As fresh deeds of violence or new aggressions against the government were reported from the daily papers in the shop where I was then employed, some one who was not a "Lincolnite" would exclaim, in an angry tone; "I hope you fellows are satisfied now. I don't blame the South an atom. They have been driven to desperation by such lunatics as Garrison and Phillips, and these men ought to be hung for it." And, "I want to see those hot-headed Abolitionists put into the front rank, and shot first."  

 

Tempers ran hot up to the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.  Bravado was evident on both sides, with both sides believing the other would not fight.  But when the fighting did come, some with the most belicose stance faded behind the crowd and let others shoulder the burden and take the risk.  Oliver Wedel Holmes, Sr., father of the famous jursit, wrote an ode to these braggarts, entitled "The Sweet Little Man," that summed up the feelings of the Wide-Awakes and Rail Splitters.

 

"He now entered upon that period of the inventor's life which has proved to many so wearying and disheartening—the effort to bring his invention into general use. He applied to Congress in vain for aid. Considerable interest in the subject was aroused in Congress and throughout the country, but he derived no benefit from it. If men spoke of his telegraph, it was only to ridicule it, or to express their doubts of its success."

 

Before the Internet, before the wireless, before the telephone, there was the telegraph.  And as a disruptive innovation, it may rival the Web in how fast and how radically it changed the world, for before it, communication was slow and unreliable, while after it, instantaneous and sure.  It is hard for us to imagine news in New York taking weeks or months to reach San Francisco, but that was life before Morse code.

 

"There was a combination of exciting causes—the feeling against England and Englishmen, handed down to us from the Revolution, and kept fresh by the insults and abuse of British writers on American manners—the injury committed against Forrest, with Macready as its presumed cause, and this was increased by the fact of Macready playing at the aristocratic, kid-glove Opera House."

 

In a time when duels settled "matters of honor," insults, perceived or real, could easily lead to violence.  When New Yorkers felt that one of their own was injured by "a combination of the aristocracy against the people, and in support of English arrogance," even by just one man, violence did erupt.  Twenty-two died, and thirty were injured in a night of rioting brought on by a spat between two actors who came to represent their respective countries to opposing forces.

 

"I speak the truth, painful, humiliating, and terrible as it is; and because I am bold and faithful to do so, am I to be branded as the calumniator and enemy of my country? Sir, it is because my affection for her is intense and paramount to all selfish considerations that I do not parley with her crimes." 

 

An inconvenient truth, which defies the modern race narrative, is that white, Christian men and women of strong faith planted the seeds of black emancipation finally harvested after the American Civil War, where 642,427 Union soldiers, sailors and marines became casualties to preserve the Union and end slavery.  What started as a trickle ended as a torrent as the demand from white citizens for black emancipation grew strong enough to carry the Union though the bleakest days of the struggle.  William Garrison was ahead of the country on the matter of slavery, but through his work, and that of others who braved censure, beatings and worse, the nation caught up.