Monthly Archives: December 2016

023 – Source Notes



Public notice from 1659 of the banning of Christmas in Massachusetts, courtesy of Wikipedia

The only source cited in the script for this episode was: Restad, Penne L. Christmas in America: A History. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996 [1995].

For more information on the history of Christmas and traditions discussed in this episode, I refer you to the following sources:

The instrumental version of Jingle Bells utilized for this episode is on Wikipedia under a Creative Commons license, and its creator was Kevin MacLeod of incompetech.com.


023 – Christmas in Early America



The first commercial Christmas card (1843) by John Callcott Horsley, courtesy of Wikipedia

In honor of the holiday season, we have a special episode examining Christmas in early America. Believe me, the story is not always as one would imagine it. The war on Christmas is nothing new and, at times, was carried out by Christians. As the melting pot of America came together and the new nation started to develop its traditions independent of England, those who came of their own volition (like immigrants from Germany) and those who had come unwillingly (the enslaved peoples in the South) contributed to what ultimately became the holiday season as we know it today in the United States. Enjoy, and whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Mawlid, Yule, another holiday, or nothing at all this time of year, I wish for you peace and good tidings as the year draws to a close. Source information can be found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.


022 – Source Notes



John Quincy Adams by George Peter Alexander Healy, courtesy of the White House Historical Association
  • Adams, Charles Francis, ed. Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Comprising Portions of His Diary From 1795 to 1848: Vol. VI. Philadelphia, PA: J B Lippincott & Co, 1875.
  • Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. Charlottesville, VA and London: University Press of Virginia, 1999 [1971].
  • Cleaves, Freeman. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press, 2010 [1939].
  • Coit, Margaret L. John C Calhoun: American Portrait. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1950.
  • Green, James A. William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times. Richmond, VA: Garrett and Massie, 1941.
  • McGuiness, Colleen, ed. American Leaders 1789-1994: A Biographical Summary. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1994.
  • Nagel, Paul C. John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1997.
  • Niven, John. Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics. Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press, 2012 [1983].
  • Peterson, Norma Lois. The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison & John Tyler. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1989.
  • Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.
  • Remini, Robert V. Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union. New York: W W Norton & Co, 1991.
  • Remini, Robert V. The House: The History of the House of Representatives. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
  • Smock, Raymond W. “The Institutional Development of the House of Representatives, 1789-1801.” The House & Senate in the 1790s: Petitioning, Lobbying, and Institutional Development. Kenneth R Bowling and Donald R Kennon, eds. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2002. p. 321-336.
  • Weisenburger, Francis P. The Passing of the Frontier: 1825-1850, A History of the State of Ohio Volume III. Columbus, OH: Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1968 [1941].

022 – Corrupt Bargains and Shallow Minds



Engraving of Henry Clay by John Sartain, courtesy of the Library of Congress

The presidential election of 1824 would change many lives and the course of the nation forever, and William Henry Harrison was not immune to the ripple effects as he returned to Washington, DC for both a career in the Senate and a quest for an even higher position. For family and for honor, Harrison would network, schmooze, and try to curry favor as never before with the Adams administration but would quickly learn that he wasn’t the only ambitious person making big plans for the future. Sources for this episode can be found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.


021 – Source Notes



James Monroe by James Vanderlyn (1816), courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The US in 1819, courtesy of the US Geological Survey
  • Ashworth, John. ‘Agrarians’ & ‘Aristocrats’: Party Political Ideology in the United States, 1837-1846. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987 [1983].
  • Capps, Jennifer E. “Family Group Sheet: Benjamin Harrison V The Signer.” Benjamin Harrison Historical Site, Indianapolis, IN. 9 Dec 2008. http://www.bhpsite.org/images/pdfs/bhv.pdf. Last Accessed: 31 October 2016.
  • Cleaves, Freeman. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press, 2010 [1939].
  • Dangerfield, George. The Era of Good Feelings. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co, 1952.
  • Green, James A. William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times. Richmond, VA: Garrett and Massie, 1941.
  • Mahon, John K. History of the Second Seminole War, 1835-1842: Revised Edition. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1991 [1967].
  • Nagel, Paul C. John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1997.
  • Nettels, Curtis P. The Emergence of a National Economy, 1775-1815: The Economic History of the United States, Volume II. White Plains, NY: M E Sharpe Inc, 1962.
  • Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire, 1767-1821. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
  • Sublette, Ned, and Constance Sublette. The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2016.
  • Unger, Harlow Giles. The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness. Philadelphia, PA: Da Capo Press, 2009.
  • Utter, William T. The Frontier State: 1803-1825, A History of the State of Ohio Volume II. Columbus, OH: Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1968 [1942].

Intro music is Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101 – III. Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll and IV. Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit,” performed by Daniel Veesey and available on Wikipedia and Musopen.com.


021 – The Era of Ill Feelings



Independence Day Celebration in Centre Square by John Lewis Krimmel, courtesy of the US National Portrait Gallery

The Era of Good Feelings was increasingly anything but for William Henry Harrison as he worked as a de facto veteran’s bureau in the House of Representatives and Congress struggled to answer the question of whether Missouri should enter the Union as a slave state or a free state. As Harrison moved closer to home to take a seat in the Ohio State Senate, his states rights views would cause some to question him as being too pro-slavery for Ohio and his connections with the Bank of the United States would be criticized as the Panic of 1819 hit the pocketbook of the common citizen. Join me this week as we enter into one of the more difficult times of Harrison’s life. Sources for this episode can be found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.


020 – Source Notes



Jonathan Jennings by James Forbes, c. 1819, courtesy of the Indiana State Library
Jonathan Jennings by James Forbes, c. 1819, courtesy of the Indiana State Library
  • Cleaves, Freeman. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press, 2010 [1939].
  • Green, Constance McLaughlin. Washington, Volume I: Village and Capital, 1800-1878. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962.
  • Green, James A. William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times. Richmond, VA: Garrett and Massie, 1941.
  • Harrison, William Henry. “13 March 1825, to Benjamin Harrison.” Benjamin Harrison Historical Site, Indianapolis, IN.
  • Ketcham, Ralph. Presidents Above Party: The First American Presidency, 1789-1829. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1987 [1984].
  • Latimer, Jon. 1812: War With America. Cambridge, MA and London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.
  • Remini, Robert V. Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union. New York and London: W W Norton & Co, 1991.
  • White, Leonard D. The Jeffersonians: A Study in Administrative History, 1801-1829. New York: Macmillan Co, 1956.

020 – Mr. Harrison Goes to Washington



The Old Brick Capitol, c. 1860s
The Old Brick Capitol, c. 1860s

Harrison concludes his final negotiations with Native Americans before being elected to Congress. In this episode, we discuss how the War of 1812 affected both the settlers and the Native Americans of the old Northwest, how Washington, DC was rebuilding after having been burned by the British, and how Harrison used his new seat in the House of Representatives to help both veterans of the war as well as his own reputation. Source notes for this episode can be found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.