Lincoln's Tragic Pragmatism: Lincoln, Douglas, and Moral Conflict
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A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
In 1858, ...)
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
In 1858, challenger Abraham Lincoln debated incumbent Stephen Douglas seven times in the race for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. More was at stake than slavery in those debates. In Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism, John Burt contends that the very legitimacy of democratic governance was on the line. In a United States stubbornly divided over ethical issues, the overarching question posed by the Lincoln-Douglas debates has not lost its urgency: Can a liberal political system be used to mediate moral disputes? And if it cannot, is violence inevitable?
“John Burt has written a work that every serious student of Lincoln will have to read...Burt refracts Lincoln through the philosophy of Kant, Rawls and contemporary liberal political theory. His is very much a Lincoln for our time.”
―Steven B. Smith, New York Times Book Review
“I'm making space on my overstuffed shelves for Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism. This is a book I expect to be picking up and thumbing through for years to come.”
―Jim Cullen, History News Network
“Burt treats the Lincoln-Douglas debates as being far more significant than an election contest between two candidates. The debates represent profound statements of political philosophy and speak to the continuing challenges the U.S. faces in resolving divisive moral conflicts.”
―E. C. Sands, Choice
John Burt was an American inventor and capitalist. He is distinguished for his business activities which greatly contributed to the industrial development of the upper peninsula, and also for such important invetions, such as improvement for the manufacture of pig and wrought iron, for purifying blast furnace gases, for a ventilating system, and for a by-product charcoal burning process.
Background
John Burt was born on April 18, 1814 in Wales, Erie County and was the eldest of the five sons born to William Austin and Phebe (Coles) Burt, at that time residents of Wales, Erie County, New York.
The first ten years of his life were spent in the rather settled community in which his father was justice of the peace, school inspector, postmaster, land surveyor, and builder of saw and grist-mills, but in 1824 the elder Burt took his little family to Michigan, settling in the township of Washington, Macomb County.
Career
In Washington, Macomb County, which was a virgin territory at the time, John shared the characteristic life of all pioneers, helping in the hard labor of clearing land; attending school spasmodically; and, in addition, receiving from his father instruction in surveying, mill construction, and engineering.
He developed an aptitude along mechanical lines and from the age of sixteen assisted his father in his millwright work. When he came of age he acquired a farm of his own near his father's and for five years thereafter cleared and developed it.
In 1840, however, when his father was deputized by the federal government to survey the upper peninsula of Michigan in conjunction with the Geological Survey then in progress, John and his four brothers were taken along as assistants.
A year later, on May 18, 1841, John was appointed a deputy surveyor and in this capacity continued in the work for the next ten years.
He gradually became thoroughly familiar with the whole area and its iron ores. When the survey was completed in 1851, after receiving an opinion from the United States attorney-general that iron ore lands did not come under the head of mineral lands, he purchased 15, 000 acres, which later formed part of the lands of the Lake Superior Iron Company.
After being unsuccessful in interesting any other men in purchasing shares in his acquisition, he returned to the Carp River, where the city of Marquette is now located, and built a dam and a saw-mill, preparatory to the erection of a forge for the manufacture of iron blooms.
Meanwhile, foreseeing the need of a ship canal around the Sault Ste. Marie rapids, Burt, aided by his father and friends, induced Congress to aid his state in building such a canal. On its completion in 1855 he was made the first superintendent. Again, as early as 1867, when the ship canal needed to be enlarged, he devised and patented a type of canal lock which was incorporated in the enlarged structure completed in 1881.
At the time of his death he was president of the Lake Superior & Peninsula Iron Companies and the Burt Freestone Company.
Achievements
John Burt resolved to devote his life to the industrial development of the upper peninsula and achieved successfully. Burt spent his time in organizing companies, building additional railroads, he also looked toward a complete transportation system for the whole peninsula, so he engaged in extensive lumbering activities, and organized ore mining companies and steel works. In each of these enterprises, he served actively as an officer or director.
While his father made the original iron discovery in this area, John, in 1848, subdivided the Jackson Mine District and discovered amongst other deposits, the Republic and Humboldt Mines. In addition, he found time to devise a number of improvements for the manufacture of pig and wrought iron, involving methods of effecting carbonization, for which he obtained patents in 1869.
Finally, in the seventies and early eighties, Burt obtained patents for purifying blast furnace gases; for a ventilating system; and for a by-product charcoal burning process. Burt also for four years (1885 - 89) published the first newspaper in Marquette, known as the Marquette Mining Journal.
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A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
In 1858, ...)
Politics
He was little interested in public life but did serve as Republican elector-at-large in 1868, delivering in Washington the Michigan vote for President Grant.
Connections
John Burt was married on December 3, 1835 to Julia A. Calkins, who with two sons and a daughter survived him at the time of his death in Detroit where he made his home for many years.
Father:
William Austin Burt
Mother:
Phebe (Coles) Burt
Wife:
Julia A. Calkins
Partner:
Heman B. Ely
With the cooperation of Heman B. Ely of Cleveland, he began the construction of a railroad from Marquette to Lake Superior, which was completed in 1857.
