The journals printed in this volume, covering the years 1852 to
1855, find Emerson increasingly drawn to the issues and realities
of the pragmatic, hard-working nineteenth century. His own
situation as a middle-aged, property-owning New Englander with a
large household to support gave him a strong sense of everyday
financial necessity, and his wide reading for his projected book on
the English impressed him deeply with the worldly success that had
conic to that unphiiosophieal people. The growing crisis over
slavery at home, moreover, demanded the attention of every citizen,
even one as reluctant to engage in social issues as Emerson.
Emerson's extensive reading about the English, which ranged from
Camden's "Britannia" through the diaries of Samuel Pepys and Thomas
Moore to the latest issues of the "London Times," convinced him
that, despite its materialism, England was "the best of actual
nations." The robust physical health of the English, their common
sense, and their instinct for fair play insured that the future
belonged to them and their transatlantic cousins, the
Americans.
Yet the facts of American political life often led Emerson to
wonder whether his country had any future at all. So long as his
fellow citizens were willing to countenance the evil of slavery,
they could not play their proper role in the world, the pages of
his journals indicate, Emerson, like an increasing number of other
Americans, was coming to believe that the issue had to he resolved,
whatever the cost.
General
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