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Wholegrain Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
What is a "good enough Morgan"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Masonic_Party
In New York at this time the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Republican, or "Adams men," were a very feeble organization, and shrewd political leaders at once determined to utilize the strong anti-Masonic feeling in creating a new and vigorous party to oppose the rising Jacksonian Democracy. In this effort they were aided by the fact that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson was a high-ranking Mason and frequently spoke in praise of the Order. The alleged remark of political organizer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurlow_Weed, that a corpse found floating in the Niagara River was "a good enough Morgan" till after the election, summarized the value of the crime for the opponents of Jackson. In the elections of 1828 the new party proved unexpectedly strong, and after this year it practically superseded the National Republican party in New York. In 1829 it broadened its issues base when it became a champion of internal improvements and of the protective tariff. The party published 35 weekly newspapers in New York. Soon one became preeminent, the Albany Journal, edited by . The newspapers reveled in partisanship. One brief Albany Journal paragraph on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Van_Buren included the words "dangerous," "demagogue," "corrupt," "degrade," "pervert," "prostitute," "debauch" and "cursed."
In New York at this time the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Republican, or "Adams men," were a very feeble organization, and shrewd political leaders at once determined to utilize the strong anti-Masonic feeling in creating a new and vigorous party to oppose the rising Jacksonian Democracy. In this effort they were aided by the fact that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson was a high-ranking Mason and frequently spoke in praise of the Order. The alleged remark of political organizer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurlow_Weed, that a corpse found floating in the Niagara River was "a good enough Morgan" till after the election, summarized the value of the crime for the opponents of Jackson. In the elections of 1828 the new party proved unexpectedly strong, and after this year it practically superseded the National Republican party in New York. In 1829 it broadened its issues base when it became a champion of internal improvements and of the protective tariff. The party published 35 weekly newspapers in New York. Soon one became preeminent, the Albany Journal, edited by . The newspapers reveled in partisanship. One brief Albany Journal paragraph on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Van_Buren included the words "dangerous," "demagogue," "corrupt," "degrade," "pervert," "prostitute," "debauch" and "cursed."
Top answer
It means that the corpse was good enough to identify as Morgan, whether it was really Morgan or not. Identifying a corpse, any corpse, as Mr. Morgan, a Freemason from New York who went missing at that time, was a good way to stir up the idea being spoken of at the time, that Morgan's mysterious disappearance was the result of his being murdered for having divulged the secrets of the Masons.
- It means that the corpse was good enough to identify as Morgan, whether it was really Morgan or not.
- Identifying a corpse, any corpse, as Mr.
- Morgan, a Freemason from New York who went missing at that time, was a good way to stir up the idea being spoken of at the time, that Morgan's mysterious disappearance was the result of his being murdered for having divulged the secrets of the Masons.
- True or not, it was a good enough excuse to get the people riled up against the Masons, of which Jackson was one.
- After the election, the possible revelation that the corpse was not really Morgan would make no difference; the damage to Jackson would already have been done.
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3 Answers
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It means that the corpse was good enough to identify as Morgan, whether it was really Morgan or not. Identifying a corpse, any corpse, as Mr. Morgan, a Freemason from New York who went missing at that time, was a good way to stir up the idea being spoken of at the time, that Morgan's mysterious disappearance was the result of his being murdered for having divulged the secrets of the Masons. True
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Are you sure?
I heard it in The Confidence Man also.
"If I am, it is less from the remembrance of their stratagems as to our stock, than from the persuasion that these same destroyers of confidence, and gloomy philosophers of the stock-market, though false in themselves, are yet true types of most destroyers of confidence and gloomy philosophers, the world over. Fellows who, whe
I heard it in The Confidence Man also.
"If I am, it is less from the remembrance of their stratagems as to our stock, than from the persuasion that these same destroyers of confidence, and gloomy philosophers of the stock-market, though false in themselves, are yet true types of most destroyers of confidence and gloomy philosophers, the world over. Fellows who, whe
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Melville lived at about the same time as Jackson, so he has taken a contemporary event which his readers would have known about, and used it as a label for a general category of phenomena which he is talking about in this paragraph. "with a view to some sort of covert advantage" is the text that shows the connection between the two, as does the use of the word "corpse".
This usage "his G
This usage "his G
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