Lot 314

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Lot 314
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1812 Columbia College Student’s Diary with Musings on African American Prejudice and Much More
1812 Columbia College Student’s Diary with Musings on African American Prejudice and Much More
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1812 Columbia College Student's Diary with Musings on Black Skin and Much More

This fascinating diary by a senior undergraduate at Columbia College on the eve of the War of 1812 offers observations on college life (including football), the French Revolution, elections, a sensational court case, General Anthony Wayne, and his lessons and readings. Most interesting are his musings on race and his rejection of the "Curse of Cain" myth that slavery apologists used to justify the enslavement of African Americans.

[SLAVERY.] PETER MACKIE JR, Manuscript Diary. January–May 1812, New York, New York. 34 pp., 8.75" x 8". It also includes some sketches and Mackie's attempt to mimic signatures of famous people including George Washington, John Adams, fellow Columbia graduate Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr, among others. String binding; some pages cut out or torn; very legible.

Excerpts:
January 3—"I have long had it in contemplation to keep a journal of the occurrences of the day. And I have, this night made the first essay towards one. How long the mood will continue, I know not. It was one of the rules enjoined by Pythagoras on his disciples, That they should not give themselves to repose until they had called to mind their actions during the day: Thus to give them an opportunity in the hour of solitude of reflecting on what they had done. The utility resulting from an observance of this precept must be obvious."

January 4—"Attended in the college hall. In the morning visited Paff's collection of paintings. saw Peter Peuthmans celebrated picture of Mortality. This very ancient piece is thought invaluable. In order that he might paint the skull & bones with greater spirit, he is said to have confined himself for some time in an anatomical theatre when there was a number of skeletons put up, while painting he fell into a species of lethargy from which he was awakened by the shock of an earthquake. seeing the skeletons all around him in motion, he imagined the day of judgment to be at hand and jumped out of the window – from the effects of his fall he recovered, but was ever after deprived of his reason."
German-born entrepreneur Michael Paff (1773-1838) operated a gallery on Broadway in New York City, where he exhibited paintings. The cost of admission was 25 cents.

January 7—"Dr. Kemp – 'Philosophy has various uses –one of the best is –it sometimes makes us laugh.' P. of Litere The destruction of every religious principle was the first step to the French revolution.... The 'Jargon' of the revolution though at times ridiculous has however produced some very expressive terms. Our language is every day receiving additions from foreign sources...it will in time be like ancient Rome 'rich in the spoils of every clime.'"
From 1799 to 1812, Dr. John Kemp (1763-1812) was professor of mathematics and natural history at Columbia College.

January 10—"If we judge of the benefits of travel by observing those young men who have enjoyed them, they will frequently be estimated very low. This generally arises from traveling young before the mind becomes sedate & settled & disposed to reap advantages from it. The object of Travelling is not merely to see countries but to 'see into' them and in nothing does the different capacity of different men appear more than in the different degrees of information they acquire in travelling through the same country. 'There are few who know how to take a walk' says Godwin. He might have amplified it & said 'there are few who know how to travel.' 'It is pleasant,' says Gray, 'to have travelled.'"

January 13—"in the evening finished Dr Johnson's 'journey to the Hebrides.' In travelling over ground consecrated by its antiquity & classic fame, we involuntarily become better. That man is little to be envied, says he, whose patriotism would not gain force on the plains of Marathon or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona' –we must obtain some advantage by travelling into foreign countries let their situation be what it may –if they are superior to our own land, we can learn to improve it –if worse, we are taught to prize it more & enjoy it better.'"
In 1773, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), the famed English writer and lexicographer who published his Dictionary of the English Language in 1755, took a tour through the highlands and western islands of Scotland with his friend and biographer James Boswell (1740-1795). Johnson published A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland in 1775, and Boswell published The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in 1785. Boswell's travel narrative previewed his famed biography of Johnson that appeared in 1791.

January 15—"at College – played Football after."
Nineteenth-century "football" may have resembled a cross between modern soccer and rugby.

January 23—"attended Drs Kemp & Bowden From Dr. Bowden borrowed the Abstract of Stewart's Philosophy –to be transcribed as soon as possible. Went out to Ogden Place in the sleigh – sleighing excellent. In the evening at the Senior Society, made a motion that we adjourn & go 'asleighing' carried. Hired two sleighs & went out to Roger's–returned at 11 OClock."
John Bowden (1751-1817), a native of Ireland who served as minister at Trinity Church in New York City for several years from 1774, was a professor of moral philosophy at Columbia College from 1801 to 1817.

January 29—"Drs Kemp & Bowden. commenced Pneumatics with some neat experiments."

February 17—"began to prepare for Examination"

March 2–5—"Examination.... Examination finished today Laus Deo."
"Laus Deo" is a Latin phrase meaning "Praise God."

March 28—"This day the places in Senior Class were given & the worthy Professors & Provost have put me no 3 'For which (as Jaques says) may the Devil bless them' – 'As you like it Act. 3d."
Jaques is one of the principal characters in William Shakespeare's play As You Like It (1623).

April 1—"Attended Dr Mason & Kemp. Much discontent prevails in the class respecting the arrangement of the places – particularly with regard to my own case. Dr Bowden has advised me to submit, but said at the same time that he was glad to see I had a little spunk. The Class are all in my favour."
Dr. John M. Mason (1770-1829) graduated from Columbia College in 1789 and studied theology at the University of Edinburgh. Mason served as Provost of Columbia College from 1811 to 1816, and also served as pastor of the Murray Street Church

April 3—"This day the honors of the class were declared – Amerman to have the Latin Salutatory – Patterson the English Saluty, myself to be the last speaker in the morning & the Valedictory by William Creighton. Mem: to speak in Greek to shew that I at least am not a bad scholar though the Professors have chosen to deprive me of the First honor."

April 8—"At college. Began my speech for Commencement."

April 23—"Attended the trial of Revd Timothy Clowes for slander & Breach of a marriage promise with Miss Mary Dunbar. Mr Emmet delivered a most elegant address in favour of defendt 4 hours & 40 minutes long."

April 24—"Judgment delivered to day at Court in favour of Miss Dunbar $4000 damages. Arrest of Judgment moved by his council."
The case of Dunbar v. Clowes excited much public interest in New York. According to one report, Clowes did not deny that he had promised to marry Dunbar, but he justified his refusal because he learned of four "distinct wide-spread reports" that assailed her reputation, the existence of which released him from his obligation.

April 28—"Election commenced to day to continue 3 days. There are in this city at present no less than 3 parties. Clintonians Madisonians, Fedsts. The Federalists will probably succeed owing to the splitting of the Democratic Ticket."

April 30—"Election terminated to day in favour of the Federalists."
In the New York state elections in 1812, voters elected a Federalist majority to the New York State Assembly.

May 3—"Among the various hypotheses to account for the diversity in Colour amg men, none is so ridiculous, as that which represents it as the effect of the mark which God set upon Cain. There are two good reasons in my mind agst it which clearly shew that its supporters are not as well acquainted with their bible as they ought to be – 1st That there were none of the Descendants of Cain saved from the Deluge – since Noah was Descended from Seth – another son of Adam.
"2d That, allowing some of the Descendants of Cain to have been preserved, Africa (the only country where perfect blacks are found) was peopled by the posterity of Ham & not by Cain's Descendants.
"But on this subject we have the testimony of Solomon himself in favour of the supposition that it is owing to the climate. In Solomon's Song chap. 3d are the following words nearly I think, where his Bride says
"'Laugh not at me because I am black because the Sun has looked upon me & my sisters set me to keep the vineyard: ie that the intense heat of the Sun & the hard labour & exposed life had rendered her black. Many Arguments might be advanced in support of this last hypothesis, which certainly is the most reasonable explanation that has been offered.
"Dr. Goldsmith on this subject of the primaeval colour asserts it to have been white; but that the shades visible at present in the different nations of the world are owing to the climate & modes of life—he has however betrayed himself into a paralogism in his arguments. In vol. 2d 'animated nature' he says, 'but to put the matter beyond all doubt we shall mention the following fact – white children have been born of black parents but black children have never been produced from white parents.' Now according to the Dr's own reasoning Adam himself might have been black and the white people in the world have proceeded from him since 'white children have been born of Black parents.'"
To justify slavery and the slave trade, American Protestant denominations began to equate the Curse of Cain, Adam's son, from the book of Genesis in the Bible with dark skin, though there were earlier Christian roots to the belief.
Some commentators also conflated the Curse of Cain with the Curse of Canaan, one of Noah's grandsons. In a story also found in the book of Genesis, because of his son Ham's disrespectful actions, Noah cursed Ham's son Canaan to be a "servant of servants," another justification of slavery in nineteenth-century America.
Anglo-Irish author Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), known more for his novels and plays and as the creator of "Goody Two-Shoes," also published An History of the Earth: and Animated Nature in eight volumes in 1774.

May 11—"At College – wrote some lines this evening on 'The Soldiers grave.' I have taken the idea from the death of General Wayne on the banks of Lake Erie
'Where Yonder lake's white surges rise'"
[Entire poem appears on two pages later in this volume, dated May 12, 1812.]
General Anthony Wayne (1745-1796) served as a general in the Revolutionary War and retired in 1783. He returned to the army in 1792 to command U.S. forces in the Northwest Indian War (1785-1795), which he helped bring to a close with the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. He died in December 1796, on the shore of Lake Erie while still on active duty.

Peter Mackie Jr. (1792-1813) was born in New York City to Peter Mackie (1746-1834), a merchant and a soap and candle manufacturer. His father served as a vestryman at Trinity Church from 1812 to 1823. While a student at Columbia College, the younger Mackie served as secretary of the Philolexian Society. He graduated from Columbia in 1812, and at the commencement, held at Trinity Church on August 5, Mackie delivered an oration in Greek on the "Athenian Orators." After graduation, he began attending law lectures at the law school established by Tapping Reeve in Litchfield, Connecticut, where Mackie died the following year at age 21.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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