Category: U.S. history

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Riots over the Bible? Yes. In Philadelphia.

When we think of conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, we think of the wars following the Protestant Reformation in Europe, especially in the 1500s and 1600s. The United States, we assume, has followed a policy of free expression of religion, as promised in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[1]

Sad to say, that is not true. I would like to share with you (briefly) the story of the “Philadelphia Riots of 1844.” In two episodes in May and July of 1844, pitched battles occurred between two groups: Protestant “nativists” (people, including clergy, who feared foreigners, especially Catholics and their “popery”) and Catholic newcomers, most of them Irish immigrants. As many as 58 people were killed—Protestants, Catholics, and members of the militia that was belatedly sent out to quell the riot. [2]

Historians tend to blame the “nativists” for starting and perpetuating the riots and the Irish crowd for bringing out guns and killing the first victim, setting the stage  for retaliation. Continue reading “Riots over the Bible? Yes. In Philadelphia.”

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The Problem with Political History

US. Capitol

As many readers know, my husband, Richard Stroup, died in November. For those who didn’t know him, here is a short obituary.  I very much appreciate the messages so many have shared with me about Rick.

Rick was somewhat skeptical of history as a discipline because he didn’t see any theory behind it (it seemed more like “one damned thing after another“). He preferred economic theory and its application to political behavior, which is called public choice economics. He and his coauthor James D. Gwartney were among the pioneers in this field.

Can history and economics be reconciled? Continue reading “The Problem with Political History”

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The 1920s Consensus on Prohibition . . . How Wilson Persecuted the Hutterites  . . . American Indian Warriors

Bootleggers

Perhaps history can teach us, after all. Here are some fascinating stories that surfaced in the past few weeks. My paragraphs will give you highlights and I encourage you to read the originals.

‘Follow the Consensus’

Looking back, most of us see the American prohibition era (1920–1933) as a giant, foolhardy mistake. It destroyed businesses, turned average citizens into criminals, built a mafia of corruption, and more. How could it have happened?

In an essay full of surprises, Jeffrey Tucker of AIER helps explain this mystery. It turns out that in the 1920s there was a powerful social consensus in favor of prohibition, promoted and backed by economists and physicians. To challenge it was unseemly at best. Continue reading “The 1920s Consensus on Prohibition . . . How Wilson Persecuted the Hutterites  . . . American Indian Warriors”

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Middle-class at Heart (Part I)

“The baby is sick. He has been sick a long time. He cries a lot and Pa sometimes spanks him to make him be good. When he sits in his high-chair he can’t hold up his head  . . . Ma says she doesn’t have time to take care of him and anyway she is too busy to eat herself so she has no milk for the baby.”

So wrote Gertrude Willson in her diary in upper New York State during the mid-1880s. That starving baby grew up to be a school principal in New York City, although he died at age 56 because of his early malnutrition. Gertrude went to normal school and became a teacher. Her cousin became a school principal, then turned Methodist and became a circuit-riding preacher in Nebraska, and later was an Episcopal priest.

However poor her family was, Gertrude Willson’s family had pluck and determination and overcame odds.

A couple of months ago I asked readers to send me stories about their family history. I published one of them, by David Brook, and plan to publish the story of Gertrude Willson, a cousin of John Willson, in a future post.

The people who sent me stories are well-educated professionals. If there is one thing that has struck me about their family stories, it is how “middle class” they are, even going way back. That’s true of my family, too. By middle-class I mean that they worked hard, out of duty as much as necessity; they expected their children to do so, too; and they valued education. Continue reading “Middle-class at Heart (Part I)”

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A Slice of Americana, Forgotten

Correspondence school certificate

Last week I wrote about the Transportation-Communication Revolution that has fostered economic growth around the world.[1] Yes, it may have sped up the international spread of the coronavirus but, if so, that is a short-run effect. Prosperity has been the long-run result.

In the late nineteenth century another transportation-communication revolution took place, as railroads enabled products to be sold over vast geographical distances.[2] In the United States this led  to the emergence of mass marketers like Montgomery Ward and Sears, which sent catalogs, products and even kits for building houses all around the country.

And it produced a new kind of education: correspondence schools. Continue reading “A Slice of Americana, Forgotten”