The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part 1, Chapter 1 Politics of Slavery, Section 4 Summary

Part 1, Chapter 1 Politics of Slavery, Section 4 Summary

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a friend of the Holmes.' After Emerson's death, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. wrote a book about him in 1884. It seemed only right. Holmes had worked with Emerson with the founding of the Atlantic Monthly and with organizing business details at the Saturday club. The fact that Holmes wrote a book about Emerson was strange to many of their friends. The two men had opposing views on many levels.

Holmes explained to Emerson that the papers had taken his statements out of context. This statement was technically true. He had not come right out and called abolitionists traitors, but he had insinuated the fact. Emerson was relieved because he was an abolitionist. He had not taken to abolitionism easily, because he detested systems and thought of abolitionism as a system. He was suspicious of social activism and viewed Wendell Phillips as a puppet of the abolitionists....
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