Carpetbagger & First Lady (continued)

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Mon Aug 16 02:01:16 UTC 1999


CARPETBAGGER (continued)

      This is from the BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, 6 February 1868, pg. 2, col. 1:

     We are told the South now hates her own people who upheld the Union, and
call the Northern settlers "Yankees" in derision.

     "Yankees"?  Not "carpetbaggers"?  Probably "damn yankees," but Brooklyn
is the City of Churches, you know.
     This--our latest "earliest" citation--is from the BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE,
30 March 1868, pg. 2, col. 3:

     On Saturday the House of Representatives passed an act providing for
"reconstruction" in Alabama.  The Constitution for which but 6,000 "carpet
baggers" recently voted, is declared to be the fundamental law of the State.

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FIRST LADY (continued)

     OED has 1853 and 1861 citations for "first lady of the land."  The
following article shows that this was not always the same as "first lady of
the White House."  This long article is from the BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, 21
March 1868, pg. 2, cols. 4-5:

WHO IS THE FIRST AMERICAN LADY--CURIOUS GOSSIP FROM WASHINGTON.
(From the Pittsburgh (Pa.) _Gazette)
(...)
MRS. SENATOR SPRAGUE AND MRS. LINCOLN.
     In the early days of the war the young Governor of Rhode Island, who
raised a regiment at his own risk, and went to suppress the rebelllion, was
quite a hero of romance.  Loyal ladies were not so abundant in Washington as
after Lee's surrender; and, what with her wit, beauty, gracious manners, her
father's position, and the affianced of the Rhode Island
millionaire-patriot-Governor-Colonel, Miss Chase occupied a very prominent
position, and believed herself entitled to precedence as  "First Lady" in the
Government.  She contested her claim with Mrs. Lincoln, who, as "Lady of the
White House," was, by common consent, awarded that eminence.  There had been
several passages at arms between them, and Mrs. Lincoln felt deeply aggrieved
when Miss Chase was at the White House...
     MRS. WADE AND MRS. SPRAGUE.
     Mrs. Sprague's desire to be "First Lady" amounts almost to a mania; and,
no doubt, has much to do with her father's Presidential aspirations.  While
Mr. Johnson is President (This was during the impeachment--ed.) she will have
little active opposition to her claim to that dignity in right of her treble
rank of wealth, wife of a Senator and daughter of the Chief-Justice...

    A long, catty discussion of the qualities of Mrs. Wade and Mrs. Sprague
for the title of "First Lady" follows.

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SPEAKING TOUR (continued)

     The Purdue University 1966 thesis of Frederick William Edward Trautmann
was LOUIS KOSSUTH'S AUDIENCE ADAPTATION IN HIS AMERICAN SPEAKING TOUR,
1851-1852.  Charles Dickens had his "American tour" in 1842.  I haven't yet
checked the documents for the term "speaking tour."



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