Categories: Historical Artifacts

Samuel F.B. Morse – “What Hath God Wrought!”

Samuel Finley Breese (F.B.) Morse (1791-1872) is best remembered for being the inventor of the American telegraph system and the Morse Code alphabet which is still widely used today. It was his development and perfection of an instantaneous method of electronic communication over long distances which contributed to the rapid expansion of the West during the late 1800’s and laid the groundwork for today’s 24/7 mass media culture.

Something which history widely forgets today about Morse’s great inventions, however, is the role God played throughout the process. Educated on religious matters from birth by his father, the notable Rev. Jedidiah Morse, Samuel developed a deep and sincere faith in God. In the two volume work, Samuel F.B. Morse: His Letters and Journals, his own son describes the inventor’s character:

The dominant note was an almost childlike religious faith; a triumphant trust in the goodness of God even when his hand was wielding the rod; a sincere belief in the literal truth of the Bible, which may seem strange to us of the twentieth century; a conviction that he was destined in some way to accomplish a great good for his fellow men.

Next to love of God came love of country. He was patriotic in the best sense of the word. While abroad he stoutly upheld the honor of his native land, and at home he threw himself with vigor into the political discussions of the day, fighting stoutly for what he considered the right….

A favorite Bible quotation of his was “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.” He deeply deplored the necessity of making enemies, but he early in his career became convinced that no man could accomplish anything of value in this world without running counter either to the opinions of honest men, who were as sincere as he, or to the self-seeking of the dishonest and the unscrupulous.1

Morse’s pious character clearly exhibits itself in the historic message relayed during the public demonstration of the telegraph on May 24, 1844. Morse had promised Annie Ellsworth, the daughter of the Commissioner of Patents that she would get to decide what would be said. After talking with her mother, Annie decided to send a portion from Numbers 23:23: “What hath God wrought!”

Early that morning, Morse and his guests gathered in the chamber of the Supreme Court while his assistant prepared to receive the fateful transmission in Baltimore. Then, at 8:45 a.m. on May 24, 1844, the electricity flowed through the line:

| . – – | . . . . | . – | – |
|   W       H      A    T |

| . . . . | . – | – | . . . . |
|   H      A    T     H   |

| – – . | . . | – . . |
|   G     O     D    |

| . – – | . . . | . . | . . – | – – . | . . . . | – |
|    W       R     O    U       G       H     T |

That message inaugurated the beginning of electronic media in America, setting off a chain of technological advancements which continues to this day nearly two-hundred years later. From the telegraph to the telephone to the internet, we all have good reason to declare, “What hath God wrought!”

Samuel Morse never forgot the role that God had in the development and success of the telegraph, always bearing in mind the powerful phrase selected by Annie Ellsworth. Later in life Morse explained that the telegraph was not merely an example of American ingenuity, but rather an example of God’s gracious providence:

Yet in tracing the birth and pedigree of the modern Telegraph, ‘American’ is not the highest term of the series that connects the past with the present; there is at least one higher term, the highest of all, which cannot and must not be ignored. If not a sparrow falls to the ground without a definite purpose in the plans of infinite wisdom, can the creation of an instrumentality so vitally affecting the interests of the whole human race have an origin less humble than the Father of every good and perfect gift?

I am sure I have the sympathy of such an assembly as is here gathered if, in all humility and in the sincerity of a grateful heart, I use the words of inspiration in ascribing honor and praise to Him whom first of all and most of all it is preeminently due. ‘Not unto us, not unto us, but to God be all the glory.’ Not what hath man, but ‘What hath God wrought?’2

The WallBuilders’ Library is home to a handwritten letter from Samuel Morse composed in 1836, a full eight years before the triumph of the telegraph. In this personal letter to Miss Mary Pattison we get a glimpse into artistic side Morse’s mind through the portions of poetry he records, which also exhibit his deep devotion to God. Below is the transcript of the WallBuilders’ letter followed by pictures of the document itself.

Miss Mary Pattison, Troy

New York, Sept. 14th, 1836

My dear friend Mary,

I comply with my promise and send you the lines which I wrote a few years ago for an Album in the possession of a young lady on the North river. If you remember I was struck with the train of thought a Mr. Adams’ piece in Mr. Taylor’s Album, and told you, that I had embodied the same thought, or nearly resembling it. I had it not in my memory, but this morning in searching my desk I found them and transcribe them for you.

What’s our Life but an Album fair
Outwardly deck’d with gilding name
With many leaves of white within
Where virtue writes, but oft’mes sin
With many leaves all written o’er
While every day turns one leaf more?
This breathes the hopes of younger years
That tells of sorrows and of fears.
Black eaves between Where naught has been
But blots perchance of Folly’s pen
And some remain, (at most but few,)
Where Sin will write: Shall Virtue too?
Yield then thy pen to God to draw
On the next leaf his perfect law
To when thy book of life is done
Cleans’d by the blood of God’s own son
From Sin’s dark blots, and Folly’s stain
A purer volume shall remain
And rest, (to Grace a splendid prize,)
In Heaven’s alcoves in the skies.

The moral is better than the poetry, you may destroy if you will the latter, but cherish the former.

I don’t know whether I am better for my last visit to Troy. My pleasure of your house was in excess, and like all excess is producing a corresponding depression. Your lovely sister is a most destructive enemy of one’s peace, and the worst of it is that she is innocently cruel. She wounds, yet knows it not. Well, Happiness, happiness to her, and to you all. Tell Catharine I am expecting my Philippina. I am wishing time away until the 1st of October.

I send by this opportunity some “Sketches” which were popular when they were published, I don’t know whether they were copied into the Troy papers. You will find in them where you have an idle hour, some of the incidents more in detail, which I told you verbally.

Remember I hold you all engaged for the Commencement of the University, in the first week of October.

With sincere regard,
Affectionately your friend & servant
Sam. F.B. Morse

I have just met with another trifle, which since I am in the mood of transcribing I send for Catherine’s album. It was written at the request of a young lady, who asked me to write something for her. I consented if she would give me a subject. She gave me the word “Farewell.”

Farewell! Farewell? No ‘tis a word of earth
A fraud seen there, ‘tis not of heavenly birth.
It wishes joy, yet instant clouds the ray
And give the pang, it feigns to take away.
Let not so false a word, thy tongue ‘ere tell
If well then wish thy friends, say not farewell.

1 Edward Lind Morse, Samuel F.B. Morse: His Letters and Journals (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914), I:438-439.

2 Edward Lind Morse, Samuel F.B. Morse: His Letters and Journals (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914), Vol. II, 472.

“Broncho” Charlie Artifacts

Charlie Miller (1850-1955), nicknamed “Broncho Charlie” (this nickname came about as a result of his job of busting broncs for ranchers), was the youngest Pony Express rider at age 11. Later, he worked for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show; fought in WWI at the age of 67; at age 81, delivered letters on horseback from New York City to San Fransisco to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Pony Express; and at age 92, he applied to join the Army for WWII but was turned down.

Below is a poem written about Miller by Howard Clinton Dickinson. Also shown are pictures excerpted from the 1935 book Broncho Charlie. A Saga of the Saddle. The Autobiography of Charlie Miller as told to Gladys Shaw Erskine. (See also a 1931 letter by Charlie detailing his conversion to Christianity.)


“Broncho” Charlie Miller Religious Letter

Charlie Miller, (1850-1955), nicknamed “Broncho Charlie” (this nickname came about as a result of his job of busting broncs for ranchers), was the youngest Pony Express rider at age 11. Later, he worked for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. He also fought in WWI at the age of 67; at age 81, delivered letters on horseback from New York City to San Fransisco to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Pony Express; and at age 92, he applied to join the Army for WWII but was turned down.

In this letter from 1931, Charlie (sometimes spelled “Charley”) recounts his conversion to Christianity. [The transcript has added punctuation and paragraphs for easier reading, though the original spelling has been retained.]

 
  
  
 

Transcript

Oak Dale L N.Y.
Feb 16th 1931

Mr H Parsons

Dear Friend,

Your late letter I read with much joy. For in relating your friend Mead’s experience brought me in line of my early life with his struggles. I was a careless and unbelieving man and was indifferent to any thing – re the church. My wife was brought up in a Quaker surrounding and my mother was a meathodous {sic} but I would never attend any place of worship.

And one night I walked into a Salvation Army hall half drunk and sit way back in the last bench – Charley was well known by everybody that had seen my actions around the town. I had three little children than, and loved them. But when asked by two workers, one a lady that was a capt and an ensign, weather {sic} I was a Christian, I was very angry and left the hall and dammed them all. They were both splendid singers and I liked there {sic} singing. I went home but something told me that night I was wrong, and when I got home I was all put out, could not sleep. My wife thought I had had a row with someone and I never told her about going to the hall.

Some few days after that my children was taken sick and my little boy, that night, fell asleep and woke up screaming. And when he got quite, told me that he had dreamed the Devil had his papa and burned him up. I and my wife could see the fever coming. And so I called a doctor and he told us that Black Diphtheria had got a hold of them. And called another doctor in and they both told us that they could not save them but done all they could.

The next morning my house was quarantined and my wife was taken down. No help, only the visits of the doctors. And I drank all the wiskey {sic} I could git {sic} ahold of. My three children died the next night – and my wife layed {sic} in a comatose condition. And I raved and swor {sic} at God Allmighty {sic} for he had left my home bare. They put them in one grave, and my wife got better, and I was wickeder than ever.

One day when the band was lifted from the door and we were let out, my wife was weak, and I went down to see a doctor. Passing into a drug store, in front stood this same crowd of Salvationist singing, throwe {sic} out the life line. I stood and listened, tiers {sic} coming to my eyes and trembling all over. Then as the crowd stood, was asked if any one needed Christ. I broke down and then and there I kneeled down in the street and asked God to forgive me and show me the way, the life. And when the lode {sic} lifted, I was a new man and felt it too.

The crowd stood mute and silant {sic} for God cleaned me up. And men that kept saloons stood and listened when I was asked to say a few words. And when these words came to me, what I had heard my mother say, that God gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have ever lasting life. The crowd walked away like they did when the woman was to be stoned in the street. Bless his name.

I know that it is a safe way and I have seen menny {sic} people converted after that. They took me to New York and I preached, never knowing what I should say. And could have been a light, for surely God had called me. But I am sorry to say a preacher whom I knew told me that I was unlearned. And I went home and never preached again and lost a great deal of the Spirit that he gave me. And he tells us that he that knoweth the way and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. I often feel the call but since I left off I have lost in everything. I know it is so he can shut every door against us if he wants us for himself but I love him. Bless his name.

Now don’t’ feel hurt toward me and I shall do all I can for his kingdom.

My regards to all.

To my early friend,

H Parsons & Family

Broncho Charley

P.S. Don’t give up writing to me for I get comfort from you.

P.S. These last children God gave me, a boy & girl, he has kept to be [blessing] of in my old age & wife he gave back.

President Truman 1946 Letter

Germany surrendered to the Allied powers on May 7, 1945 thus ending major conflicts in  Europe.  As a result, the country was divided between four nations — England, France, the Soviet Union, and the US. A concerted effort was made by the Allied nations to institute democratic policies in Germany, as shown in the following letter from President Harry Truman to Rev. Samuel Cavert.

Harry Truman 1946 Letter to Rev. Cavert

Transcript

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

June 28, 1946

My dear. Dr. Cavert:

As you set out in the capacity of a representative of the Protestant churches in the United States to serve as a liaison representative between German religious leaders and the United States Military Government, may I take this opportunity to express my personal interest in this undertaking.

I attach importance to its success as a contribution to the reestablishment of contacts between the German churches and those in other countries. It would, moreover, seem to me that the revival of German religious life would greatly promote the Allied program for the development of democratic principles in Germany.

With every good wish for the success of your mission,

Very sincerely yours,
Harry Truman

Reverend Samuel McCrea Cavert, D.D.,
General Secretary,
The Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ in America,
297 Fourth Avenue,
New York 10, N.Y.

 

Pony Express Artifacts

The Pony Express lasted only nineteen months during 1860/ 1861. During that time about 200 riders covered over 600,000 miles carrying the mail from Missouri to points West (such as California). Below, see some artifacts from the WallBuilders library relating to the Pony Express, and you can also see a Pony Express Bible from our collection.

Here is an original Pony Express mail bag pouch.

 

 

This is a copy of a “Wanted” poster that outlines the qualifications needed to work for the Pony Express.

This is a cigar box label of a Pony Express rider (these types of images were placed on the inside of cigar boxes in the late 1800s & early 1900s).

President Eisenhower’s One Nation Under God

February 7 is a notable historical day for the acknowledgment of God in modern America: it is the day that a sermon was preached before President Dwight D. Eisenhower, suggesting that the words “under God” be added to the pledge. The sermon was preached by the Rev. George M. Docherty, pastor of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D. C.1

This sermon was preached for Lincoln Day, and it had a great impact on those listening, including President Eisenhower, who was seated in the same pew that Abraham Lincoln had regularly occupied in that church as President.2 In that sermon Docherty stated:

There was something missing in the pledge, and that which was missing was the characteristics and definitive factor in the American way of life. Indeed apart from the mention of the phrase, the United States of America, it could be the pledge of any republic. In fact, I could hear little Muscovites repeat a similar pledge to their hammer and sickle flag in Moscow with equal solemnity.3

He made the point that the American pledge as it then existed could just have been recited by citizens from any country, even those from communistic nations that hated God. The day following the sermon, U. S. Rep. Charles Oakman from Michigan introduced a Joint Resolution (H. J. Res 371) to add the words “Under God” into the pledge,4 explaining:

Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Docherty hit the nail squarely on the head. One of the most fundamental differences between us and the Communists is our belief in God.5

Two days later, on February 10th, Senator Homer Ferguson from Michigan introduced the Senate Joint Resolution (S.J. 126),6 explaining to the Senate:

Our nation is founded on a fundamental belief in God, and the first and most important reason for the existence of our government is to protect the God-given rights of our citizens. . . . Indeed, Mr. President, over one of the doorways to this very Chamber inscribed in the marble are the words “In God We Trust.” Unless those words amount to more than a carving in stone, our country will never be able to defend itself.7

These resolutions were passed, and on June 14, 1954 (Flag Day), President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law, officially adding the words “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance, telling the nation:

From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty. To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than to contemplate this rededication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country’s true meaning. . . . In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource, in peace or in war.8

Who could have imagined that a single sermon could have such an impact? Yet American history is full of such accounts. On February 7th, take time to read this remarkable sermon, remembering that we are indeed “one nation under God.”

Endnotes

1 George M. Docherty, One Way of Living (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1958), 158, “One Nation Under God.”
2 “Lincoln and ‘Under God’,” Presbyterian Historical Society, February 7, 2014; “House Joint Resolution 243 to Amend the Pledge of Allegiance to Include the Phrase ‘Under God’: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Louis C. Rabaut,” Feb 12, 1954,  Congressional Record (Volume 100 Session 2), 1700.
3 “Abraham Lincoln: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Charles G. Oakman,” Feb 12, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1697; George M. Docherty, One Way of Living (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1958), 164; “House Joint Resolution 243 to Amend the Pledge of Allegiance to Include the Phrase ‘Under God’: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Louis C. Rabaut,” Feb 12, 1954,  Congressional Record (Volume 100 Session 2), 1700.
4 Feb 8, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1522.
5 “Abraham Lincoln: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Charles G. Oakman,” Feb 12, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1697.
6 Feb 10, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1600.
7 Feb 10, 1954, Congressional Record (Volume 100, Session 2), 1600-1601.
8 Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill To Include the Words “Under God” in the Pledge to the Flag,” June 14, 1954, The American Presidency Project.

Daniel Webster: The Defender of the U.S. Constitution

Daniel Webster, an ardent and outspoken Christian known as “the Defender of the US Constitution,” 1 was born on January 18, 1782. In fact, his ability to recite and memorize Scripture as a child was so well known that “it was customary for the teamsters to remark, as they pulled up their horses before the Webster tavern, ‘Come, let’s go in and hear a Psalm from Dan Webster!‘” 2

In fact, his early school teacher, Mr. Tappan, later recalled, “Daniel was always the brightest boy in the school.”  3 This became quite evident as Mr. Tappan recounted the following story:

He [Daniel] would learn more in five minutes than another boy in five hours. One Saturday, I remember, I held up a handsome new jack-knife to the scholars, and said, the boy who would commit to memory the greatest number of verses in the Bible by Monday morning should have it. Many of the boys did well; but when it came to Daniel’s turn to recite, I found that he had committed so much that, after hearing him repeat some sixty or seventy verses, I was obliged to give up, he telling me that there were several more chapters yet that he had learned. Daniel got that jack-knife. 4

This love and reverence of God’s Word carried over into adulthood. Daniel made it a practice to read through the Bible once a year. 5 His love and reverence for the Scripture is conveyed in this simple story:

This morning, when Mr. and Mrs. Webster, with their guests and servants, had assembled in the library for family prayers, Mr. Webster looked so weak and feeble, that Mrs. Webster asked him if I should not read the chapter. He preferred reading himself, and selected that beautiful chapter of St. Luke, the sixth, which contains a part of the Sermon on the Mount. His reading of the Scriptures is grand, slow, distinct, impressive, giving new force to every sentence. When he came to those verses which follow the twenty-sixth, it seemed as though they were the expression of his own inmost feelings. After each clause of these verses which he read—‘But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you’—he passed, as if he were asking himself the question, if he read those words in the spirit of Him who first uttered them, and exhibited in his own life and example their practical application. There was an almost triumphant tone as he finished the verses, as though he had heartily forgiven those who had spoken ill of him, and who had despitefully used him. 6

Additionally, WallBuilders posted from our massive collection of original documents a letter that Daniel wrote in an attempt to help provide Bibles to the people of South America.7 For all of his accomplishments in life, however, it was not his works that he wanted remembered. As explained by the Rev. Otis Skinner in a sermon delivered after Webster death:

“Let those regard it as a mark of greatness to doubt, remember the faith of Webster! Great as he was, he asked to have engraved upon his tombstone, this simple sentence, He was a believer in Jesus.”8

As we honor the faith and character of Daniel Webster, let us remember the words of Rev. Henry Augustus Boardman:

Those who value our Constitution and who desire the perpetuity of the Union, have great reason to bless God that Daniel Webster loved and studied the Bible.”9

1 Charles F. Richardson, Daniel Webster for Young Americans (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1903); Edwin Erle Sparks, The Men Who Made the Nation: An Outline of United States History from 1760 to 1865 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1901), 318.
2 Charles Lanman, The Private Life of Daniel Webster (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1852), 22; Rev. Joseph Banvard, Daniel Webster: His Life and Public Services (Boston: D, Lothrop and Company, 1875) 37.
3 Lanman, Private Life of Daniel Webster (1853), 16; Banvard, Daniel Webster: His Life  (1875), 30, quoting Master Tappan.
4 Lanman, Private Life of Daniel Webster (1853), 15-16; Banvard, Daniel Webster: His Life  (1875), 30-31.
5 Lanman, Private Life of Daniel Webster (1853), 104.
6 G.J. Abbott to a friend, September 12, 1852, George Ticknor Curtis, Life of Daniel Webster (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1870), II:666.
7 Daniel Webster handwritten letter, undated, WallBuilders.
8 Otis A. Skinner, The Death of Daniel Webster. A Sermon, Delivered in the Warren Street Church, Sunday, November 14, 1852 (Boston: A. Tompkins, 1852), 34.
9 H.A. Boardman, D.D., A Discourse on the Life and Character of Daniel Webster (Philadelphia, Joseph M. Wilson, 1852), 57.

The Four Chaplains

What these four have in common is that they were all chaplains; all four loved and served God; and all four voluntarily sacrificed their own lives to help soldiers survive the sinking of the U.S.A.T (United States Army Transport) Dorchester.

In the midst of World War II, the Dorchester, moving troops from America to Europe, was approaching Greenland when it was torpedoed by a German submarine just after midnight on February 3, 1943. Within twenty minutes of being struck, it plunged beneath the black and icy waters of the North Atlantic. 1

In those twenty minutes, with the pitch dark, the cries of the wounded coming from every direction, and the severe lurching of the ship as it filled with water, chaos and pandemonium reigned. But four chaplains (Lt. Alexander Goode, a Jewish Rabbi; Lt. Clark Poling, Dutch Reform; Lt. George Fox, Methodist; and Lt. John Washington, a Catholic priest) took charge and quickly brought a sense of calm and assurance to the soldiers aboard the sinking ship.

   
   (Goode)                 (Poling)                (Fox)                (Washington)

The chaplains moved among the soldiers, “calming the frightened, tending the wounded and guiding the disoriented toward safety.” 2 One survivor testified, “I could hear men crying, pleading, praying. I could also hear the chaplains preaching courage. Their voices were the only thing that kept me going.” 3 They helped the men get into life jackets and off the boat. And when the life jackets finally ran out, these four Army chaplains took off their own vests and gave them to other soldiers to make sure they would be safe 4 (only 230 of the 902 on board survived).

As the Dorchester finally slipped beneath the frigid Arctic waters, survivors in the lifeboats testified that the last thing they saw was the four chaplains standing together on the submerging deck – a Jew, a Methodist, a Catholic, and a Dutch Reformed – their arms locked together and their voices raised in prayer and song as the ship forever slipped beneath the freezing waters. 5

In 1948, President Harry Truman arranged for a special postage stamp to memorialize the four, 6 and three years later in 1951, he spoke at the dedication of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in Philadelphia, 7 telling the nation:

This chapel commemorates something more than an act of bravery or courage. It commemorates a great act of faith in God. The four chaplains whose memory this shrine was built to commemorate were not required to give their lives as they did. They gave their lives without being asked. When their ship was sinking, they handed out all the life preservers that were available and then took off their own and gave them away in order that four other men might be saved. Those four chaplains actually carried out the moral code which we are all supposed to live by. They obeyed the Divine commandment that men should love one another. They really lived up to the moral standard that declares: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” [John 15:13]. They were not afraid of death because they knew that the Word of God is stronger than death. Their belief, their faith, in His word enabled them to conquer death. 8

WallBuilders’ Collection includes an original card signed by President Harry S. Truman with his declaration that the sacrifice of the four chaplains was “an heroic event without parallel.”

President Truman, throughout his administration, was outspoken about the importance of Biblical faith. A confirmation of this is evident in another of his documents that we own — his proclamation for a day of prayer and thanksgiving at the surrender of the German Army on V-E Day (May 8, 1945).

As part of that call to prayer, President Truman urged Americans:

I also call upon my countrymen to dedicate this day of prayer to the memory of those who have given their lives to make possible our victory. 9

We, too, should be grateful for the sacrifice of the valiant men and women from throughout our nation’s history who have been willing to lay down their lives to protect our nation and the God-given freedoms we enjoy.

Endnotes

1 John Brinsfield, “Chaplaincy History: The four chaplains,” U.S. Army, January 28, 2014. See also, “The Saga of the Four Chaplains,” The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, 2008.
2 John Brinsfield, “Chaplaincy History: The four chaplains,” U.S. Army January 28, 2014. See also, “The Story of the Four Immortal Chaplains,” United States Army War College Memorial Chapel (accessed on: February 7, 2014).
3 “The Saga of the Four Chaplains,” The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, 2008. See also, WWII Informational Fact Sheets (Department of Defense: 1995), p. 14, “Fact Sheet: Four Chaplains.”
4 “The Saga of the Four Chaplains,” The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, 2008. See also, Stanley Brewer, “S.S. Dorchester,” Great Ships (accessed on: February 7, 2014).
5 John Brinsfield, “Chaplaincy History: The four chaplains,” U.S. Army January 28, 2014. See also, Congressional Record (Government Printing Office: Washington, D.C., 1988), V. 144, Pt. 1, p. 72, January 27, 1988.
6 Harry S. Truman, “Informal Remarks in San Francisco,” The American Presidency Project, June 13, 1948.
7 Harry S. Truman, “Address in Philadelphia at the Dedication of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains,” The American Presidency Project, February 3, 1951. See also, Carol Devlin Gadsby, “My Memories of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains,” Grace Baptist Church of Blue Bell, March 2, 2008; James W. Hilty, Temple University: 125 Years of Service to Philadelphia, the Nation, and the World  (Temple University Press: Philadelphia, PA, 2010), p. 15.
8 Harry S. Truman, “Address in Philadelphia at the Dedication of the Chapel of the Four Chaplains,” The American Presidency Project, February 3, 1951.
9 Harry S, Truman, Proclamation of the President: Victory in Europe; Day of Prayer, WallBuilders, May 9, 1945.

A Southern View of Black History?

Today, most Americans are taught Black History from a southern point of view. That is, they are exposed to the slave trade and the atrocities of slavery that were common in the South but hear nearly nothing about the many positive things that occurred in the North.

For example, who has been taught about Wentworth Cheswell1 — the first black elected to office in America, in 1768 in New Hampshire? Or the election of Black American Thomas Hercules to office in Pennsylvania in 1793? Or that in Massachusetts, blacks routinely voted in colonial elections? Or that when the Constitution was ratified in Maryland, more Blacks than Whites voted in Baltimore? Such stories are absent from textbooks today.

History is properly to teach the good, the bad, and the ugly — all of it; but students today usually get only the bad and the ugly, rarely the good. For example, students are regularly told that the first load of slaves sailed up the James River in Virginia in 1619 and thus slavery was introduced into America,2 but few learn about the first slaves that arrived in the Massachusetts Colony set up by the Christian Pilgrims and Puritans. When that slave ship arrived in Massachusetts, the ship’s officers were arrested and imprisoned, and the kidnapped slaves were returned to Africa at the Colony’s expense.3 That positive side of history is untold today.

Similarly, most Americans are unaware that American colonies passed anti-slavery laws before the American Revolution, but that those laws were vetoed by Great Britain, who insisted on the continuance of slavery in America. In fact, several Founders who owned slaves while British citizens freed them once America declared her independence. Sadly, we have been taught to identify Founding Fathers who owned slaves but are unaware of the greater number who opposed slavery or worked with anti-slavery societies.

WallBuilders owns numerous documents showing these positive aspects of Black History, including of praiseworthy efforts to end oppression of African Americans.

For example, the 1774 letter on the right is from Quaker John Townsend, who wrote to inquire after an African slave he had earlier sold. He wanted to reacquire that slave in order to “have the opportunity to set her free.” (The Quakers, like several colonial denominations, firmly opposed slavery and pushed their members to do all possible to end the evil.)

In this 1782 document, Christopher Johnson, a soldier in the American Revolution, declares that he is “fully persuaded that freedom is the natural rights of all mankind & that it is my duty to do unto others as I would desire to be done by in the like situation.” Having fought a war to win his own political freedom, and invoking the Golden Rule delivered by Jesus in Matthew 7:12, he freed (that is, manumitted) his slaves.

In this 1837 document, Dorcas, a Black American who is “a free woman of color,” petitions the court to recognize the legality of two slaves that were freed. According to the Tennessee Act of 1831,4 freed slaves were required to move out of the state, but the subsequent act of 18335 permitted slaves to remain in the state if they had received their freedom prior to 1831. In her letter, Dorcas affirms that “the said two slaves, Warner and Nancy” had received “their freedom long before the passage of the act of 1831” and asks the court to take appropriate action for ensuring their freedom.

On our website, there are many more such documents and many inspiring stories, illustrating a side of Black History of which few Americans are told today

Endnotes

1 “A Black Patriot: Wentworth Cheswell,” WallBuilders, https://wallbuilders.com/resource/a-black-patriot-wentworth-cheswell/.
2 “Slavery,” Harper’s Encyclopaedia of United States History, ed. Benson Lossing (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1974); W. O. Blake, The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade (Columbus: J. & H. Miller, 1858), 98.
3 Blake, History of Slavery (1858), 370-371; Thomas R.R. Cobb, An Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson & Co., 1858), I:cxlvii-cxlviii; W. E. Burghardt DuBois, The Suppression of the AfricanSlave-Trade to the United States of America (New York: Social Science Press, 1954), 30.
4 “Emancipation: 1831–Chapter 102,” A Compilation of the Statutes of Tennessee, Of a General and Permanent Nature, From the Commencment of the Government to the Present Time, eds. R. L. Caruthers & A. O. P. Nicholson (Nashville: James Smith, 1836), 279.
5 “An Act to explain an act, entitled “an act concerning free persons of color, and for other purpose,” passed December 16, 1831,” November 23, 1833, Public Acts Passed at the First Session of the Twentieth General Assembly of the State of Tennessee 1833 (Nashville: Allen A. Hall & F. S. Heiskell, 1833), 99-100.

Are You Smarter Than a Fourth Grader?

As students across the nation take exams to determine whether or not they have mastered the skills necessary to be promoted to the next grade, let us reflect on what education used to be.

Whereas, in today’s educational system, Geography and Social Studies are neglected in favor of “teaching to the test,” this was not the case in 1862. We thought you might enjoy seeing a Geography Quiz from the WallBuilders’ Collection that was given to Fourth Grades in 1862.