By J. Thomas Williams, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. Detail. Source
A view of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1855 (detail).
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‘A View of Harrisburg from the North’, the centrepiece of a map of Harrisburg created in 1855. When his essay was published, Miner was already active in politics, as member for Luzerne County in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives, and evidently already aware of the shortcoming of elected representatives. In 1824, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, where on May 13, 1826 he introduced proposals to start winding down slavery in the District of Columbia, where Washington stands. Opposition was strong, but he returned to the theme in January 1829 with even more vigour. Once again men with ‘an axe to grind’ obstructed him; slavery was not abolished in DC until 1862.
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A view of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1855 (detail).
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By J. Thomas Williams, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. Detail.
‘A View of Harrisburg from the North’, the centrepiece of a map of Harrisburg created in 1855. When his essay was published, Miner was already active in politics, as member for Luzerne County in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives, and evidently already aware of the shortcoming of elected representatives. In 1824, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, where on May 13, 1826 he introduced proposals to start winding down slavery in the District of Columbia, where Washington stands. Opposition was strong, but he returned to the theme in January 1829 with even more vigour. Once again men with ‘an axe to grind’ obstructed him; slavery was not abolished in DC until 1862.
When I see a man flattering the people, making great professions of attachment to liberty, who is in private life a tyrant, Methinks, look out good people, that fellow would set you to turning grindstone.
When I see a man, holding a fat office, sounding ‘the horn on the borders,’ to call the people to support the man, on whom he depends for his office, Well thinks I, no wonder the man is zealous in the cause, he evidently has an ax to grind.
When I see a Governor, foisted into the chair of state, without a single qualification to render him either respectable or useful, — Alas! methinks, deluded people, you are doomed for a season to turn grindstone for a booby.*
When I see a foreigner expelled from his own country, and turning patriot in this — setting up a PRESS, and making a great ado about OUR liberties, I am very apt to think, — tho’ that man’s ax has been dulled in his own country, he evidently intends to sharpen it in this.*
* A booby, in this context, is a stupid, foolish person. When Miner re-issued the story in book form, he replaced this paragraph and the paragraphs immediately before and after it with this: "When I see a man hoisted in office by party spirit — without a single qualification to render him either respectable or useful — Alas! methinks, deluded people, you are doomed for a season to turn grindstone for a booby.”
* Miner was a member of the Federalist Party, which twelve years earlier (1798) had attempted to silence critics of President John Adams by passing two controversial acts, the Sedition Act to make outspoken or intemperate criticism of Government policy a criminal offence, and the Alien Act to allow the President to deport summarily any foreign citizen he deemed undesirable. The latter was a measure designed for press censorship too, as the editors most critical of Adams included French and English nationals. The Acts caused widespread outrage and were not renewed after Adams left office in 1801, but it would seem Miner may have felt some regret. See Edward Livingston on Servants of the People.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author
aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that
strike you. How do they help the author communicate his
ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you?
How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939)
by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at
Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn,
Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University,
USA.
Précis
Whenever a politician said one thing in public and another at home, or campaigned on behalf of wealthy donors, Miner thought ‘he has an axe to grind’. He thought of it whenever a politician was rewarded beyond his merits, or when he read newspaper articles on US politics written by immigrants who had been troublemakers at home.(57 / 60 words)
Whenever a politician said one thing in public and another at home, or campaigned on behalf of wealthy donors, Miner thought ‘he has an axe to grind’. He thought of it whenever a politician was rewarded beyond his merits, or when he read newspaper articles on US politics written by immigrants who had been troublemakers at home.
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Variations:
1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words.2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words.3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, besides, despite, just, may, otherwise, unless.
Suggest answers to this question. See
if you can limit one answer to exactly
seven words.
Why did Miner accuse some campaigners for liberty of having an axe to grind?
Suggestion
Their home life suggested they were insincere.
(7 words)
Variations:
1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words.2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words.3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
JigsawsBased on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single
sentence, using different words as much as possible.
Do not be satisfied with the first answer you
think of; think of several, and choose the best.
He is incompetent. They’ve nominated him for Governor. Someone must benefit.
Variation:
Try rewriting your sentence so that it uses one or more of
these words:
1.Axe 2.Clue 3.Job
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1Few.Foreigner.Work.
2Accost.Counter.Often.
3Either.Life.Much.
Variations:1.include direct and indirect speech2.include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who3.use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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