As another example of free love in the regional blogosphere, Professor Emeritus David Newquist has a third post on Lincoln. Again, I recommend it to our readers. He gives the reader the flavor of the crowds at the Lincoln-Douglas debates, one that certainly added to my appreciation of that historical event. Consider this finely crafted passage:
The early settlers in Illinois were not a particularly savory lot. Society was held in a state of fear by a group that observers of the time called "butcher knife boys." They wore sharpened butcher knives in their belts and were quick to brandish and use them on anyone to whom they took offense. An early governor of Illinois noted that any politician who wanted to be elected had to have the endorsement of these men. They were part of the rough river men and migrants from the South who engaged in face-ripping fights for the sport.
At the time Lincoln was starting his political career, the voting was done orally in large meetings. One observer of that political climate stated that the butcher knife crowd voted loudly and "not infrequently."
Professor Newquist is also gracious in his comments about Professor Schaff's posts on Lincoln, and my own. I have suggested that David is a bit hard on the blogosphere, to be sure a political climate where "reductive quips" are made loudly and not infrequently. But I agree with him that the blogs can be more than that, and I think our exchanges on Jazz and Abraham Lincoln are proof.
ps. David adds this comment:
I must say, I appreciate the exchanges on Abraham Lincoln. Just as one can't have too many trumpet players, one can't study him enough.
I would only add that one cannot have too many tenor sax players, just to get a plug in for Wayne Shorter. I sent my children a Christmas list peppered with Wayne Shorter CDs.
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