1. THE METAPHYSICAL CLUB ~ June 26th ~ June 30th ~~ Part One - Chapters I ~ (3 - 22); Preface ~ (ix - xii) No-Spoilers, please

[Bryan]

Jeffrey wrote: "Kathy wrote:

I would say that with the invasion of the South and the suspension of habeas corpus we took our first steps toward a police state.

You of course realize that the first Confederate Co..."

Thanks, Jeffrey, don't forget to move the author next to the book cover in your citations:


by Emory M. Thomas

[Katy]

Thanks, Dale. I remember too when I first read Emerson's Self-Reliance that it was not what I had expected. I was looking for the "do it yourself" lesson too, rather than the "trust yourself" lesson that he wrote in the essay.

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Peter wrote: "Bentley asked why we think the civil war marked the start of modern America. And Menand wrote

The Civil War swept away the slave civilization of the South, but it swept away almost the whole inte..."

Jeffrey wrote: "Just got a copy of the book from the library yesterday and haven completed the first assignment yet.

In general I like the idea of the Metaphysical Club. Three is much to be said in favor of an i..."

Peter, how are you doing with the book - look forward to reading your posts on some of the other threads.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Dale wrote: "Peter wrote: "Regarding Emerson, I found the notion of "self-reliance" as being like a matchstick standing by itself quite appealing. There is no such thing as self-reliance. In one obvious sense, ..."

Dale it looks like you might have sailed through the book - be sure to post some of your final thoughts on the Book as a Whole thread if that is the case and still join on the discussion.

[Patricrk]

A late reader comments:
Part 1:
Why do you think the Civil War was a time when Congress was able to be more active?

Besides the lack of Southern representatives, the fact that Congress was meeting more frequently. When Lincoln was elected to Congress it was something like 9 months after the election that Congress met. We talk about a do nothing Congress now! Also, before the Civil War the nation was a collection of States and it was viewed internally as such with the State Government being the most visible part of government. A major war brings major changes in society and one of the changes the Civil War brought was the emergence of the national government as the most visible government (it was spending the most money)

Part 2:
Why was it necessary for Congress to become a progressive leader during this time?

I don't know if was necessary but the Republican party was a fairly new coalition of various interest groups with different agendas. To maintain their coalition it was probably politically expedient to meet as many of those different agendas as possible.

Part 3:
Do you think government should have been more or less active at this time, knowing what we do now?

What do we know now?? Getting rid of the corruption of slavery was good. Opening up the west, I think it was good but the Indians and buffalo probably have a different perspective on that. With the 13,14 and 15th amendments to the Constitution it tried to promote social equality of males (not females) but backed away from that for a long time. So it didn't go far enough then. Its hard to judge from where we sit in time but I would say not active enough myself.

[Katy]

Hi Patrick. I enjoyed your comments. And late readers are always nice to have; helps me to go back and review what was read at the beginning of the book. Happy reading.