Notes on the United States of North America, during a phrenological visit in 1838-9-40

Preface

. The circumstances under which this work was com posed, and the objects aimed at by the author, are explain ed in the Introduction. Although written as a journal, only a small portion of it is devoted to personal adventures, or to those topics which usually constitute the substance of a worfc bearing that form. I cannot, however, allow this opportunity to pass, without expressing my gratitude towards those kind and excellent friends whose society and attentions rendered our residence in the United States at once instructive and agreeable. My acknowledgments are due in a special manner to Dr. John Bell of Phila delphia, and Dr. Andrew Boardman of New York, for much kind and valuable assistance; while to Mr. Charles Humberston of Liverpool, and Mr. George Hart of New York, I am indebted for benefits which those can best appreciate who have experienced the impediments to communication between foreign nations, unavoidably presented by Custom-House regulations.

During our whole residence in America, the unwearied attention and punctuality of these two gentlemen conferred on us favors which we cannot return, but which it gives us pleasure thus publicly to acknowledge. Edinburgh, March 1, 1841.

Introduction

. A few observations are necessary to inform the reader of the circumstances under which the following work has been prepared, and of the objects aimed at by the author. In 1832 Dr. Spurzheim proceeded to the United States of America, with the view of diffusing a knowledge of Phrenology by public lectures. He had not completed his first course in Boston, when he was taken ill; and he d'ed on the 10th November in the same year. Brief as was the space during which he was permitted to labor, his expositions of this science had excited great and ex tensive interest, not in Boston only, but in many other parts of the Union. After his death, numerous invitations were sent to me by the friends of Phrenology to repair to the United States, and to follow up the work which he had so successfully begun.

For several years this was not in my power; but at last, in 1S3S, circumstances permitted me to obey the call, and I sailed for New York in Sep tember, and commenced a course of lectures in Boston in October, of that year. I continued in the United States till 1st June 1S40; and during the whole period was in cessantly engaged — in the winter and spring, in lectur ing on Phrenology in the cities; and in summer — in pre paring a work on Moral Philosophy for the American press, and in maku»g excursions into the interior of the country for necessary recreation. These occupations were not favorable for a minute study of the social and political institutions of America and its society; nor, in going to that country, had I any intention of writing a work in relation to them. From my first arrival, how ever, I kept a note-book, in which I entered, from day to day, such observations as were suggested by the objects and circumstances around me. At first, the novelty of VI

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. aspect under which even commonplace objects occasionally presented themselves, imparted to many of them .an interest which they did not intrinsically possess. But as, at that time, my journal was written solely for private use, I felt no scruple in recording on its pages many observations and impressions which would never have found ■a place in it, had it been composed originally with a view to publication. In proportion, however, as the country and its affairs were displayed to me in more familiar intercourse, higher objects excited attention, and many passing events, institutions, and social arrangements, suggested reflections which, judging from my own experience, seemed calculated to interest the British public. It was thus only at a late period that the idea of publishing my observations presented itself, and that the considerations to be afterwards mentioned, gradually led to its being realised.

Such being the origin of the present work, it will not surprise any reflecting reader to find, especially in the beginning, many notices of comparatively trivial objects and occurrences, to which novelty had lent an exaggerated importance. But, although fully sensible of the ex istence of these and other imperfections in the materials of the work (a discovery which presented itself most forcibly after the book was printed, and when time and distance from the scene of observation had blunted many impressions), there are reasons which have induced me to hazard its publication. Some of these are the following:— First, I regard it as impossible for any individual accu rately to describe a great nation. The objects and interests are so vast compared with the capacity of one mind, that a whole life would not suffice to attain to truth in all points of detail and to logical soundness in all inferences.

A certain extent of error, therefore, is una voidable on the part of all observers who attempt to delineate so extensive a field. The only method by which philosophic minds can arrive at truth in regard to national character and institutions, is to analyse and compare the reports of numerous observers; each individual author being regarded as a single witness in a vast and complicated cause. The value of the testimony of each will

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. VII depend more on the purity of his motives, and the sin cerity of his narrative, than upon an abstract freedom from mistake, which is not to be expected from even the most gifted and accomplished men. I regard the works of all the authors who have written on the United States as valuable in this view; and their value is increased by the difference in the minds, circumstances, and education of the individuals who produced them. Mrs. Trollope, Mrs. Butler, and Miss Martineau, for example, each possessed a peculiar combination of faculties, moved in a different sphere, and were interested by different objects. When, therefore, they gave to the public the impressions which the United States had made on their mind, their works were not without interest, al though they might contain errors, and embody false in ferences.

Each was a faithful witness to her own impres sions, and a philosophic reader could draw instruction from them all. In like manner, Stuart, Hall, Hamilton, and Marryat, without, in all instances, relating absolute truth, or the whole truth, may each have evolved some portion of fact and of just inference, by means of which the public may be instructed. It is simply in the charac ter of another witness in the great investigation that I present these notes. And there are some circumstances, besides those already stated, which, on reflection, have appeared to my own mind to justify this step. My pursuits and studies, previously to my visit to the United States, had been widely different from those of all the authors, except perhaps Mr. Stuart, who had written recently on the subject, and my circle of interests during my stay was also different.

Captain Marryat, for ex ample, the latest writer, mentions the American habit of drinking and forming social acquaintances at the bars of the American hotels and taverns — and says — "I was al ways willing to accommodate the Americans in this particular as far as I could, (there, at least, they will do me justice) ; that at times I drank much more than I wished is certain, yet still I gave most serious offence, especially in the west, because I would not drink early in the morning or be fore dinner, which is a general custom in the states,although much more prevalent in the south and west, where it is literally, ' Stranger, will you drink or fight?' " This spirit

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. of accommodation must have opened up to Captain Mar ryat a large field of observation, and enabled him success fully to describe one portion of American life and man ners. But during my whole residence in the States, I never drank, and never was even once asked to drink, at the bar of any hotel. This is only one among many circumstances which indicate that my sphere of observation may have been widely different from his. I may, therefore, be viewed as a witness, testifying to some points different from those reported on by him. The necessity for the labors of numerous observers to elucidate so vast a subject will be readily recognised, when we consider a few of the difficulties that obstruct the path of each in his search after truth. In America, as in other countries, the vast majority even of educated and intelligent people, are conversant chiefly with their own localities and circles, and entertain some ideas regarding other places and interests which an intelligent stranger soon perceives to be erroneous.

Per sons are to be found in Boston, for example, who express not only imperfect, but occasionally prejudiced and erroneous views of the people and condition of many things in Philadelphia, and vice versa; just as many of the inhabitants of Edinburgh and Glasgow, who, although living only forty-two miles apart, and under the same laws aud institutions, are by no means (speaking even of the enlightened class) well acquainted with each other's mental characteristics and social habits. An intelligent American, a stranger to both, who should live three months in each of these Scottish cities, would therefore be, in some respects, better qualified to present a picture of their minds, manners, and state of civilisation, than nineteen out of twenty of the inhabitants of either city themselves, even although he should fall into some mis takes which a resident native would have avoided.

His views would probably differ from those entertained of themselves and of each other, by the mass of the inhabi tants of both towns; but they might nevertheless contain much truth, which might have escaped their own notice Even such observations, however, must also be imperfect; for the stranger represents only an individual mind, with natural aptitudes, biases, and deficiencies of his own; and

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. IX all that he can legitimately achieve is to give a candid statement of the impressions made on his own faculties by the objects to which they were directed. I could furnish many striking illustrations of the sources of error to which such an observer is exposed. A few years ago, when travelling in Somersetshire, I saw four horses, attended by two men, drawing a light plough in a light soil. "What a waste of labor is here," said I to an intelligent farmer; "in Scotland two horses and one man would accomplish this work." "We rear and train young horses for the London market," said he; "two of the four which you see are serving an apprenticeship to labor. They bring a higher price when well broken." Nothing could be more reasonable than this explanation; yet if the facts had been reported as I saw them, they would have been true, though the inference would have been erroneous.

Again, upwards of twenty years ago, I accompanied a member of the bar of Paris, a philosopher and a man of letters, in a visit to the Highlands of Scotland. At Callendar, a boy of twelve or thirteen years of age, at tended us as guide to some interesting spot, and in external appearance he seemed to be in every respect one of the common lads of the village. He boasted of neither shoes nor stockings, wore a short kilt, a waistcoat and corduroy jacket, and had a common blue bonnet on his head. My Parisian friend entered into conversation with him; asked him if he had been at school, and soon discovered that, to a tolerable acquaintance with the Greek and Latin languages, he added a pretty extensive knowledge of arithmetic and geography, and was then engaged in the study also of mathematics. My friend conceived that the boy was an average specimen of the peasantry of the country, and greatly admired the educational attainments of the Scotch people, which he had previously heard highly extolled.

Being aware of the extravagant exaggeration of common report concerning the education of my countrymen, on our return to the village I made in quiry, and "ascertained that the boy was the natural son of an English officer who had resided in the neighborhood, and who, while he ordered him to be reared in the hardy habits of the Scottish Highlanders, had provided ample funds for his mental education. Of course, I corrected the X

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. impressions of the Parisian barrister; who, but for this ex planation, might have reported correctly the facts which he had observed, but drawn most erroneous deductions from them. Although when writing my notes on the United States, I had constantly before my eyes these and other sources of error; yet it is not improbable that these pages may embody not a few mistakes of a similar nature. The reader may be prepared to ask, Why, then, do I publish them? My answer is this. These, or other sources of error, beset not only foreign, but even native travellers; and the only alternative presented is, between descriptions and conclusions embracing truth and error mixed in greater or lesser proportions, or no descriptions and inferences at all. I hope that, notwithstanding these imperfections, the following notes embody so large a por tion of correct observations and sound deductions as to give some value to the work.

Its merits will depend on the extent to which the true predominate over the erro neous. In the United States the difficulties of attaining to truth in delineating the incidents of travel, are increased by the feelings which the remarks of British authors have excited in some circles of society. Their pictures of Ame rican manners have been resented, and this resentment has shown itself on the part of individuals in attempts to mystify and mislead British travellers who are suspected of the intention of writing a book on the United States. In Boston I was told, that a certain person boasts of having given Miss Martineau erroneous information for the purpose of leading her into mistakes; and another in Philadelphia assures his friends, that he "crammed" Cap tain Marryat with old "Joe Millers," that is to say, jokes and fictions which the Captain embodied into his books as facts illustrative of American manners.

I am not aware of having been practised upon with similar inten tions; but this may have happened unconsciously to my self; as it is said to have done in the case of my prede cessors; and in this way I may unsuspectingly have been led to record error. But again, my apology is, that each writer is a single witness; that the truth will be evolved by multiplying their number; and that those features of American character respecting which all or most of the descriptions concur, may be viewed as correctly drawn;

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. XI while those about which extensive differences exist, must be regarded as requiring farther elucidation. I am sensible of the deficiency of system or connection in the work, and of its embracing topics that to many readers will present no interest. My apology for these imperfections is, that the pressing nature of my proper occupations deprived me of leisure either to acquire or to digest systematic views while I was in the country, and that after my return, although I had provided myself with books and printed documents containing a large extent of general information, I experienced an impossibility in applying them. In a systematic work, one important error may vitiate the whole superstructure; and I found that, in the absence of all the persons, objects, and institutions, by reference to which my inferences from these materials might be checked and corrected, I could not feel secure in my premises.

The only alternatives presented to me, therefore, were to publish my notes, imperfect as they might be, or to publish nothing. In farther apology for the apparently trifling nature of some of the incidents recorded, I may observe that the American Democracy is a phenomenon which has scarcely had a parallel in the world. It is, therefore, full of interest in all its features. From the vast political and social power wielded even by the meanest of the people, from their being, not in name only but in fact, the sovereigns of the nation, their manners, habits, opinions, and social condition are far more interesting than those of the same classes in a European kingdom. If Mrs. Trollope, or any other traveller, has described the puerile love of titles, the ungainly habits, or the peculiar manner of some American citizens; or if, in the following pages, I have introduced the gossip of wayfaring people, or anecdotes of the obscurest of men, they really do not appear trivial to my mind; because, to these very people the most profound and enlightened statesmen, the most learned lawyers, and the most accomplished divines, must address themselves; they must guide their understanding, and direct their passions, or allow their country to be ruined.

In the election which took place in Massachusetts in November 1839, Mr. Edward Everett, a man of great talents and accomplishments, was ejected from office as governor of

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. the state by a majority of one vote. The man who gave that vote may have been the most odd or illiterate person described in the following pages; and the know ledge that such individuals are invested with influence on the destinies of their country, gives to every feature of their character a deep interest. If they are vain, the poli tician leads them by their vanity; if they are absorbed in the pursuit of gain, he presents to them a golden bait; if they are self-confident and half-informed, he leads them by encomiums and plausibilities; and hence their faults, foibles, and imperfections, as well as their virtues and attainments, become efficient causes of bad or good government, and constitute fundamental elements in speculating on the future destinies of the nation. Innu merable remarks, therefore, which to my readers on both sides of the Atlantic, who do not take this view, may appear puerile, are in my eyes invested with a philosophical importance; and I do not believe that a correct view of the practical effect of the American institutions can be presented without introducing these apparently trifling elucidations.

I have endeavored to appreciate these details, according to their real importance, and to seize the principles upon which their interest depends; but these, without the substratum of facts, although evolved occasionally in trivial and ludicrous anecdotes, would, in my opinion be abstractions little instructive to any reader. A portion of the "notes" consists of notices of remarks which were made to me by various persons, or of information drawn from individuals by direct inquiries. The value of these remarks must necessarily depend on the knowledge, judgment, and honesty of the persons from whom they were derived, as well as upon the accuracy with which they have been reported. I found no cause of inquiry so instructive in the United States as conversa tions with persons of different professions, such as pro prietors ofland, merchants, lawyers, bankers, ministers of the Gospel, teachers, doctors in medicine, and men of science, as well as common working men; and by no other means could I give such a correct and vivid picture of the American mind as by reporting these, only sup pressing names, places, and dates, so that there should be no key to the discovery of the individuals, so to implicate

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. XIII them in any possible error; and I have pursued this course. The conversations introduced are generally trans posed in time and place, in order to avoid personal refer ence. It may reasonably be remarked, that, without the names, no one can know whether the individuals were the representatives of classes, or isolated persons uttering merely their own impressions. In reply, I observe, that the interest of these conversations consists in the thoughts which they embody, and that this is altogether indepen dent of the individuals. I endeavored to practise dis crimination in judging what remarks I should record. On the inherent weight of the ideas, and on this discretion their value rests. It would have been easy to give forth as my own, numerous remarks and suggestions which I derived from such sources; but this would not have rendered them more worthy of acceptation, while it would have implied that I pretended to possess an ex tent of information and depth of sagacity to which I had no legitimate claim.

In the course of my progress in the United States, I saw many things in a more advanced condition than similar objects were in my own country, and, therefore, con cluded that a notice of them would be both useful and interesting. The common school system, for example, the houses of refuge, the prisons, the lunatic asylums, and the voluntary church system, are objects that in Britain are engaging a large portion of general or local attention. It was not in my power to write systematic treatises on these subjects, but, by collecting and publishing such cur sory remarks as were within my reach, I hoped to convey some useful information that might benefit the laborers in the same enterprises at home. To my American readers nothing may appear more jejune than quotations from their own common school journals, acts establishing houses of refuge, or slight notices of their asylums and prisons; yet, on submitting these to persons of intelligence in Scotland before publishing them, I am assured that they are calculated to be useful in my own country.

Again, the Americans will probably be struck with the frequent notices of sermons introduced into the work; but the object of alluding to these was not trivial. An in tense interest exists in Britain, and especially in Scotland,

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. on the subject of a voluntary or an endowed church, and the most contradictory reports of the operation of the voluntary system in the United States have been published by British authors; and consequently, at the present time, no element of information concerning the United States is calculated to excite more general interest than one regarding the state of religion in that country. It would have been easy for me, and might have appeared more philosophical, to have delivered a sententious opin ion on this subject without any details; but believing that most thinking persons prefer an induction of their own to the dictum of their neighbor, it occurred to me to keep notes of some of the churches I attended, and to mention briefly the nature of the service and the sermon, the ap pearance of the church and congregation, and at the end only to state my inferences.

This method presents to my countrymen, whom alone I considered in this proceeding, a view of my own causæ scientiæ, and gives them also the means of appreciating the value of the elements on which my judgment is founded. Thus the entry which so frequently occurs, "Heard an orthodox discourse," in such or such a church, becomes interesting to the orthodox in Scotland, in proportion to the number of times in which it is repeated, as an increasing testimony to the extent of orthodox preaching in the United States; and so of other sects. Some persons may probably be offended at the fre quency and freedom with which religious opinions are introduced and commented on. My apology is, that I was struck with the far greater frequency with which questions on religious topics were put to me when lecturing in the United States than when lecturing in Britain.

This was an important feature in the mental condition of the people; and by making such notes of these questions as I was able to write down, I considered that I was pre serving evidence of this important fact itself, even allow ing many errors on my part to have been unintentionally committed in representing the views and motives of the parties who put them. My situation as a lecturer on the philosophy of mind exposed me to such questions, and I regarded them as among the most interesting incidents of my experience. In this way I have occasionally made

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. XV remarks on the spirit displayed by different sects; these are open to the approval or condemnation of every reader according to his own judgment; but if the religion of a country be an important element in its civilisation, there can be no impropriety in freely introducing such remarks on its peculiarities as these naturally suggested. Again, my frequent and slight notices of banks and stocks may appear to many persons unnecessary, unsatisfactory, or unphilosophical. On this point, I would ob serve, that a strong tendency exists at present in Britain towards multiplying banks; and the popular illustrations given in the following pages of some of the evils attending excessive issues of paper money, may instruct many whom a scientific work would never reach. Farther, a considerable number of my own countrymen are inte rested in American stocks, having invested, or proposing to invest property in them.

Although many of them are ignorant of much which they would be benefitted by knowing regarding their character, yet few probably will study the excellent work of Mr. Alexander Trotter* on the subject, on account of its length and strictly business like character. Nevertheless, they may peruse with interest the cursory notices which occur in these pages, and may be thereby induced to make more extensive and satisfactory inquiries for their own safety. To some readers, also, the frequent repetition of dates, and of the state of the thermometer, may appear un meaning pedantry; but when I contemplated proceeding to the United States, no subject was more interesting to me than to ascertain facts concerning the temperature; for on them depended not only the provision which we should make in regard to clothing, but also against the peculiarities of the climate.

In scientific works, tables of the thermometer in certain localities might be found; but I could not discover the precise temperature in the streets in towns; that temperature, in short, which would affect our feelings and health most directly. I therefore noted the temperature of the external air in the shade between 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning, in the various hotels and * " Observations on the financial position and credit of such of the States of the North American Union as have contracted public debts." Longman & Co., 1839.

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. other residences which we occupied. These may not correspond with the scientific reports of the same districts, in open and exposed situations, but they will supply to future visitors, information which it would have benefitted us considerably to have attained, before our departure for the American continent. To many of my readers the introduction of Phrenology in so many forms and places may appear tedious and un instructive; but Phrenology was the great object of my visit and my occupation while in the United States. It gave origin to the work itself; and to have passed it over in silence, would have been like acting the tragedy of Hamlet, omitting the character of that name. I proceeded thither with the impression that this science would con tribute powerfully to the advancement of civilisation in that country; and I returned, not only with the impression converted into conviction, but further persuaded, that in the United States, probably earlier than in any other country, will Phrenology be applied to practical and im portant purposes.

To save my readers on both sides of the ocean, however, from unnecessary alarm on this head I may here mention, that I do not consider that the gene ration is yet born which is destined to carry this science into practical effect in public affairs; but I entertain the conviction that, within a century from this time. Phreno logy will be so applied in the United States. This idea is participated in by those who, from their acquaintance with Phrenology and experience of mankind, are best qualified to judge, and for them this portion of the work is composed. I may remark, that the Americans in reading a work on the United States written by a foreigner, judge of it, almost uniformly, as a book composed not only about, but exclusively for themselves. If it contain statements and descriptions which lie on the surface of their country and social habits, they regard it as twaddle and gossip; but this book is written for the readers of the English language on this side of the Atlantic; and the Americans, with all deference to their superior knowledge of their own affairs, are not better judges than we are, concerning what will interest our own people. I have read the tours of Americans in Great Britain, and in proportion to the

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. XVII faithfulness of their representations, did they appear to me to be trite and commonplace; but this was an unfair criterion of their merits. This very fidelity, which deprived them of interest to a Briton, invested them with it to the American who had never visited the British shores. May I not hope that the candid among my American readers will allow me the benefit of the same rule of judging? I beg leave to add, that in the end of the Second Volume I have given, under the head of "American Civilisation," and in an "Address to the American people," a summing up of my observations and reflections on their country and institutions, in which I have endeavored to explain also the manner in which Phrenology may, in my humble opinion, conduce to their improvement. There, some of the previously apparently incongruous details will be found brought into a focus, and such deductions made from them as have presented themselves to my own understanding.