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Manasseh Cutler was as diverse as the new United States. A teacher, doctor, lawyer, scientist, and land agent, he eventually turned to politics and in 1800 was elected to Congress as a Federalist from Massachusetts. Below is a selection taken from a letter to his daughter that describes his circumstances in Washington, the new national capital. With Cutler's letter is an excerpt from the writings of F. A. Michaux, a French botanist who traveled through the western areas of the nation. His description of the people of Kentucky stands in stark contrast to Cutler's description of Washington society and offers excellent proof of the variety that was America.
In both documents, religion played an important part. What do the religious differences reveal about the two ways of life? What can you gather about the relationship between religion and social class in America? What seems to be the main reason for the differences in attitude toward religion in the two areas? What attitudes toward religion do the two societies have in common? What does this reveal about religious toleration in the United States?
Notice the forms of entertainment enjoyed by the two groups. What do they tell you about the nature of the two societies and the people who made them up? Do these entertainments reveal any class divisions, or can they be explained by something else?
How do you think the two societies would respond to the question "To what degree should the people be allowed to govern themselves?" Why do you believe this? What evidence supports your conclusion? From these two documents, what can be told about the impact of the frontier on American life, culture, and values?
Read the description of Washington, D.C., found in the text. How does Cutler's letter compare with the account found there? What might account for the difference--note the date the letter was written, the month, and the year. Also note Cutler's political party.
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Washington, Dec. 2, 1801
MY DEAR BETSY: . . . It shall be the subject of this letter to give you some account of my present situation and of occurrences since I left home.
The city of Washington, in point of situation, is much more delightful than I expected to find it. The ground, in general, is elevated, mostly cleared, and commands a pleasing prospect of the Potomac River. The buildings are brick, and erected in what are called large blocks, that is, from two to five or six houses joined together, and appear like one long building. . . . Mr. King, our landlord, occupies the south end, only one room in front, which is our parlor for receiving company and dining, and one room back, occupied by Mr. King's family, the kitchen is below. The four chambers are appropriate to the eight gentlemen who board in the family. In each chamber are two narrow field beds and field curtains, with every necessary convenience for the boarders. . . . Mr. King's family consists only of himself, his lady and one daughter, besides the servants, all of whom are black. Mr. King was an officer in the late American Army, much of a gentleman in his manner, social and very obliging. I have seen few women more agreeable than Mrs. King. . . . She was the daughter of Mr. Harper, a very respectable merchant in Baltimore; has been favored with an excellent education, has been much in the first circles of society in this part of the country, and is in nothing more remarkable than her perfect freedom from stiffness, vanity, or ostentation. Their only daughter, Miss Anna, is about seventeen, well formed, rather tall, small featured, but is considered very handsome. She has been educated at the best schools in Baltimore and Alexandria. She does not converse much, but is very modest and agreeable. She plays with great skill on the Forte Piano, which she always accompanies with a most delightful voice, and is frequently joined in the vocal part by her mother. Mr. King has an excellent Forte Piano, which is connected with an organ placed under it, which she fills and plays with her foot, while her fingers are employed upon the Forte Piano.
The gentlemen, generally, spend a part of two or three evenings in a week in Mr. King's room, where Miss Anna entertains us with delightful music. After we have been fatigued with the harangues of the Hall in the day, and conversing on politics, in different circles (for we talk about nothing else), in the evening, an hour of this music is truly delightful. On Sunday evenings, she constantly plays Psalm tunes, in which her mother, who is a woman of real piety, always joins. . . .
I can not conclude without giving you some description of our fellow-lodgers, with whom I enjoy a happiness which I by no means expected. . . . It is remarkable that all these gentlemen are professors of religion and members of the churches to which they respectively belong. An unbecoming word is never uttered by one of them, and the most perfect harmony and friendliness pervades the family.
William Parker Cutler and Julia Perkins Cutler, eds., Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler (Cincinnati: Clarke, 1888), 2:50-53.
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The inhabitants of Kentucky, are nearly all natives of Virginia, and particularly the remotest parts of that state; and exclusive of the gentlemen of the law, physicians, and a small number of citizens who have received an education suitable to their professions in the Atlantic states, they have preserved the manners of the Virginians. With them the passion for gaming and spirituous liquors is carried to excess, which frequently terminates in quarrels degrading to human nature. The public-houses are always crowded, more especially during the sittings of the courts of justice. Horses and law-suits comprise the usual topic of their conversation. If a traveller happens to pass by, his horse is appreciated; if he stops, he is presented with a glass of whiskey, and then asked a thousand questions
. . . their only object being the gratification of that curiosity so natural to people who live isolated in the woods, and seldom see a stranger. They are never dictated by mistrust; for from whatever part of the globe a person comes, he may visit all the ports and principal towns of the United States, stay there as long as he pleases, and travel in any part of the country without ever being interrogated by a public officer.
Among the various sects that exist in Kentucky, those of the Methodists and Anabaptists are the most numerous. The spirit of religion has acquired a fresh degree of strength within these seven or eight years among the country inhabitants, since, independent of Sundays, which are scrupulously observed, they assemble, during the summer, in the course of the week, to hear sermons. These meetings, which frequently consist of two or three thousand persons who come from all parts of the country within fifteen or twenty miles, take place in the woods, and continue for several days. Each brings his provisions, and spends the night round a fire. The clergymen are very vehement in their discourses. Often in the midst of the sermons the heads are lifted up, the imaginations exalted, and the inspired all backwards, exclaiming, "Glory! glory!" This species of infatuation happens chiefly among the women, who are carried out of the crowd, and put under a tree, where they lie a long time extended, heaving the most lamentable sighs.
There have been instances of two or three hundred of the congregation being thus affected during the performance of divine service; so that one-third of the hearers were engaged in recovering the rest. Whilst I was at Lexington I was present at one of these meetings. The better informed people do not share the opinion of the multitude with regard to this state of ecstasy, and on this account they are branded with the appellation of bad folks. Except during the continuance of this preaching, religion is very seldom the topic of conversation. Although divided into several sects, they live in the greatest harmony; and whenever there is an alliance between the families, the difference of religion is never considered as an obstacle; the husband and wife pursue whatever kind of worship they like best, and their children, when they grow up, do just the same, without the interference of their parents.
F. A. Michaux, "Travels West of the Allegheny Mountains," in Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., Early Western Travels, 1748-1846 (Cleveland: Clark, 1904), 3:246-250.
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