QUAESTIO - Social Sciences Division - UCLA

Quaestio
as a means of setting a solid example for the epitome of virtuous
behavior. In one instance, Abbott chronicles the actions of one
family who receives a wandering stranger into their home: “[The
master of the household] gave him a hearty welcome, and the
master and his guest entered the dwelling together…the
preparations for supper which were going forward, was
answering the double purpose of kitchen and parlor…[the
family] seemed pleased with the interruption. For if there is true
cordial hospitality on this earth, it is to be found in the family of
an American farmer.” 15 As the antebellum years predated the
strong increase in American ethnic heterogeneity through the
waves of immigration that the postbellum years would see, the
social space of these “old-American communities” necessitated
adherence to such ideological tenets. By 1861, soldiers were
pressured by their local communities to uphold these tenets of
virtue through defense and action in the military realm. For
example, neighbors would send lurid women’s undergarments to
men if they did not enlist in order to signify a lack of
masculinity; during the war, even men’s minute actions on the
battlefield were scrutinized by fellow soldiers, especially that of
desertion and cowardliness. 16 This extended both to the children
as well as their parents who were required to instill such virtue.
15 See Jacob Abbott, Fire-side Piety, or the Duties and Enjoyments of Family
Religion (Cooperstown, NY: H. & E. Phinney, 1841), 132-133.
16 See Frank, With Ballot and Bayonet, 30-31, and Baker, Affairs of Party, 51.
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