Destiny of the Republic (38 page)

Chapter 5: Bleak Mountain

1
The house, which the reporters: Garfield,
Diary
, August 22, 1880, 4:445.

2
“regular town”: Balch,
Life of President Garfield
, 314–15.

3
For the past three years: Garfield,
Diary
, 4:85, 88, 410.

4
To the house itself: National Park Service, “James A. Garfield National Historic Site,”
www.nps.gov/jaga/index.htm
.

5
“You can go nowhere”: Leech and Brown,
The Garfield Orbit
, 183.

6
“I long for time”: Garfield,
Diary
, September 24, 1879, 4:298–99.

7
“take the stump”: Peskin,
Garfield
, 482.

8
Happily left to his own devices: Theodore Clarke Smith,
The Life and Letters of James A. Garfield
, 921.

9
“Result 475 bushels”: Garfield,
Diary
, July 31, 1880, 4:432.

10
While Garfield worried: Three independent parties had presidential candidates that year: the Greenback-Labor Party, which, as well as supporting the continuation of paper money, argued fiercely for workers’ rights; the Prohibitionists, who wanted a president who would follow in the footsteps of Hayes and ban alcohol in the White House, if not throughout the nation; and the Anti-Masons, which, as their name implied, opposed Freemasons, who they feared were trying to take over the country. Clancy,
The Presidential Election of 1880
, 157–66.

11
“Hancock the Superb”: “The Democratic Trojan Horse,”
New York Times
, July 31, 1880.

12
“rebel party”: Peskin,
Garfield
, 277.

13
In fact, Garfield had turned down the stock:
The Transactions of the Credit Mobilier Company, and an Examination of that Portion of the Testimony Taken by the Committee of Investigation and Reported to the House of Representatives at the Last Session of the Forty-Second Congress which Relates to Mr. Garfield
. Washington, 1873.

14
“There is nothing in my relation”: Theodore Clarke Smith,
The Life and Letters of James A. Garfield
, 530.

15
In the end, the effort to renew: Leech and Brown,
The Garfield Orbit
, 218.

16
“Individuals or companys”: Theodore Clarke Smith,
The Life and Letters of James A. Garfield
, 1039–41.

17
In New York, Garfield campaign clubs:
New York Times
, October 2, 1880; September 25, 1880; October 18, 1880.

18
“support Gen. Garfield for President”:
New York Times
, September 27, 1880.

19
In Washington, D.C., a former slave:
New York Times
, July 4, 1880.

20
“Now we’ll use a Freemen’s right”:
Book of Election Songs
, Song 21, microfilm at the Library of Congress, Garfield Papers.

21
“It could not have been larger”:
New York Times
, October 26, 1880.

22
“James A. Garfield must be our President”: Ibid.

23
“front porch talks”: Leech and Brown,
The Garfield Orbit
, 212.

24
“As the singers poured out”: Stanley-Brown, “My Friend Garfield.”

25
A few weeks later: Garfield,
Diary
, November 2, 1880, 4:480.

26
“coolest man in the room”: “At General Garfield’s Home,”
New York Times
, November 3, 1880.

27
“the news of 3 a.m.”: Garfield,
Diary
, November 3, 1880, 4:481.

28
“There is a tone of sadness”: Garfield, November 8, 1880, quoted in Theodore Clarke Smith,
The Life and Letters of James A. Garfield
, 1048.

Chapter 6: Hand and Soul

1
As Garfield tried to accept: Grosvenor and Wesson,
Alexander Graham Bell
, 111.

2
“I did not realize”: “Bell’s ‘Electric Toy,’ ”
New York Times
, January 2, 1905.

3
By the summer of 1877: Grosvenor and Wesson
, Alexander Graham Bell
, 88.

4
That same year, President Hayes: Gray,
Reluctant Genius
, 180–81.

5
“A Professor Bell explained”: Mackenzie,
Alexander Graham Bell
, 193.

6
“the voice already carries”: Quoted in Grosvenor and Wesson,
Alexander Graham Bell
, 86.

7
“Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me”: Quoted in Mackenzie,
Alexander Graham Bell
, 160.

8
After Morse developed: Casson,
The History of the Telephone
; Lubrano,
The Telegraph
, 140–41.

9
“It can speak, but it won’t!”: Quoted in MacKenzie,
Alexander Graham Bell
, 215–16.

10
Although Bell deeply resented: Grosvenor and Wesson,
Alexander Graham Bell
, 75.

11
To add insult to injury: Ibid.; Bruce,
Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
, 173.

12
In a court of law: Gray,
Reluctant Genius
, 197. Bruce,
Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
, 270.

13
With Western Union’s defeat: Mackenzie,
Alexander Graham Bell: The Man Who Contracted Space
, p. 212.

14
The fighting, however, continued: MacKenzie,
Alexander Graham Bell
, 214.

15
“Of all the men who didn’t”: Quoted in ibid., 218. Although the legitimacy of Bell’s telephone patent has been scrutinized in hundreds of lawsuits, and over more than a century, the question of whether or not he invented the telephone continues to be raised. Perhaps the most persistent accusation against Bell is that he took the idea of a liquid transmitter from Elisha Gray. (For the most recent of these arguments, see A. Edward Evenson’s
The Telephone Patent Controversy of 1876
, and Seth Shulman’s
The Telephone Gambit
.) It should be noted, however, that Bell had been using liquid transmitters in experiments for several years before he filed his patent for the telephone. Moreover, Bell did not use a liquid transmitter either in the model he presented at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, or in the telephone his company sold commercially.

16
“I am sick of the Telephone”: Bell to Mabel Bell, September 9, 1878, Bell Family Papers.

17
“hateful to me at all times”: Quoted in Grosvenor and Wesson,
Alexander Graham Bell
, 88.

18
“first incentive to invention”: Bruce,
Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
, 26.

19
“Our earthly hopes”: Alexander Melville Bell to Alexander Graham Bell, May 28, 1870, Bell Family Papers.

20
His mother, who had homeschooled: Bruce,
Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
, 20.

21
“I should probably have sought”: Quoted in Gray,
Reluctant Genius
, 104.

22
“As far as telegraphy is concerned”: Quoted in ibid., 136.

23
“I wish very much”: Eliza Bell to Alexander Graham Bell, March 7, 1880, Bell Family Papers.

24
“I have my periods”: Bell to Mabel Bell, March 1879, Bell Family Papers.

25
When struggling with an invention: Gray,
Reluctant Genius
, 3.

26
“wee bit fiddler”:
New York Times
, January 2, 1905.

27
“musical fever”: Bruce,
Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
, 22.

28
Even to Bell’s father: Ibid., 19.

29
“I have serious fears”: Alexander Melville Bell to Alexander Graham Bell, May 19, 1873, Bell Family Papers.

30
“sort of telephonic undercurrent”: Gray,
Reluctant Genius
, 145.

31
“My mind concentrates itself”: Bell to Mabel Bell, December 12(?), 1885, Bell Family Papers.

32
By 1880, so frustrated: Bruce,
Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
, 283.

33
“I have been almost”: Gardiner Greene Hubbard to Alexander Graham Bell, July 1880, Bell Family Papers.

34
“However hard and faithfully”: Bruce,
Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
, 284.

35
In February of 1881: Bell to William Forbes, February 2, 1881, Bell Family Papers.

36
Along with the prize: Mackenzie,
Alexander Graham Bell
, 222.

37
Watson had left: Bruce,
Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
, 282.

38
“These are germs”: Bell to Alexander Melville Bell and Eliza Bell, January 18, 1881, Bell Family Papers.

39
“functional derangement of the heart”: Bruce,
Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
, 341.

40
“Edison was completely absorbed”: Tainter, “The Talking Machine and Some Little Known Facts in Connection with Its Early Development,” 12-A.

41
“I trust you will”: Bell to Mabel Bell, September 9, 1878, Bell Family Papers.

Chapter 7: Real Brutuses and Bolingbrokes

1
At 2:30 in the morning: Garfield,
Diary
, March 3, 1881, 4:552.

2
“no less than a half-dozen”: Almon F. Rockwell, “From Mentor to Elberon,”
Century Magazine
23(1882), 431.

3
“the staggerings of my mind”: Ibid., March 1, 1881, 4:551.

4
With very few exceptions: During Washington’s first inauguration, which was held in New York City on April 30, 1789, he established the traditions of kissing the Bible after being sworn in to office and using the phrase “So help me God.” For his second inauguration, he delivered the shortest inaugural address in history, at just 135 words.

5
As transportation improved dramatically: The inauguration did not move to January 20 until 1933, when Congress ratified the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution. Although the Twentieth Amendment was ratified on January 23, Franklin D. Roosevelt was still inaugurated on March 4 of that year. It wasn’t until his second inauguration, in 1937, that the January 20 date was established.

6
By the time a crowd:
New York Times
, February 1, 1881.

7
Just beyond the Mall: Another three years would pass before the Washington Monument was finally finished, and by then the Army Corps of Engineers would have to use a type of marble different from that in the original construction, leaving the top two-thirds of the monument slightly darker than the bottom third.

8
“free from snow”: “A New Chief Magistrate,”
New York Times
, March 5, 1881.

9
“The momentous question”:
New York Times
, November 18, 1880.

10
“the very picture”:
New York Times
, March 5, 1881.

11
“in a deafening chorus”: Ibid.

12
“Low bridge!”:
New York Times
, December 22, 1907.

13
“James A. Garfield sprung from the people”:
New York Times
, March 5, 1881.

14
“smile[d] quietly at the hard task”: “How the Address Was Received,”
New York Times
, March 5, 1881.

15
“The elevation of the negro race”: James A. Garfield,
Inaugural Address
, March 4, 1881.

16
“black men who had been slaves”: “How the Address Was Received,”
New York Times
, March 5, 1881.

17
“The emancipated race”: James A. Garfield,
Inaugural Address
, March 4, 1881.

18
“There was the utmost silence”: “How the Address Was Received,”
New York Times
, March 5, 1881.

19
“Mr. Garfield will doubtless leave”:
New York Times
, August 6, 1881, quoted in Theodore Clarke Smith,
The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield
, 435.

20
“No trades, no shackles”: Garfield,
Diary
, August 9, 1880, 4:439.

21
“I need hardly add”: Peskin,
Garfield
, 528.

22
On March 1, Levi Morton: Chidsey,
The Gentleman from New York
, 326; Connery, “Secret History of the Garfield-Conkling Tragedy,” 152.

23
“Allison broke down”: Garfield,
Diary
, March 4, 1881, 4:552.

24
“The Senate”: Henry Adams,
The Education of Henry Adams
, 309.

25
“The nomination of Garfield”: John Sherman to Governor Foster, June 30, 1880; Sherman,
Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet
, 777–78.

26
“using his influence and power”: “The Republican Campaign,”
New York Times
, June 19, 1880.

27
“a little reckless”: Garfield,
Diary
, March 28, 1875, 4:48.

28
“I ask this”: Quoted in Peskin,
Garfield
, 519.

29
“His appointment would act”: Ibid., 517, 526.

30
The only public position Arthur had held: Reeves,
Gentleman Boss
, 63.

31
“The nomination of Arthur”: Ackerman,
Dark Horse
, 132.

32
“The Ohio men have offered”: Quoted in Hudson,
Random Reflections of an Old Political Reporter
, 96–99.

33
“For his enemies”: Rockwell, “From Mentor to Elberon,”
Century Magazine
, 437.

34
“a stranger entering the House”: Ridpath,
The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States
, 272–73.

35
“You old rascal”: Peskin,
Garfield
, 322.

36
“determined not to be classified”: Garfield,
Diary
, March 23, 1881, 4:562.

37
“Of course I deprecate war”: Quoted in Ackerman,
Dark Horse
, 324.