You are correct. Slavery was important in the war. Slaves found safety in Canada. The US intended to stop that, possibly by taking over parts of the country. I am less confident about understanding hirelings, but it suggests a contempt for labour.
On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 2:38 PM, raghu <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 7:13 PM, michael perelman wrote: > >> We are all patriotic. Let's start with the Star Spangled Banner. >> >> You all are familiar with some of it, but perhaps some of you may not >> know this particular stanza: Don't worry, I won't sing it: >> >> "No refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of flight, >> or the gloom of the grave." >> > > > As I understand it, the reference here is to runaway slaves encouraged by > the British promise of freedom during the War of 1812. > > I hadn't previously thought much about the "hireling" in that expression, > but looking at it now, I am not convinced that it is referring to wage > laborers. > > Note that the phrase says "the hireling and slave" NOT "the hireling and > the slave". > > It is almost like "hireling" is used synonymously with "slave". Or am I > misreading this? > -raghu. > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com
_______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
