This video posted in 2014, shows a modern tourist's view of the Greek archaeological site of Aristotle's original lyceum that Josiah Holbrook would name his movement after over two-thousand years later.
Modern day TED Talks very much follow in the model of Holbrook's lyceum movement. These lectures are delivered in front of a live audience but than broadcast on the internet for the general public's viewing pleasure. (Click on image to be taken to the TED website to view their collection of TED Talks)
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The Young Men's Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, 1838In January of 1838, Abraham Lincoln was 28 years old and was serving as a State Senator in the Illinois Legislature. His speech delivered at the Springfield Young Men's Lyceum was titled, "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions" and would largely focus on deploring mob violence, a action he had only a year earlier called, "that lawless and mobocratic spirit" in his speech to the Illinois House of Representatives in January of 1837.[3] According to historian Michael Burlingame, the rise in mob violence had become so prevalent that in 1835 alone it claimed 71 lives in 147 recorded riots causing one South Carolina newspaper to declare, "Mobs, strikes, riots, abolition movements, insurrections, Lynch clubs seem to be the engrossing topics of the day.”[4]
In addition to adding his voice to the Whig Party stance against mob violence, young Lincoln also shared his visions of America's near future and warned of the dangers of rising demagogues. His warning of a coming "Caesar" provided incredible insight into philosophical questions of human nature and a remarkable foreshadowing that detailed the conditions that allow a demagogue to rise to power. |
Engraving of the town of Springfield, Illinois in 1867. (Library of Congress)
This handbill printed in October of 1835 in Boston, Massachusetts is a great example of the type of mob violence Lincoln was speaking of in his Lyceum Address. The handbill advertises a reward of $100 to the first man to "lay violent hands" on George Thompson, a British abolitionist who was rumored to speak at an upcoming abolitionist meeting. (https://historicaldigression.com/2016/03/01/the-garrison-mob-of-1835-boston/)
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Elijah Lovejoy was the editor of the St. Louis Observer an abolitionist newspaper until he death at the hands of a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois in 1837.
(http://www.biography.com/people/elijah-lovejoy-9387222) Artist's depiction of mob which killed Elijah P. Lovejoy as he defended his printing establishment in Alton, Illinois.
(Courtesy: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library) Cartoon with original caption: "Lincoln & Douglas in a presidential footrace. No 1. 1860" (Library of Congress)
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Notes:
[1] Josiah Holbrook, American Lyceum, Massachusetts: Perkins and Marvin (1829)
[2] Robert McNamara, American Lyceum Movement: Movement to Hold Lectures Sparked Curiosity and Learning in America, about.com (updated 2015)
[3] Abraham Lincoln, Speech in the Illinois House of Representatives; Collected Works of Lincoln (1837)
[4] Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press, Vol. 1 Ch. 5 (2008)
[5] McNamara, American Lyceum Movement: Movement to Hold Lectures Sparked Curiosity and Learning in America
[6] Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life
[7] Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life
[1] Josiah Holbrook, American Lyceum, Massachusetts: Perkins and Marvin (1829)
[2] Robert McNamara, American Lyceum Movement: Movement to Hold Lectures Sparked Curiosity and Learning in America, about.com (updated 2015)
[3] Abraham Lincoln, Speech in the Illinois House of Representatives; Collected Works of Lincoln (1837)
[4] Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press, Vol. 1 Ch. 5 (2008)
[5] McNamara, American Lyceum Movement: Movement to Hold Lectures Sparked Curiosity and Learning in America
[6] Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life
[7] Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life