1799: Thomas Jefferson, Noah Webster And The First Global Warming Debate
Jefferson was not only the first Republican, he was the first to raise concern about global warming – another anomaly.
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He was convincing enough that the science consensus for the next 190 years became just what he said. Now the data and circumstances tide has finally turned in a way that Thomas Jefferson anticipated
If it started in the 18th century, it probably didn’t have much to do with CO2.
Facts should not get in the way of this debate.
The above article cites a current Smithsonian article, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Americas-First-Great-Global-Warming-Debate.html?c=y&story=fullstory
It would be a bit of a chore to find it, but I distinctly remember a print edition of the Smithsonian magazine a year or three back which had a piece about its new editor, and how he intended to use the backing of the whole institution (or words to that effect) to educate the public about the perils of global warming. First thing that entered my mind was how political opinion was likely going to be promulgated here, not historic facts. Anybody remember the controversy about the Smithsonian’s ‘re-write of WWII’ in their displays about the bomber plane that dropped the first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima? http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/EnolaGayArchive/Pages/default.aspx
Jefferson died in 1826. The Republican party was started in 1854. Also, it was started by people who explicitly left the Democrat party over the issue of slavery.
Stark, I could be wrong, but I think the author was tying Jefferson to the ideas the Republican party currently embraces, rather than direct party affiliation. But, yes, you are entirely correct about the birth of the Repub. party. I don’t know if space was a consideration, but the author certainly should have been much more clear than what he was.
He actually answers the charge in the comments by saying
(in essence): “The Democratic-Republicans sometimes referred to themselves as ‘Republicans'”. I guess that means something when you’re talking about another party that split off of the party you mean 50 years later.
Yeah, the author is a pretty piece of work. Manages to keep a series of thoughts together for at least 2 or 3 words in that article before veering off into contradictory nonsense.
In a nutshell …
Jefferson referred to himself as a Republican. The followers of Jefferson also called themselves Republicans or Jeffersonians but obviously Jefferson would not use the term.
The official party that he was defacto leader of came later, the Democratic-Republicans who again called themselves Republicans or Jeffersonians. They were *never* called Democrats.
Van Buren and Jackson founded the Democrat party who called themselves Jacksonians or Jacksonian-Democrats or Democrats.
Abolitionists founded the Republican party, but it should not be confused with National Republicans and several other variations. After Lincoln, the (R) became associated with abolition and the civil war, the previous memory of Jefferson was put on ice.
Confusion arises today because of the Democrat party associating themselves with Jefferson through things like the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner. But this (D) party has nothing in common with Jefferson, it is much closer in spirit to the Federalist party which is the whole reason for the Jeffersonian anti-Federalist philosophy.
Confusion really began with the 1824 election when the caucus system was changed and labels were in flux. All four of them (Jackson, Adams, etc) were (D-R) in spirit but officially NO-PARTY. By 1828 it was over, only the (D) party of Jackson was alive.
MY IDEA: I would support resurrecting the Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican party today to save this country, destroy the other two in the process and watch all the (D) and (R) heads explode.
Who’s with me?
When you talk about global warming you don’t need facts.
An interesting read. Obviously, it would have behooved the author to point out that neither Webster nor Jefferson referenced CO2 and would have made a much better article to context it towards today’s discussion. In fact, Webster directly connects land use to Jefferson’s observations!!! “We have, in the cultivated districts, deep snow today, and none tomorrow; but the same quantity of snow falling in the woods, lies there till spring….This will explain all the appearances of the seasons without resorting to the unphilosophical hypothesis of a general increase in heat.”
Warmism doesn’t attract intelligent writers or scientists. You can succeed there with mediocrity (generously speaking).
“I never said Jefferson blamed CO2, he blamed urbanization. And he was clearly wrong and science of the day was correct..”
He collected some of the gas from the top of brewed Spirits in a clear Flacon, closed it, and directed an intense solar Beam through it, and the gas became Warm, and he realized the World was going to hell in a hand basket.
He gave the world 10 years.
He then wrote a children’s story about some Polar Bears who were fed up with no ice who came to the United Sates to tell people about the awful suffering their Callousness and their extreme Avarice were Producing and the Polar Bears thence saved the world