"thinking cap" [antedated to 1827]

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/6/2014 03:59 PM, Bonnie Taylor-Blake wrote:
>At dinner today I had a very free conversation with two intelligent
>Virginians -- they assured me that the Jackson fever is burning out
>fast -- that the old Dominion has at last got her thinking cap on and
>the Tide of public opinion there is turning fast in favor of our
>present Administration.  [From "Extract of a Letter, dated Washington,
>Dec. 15," Sentinel of Freedom and New-Jersey Advertiser (Newark, NJ),
>25 December 1827, p. 2; via Genealogybank.com.]

I'm sure I saw this quotation in the last month or two, reading about 
the Jacksonian period.  But apparently I didn't have my OED thinking 
cap on at the time!

Bonnie, the date is interesting -- Jackson would first be elected 
president a year later.

Joel 

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