The South called the election of Lincoln a farce. Lincoln got so little support in the South that he was not even on many Southern ballots. Southerners saw the election of Lincoln as proof that the North was growing more powerful and at some point in the future would vote to do away with slavery. Even Southerners who did not personally own slaves had bad feelings about this because there was the question of what to do with all of the freed slaves. Tensions were quite high in 1860, and part of the campaign to elect Lincoln was quite militant in nature--the Wide-Awakes held military-style torchlight parades at night. While this was meant to excite the electorate, some radical Southerners feared that the North would seek to create a tyranny over the South and change its longstanding institutions if Lincoln were elected. It should also be remembered that Lincoln was elected with a minority of the popular vote. While this has happened before in American history, Southerners pointed out that this only proved that an abolitionist minority was gaining power in America. Of course, Northern congressmen had complained that Southern congressmen had too much power in relation to their congressional districts.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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