Dissent in Three American Wars

by Samuel Eliot Morison, Frederick Merk, Frank Freidel

Historical scholars probe American protests to participation in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War

Genres: American History

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Samuel Eliot Morison, son of John H. and Emily Marshall (Eliot) Morison, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 9 July 1887. He attended Noble’s School at Boston, and St. Paul’s at Concord, New Hampshire, before entering Harvard University, from which he was graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1908. He studied at the Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques, Paris, France, in 1908-1909, and returned to Harvard for postgraduate work, receiving the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1912. Thereafter he became Instructor, first at the University of California in Berkeley, and in 1915 at Harvard. Except for three years (1922-1925) when he was Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford, England, and his periods of active duty during both World Wars, he remained continuously at Harvard University as lecturer and professor until his retirement in 1955.

He had World War I service as a private in the US Army, but not overseas. As he had done some preliminary studies on Finland for Colonel House’s Inquiry, he was detailed from the Army in January 1919 and attached to the Russian Division of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, at Paris, his specialty being Finland and the Baltic States. He served as the American Delegate on the Baltic Commission of the Peace Conference until 17 June 1919, and shortly after returned to the United States. He became a full Professor at Harvard in 1925, and was appointed to the Jonathan Trumbull Chair in 1940. He also taught American History at Johns Hopkins University in 1941-1942.

Living up to his sea-going background – he has sailed in small boats and coastal craft all his life. In 1939-1940, he organized and commanded the Harvard Columbus Expedition which retraced the voyages of Columbus in sailing ships, barkentine Capitana and ketch Mary Otis. After crossing the Atlantic under sail to Spain and back, and examining all the shores visited by Columbus in the Caribbean, he wrote Admiral of the Ocean Sea, an outstanding biography of Columbus, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1943. He also wrote a shorter biography, Christopher Columbus, Mariner. With Maurico Obregon of Bogota, he surveyed and photographed the shores of the Caribbean by air and published an illustrated book The Caribbean as Columbus Saw It (1964).

Shortly after the United States entered World War II, Dr. Morison proposed to his friend President Roosevelt, to write the operational history of the US Navy from the inside, by taking part in operations and writing them up afterwards. The idea appealed to the President and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and on 5 May 1942, Dr. Morison was commissioned Lieutenant Commander, US Naval Reserve, and was called at once to active duty. He subsequently advanced to the rank of Captain on 15 December 1945. His transfer to the Honorary Retired List of the Naval Reserve became effective on 1 August 1951, when he was promoted to Rear Admiral on the basis of combat awards.

In July-August 1942 he sailed with Commander Destroyer Squadron Thirteen (Captain John B. Heffernan, USN), on USS Buck, flagship, on convoy duty in the Atlantic. In October of that year, on USS Brooklyn with Captain Francis D. Denebrink, he participated in Operation TORCH (Allied landings in North and Northwestern Africa - 8 November 1942). In March 1943, while attached to Pacific Fleet Forces, he visited Noumea, Guadalcanal, Australia, and on Washington made a cruise with Vice Admiral W. A. Lee, Jr., USN. He also patrolled around Papua in motor torpedo boats, made three trips up “the Slot” on Honolulu, flagship of Commander Cruisers, Pacific Fleet (Rear Admiral W.W. Ainsworth, USN), and took part in the Battle of Kolombangara before returning to the mainland. Again in the Pacific War Area in September 1943, he participated in the Gilbert Islands operation on board USS Baltimore, under command of Captain Walter C. Calhoun, USN. For the remainder of the Winter he worked at Pearl Harbor, and in the Spring

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samuel Eliot Morison's short piece on the topic of Federalist dissent in the War of 1812 is an example of a historian addressing the general public to comment on current affairs by drawing lessons from history. These lessons are very different from those implicit in Dangerfield's book. This is possibly attributable to the fact that this essay was originally delivered as an evening lecture at the Massachusetts Historical Society during the high point in dissent over the Vietnam War. Morison's essay is not judgmental of the New England Federalists, rather he seeks to remind his audience that wartime dissent in America has viable historical precedent. According to Morison, the War of 1812 was even more unpopular than the Vietnam War while it lasted.

Dissent in the War of 1812 centered in the Northeast, especially in Massachusetts and Maine, and it admittedly took on rather blatant and occasionally extreme forms. The Harvard Corporation flagrantly gave honorary degrees to noted dissidents. John Lowell, a notorious forbearer of McGeorge Bundy, agitated for Northeastern secession. Caleb Strong, governor of Massachusetts, came very close to violating the Logan Act by sending Thomas Adams to sound out the British on a separate peace for New England.

Morison points to the fact, however, that Federalists occupied the moral high ground. War with the British put the United States behind the despotic Napoleon against the cause of the free world. The Federalists also saw how vulnerable the New England coast was to attack from the British navy. Indeed, once Napoleon had been vanquished in Europe, England blockaded the New England Coast and occupied Eastern Maine.

Combining high moral principle and a conception of sectional interest, the Federalists had a viable anti-war argument. Yet at the Hartford Convention, despite accusations leveled by Republicans, moderation prevailed. No decision was reached for secession. The Hartford Convention sent its delegation to President Madison in January of 1815 with the intention of getting federal funds to defend Massachusetts against the British, not to announce New England's intention to secede.

Morison's essay seeks to debunk the myth, revived by President Johnson in a press conference, that the Hartford Delegation's secessionist treason was only thwarted by the concurrent arrival of news of the Treaty of Ghent and Andrew Jackson's defeat of the British at New Orleans. This misrepresentation of the Hartford Delegation's mission is indicative of another corollary myth which Morison seeks to dispel. To cover up the failure of its miserably conceived war with England, the Madison Administration created a myth of New England Federalist responsibility for preventing a speedy conclusion of the war with England. This had its contemporary resonance for Morison's listeners. Indeed, Morison is arguing that dissent over the Vietnam War is not the reason for the failure of that war effort either. Some wars, he seems to say, are perhaps better left unfought.