Review of the Literature:
This review of the relevant literature related to this somewhat unique
research/musical project will have a dual focus; first I will review the
historiography related to the subjects of the First and Second Party System and within this topic more specifically, how historians have interpreted the importance, impact, and influence of political and campaign music. This will include the works of historians and music scholars. Secondly I will focus on pedagogy by examining the relevant literature in regards to the use of music to enhance historical instruction.
A handful of scholars following a traditional method of researching these topical political songs, compiled them into books and studies with various interpretations One of the most often cited books in studies of campaign music, which appears to be the only book written with the specific focus on campaign songs, is a book entitled Songs America Voted By, by the folk music expert Irwin Silber in 1971. Silber’s book covered songs of the Presidential campaigns from 1788 to 1968. Silber
interpreted the songs of each era through a Marxist/Beardian perspective. The first two chapters of this book covered the period of the First and Second Party Systems relative to this study. Silber believed that the campaign of 1840 was the first great singing campaign in the history of the United States. Silber stated that, “the year 1840 represents the Great Divide. Previously campaign singing was, at best, a sometime thing, confined more to a certain satiric versifying in the political journals than to any phenomenon resembling music.”[1] More recent studies by actual historians have provided evidence that music and singing was more than a “sometime thing” prior to 1840. Silber’s book examined over a dozen songs from the 1840 campaign alone and he believed that, “1840 is a tidewater mark in American politics for a variety of reasons, and the development of mass campaign techniques, of which singing may have been the most flamboyant, reflected more deep-going changes in the American electoral pattern – namely, the institutionalization of the party system and the popular selection of presidential electors.”[2] Silber believed that campaign songs offered an important glimpse into U.S. history and are well worth investigating: “Their worth to us stems from the fact that they were designed not so much to reflect an age as to influence a course of events. But because their intent is so overwhelmingly immediate to their own time, they are able to speak to us across the decades of other men and other agonies.”[3] The historians discussed later in this review (Root, Whitmer, and others) generally agree with this sentiment expressed by Silber. But Silber’s book was written in 1971; the other major book related to topical political songs was written by Vera Brodsky Lawrence and published in 1975. Four decades have passed since these books were published; I believe that the moment is long overdue for a fresh analysis and revival of these songs not just with words but with new music that performs these primary sources to historians and students of history with the help of modern recording techniques and the Internet.
Other sources that follow a similar thematic approach to the Silber book includeEarly Songs of Uncle Sam by George Stuyvesant Jackson, The Ballad of America: The History of the United States in Song and Story by John Anthony Scott, and the previously mentioned Music for Patriots, Politicians, and Presidents: Harmonies and Discords of the First Hundred Years by Vera Brodsky Lawrence. Jackson’s book is the oldest of these books having been originally published in 1933. Jackson’s book includes an extensive collection of songs which he
compiled from what he claims was every available songbook (or songsters-cheaply printed songbooks) in the Harvard Library at the time of his research. It is clear that Jackson was not impressed with the historical potential of political songs which he described as having “generic similarity, regardless of time, party, or issue.”[4] I believe Jackson’s view missed the significance of these songs. The large amount of cheaply made, readily available songsters he studied are themselves evidence of the widespread availability of this music and the democratic implications that later historians find in these songs are missed in his work. This study will show that although they are some similar themes found in these songs there are clear differences beyond the “generic similarity” that he claimed. For example Lawrence’s book
contained a significant number of facsimiles of primary sources (songs,
broadsheets, cartoons, sheet music, and songster book artwork) that demonstrated a wide variety of themes and issues to be found in the topical songs. Lawrence’s stated goal for her book was, “in a sense, to hear history happen again” and unlike Jackson she believed, as
do I, that these songs offer a “fresh perspective on the past and its
inhabitants.”[5]
The last of this trio of books is The Ballad of America: The History of the United States in Song and Story and was written by John Anthony Scott in 1966. Scott wrote this book during the middle of the Sixties Folk music revival in the United States. For his book Scott examined a
tremendous collection of songs and he stated that one can learn very much about the story of the American people by studying their songs and he argued that there has not been enough scholarly work done on this topic. Unlike Silber’s Marxist/Beardian[6] economic interpretation of history, Scott’s book focused on musical theory and history and offered insight into the development of what would become the
American musical tradition and style without adding much in the way of political or historical analysis. In fact his book contained several historical errors.[7] In regards to the development of American music Scott explained: “The majority of the settlers who arrived here during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries came from the British Isles-from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. They brought with them a vast heritage of British and Irish melodies and lyrics, dance tunes, marches, and sacred songs. This store constituted the starting point for the development of American national music.”[8] Scott argued that Americans, throughout their history, would draw upon this British heritage as they strove to develop and create a unique, American national song and music. The songs examined for this project do rely heavily on English and Irish melodies and Scott’s analysis on the musical side of this equation is much stronger than his analysis of the historical songs which he admitted were added to his book by requests from educators. Scott’s perspective leaned heavily on his love of folk music and his hope that Americans would once again learn and sing the songs he compiled. A more recent attempt to organize the
historiography of campaign music was done by William Miles when he wrote Songs, Odes, Glees and Ballads: A Bibliography of American Presidential Campaign Songsters. Miles’ stated goal of this book was “an initial attempt to bring some minimum of bibliographic control to one branch of this literature that of presidential campaign songsters.”[9] Miles believed that it is doubtful that a candidate for President of the United States had ever won or lost an election because of a song and he believed that the heyday of the campaign song“spanned
the decades from 1840 through the early years of the twentieth century.”[10] Despite the tremendous number of songs from these election campaigns Miles agreed with John Anthony Scott’s contention in that he also felt that there hasn’t been much in the way of serious study on this topic. Miles book begins with coverage of the election of 1840 because he believes that “in no contest before 1840 were these songs brought together in songster or song book form for political use, and until new evidence is produced to suggest otherwise, 1840 will continue to remain the first presidential election in which songsters were published for mass consumption in support of a specific candidate.”[11] Miles argued that these song books, or songsters were widely published and used to create party unity and widespread
public participation. Miles analysis failed to note that, although songsters became popular as printing technology improved in the mid-1800s, prior to this period songs were still available for mass consumption at political gatherings and through the means of
broadsides and partisan newspaper distribution. Norm Cohen examined the popularity of these songsters in the nineteenth century. In his article, Cohen explained that singing was a common pastime for most Americans and songsters were a relatively cheap way to acquire music. Cohen argued that singing was a much more common pastime in the nineteenth century than it is today and the large amount and the low price of songster booklets compared to sheet music provided evidence of the prevalence of singing as part of the American
Culture.[12a] This supports the arguments of Miles who believed that the campaign song evolved to play an important role in the presidential campaigns and the expansion of our democracy: “campaign singing was, in fact, an integral part of the intensely partisan spectacular pageantry of the nineteenth century.”[12b]
A number of historians in recent years have built upon and expanded the concepts linked to Jürgen Habermas and his theories about the public sphere. Several books have focused on this collective public political culture and how it has impacted the actual implementation of political power. Simon P. Newman’s Parades and the Politics of the Street: Festive Culture in the Early American Republic was an examination of the festivals, symbols, and ceremonies of the early republic. In his book Newman argued that public political statements were an important part of the early development of the political parties and even those who had no legal voting status made political statements through marches, symbolic clothing, songs, parades, and even street violence. Newman’s research is extensive and impressive. He consulted dozens of magazines, letters, journals, diaries and the runs of seventy five different late eighteenth-century newspapers to compile his evidence in support of his arguments. In regards to political songs, Newman stated “They could be learned and sung by almost all Americans, who were thereby enabled to participate in the transmission of information, the construction of idealized versions of truth, and the articulation of beliefs. Quickened by events in France, political songs were ubiquitous in early national America, and their sounds filled the public and private spaces of the American republic.”[13] Where Newman may have fallen short is in his selective use of these songs as primary resources to substantiate his findings in regards to the partisan battles that were so critical to the development of a national political culture. Newman used some excerpts of the lyrics to establish his points but he could have examined examples of entire songs in order to give a more thorough explanation of the entire message that these songs conveyed. This project is a small step towards filling in some these gaps in the historiography.
David Waldstreicher used a similar approach to Newman in his book, In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism but Waldstreicher covered a wider period from the Revolution through the 1820s. Waldstreicher saw the partisan period following the ratification of the constitution as a continuation of the public debates about how the republic should be run. He argued that the dynamic often grassroots political culture of the country is where these ideals
were hashed out and like Newman he felt that the public and not just the elites influenced and shaped the contentious partisan environment of the period developing partisanism and nationalism simultaneously[14] His findings can likewise be checked with a study of partisan lyrics.
Several essays in the book, Beyond the Founders: New Approaches to the Political History of the Early American Republic, also represent the “newer political history” and these provided
scope and insight for the topic of political songs. The articles in this book looked to broaden the approach of political history because in their words, “Beyond the founders lies a complex and important story about how recognizably American political institutions and practices actually emerged from the top down, from the bottom up, and perhaps especially from the middle out in every direction.”[15] In “The Cheese and the Words: Popular Political Culture and Participatory Democracy in the Early American Republic,” Jeffrey L. Pasley argued that the political culture of the early republic relied heavily on the culture of everyday life. The holidays, parades, barbecues, marches, newspapers, and singing became a part of the political culture and created a more democratic participatory form of politics than many other historians have given this period credit. Pasley stated, “Some of the most
interesting political artifacts of this type are the plethora of songs published on the back pages of partisan newspapers and sometimes as sheet music or in songbooks, many of which were sung in taverns or at partisan gatherings.”[16] Pasley argued that the high percentage of voters participating in elections in the early 1800s demonstrated the high interest of the public in the developing democracy of the United States. An analysis of the songs that were sung at these partisan meetings gives more depth to the studies of Pasley and others and in fact Jeffrey Pasley and Liam Riordan have received early tracks from a
couple of the songs recorded for this project and have played the songs as a part of their lectures at their respective universities.
Andrew W. Robertson’s contribution to Beyond the Founders, “Voting Rites and Voting Acts: Electioneering Ritual, 1790 – 1820,” described the transition from what he called the deferential politics of
the colonial period to the more participatory democracy that emerged in the early nineteenth century. This participatory democracy that Robertson described was highly political and partisan with a grassroots style including marches, holidays, parades, and festivals: “Young Federalists and young Republicans each drilled, drank, and‘serenaded’ their fellows, and on many occasions brawled or ‘battled’ with their partisan opponents.” Robertson cited the importance of the partisan press during this period: “The partisan press fanned the excitement of political ‘festivity’. By attempting to replicate in print the enthusiasm, the horatory language, and the very spontaneity of street politics, it constructed a kind of virtual politics ‘out of doors’.” Actual politics “out of doors nevertheless remained a staple of partisan electioneering.”[17] The third pertinent essay from Beyond the Founders is Seth Cotlar’s
“The Federalists’ Transatlantic Cultural Offensive of 1798 and the Moderation of American Democratic Discourse.” In this essay Cotlar argued that the entire political culture of the United States shifted to the right by the Federalists’ ability to use the deteriorating relations with France and the XYZ affair as an effective propaganda device pushing the Democratic Republican leaders towards the center and briefly bringing the public discourse strongly to their side. Cotlar stated, “American Federalists’ turned to the cultural arena, particularly the worlds of print and oratory, in their effort to drive radically democratic ideas to the margins of public political discourse.”[18] Cotlar argued that although the Federalists eventually lost power to the Democratic Republicans the more radical elements of the American political culture were pushed beyond the public sphere: “Americans heard the changes rung on two themes: the need for virtuous patriarchs to rebuff ‘foreign influence’
and the need for a resurgence of Christian faith in order to combat the French poison of atheism and excessive democracy that threatened to undermine all morality and government.”[19] Oddly, Cotlar did not examine any of the dozens of songs written to inflame Americans
against the French immediately after the news of the XYZ Affair arrived in the United States. An examination of some Federalist songs from the early republic could buttress his conclusions. To fill this gap in the
literature, the first song examined for this project is one such song. All three of these essays from Beyond the Founders saw the Early Republic as a period in which the American people were highly engaged in a contentious political environment, and more involved and engaged than historians had traditionally believed and they all agreed that political songs were an important component of this political environment yet not one of these studies had lyrics from these political songs used as primary sources to enhance their arguments. Perhaps this was beyond the scope of their studies but I believe there is a need for more examination and use of these topical songs to broaden our
understanding of the party systems and to improve the opportunities for
instruction of these topics with the help of music.
In what is one of the most contemporary sources (Summer 2011) related to the subject of politics and music in the early republic, Dr. Liam Riordan argued that music should be taken seriously as a primary source. In his article “’O Dear, What Can the Matter Be?’: The Urban Early Republic and the Politics of Popular Song in Benjamin Carr's Federal Overture” Riordan examined the theater culture in the early Republic with a micro historical approach by focusing on a particular piece of music, “The Federal Overture,”written by Benjamin Carr. Riordan’s study supported the argument that music and songs were very important political tools and symbols but Riordan’s study only focused on one piece of music whereas this project will look at a number of different songs. His article explained the reasons for the strong emotions associated with the political songs of the early republic and the power of music, even music without lyrics, to convey a political message and impart an effect on the public.[20] This idea of the Federalist period being a time of strong emotions was the focus of an essay by Marshall Smelser in 1958 when he argued that the powerful sense of fear, anger, and emotion during this era was more than just political rhetoric, “For the Federalists fear of the ‘mob’, and fear of subversives, made it impossible for them to build a real political engine capable of keeping them ‘in’ and the Republicans ‘out.’ Their tragedy was that they were the prisoners of their own propaganda.”[21]
By examining the partisan songs we can see in the lyrics the fear, anger, and emotions that Smelser and Riordan spoke of.
Richard Spicer also completed a micro historical study focused on music and partisan politics. His article examined the influence of political songs on the civic culture of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from the ratification of the Constitution to the conclusion of the War of 1812. This study revealed the prevalence of topical songs written for all sorts of civic occasions and partisan causes. Spicer believed that, “While standard political or historical analysis of early American public ceremony and celebration may reveal much about the nature of the times, ignoring the musical component misses important information and flattens our perspective on the past.”[22] Spicer’s study provided compelling evidence against Silber’s, Scott’s, and Miles’ assertions that before 1840 singing of campaign songs was a “sometime thing” as his study clearly showed that songs were written for all sorts of partisan events and that partisan singing of songs was an essential part of the
competitive political culture of the early republic. By expanding upon the limited scope of Spicer’s study and providing recorded music that can be listened to and used in the classroom this project will be another step towards enriching our perspective on the past.
Joel Silbey in his book The American Party Battle: Election Campaign Pamphlets, 1828 – 1876 argued that despite the changing issues facing the various campaigns through the early years there were several themes that ran continuously throughout the early decades of
the American Republic and these themes were seen in the campaign pamphlets and speeches produced by the major parties. Silbey stated; “They effectively integrated, and surrounded, immediate concerns with larger arguments about the nation’s future, the ever-present threats and dangers to it and to the people’s liberties, Americans’ expectations, hopes, fears, and prejudices, and the future course of American freedom.”[23] Silbey found three major themes consistently in the literature from the period and these themes were often mixed with the contemporary issues of each election. The first theme included issues related to the dangers to the new republic, “an abiding and intense concern about the weaknesses, and susceptibility to overthrow, of the American nation.” The second theme was based on the power of government and what were the proper uses of that power in regards to political economic issues and social issues. The third theme dealt with liberty in the nation, the possibilities and limits along with the questions of how to improve the American experience and whether or not the government should get involved in promoting or restricting liberties (slavery, immigration, voting rights etc). Silbey argued that there are clear connections between the first and second party system and he examined the themes which reoccurred over and over again. Although this book is not an analysis of the political songs of the period, the arguments Silbey offers are important to understand the reoccurring themes in the American democracy and the lyrics in this study may corroborate the arguments Silbey presents.
In the relatively recent past a number of historians have argued for the inclusion of music in the history classroom. Deane Root is a leading proponent of the importance of including music in the study of history and in his article “Music as a Cultural Mirror” Root argued that history traditionally had been taught in silence without hearing “the sounds through which they shaped their culture.”[24] Historian Mariana Whitmer is a colleague of Root and she wrote strongly in support of the importance of music in the teaching and study of history, “Songs can illuminate our understanding of the history of the American people better than any other vehicle because they carry with them sentiments that can be expressed in multiple ways.”[25] Root discussed teachers like myself who have been creating their own lessons with music to enhance the history curriculum, “And yet some teachers have found their own ways of using music in their history courses because they know that music is a mirror of society’s events and systems of beliefs, and that each piece can be a richly packed time capsule.” Root,
Whitmer, and some of their colleagues have created a program “Voices Across Time” which trains teachers on how to use music in the classroom and provides them with resources to use. Root
believed that to truly understand the impact of a particular piece of music, one must also study the original score that accompanied the lyrics and any other information about the way the song was performed. In an article titled “Singing SHEAR History: A Commentary and Music Sampler” Arthur Schrader carefully selected ten songs
from the early republic that he felt illustrated the dramatic way that songs can elevate historical instruction and understanding. Schrader believed that, although one can find many topical songs to supplement the study of various issues in history it is difficult to establish the efficacy of these songs. Schrader, like Root, also stated that the study of a particular song can be very much enhanced if one could find the music that accompanied the song, which he argued is not always easy to do.
Schrader believed that some lyrics which seem “clumsy” in print can
actually work out to be very effective when matched to their tune.
Schrader cited “Tip and Ty” as a bouncy tune perfectly matched to the
lyrics.[26] My goal in completing this project was to write original music that could take some of these seemingly “clumsy” yet highly informative lyrics and give them an animated musical lift in order to
create energy and interest in the classroom. Perhaps both Root and Schrader would see this project with new original music put to the old campaign lyrics as lacking the true historical benefits that versions recorded in the traditional manner would possess but I would argue that putting a new twist on these topical campaign songs is a valid tool to introduce these songs and engage today’s students in the classroom because as Dr. Root stated “Using songs to teach history is training future generations to hear the voices communicating to us across time.”[27]
What do historians and others have to say specifically about how to use music in the classroom? In an article for the American Historical Association entitled “Different Drummers: Using Music to Teach History” historian Alex Zukas argued that an instructor need not have musical skills to utilize music in the history classroom. Zukas pointed out that “Musical selections should be treated like any other historical document: they should be regarded as creations of a specific time and place that we can use to illustrate points about class, gender, cultural values, politics, and economic life.”[28] On the other hand musician Bill Schustik has presented music as part of presentations to history students for years and he pointed out that teachers should try their best to bring live music into the classroom even if they are not very good singers, “But you can sing. Ever listen to Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen?”[29] Whether using live or recorded music there seems to be agreement that music can enhance the classroom
experience and learning as Zukas stated “What mkes music a wonderful primary source for students to investigate is its accessibility, especially if the instructor provides historical context and some questions to guide their inquiry.”[30] In another essay by Whitmer “Using Music to Teach American History” she explained the importance of using music to enhance the American History curriculum and she offered insight on the various ways music can be used in the classroom including using music to set the mood, using music with and without lyrics, the differences between contemporary music to an era versus retrospective, and even singing in the classroom. Whitmer believed all of these methods have their place in creating a better learning environment for students.[31]
The subject of topical political songs written during critical moments of the development of the First and Second Party System has been sporadically examined over the last several decades after previously being virtually ignored by historians. A handful of books have been written mainly in the nineteen sixties and seventies with a focus on topical political music with writers such as Silber examining the lyrics with a Marxist/Beardian economic analysis. Others like Scott have focused more on the history of the music itself. Most recently political historians have begun to look at the democratic activity in the contentious public sphere of the early republic as an essential step in the political development of the nation with the power of lyrics and music being an important factor in this development. And in recent years a small but seemingly growing group of historians have argued for the need for the use of songs and music to improve history classroom instruction. This project will focus on bridging these areas of need by examining the lyrics of important songs written during the development of the First and Second Party Systems in order to broaden our understanding of this contentious period of our nation’s political development and by creating dynamic modern musical recreations of some of these partisan songs for use in the classrooms across America.
[1] Irwin Silber, Songs America Voted By. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1971,33.
[2]Silber, Songs America Voted, 33.
[3]Silber, Songs America Voted, 15.
[4]George Stuyvesant Jackson. Early Songs of Uncle Sam, (1933; repr., Ann Arbor: Gryphon Books, 1971) 104.
[5]Vera Brodsky Lawrence, Music for Patriots, Politicians, and
Presidents: Harmonies and Discords of the First Hundred Years. New York:
MacMillan Publishing Co, 1975., 11.
[6] Silber, Songs, 16.
[7]Arthur F. Schrader, review of The Ballad of America: The History of the United States in Song and Story by John Anthony Scott, American Music, Vol. 4, No.
1, British-American Musical Interactions (Spring, 1986), pp. 110-112
[8]John Anthony Scott, The Ballad of America: The History of the United States in Song and Story (New York: Bantam Books, 1966), 1
[9]William Miles, Songs, Odes, Glees and Ballads: A Bibliography of American Presidential Campaign Songsters (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990), x.
[10]Miles, Songs, ix.
[11] Miles, Songs, xi.
[12 a] Norm Cohen, “The Forget-Me-Not Songsters and Their Role in the American Folksong Tradition,” American Music 23, no. 2 (Summer, 2005): 149
[12b] Miles, Songs, xxi.
[13]Simon P Newman, Parades and the Politics of the Street: Festive Culture in the Early American Republic. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997, 177.
[14]David Waldstreicher. In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776-1820. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997)
[15] Jeffrey L. Pasley, Andrew W. Robertson, and David Waldstreicher, eds. Beyond the Founders: New Approaches to the Political History of the Early American Republic (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004),
18.
[16]Jeffrey L. Pasley, “The Cheese and the Words: Popular Political Culture and
Participatory Democracy in the Early American Republic” in Beyond the Founders, eds. Pasley, Robertson, and Waldstreicher,39.
[17]Andrew W. Robertson, “Voting Rites and Voting Acts: Electioneering Ritual, 1790 – 1820” in Beyond the Founders, eds. Pasley, Robertson, and Waldstreicher, 71.
[18] Seth Cotlar, “The Federalists’Transatlantic Cultural Offensive of 1798 and the
Moderation of American Democratic Discourse” in Beyond the Founders, eds. Pasley, Robertson, Waldstreicher (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004) 276.
[19] Cotlar, “The Federalists’”, 295.
[20]Liam Riordan. “"O Dear, What Can the Matter Be?": The Urban Early Republic and the Politics of Popular Song in Benjamin Carr's Federal Overture” Journal of the Early Republic- Volume 31, Number 2, (Summer, 2011): 179-227
[21] Marshall Smelser, “The Federalist Period as an Age of Passion”. American
Quarterly, Vol. 10 No. 4 (Winter, 1958), 419.
[22]Richard Spicer, "Popular Song for Public Celebration in Federal Portsmouth, New Hampshire." Popular Music & Society 25, no. 1/2: 1. March, 2001: 4
[23]Joel H. Silbey. The American Party Battle: Election Campaign Pamphlets, 1828 – 1876 (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1999), 2.
[24]Deane Root, “Music as a Cultural Mirror,” OAH Magazine of History,” Vol. 19, No. 4, Teaching History with Music (July 2005), 7.
[25]Mariana Whitmer, “Songs with Social Significance: An Introduction,” OAH
Magazine of History, Vol. 19, No. 4, Teaching History with Music (July,2005),9.
[26]Arthur Schrader, “Singing SHEAR History: A Commentary and Music Sampler”, Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Winter, 2001), 669.
[27]Root, “Music as a Cultural Mirror,” 8.
[28]Alex Zukas, “Different Drummers: Using Music to Teach History”
American Historical Association (September 1996) http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/1996/9609/9609tea1.cfm accessed 7/27/2012
[29]Bill Schustick, “Integrating Live Music in the Classroom: Reflections of a Troubadour on Teaching History,” OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 19, No. 4, Teaching History with Music (Jul., 2005), 48
[30]Zukas, “Different Drummers”.
[31]Marianna Whitmer, “Using Music to Teach American History,” OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 19, No. 4, Teaching History with Music (Jul., 2005), 4
Images: Header- Library of Congress, under "Thomas Paine," http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93504024/accessed (May 29, 2012)