Thursday, February 9, 2017

State Capitol Inscriptions Cushman Davis


I mentioned a week or so ago that I had visited the newly refurbished Minnesota State Capitol and was struck by the learned inscriptions around the building.  Several spoke to me on the issue of tolerance.  Here is one of them:

Liberty consists in the right of each individual to exercise the greatest freedom of action up to, and not beyond, that point where it impinges upon the like exercise of freedom of action of every other man.  Davis

This quote reminds me of another made by a junior high school social studies teacher of mine:  Your rights end where my nose begins. 

Cushman Davis, was a Civil War veteran, former Governor of Minnesota and at the time of the quote, was a Senator from Minnesota.[1]  The Quote is found in Great Debates in American History: Economic and social questions, part 1.[2]  This quote is part of a debate in the United States Senate about the Pullman Strike in Chicago in 1893-94.  The debate occurred on July 10, 1894, with Senator William A. Peffer [Kan.] supporting the strikers and Minnesota Senator Davis speaking against. 

The background for the debate was this:  On May 1, 1894, workers at the Pullman car manufacturing plant in Chicago went out on a wildcat (not authorized by the union) strike.  Sympathetic railroad workers struck in support of the Pullman workers.  Violence broke out and federal troops were used to break the strike.[3] 

“On July 2, 1894, Olney obtained an injunction from a federal court saying that the strike was illegal. When the strikers did not return to work the next day, President Cleveland sent federal troops into Chicago. This enraged strikers, and rioters began stopping trains, smashing switches, and, again, setting fire to anything that would burn. On July 7, another mob stopped soldiers escorting a train through the downtown Chicago area. Many people were killed or wounded from bullets.”[4]  This was only one of several instances of violence, incited by each side.

The quote from Senator Davis is reminiscent of many contemporary arguments about the rights of protesters.  What was old is new again.

Including this quote here reminds me that there are two sides to MOST questions.  The minority has the right to be free from oppression from the majority, and the majority has the right to be free from physical and financial damage from the minority.  Truly, a tricky balancing of interests.

No one ever said democracy would be easy.
 
[3] For a more complete discussion of the Pullman strike, see http://www.lib.niu.edu/1994/ihy941208.html
[4] Id.
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