SONS OF THE CUMBERLAND: THE EARLY YEARS OF CORDELL HULL AND JOHN JORDAN GORE

FREE PREVIEW Hull and Gore absorbed the tenets of classical learning during their studies, focusing on subjects and skills which exactly fit the model for students interested in law and government. Cicero’s phrase historia est magistra vitae, that history is the teacher of life, conveyed the idea that the study of the past should serve as a lesson to the future. Preparation in Latin gave them the foundation for the meaning of words in the Romance languages, and an invaluable background in understanding legal maxims. Rhetorical study and its practice in debate societies prepared the young men well for their later careers. The emphasis on learning virtue, coupled with the forensic training, produced in the young men one of the highest goals of a classical education—a Citizen Orator, or “a good man speaking well.” However, their formal education was but one aspect of the knowledge and experience they acquired growing up in the Upper Cumberland. At least as important to Hull and Gore’s development were the times and environment in which they grew up. The backdrop of the Civil War loomed large in the region and formed the character of the body politic. The generation that came of age after the war, the sons and daughters of those who fought it, grew up on stories about the cause and nature of the conflict. This generational perspective imbued within them very definite opinions about the role of government. This was not an academic exercise—their families had recently fought, suffered and died for their opinions, whether for the Union or the Confederacy. Hull described the environment: People who grew up in that section during the forty years’ background of the Civil War, while suffering the terrific hardships and privations resulting from the war and Reconstruction, had a rare privilege—the benefit of the discussions of government and related questions between old soldiers congregated inside and outside the little country stores, on rainy days or on Saturday afternoons. Many of these old soldiers knew as much about government as high government officials and college instructors. Discussions among the veterans instilled within the children great pride in Tennessee’s military tradition. They thrilled to the achievements of patriot-warriors like John Sevier at King’s Mountain in the Revolutionary War, Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812, and Sam Houston’s efforts to secure independence for Texas. This record and Tennessee’s outsize response to the call to arms during the Mexican War earned Tennessee the nickname “the Volunteer State.” Hull wrote that “this page of history was fervently preached to my generation by public speakers, teachers and the old Confederate veterans.” For young men in Tennessee interested in law and politics, Andrew Jackson set the standard. A war orphan turned frontier lawyer turned national military hero, Jackson served two terms as President and founded the modern Democratic Party. Hull stated that Jackson stood out as the hero of his youth. Presumably John Gore held similar sentiments—his home county was named for Jackson thirteen years before the Battle of New Orleans. The Civil War also influenced peoples’ political allegiances. One’s political persuasion, with few exceptions, was determined by the side he supported during the war. Those who supported the Union were Republicans; former Confederates voted for Democrats. Republicans represented the party of Union, of Lincoln and civil rights. Democrats traced their philosophical lineage to Jefferson and Jackson, promoting states’ rights and decentralized government. Children were born into a political party and generally did not stray from the fold. Hull said, “Father and all his people were Democrats of the strictest sect from the Civil War on.” He adhered to family tradition and became an active Democrat. Colonel Mounce L. Gore was also a staunch Democrat, which must have made his son’s political departure a hard pill to swallow. Colonel Gore had become close friends with a former Union soldier after the war. His friend, a fellow merchant in Gainesboro and active Republican, took an almost paternal liking to the Colonel’s young son, John. He gave the boy a lot of attention and bought him presents, including a suit of “store clothes,” a scarcity in the lean post-war years. The former federal soldier openly boasted that he would have the boy voting the Republican ticket when he grew to be a man. As predicted, John Gore became as stalwart a Republican as his father was a Democrat. Rather than his father’s friend persuading him to shift allegiances, it is more likely that John Gore simply demonstrated his independence by becoming a Republican. In one sense, he was following another family tradition—one of independent judgment and conviction regarding his political views. His grandfather, Mounce Gore, parted with Democratic family tradition and became a Whig, elected to a term in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1851. Nevertheless, it is telling how contemporary writers spoke of John Gore “abandoning the faith” of his father. People took their politics seriously.