{"id":7665,"date":"2018-10-07T20:19:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-07T20:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/?p=7665"},"modified":"2018-10-07T21:14:59","modified_gmt":"2018-10-07T21:14:59","slug":"curtis-george-william","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/curtis-george-william\/","title":{"rendered":"CURTIS, George William"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453315804311{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531588223-e020d87d-f7dd094f-cf635381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cPoliticians whose hopes rest upon the popular ignorance and prejudice, and not upon the popular intelligence, furiously sneer at the idea of equality. It is important, therefore, that every man should understand what human equality is. It is an elemental lesson, but the attack is made at the very foundation and must be met there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~George William Curtis<\/strong>, American author & orator<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American Doctrine of Liberty,\u201d Address to the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa Society (17 July 1863) Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; in Orations and Addresses of George William Curtis<\/em>, Vol. I, ed. Charles Eliot Norton, New York: Harper & Bros., 1894, p. 105; online via Stanford University Library & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531588755-96303790-852e094f-cf635381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Speech to the Harvard University Phi Beta Kappa Society]:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American doctrine founds liberty in the natural equality of men. The conspiracy against liberty plants itself here and elsewhere upon a denial of that equality. Politicians whose hopes rest upon the popular ignorance and prejudice, and not upon the popular intelligence, furiously sneer at the idea of equality. It is important, therefore, that every man should understand what human equality is. It is an elemental lesson, but the attack is made at the very foundation and must be met there.<\/span>\u201d (p. 105)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531589797-29580b31-8c50094f-cf635381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Orations and Addresses of George William Curtis<\/em> (1894) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/orationsandaddr05curtgoog#page\/n121\/mode\/1up\/search\/sneer<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315829087-ce67c619-0fbc5381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cPublic duty in this country is not discharged, as is so often supposed, by voting. A man may vote regularly and still fail essentially of his political duty….When an American citizen is content with voting merely, he consents to accept what is often a doubtful alternative. His first duty is to help shape the alternative.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~George William Curtis<\/strong>, American author & orator<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Public Duty of Educated Men,\u201d Union College commencement address (27 June 1877) Union College, Schenectady, New York; in Orations and Addresses of George William Curtis<\/em>, Vol. I, ed. Charles Eliot Norton, New York: Harper & Bros., 1894, p. 267; online via Stanford University Library & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Commencement address]: \u201cPublic duty in this country is not discharged, as is so often supposed, by voting. A man may vote regularly and still fail essentially of his political duty<\/span>, as the Pharisee, who gave tithes of all that he possessed and fasted three times in a week, yet lacked the very heart of religion. When an American citizen is content with voting merely, he consents to accept what is often a doubtful alternative. His first duty is to help shape the alternative<\/span>.\u201d (p. 267)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/strong><\/em><\/span>: Orations and Addresses of George William Curtis<\/em>, Vol. I (1894) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/orationsandaddr05curtgoog#page\/n283\/mode\/1up\/search\/public+duty+in+this<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cT<\/strong>he sure foundations of the state are laid in knowledge, not in ignorance. Every sneer at education, at culture, at book learning \u2013 which is the recorded wisdom of the experiences of mankind \u2013 is the demagogue\u2019s sneer at intelligent liberty, inviting national degeneracy and ruin.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~George William Curtis<\/strong>, American author & orator<\/p>\n

\u201cCharles Sumner: A Eulogy delivered before the Legislature of Massachusetts in the Boston Music Hall\u201d (9 June 1874) Boston, MA; in Orations and Addresses of George William Curtis<\/em>, Vol. III, ed. Charles Eliot Norton, New York: Harper & Bros., 1894, pp. 207-208; online via Stanford University Library & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Eulogy for Charles Sumner]:<\/p>\n

\u201cCharles Sumner was an educated man, a college-bred man, as all the great Revolutionary leaders of Massachusetts were; and he knew, as every intelligent man knows, that from the day when Themistocles led the educated Athenians at Salamis to that when Von Moltke marshaled the educated Germans against France, the sure foundations of states are laid in knowledge, not in ignorance, and that every sneer at education, at culture, at book-learning, which is the recorded wisdom of the experience of mankind, is the demagogue\u2019s sneer at intelligent liberty, inviting national degeneration and ruin<\/span>.\u201d (pp. 207-208)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: Charles Sumner<\/strong><\/span> (1811-1874) was a popular U.S. senator from Massachusetts. He and Curtis were aligned on many issues, and Sumner was known for his work advocating for education and prison reforms, work building international alliances as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his vocal opposition to slavery.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Orations and Addresses of George William Curtis<\/em>, Vol. III (1894) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/orationsaddresse03curtuoft#page\/206\/mode\/2up\/search\/sure+foundations<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cWhile good men sit at home, not knowing that there is anything to be done, nor caring to know…then remember it is not a government mastered by ignorance, it is a government betrayed by intelligence; it is not the victory of the slums, it is the surrender of the schools; it is not that bad men are brave, but that good men are infidels and cowards.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~George William Curtis<\/strong>, American author & orator<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Public Duty of Educated Men,\u201d Union College commencement address (27 June 1877) Union College, Schenectady, New York; in Orations and Addresses of George William Curtis<\/em>, Vol. I, ed. Charles Eliot Norton, New York: Harper & Bros., 1894, p. 269; online via Stanford University Library & Internet Archive, www.archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Commencement address]:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile good men sit at home, not knowing that there is anything to be done, nor caring to know; cultivating a feeling that politics are tiresome and dirty, and politicians vulgar bullies and bravoes; half persuaded that a republic is a contemptible rule of a mob, and secretly longing for a splendid and vigorous despotism \u2013<\/span> then remember it is not a government mastered by ignorance, it is a government betrayed by intelligence; it is not the victory of the slums, it is the surrender of the schools; it is not that bad men are brave, but that good men are infidels and cowards<\/span>.\u201d(p. 269)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e57c86-cb2e”][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Orations and Addresses of George William Curtis<\/em> (1894) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/orationsandaddr05curtgoog#page\/n285\/mode\/1up\/search\/while+good+men+sit<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

Resources<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”Wrapper-Author-Resources”]Learn more about George William Curtis <\/strong><\/span>| Here are a few good places to start –<\/p>\n