what we have had has not played an essential
part in our resistance.
22
After a series of discussions and letters that echoed the
correspondence for the Destroyers for Bases Agreement a year
earlier, Lend-Lease was signed into law on March 11, 1941. The
program, formally titled An Act to Further Promote the Defense
of the United States, detailed that for the duration of the war, the
U.S. would supply Britain and other Allied nations with materials.
The U.S.s enormous economy and large population (that was
not yet at war but working in the factories) resulted in the manu-
facture of materials at a rate that no other country could attain.
23

In addition, while sending cargo ships across the Atlantic Ocean
delivering materials to the British, the U.S. Navy would patrol
ocean waters with standing orders to shoot at any threatening
German U-Boats.
24
Their excuse was that they were not attacking
an enemy, but simply defending their own property.
25
By 1945, more than $50.1 billion worth of supplies were
shipped.
26
Britain was the primary beneciary, receiving $31.4
billion.
27
In return, the U.S. received $7.8 billion, $6.8 billion of
which was from Britain.
28
This policy came to be known as Reverse
Lend-Lease. For the duration of the agreement, the U.S. never
charged for aid that was supplied under this legislation.
29
c) Result
The facts examined suggest that both the Destroyers for
Bases Agreement and Lend-Lease were crucial in the develop-
ment of the later-dubbed Special Relationship between the U.S.
and the British in World War II and laterally in the assertion of
217
THE CONCORD REVIEW
American dominance on the world stage. The U.S. had yet to send
any soldiers to Europe, but both measures were many steps away
from the non-interventionist policy Roosevelt was maintaining
publically.
30
Although both acts clearly established an alliance,
the initial effectiveness of the policies themselves is debatable.
As noted, the destroyers were largely unseaworthy, the artillery
and small arms were obsolete and the aircraft deliveries small in
relation to the output of British factories.
31
It was only in 1942,
when Britain began receiving Sherman tanks and other technologi-
cally advanced weapons that Britains war effort was signicantly
enhanced.
32
The acts were more signicant in establishing the
U.S.-British connection (however much this was hyperbolized)
than in delivering war materials effectively in the early stages of
the war.
Prior to Lend-Lease, the United Kingdom was considered
the more politically dominant of the two nations due to its huge
empire and military strengthBritain still had the largest navy in
the world and the worlds largest empire.
33
However, Lend-Lease
signaled a changing of the guarda change in which America
overtook Britain as the worlds most powerful nation. This trans-
formation manifested itself more later during the ghting of the
great land battles of World War II. However, until late 1941, the
United States was not yet engaged in the war and Britain continued
the ght standing alone against Hitler.
III) 19421945
On December 7, 1941, a crucial event took place that
would change the course of the war and subsequently the US-
Britain relationship: Japans attack on Pearl Harbor. A day later,
Germany declared war on the United States. The second stage of
the war had begun as the U.S. formally entered the conict, and
began to mobilize its resources for total war.
218
Andrew Burton
a) Arcadia Conference
In the events leading up to the U.S. entrance into the war
and until 1944, America and Britain interacted largely as equals.
The U.S. had yet to directly engage the enemy; it was the British who
had been ghting on multiple fronts for over two years. Moreover,
in the early stages of 1942, the Americans were also waging war
on two frontsthe Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor enraged
U.S. ofcials and American citizens, and had ofcially started a
war on the other front: the Pacic. Immediately after Pearl Har-
bor, it was quite conceivable that the U.S. might turn its attention
primarily to the Japanesetop ranking U.S. military leaders such
as the Chief of Naval Staff, Ernest J. King, strongly advocated this
course of action.
34
While this essay only focuses on the ghting
in Europe and North Africa because both Britain and the U.S.
were involved in those battles, it is important to remember that
in the Far East, the U.S. waged another war against the Japanese
armies without signicant support from Britain, which lost Hong
Kong and Singapore to the Japanese. Although the elimination
of Germany was Roosevelts primary concern, Army Chief of Staff
General George C. Marshall wanted a quick, decisive victory so
that he could then focus the U.S. military efforts on Japan.
35
This
potential strategic difference emerged at the Arcadia Conference,
the rst conference between Churchill and Roosevelt where the
U.S. was formally part of the war effort.
36
It lasted from December
22, 1941 to January 14, 1942.
At Arcadia, Churchill proposed a Germany First strategy,
with which Roosevelt ultimately concurred. The Germany First
policy was singularly important to the British, and recognized
by the Americans as the key strategic thrust of the war.
37
As U.S.
Chief of Naval Operations, Harold Stark. remarked, If Britain
wins decisively against Germany, we could win everywhere; but
if she loses, the problem would be very great, and while we might
not lose everywhere, we might, possibly, not win anywhere.
38

Signicantly, the establishment of The Combined Chiefs of Staff
219
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Committee to direct the joint war effort was agreed uponwith its
headquarters in Washington, not London.
39
It was apparent even
in the dark post-Pearl-Harbor days that the balance of power was
shifting. French General Charles de Gaulle presciently remarked,
in this industrial war, nothing can resist the power of Ameri-
can industry. From now on, the British will do nothing without
Roosevelts agreement.
40
The two leaders views were different on when the inva-
sion of northwestern Europe would take place. Roosevelt wanted
an early invasion in 1942 for two reasons: rst, by eliminating
Germany, he would be given more time and resources to ght the
Japanese in the East; and second, he was being pressured by Stalin
in Soviet Russia to help them ght against the massive invasion
from Hitlers armies.
41
Churchill however, had strong views that an early invasion
of northwestern Europe would likely be a disaster.
42
Having fought
the Germans for two full years, he realized the desperate situation
in which the Allies found themselves.
43
In early 1942, Germany
had a fully mobilized military, more advanced weaponry and a
greater supply of materials.
44
Even with U.S. support in northwest
Europe, there was certainly no guarantee of victory.
By the end of the conference, the Allies had agreed broadly
on a plan to defeat Hitler. First, the decision was made to eliminate
Axis presence from North Africa, and to subsequently to do the
same in Sicily and in the rest of Italy.
45
This strategy was almost
entirely a British conception as the Americans had little interest
in that strategy, seeing it as dilutive to the primary objective of a
successful cross-channel invasion.
46
The timeframe agreed for these
two missions was two years.
47
Following successful campaigns that
would substantially weaken Germanys presence in Europe, the
Allies would invade northwest France and nally put an end to
Hitlers regime.
48
At this point, the British dominated the Special
Relationship, as British ofcials had largely developed the grand
plan for victory in Europe. It was not until 1944 with the invasion
of France that the U.S.s direct military (as opposed to industrial)
contribution to the war was supreme.
220
Andrew Burton
b) The North African Campaign
The Torch invasion in 1942 was the rst theatre in which
American ascendancy became apparent.
49
Although Roosevelt
had urged Churchill to pull his troops out of Africa and focus
instead on attacking Hitlers forces in northwest France, the U.S.
ultimately joined the mission which commenced on November
8, 1942. Churchills goal was to drive the German forces out of
Africa before attacking Germany on the Western Front.
50
The
offensive was divided into two: Operation Torch (fought primar-
ily by the Americans in Morocco and Algeria) and the Western
Desert Campaign (fought primarily by the British in Egypt and
Libya).
51
After conquering their respective areas, the two forces
would combine at Tunisia, eliminating the Axis presence in North
Africa.
52
Operation Torch was the rst opportunity in the European
theatre for America to deploy army formation in combat. At this
point in the African Campaign, the British had largely retreated
to their last line of defense in Egypt at El Alamein, having expe-
rienced great difculties with the Afrika Korps.
53
A fresh supply
of American soldiers, tanks, and artillery was needed to help the
campaign succeed and contain Hitlers expansion. The number
of men taking part in this offensive totaled 92,000.
54
With the
exception of the Eastern Task Force, the men serving in this
campaign were primarily American, using American weapons.
55

From November 816, 1942, the American-led force was able to
move through Morocco and Algeria and defeat the Axis troops
stationed there. The supreme commander of Torch was General
Dwight D. Eisenhower assisted by General George S. Patton, both
American.
Although it was evident that the U.S. had rm leadership
of forces in Morocco and Algeria, the Western Desert Campaign
being fought on the other side of the continent was both led and
fought effectively by the British under General Bernard L. Mont-
gomery.
56
However, the U.S. did make some signicant contribu-
221
THE CONCORD REVIEW
tions to his campaign. Nearly all of the tanks used in this conict
were U.S.-built Sherman Tanks and the British employed various
models of American Browning .50-caliber heavy machine guns.
57

The reinvigorated British army earned a conclusive victory at the
battle of El Alamein in November 1942.
58
After the two decisive victories in North Africa, the British
and American forces met at Tunisia and nally eliminated all Axis
presence in Africa. The Allies then shifted their focus to Sicily and
to all Italy. Although the Allies suffered well over 200,000 casual-
ties, enemy loses were staggering: 620,000 men died and even
more were taken as prisoners of war.
59
While it was evident that the
Axis armies, for the most part, had superior soldiers, generals and
equipment, they lacked the manpower the U.S. provided to the
Allied forces.
60
If the British had been without American support,
the North African Campaign might have born the same result as
the rst three years of the ght prior to American involvement:
a near stalemate. However, with the addition of a large number
of American soldiers, munitions and equipment, the Allies were
able to overcome the Axisthe U.S. Army from the west and the
British Army from the east.
c) Operation Overlord
The ultimate demonstration of the U.S. ascendancy in
the Allied relationship came on June 6, 1944 with the invasion
of Normandy, or Operation Overlord. This important campaign
nally and rmly established American strategic domination.
The vast majority of all weapons and tanks used by both
the British and the Americans in the campaign were American
made in large quantities. Remarkably, by 1944, the U.S. was manu-
facturing 40 percent of the worlds armaments.
61
Moreover, the
U.S.s supremacy was evident in the leadership positions of U.S.
ofcials relative to their British counterparts. For the offensive,
American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named Supreme Al-
lied Commander, a clear sign which nation would be controlling
222
Andrew Burton
the conict.
62
All British forces reported to Eisenhower, a symbol
of the clear dominance demonstrated by the U.S. and the shifting
balance of power. In the actual ghting, American General Omar
Bradley commanded four armies of American soldiers while Brit-
ish General Bernard Montgomery controlled two: one British and
one Canadian.
63
Further, 73,000 American troops were initially
deployed on the beaches in comparison to 61,715 British troops
(of which approximately one-third were Canadian).
64
The battle the
Americans fought on Omaha Beach was one of the more difcult
encounters with the Axis forces. More than 3,000 casualties were
suffered on Omaha Beach alone, and when combined with the
men lost on Utah Beach, the casualty rate of the American soldiers
was nearly three times as high as their British counterparts.
65
American sway over military strategy grew progressively
subsequent to the breakout from Normandy. By early 1945, U.S.
Army forces in the European theatre amounted to 3.1 million per-
sonnel as compared to 1.1 million British and Canadian forces.
66

By this time, economically, the U.S. was a clear powerhouse; it
supplied 29 percent of British military equipment used in Europe
and 29 percent of the U.K.s food consumption.
67
d) Further Means of Victory
Strategically, the British were adamantly opposed to Op-
eration Dragoonthe August 1944 invasion of Southern France
by U.S. forces drawn from the Italian theatre.
68
U.S. policymak-
ers, however, continued to see Italy as a sideshow and wanted all
available forces committed to the defeat of Germany in Northwest
Europe.
69
Moreover, the British grand design for a concentrated
thrust of all armies (under Montgomery) north through the Ruhr
to Berlin was rejected.
70
Eisenhower would not agree to such a
plan and instead forced the broad front strategy along most of
Germanys western border.
71
In addition, he refused to attempt
to take Berlin, despite Churchills exhortations to do so.
72
Clearly,
U.S. policy and interests were paramount in all major strategic
decisions following D-Day.
223
THE CONCORD REVIEW
As the war in Europe moved rapidly to conclusion, a
conference among the three alliesEngland, the United States
and Soviet Russiawas held at Yalta to determine post war Eu-
ropes future. Yalta marked publically the growing rift between
the U.S. and the U.K. when serious disagreement between
Churchill and Roosevelt over the future of Poland was evi-
dentRoosevelt compromised with Stalin over Polands borders
and the requirement for free elections.
73
Churchill had been
adamantly opposed to the Russian position but was excluded by
Roosevelt from the discussions. Churchill wrote to his Foreign
Secretary,
The facts of what happened at Yalta should be disclosed, namely that
arrangements were made between the President and Stalin direct.
We were only informed of them at our party luncheon, when all had
been already agreed, and we had no part in making them.
74
IV) Conclusion
Relationships are almost never equal. Whether it is a friend-
ship between two people or an important political alliance, one
party will usually carry more weight. The relationship between
Britain and the United States during World War II was no differ-
ent. At best, the relationship was one of enlightened self-interest.
Britain knew that she might not lose the war but also could not
win it without the United States.
75
Churchill recognized this fact.
Roosevelt needed Britain as a base for future operations against
Germany. It is noteworthy, however, to observe how the relation-
ship and power dynamics evolved.
Prior to the U.S.s entry into the conict, the British were
the dominant player. It was Britain who fought alone for over a
year and it was British military forces that were actively engaged
in ghting around the world. Britain drove the strategic thrust of
Europe First and convinced the reluctant Americans to invade
Northwest Africa and Italy. After the U.S. entered the war, the
balance of power began to shift, but it was not until 1944 that a
combination of material support and superior manpower contri-
224
Andrew Burton
butions by the U.S. resulted in its dominant leadership role. As
Conrad Black has noted:
For his part, Churchill may have resented the steady accretion of
comparative and absolute American power, pro and part American
though he was. The rise of America, though it brought salvation, also
brought the relative marginalization of Britain since the great days
of 1940 and 1941, when Winston Churchill and his people held the
key to the worlds future.
76
Less apparent but highly important is the degree to which Britain
(largely through Churchills force of character) continued to
shape policy and strategy through the end of the war. One could
argue that Britain drove the ultimate winning strategy and had
sway over the alliance for over four years until the invasion of
northwest Europe. Certainly in terms of length of time driving
policy, the British were the preeminent partner. Few can argue
that if Britain had not chosen to stand alone and ght Germany
despite terrible initial hardships, the outcome of the war would
have been much different. From where would the U.S. have at-
tacked Germany without England? The U.S. clearly dominated in
the last year of the war and thereafter, the most critical time in the
determination of post-war institutions and territorial decisions.
Shortly after the war ended, it became even more evident
that the U.S. was the more powerful partner in the increasingly
unharmonious relationship. Lend-Lease was abruptly cancelled in
1945, without informing the British beforehand.
77
In order to help
the various European countries that had been savaged as a result
of six years of ghting, the U.S. instituted the Marshall Plan.
78
The
plan was designed to give monetary relief to countries destroyed
by war, including Britain. Post-war, the only country that could
afford such a massive relief program was the United States.
79
The relationship that Winston Churchill described was
certainly special, but by 1944, it was not equal. The Americans
became the supreme partner, paving the way for the leadership
position they still enjoy today.
225
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Brought together by the crisis of 1940, Britain and America entered
into a unique alliance, but one in which the United States was clearly
the dominant partner by the last year of the war. In 19451946, how-
ever, the partnership disintegrated in many areasand relations were
never again as close or as equal.
80
226
Andrew Burton

1
Winston Churchill and Winston S. Churchill, Never Give
In!: The Best of Winston Churchills Speeches (New York:
Hyperion, 2003) p. 350
2
Francis L. Loewenheim, Harold D. Langley, Manfred
Jonas, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Roosevelt and
Churchill, Their Secret Wartime Correspondence (New York:
Saturday Review, 1975) p. 3
3
David Reynolds, From World War to Cold War: Churchill,
Roosevelt, and the International History of the 1940s (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2006) p. 69
4
Ibid., p. 65
5
Ibid., p. 68
6
Loewenheim, et al., p. 3
7
Max Hastings, Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940
1945 (London: HarperPress, 2009) p. 18
8
9
Jon Meacham, Franklin and Winston: An Intimate
Portrait of an Epic Friendship (New York: Random House,
2003) p. 66
10
11
Reynolds, p. 49
12
13
Meacham, p. xvi
14
John Keegan, The Second World War (New York: Viking,
1990) p. 104
15
Max Hastings, All Hell Let Loose: The World at War
19391945 (London: HarperPress, 2011) p. 273
16
Ibid., p. 269
17
Andrew Roberts, The Storm of War: A New History of the
Second World War (New York: Harper, 2011) p. 130
18
Hastings, Finest Years, p. 172
19
Lynne Olson, Citizens of London: The Americans Who
Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour (New York:
Random House, 2010) p. 7
20
21
Ibid., p. 173
22
Andrew Roberts, Masters and Commanders: How Four
Titans Won the War in the West, 19411945 (New York: Harper,
2009) p. 45
23
Keegan. p. 219
24
Reynolds. p. 54
227
THE CONCORD REVIEW
25
Conrad Black, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of
Freedom (New York: Public Affairs, 2003) p. 666
26
Leo T. Crowley, Lend Lease, 10 Eventful Years
(Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1947) p. 858
27
Ibid., p. 858
28
Ibid., p. 859
29
Ibid., p. 859
30
Black, p. 656
31
Keegan, p. 104
32
33
Reynolds, p. 315
34
Roberts, Masters and Commanders, p. 139
35
Keegan, p. 312
36
World War II: The Postwar World, About.com Military
History (10 July 2012) <http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/
worldwarii/a/wwiipost.htm>
37
38
Ibid., p. 45
39
Chapter VI: Organizing the High Command for World
War II, Chapter VI: Organizing the High Command for World
War II (10 July 2012) <http://www.history.army.mil/books/
wwii/WCP/ChapterVI.htm>
40
41
42
43
Keegan, p. 316
44
45
Martin Gilbert, The Second World War: A Complete
History (New York: H. Holt, 1989) p. 247
46
Reynolds, p. 56
47
48
Ibid., p. 68
49
Reynolds, p. 57
50
Keegan, p. 317
51
Gordon Corrigan, The Second World War: A Military
History (New York: Thomas Dunne/St. Martins, 2011) p. 285
52
Ibid., p. 285
53
Hastings, All Hell Let Loose, p. 138
54
Corrigan, p. 297
55
Ibid., p. 297
56
North African Campaign, North African Campaign (09
July 2012) <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1727.html>
57
Keegan, p. 331
228
Andrew Burton
58
North African Campaign
59
Military Operations in North Africa, Military
Operations in North Africa (11 July 2012) <http://www.
ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007301>
60
61
Keegan, p. 219
62
Spartacus Educational, Spartacus Educational (9 July
2012) <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWdday.htm>
63
The Leaders of D-Day, The Leaders of D-Day (9 July
2012) <http://www.military.com/forums/0,15240,137800,00.
html>
64
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy: Your Questions
Answered, GuidedTours (11 July 2012) <http://www.
ddaymuseum.co.uk/d-day/d-day-and-the-battle-of-normandy-
your-questions-answered>
65
Ibid.
66
Forrest C. Pogue, The Supreme Command (Washington,
D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1996) p. 542
67
Keegan, p. 218
68
69
Ibid., p. 495
70
Keegan, p. 436
71
Ibid., p. 436
72
Martin Gilbert, Churchill and America (New York: Free,
2005) p. 337
73
Ibid., p. 334
74
Gilbert, The Second World War, p. 336
75
76
Black, p. 1085
77
Ibid., p. 994
78
Reynolds, p. 273
79
Keegan, p. 219
80
Reynolds, p. 313
229
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Bibliography
Black, Conrad, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of
Freedom New York: Public Affairs, 2003
Chapter VI: Organizing the High Command for World War
II, Chapter VI: Organizing the High Command for World War
II 10 July 2012, <http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/
WCP/ChapterVI.htm>
Churchill, Winston, and Winston S. Churchill, Never Give
In!: The Best of Winston Churchills Speeches New York:
Hyperion, 2003
Corrigan, Gordon, The Second World War: A Military
History New York: Thomas Dunne /St. Martins, 2011
Crowley, Leo T., Lend Lease, 10 Eventful Years Chicago:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1947
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy: Your Questions
Answered, GuidedTours 11 July 2012 <http://www.
ddaymuseum.co.uk/d-day/d-day-and-the-battle-of-normandy-
your-questions-answered>
Gilbert, Martin, Churchill and America New York: Free,
2005
Gilbert, Martin, The Second World War: A Complete
History New York: H. Holt, 1989
Hastings, Max, All Hell Let Loose: The World at War
19391945 London: HarperPress, 2011
Hastings, Max, Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 19401945
London: HarperPress, 2009
Keegan, John, The Second World War New York: Viking,
1990
The Leaders of D-Day, The Leaders of D-Day 9 July 2012,
<http://www.military.eom/forums/0,15240,137800,00.html>
230
Andrew Burton
Loewenheim, Francis L., Harold D. Langley, Manfred
Jonas, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Roosevelt and
Churchill, Their Secret Wartime Correspondence New York:
Saturday Review, 1975
Meacham, Jon, Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait
of an Epic Friendship New York: Random House, 2003
Military Operations in North Africa, Military Operations
in North Africa 11 July 2012, <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/
en/article.php?ModuleId=10007301>
North African Campaign, North African Campaign 9 July
2012, <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1727.html>
Olson, Lynne, Citizens of London: The Americans Who
Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour New York:
Random House, 2010
Pogue, Forrest C., The Supreme Command Washington,
D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1996
Reynolds, David, From World War to Cold War: Churchill,
Roosevelt, and the International History of the 1940s Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2006
Roberts, Andrew, Masters and Commanders: How Four
Titans Won the War in the West, 19411945 New York: Harper,
2009
Roberts, Andrew, The Storm of War: A New History of the
Second World War New York: Harper, 2011
Spartacus Educational, Spartacus Educational 9 July 2012,
<http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWdday.htm>
World War II: The Postwar World. About.com Military
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231
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Edyt Dickstein is a Senior at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in
Livingston, New Jersey, where she wrote this paper supervised by Professor
Edward S. Shapiro in the 2011/2012 academic year.
CONDITIONS FOR DEMOCRACY:
LESSONS FROM THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Edyt Dickstein
The American colonists not only won a surprising vic-
tory over the British during the Revolution, but they also created
a strikingly stable, peaceful, and democratic society.
1
There were
no mass reprisals, reigns of terror, or seizures of power by individu-
als or small groups which have characterized other revolutions
and civil wars. Rather, there was an orderly shift in power and
the development of a representative government. Though the
American Revolution was not without its violent aspects, such as the
tar-and-feathering of English supporters, mob aggression toward
political authority, and the subsequent forced exodus of many
Loyalists, when compared to other revolutions the moderation of
the American Revolution is remarkable. What can comparative
history teach other countries currently experiencing their own
revolutions in order to learn from the American example?
Five major factors were critical for the colonists unique
achievements. First, the leadership of a number of educated and
experienced leaders was instrumental in guiding the revolt and
maintaining its grounding in law and moderation. Second, the
cohesiveness and mobility within colonial society minimized sectar-
232 Edyt Dickstein
ian tensions and class conict. Third, unity was further enhanced
by the fact that the government against which the Patriots were
ghting was a foreign entity. Fourth, extensive institutions such as
a well-dened legal system, representative local government, and
a free and vigorous press, contributed to the stability of colonial
society throughout the war and ensured the liberty of the colo-
nists both during and after the American Revolution. Finally, the
unique ideals of the Revolution, which prompted a revolt in the
name of law and not on behalf of social change, played a signicant
role, as the leaders sought only to change the principles by which
the government operated. It was these ve factors that led to the
stability and maintenance of democracy throughout the war for
independence and in the immediate aftermath. Conversely, the
absence of these factors contributed to the ultimate failure of other
popular struggles such as the French and Russian revolutions.
The rst major factor leading to the success of the Ameri-
can Revolution was the quality of the colonial leadership. They
were impressive men, a cohort of individuals that has rarely, if
ever, been replicated, and their qualications, personalities, and
ideals uniquely positioned them to lead a successful revolution.
One important aspect of the Founding Fathers was their educa-
tional background. Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of
Independence, 33 held college degrees at a time when relatively
few people attended a university.
2
By 1776, colonial America had
only approximately 3,000 college graduates throughout the en-
tire country.
3
Sixty percent of the signers of the Declaration had
college degrees when less than 1 percent of the total population
did.
4

Moreover, the leaders shared similar interests and elds
of expertise that lent itself to forming a stable democracy. Almost
40 percent of the signers of the Declaration were lawyers.
5
In a
speech to the British Parliament in 1775, statesman Edmund Burke
explained the signicance of this phenomenon:
In no country perhaps in the world is the law so general a study. The
profession itself is numerous and powerful; and in most provinces
it takes the leadthis study [of law] renders [these] men acute,
233
THE CONCORD REVIEW
inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defense, and full
of resources.
6
The presence of such a large number who had studied jurispru-
dence helped ensure that the American Revolution would proceed
primarily in accordance with the law. Many of the Founding Fathers
also had political experience and had played major roles in lead-
ing the colonists.
7
For example, James Otis, a young revolutionist
famous for arguing against the British writs of assistance, was a
member of the Massachusetts General Court, the colonial assembly,
and the Massachusetts Court of Appeals. Benjamin Franklin had
been a councilman of the Philadelphia City Council, was a justice
of the peace, and later was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly.
8

Samuel Adams, one of the most radical of the Patriots, had been
a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, a fre-
quent participant in the Boston town meetings, and the writer of
the Massachusetts Circular Letter responding to the Townshend
Acts.
9
Some historians have argued that the gatherings of the
Founding Fathers included more men with political experience
and acute insight into human behavior than did any other politi-
cal gathering in history.
10

In addition to the leaders educational background and
experience in law and politics, their social background also played
a role in maintaining stability and order throughout the Revolution
and its aftermath. Most of the leaders were white collar profession-
als such as doctors and lawyers.
11
Additionally, 81 of the 99 men
who signed the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution
were the rst members of their families to obtain a higher educa-
tion, and consequently, valued social mobility and other benets
of education.
12
This was an ideal background for leadership in
the Revolution. On one hand, since they were not marginal
members of society, they felt no need to fundamentally change
its structures. On the other hand, since their accomplishments
were due to their own efforts, their position was not resented by
other members of society. Many of the Founding Fathers scorned
the idea of hereditary nobility. Thomas Jefferson, for instance,
explained that in order to establish the natural equality of man,
234 Edyt Dickstein
a quality he and his fellow Patriots felt was vital for maintaining a
stable society, there must exist the denial of every preeminence
but that annexed to legal ofce, and particularly the denial of a
preeminence by birth.
13
The lack of an aristocracy in America
meant that the leaders were self-made men and therefore were
respected by their fellow citizens.
Beyond their educational, political, and social backgrounds,
the American leaders approach to the nature and tenor of debate
was vital. They believed in carefully deliberating and planning
before acting, often debating for weeks before coming to a deci-
sion. John Adams emphasized the importance of careful thought
among the revolutionaries:
The means and measures [of the American Revolution] may teach
mankind that revolutions are no tries; that they ought never to be
undertaken rashly; nor without deliberate consideration and sober
reection; nor without a solid immutable, eternal foundation of justice
or humanity; nor without a people possessed of intelligence, fortitude
and integrity sufcient to carry them with steadiness, patience, and
perseverance, through all the vicissitudes of fortune, the ery trials
and melancholy disasters they may have to encounter.
14
Acting under such a belief, during the Continental Congresses of
1774 and 1775, delegates left their homes and families for weeks,
debating through the summer heat of Philadelphia. Not only
did the Patriots think carefully about their own ideas, but they
respected the opinions of their opponents and viewed them as
demanding careful refutation. This attitude is manifested in the
records of the Continental Congress, in which delegates were rst
heard in support of and then in opposition to a potential course
of action before a decision was reached.
15
Similarly, before pub-
lishing a second edition of his pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas
Paine waited so that he could address the arguments of his crit-
ics.
16
Such willingness to consider an array of opinions precluded
rash action. But even more importantly, the Patriots tolerance for
competing ideas manifested itself in their policies.
The leading colonists consistently worried that political
repression would curtail free speech, and they refused to rely on
force to gain support. One of the actions of King George III that
235
THE CONCORD REVIEW
the Patriots found particularly disquieting was his insistence on
maintaining an army in the colonies during a time of peace. The
colonists felt great animosity toward the soldiers who were inter-
spersed throughout their cities and who even lived in their homes
as a result of the Quartering Act. They feared that a peacetime
standing army, and in particular, one controlled by the executive
power, could be used as an instrument of intimidation. Accord-
ingly, various state constitutions proscribed the maintenance of a
standing army. For example Pennsylvanias Constitution declared
that as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to
liberty, they ought not be kept up; and that the military should
be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil
power.
17
This tolerance for competing ideas led to the Patriots
willingness to share power with those who possessed differing
strategies and priorities. This is evident in George Washingtons
decision to step down from power as Commander-in-Chief after
the war ended, surrendering his sword to Congress in December
of 1783, and his later decision to retire from the presidency after
two terms, a move which his successors imitated for a century and
a half. In a letter to Washington in 1784, Jefferson noted, The
moderation and virtue of a single character has probably prevented
the Revolution from being closed as most others have been by a
subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish.
18
The background and experience of the Founding Fathers
differed sharply from those of the instigators of the French and
Russian revolutions. To begin, many of their leaders had limited
experience in law. In France, while Robespierre himself had
legal training and had been both a lawyer and an essayist, many
other French revolutionary leaders came out of the sans-culotte,
uneducated working class, and gained positions on assembles
and in other governmental institutions.
19
There were members
of the National Assembly who had done some studies in law, but,
as Edmund Burke pointed out,
It was composed, not of distinguished magistrates, who had given
pledges to their country of their science, prudence, and integrity; not
236 Edyt Dickstein
of leading advocates, the glory of the bar; not of renowned profes-
sors in universities; but for the far greater part, as it must in such a
number, of the inferior, unlearned, mechanical, merely instrumental
members of the profession. There were distinguished exceptions,
but the general composition was of obscure provincial advocates, of
stewards of petty local jurisdictions, country attorneys, notaries, and
the whole train of the ministers of municipal litigation, the fomenters
and conductors of the petty war of village vexation.
20
As such, legal procedure often was utterly neglected; for example,
on one occasion in France, a convoy of prisoners was stopped and
17 of them were hacked to death. In an even more extreme case,
within ve days, the French revolutionaries butchered more than
1,000 Parisian prisoners in a similar manner.
21
A similar pattern
is evident in the Russian Revolution. Neither Trotsky nor Stalin
received any higher education, and although Lenin obtained a
degree abroad, he never practiced law.
22
And, as in the French
Revolution, legal niceties were ignored as the leaders of the Rus-
sian Revolution employed terrorism and assassination as means
of achieving their goals.
23
Additionally, while these leaders were able to effectively
empathize with and appeal to the masses, they had little knowledge
of or experience in how to run a country.
24
Robespierre himself
had only begun to become involved in politics in 1788, immediately
before the revolution, and thus had no practical experience on
which he could base his decisions.
25
Indeed, no member of the
National Assembly had been a member of the government prior
to the French Revolution, as Frances States-General, or Parlia-
ment, had not been called into session for 175 years.
26
Even once
the Jacobins lost control, power was afforded to inexperienced
individuals; none of the ve members of the initial Directory had
any background in policymaking prior to their appointments.
27

Similarly in Russia, none of the revolutionaries had experience
with political leadership, and when they had attempted to organize
politically prior to the Russian Revolution, they were arrested.
28
More importantly, leaders in other nations were not nearly
as tolerant of dissenting opinions. Even within the inner circle,
members often kept silent when they disagreed with a sugges-
237
THE CONCORD REVIEW
tion, preferring to follow the group rather than voice their own
ideas.
29
Certainly they had good reason to withhold their opinions,
as those who disagreed were often ousted from leadership, and
often killed. Such a phenomenon was evident during the French
Revolution in 1793, when the Commune of Paris arrested or killed
many Girondist leaders.
30
Similarly, in Russia, thousands of sailors
who had supported the Bolsheviks were shot for protesting the
dominion of the Communist party at Kronstadt.
31
Afterwards,
Lenin proclaimed, The time has come to put an end to opposi-
tion.
32
And later, under Stalin, many former Communist leaders
were brought to trial and put to death.
33
Beyond the qualities of its leadership, a second major
factor in the success of the American Revolution was the unied
nature of American society. The unique social cohesion of the
American colonies played an essential role in preventing the
Revolution from becoming a class-based conict, enabling the
American people to stand together based on shared ideals. This
is not to say that colonial society was monolithic; on the contrary,
diversity categorized early America. From a religious perspective,
there were so many diverse strains of faith that the colonies were
an ecclesiastical patchwork.
34
From an ethnic perspective, dur-
ing the late 17th and early 18th centuries, immigrants arrived not
only from England, but also from Scotland, Ireland, Germany,
Holland, and France.
35
However, the very heterogeneity of the
colonies turned out to be a source of strength. The lack of a single,
dominant class or religion led to a broad sense of equality and
tolerance as well as the recognition that they must respect others
rights in order to secure their own. Unlike many European societ-
ies, America lacked both an aristocracy and a dened separation
between the wealthy and the less fortunate.
36
Similarly, American
society did not have a state-sponsored, dominant religion.
37
This
caused the colonists to have few ingrained hostilities toward any
other groups or classes of their fellow Americans, signicantly
reducing the likelihood that the Revolution would bring about
tensions between different classes or ethnic groups.
238 Edyt Dickstein
Social mobility also played a part in maintaining the
moderation of the Revolution, as people welcomed the benets
offered by their society. At the time, there was no permanent white
labor class or feudal system, and individuals could enter any oc-
cupation they desired.
38
The colonists therefore primarily wished
to maintain societys customs and institutions. One prominent
gure that capitalized on the benets of the mobility of American
colonial society was Benjamin Franklin. Born into a working-class
Boston family, Franklin acquired only a limited formal education
before he left home at the age of 17, hoping to become a printer
in Philadelphia. Franklin achieved great success, becoming a fa-
mous printer, inventor, scientist, and politician, and played a vital
role in the American Revolution. In his autobiography, Franklin
touted the varied possibilities America offered to individuals who
wished to improve their situation, arguing that with similar effort,
his fellow Americans could also achieve economic and social suc-
cess.
39
Countries such as Russia and France did not have nearly
the same level of social cohesion and mobility. Many of them had
rigid class structures, with well-dened groups such as the nobility,
clergy, bourgeoisie, and peasants. These hardened class systems
served to foment hostilities and tensions among the various groups
which made harmony impossible.
40
For example, 18th century
French society was organized into three mutually hostile estates:
the clergy, the nobility, and the remaining Frenchmen.
41
Similarly,
in Russia, there were sharply dened classes of people; even the
rural inhabitants were divided between those who worked the land
as serfs and those who owned it, and the two never intermarried
or merged.
42
Moreover, Lenin and his party actively embraced the
Marxist idea of class struggle and denounced those who supported
class cooperation.
43
The revolutions in these two countries were
marked by class animosity and violence which destroyed much of
the upper class as well as many social institutions, leaving mayhem
and destruction in their wake.
44
In addition to the natural cohesiveness of colonial society,
the Americans also beneted from the fact that their war was
239
THE CONCORD REVIEW
fought against a foreign power, rather than being an internal
struggle, an aspect that further contributed to the unity of society.
Having an external, common enemy enabled the Americans to
coalesce together against a specic, easily-recognized outsider.
45

The perception that only by joining together would they triumph
further united the Americans. This concept is exemplied in the
famous Join or Die cartoon by Benjamin Franklin, in which a
snake is split into pieces, each symbolizing a colony, which can
only become viable if they merge into one.
46
Moreover, having
a unied, formal army also limited the potential disruption and
violence of the Revolution.
47
Not only did it enable battles to
proceed in a planned, regimented manner, but, critically, it also
allowed the Americans who were not ghting, including women
and children, to be able to go about their daily lives without wor-
rying about defending themselves against unruly mobs.
Those colonists who disagreed with the Patriots viewpoint
did not vie with the rebels for inuence in America, choosing in-
stead to rely on the British government to assert its power. Some
of the Loyalists who disagreed with the rebels left America, mov-
ing to Canada or sailing to England. And those who remained
in the colonies simply kept quiet about their political views and
were therefore indiscernible from their neighbors, posing no real
threat to the rebels ability to gain support for the Revolution.
48

From the onset of the war, they made little effort to wrest control
of local politics from the rebels, and instead primarily acted as
observers in the war or remained on the fence.
49
This dynamic was very different from the revolutions that
occurred in other countries, where the reigning government was
not a foreign power but rather a domestic social class, a situation
which naturally led both to a lack of unity and a disruption of civil
order. In these countries, various groups arose and contended with
one another, using multiple militias and vigilantes in attempts to
seize control. Resultant violence can be seen in incidents such as
the famed storming of the Bastille in France in July 1789, which
was not performed by a disciplined force, but by an unruly mob
seeking additional weaponry.
50
Such ghting continued in France,
240 Edyt Dickstein
as men armed themselves against each other, stealing food and
valuables, burning property, and attacking their countrymen
for belonging to opposing political parties or social classes.
51
In
Russia, similar phenomena occurred, as on days such as Bloody
Sunday during the Revolution of 1905, when thousands took to
the streets, burning houses, attacking bystanders, and storming
the city.
52
In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, civil
war persisted in the country for another several years as various
political sects contended with the Bolsheviks until the Red Army
gained full control and established a Communist dictatorship.
53
In addition to the advantages conferred by the foreign
nature of its enemy, the cohesiveness and mobility of its social
structure, and the quality of its leaders, colonial America also greatly
beneted from a number of key institutions. These included courts,
local governments, and a free and active press. The existence of
these establishments throughout the war was vital in preserving
a sense of continuity in the colonies and in providing a political
framework after the war. Moreover, they ensured that the rights
of the colonists would be respected by the revolutionaries.
Signicant among these institutions was the local court
system. Respect for the courts continued during the Revolution,
and defendants hostile to the Patriot cause were nevertheless
judged fairly. The Patriots never conducted a mass murder, nor
did they turn to capital punishment. Indeed, cities such as Boston
conducted no executions during the entire revolutionary period
of 17761783.
54
A prime example of the salient role of the legal
system can be seen in the trial of British soldiers who red into a
crowd of civilians in March 1770, killing ve people in what became
known as the Boston Massacre. The soldiers maintained that they
had merely been acting in self-defense, and were defended in court
by two of the leading Patriots of the day, John Adams and Josiah
Quincy. Though these two lawyers recognized that many of their
fellow Patriots despised the soldiers, Adams and Quincy believed
it was important that they have a fair trial and that freedom for
the colonies could never come at the price of the rule of law.
55
In
his autobiography, John Adams explained,
241
THE CONCORD REVIEW
If the Soldiers in self defense should kill any of the [Colonists] they
must be tried, and if Truth was respected and the Law prevailed must
be acquitted. To depend upon the perversion of Law and the Corrup-
tion or partiality of juries, would insensibly disgrace the jurisprudence
of the Country and corrupt the Morals of the People.
56
Ultimately, the commanding ofcer and six of the soldiers were
acquitted, and the two who were convicted of manslaughter were
given reduced sentences.
57
Respect for the rights of individuals under the rule of law is
further evident in the situation of John Dickinson, a Pennsylvania
statesman who refused to support colonial self-government and
sign the Declaration of Independence.
58
Dickinson was a leading
gure among politicians of the day, a clear target of supporters
of the Declaration.
59
Yet his life was never in danger, nor was he
physically attacked, but instead merely lost political support.
60
While hostile actions were occasionally taken against those
who refused to support the Patriots, these were generally not ini-
tiated by those in political control. While a number of Loyalists
were threatened and even attacked by unruly mobs that looted
their homes, tarred-and-feathered them, and burned them in
efgy, these actions were limited in number and did little perma-
nent physical harm to their victims. Although around 10 percent
of Loyalists ed throughout the war to easily-accessible Canada,
or even to England, most remained, suggesting that they felt
relatively secure in America.
61
This security was enhanced by the
Patriot leaders themselves, who condemned aggression. The pam-
phleteer Thomas Paine, for instance, argued vehemently against
mob violence and the practice of tar-and-feathering.
62
Likewise,
many of the average Americans held the law in high esteem, and
disapproved of vigilante-style aggression. As Alexis de Tocqueville
observed a few decades later when studying the unique political
and societal systems of America,
In the United States, then, that numerous and turbulent multitude
does not exist, who, regarding the law as their natural enemy, look
upon it with fear and distrust. It is impossible, on the contrary, not to
perceive that all classes display the utmost reliance upon the legislation
of their country, and are attached to it by a kind of parental affection.
242 Edyt Dickstein
Thus, the respect for the law that the Patriots instilled endured
throughout the American Revolution and well into the next century.
Even after the Declaration of Independence, when some
Loyalists arguably could be perceived as traitors to the new coun-
try, most faced only nes or brief periods of time in jail.
63
Once
the war concluded, American law respected the Loyalists rights.
In the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, the Patriots agreed
to return conscated Loyalist property and estates, and outlawed
taking legal action against any individual because of his stance
during the war.
64
This can be clearly contrasted to the dynamics in countries
such as France and Russia, in which people who disagreed with the
revolt or its leaders were perceived as having committed a punish-
able transgression.
65
As a result, there emerged a culture of spying,
treachery, and deceit. Those who were found to have engaged in
anti-revolutionary acts, or even discussions, were punished. For
instance, in Frances massacres of September 1792, more than
1,000 counter-revolutionaries in Paris were arrested and killed
by revolutionary volunteers.
66
Even more infamous is the Reign
of Terror, in which Robespierre and the Committees of General
Security and Public Safety arrested and executed those whom
they believed did not support the revolutionary ideals.
67
During
this time, roughly 40,000 people lost their lives.
68
Still worse, in
Russia in 1919, the Red Terror campaign was launched, and
hundreds of purported class enemies were summarily arrested
and murdered by the Cheka, the state police.
69
The Russian news-
paper pronounced, Without mercy, without sparing, we will kill
our enemies by the scores of hundreds, let them be thousands,
let them drown in their own blood.
70
By 1923, there were 315
concentration camps in Russia with a total of 70,000 inmates, and
tens of thousands of others lay dead.
71
A second set of institutions that played an important role
in the success of the Revolution were the representative local and
state legislatures. Unlike other pre-revolutionary societies such as
France and Russia, in which the franchise was restricted, in America
almost every man could participate in the local government.
72
Many
243
THE CONCORD REVIEW
colonists were therefore accustomed to playing a role in politics
and appreciated having their voices heard, and were angry when
the British attempted to restrict their access to meetings under
policies such as the Coercive Acts of 1774.
73
In fact, the American
Revolution started in local political gatherings where changes in
governmental procedure were demanded. The positive experience
of the colonists with local representative government led naturally
to the desire to implement a similar system on a national scale in
the aftermath of the Revolution.
The existence of local representative bodies also meant that
the Patriots did not have to create an underground establishment
for the revolt. Since the Patriots were leading gures in colonial
politics, the government gures and the rebellious leadership
were one and the same. This enabled the leaders of the Revolu-
tion to conduct a fairly orderly revolt, and facilitated a smooth
transition to the post-revolutionary era. Having control over the
political system prior to the onset of the Revolution lessened the
potential struggle over power among various revolutionary factions
and eliminated incentives to impose drastic institutional change.
This can be contrasted with the French and Russian ex-
periences, in which a lack of representative governments contrib-
uted to the unrest and violence. In France, although there was
a Parliament, it was primarily comprised of nobles and did not
include the bourgeoisie and peasants.
74
In Russia as well, there
were no elected positions above the local zemstvo level prior to
the Revolution.
75
Though the Czar agreed to appoint a Duma, or
Parliament, he afforded disproportionate representation to the
upper classes, and often disbanded it for proposing plans with
which he disagreed.
76
Lack of experience with democratic insti-
tutions led the French and Russian revolutionaries, after remov-
ing the undemocratic governments of their countries, to simply
create equally unrepresentative institutions, appointing ofcials
and rewriting laws as they saw t. For example, after the Second
Revolution of France in 1792, the new revolutionary government,
or Commune, seized control and forced the nullication of the
former laws.
77
Though the members of the Commune wrote a
244 Edyt Dickstein
constitution, they suspended it indenitely, declaring that martial
law would remain in place until they decided otherwise.
78
Similarly,
once the Bolsheviks seized control, they disbanded the existing
parliament, though it had been supported by the majority of the
Russian people, and established their own regime.
79
They imposed
a system of proletariat dictatorship upon the masses through their
armed forces, the Military Revolutionary Committee.
80
A third critical institution within the colonies was a free
and active press. The Patriots recognized the benets that freedom
of the press afforded to society. The Virginia Declaration of Rights of
1776 recognized the freedom of the press as one of the greatest
bulwarks of liberty [that] can never be restrained but by despotic
governments.
81
Thomas Jefferson went so far as to declare that
he would rather live in a country with newspapers but no govern-
ment than in a country with a government but no newspapers.
82

With this sentiment, newspapers ourished in America. Each
colony had a vigorous press, with tens of thousands of subscrib-
ers. Not only were there many newspapers demanding that the
people join the American colonists and rally against the King,
but also there were many Loyalist papers arguing the opposite.
83

In addition to newspapers, the printing of pamphlets and books
was also widespread in the 1760s and 1770s. By 1783, more than
1,000 pamphlets discussing the Revolution from various angles
were published.
84
It is not only the number of newspapers in America that
is striking, but also the writers freedom to publish whatever they
chose. Reporters were legally permitted to publish any informa-
tion regarding an ofcials behavior, no matter how virulent, as
long as its content was true and factual, as established in the trial
of John Peter Zenger in 1735.
85
This was a case in which Zenger,
a printer who wrote about the activities of New York Governor
Cosby, was accused by Cosby of publishing libel. However, he was
found not guilty on the basis that it is a right, which all free men
claim, that they are entitled to complain when they are hurtIt
is the cause of libertynature and the laws of our country have
given us a right to liberty of both exposing and opposing arbitrary
245
THE CONCORD REVIEW
power by speaking and writing truth.
86
This trial served as the
foundation of freedom of the press in America, and, according to
Gouverneur Morris, a Founding Father and the great-grandson
of one of Zengers chief advocates, was the germ of American
freedom, the morning star of that liberty which subsequently
revolutionized America.
87
By the time of the American Revolu-
tion, the press was a strong, vibrant institution, and was therefore
able to serve as a check on potential abuses of power, opening the
Patriots activities to criticism from an educated public.
The French and Russian pre-revolutionary eras lacked
Americas prolic and active press. Pre-revolutionary France set
limits on the press and exercised pre-publication censorship.
88

While in the initial stages of the French Revolution, the Declara-
tion of the Rights of Man asserted the citizens right to freedom of
expression, in practice, the leaders of the Revolution grew to per-
ceive dissident opinion as traitorous. They therefore suppressed
all royalist journals, offering their presses exclusively to liberal
journalists; even moderate publishers were threatened and their
businesses destroyed.
89
Likewise, Russia lacked real freedom of the
press before the Revolution of 1917, though many political parties
had been clamoring for it.
90
Even after the Czar abdicated his rule
in 1917, freedom of the press did not last long in revolutionary
Russia. According to the Communist Council of Peoples Com-
missars, the press in the hands of the bourgeoisie could become
a weapon used to poison the mindsof the masses and should
be controlled.
91
In that same year, Lenin published his view on
freedom of the press in Pravda, stating, For the bourgeoisie,
freedom of the press means freedom for the rich to publish and
for the capitalists to control the newspapersFor the workers
and peasants government, freedom of the press meanspublic
ownership of paper mills and printing presses.
92
In other words,
Lenin believed that the government should control the press in
the name of the proletariat.
A nal crucial aspect that contributed to the success of
the American Revolution was the nature of the justications and
ideals of the revolt. The American Revolution was a revolt of law,
246 Edyt Dickstein
not of society.
93
The rebels never attempted to direct the anger of
the colonists toward social reform.
94
Rather, the Patriots took the
American political and economic systems for granted, and sought
to maintain the rights as Englishmen that they had enjoyed until
the British parliament instituted new policies.
95
It was these new
laws, rather than any desire to institute a social and economic
revolution, which sparked the revolt.
96
From the American Revo-
lutions very inception, then, its causes were not those that would
naturally lead to social instability.
Most famous of the colonists concerns was their call for
representative government. One colonist explained in the Virginia
Gazette in March, 1768 that the freeholders and electors, whose
right accrues to them from the [English] common law, or from
[Royal] charter, shall not be deprived of that right [of voting].
97

The Continental Congress in its Declaration and Resolves in 1774
proclaimed that the foundation of English liberty, and of all free
government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative
council.
98
When attempting to galvanize the people, the Patriots
pointed not to any societal issues but to the British common law,
which set down the practice of representative government. They
argued that the new acts of British Parliament violated its very own
legal tradition, and should therefore be protested.
99
And when
it came time for the American Patriots to create a new national
government, they never considered revamping the social structure,
but were careful to form a republic which would represent the
people through a system of legislature.
100
In addition to defending their right to vote, the colonists
further developed a broader concept of individual rights. They
drew upon theories of the Enlightenment, emphasizing the no-
tion of natural rights put forth by philosophers such as Locke,
which they believed the British had transgressed.
101
They even
cited famous English orators and legal experts of the 17th century
to further defend their legal rights, which they viewed as invio-
lable.
102
This belief was aptly explained in the Virginia Declaration
of Rights promulgated on June 12, 1776: All menhave certain
inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society,
247
THE CONCORD REVIEW
they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity. This
sentiment was most famously expressed in the rst sentence of
the Declaration of Independence, as the Patriots offered a litany
of uninfringeable freedoms, primarily categorized as life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness, in their explanation of where the
British government had erred.
Not only did the Patriots establish individual liberties,
but they also set guidelines to prevent a tyranny from developing
by limiting the inuence of any single ofcial. The Revolution-
ary experience had instilled in the Americans a deep suspicion
of political power, and the curtailing of such power was ever
present in the Patriots activities.
103
They worked to ensure that
there existed a continuous rotation in persons holding power,
and limited the amount of time individuals could serve in the
government.
104
Similarly, they generated a system of checks and
balances by creating a separation of power among the various
branches of the government so that none could act in a manner
unconstitutional, dangerous, and destructive to the freedom of
American legislation.
105
While many other revolutions seemingly espoused similar
principles and displayed rhetoric comparable to that of the Ameri-
can Revolution, a closer look suggests that in fact the ideals at the
center of other revolutions were actually quite different in nature.
The French and Russian revolutions, for example, were fundamen-
tally about changing the nature of existing society by removing the
nobility from power and abolishing serfdom.
106
This naturally led
to tremendous social upheaval. Moreover, the primacy of this goal
led individual rights to be subsumed in its pursuit. In 1793 during
the Reign of Terror in France, the Committee on Public Safety,
which operated as a joint dictatorship, produced a republican
constitution, but it was immediately suspended indenitely as a
long as a revolutionary government was required.
107
Similarly, in
Russia in 1918, the Constituent Assembly was simply disbanded so
as not to compromise with the malignant bourgeoisie, despite
the fact that 36 million people had cast votes for its members.
108

In its place, the government was ruled by a select few, as a system
248 Edyt Dickstein
of a proletariat dictatorship imposed itself upon the unfortunate
population through force.
The American Revolution thus included a wide variety of
unique features that enabled it to succeed once independence
from Britain was achieved. Educated and experienced leaders, a
cohesive society that only became more unied as a result of the
opponent being an external foe, enduring institutions that pro-
tected the rights and freedoms of citizens, and the ideals of liberty
at the heart of the revolutionary movement, all played key roles
in the successful transition to a stable representative democracy.
The importance of these factors suggests that a successful revolu-
tion requires much more than freedom from oppressors, and that
a stable democracy and the rule of law are remarkably difcult
to achieve. Edmund Burke presciently perceived this when he
warned in his Reections on the Revolution in France (1790) that it
was yet too early to be sure that what would emerge would be a
stable society offering liberty to its citizens:
I should therefore suspend my congratulations on the new liberty
of France until I was informed how it had been combined with
governmentwith the solidity of property, with peace and order,
with civil and social manners. All theseare good things too, and
without them liberty is not a benet whilst it lasts, and is not likely
to continue long.
109
The lessons of the American Revolution suggest that as the United
States strives to promote freedom and democracy around the
world, it should focus its attention not only on liberty from dicta-
tors and the holding of elections, but also on the development
of the necessary infrastructure to support and maintain this free-
dom. Policies designed to foster an educated leadership, promote
a sense of civic unity, develop independent institutions such as
courts and a free press, and teach democratic ideals, like the rule
of law, may be at least as important as freedom from dictatorship
or foreign rule in ensuring that emerging democracies have the
best chance to survive and ourish.
249
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Endnotes
1
A democratic society, here, will refer to a governmental
system in which decisions are made by the people, either
through direct votes or elected ofcials, and in which exists
social and political equality.
2
Crane Brinton, The Anatomy of Revolution, rev. ed.
(1938; repr., New York: Prentice-Hall, 1965) p. 102
3
At the beginning of the Revolution, only nine colleges in
the colonies offered degrees, and most graduated fewer than
20 students per year.
4
Frederick Rudolph and John Thelin, The American
College and University, a History (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1962) p. 22
5
Brinton, Anatomy, p. 102
6
Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation with Colonies,
(Speech, House of Commons, London, March 22, 1775) in
The Founders Constitution, University of Chicago Online
Press (accessed 5/24/2012) http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/
founders/documents/v1ch1s2.html
7
8
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin
Franklin ed. William Temple Franklin, in Volume 1 of Memoirs
of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin (London: British
and Foreign Public Library, 1818) p. 92
9
John K. Alexander, Samuel Adams: Americas
Revolutionary Politician (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman &
Littleeld, 2002) p. 30
10
Gordon S. Wood, Revolutionary Characters: What Made
the Founders Different (New York: Penguin, 2006) p. 8
11
Ibid., p. 25
12
Ibid., p. 25
13
Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, April 16, 1784
in Letters of Thomas Jefferson, 17431826, Electronic Text
Center, University of Virginia Library (accessed 3/15/12)
http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JefLett.
sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/
parsed&tag=public&part=25&division=div1
14
John Adams to Hezekiah Niles, Quincy, February
13, 1818 in Making the Revolution: America, 1763
1791, National Humanities Center (accessed 4/13/12)
nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/makingrev/index.htm
250 Edyt Dickstein
15
Thomas Jefferson, Notes of Proceedings in Congress
(Second Continental Congress, Philadelphia, 1776) in Jack
N. Rakove, ed., Founding America: Documents from the
Revolution to the Bill of Rights (New York: Barnes & Noble,
2006) p. 153
16
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 2nd ed. (1776; repr.,
Mineola: Dover Publications, 1997) p. 2
17
Penn. Const, art. XVI, 13, in, Rakove, p. 103
18
Jefferson to Washington, April 16, 1784 in Letters of
Thomas Jefferson
19
William Doyle, The Oxford History of the French
Revolution, 2nd ed. (repr., Oxford University Press, 2002)
pp. 186187
20
Edmund Burke, Reections on the Revolution in France
(1790; repr., Oxford: Oxford University Press 1999) p. 29
21
Doyle, p. 191
22
Robert Service, Trotsky: A Biography (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009) pp. 4041;
Edward Ellis Smith, The Young Stalin (New York: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux, 1967) p. 36; and Joel Colton and R.R. Palmer, A
History of the Modern World, 6th ed. (1950; repr., New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1984) p. 702
23
Colton and Palmer, p. 701 and Smith, p. 36
24
Colton and Palmer, p. 375
25
Doyle, p. 25
26
Winston Spencer Churchill, The Age of Revolution: A
History of the English-Speaking Peoples, vol. 3. (1957; repr.
New York: Barnes & Noble, 2005) pp. 252253
27
Ibid., p. 321
28
Richar Pipes, A Concise History of the Russian
Revolution (1995; repr., New York: Random House, 1996)
pp. 1617
29
30
31
Leonard Schapiro, The Russian Revolutions of 1917:
The Origins of Modern Communism (New York: Basic Books,
1984) p. 197
32
Ibid., p. 198
33
Leopold H. Haimson, ed., The Mensheviks: From
the Revolution of 1917 to the Second World War (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1974) pp. 335336
251
THE CONCORD REVIEW
34
Richard N. Current, T. Harry Williams, Frank Freidel,
and Alan Brinkley, American History: A Survey, 6th ed. (1959;
repr., New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979) p. 78
35
Ibid., pp. 6365
36
Robert E. Brown, Middle Class Democracy and the
Revolution in Massachusetts, in Richard J. Hooker, ed., The
American Revolution: The Search for Meaning (New York:
John Wiley & Sons, 1970) p. 84
37
Adams to Niles, February 13, 1818 in Making the
Revolution
38
Brown, Middle Class Democracy, p. 82
39
Franklin, Autobiography, pp. 56
40
41
Ibid., p. 356
42
Ibid., p. 700
43
Ibid., p. 700
44
Rex A. Wade, The Russian Revolution, 1917 (Cambridge:
45
David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution,
1780s, in Hooker, ed., American Revolution, p 25
46
The cartoon was rst printed in The Pennsylvania
Gazette, May 9, 1754 and was reprinted throughout the French
and Indian War. It was later used as an emblem of colonial
unity during the American Revolution, when the Constitutional
Courant introduced it as a masthead on September 21, 1765.
47
Massachusetts Committee of Safety, April 20, quoted
in George Bancroft, With One Heart, the Continent Cried:
Liberty or Death in Hooker, pp. 930
48
Edmund S. Morgan, Conict and Consensus in
the American Revolution, in Allen F. Davis and Harold D.
Woodman, eds., Conict and Consensus in Early American
History, 5th ed. (Lexington, Massachusetts.: D.C. Heath, 1980)
p. 90
49
John C. Miller, The American Revolution as a
Democratic Movement in Earl Latham, ed., Problems in
American Civilization: The Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution, 3rd ed. (1949; repr., Lexington: D.C. Heath,
1976) p. 9
50
51
Ibid., pp. 359, 375
52
Abraham Ascher, The Revolution of 1905: A Short
History (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2004) pp. 2728
252 Edyt Dickstein
53
Rex A. Wade, The Bolshevik Revolution and Russian
Civil War (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001)
pp. 6465
54
Gabriele Gottlieb, Theater of Death: Capital
Punishment in Early America, 17501800 (Working Paper,
University of Pittsburg Graduate School, Pittsburgh 1995)
p. 163
55
Christopher Hibbert, Redcoats and Rebels: The
American Revolution through British Eyes (London: Grafton,
1990) p. 14
56
John Adams, The Autobiography of John Adams, Adams
Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society(accessed April
16, 2012) http://www.masshist.org/adams/
57
Doug Linder, The Boston Massacre Trials: A
Chronology, University of Missouri at Kansas City (accessed
August 1, 2012) http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/
ftrials/bostonmassacre/bostonchronology.html
58
John Dickinson, Notes for a Speech Opposing
Independence July 1776, in Rakove, ed., Founding America,
p. 129
59
Their Own Words: John Dickinson, Dickinson
College Archives and Special Collections(accessed March 12,
2012) http://deila.dickinson.edu/theirownwords/author/
DickinsonJ.htm
60
61
62
Eric Foner, Thomas Paine and Revolutionary America
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977) p. 97
63
W. Stewart Wallace, The United Empire Loyalists
(Toronto: Glasgow and Brook, 1914) p. 13
64
Treaty of Paris, Article V. Jan. 20, 1783, Richard Peters,
Esq., ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of
America (Boston: Little and Brown, 1867; repr., Washington,
D.C: Library of Congress, 1990) p. 6
65
66
Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution (1837; repr.,
New York: Random House, 2002) p. 504
67
Crane Brinton, A Decade of Revolution: 17891799
(New York: Harper & Row, 1934) p. 190
68
69
Pipes, p. 223
70
Ibid., p. 224
71
Ibid., p. 227
253
THE CONCORD REVIEW
72
73
Ibid., p. 99
74
Carlyle, pp. 5152
75
76
Ibid., pp. 707710
77
Ibid., p. 372
78
Ibid., p. 377
79
Ibid., p. 713
80
Wade, Russian Revolution, p. 270
81
Virginia Declaration of Rights; Section 12, 1776, in Rakove,
p. 90
82
Speaking of a Free Press: 200 Years of Notable
Quotations About Press Freedoms (Vienna, Virginia: American
Newspaper Association Foundation, 2005) http://nie.
journalnow.com/pdf/freepress.pdf
83
Newspapers in Revolutionary Era America and the
Problems of Patriot and Loyalist Papers, National Endowment
for the Humanities(accessed February 20, 2012) www1.
assumption.edu/ahc/1770s/pprinttoryloyal.html
84
Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American
Revolution (Cambridge, Masaschusetts: Harvard University
Press, 1967) p. 8
85
Mary Claire Mulligan, Jury Nullication: Its History and
Practice (Colorado: Criminal Law Newsletter, Colorado Bar
Association, 2004) on http://www.mulliganlawrm.com/docs/
jurynullication.pdf
86
Doug Linder, The Trial of John Peter Zenger: An
Account, University of Kansas City (accessed August 1, 2012)
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/proiects/ftrials/zenger/
zengeraccount.html
87
Ibid.
88
J.F. Bosher, The French Revolution (New York: W. W.
Norton, 1989) p. 46
89
Ibid., p. 181
90
Wade, Russian Revolution, p. 2
91
Pravda, Decree on the Press, (Moscow: Council of
Peoples Commissars, 1917) in Mervyn Matthews, ed., Party,
State, and Citizen in the Soviet Union (Armonk, New York: M.
E. Sharpe, 1989) p. 130
92
V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 26 (Moscow: Progress
Publishers, 1972) pp. 283284
93
Bailyn, p. 19
94
Brown, Middle Class Democracy, pp. 8284
254 Edyt Dickstein
95
Charles M. Andrews, Revolutions Are the Detonations
of Explosive Materials, Long Accumulating and Often Long
Dormant, in Hooker, p. 49
96
97
Miller, p. 10
98
Declaration and Resolves (Philadelphia: First
Continental Congress, 1774) reprinted in Rakove, p. 41
99
Ibid., p. 41
100
Ibid., pp. 7986
101
Bailyn, p. 27
102
Ibid., p. 30
103
Rakove, p. 90
104
Ibid., p. 62
105
Ibid., p. 42
106
107
Ibid., p. 377
108
Ibid., p. 713
109
Burke, Reections, p. 8
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Edmund Burke, Reections on the Revolution in France (1790)
New York: Penguin Books, 1999, pp. 417-418
When I see the spirit of liberty in action, I see a strong
principle at work; and this, for a while, is all I can possibly know
of it. The wild gas, the xed air, is plainly broke loose: but we
ought to suspend our judgment until the rst effervescence
is a little subsided, till the liquor is cleared, and until we see
something deeper than the agitation of a troubled and frothy
surface. I must be tolerably sure, before I venture publicly
to congratulate men upon a blessing, that they have really
received one. Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the
giver; and adulation is not of more service to the people than
to kings. I should therefore suspend my congratulations on
the new liberty of France, until I was informed how it had
been combined with government, with public force, with the
discipline and obedience of armies, with the collection of
an effective and well-distributed revenue, with morality and
religion, with solidity and property, with peace and order, with
civil and social manners. All these (in their way) are good
things, too; and without them, liberty is not a benet whilst it
lasts, and is not likely to continue long. The effect of liberty to
individuals is that they may do as they please: we ought to see
what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations,
which may be soon turned into complaints. Prudence would
dictate this in the case of separate, insulated, private men.
But liberty, when men act in bodies, is power. Considerate
people, before they declare themselves, will observe the use
which is made of powerand particularly of so trying a thing
as a new power in new persons, of whose principles, tempers,
and dispositions they have little or no experience, and in
situations where those who appear the most stirring in the
scene may possibly not be the real movers...
261
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Anna Elizabeth Blech is a Junior at Hunter College High School on
Manhattan Island, New York, where she wrote this paper for Martha
Curtis United States History I course in the 2011/2012 academic year.
ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT
IN CHILDRENS LITERATURE 18241860
Anna Elizabeth Blech
Historians of childrens literature agree that there was
an increase in ction written by American writers expressly for
American children
1
and a number of new periodicals for children
in the antebellum period between 1824 and 1860.
2
They also agree
that the literature of this period has little to no literary merit but
was written mainly for the moral and intellectual development of
the child to prepare him for his role in the democracy of the New
Republic.
3
The treatment of the slavery issue was a thorny one for
these writers. Aiming to imbue young readers with patriotic feel-
ing and a strong self-controlled conscience, how much did writers
of childrens literature want to disillusion their audience at the
outset with the contradictions and injustice of having slaves in a
free country? Criticism of slavery in the 1820s was cautious and
tempered.
4
Arguments against slavery, though still infrequent,
became more vehement in the 1830s and 1840s and were often
scathing denunciations of slavery and the slave trade.
5
In the
1850s, references to slavery practically vanished from mainstream
childrens journals.
6
Following a period of increasingly powerful
indictments, the silence on slavery occurred because, with the
looming threat of Southern secession, children were taught that
patriotism required putting aside divisive issues in favor of preserv-
ing the Union.
In the mid-1820s, rare critiques of slavery began to appear
in mainstream childrens ction books and juvenile periodicals.
7

Many of these criticisms were moderate, taking the stance that
while slavery was an evil institution, emancipation must be gradual
because of the complications it would generate. In 1824, Lydia
Maria Child, a popular writer for children and adults, who was ac-
tive in the crusade against slavery, wrote a story The Little Master
and His Little Slave expressing her early views on slavery. Two
children, Lucy and Robert, are discussing slavery with their aunt.
When Robert states that Southern people must be very cruel
to keep slaves, the aunt responds that Our Southern brethren
have an abundance of kind and generous feeling, that slavery
is the Southerners misfortune more than their fault, that it is
an inheritance from colonial days when Americans petitioned
the British government to remove it but were refused, and that
now it is a xed habit and difcult to change. She goes on to
say that there are too many Negroes not accustomed to liberty
who, if freed, would become licentious and abandoned. Robert
responds by saying that if he had a little slave, he would teach him
to read and write and send him to Hayti so he can be as free
and happy as I am.
8
According to the historian Anne MacLeod,
the criticism of slavery that is expressed in these early writings
reects the accepted Northern abolitionist views about slavery at
the time: Care is taken to separate the slaveholder from the system
of slavery. Moral judgment is not passed on the slaveholder, but
instead the institution of slavery is condemned and blamed on
British colonial rulers. A very gradual voluntary emancipation is
proposed because of the large number of slaves and their lack of
preparation for freedom. Leaving the system in place is recom-
mended while long-term solutions are begun. Finally, sending
the freed slaves to Africa, the idea of the American Colonization
Society, is the preferred solution in these early critiques of slavery.
9

263
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Similarly, in 1827, Boston newspaper publisher and editor of The
Youths Companion, Nathaniel Willis, introduced the moderate
stance of gradual emancipation to his young readers:
All the pious people of the land wish to make the slaves free, and
are very sorry that their fathers ever put the yolk of bondage upon
them. But it is not easy to set them free. They are unt to take care
of themselves and their families; many of them are very wicked; and
if one million and a half should be made their masters all at once,
it would produce great confusion and misery in the countryTake
every possible measure to give them liberty in a gradual way.
10
Again, in 1831, the prolic writer of juvenile literature, Samuel
Goodrich, described the slave trade in The Tales of Peter Parley
About Africa: There are, no doubt, many good people who have
slaves. But slavery is a bad system, and brings great evils along with
it.
11
In The First Book of History (1831), Goodrich writes about a
benevolent society that wants to set the Negroes free and send
them back to Africa: I sincerely hope that the slaves in the United
States may be gradually liberated, and that they may enjoy happi-
ness and freedom in the native land of the Negro race.
12
Thus,
during the relative calm of the 1820s, the issue of slavery arose
infrequently in juvenile ction and periodicals, and was discussed
cautiously in the framework of gradual emancipation that was
accepted at the time.
Condemnations of slavery, though still infrequent, heated
up in the childrens journals after 1831the year of Nat Turners
Rebellion, the rst debate on slavery in the Virginia legislature, and
the start of William Lloyd Garrisons radical abolitionist journal,
Liberator.
13
From 1826 to 1834, Lydia Maria Child published the
rst mainstream periodical in America for children, The Juvenile
Miscellany, for which she wrote many articles and stories.
14
According
to historian Carolyn Karcher, Child was inspired by the opinions
of the impassioned young abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison,
in June of 1830 to alter her opinions about the solution of the
slavery issue in favor of immediate emancipation and remedies
for the slaves in the United States, not colonization in Africa. Her
commitment to the ght against slavery was manifest in The Juvenile
Miscellany, where almost every issue from September 1830 had an
item against racist prejudice,
15
including several stories about the
plight of slaves and the evils of slavery.
16
Another popular writer of
childrens ction with abolitionist sympathies was Eliza Lee Follen,
who edited a Unitarian-sponsored magazine, The Childs Friend, from
1843 to 1850.
17
Professor Deborah De Rosa states that although
Follen received criticism for her public abolitionist efforts, she was
able to express her views by tactfully scattering her abolitional
juvenile literature throughout her works.
18
Another bimonthly
periodical, The Youths Cabinet, was an anti-slavery periodical, while
it was under the editorship of Nathaniel Southard from 1837 to
1842. Southard was an abolitionist who also edited the American
Anti-Slavery Almanac.
19
In the 1840s, both The Childs Friend and
The Youths Cabinet occasionally had compelling editorials against
slavery as the shame of America.
20
The critique of slavery in childrens literature escalated
with the claim that slavery contradicted ideas of Christian broth-
erhood and the equality of all men before God. For example, in
a book review of 1832, Lydia Maria Child wrote:
[It] must be very offensive in the sight of God, whose children we all
are, for any portion of the human family to arrogate to themselves
a superiority over others. There is no real superiority but pureness
of heart and goodness of conduct; and this superiority is of so heav-
enly a nature, that it cannot bear the swellings of mortal vanity and
self-applause, but perishes like a beautiful dream, as soon as we are
conscious of it.
21
Again, in a story that Child wrote for the younger siblings of The
Juvenile Miscellanys readers, The Little White Lamb and The Little
Black Lamb (1833), little Mary learns from Nancy, her black
slave nurse, that I am my mothers white lamb and Thomas is
Nancys black lamb; and God loves us both.
22
Eliza Follens poem
of 1844, On hearing of the terror of the children of American
slaves at the thought of being sold, encouraged young readers to
empathize with slave children who have the same joys and fears
that they have.
23
The idea of the equality of all men before God was strongly
supported by stories and non-ction items that showed black slaves
to have the abilities and good qualities of all human beings: In
265
THE CONCORD REVIEW
The Slave Poet (1845), Eliza Follen introduced children to the
life and poetry of George Moses Horton, the North Carolinian
who sold his poetry to purchase his freedom.
24
Lydia Maria Child
reviewed a book, Arithmetic (1832), about the excellent speed
and accuracy of Africans at mental arithmetic.
25
Follen published
an eloquent poem by a slave woman entitled Inscription Under
the Picture of an Aged Negro Woman (1846).
26
Goodrichs Peter
Parley states, in The Tales of Peter Parley About Africa, that the Euro-
peans misrepresentation of Negroes as a stupid, debased portion
of the human family is just a distortion to justify their barbarous
and cruel treatment of them.
27
Historian John Crandall states that
Negroes often appear in stories as models of Christian piety, and
that the writers explain that whatever vices they possess result from
the brutal experience of slavery.
28
If Negroes are equal members of
the human race before God, the argument proceeded, then their
enslavement is morally wrong. In a footnote to her story Jumbo
and Zairee of 1831, Child mentions the kind slave master of the
two African children but asserts that the master-slave relationship
is not justiable under any circumstances: The principle is wrong,
even if there are nine hundred and ninety-nine good masters out
of a thousand.
29

The slave trade now merited the most stinging criticism
in the juvenile literature.
30
In Jumbo and Zairee, two African
children are kidnapped on the coast of Africa and endure the
hardships of the Middle Passage to enslavement in America. Five
Africans died during the trip:
The hardhearted captain did not seem to pity his miserable captives
in the least; he was only angry to have them die, because he thought
he should not get quite so much money. You will ask me if this man
was an American? One of our own countrymen, who make it their
boast that men are born free and equal? I am sorry to say that he was
an American. Let us hope there are but few such.
31
The power of the Jumbo and Zairee story derives from the ele-
ments that it shares with much abolitionist writing: the decent but
mistaken slave owner, the brutal overseer, and the splitting up of
slave families.
32
The domestic slave trade also received powerful
condemnation in Childs shocking story of 1834, Mary French
and Susan Eaton. Mary French is white, and Susan Eaton is black,
the daughter of a freed slave. Best friends who live on the western
shores of the Mississippi, they are kidnapped by an evil peddler
who whips them, cuts and kinks Marys hair, blackens her skin with
soot and grease, and sells them both into slavery. Marys whiteness
is ultimately discovered, and she is returned to her family. Susan
remains forever lost to slavery. The story concludes with the state-
ment: Yet the only difference between Mary French and Susan
Eaton is, that the black color could be rubbed off from Marys
skin, while from Susans it could not.
33
Professor Etsuko Tatekani
states that the story is a powerful indictment of the domestic slave
trade that fostered kidnapping of free blacks who existed in legal
limbo, neither slave nor citizen.
34

Finally, the escalation of the attack on slavery in the chil-
drens literature of the 1830s and 1840s was based on the view
of slavery as a contradiction of American principles. In a story
from The Juvenile Miscellany, The Prisoners Set Free (1831), Mrs.
Ellsworth tells her children that she hopes they will be able to
understand the inconsistency and injustice of keeping slaves in
a free country like ours.
35
Again in Jumbo and Zairee, when a
cruel overseer stands over Zairee with a whip to ensure that she
eats, Child writes with stinging irony:
This was in the United States of America, which boasts of being the
only true republic in the world! The asylum of the distressed! The
only land of perfect freedom and equality! Shame on my country
everlasting shame. History blushes as she writes the page of American
slavery, and Europe points her nger at it in derision.
36
Gone is the need to avoid insulting the Southern slave masters
view of the legitimacy of slavery. The writers of these pieces are
adamant in their criticism of slavery and the slave trade. Although
the criticisms did not appear regularly, they did, as a whole, ex-
press the moral and ideological case against slavery and a scathing
indictment of the society that condoned it.
In the decade of the 1850s, there were many violent conicts
about slavery, and the threat of secession of the Southern states
from the Union loomed. Under the Compromise of 1850, Cali-
267
THE CONCORD REVIEW
fornia was admitted to the Union as a free state; slavery, through
popular sovereignty, was allowed in Utah and New Mexico; the
domestic slave trade was abolished in Washington DC; and the
Fugitive Slave Act was strengthened. The new Fugitive Slave Act
of 1850 forced citizens to help catch runaway slaves under penalty
of ne or imprisonment. There were several riots by Northern-
ers who felt they were being forced to contribute directly to the
injustices of slavery. There was widespread resistance and civil
disobedience. Southerners saw Northern resistance as proof that
the North would disregard laws in order to tamper with slavery.
37

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 caused Bleeding Kansas, a
full-scale guerilla war fought over whether the territory would be
slave or free. It split the Democratic Party along North-South lines,
destroyed the Whig party, and led to the creation of the sectional
Republican Party with Northern interests.
38
In 1855, John Brown,
a radical abolitionist, murdered a pro-slavery family in Kansas.
39

Violence spread to Congress where, in 1856, Charles Sumner,
an abolitionist Senator from Massachusetts was severely injured
when a South Carolina Representative beat him with a cane on
the Senate oor.
40
Against this backdrop of escalating sectional conict,
historian John Crandall nds that references to the issue of slav-
ery practically disappeared from mainstream juvenile journals.
41

The Youths Companion avoided the slavery issue and received ap-
proval for avoiding sectional conicts, especially from Southern
readers. A reader from Americus, Georgia, wrote in 1850: In
these times of political feverishness, it is no small satisfaction to
perceive that those subjects which are calculated to stir up strife
and to embitter sectional jealousies are most judiciously excluded
from your columns.
42
In 1856, the editor of The Youths Cabinet,
Uncle Frank Woodworth, urged his young readers to preserve
the Union: Well I care not so much under what political banner
you range yourself, though I may have some preference on this
point, but I wish, above all things, that you may all be true to this
motto, [quoting Daniel Webster] Liberty and Union, now and
forever, one and inseparable.
43
Sarah Hale, Elizabeth Peabody,
and the other editors of The Childs Friend, who took over after
the departure of Eliza Follen in 1850, were silent on the issue of
slavery.
44
Elizabeth Peabody, a pioneer in childrens education,
wrote in 1856 why she omitted slavery in her United States history
book:
45
A book intended for the public schools of all the United
States, is not the place for discussions of a subject so vital to the
interests of the Union as the slavery question.
46
Unable to rec-
oncile patriotism with reform in the case of slavery, the writers of
childrens literature in the juvenile journals, who were responsible
for the moral and intellectual education of their young readers,
became silent on the issue of slavery or urged their readers to
forget sectional interests in favor of preserving the Union. Their
response to the looming crisis over slavery revealed the order of
Northern values, preservation of the Union rst, moral integrity
and social reform second. For these writers for children, the need
to restore a national consensus and save the Union took prece-
dence over sectional differences.
269
THE CONCORD REVIEW
1
Mary Lystad, From Dr. Mather to Dr. Seuss: 200 Years
of American Books for Children (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Schenkman Publishing Co., 1980) pp. 28, 52
2
Anne Scott MacLeod, Education for Freedom:
Childrens Fiction in Jacksonian America, Harvard
Educational Review Vol. 46, No. 3 (August 1976) p. 426
3
Anne Scott MacLeod, A Moral Tale: Childrens Fiction
and American Culture 18201860 (Hamden, Connecticut:
Archon Books, 1975) p. 10
4
Ibid., p. 114
5
John C. Crandall, Patriotism and Humanitarian Reform
in Childrens Literature 18251860, American Quarterly Vol.
21, No. 1 (Spring 1969) p. 17
6
Ibid., p. 17
Professor Crandall states that he has read about 10,000
pieces of childrens literature from this period as well as the
almost complete les of all the major juvenile periodicals of
18261865. (page 3)
7
Anne Scott MacLeod, A Moral Tale, p. 113
8
Lydia Maria Child, Evenings in New England (Boston:
Cummings, Hilliard & Co., 1824) pp. 138147, quoted in
MacLeod, A Moral Tale, pp. 113114
Literary Historian Carolyn Karcher points out that in this
story, Child hints at a growing stronger abolitionist stance
by having her young character choose Haiti, a republic
established by slave revolutionaries and not recognized by the
United States government until the Civil War, as the place of
relocation of his slave, rather than Liberia, a puppet state for
emancipated slaves established by the slaveholder-dominated
American Colonization Society. (note 16, pp. 135136)
9
MacLeod, A Moral Tale, p. 114
10
Nathaniel Willis, Youths Companion II, 8 (July 18, 1828)
p. 32; Crandall, p. 12
11
Samuel Griswold Goodrich, Tales of Peter Parley about
Africa (Philadelphia: Desilver, Thomas & Co., 1836; Archive.org
2007) p. 112
12
Samuel Griswold Goodrich, First Book of History for
Children and Youth (Boston: Richardson, Lord & Holbrook,
1831; Archive.org 2006) p. 80
13
MacLeod, A Moral Tale, p. 111
14
Milton Meltzer and Patricia G. Holland, eds. Lydia Maria
Child: Selected Letters, 18171880 (Amherst: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1982) p. 6
15
Carolyn L. Karcher, ed., A Lydia Maria Child Reader
(Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997) p. 136
16
Crandall, p. 13
Childs Juvenile Miscellany folded after she published her
Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans called Africans
(1833), which is, according to the historian Carolyn Karcher,
the most comprehensive indictment of slavery ever written by
a white abolitionist (p. 136). The public was outraged by her
critique, and her writings were boycotted.
17
Elizabeth Bancroft Schlesinger, Two Harvard Wives:
Eliza Farrar and Eliza Follen, The New England Quarterly Vol.
38, No. 2 (June 1965) p. 164
18
Deborah C. De Rosa, Domestic Abolitionism and Juvenile
Literature. 18301865 (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2003) p. 27
19
Ibid., p. 25
20
John C. Crandall, Patriotism and Humanitarian Reform
in Childrens Literature 18251860, American Quarterly. Vol.
21, No. 1 (Spring 1969) p. 13
21
Lydia Maria Child, New Books: Arithmetic, The
Juvenile Miscellany II, Third Series, 3 (JulyAugust 1832)
p. 321, Google Books online
22
Lydia Maria Child, The Little White Lamb and the
Little Black Lamb, The Juvenile Miscellany IV, Third Series, 1
(MarchApril 1833) pp. 5556, Google Books online
23
Eliza Lee Follen, Lines: On hearing of the terror of
the children of American slaves at the thought of being sold,
Childs Friend Vol. II (1844) p. 36, Google Books online
24
Eliza Lee Follen, The Slave Poet, Childs Friend Vol. 4
(1845) p. 255, Google Books online
25
Child, New Books: Arithmetic, pp. 320321
26
Eliza Lee Follen, Inscription under the Picture of an
Aged Negro Woman, Childs Friend Vol. 5 (1846) p. 143,
Google Books online
27
Goodrich, Tales of Peter Parley, pp. 123124
28
Crandall, p. 14
29
Lydia Maria Child, Jumbo and Zairee, The Juvenile
Miscellany V, New Series, 3 (JanuaryFebruary 1831) p. 291,
quoted in Carolyn L. Karcher, ed., A Lydia Maria Child Reader
(Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997) p. 156
30
Crandall, p. 15
31
Child, Jumbo and Zairee, p. 291, quoted in Karcher, p.
155
271
THE CONCORD REVIEW
32
MacLeod, A Moral Tale, pp. 115116
33
Lydia Maria Child, Mary French and Susan Easton, The
Juvenile Miscellany VI, Third Series, 2, (MayJune 1834) p. 202,
Google Books online
34
Etsuko Tatekani, The Omnipresent Aunt and the Social
Child: Lydia Maria Childs Juvenile Miscellany, Childrens
Literature 27, (Yale University Press, 1999 Hollins University)
p. 33
35
H.F.G., The Prisoners Set Free, The Juvenile Miscellany
VI, New Series, 2 (MayJune 1831) p. 208, Google Books online
36
Child, Jumbo and Zairee, p. 291, quoted in Karcher,
p. 157
37
Louis Filler, Crusade Against Slavery: Friends. Foes,
and Reforms 18201860 (Algonac, Michigan: Reference
Publications, Inc., 1986) p. 231
38
Ibid., p. 261
39
Ibid., p. 284
40
Ibid., p. 290
41
Crandall, Patriotism and Humanitarian Reform in
Childrens Literature 18251860, p. 17
42
Letter to the Editor, Youths Companion XXIV, p. 29
(November 14, 1850) p. 116, quoted in Crandall, p. 18
43
Frank Woodworm, Uncle Franks Monthly Table-Talks:
Catching the Measles, Youths Cabinet II, Third Series, 5
(November 1856) p. 149, Google Books online
44
De Rosa, pp. 86, 89
45
Nina Baym, American Women Writers and the Work
of History, 17901860 (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers
46
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Chronological History of the
United States. Arranged with Plates on Berns Principle (New
York: Sheldon, Blakeman, 1856)
Bibliography
Baym, Nina, American Women Writers and the Work
of History, 17901860 New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers
Nina Baym is Emeritus Professor of English and Jubilee
Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Baym explores the
extensive writing about history published by many American
women between the founding of the nation and the onset
of the Civil War. Her thesis is that these women contributed
greatly to the forging of national identity in the antebellum
period despite the strictures about womens place being in
the home. Her book provided useful information about the
educator, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, and her omission of
slavery from her history of the United States.
Child, Lydia Maria, Evenings in New England Boston:
Cummings, Hilliard & Co., 1824: 138147, quoted in Anne
Scott MacLeod, A Moral Tale: Childrens Fiction and American
Culture 18201860 Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books,
1975, pp. 113114
Lydia Maria Child was a prolic writer of literature for
children and adults. She became a disciple of William Lloyd
Garrison, the ery abolitionist, in 1831, and from then on,
devoted her life to the abolitionist cause, even though it
affected her ability to support herself and her husband. A true
idealist, she wrote an Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans
called Africans (1833), which is, according to the historian
Carolyn Karcher, the most comprehensive indictment of
slavery ever written by a white abolitionist (p. 136). The public
was outraged by her critique, her writings were boycotted,
and she was ostracized by her community. Despite this, she
continued to write for the abolitionist cause. Evenings in New
England is Childs rst book of stories for children. She did not
put her name on it and wrote simply, written by an American.
Most of the story is in the form of a dialogue between an aunt
and her niece and nephew. The story reveals Childs early
moderate abolitionist views before her conscience was red up
by Garrison.
273
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Child, Lydia Maria, Jumbo and Zairee, The Juvenile
Miscellany New Series, 5 (January 1831): 285299, quoted in
Carolyn L. Karcher, ed., A Lydia Maria Child Reader Durham
and London: Duke University Press, 1997: 153159
This is Childs most outspoken ction story against slavery,
written after she met the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.
Child, Lydia Maria, Mary French and Susan Easton, The
Juvenile Miscellany VI, Third Series, 2 (MayJune 1834) pp.
186202, Google Books online
This shocking story is a condemnation of the domestic
slave trade in the United States in the antebellum period that
fostered kidnapping of free black people whose legal status
was ambiguous, neither slave nor citizen. Childs husband, the
abolitionist David Lee Child, had just signed a report by the
Committee on the Domestic Slave Trade of the United States
to the New England Anti-Slavery Convention of 1834 that
addressed the plight of free people of color.
Child, Lydia Maria, New Books: Arithmetic The Juvenile
Miscellany II, Third Series, 3 (JulyAugust 1832) pp. 320321,
Google Books online
Child reviews the book, Arithmetic, by Mr. Clarkson, the
friend of African slaves, about the facility of the Africans at
mental arithmetic, which is quicker and more certain than
that of the Europeans. This review contains Childs ironic
referral to Africans as a baser race approaching brute
creation and concludes with her condemnation of people who
feel superior to other people, because all are equal before God.
Child, Lydia Maria, The Little White Lamb and the Little
Black Lamb, The Juvenile Miscellany IV, Third Series, 1
(MarchApril 1833) pp. 5356, Google Books online
This is a short, sweet story addressed to very young readers
about the loving relationship of a little white girl and her black
nanny and stressing the equality of all people before God.
Crandall, John C., Patriotism and Humanitarian Reform in
Childrens Literature 18251860, American Quarterly Vol. 21,
No. 1 (Spring 1969): 322
The late John C. Crandall (d. 1995) was Professor of
History at the State University of New York, Brockport for 37
years and Director of the Universitys Peace Corps/College
Degree Program. This is an excellent, thoughtful article
by a scholar who has read approximately 10,000 items of
juvenile literature and the almost unbroken les of the major
periodicals between 1825 and 1865. He analyzes the treatment
in the juvenile literature of philanthropy to poor people, the
physically handicapped, the mentally ill, criminals, and juvenile
delinquents, temperance reform, the peace crusade, and the
attitudes to slavery in the North and South. His thesis is that
writers of childrens literature were able to use all the reform
issues except slavery to buttress patriotic feeling in children.
Crandall has very thoroughly investigated the mainstream
periodical childrens literature of this period on the slavery
issue.
De Rosa, Deborah C., Domestic Abolitionism and Juvenile
Literature, 18301865 Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2003
Deborah C. De Rosa is Assistant Professor of English at
Northern Illinois University. Her very well-documented thesis
is that 19th century women, who wanted to express their
abolitionist ideas and still maintain the codes of gender and
respectability for women at the time, could express themselves
by writing childrens literature. These women could maintain
their identity as mother-educators and be feminine while
entering the public arena through expressing abolitionist
views in their literature for children. Her book provides a lens
through which to view Lydia Maria Child and Eliza Lee Follen.
G., H. F., The Prisoners Set Free, The Juvenile Miscellany
VI, New Series, 2 (MayJune 1831) pp. 201210, Google Books
online
Lydia Maria Child recruited some of her abolitionist friends
to write for The Juvenile Miscellany. They signed with their
initials in order to avoid censure for their views. This story
draws an analogy between the condition of slaves and both the
condition of a man in debtors prison and of childrens pets in
cages. The story contains the idea that slavery is a contradiction
of American principles.
Filler, Louis, Crusade Against Slavery: Friends. Foes,
and Reforms 18201860 Algonac, Michigan: Reference
Publications, Inc., 1986
275
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Louis Filler (19111998) was Distinguished University
Professor of American Culture and Society at Antioch College
in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he taught for over four decades,
beginning in 1953. This book is a very well-documented study
of the growth of the anti-slavery sentiment and activism before
the Civil War. Fuller stresses the fact that not all people who
had anti-slavery sentiments were abolitionists. This is a book
for scholars and is a dense read. The book was useful for
understanding the escalating sectional tensions over slavery in
the 1850s.
Follen, Eliza Lee, Inscription under the Picture of an Aged
Negro Woman, Childs Friend Vol. 5, p. 143 (1846), Google
Books online
Eliza Lee Follen was a popular writer for children and
adults who edited the Unitarian-sponsored juvenile periodical,
The Childs Friend, from 1843 to 1850. It was a book-sized
publication that contained travel, biography, and religious
tales for the moral edication of the young reader. Follen
was an abolitionist, and The Childs Friend contained some
powerful indictments of slavery while under her supervision,
many of which she wrote herself. This heartbreaking poem
is written by a female slave in the British Empire, and has an
introduction by Follen: Will not these eloquent lines touch the
hearts of American women and American girls who will soon be
women?
Follen, Eliza Lee, Lines: On hearing of the terror of the
children of American slaves at the thought of being sold,
Childs Friend Vol. II, p. 36 (1844), Google Books online
Eliza Follen wrote this poem which encourages American
children to empathize with the plight of slave children.
Follen, Eliza Lee, The Slave Poet, Childs Friend Vol. 4,
p. 255 (1845), Google Books online
Eliza Lee Follen tells her readers in this piece about the
slave poet James Horton who has tried, so far unsuccessfully,
to purchase his freedom by selling his poetry. According to
De Rosa, Follen realized the importance of offering children
biographies of notable African Americans and challenging
traditional stereotypes about African slaves. In this piece, she
writes of the recent freedom of the English West India slaves
and calls for the liberation of American slaves.
Goodrich, Samuel Griswold, First Book of History For
Children and Youth Boston: Richardson, Lord & Holbrook,
1831; Archive.org, 2006
Samuel Griswold Goodrich (17931860) is credited with
originating a distinctive American childrens literature for
American children. He wrote a series, beginning in 1827,
under the name Peter Parley, of books about geography,
biography, history, science, and various tales. In 1857, he
wrote that he was the author and editor of approximately 170
volumes, and that 7 million copies of his books had been sold
worldwide. Goodrich stated that his aim in writing for children
was to enlarge the circle of knowledge, to invigorate the
understanding, to strengthen the moral nerve, to purify and
exalt the imagination (Goodrich, Reections of a Lifetime,
p. 321). The First Book of History is one of Goodrichs rst
books. It is devoted to United States history and describes all
the states in terms of geography, history, and culture. It has
two chapters on the Puritans, seven chapters on the American
Revolution, and provides a history of the country after the
revolution up to the time of Andrew Jacksons presidency. This
book contains the view of slaverye.g., gradual emancipation,
sending the slaves off to Liberiathat was typical of anti-slavery
sentiment at the time.
Goodrich, Samuel Griswold, Tales of Peter Parley about
Africa Philadelphia: Desilver, Thomas & Co., 1836; Archive.org,
2007
This is a ctional but didactic book about Peter Parleys
experiences in Africa. Peter Parley states that there are many
good people who have slaves but that it is a bad system with
many attendant evils. Goodrich powerfully describes the
cruelties of slavery and the slave trade.
Karcher, Carolyn L., ed., A Lydia Maria Child Reader
Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1997
Carolyn L. Karcher is Professor Emerita of English,
American Studies, and Womens Studies at Temple University.
This book is a superb collection of Lydia Maria Childs writings
divided by topics: The Indian Question, Childrens Literature
and Domestic Advice, Slavery Race, and Reconstruction,
Journalism and Social Critique, Sexuality and the Woman
Question, and Religion, with scholarly and well-written
277
THE CONCORD REVIEW
introductions by Karcher for each section. Despite an
analysis that is sometimes inuenced by left-wing politics, her
scholarship and insights are exemplary. This book provided
much information about the life of Lydia Maria Child and her
role as editor of The Juvenile Miscellany.
Letter to the Editor, Youths Companion, XXTV, 29
(November 14, 1850) p. 116, quoted in John C. Crandall,
Patriotism and Humanitarian Reform in Childrens Literature
18251860, American Quarterly Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring 1969)
p. 18
The Youths Companion (18271929) was an American
Childrens periodical that existed for more than 100 years.
The Companion was published in Boston by the Perry Mason
Company. Its founder, Nathaniel Willis, wanted to educate
his young readers and have them learn the values of piety,
morality, and brotherly love from the stories and poems. Its
motto was no sectarianism, no controversy.
Lystad, Mary, From Dr. Mather to Dr. Seuss: 200 Years of
American Books for Children Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Schenkman Publishing Co., 1980
Mary Lystad is a social historian and an award-winning
childrens book author. This book is based on her research
on collections in the Rare Book Division of the Library of
Congress. Her thesis is that the change in the content of books
for children reects peoples attitudes about what should be
valued in human relationships and achievement. Her book is
interesting because it quanties the percent of books dealing
with different topics, e.g., ction vs. nonction, over time.
Chapter Three on the childrens literature from 1796 to 1835
was particularly relevant.
MacLeod, Anne Scott, Education for Freedom: Childrens
Fiction in Jacksonian America, Harvard Educational Review
Vol. 46, No. 3 (August 1976) pp. 425435
Anne Scott MacLeod is Professor Emerita at the University
of Marylands College of Information Studies. She has a
masters degree in Library Science and a PhD in History from
the University of Maryland. She is considered the pre-eminent
expert in the eld of childrens literature, having published
several books and articles in the eld. This is an excellent
article, which draws on a wide array of sources, about the
concerns of writers for children in the antebellum period.
Her thesis is that the stories for children of this period reveal
the concern of Jacksonian Americans about ensuring moral
integrity in their children in the face of social change. The
primary function of childrens ction was the moral education
of a new generation, emphasizing social responsibility rather
than individual aggrandizement. This was a very useful article
for understanding the juvenile literature of this period.
MacLeod, Anne Scott, A Moral Tale: Childrens Fiction and
American Culture 18201860 Hamden, Connecticut: Archon
Books, 1975
This book is a superb and scholarly analysis of childrens
ction of the antebellum period. MacLeod states that
the stories for the young at this time reveal the anxiety of
Americans about their society. The relentless emphasis upon
a childs inner character betrayed the fear that a decline
in individual morality would destroy the young American
community. This book contains excellent background
information on the authors of juvenile literature as well as an
excellent analysis of how social reform issues and attitudes to
slavery were revealed in this literature.
Meltzer, Milton, and Patricia G. Holland, eds., Lydia Maria
Child: Selected Letters, 18171880 Amherst: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1982
Milton Meltzer was adjunct professor during this project
in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies
at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author
of 40 works of history and biography. Four of his books were
nominated for the National Book Award. Patricia G. Holland
directs a project at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst to
locate and publish the papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony. This is an excellent edition of Lydia Maria
Childs Letters divided into chapters by dates, with interesting
and scholarly introductions to each chapter. This book
provided a deeper understanding of Lydia Maria Child and her
involvement with The Juvenile Miscellany.
Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer, Chronological History of the
United States, Arranged with Plates on Berns Principle New
York: Sheldon, Blakeman, 1856
279
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody was a teacher and educational
reformer who is most famous for founding the kindergarten
in America. She was an abolitionist. Peabody did not include
a discussion of slavery in her United States history for
schoolchildren because she thought it was too divisive an issue.
Schlesinger, Elizabeth Bancroft, Two Harvard Wives: Eliza
Farrar and Eliza Follen, The New England Quarterly Vol. 38,
No. 2 (June 1965) pp. 147167
Elizabeth Bancroft Schlesinger (18861977) is the wife of
the Harvard historian, Arthur M. Schlesinger, and the mother
of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. who won the Pulitzer Prize in
history in 1945 and served in John F. Kennedys administration.
She pioneered the study of womens history after World War
II and wrote articles about 19th century American women
of note. This article contains a good biography of Eliza Lee
Follen and an evaluation of her writing. Schlesingers thesis
is that both these women lived useful, productive lives within
the limitations of the female role of the time. This article has
excellent information about the life of Eliza Lee Follen.
Tatekani, Etsuko, The Omnipresent Aunt and the Social
Child: Lydia Maria Childs Juvenile Miscellany, Childrens
Literature 27, Yale University Press, 1999 Hollins University,
pp. 2239
Etsuko Tatekani is Associate Professor of English at the
University of Tsukuba, Japan. In this article, she analyzes three
stories from The Juvenile Miscellany: The Little Rebels, The
Irish Immigrants, and Mary French and Susan Easton. Her
thesis is that the magazine politicizes the relationship between
adults and children by aligning children with marginalized
groups thereby explicitly and implicitly offering a critique of
domestic colonialism. (p. 23) The jargon words are off-putting
(otherness, disenfranchised, domestic colonialism,
patriarchal), but this paper has an interesting viewpoint and
contributed to an understanding of the Mary French and
Susan Easton story as a criticism of the domestic slave trade
and provided interesting information about the concurrent
involvement of Lydia Maria Childs husband, David Child, with
the issue.
Willis, Nathaniel, Youths Companion II, 8 (July 18, 1828) p.
32, quoted in John C. Crandall, Patriotism and Humanitarian
Reform in Childrens Literature 18251860, American
Quarterly Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring 1969) p. 12
Nathaniel Willis was the founder of Youths Companion
and its editor from 1827 to 1856. He wanted to educate his
young readers and have them learn values of piety, morality,
and brotherly love from the stories and poems. The motto of
the Companion was no sectarianism, no controversy. In this
quote, Willis echoes the prevailing anti-slavery sentiment of the
day, the moderate stance of gradual emancipation.
Woodworth, Frank, Uncle Franks Monthly Table-Talks:
Catching the Measles, Youths Cabinet II, Third Series, 5
(November 1856) pp. 148149, Google Books online
The Youths Cabinet was originally an anti-slavery newspaper
until it was bought by Francis C. Woodworth in 1846. As editor
of Youths Cabinet, Frank Woodworth drastically changed
the magazine which now focused on geography, history, and
Christian morality. In this piece, Woodworth urges his young
readers to preserve the Union.
281
THE CONCORD REVIEW

Since 1987, The Concord Review has published 1,044
history research papers, averaging 6,000 words, on a wide
variety of historical topics by high school students in thirty-
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Notes on Contributors
Katherine Rosenberg (Caesar Augustus) is a Junior at Horace
Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York, where she is a
member of the schools Academic Challenge team and earned
a summa cum laude three times on the National Latin Exam. She
runs cross country, plays softball, and plays the violin, viola and
piano.
Gabriel Grand (The New York Times) is a Senior at the
Horace Mann School in the Bronx, New York, where he was
awarded the Robert Caro Prize for Literary Excellence in History.
He is interested in Spanish, music and science. He spent a month
last Summer in Spain, and he is the president of the schools Mock
Trial team, and a member of the schools crew team.
Theresa L. Rager (History of Tuberculosis) is a Senior at
Summit Country Day School in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was
given the Notre Dame book award. She is a member of the National
Honor Society and plans to major in biology in college before
going to medical school, and perhaps on to a Ph.D. as well.
Gabriel Kelly (Commercial Revolution) is a Senior at Franklin
Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, where he is a
member of the marching band. He was completing his Eagle Scout
project last Summer, and he wrote this paper as an independent
study project. He plans a history major in college.
Malini Gandhi (Miscegenation) is a Senior at Newton North
High School in Newtonville, Massachusetts, where she teaches
middle school students in ecology, botany and environmental
studies in the Summer. She is captain of the Envirothon Science
team at school and is a member of the Science Olympiad team.
She has won a number of writing awards and the Princeton book
award, as well as a gold medal in the National Spanish Exam.
Reid Grinspoon (Eugenics in Massachusetts) will be at
Harvard in Fall 2013. He was a National Merit Commended Scholar
as a Junior and took part in the National Outdoor Leadership
School course in the Rocky Mountains. He was captain of Varsity
Lacrosse & Varsity Cross Country, and has spent a summer in Israel.
THE CONCORD REVIEW 283
Kaitavjeet Chowdhary (Boss Tweed) is a Senior at Glastonbury
High School in Glastonbury, Connecticut, where he plays Varsity
Tennis and is captain of the Debate team. He is president of
the schools Model UN club, and has conducted research in a
microbiology lab in the Summer. He plays the euphonium and
plans to become a physician-scientist.
Aleez Qadir (Mughal Empire) is a Senior at the University
of Chicago Laboratory High School in Chicago, Illinois, where she
won prizes twice on the National Spanish exam. She is a Pakistani-
American Muslim from Chicago, of Pashtun and Baloch descent.
Most of her family lives in Pakistan, (Karachi and Quetta) where
she spends a few months each year. She is very interested in singing
and performing in school productions.
Andrew Burton (U.S.UK in WWII) is a Senior and IB
Diploma candidate at Upper Canada College in Toronto, where his
essay on the Battle of Vimy Ridge was awarded a Vimy Beaverbrook
Prize in 2012. He plays saxophone in the UCC Jazz Ensemble and
tutors children in music at the Dixon Hall School of Music.
Edyt Dickstein (Conditions for Democracy) is a Senior at
Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, New York, where
she is captain of the schools Model UN team and the Debate
team, and editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. She has won a
number of poetry awards and plans a history major in college.
Anna Elizabeth Blech (Slavery in Childrens Literature) is
a Junior at Hunter College High School on Manhattan Island
in New York, where she has received several writing awards. She
won rst place at the New York City Science and Engineering
Fair in microbiology. She has been involved in various school
productions, and she was reading William Manchesters biography
of ChurchillThe Last Lion when she sent in this paper.

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e copies you sent [Summer 2009 issue] are absolutely

awesome! I share your work all the time, and I expect that youre going to
get additional friends joining your mission sooner rather than later. Your
work is vital to the direction our nation is taking.
Ellio Witney, Head of Schools, KIPP Houston
e leading U.S. proponent of more research work for the nations
teens is Will Fitzhugh, who has been publishing high school student
[history research] papers in hisConcord Reviewjournal since 1987...
Jay Mathews, e Washington Post
I believe e Concord Review is one of the most imaginative,
creative, and supportive initiatives in public education. It is a wonderful
incentive to high school students to take scholarship and writing seriously.
John Silber, President Emeritus, Boston University
I very much like and support what youre doing with e Concord
Review. Its original, important, and greatly needed, now more than ever,
with the problem of historic illiteracy growing steadily worse among the
high school generation nearly everywhere in the country.
David McCullough, Historian
We have been glad to have reprints of essays published in e
Concord Review, submied by our applicants over the years, to add to the
information we consider in making admissions decisions...All of us here in
the Admissions Oce are big fans of e Concord Review.
William R. Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions, Harvard College
HARVARD COLLEGE
Oce of Admissions and Financial Aid
September 15, 2010
Mr. Will Fitzhugh
e Concord Review
730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24
Sudbury, Massachuses 01776 USA
Dear Will,
We agree with your argument that high school students who have read a complete
nonction book or two, and wrien a serious research paper or two, will be beer prepared
for college academic work than those who have not.
e Concord Review, founded in 1987, remains the only journal in the world for
the academic papers of secondary students, and we in the Admissions Oce here are always
glad to see reprints of papers which students have had published in the Review and which they
send to us as part of their application materials. Over the years, more than 10% (107) of these
authors have come to college at Harvard.
Since 1998, when it started, we have been supporters of your National Writing
Board, which is still unique in supplying independent three-page assessments of the research
papers of secondary students. e NWB reports also provide a useful addition to the college
application materials of high school students who are seeking admission to selective colleges.
For all our undergraduates, even those in the sciences, such competence, both
in reading nonction books and in the writing of serious research papers, is essential for
academic success. Some of our high schools now place too lile emphasis on this, but e
Concord Review and the National Writing Board are doing a national service in encouraging
our secondary students, and their teachers, to spend more time and eort on developing
these abilities.
Sincerely,
Bill
William R. Fitzsimmons
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid
WRF:oap
Adc|c|s|:a||e Oce. :e i:a|e :|:ee| Cac|:|dge, \assac|cses c1}:

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