#gary wills

[transistoradio]

Photo by Michel Meunier for Garry Wills, “Memories of a Catholic Boyhood,” Esquire, February, 1971.

[sixwaystoshakespeare]

So I just powered through a 150 page book about Macbeth and the Gunpowder Plot, and I need to tell you all that Macbeth is a witch and I cannot get it out of my head.

[readreadbookblog]

Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power by Garry Wills

https://www.amazon.com/Negro-President-Jefferson-Slave-Power/dp/0618485376

Asking who was declared the first “Negro President”, one might say that that it is Obama (and if you are so bold to say Clinton) but that title would go to Thomas Jefferson. As author Garry Wills explains, it was from the fact that Jefferson gained the presidency from slaves via extra votes that slave holding states gained from the three-fifths clause. As Wills shows in this book, Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power, slavery was to be the major driving force behind Jefferson’s presidential ruling and tenure.

To contrast Jefferson’s pro-slavery view, Wils introduces us to Timothy Pickering, an American patriot that ends up becoming a vocal critic of Jefferson and slavery during his long years serving in Congress. Actually the majority of this book is mostly about Pickering as he fights the expansion of slavery everywhere he could, from the early days of the John Adams administration to 1829, Pickering’s death. The book also picks up the last years of both Jefferson and Pickering rival, John Quincy Adams, and his fight to end slavery during his tenure in the House till his death in 1848. But following Pickering’s story does show how big of a role slavery played during the Jefferson administration. From being elected president to expanding slavery and stopping abolitionists/emancipation, Pickering is everywhere where Jefferson tries to further expand upon slavery. Other Congressmen, famous or not so famous, are thrown into the story and thus we end up following Quincy Adams in the end of the book, with a little mention of an junior congressmen named Abe Lincoln.

Wills’s book is neatly divided into three parts but the chapters themselves become a bit troublesome to follow. If you pick up this book and read it a bit or don’t want to finish it, I say that the beginning of this book is MUST READ MATERIAL. Haiti is mentioned in American history books as a slave uprising that was inspired by the French Revolution which in turn was inspired by the American Revolution. But the French Revolution wasn’t going to apply to their oversea colonies so they didn’t want Haiti to share these values and decided to invade Haiti. As a swipe to the French, American textbooks tell how these not fully enlightened Frenchmen got owned by the Haitians despite being the soldiers of Napoleon.

But even biographies of both Presidents John Adams and Jefferson do not tell the story of Haiti and the U.S. policy towards them. Adams greatly helped Haiti and ended basically ended up giving naval support to Toussaint Louverture and help win Haitian independence. But this would dramatically change with the election of 1800, when the slave owning Jefferson would reversal course and let Haiti fall to the French, killing many of the Haitian and imposing an economic blockade/sanctions. This is an incredible read that no Jefferson biography that I’ve read has ever mentioned and even the David McCullough Adams biography just mentions Haitian support in a sentence in passing. This is excellent history written that masterful historians do.

The book continues by examining Jefferson’s policies regarding slave power. It examines the Louisiana Purchase and Jefferson’s steadfast acceptance of spreading slavery into this new territory and other newly admitted states. Wills examines how the “second revolution” of 1800 could have differed regarding the slave count in the elector college. The establishment of the nation’s capital as a slave area and congressional gag rules on slavery are placed in content with slavery factoring in as the main factor. The shocking and very tyrannic impeachments and firings of Federalist midnight appointments really do make Jefferson look like a real monster, akin of third world dictators. Wills also continues to show how the Madison presidency and Embargo Act affected the slavery polices of the U.S.

Wills also, in the beginning of the book shows the historiography of Pickering and the various manners in which he was depicted in history. Really there is no good biography of Timothy Pickering, Will argues, and this book really in fact is mostly about Pickering than Jefferson, which is the closest to a Pickering biography one can get, especially one that is written less than 160 years old.

Also this book should be placed in the top five of must read Jefferson material. Even if it is solely for the beginning of the book, which, as explained above, solely shows a new previously under written chapter of American history regarding Haiti and an amazing examination of the role of the slave count had in the 1800 U.S. election. Really, this book just keeps giving in terms of the field of history.

Jefferson is usually displayed as the most patriotic American that unfortunately owned slaves. Recent history has rightly called out his behavior, with Washington even calling tainted with his usage of slavery. While Jefferson has done some questionable things, his achievements shouldn’t be overlooked. His contribution to the creation of the American Republic and the ideals (that he didn’t personal live up) to are essential to today’s world. One shouldn’t portrait Jefferson as all great or total villain as he is probably the most written upon U.S. president and most complex. Wills’s book is probably the best Jefferson book that I will read, especially since it is written as a history book in terms of explaining, analyzing, and researching rather than the boring dates and remembering key events that one can easily find on Wikipedia. Seek this one out, even if it is just for the beginning of the book.

[moderntheosophy]

A really good read, regardless of what faith you are, is Why Priests? A Failed Tradition by Gary Wills. It is well researched, and it takes a hard look at why the hierarchy of the church was created, in contrast to the intentions of early Christianity. Just as a look into structures and traditions of the church, its very interesting. 

Beyond that, its actually written by a practicing Catholic.

[sixwaystoshakespeare]

The biggest thing I am struggling with is how to incorporate Wills’s thesis into my own reworking of Macbeth. I've been struggling with one aspect of it for a while, but this kind of throws me into further turmoil.

[tonywoodallspeaker]

QOD-188: A leader is one who mobilizes others toward a shared goal. -Gary Wills

A leader mobilizes others toward a shared goal. #GaryWills #Goals #Quote #leadership

Today’s Quote is from Gary Wills

Click Below to Listen to Today’s Show

[app_audio src=” http://traffic.libsyn.com/goalgettingpodcast/QOD-188_Gary_Wills_Final.mp3″] The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers. … Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership.” — Gary Wills

One who mobilizes others toward a…

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[transfigurationblues]

Joe Scarborough claims that the Republicans have continually oscillated between moderates and extremists. But he could find only two stellar moderates in the last half-century, Eisenhower and Reagan. Some oscillation! Dionne comes closer to the facts with his tale of a ground bass of growls against moderation, swelling at times or diminishing, but continuously present and becoming more embittered. It is appropriate that this feeling has been in alliance with the Confederate South, the loser of a war it still thinks it should have won. The rest of the Republicans may not be as racist as the South, but they cannot prevail at the federal level without it. All grievances gravitate toward one another.

Gary Wills, “The Triumph of the Hard Right”

[inqk]

This new approach might be called the Higher Holiness, claiming that the Bible is right, no matter what it actually says.

Gary Wills