Table Of ContentTHE REVEREND ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON
1
ENCOUNTERS “THE ERRATIC THOREAU”
1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 BORN 1806 1807 1808 1809
1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819
1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829
1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839
1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849
1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859
1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869
1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 DIED
“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION,
THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY
1. “The experiment of the erratic Thoreau, had it been successful, would have proved him stronger than Massachusetts, stronger
than the United States; would have proved the same as to every other individual under the Government, and, of course, would have
subverted its very foundation.”
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ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON
Some have attempted to allege that Thoreau’s encounter with the Reverend
Orestes Augustus Brownson during his college years “transformed” David
Henry Thoreau — that when he returned from the minister’s house in Canton,
and the study of the German language, to his Cambridge dorm room, he was
an entirely different young man. In evaluating that account of it, we can
take into consideration that in Thoreau’s personal library was a copy of
the Reverend’s first book, NEW VIEWS... (undoubtedly a gift of the Reverend
— but we have no indication whatever that Thoreau ever so much as glanced
at it), and that in the Reverend’s personal library was a copy of Thoreau’s
A WEEK... (inscribed as a gift from its author — but we know for sure that
the Reverend did not ever bother to read it all the way through).
I am unable to come across any evidence whatever, that the writings or the
example of the Reverend Brownson ever had the slightest impact on Thoreau’s
ideas or upon Thoreau’s life. The most I have been able to infer is that
Thoreau benefitted slightly, academically, from being able to have
conversations in the German language. Nevertheless, John Henry Newman has
averred that “Brownson is by far the greatest thinker America has ever
produced” and Robert A. Herrera alleges on page 30 of his recent ORESTES
BROWNSON: SIGN OF CONTRADICTION that “Thoreau spoke of Brownson with greater
admiration than for any other writer. [Thoreau’s] profound love of nature
was inspired by Brownson and not Emerson.”
Just for the fun of it, I think I will start off by citing what THE THOREAU
LOG has to offer in its “Biographical Notes” section, in regard to Orestes
Augustus Brownson (1803-1876), and then contrasting this with what the
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA has to offer:
• THE THOREAU LOG: “... was born in Stockbridge, Vt., into a Calvinist
family. He later rejected Calvinism for Universalism, and then
moved further left to become a Unitarian. Dissatisfied again, he
turned to transcendentalism. Thoreau came under his influence in
the fall of 1835, when, wishing to earn some money to help pay for
college expenses, he applied for a teaching position at Canton,
Mass. Reverend Brownson, then a Unitarian minister and a member of
the school committee, interviewed Thoreau, hired him, and took him
into his home to live. Together they studied German and discussed
transcendentalism. In 1844 Brownson found a permanent spiritual
home by moving to the right and embracing Catholicism.”
• ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA: “... writer on theological, philosophical,
scientific, and sociological subjects reflecting the intellectual
restlessness and vitality of the pre-Civil War period. Self-
educated and originally a Presbyterian, he subsequently became a
Universalist minister (1826-31); a Unitarian minister (1832);
pastor of his own religious organization, the Society for
Christian Union and Progress (1836-1842); and, in 1844, a Roman
Catholic, which he remained. During the period 1830-1870, despite
the unpopularity of many of the subjects he treated, Brownson
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wrote on Calvinism, labour and social reform, Transcendentalism,
Roman Catholicism, states’ rights, democracy, nativism, and
emancipation. Philosophically, he was a moderate follower of the
Positivist Auguste Comte and the systematic eclectic Victor
Cousin. Before his conversion to Roman Catholicism, he supported
the views of the British social reformer Robert Owen.
His versatility was expressed in mystical poetry, an interest in
philosophy and social amelioration. Typical of his many writings
are THE SPIRIT-RAPPER: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1854); THE CONVERT (1857); and
THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC (1865), in which he based government on ethics,
declaring the national existence to be a moral and even a
theocratic entity, not depending for validity upon the sovereignty
of the people. Brownson published Brownson’s Quarterly Review
(1844-1875) as a journal of personal opinion, except for the years
1865-1872, when it was suspended. After Brownson’s death, his son,
Henry F. Brownson, collected and published his WORKS (1882-1907) in
20 volumes. There was a Brownson revival during the second quarter
of the 20th century, and in 1955 Alvan S. Ryan issued THE BROWNSON
READER. A.M. Schlesinger’s ORESTES A. BROWNSON: A PILGRIM’S PROGRESS
appeared in 1939, followed by T. Maynard’s ORESTES BROWNSON: YANKEE,
RADICAL, CATHOLIC in 1943.”
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ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON
1803
September 16, Friday: Orestes Augustus Brownson and Daphne Augusta Brownson, fraternal twins, were
born in Stockbridge, Vermont. The father, Sylvester Augustus Brownson, born in about 1768, would die while
these twins were yet in their infancy. We will follow this impressive manchild through Presbyterianism,
Universalism, radical humanism, Unitarianism, and Transcendentalism to Catholicism and then the founding
of his own “Society for Christian Union and Progress,” noting along the way how the unifying thread of all
the stages of his vocalization and theorization would amount to self-promotion, would be the coming up with
this idea or that idea the effect of which would be to position himself where he truly belonged — at the precise
center of everything.
NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT
Orestes Augustus Brownson “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
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1809
Relief Metcalf Brownson, Orestes Augustus Brownson’s widowed mother (date of birth uncertain, died about
1865), found herself unable to provide for all her children, and so at the age of six Orestes was sent to help an
older couple on a farm near Royalton, Vermont, and thus severed from his older siblings Daniel (who would
become an orator), Oran (who would convert from Mormonism to Catholicism in Ireland in 1860), and
Thorina Brownson (Dean), and in particular from his twin sister Daphne Augusta Brownson (Ludington).
These guardians were of Calvinist-Congregationalist heritage, but seldom attended church services, and so
Brownson would not be baptized during these years and would not officially belong to any sect or
denomination. Nevertheless his guardians would instill in him the traditional Calvinist values, training him to
read the BIBLE, to “be frugal and industrious, to speak the truth, … to keep the Sabbath, and never to let the
sun go down on wrath.”
LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD?
— NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES.
LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD.
Orestes Augustus Brownson “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
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ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON
1817
At the age of 14, after eight lonely years, Orestes Augustus Brownson was reunited with his mother and his
twin and his older brothers and sister, and the entire family relocated to Ballston Spa, which is north of Albany
in upstate New York. During his adolescence he would be exposed to various sectarians, atheists, and
“nothingarians,” in the frenetic religious agitation of that region.
DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD.
Orestes Augustus Brownson “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
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ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON
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ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON ORESTES AUGUSTUS BROWNSON
1822
September: At age 19 Orestes Augustus Brownson was “in a labyrinth of doubt with no Ariadne’s thread to
guide [him] out to the light of day” when on a sunny Sunday morn he wandered into a Presbyterian church in
Ballston, New York.
CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT
Orestes Augustus Brownson “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
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October: Orestes Augustus Brownson was baptized in the Presbyterian church into which he had wandered
the month before. Soon he would determine that God was calling him into the ministry, but then he began to
suspect that his ministry could not be to the Presbyterians. He would confide to his pastor that he felt himself
confined by an absence of intellectual freedom, caused by the exclusive spirit of the congregation as much as
by double predestination and unconditional election and damnation, “the harsh doctrines of Calvin.” He didn’t
like to think that God would predestine some to salvation, others to damnation, and didn’t want to believe that
a book which offered such offensive ideas could have been written under divine inspiration. Soon he would be
aiming himself in the direction of the Universalists, who were offering more pleasant attitudes, the possibility
of universal salvation offered by a God who was such a good guy that he could not bring himself to pack us
off to eternal damnation.
David Lawrence and Thomas G. Fessenden spoke at the Concord annual agricultural exhibition. Exhibitors
received prizes totaling $245. The address of Thomas G. Fessenden would be printed.
Agricultural Society. — This, though properly a county society,
is so connected with Concord, as to deserve to be noticed in its
history. The members of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society,
living in the western parts of the county, met at Chelmsford,
January 6, 1794, and formed a society for the “promotion of
useful improvements in agriculture,” and were incorporated,
February 28, 1803, as “The Western Society of Middlesex
Husbandmen.” It did not include Concord, nor other towns in the
easterly part of the county. Meetings were held semi-annually,
alternately at Westford and Littleton, but no public exhibitions
took place. The following gentlemen were successively elected
Presidents; the Rev. Jonathan Newell of Stow, the Rev. Phineas
Whitney of Shirley, the Rev. Edmund Foster of Littleton,
Ebenezer Bridge of Chelmsford, Dr. Oliver Prescott of Groton,
Colonel Benjamin Osgood of Westford, Wallis Tuttle, Esq., of
Littleton, and the Hon. Samuel Dana of Groton.
An act was passed, February 20, 1819, authorizing any
agricultural society, possessing $1,000 in funds, to draw $200
from the state treasury, and in the same proportion for a larger
sum. This society accordingly voted, in the following September,
to extend its operation throughout the county, and to raise
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funds that it might avail itself of the grant of the state. An
act passed, January 24, 1824, incorporating it as “The Society
of Middlesex Husbandmen and Manufacturers”; and it was agreed
to have annual shows at Concord. The first was held here October
11, 1820; and they have since been annually repeated. The
subjoined table exhibits the names of the presidents, orators,
and amounts of premiums awarded. The names of those orators,
2
whose addresses have been published, are printed in italics.
2. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company;
Concord MA: John Stacy
(On or about November 11, 1837 Henry Thoreau would indicate a familiarity
with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study. On July 16, 1859 he would correct a date mistake
buried in the body of the text.)
