Extra Credit Questions

[Anita]

De Tocqueville and Dickens both toured America but I think it's Dickens who wrote the quote. He had love-hate feelings about America and this quote sounds like Dickens when he's underimpressed.

[RJNorton]

Good try, Steve, but Anita's guess is correct. Kudos, Anita. Charles Dickens' first trip to the United States was in 1842, and he made lots of observations as he traveled. His impressions were published in a travelogue entitled American Notes for General Circulation.

[mbgross]

Please try without googling. Thanks.

In 1830 Thomas Lincoln moved his family from Indiana to Illinois. He planned to farm the Illinois prairie land.

Years later a well-known writer described Illinois' prairie land as follows:

"Looking towards the setting sun, there lay, stretched out before my view, a vast expanse of level ground; unbroken, save by one thin line of trees, which scarcely amounted to a scratch upon the great blank; until it met the glowing sky, wherein it seemed to dip: mingling with its rich colours, and mellowing in its distant blue. There it lay, a tranquil sea or lake without water, if such a simile be admissible, with the day going down upon it: a few birds wheeling here and there: and solitude and silence reigning paramount around... Great as the picture was, its very flatness and extent, which left nothing to the imagination, tamed it down and cramped its interest."

What was the name of the writer?

Carl Sandburg?

[RJNorton]

Good try, Mike, but Anita got it. Please see my post prior to yours. It was Charles Dickens.

[David Lockmiller]

A well-known writer described Illinois' prairie land as follows:

"Looking towards the setting sun, there lay, stretched out before my view, a vast expanse of level ground; unbroken, save by one thin line of trees, which scarcely amounted to a scratch upon the great blank; until it met the glowing sky, wherein it seemed to dip: mingling with its rich colours, and mellowing in its distant blue. There it lay, a tranquil sea or lake without water, if such a simile be admissible, with the day going down upon it: a few birds wheeling here and there: and solitude and silence reigning paramount around... Great as the picture was, its very flatness and extent, which left nothing to the imagination, tamed it down and cramped its interest."

"Travel in pioneer Illinois was dangerous. The roads were poor and there were no bridges. People could get lost in the prairie grass, which grew as tall as a man."

(Source: Prairie Pages, Vol. 1 # 2, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency)

[RJNorton]

No googling, please.

As a young man Thomas Lincoln learned a couple of skills in which he could earn money. One was carpentry. What was the other?

(Thomas Lincoln did a lot of farming during his life, but I am not including that here.)

[Rob Wick]

Making whiskey?

Best
Rob

[Susan Higginbotham]

Brick laying?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Was he a tailor?

[RJNorton]

Rob, Susan, and Eva - all are logical guesses, but none are correct.

[Dennis Urban]

Was he a cobbler/bootmaker?

[RJNorton]

That is another logical guess, Dennis, but incorrect.

[Wild Bill]

Blacksmithing

[Steve Whitlock]

No googling, please.

As a young man Thomas Lincoln learned a couple of skills in which he could earn money. One was carpentry. What was the other?

(Thomas Lincoln did a lot of farming during his life, but I am not including that here.)

I suppose cabinet-maker would be part of carpentry, which leaves farmer; although I recall his neighbor mentioning words to the effect that Thomas grew so little, and farmed by such primitive means, that he could scarcely be called a farmer.

That same neighbor, George Balch, wound up collecting money for a more fitting memorial to the father of President Lincoln, after seeing how poor Thomas Lincoln's burial was.

I believe I read about that in different sources, possibly Burlingame being one.

[RJNorton]

You nailed it, Bill. Kudos! Indeed Thomas Lincoln learned blacksmithing as well as carpentry.