Reading Laura Dassow Walls biography:
Emerson advanced him $75 to search for Margaret Fuller on Fire Island after her boat crashed into a sand bar.
I went to Fire Island today.
The one foreign country Thoreau visited was Canada in 1850. He never traveled really far, though read quite widely and traveled important steps for himself. In a way it's really cool that he traveled locally.
Thoreau was furious when an editor changed his essay. He wouldn't have much Reddit karma because he'd say what he wanted and dam everyone else if they didn't like it. He would not change it.
I take something down quickly if there are even 3 downvotes more than upvotes. I still think I can think those thoughts and that I'm right given the context of my life, but I'm not into getting downvoted, I simply remove the offending comment or post. I have not sufficiently wrought out a message that is empathetically received on Reddit. There is a time and place and style for every thought to be expressed, but I don't imagine I'm always right and the public is wrong.
The public and the private are different. I want to learn what the public doesn't like, so I can tailor my presentation to the world. I don't imagine there will be a equal line up with private and public. And I value my private experience beyond compare, I just don't assume everyone else has to. There are things I snap judge quickly as harmful to society and I downvote. That is my vision.
On November 8th 1850 Thoreau quit cutting out paper from his journal and began to write an entry every day.
The fugitive slave act of 1850 offended Thoreau's sense of morality and beauty, which he combined. The land grabe of the Mexican-American War was offensive to him as well. The compromises of the new states not having slavery meant that the fugitives had to be seen as property and the whole nation had to return slaves. It was a national law. But the whole nation didn't agree and protected escaped slaves.
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