dagblog - Comments for "Election Cake and Campaign Quilts: Whig Rose, Whig Defeat, Democrat Rose, Rose of Sharon and Baltimore Album Quilts"

The following you-tube piece

gi — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:06:23 +0000

In reply to Election Cake and Campaign Quilts: Whig Rose, Whig Defeat, Democrat Rose, Rose of Sharon and Baltimore Album Quilts

The following you-tube piece details an exhibit of women's political quilts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V3cQ2uiQAY

I responded to this entry

gi — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:01:03 +0000

In reply to Election Cake and Campaign Quilts: Whig Rose, Whig Defeat, Democrat Rose, Rose of Sharon and Baltimore Album Quilts

I responded to this entry earlier sending a list of books that might help straighten out this rendition of women's quilts and politics. Don't see the long (alas) post. But I digress. While I'm delighted to see the interest in quilts it shows, it has many, many errors in fact and more in interpretation. While in the 1840's and early 1850's----notably the 1844 election---women were permitted to attend SOME local political rallies and barbecues and were permitted to make banners for these, the word "permitted" is critical. The Democrats at first refused to admit them. Political rallies at the time were rough affairs, filled with rough language, fist fights, and general mayhem. Seeing how the presence of women civilized the gatherings for the Whigs, the Democrats reluctantly agreed to admit them. And civilization was the purpose. They could get the cakes donated anyway.

I've spent the better part of a decade studying this period and the Whig's Defeat pattern, and I have found no valid evidence that it or the other so-called "political" quilts were even given political names until long after the elections were past. The Whig's Defeat pattern was an old, old pattern that went back to the late 18th century and was associated with weddings. It was not appliqued, but entirely pieced. It is a Southern quilt pattern that never gained popularity north of the Ohio. I've gone through archival materials, diaries and journals, letters and newspapers, and so far have located no contemporary evidence of this name.

Moreover, the single focusing issue of the 1844 campaign, to which it is attributed, was TEXAS. Henry Clay, the darling of the ladies and the Whig candidate opposed annexation of Texas because it would entail war. The old Whigs were a curious coalition of wealthy southern planters and northern industrialists, and they saw no profit in adding Texas. The Democrats, mainly made up of folks of lower rank both in the east and the Old Southwest, were driven by land hunger. Expansion and "Manifest Destiny" was their goal and cry. If one reads through the campaign speeches and literature of the day, he or she won't find much about schools and books and education, I assure you. It will be the issue of expansion, which in time would be compounded with the issue of slavery in the added territories.

I have found no instance of a Whig wife or daughter making a Whig's Defeat---and that's the test of real political independent action. In fact, I've found no evidence of any woman's making a Whig's Defeat in the 1840's.

The later Baltimore Album quilts were not political, but patriotic, celebrating the feats of local and regional heroes of the Mexican War that brought Texas into the U.S. and that phenomenon was limited geographically and in time, a localized phenomenon that produced stunning examples.

The first use of quilts in overt political ways seems to have come with the suffragettes and with the Temperance Movement. An entirely different era.

Recently, well-meaning people (but many also driven by the profit motive) have promoted the idea of women's being political long before they got the vote. While obviously, political motivation preceded the vote, it came much later.

So, it's a nice idea, this idea of women's political activity in the 1840's and 1850's, but it does not bear the test of history.

This was really interesting!

Wildchild_deb — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:32:48 +0000

In reply to Election Cake and Campaign Quilts: Whig Rose, Whig Defeat, Democrat Rose, Rose of Sharon and Baltimore Album Quilts

This was really interesting! Glad to see you are doing well!

Trkingmomoe:Thank you. Old

wws — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:11:16 +0000

In reply to Election Cake and Campaign Quilts: Whig Rose, Whig Defeat, Democrat Rose, Rose of Sharon and Baltimore Album Quilts

Trkingmomoe:

Thank you. Old quilts are a commentary by women on the world in which they loved. And the quality of each, one to another, is fascinating, even when the patterns are "the same."

I inherited a number of quilts from a great-aunt, all of which were white. I was told they were "wedding quilts" although only one of them seemed to have a recognizable wedding symbol of intertwined rings. The others had exquisitely-rendered flowers with swagged borders or hearts and leaves.

I've given them as wedding presents over the years to various nieces, the last one only a few weeks ago.

I'm so glad quilting continues. Have you designed or will you design a political quilt for our time?

Maybe you'd better think of

gi — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 06:28:01 +0000

In reply to This is a great post,

Maybe you'd better think of designs related to Texas or Manifest Destiny, the real issues of the day! Think more stars in the flag.

Flower,Fifty Four Forty or

trkingmomoe — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:09:40 +0000

In reply to Ladies of Baltimore Stitch

Flower,

Fifty Four Forty or Fight block was named by Kansas City Star. It was a depression block named for that historic event. It was during the 1920's and 30's many blocks created by newspapers weekly patterns in the women's section were given names for 19th century events. It has several names because other papers would give it a new name.

The original name was

cmaukonen — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 03:43:40 +0000

In reply to It has been around longer

The original name was Democratic Republican Party. The opposition was the Federalist Party which lost favor and evenually disbanded all together.

The Jacksonians held their first national convention as the "Republican Party" in 1832.^[33] By the mid-1830s, they referred to themselves as the "Democratic Party," but also as "Democratic Republicans."^[34] The name "Democratic Party" has been official since 1844.

Thank you for showing up

Richard Day — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 03:41:07 +0000

In reply to What a terrific post! The

Thank you for showing up Ramona.

Momoe is truly a disguised gem. ha

Flower...I just got back from

trkingmomoe — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 02:28:29 +0000

In reply to Ladies of Baltimore Stitch

Flower...I just got back from quilting and let me look up when 54-40 was named. I think it was a 20th century block. It is one of my favorite blocks and not for the novice quilter. At least you finished one. Most people quit when they get to the 4 narrow fiying geese pieces.

I do talks at quilt guilds on

trkingmomoe — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 02:19:17 +0000

In reply to I still can't get over this!!

I do talks at quilt guilds on this subject and I put on a program at my guild's quilt show on the history of quilting. I have a couple of binders full of this kind of stuff. I am too poor to collect antique quilts so this is the next best thing.