Putin, Progress, and The End of History

The German philosopher GWF Hegel once wrote that "the only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history." Perhaps it was just a throwaway line, because Hegel made an exception for himself. 

In his lectures on the philosophy of history, Hegel argued that history developed according to a discernible pattern, and that it would have a desirable end: the triumph of absolute freedom, vague as that is.

Karl Marx, influenced by Hegel, put some flesh on those bones. The end of history, he wrote, would be the triumph of the ideal society in which everyone would be free to develop their full humanity: communism. 

Marx also wrote, in what seems a contradiction, that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. That was perhaps a throwaway line as well, but one could erect a plausible theory of history on it: tragedy, farce, tragedy, farce, tragedy, farce. (Image: The End of Marx. His grave, Highgate Cemetery, London)

After the fall of less than ideal Soviet communism, political scientist Francis Fukuyama claimed that the end of history was the triumph of Western liberal democracy. In 1992 it was possible to indulge in such a fantasy, I suppose. But it overlooked what was hiding under the cloak of liberal democracy: deregulated vulture capitalism, AKA neoliberalism, neoconservatism, Reaganomics and other Orwellian names. 

It also overlooked the continuing existence of a particular type or subspecies of human, which for want of a better term, we will call "Putin Man." 

Perhaps it is unfair to name a whole slice of humanity after the current president of Russia. There many other possibilities: Hitler Man and Stalin Man naturally leap to mind. Trump Man might do, but he is currently busy playing golf at Mar a Lago. 

Mr. Putin is very much in the news for invading Ukraine, so we'll go with Putin Man for now. What are the characteristics of Putin Man? Narcissism, megalomania, paranoia, lack of empathy or ethics, inhumanity, barbarism, just to name a few. 

It is impossible to know how many members of homo sapiens harbour these characteristics, but history tells us that they are sufficiently numerous to create a living hell for humanity periodically. They can't do it all by themselves, of course. They need support from those with similar characteristics. Those who just shrug, say I don't do politics, and look away are a big help as well.

History tells me Putin Man may be defeated for a time, but he will return. In Albert Camus's novel The Plague people of different, even clashing, perspectives work together to vanquish a deadly epidemic. But at the end, the narrator issues a warning: the plague will always be with us. It will resurge again when our guard is lowered. He could have been talking about Covid -- or Putin Man. 

History has no end, unless it be the destruction of humanity itself. That is currently a work in progress. I wish I could be more cheery, but as Louis Namier wrote, "History is not a visit of condolence."

 

Further Reading: 

Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (1992). 

Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (1852), and other works.

G.W.F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837).

Albert Camus, The Plague (1947).

 

 

  

"Don't Tread on Me": Christopher Gadsden and His Flag

Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina is best known today as the designer of the iconic "Gadsden Flag." The flag features a rattlesnake on a bright yellow background, with the words "DONT TREAD ON ME" at the bottom. The snake is coiled to strike. 

The flag's message was directed towards the British government: Step on the liberties of the American people at your peril. The snake has thirteen rattles, symbolizing the thirteen colonies that were soon to declare their independence. [Image: Gadsden Flag]

Gadsden displayed the flag at a meeting of the South Carolina Provincial Congress in February 1776 to great acclaim. It became a popular symbol of Patriot resistance. In recent years it has been appropriated by far right groups to show their defiance of ... whatever they are currently defying, usually the federal government and other conspirators against "freedom."  It featured prominently in the January 6 insurrection that led to the storming of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. [Image: January 6, 2021]

There is much more to Gadsden's story than his flag, however. First, a little background. Gadsden was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1724. His father, Thomas Gadsden, was a former British naval officer who had been appointed as customs collector for the port of Charleston. 

Thomas sent young Christopher to Bristol, England to be educated. Returning to America in 1740, he worked briefly as an apprentice in a Philadelphia counting house. He inherited a sizeable fortune when his parents died in 1741. During King George's War (1744-1748) he served as a purser on a British naval vessel. Afterwards, he became a merchant and planter. 

In 1767 he built a large wharf in Charleston. Gadsden's Wharf became a major receiving point for enslaved Africans. More than 100,000 were landed there between 1767 and 1808, when the legal slave trade ended. 

During the construction of the wharf, Gadsden quipped that he was going to "fill the foundation with imported Scotchmen, who are fit for nothing better." It was a joke, but it reflected his dislike of Scots, in particular Scottish merchants, who he viewed as undeserving beneficiaries of British trade policies. His dislike of Scots may also have derived from his service in the Cherokee War of 1760, when he clashed with Highland Scots officers. 

In the years leading up to the Revolution, many colonials accused Scots of conspiring to undermine their freedom. [Image: Scots Lord Bute and Chief Justice Lord Mansfield (in center) conspiring against American liberty, 1775. In fact, neither had any influence over British colonial policy at the time] 

  

In 1757 Gadsden was elected to the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly. He soon began to clash openly with the royal governors over British trade and taxation policies. In 1766, the assembly appointed him to represent South Carolina at the Stamp Act Congress in New York City. He was one of the most radical delegates at the Congress and formed an alliance and friendship with the equally radical Sam Adams of Boston, leader of the Sons of Liberty in Boston. Gadsden has often been called the "Sam Adams of the South."

Gadsden became a leader of the Charleston Sons of Liberty, who terrorized the town looking for stamps and other evidence of pro-British leanings. Among the houses they raided was that of planter and slave trader Henry Laurens. According to Laurens, they frightened his sick wife Eleanor half to death. He threw them his cellar keys and told them to help themselves to wine. They found no stamps, apologized and left. Laurens subsequently supported Gadsden and the Liberty Boys, but with some hesitation. 

In 1771, future Patriot William Henry Drayton called Gadsden a madman who ought to be in Bedlam. But Drayton was then defending the British Crown. After he abruptly switched sides in the early 1770s, the two became allies in the Patriot cause. 

As the conflict with Britain escalated, Gadsden was elected to the First and Second Continental Congresses in Philadelphia. In early 1776, he left Congress to assume command of the newly formed 1st South Carolina Regiment and serve in the South Carolina Provincial Congress. It was then that he first displayed his famous flag. He also brought a pamphlet written by a recent immigrant from England, calling for American independence, Common Sense by Thomas Paine. It was less well received. 

The interim President of South Carolina, John Rutledge, appointed Gadsden brigadier and commander of the state's military forces. In 1778 Gadsden helped draft a new state constitution under which he became lieutenant governor.  

When the British besieged Charleston in the spring of 1780, Rutledge left for the backcountry to rally resistance. Gadsden remained to help coordinate the defense of the city. 

By the middle of April, however, the British had nearly encircled Charleston. Benjamin Lincoln, the commander of the Southern Continental Army, decided that his only option besides surrender was to flee with his army while escape remained possible. 

Word got out to Gadsden. He and several of his councillors stormed into Lincoln's headquarters as he was discussing his proposals with his officers. Gadsden accused Lincoln of cowardice. Lincoln agreed to stay.  

In early May, the British unleashed a ferocious bombardment of the city. Gadsden led another delegation to see General Lincoln. This time, he demanded that Lincoln surrender to save the property and lives of the citizens. On May 12, Lincoln surrendered. It was the worst defeat for the Patriot forces in the war. The entire army, more than 5000 men, was made prisoner. 

The militia and many civilian leaders were initially given parole; that is, allowed to go free, as long as they did not continue to oppose the Crown. A few weeks after the surrender, however, the British arrested Gadsden and about twenty other rebel leaders on the grounds that they were plotting further resistance. 

Shipped to the British stronghold in St. Augustine, Florida, they remained prisoners until the following summer. The commander in St. Augustine offered them parole and the freedom of the town. Gadsden alone refused it. The British, he argued, had already violated their original promise of parole. 

In July 1781, the British released the prisoners on parole and sent them to Philadelphia. Gadsden returned to South Carolina in time to serve in the Jacksonborough Assembly in early 1782. At the time,  Charleston was still under British occupation. The Assembly elected him as governor, but he declined the office due to poor health. 

One of the most contentious items on the Assembly's agenda was drawing up a list of Loyalists to be punished after the war, which was nearing its end. Proposed punishments ranged from banishment and confiscation of property to amercements or fines. 

Gadsden shocked the assembly by urging leniency towards Loyalists. His words had little effect on the majority of delegates, who shouted him down. They demanded severe punishments. Some accused Gadsden of trying to protect Loyalists in his family. 

Thousands of Loyalists left South Carolina with the British or shortly thereafter. (Some were later able to get their punishments reduced and returned.)

Gadsden lived for another 23 years. He sat in the state convention of 1788 that ratified the United States Constitution. After 1798 he lived in Charleston at the house he built at 329 East Bay Street. He died in 1805 after falling from a horse. [Image: Gadsden House and Gadsden in old age]

 

 Further Reading: 

John Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution 2 vols., Charleston, 1821. Based on documents John's father William Henry Drayton had collected prior to his death.

The Papers of Henry Laurens. 16 vols., Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1972-2003. Volumes dealing with the 1760s and 1770s.

Stanly Godbold, Jr., and Robert Woody, Christopher Gadsden and the American Revolution (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1983).

Daniel McDonough, Christopher Gadsden and Henry Laurens: The Parallel Lives of Two American Patriots (Susquehanna University Press, 2000).

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The Crimean War and Modern Culture

As wars go, the Crimean War (1854-1856) is not one of the most famous or important in history. Few people have understood the reasons for it, then or now. Even fewer probably care. The world has plenty of other things to be concerned about, given the war in Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza, and the chaos emanating from Trump's USA.

It was, however, the biggest conflict among the Great Powers of Europe between the Napoleonic Wars (ended 1815) and World War I (began 1914). And it had some enduring cultural effects.

In 1854, Great Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire allied to stop Russian expansion into the Balkans. In particular, they feared a Russian capture of Constantinople (Istanbul) which would give Russia control of the Bosporus Straits between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. 

The leaders of Catholic France were also determined to prevent the Russian Orthodox Church from gaining control of the religious sites in the Holy Land. No doubt Christ would have approved. 

Most of the fighting took place on the Crimean Peninsula. The allies besieged the largest Russian naval base in the Black Sea, Sevastopol. After a protracted campaign marked by incompetence and suffering on both sides, they did eventually capture Sevastopol, after which the war ended. 

When it was over lots of folks scratched their heads, wondering what all the carnage was about. The allies gave Sevastopol back to Russia, and went home. In the next big European war, World War I, Britain, France, and Russia were on the same side, and the Ottomans were on the other. Diplomacy is like that. 

The Crimean War is remembered for lots of things. The nursing Lady of the Lamp, Florence Nightingale, became an icon, though even she later questioned how effective her work had been. What she did after the war is far more important historically and medically. 

It was also the first war covered by professional journalists. Reporters like William Howard Russell and Howard Fenton were the first true war correspondents. They were able to send stories to their newspapers in almost real time due to the advent of railways and the  telegraph.

Incompetence, of course, is also high on the list of memorable things about the Crimean War. The British commander, Lord Raglan, kept referring to the enemy as the French, who were his allies. But then his last action had been at Waterloo against Napoleon, 40 years before. [Image: Fitzroy Henry James Somersett, AKA, Lord Raglan]

Lord Raglan died during the middle of the war, but not before issuing a famously confusing order for a direct cavalry attack on a heavily fortified Russian position bristling with artillery. 

The almost suicidal attack has become notorious as one of the most gallant blunders in military history. Alfred (Lord) Tennyson wrote a famous poem about it. Films have been made about it. I refer of course to the Charge of the Light Brigade. Onward, into the Valley of Death and all that, as Tennyson put it. [A Victorian painting of the charge by Richard Caton Woodville is at the top of this post.]

Raglan also survived long enough to give his name to a fashion: raglan sleeves. His lordship liked jackets with sleeves that did not end at the shoulders, but continued to the neck, supposedly because he lost an arm at Waterloo. The style soon became fashionable back home, although in pullovers (sweaters), not jackets. 

The man who commanded the Light Brigade itself was also a fashion influencer. James Brudenell was a strict disciplinarian with a love for designing fancy uniforms for his men. His competence as a military commander and commitment to the truth have often been questioned. 

Better known by his title, Lord Cardigan, Brudenell allegedly liked to lounge in a buttoned sweater or waistcoat without a collar. Merchants back in the UK quickly began promoting such items as "cardigans" and the name stuck. [Image: James Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan, but not in a cardigan]

The Charge of the Light Brigade took place on the same day as another famous action, equally brave and much more useful to the allied side. Five hundred of the 93d Highlanders, supported by a small detachment of marines and some Turkish infantry, repelled Russian cavalry numbering between 2,000 and 3,000.

They were all that stood in the way of the Russian objective: capturing the Allied supply base at Balaclava, or Balaklava (not be confused with the dessert, baklava). The Highlanders' commander, General Sir Colin Campbell, positioned them directly in front of the advancing Russians with the ominous words, "There is no retreat from here, men. You must die where you stand." 

As it happened they didn't have to. After three volleys from the Highlanders, the second and third highly effective, the Russians retreated, pursued by the Heavy Brigade. 

The British press dubbed the Highlanders' stand "The Thin Red Line." Robert Gibb later produced an iconic if romanticized painting of the event, which hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland. 

If you search the words "Thin Red Line" on the internet today, you will be inundated by posts about a film of 1998 by that name, which is about the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. But keep looking and you will find others about the original event of 1854, and an ad for a shirt company. The internet is full of surprises.  

A controversial term often used by police and their supporters today, "The Thin Blue Line" also derives from the fame of that brief heroic action at Balaclava. The allusion to the original term is based on the notion that the police are the thin line that stands between society and barbaric chaos. Unlike the red-coated Highlanders, the police generally wear blue. 

It is unknown when people began using the term "Thin Blue Line," but it has been in use for a century at least. In recent years the "Thin Blue Line" has been appropriated by right-wingers and white nationalists in the USA.

I am not done with Balaclava yet. As you might have guessed by now, the place gave its name to the balaclava hat or cap, which helped protect the face and head from extreme cold. [Image: Balaclava hat]

The winter of 1854-1855 was extremely cold, and British soldiers suffered terribly from the effects, and from disease. Due to an antiquated and incompetent logistics system, cold weather clothing and supplies did not arrive on schedule. 

In response, women in the UK took up their needles and knitted thousands of the woolen caps that became known as balaclavas. A revision of the original covered the whole face with holes for the eyes and mouth. Terrorists, criminal gangs, and ICE are enjoy the anonymity, if not the warmth, of the balaclava. 

One more little thing before I cease. The first allied victory of the Crimean War, the Battle of the Alma, occurred shortly after they landed their armies on the peninsula, in September 1854. It took its name from a nearby river.

After news of the battle reached the UK, many British families began to name their daughters Alma. The name already existed but was not common. In Latin, it means "nurturing soul." It became much more popular after the battle of that name, but declined in popularity in the 20th century. Some British pubs adopted the name "The Alma" and continue to use it, including the one below in Wandsworth.

I hope you have enjoyed this feeble attempt to show how even a relatively minor war can have major cultural effects. 

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Arthur Middleton: Flawed Founding Father

South Carolina's Arthur Middleton (1742-1787) is probably best known as a signer the American Declaration of Independence. Visitors to Middleton Place near Charleston may recall that he owned the rice plantation there, erected by his father Henry and famed for its landscaped gardens. 

In the 1750s, his parents sent him to England to be educated, a privilege largely restricted to the sons of wealthy planters. He did his preparatory education at two of England's most prestigious "public" schools, Harrow and Westminster. He then attended university at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and the Middle Temple in London, where he studied law. 

He returned to South Carolina in the early 1760s, and married the daughter of another wealthy planter family, Mary Izard. In 1764, Arthur's father gave him Middleton Place and moved to The Oaks, a plantation near Goose Creek where he had been born.    

In 1768, Arthur and Mary went to England and did not return until 1771. Shortly before their return, the American artist Benjamin West, who had settled in Britain, painted a family portrait of Middleton with his wife Mary Izard Middleton and their infant son Henry. Ironically, West would soon become the court painter to George III, soon to be Middleton's nemesis. [Image: Arthur Middleton, and the full family portrait]

Upon his return, Arthur emerged as one of the the most radical opponents of British colonial policies. he joined the American Whig Party, who later dubbed themselves the "Patriots." He allied with his friend and neighbor, William Henry Drayton of Drayton Hall, who had swung from being a firm supporter of the Crown to one of its most vocal opponents. 

Both men served on many of the committees the extralegal Provincial Congress of South Carolina established in 1775. They used the committees to effectively run the colony and render the royal government virtually helpless, violating many laws and personal liberties in the process. 

Through the Secret Committee, they used the Sons of Liberty to harass those believed to be loyal to the Crown or neutral. Their methods of persuasion included intimidation, illegal house searches, and for the most vocal, tarring and feathering, sometimes followed by banishment from the colony. 

In early 1776, the Provincial Congress gradually turned in favor of complete independence. By this time open war between colonists and Britain had begun in New England. The Congress elected Middleton as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He replaced his father Henry, who was much less radical than he was. Their differences led to a serious rift in the family. 

As noted above, Arthur was among those who signed the Declaration of Independence.  A few days before that event, Patriot forces in South Carolina had repulsed a British attack on Charleston at the Battle of Sullivan's Island. It was the first major victory of the war for the Americans. 

During the next three years, the war hardly touched South Carolina. But in the late 1770s, the British adopted what they called the Southern Strategy. They captured Savannah in December 1778 and set their eyes on Charleston, then the wealthiest city in America. The city surrendered to a British and Loyalist force in May 1780. It was the worst Patriot defeat of the war, as the entire Southern Army was captured. [See The British Seize Charleston]

The surrender was also a disaster for Middleton. After landing on the Charleston peninsula, British soldiers ransacked Middleton Place, beheading many of its statues. 

Worse followed. The British arrested Middleton and about twenty others they thought were plotting further resistance. The prisoners, who included Christopher Gadsden and Edward Rutledge, were shipped to the British stronghold at St. Augustine. 

They remained in Florida until July 1781, when the British paroled them and sent them to Philadelphia. By then, the war was nearing its close. Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington and a French force at Yorktown in October. 

Middleton returned to South Carolina at war's end. He died of a fever, probably malaria, at Middleton Place in January 1787 and was buried there in a tomb. [Image: Middleton's tomb at Middleton Place]

His legacy was mixed. A fervent Patriot he surely was. Yet some of the measures he supported as a member of the Secret Committee violated the very notions of liberty he espoused and he lived a life made possible by the enslavement of hundreds of his fellow beings. 

Side note: Middleton's descendants include Charles Middleton, who starred as the evil Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon films of the 1930s. I remember Ming well. I used to sit and watch the films on TV on Saturday mornings in the 1950s, absolutely fascinated!   

Further Reading:

John Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution 2 vols., Charleston, 1821. Based on documents John's father William Henry Drayton had collected prior to his death.

The Papers of Henry Laurens. 16 vols., Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1972-2003. Volumes dealing with the 1760s and 1770s.

   

William Henry Drayton: Planter, Patriot, Populist

William Henry Drayton (1742-1779) of South Carolina was one of the more controversial figures of the American Revolutionary era. He was born to wealth and privilege at Drayton Hall, a large Neo-Palladian mansion his father John had built from the profits of enslaved labor. 

Drayton Hall was the "Big House" of the family's rice plantation on the Ashley River, about 15 miles upstream from Charleston, South Carolina. [Image: Drayton Hall]

When he was 10, Drayton's parents sent him to England to be educated. Like many Carolina planters' sons, he attended Westminster School in London. He furthered his studies at Balliol College, Oxford. 

After returning home at his father's request in 1764, he was admitted to the South Carolina Bar. He married Dorothy Golightly, a wealthy heiress, the same year. [Images: William Henry Drayton X2]

When colonial opposition to British taxation strengthened in the 1760s, Drayton initially defended the British government. Elected to the colonial assembly, he supported Parliament's right to pass the Stamp Act in 1765. His stance was unpopular, He was defeated at the next election. Undeterred, in 1769 he wrote an inflammatory article opposing the Non-Importation Agreement, which called for a colonial boycott of British goods. 

Supporters of the Agreement ostracized Drayton socially and economically. He found it difficult to sell his crops. Seeking to improve his financial situation, he went to England in 1770, hoping to secure royal patronage. 

He was appointed to the South Carolina Council but the British government failed to give him what he really wanted: a lucrative royal job in South Carolina. The government gave the jobs he sought to native Britons instead.

Adding insult to injury, Colonel John Stuart, British Superintendent for Indian Affairs, prevented Drayton from concluding a fraudulent land deal with the Catawba Nation. Stuart's job was to protect the Native Americans from rapacious landgrabs and prevent war on the Southern frontier. If Drayton's scheme had been allowed, he would have effectively stolen about 150,000 acres from the Catawba. 

Frustrated by these obstacles to his ambitions, Drayton rearranged his political loyalties. The British government he had praised became his enemy. He joined the Whigs, as the future "Patriots" called themselves. 

In 1774, Drayton published A Letter from Freeman, championing American rights against "tyrannical" royal rule. The acting governor, his uncle William Bull, responded by suspending him from the Royal Council in March 1775. His popularity soared. He quickly emerged as a leader of the radical Whigs.

When the Whigs established a provisional government the same spring, Drayton was elected as a delegate to the Provincial Congress. The delegates  appointed him to the Committee of Safety and other key committees. He led extralegal raids on the Post Office, the powder magazines, and the armouries. 

Exploiting his new popularity, he encouraged followers to hound neutrals and supporters of royal government. Many of them left the colony as a result. Among them was John Stuart, whom Drayton and others accused falsely of orchestrating Indian attacks on the colony. Drayton thus avenged the loss of his lucrative land deal with the Catawba.

Drayton and his supporters also fanned fears of British-inspired slave revolts. The hysteria that followed led to the judicial murder of Thomas Jeremiah, a prosperous free black, in August. 

Using a combination of threats and deception, Drayton negotiated a truce with powerful backcountry Loyalists in September, effectively neutralizing them at a critical moment. 

He was now more popular than ever. In November, he was elected President of the Provincial Congress. He succeeded fellow planter Henry Laurens. Laurens disliked and distrusted Drayton, believing him to be a dangerous demagogue. Laurens resigned his presidency in the hope that Drayton would be moderated or curbed in that position. 

Instead, an emboldened Drayton became more extreme. He embarked on a quest to create a South Carolina navy. Having outfitted some ships, he personally commanded attacks on British naval vessels in Charleston harbor.

In February 1776, he moved that the Provincial Congress declare independence from Great Britain. Most delegates were not yet ready for that and voted against the motion. They did approve a provisional constitution in March. Drayton was elected to the new Assembly, appointed to the state council, and received the highest judicial post: Chief Justice. 

He proved neither just nor merciful. In the summer of 1776, Cherokee bands attacked backcountry settlers illegally encroaching on their traditional hunting lands. They were joined by some white Loyalists, or Tories, as the Whigs called them. 

The Cherokee uprising failed. It cost them dearly. American forces killed hundreds of them, burned more than 50 of their towns, and destroyed their crops. Many who were captured were sold into slavery in the West Indies. 

Drayton urged the most severe reprisals. Every captured Cherokee, he wrote, "should become the property of the taker." The Cherokee nation should be "extirpated" (eradicated) and their lands "become the property of the American public."

The Cherokee managed to survive as a nation, but lost a huge part of their territory in the dictated peace settlement of 1777. In the 1830s, they were forcibly expelled from the rest and removed to Oklahoma in the infamous "Trail of Tears."

It instructive to note what Chief Justice Drayton wrote about the whites who joined the Cherokee. A state court convicted them of treason and sentenced them to hang. Drayton commented that he would have hanged them without trial to save the state money. His successor as President of South Carolina, John Rutledge, pardoned them. 

In a charge to a grand jury around that time, Drayton declared that God had chosen the "American Empire" to replace Great Britain as his tool to advance the cause of liberty. The Lord had once chosen Britain, but the British had violated His intentions by "trying to enslave the American people." Apparently, God -- or Drayton -- had no concept of irony. 

In 1778 Drayton was elected President of South Carolina. He helped write a state constitution. In the same year he was elected to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He served on scores of committees, helped forge the first constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation, and fervently supported the army. 

He clashed repeatedly and bitterly with other colleagues, including Henry Laurens, then serving as President of the Continental Congress. Drayton opposed attempts to reach a compromise with the British government and fought to protect "southern interests" -- a euphemism for slavery.

Drayton fell ill and died of a fever in Philadelphia in September 1779. His death is usually ascribed to typhus, but it is more likely to have been yellow fever or malaria. 

In modern political terms, Drayton was a populist like Donald Trump, that is, someone who aims to appeal to ordinary people who feel that the elites have ignored their concerns. But he was also a member of that elite, and contemptuous of the "rabble." The popularity of his ideas and methods was an unfortunate omen for the new nation. 

Further Reading: 

John Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution 2 vols., Charleston, 1821. Based on documents William Henry Drayton had collected prior to his death.

The Papers of Henry Laurens. 16 vols., Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1972-2003. Volumes dealing with the 1760s and 1770s.

Keith Krawczynski, William Henry Drayton: South Carolina Revolutionary Patriot. LSU Press, 2001.

William Dabney and Marion Dargan, William Henry Drayton and the American Revolution. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1962.

William Wragg: A South Carolina Loyalist Memorialized in Westminster Abbey

In the south choir aisle of Westminster Abbey in London lies a marble memorial to a wealthy South Carolina planter. His name was William Wragg. The inscription on the memorial records his unfortunate fate. He was drowned off the coast of Holland (The Netherlands) in September 1777.

 

The monument, sculpted by Richard Hayward, was erected in 1779 by his "afflicted sister." It is unique in the Abbey. Wragg is the only civilian participant in the American War for Independence to be memorialized there, which holds the remains of many British monarchs, heroes, and cultural icons such as Chaucer, Newton, David Livingstone, Dickens, Darwin, and Stephen Hawking. 

The Abbey contains the remains of two British army officers who participated in the Revolutionary War, Major John Andre, who the Patriots hanged as a spy, and General John Burgoyne, who lost the pivotal Battle of Saratoga in 1777. 

William Wragg was born in Charleston (then Charles Town) in 1714, son of Samuel and Marie (Dubose). Shortly after his birth his merchant father purchased a large plantation, Ashley Barony. 

At the age of four William was subjected to a traumatic experience. He was accompanying his father on a trading voyage in May 1718 when their ship, the Crowley, was captured by pirates blockading Charleston Harbor. 

The pirates were commanded by none other than Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. In battle, he was a frightful figure, famous for putting lighted fuses (slow matches) in his beard, and carrying several loaded pistols during attacks. 

Teach crammed all 80 of the Crowley's passengers and crew into the hold of his flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. He used them as hostages to demand a ransom. It was an unusual ransom, to say the least: medicines for syphilis, malaria, and wounds. William Wragg's father, Samuel, volunteered to go ashore and procure a medicine chest. 

Teach refused to let Samuel go because his wealth and status made him too valuable a hostage. He chose another hostage for the task. Several days passed. No medicines arrived. Teach threatened to kill Samuel and loot poorly defended Charleston if his demand was not met. 

The Charleston authorities finally sent a large consignment of medicines. Blackbeard put the hostages ashore, but not before stripping them of most of their clothing. They had to walk a long distance through the woods to town. Blackbeard was killed later that year in a naval action along the coast of North Carolina

Having survived his encounter with Blackbeard, young William embarked on another adventure several years later. His parents sent him to England to be educated. He attended Westminster School, Oxford University, and the Middle Temple, where he studied law. He was admitted to the English bar in 1733.  

After practicing law for some years, Wragg returned to South Carolina. His father died in 1750, making him one of the wealthiest men in the colony, with several plantations and more than 250 enslaved laborers. He soon became involved in politics and in 1753 was appointed to the governor's royal council. [Image; William Wragg by Jeremiah Theus]

Wragg proved to be a staunch advocate of the prerogatives of the council and the British Crown against the pretensions of Commons House of Assembly. He was so outspoken that Royal Governor Henry Lyttleton removed him from the council in 1757 to appease the Assembly. Wragg was elected to the Assembly the next year and served until 1768. He resigned, he said, due to the Assembly's increasing opposition to British rule. 

As the disputes between the Crown and the colonies led to more extreme measures on both sides, Wragg remained outspokenly loyal to the British government. Yet he refused offers of royal office, declaring he did not want to profit from his loyalty.  

In 1775 he refused to declare allegiance to the rebel cause by signing a document called The Association. His interrogators, many of them old friends, asked why he would not join them. He replied, 

“I’d despise myself if I subscribed to an opinion contrary to the dictates of my conscience. I have no hostile intentions toward you gentlemen, but I believe the logical outcome of your current measures will be an attempt to separate from the mother country.” 

The gentlemen said he would be left alone if he signed the oath of allegiance to the Patriot cause. Wragg then asked, "What kind of supporter would I be if I signed this document under duress?"  

The de facto Provincial Government of South Carolina ordered Wragg confined to his plantation. Two years later, after he had refused to sign another oath of allegiance, the state government banished him from South Carolina. Leaving his wife and daughters behind, he boarded the ship Commerce for Amsterdam, with only his son Billy and Tom, an enslaved servant, as companions. 

The ship foundered in a storm off the coast of the Netherlands. Wragg drowned trying to save his son. Tom, however, managed to save Billy and himself. The Westminster memorial depicts them clinging to a piece of wreckage, with the sinking vessel behind them. 

Another Loyalist, George Milligen, said of Wragg that "he would have been an ornament to Sparta or Rome in their most virtuous days." 

Next time you are in Westminster Abbey, check out the Wragg memorial! 

Further Reading:

John Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution 2 vols., Charleston, 1821. 

The Papers of Henry Laurens. 16 vols., Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1972-2003. Volumes dealing with the 1760s and 1770s.

William Wragg | Westminster Abbey (westminster-abbey.org)

Wragg, William | South Carolina Encyclopedia (scencyclopedia.org)

Report by George Milligen, Surgeon to the Garrison for His Majesty's Forces in South Carolina, dated 15 September 1775. National Archives, Kew CO_5_396_037.pdf

  

Boycott: The History of a Word

I hope the following tale helps to explain where "boycott" came from, and inspires you with an example of how a boycott can be effective. Boycotts are needed more than ever, against the corporations, institutions, and individuals supporting and enabling the Trump Regime.

To boycott something means to ostracize someone or something, to refuse to patronise a business or an establishment or an organization. It can be used both as a verb or a noun, "to boycott" or "a boycott." Boycotts were used as a tactic against racial discrimination in the US South in the 1950s and 60s. They are often used today against companies that are perceived as discriminating against certain groups or engaging in unjust practices. Tesla is a recent  example [Image: Civil Rights Boycotts in US South, 1950s]

"Boycott" is a fairly recent addition to the English language It was  first used about 160 years ago in what is now the Republic of Ireland, which was then a part of the UK. The word comes from the name of a person who was the object of an agrarian protest, Captain Charles Boycott. He was a retired army officer who had become the land agent of an absentee landlord in County Mayo. [Image: Captain Boycott, as Drawn by Spy (Lesley Ward) in Vanity Fair, 1881]

In 1880,  Boycott became the focus of a coordinated protest by activists of the Irish Land League, instigated by its founder, Michael Davitt, and its leader, Charles Stuart Parnell, MP. Davitt himself was from County Mayo. [Images: Parnell and Davitt]

Davitt had established the Land League in 1879 to protect tenant farmers against oppressions by large landowners, notably arbitrary evictions and rack renting (raising rents excessively). The League campaigned to secure what it called the Three Fs: Free Sale, Fixity of Tenure, and Fair Rents. In pursuit of these goals, and specifically to prevent planned evictions on Lord Erne's estate, League activists urged estate workers, including seasonal crop harvesters, to refuse their labor. The protest quickly evolved into a community-wide movement designed to isolate Boycott, the land agent on the spot. 

Shops and tradesmen in the nearby town of Ballinrobe refused to serve him or do business with him. (The League coerced some of them into participating.) In short order, his life became unbearable. News of Boycott's predicament soon spread to London. The government sent a regiment of Royal Hussars (light cavalry) and over 1000 men of the Royal Irish Constabular to protect volunteer harvesters, mostly Protestant Orangemen. They managed to harvest about £500 of crops -- at a cost to the British government of about £10,000 (millions in today's money). 

Boycott left Ireland after the harvest and took a job as an estate agent in Suffolk, England. He died in 1897. The Boycott affair was widely followed and reported and people began using the word "boycott" to describe similar protest actions. A poster promoting Parnell's pamphlet "Boycotting" shows that it quickly became an eponymous word. Parnell is pictured on the cover.

According to one contemporary source, "boycott" was first coined by a local priest, Father John O'Malley, who was helping an activist to find a simple term for the action the local people would understand. He rejected "ostracism," and "social excommunication" as too elitist. and suggested calling it "to boycott him."  

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