Big "D" Democracy in 1860

When reading the Brooks Simpson and Jean Berlin volume of Sherman's letters, Sherman's Civil War, when it was first published, I was not as cognizant of the feelings Americans held in respect to widespread voting. After dipping into the literature* of how political movements were bent on expanding and contracting the franchise laws in the various states, and after reading Sean Wilentz' 2005 book, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln, I now understand the significance of the term as it was used by William T Sherman. *Reference: Alexander Keyssar, The Right to Vote (NY, 2000).

He certainly railed about the direction that Democracy was taking the country in his early letters as he bemoaned the government's lackadasical plans for arming the North. Having served in the South after leaving West Point, in Florida as well as Charleston and having made the trip that took him from Georgia to Alabama and back, Sherman returned to the South to establish the military academy in Louisiana whose students included sons of Bragg and Beauregard.

Unfortunately for Sherman's equanimity, he soon had cause to rail about the Press, rather than Democracy, and various reporters and editors became his target du jour.

But to return to the Wilentz book, for an engaging and thorough review of the parties as they formed, merged and morphed and for the role played by all the most important politicians as the changes occurred, an interested reader will do well with this volume to serve as an illumination for a complicated period in American political history.

July has come and gone (in a blur)

Taking advantage of enough frequent flier miles, I booked a week's stay in Los Altos to visit family. Our outings ranged from fireworks on the campus at Stanford to a visit to the Rodin Sculpture Garden to Roaring Camp steam railroad in the mountains toward the Pacific coast. All in all, a very enjoyable time.

The month closed with my daughter and her three children coming to Chicago for a few days. The modern digital astronomy shows at the Adler Planetarium kept us intrigued for a full day. Not zipping through the galleries as I have sometimes done previously, I noticed that the solar observatory on the grounds is operational and quite a neat addition to the gallery filled with large photos of astronomical entities and explanations of same.

That visit unexpectedly became a connection to a panel I heard while attending the Yearly Kos Convention at McCormick Place. Dr Sean Carroll presented a marvelous tale of the universe's composition - 5% the universe we know, 25% black matter, 70% black energy. (Hope I have these in the correct order.) This talk provided 1/3 of the content on the Scienceblog panel, which also included a speaker on defeating school boards whose members subscribe to extremist positions of teaching abstinence until marriage and creationism alongside evolution. Then I attended a Global Warming panel which opened up new avenues for sharing information, becoming informed, and even more active in ways that make a difference.

It seems the Kos name was a matter of convenience when the first convention was held last year. The next one will be called Network Nation. Being held where I could commute in daily made this one doable for me. Being able to see and hear seven Democratic candidates was definitely a draw. On top of that, I registered early enough so that I was seated in Obama's small group session. The Q&A was excellent.

That excitement carried me into August, and a return to Civil War reading.