Before the Civil War, the constant pace of inventions, such as the improved steam engine by James Watt in 1776. Robert Fulton’s steamboat, The Clermont, in 1807. Michael Faraday’s electric motor in 1821. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre’s photography in 1839. The telegraph, with its first message on May 24, 1844., “What hath God wrought?” And 30,000 miles of railroad tracks, 21,300 miles concentrated in the northeast. Together with a growing population. The market was transitioning how it made goods, from creating them by hand to using machines; these changes were slowly making slavery obsolete.
The war began at Fort Sumter in South Carolina when the Confederates attacked Union soldiers on April 12, 1861. Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865., ending the war. It lasted four years, but the destiny of slavery, and that of the Confederate army, for that matter, was written long before when Benjamin Franklin flew his kite during a thunderstorm to prove that lightning was electrical in 1752—this moment in history lighted up the Industrial Revolution—the one revolution which brought the end of slavery in America.

“Mike, I can’t keep bringing the flags up and down every day.”
“Keep them up … I don’t know why you think you’re in an army base.”
“It sure feels like it.”
“Keep them up and leave them alone; that’s an order.”

When Miss Sephardi got her covid vaccine shot, she compared the printing machine with the microscope. “With the printing machine, we put God’s word in people’s hands and adapted to it. And with the microscope, we discovered God’s invisible world, and we adapt to it.” Her statement was enough to convince the entire classroom to get vaccinated. Good job, Miss Sephardi.

I finally worked up the nerve to ask Auntie Abi why she always said, “In God we trust,” every time she finished a can of Coca-Cola.

“I’m putting my faith in God,” she replied with a smirk, as if that explained everything. I waited, knowing there had to be more.

Then, she picked up the can, squinted at the nutrition facts, and went on, “I trust that this mix of carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, caffeine, sodium, natural flavors—plus who knows what other sugars—and no fiber, vitamins, or proteins whatsoever… is somehow good for me.”

She looked at me with a satisfied grin, as if that was the most logical thing in the world, and then asked, “Want some dessert?”

I laughed. “Of course, Auntie Abi. But maybe keep the Coke.”

Last Monday, at the dinner table, Jessica found herself being lectured by her brother Jay on abortion. She was outnumbered four to one in a family dinner that was supposed to be anything but. Ultimately, the only words she could find were, “You know that life begins at ejaculation. So next time you’re using the bathroom, be considerate and hurry up.”

“The market owns religion, says Jacob.”