RUDIMENTS, pt. 686
(gumsoles and livery, and cheap flat hamburgers)
Out along the route through
Pennsylvania along Rt. 6 that
gets you to and through a nice
old town called Towanda, there
are one or two signs, markers,
that honor David Wilmot, who
lived there for a while. He was
born east of there some, in a
town called Bethany, PA, but
did his law work and early
professional stuff - and
died there as well - in
Towanda. Known later as
'Free Soiler' - the text of
one sign read: 'The great
Free-Soiler, who began the
fight on slavery extension
with the Wilmot Proviso
in 1846, lived in this house.
Republican Party founder;
its first candidate for
Governor. He died here
in 1868.' I never knew what
it was about any of that, but
it used to grab me, like right
around the neck. I'd grown
up in Avenel, been born in
some rank remnant of an old
industrial port before that,
(Bayonne), and spent some
years, as well, in deep south
Jersey where, for the most
part, back people were still
subjugated - early 1960's
version, some sort of a
discrimination by mime -
shanties, seasonal work,
field and farm, and menial
operations. In Camden, which
might as well have been Louisville
or Raleigh for all it mattered,
there was a silent form of
ghetto-mental slavery. Post
Civil War meant little, and
I doubt that anyone ever
voted, unless they could
get five bucks for doing so,
twice. Deep South New Jersey
was like deep South anywhere.
-
None of those places, certainly
not my central Jersey town,
ever touched on slavery or
the war issue; Bayonne used
it as a wedge to hire, maybe,
post WWII port and dockworkers
workers; again black menials
who had to lift and shove cargo
like dray-animals or beasts of
burden rewarded with drink
and sorrow. The great silence
rewarded Avenel with mirrors
only. So for me to stumble onto
some remnants of respect and
homage out in the wild sticks of
the hills and valleys of what they
called 'The Endless Mountains'
(others said, coyly, 'foothills of
the Appalachians), was an eye
opener. David Wilmot. Free
Soiler. The Wilmot Proviso. I
loved all that. The Proviso
itself, named for and pushed
by David Wilmot, Towanda, PA,
would have banned slavery from
all the territories acquired (that's
more violent usurpation of the
lands of others, but I won't go
on about that), acquired from
Mexico. It was all a big debate
and House versus Senate sort
of battle too. The bill never did
get through the Senate. War
later ensued. As we know.
-
The problem was known as the
'Cordon' problem. In their way.
back then, most people were
afraid to strike out at slavery
directly - instead they kept
trying to come up with
half-measure ways and means
of 'cordoning' it off - 'to here,
and then you can go no farther.'
That was a weak man's way
of dealing - the sorts of things
still done today. They call it
'drawing a line in the sand' now,
or 'red line' politics. Ineffective
all the same. Nobody has the
strength to stand and fight. I
think maybe that was what
attracted me; that thin sliver
of gusto that Wilmot stirred.
In my mind, leading right
to John Brown; a better man
not found. Lincoln said, in
1855, (a long lost speech,
found many years later as
hand-written text. Imagine
then if it were today's world,
with instantaneous presentation
of everything), urging his
listeners to 'draw a cordon,
so to speak, around the slave
states, and the hateful
institution, like a reptile
poisoning itself, will perish
by its own infamy.' The
cordon was a metaphor
and not a policy - and
good for that, I guess. The
better that the war was
fought. Period.
-
We have cemeteries here too,
but for other wars, and those
for the Civil War don't have,
for some reason, that same
revered status. It's more of a
look back at something yet
perplexing. Fathers and
grandfathers, immigrant-class,
here, came later. The disconnect
comes from that thread not
connecting back that far. Like
slave-owners, and like pure
segregationists too, it's a
limited class of people who
were involved; early settlers,
Scotch and British and Dutch
bloods. First went the 'Indians'
who turned out to be poor
as 'slaves.' You can bet, if the
Indians had worked out as slaves,
there'd have been no blacks.
But they didn't. Then came the
Indians had worked out as slaves,
there'd have been no blacks.
But they didn't. Then came the
blacks, in forced-march waves.
That was America's true
legacy, when you came right
down to it. Past 1880, those
people arriving had nothing
to do with it. I still don't
understand why people
don't think. Well actually,
I do : it's code, for greed;
for wanting to take.
This land has no future;
it's all gumsoles and livery
now. Just look around.
-
All this crap rang hard in my
head, convoluted me, shifted
up my thoughts and reverences,
I got stalled in another time
and place, and pretty much
have stayed there, for want of
anything better. It's a different
language, another set of words,
old ideas and meanings, nothing
as clear-cut as people today
seem to think they want it.
Dumb hordes, buying cheap,
flat, hamburgers.
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