January 2011

My contribution to the discussion of the peculiar institution is to observe that it was not peculiar. The term refers to a concept from Roman law, that is, peculium , which was the right of a slave to own property. The slave may have been the property of some Roman master, but he (probably not she) had the right to some property in his own name. It was possible for a slave to own other slaves.

The point, as applied to U.S. history, is that slaves in North America had no right of peculium. Roman slavery may have been peculiar, but North American slavery never was. I suspect the planters called it the peculiar institution as an implicit argument in favor of the practice by harkening back to supposed historical antecedents from antiquity. In that, as in so much else, the planters were deluded.

The Declaration of Independence is the central fact of American history. It grew out of our colonial history and lays out the basic principles of the unique American experiment in citizens’ government. All other events, including our long struggle to end slavery, are illuminated in its light.

It is gratifying that the fact of slavery and its horrors has begun to attain a major position in the interpretation of American history (“The Central Fact of American History,” by David Brion Davis, February/March 2005). The descendants of those poor Southern whites suffered harm from the slave system too, so I certainly don’t wish to support any part of it. Neither did my ancestors; they were Southern Unionists.

In the early 1970s I was the executive officer of the 147th Combat Support Squadron, assigned to the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, a Texas Air National Guard unit. Our squadron’s mission was to provide all necessary ground support for the group’s other units, including the Fighter Squadron.

Back in those days practically all wristwatches sported stylish expansion bands. These bands adequately attached a watch to the wrist with one exception—when you’re piloting a jet fighter. Under severe gravity forces an expansion-band watch could easily come loose and turn into a deadly missile flying about the cockpit. For this reason, all pilots were required to wear government-issued watches with leather bands when aloft. I myself had an approved watch. I had obtained it while on active duty with the U.S. Air Force.

Twenty-five years later, I still find them turning up: small ceramic pandas, nail clippers bearing the logo of the People’s Republic of China airline, handsome lapel pins with a golden profile of Chairman Mao. I collected them all while commuting from Hong Kong to Beijing in the late 1970s, when there was no American Embassy there, just a small diplomatic enclave called a Liaison Office.

At the time, long before the deluge of tourists and traders was allowed into “Red China,” there were no direct flights between the two cities. You traveled the 40 miles to Canton by train or hovercraft and then continued by plane to Beijing. On the flight, a cheerful attendant in a baggy uniform made her way down the aisle pouring tea from a large, dented, blackened kettle. She would return with your snack—stewed chicken feet or pickled cabbage—and the keepsakes.

USLO Peking Flying on Borrowed Time

Gambling, of course, is a tradition in golf practically as old as the game itself. The records of the venerable Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews tell of an incredible “death match” between Sir David Moncreiffe and John Whyte-Melville in 1870 in which they actually put their lives on the line. While the club maintains no official record of the outcome, there is documented a speech by Whyte-Melville 13 years later in which he mourns the death of Sir David Moncreiffe and “the causes that led to it.”

The United States Golf Association (USGA), which oversees the rules of the game, even has a policy on gambling for amateurs. According to official etiquette, the association “does not object to informal wagering” as long as “the amount of money involved is such that the primary purpose is the playing of the game for enjoyment.”

Unlike most sports, the challenge in golf is not necessarily to beat the other player. It is to play the course. The opponent, in essence, is yourself. This makes the game a natural fit with betting.

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The Museum

The Motorcyle Hall of Fame Museum, in Pickerington, Ohio, owns a century’s worth of motorcycle art, advertising, dioramas, as
well as 150 vintage cycles. All the memorabilia and the Indians themselves reproduced here were drawn from their past exhibit “Century of Indian.” Visit their Web site at www.motorcyclemuseum.org .