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North America
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644 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1862
About the author
Anthony Trollope
2,619 books1,828 followersAnthony Trollope became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day.
Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...
Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...
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June 23, 2018
His mother, Frances Trollope, having written a book 'Domestic Manners of the Americans' which was not very well received in the USA because of its unfavourable view of the country, Anthony visited the continent 30 years later to re-assess the country and in order to put the family name in a more favourable light. 'North America' is the splendid result for Trollope looks objectively at the country and, in the early years of the American Civil War, gives an unbiased opinion of the conflict while touring all around. It should be said, however, that his sympathies were undoubtedly with the North.
He began his tour of America in Boston and thought it 'not specifically interesting to the eye', adding, 'what new town, or even what simply adult town, can be so?' He stayed only a week 'having been fairly driven out of it by the mosquitoes'. The reputation of Newport, Rhode Island, led him thither and his view was 'of all the summer haunts, Newport is supposed to be in many ways the most captivating'. He found 'excellent bathing' and he liked the private houses, describing them, too, as 'excellent' but overall 'there was little in it remarkable either as regards cultivation or scenery'. And his final comment as he moved on was 'In another hundred years or so Rhode Island may be, perhaps, as pretty as the Isle of Wight.'
Travelling around he felt '[T]he American [railroad] cars are good enough for all purposes. The seats are not very hard, and the room for sitting is sufficient. Nevertheless I deny that they are good enough for all purposes.' And an interesting observation while travelling was 'One never meets an uncivil or unruly man, but the women of the lower ranks are not courteous.'
Moving on to Quebec he remarked, 'I must confess that in going from the States into Canada, an Englishman is struck by the feeling that he is going from a richer country into one that is poorer, and from a greater country into one that is less.' He found the footpaths in Quebec 'almost entirely of wood', 'full of holes' and 'the boards rotten and worn in some places to dirt'. And, although the Civil War was progressing during his travels, he did not encounter any action although while in Canada he commented, 'many Americans are now coming here, driven over the borders from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, by fears of the war and the weight of taxation'.
He was thrilled by his view of Niagara, saying, 'Of all the sights on this earth of ours which tourists travel to see I am inclined to give the palm to the Falls of Niagara.' And he enjoyed his stay there, giving plenty of description and history of the area.
He regarded Michigan as the commercial capital of the States, West Point as the Sandhurst of the States, New York as 'pre-eminently great' in many ways, and Philadelphia as having 'thrown off its Quaker garb'. And in Philly he was amused by the system of numbering and naming the streets, '[A] person living in Chestnut Street between Tenth Street and Eleventh Street, and ten doors from Tenth Street, would live at No. 1010. The opposite house would be 1011. It thus follows that the number of the house indicates the exact block of houses in which it is situated.' Yes?
He found 'cakes and ale still prevailed' in Baltimore and Washington was 'but a ragged, unfinished collection of unbuilt broad streets, as to the completion of which there can now, I imagine, be but little hope' but he was 'almost sorry to leave it when the day of my departure came'. And on the Virginian side of the Potomac the 'country house' that was Arlington House, with its high Greek colonnade was described as 'picturesque'.
He declared that he would never forget Cairo, explaining, 'I do not mean Grand Cairo, but Cairo in the state of Illinois', the southern terminus of the Illinois central railway. He was persuaded to visit it by a fellow traveller but his view was 'As Cairo is of all towns in America the most desolate, so is its hotel the most forlorn and wretched' and his remarks on the food and drink provided were equally scathing.
Interspersed with his comments on places he visited, his stringent opinions on the Civil War and on the different kinds of society that he encountered in the United States, there is plenty of historical background, all of which makes 'North America' a tremendously interesting view of the country in the mid-19th-century.
He began his tour of America in Boston and thought it 'not specifically interesting to the eye', adding, 'what new town, or even what simply adult town, can be so?' He stayed only a week 'having been fairly driven out of it by the mosquitoes'. The reputation of Newport, Rhode Island, led him thither and his view was 'of all the summer haunts, Newport is supposed to be in many ways the most captivating'. He found 'excellent bathing' and he liked the private houses, describing them, too, as 'excellent' but overall 'there was little in it remarkable either as regards cultivation or scenery'. And his final comment as he moved on was 'In another hundred years or so Rhode Island may be, perhaps, as pretty as the Isle of Wight.'
Travelling around he felt '[T]he American [railroad] cars are good enough for all purposes. The seats are not very hard, and the room for sitting is sufficient. Nevertheless I deny that they are good enough for all purposes.' And an interesting observation while travelling was 'One never meets an uncivil or unruly man, but the women of the lower ranks are not courteous.'
Moving on to Quebec he remarked, 'I must confess that in going from the States into Canada, an Englishman is struck by the feeling that he is going from a richer country into one that is poorer, and from a greater country into one that is less.' He found the footpaths in Quebec 'almost entirely of wood', 'full of holes' and 'the boards rotten and worn in some places to dirt'. And, although the Civil War was progressing during his travels, he did not encounter any action although while in Canada he commented, 'many Americans are now coming here, driven over the borders from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, by fears of the war and the weight of taxation'.
He was thrilled by his view of Niagara, saying, 'Of all the sights on this earth of ours which tourists travel to see I am inclined to give the palm to the Falls of Niagara.' And he enjoyed his stay there, giving plenty of description and history of the area.
He regarded Michigan as the commercial capital of the States, West Point as the Sandhurst of the States, New York as 'pre-eminently great' in many ways, and Philadelphia as having 'thrown off its Quaker garb'. And in Philly he was amused by the system of numbering and naming the streets, '[A] person living in Chestnut Street between Tenth Street and Eleventh Street, and ten doors from Tenth Street, would live at No. 1010. The opposite house would be 1011. It thus follows that the number of the house indicates the exact block of houses in which it is situated.' Yes?
He found 'cakes and ale still prevailed' in Baltimore and Washington was 'but a ragged, unfinished collection of unbuilt broad streets, as to the completion of which there can now, I imagine, be but little hope' but he was 'almost sorry to leave it when the day of my departure came'. And on the Virginian side of the Potomac the 'country house' that was Arlington House, with its high Greek colonnade was described as 'picturesque'.
He declared that he would never forget Cairo, explaining, 'I do not mean Grand Cairo, but Cairo in the state of Illinois', the southern terminus of the Illinois central railway. He was persuaded to visit it by a fellow traveller but his view was 'As Cairo is of all towns in America the most desolate, so is its hotel the most forlorn and wretched' and his remarks on the food and drink provided were equally scathing.
Interspersed with his comments on places he visited, his stringent opinions on the Civil War and on the different kinds of society that he encountered in the United States, there is plenty of historical background, all of which makes 'North America' a tremendously interesting view of the country in the mid-19th-century.
June 12, 2026
This Penguin edition of about 200 pages is an abbreviated selection from Trollope’s two-volume work published in 1862 after his visit to the US and Canada in 1861-2. It’s interesting to read someone’s views on America and Americans from 165 years ago - some things never change while others have altered out of all recognition.
Trollope was in the US as the Civil War was in its early stages; he did not visit the Confederate States, though he seemed to think that their secession might be successful.
Clearly at this early stage in Lincoln’s presidency he was not making much of an impression on a foreign visitor: in this edition he is not (as far as I can recall) even mentioned by name, only by title - weird, considering how revered he is now.
Trollope was in the US as the Civil War was in its early stages; he did not visit the Confederate States, though he seemed to think that their secession might be successful.
Clearly at this early stage in Lincoln’s presidency he was not making much of an impression on a foreign visitor: in this edition he is not (as far as I can recall) even mentioned by name, only by title - weird, considering how revered he is now.
June 6, 2018
Trollope took a tour of the U.S. during the Civil War. I picked this up at my Dad's house for some reason. His reflections on American customs and morays are amusing, and his observations on what he sees as immutable differences between North and South sound all too familiar, chilling, but too simple. An interesting glimpse of a young America through the eyes of a novelist who was an imperialist (and a racist), a realist, and enjoyed the study of people.
November 17, 2023
8.5/10.
This is an excellent survey of America and the Americans circa 1862 by an aristocratic and well-versed Englishman. Trollope believed as did many Englishmen in his day: "I dislike universal suffrage; I dislike vote by ballot; I dislike above all things the tyranny of democracy". Yet, despite this, Trollope did find many virtues among the Americans.
Keep in mind that in 1862, citizens of America came almost entirely from Northern Europe, with the most prominent ancestral areas being Britain, Ireland, and Germany. These Northern Europeans, hardened in the forge of the Ice Age, came to America looking for adventure, self-reliance, and, above all, money. In this pursuit they had no support of the government, and to have such support at all would have had them looked down upon with much scorn.
The goal for American settlers was as follows. First, get a piece of land. Depending on one's amount of money, this could be a nice piece of land — nearby railroad tracks and roads, cleared by a pioneer — or a "fresh" piece of land, full of trees, shrubs, and away from all civilization. One then had to cultivate this land by the sweat of one's brow, build one's house with the trees on one's property, and survive. This may seem harsh, but early Americans relished the ability to not have to be servile to an employer. They wanted the freedom to be in control of their own destiny; succeed or fail, it was up to them and their work ethic.
However, even from these early beginnings, we see the sin qui non of Americans today: the worship of money. Trollope: "The western American has no love for his own soil, or his own house. The matter with him is simply one of dollars. To keep a farm which he could sell at an advantage from any feeling of affection . . . would be to him as ridiculous as the keeping of a family pig would be in an English farmer's establishment". In England, the aristocracy resided in rural areas, and their wealth was heavily invested in property and the houses built on such property. There was a connection to the land, and a rootedness that took hold of the English aristocracy, thus driving them to a love of their country (nationalism).
America, from the beginning, saw land as more fungible. In fact, all was fungible. Trollope notes the love of Americans for speculation — on inventions, on property, on new shares of companies. Americans loved to gamble and try to gain more and more wealth. Yet they scorned passing this down as a full inheritance. They preferred to give it to cities or to philanthropic institutions (hospitals, libraries, insane asylums, schools, etc.). They believed, as did the Boomers, that one had to "pull one's self up by the bootstraps" — a mindset conducive to anarchy and the stock exchange, and harmful to any development of nobility, honor, or aristocracy.
The South, of course, balked at this notion of the eternal chase of money. The South was more leisurely in its manners. There was less inane chasing of dollar bills.
The South also had slavery, which at the time of Trollope's travels, was one of the sparks that had started secession and civil war. Trollope's comments on the institution are most interesting, as they inform one as to what an intelligent, aristocratic Englishman, whose sympathies lay with the North/Union, believed.
To begin with, Trollope's depiction of slave life in Kentucky: "A farm in that part of the States depends, and must depend, on slave-labour . . . A gentleman in Kentucky does not sell his slaves. To do so is considered to be low and mean, and is opposed to the aristocratic conditions of the country. A man who does so willingly, puts himself beyond the pale of good fellowship with his neighbors. A sale of slaves is regarded as a sign almost of bankruptcy".
Oops! Looks like Uncle Tom's Cabin was not actually a real depiction of slavery!
Trollope continues: "I went into some of their [slave] cottages on the estate which I visited, and was not in the least surprised to find them preferable in the size, furniture, and all material comforts to the dwellings of most of our own [English] agricultural labourers. Any comparison between the material comfort of a Kentucky slave and an English ditcher and delver would be preposterous [!]. The Kentucky slave never wants for clothing fitted to the weather. He eats meat twice a day, and has three good meals; he knows no limit but his own appetite; he has many varieties of amusement; he has instant medical attention at all periods of necessity for himself, his wife, and his children. Of course he pays no rent, fears no banker, and knows no hunger".
"I would not have it supposed that I conceive slavery with all these comforts to be equal to freedom without them; nor do I conceive that the Negro can be made equal to the white man. But in discussing the condition of the Negro, it is necessary that we should understand what are the advantages of which abolition would deprive him, and in what condition he has been placed by the daily receipt of such advantages. If a Negro slave wants new shoes, he asks for them, and receives them, with the undoubted simplicity of a child. Such a state of things has its picturesquely patriarchal side; but what would be the state of such a man if he were emancipated tomorrow?"
What would be the state of such a man? What would be the state of such a country where he is released? What would be the state of an industrious, German Chicago; of a noble, artistic Baltimore; of a food-giant Detroit; of an old and revered Philadelphia?
We now know, unfortunately. American society started out as a pious dream for Northern European freedom and intra-group equality. Trollope describes the situation in 1862: "With us [Englishmen] there is no level of society. Men stand on a long staircase, but the crowd congregates near the bottom, and the lower steps are very broad. In America, men stand upon a common platform, but the platform is raised above the ground, though it does not approach in height the top of our staircase. If we take the average altitude of the two countries, we shall find that the American heads are the more elevated of the two".
This higher average altitude (quality) of European-Americans was all well and good in 1862. But what if that common platform starts including everyone? What if it includes not just the poor, but now the disabled, now the mentally retarded, now the horrifically obese, now the lazy, now the unworking, now the unassimilable alien, now the unthinking savage?
Such a platform will collapse into the depths of Hell with its dead weight — which is perhaps where we are now. The American Dream! A dream of progress! A dream of a new European homeland, driven by the sweat of one's brow! A dream of new riches!
Ah, fellow European, I believe we have awoken from such a fever dream. We have woken up to reality. Our sweet ideals — destroyed. Nature has revolted against such ideals, and has bitten us with a vengeance. Our cities in flames, our streets unliveable, our public transportation full of drugs and shootings, the hearts of our greatest cities emptied of productive members of society — ah, how Nature has shaken our ideals!
We cannot break Nature. We cannot defy Her laws for long. We best accept them, start thinking straight, ignore any hysteric shouts to the contrary, and make our nations and lives better thuswise.
This is an excellent survey of America and the Americans circa 1862 by an aristocratic and well-versed Englishman. Trollope believed as did many Englishmen in his day: "I dislike universal suffrage; I dislike vote by ballot; I dislike above all things the tyranny of democracy". Yet, despite this, Trollope did find many virtues among the Americans.
Keep in mind that in 1862, citizens of America came almost entirely from Northern Europe, with the most prominent ancestral areas being Britain, Ireland, and Germany. These Northern Europeans, hardened in the forge of the Ice Age, came to America looking for adventure, self-reliance, and, above all, money. In this pursuit they had no support of the government, and to have such support at all would have had them looked down upon with much scorn.
The goal for American settlers was as follows. First, get a piece of land. Depending on one's amount of money, this could be a nice piece of land — nearby railroad tracks and roads, cleared by a pioneer — or a "fresh" piece of land, full of trees, shrubs, and away from all civilization. One then had to cultivate this land by the sweat of one's brow, build one's house with the trees on one's property, and survive. This may seem harsh, but early Americans relished the ability to not have to be servile to an employer. They wanted the freedom to be in control of their own destiny; succeed or fail, it was up to them and their work ethic.
However, even from these early beginnings, we see the sin qui non of Americans today: the worship of money. Trollope: "The western American has no love for his own soil, or his own house. The matter with him is simply one of dollars. To keep a farm which he could sell at an advantage from any feeling of affection . . . would be to him as ridiculous as the keeping of a family pig would be in an English farmer's establishment". In England, the aristocracy resided in rural areas, and their wealth was heavily invested in property and the houses built on such property. There was a connection to the land, and a rootedness that took hold of the English aristocracy, thus driving them to a love of their country (nationalism).
America, from the beginning, saw land as more fungible. In fact, all was fungible. Trollope notes the love of Americans for speculation — on inventions, on property, on new shares of companies. Americans loved to gamble and try to gain more and more wealth. Yet they scorned passing this down as a full inheritance. They preferred to give it to cities or to philanthropic institutions (hospitals, libraries, insane asylums, schools, etc.). They believed, as did the Boomers, that one had to "pull one's self up by the bootstraps" — a mindset conducive to anarchy and the stock exchange, and harmful to any development of nobility, honor, or aristocracy.
The South, of course, balked at this notion of the eternal chase of money. The South was more leisurely in its manners. There was less inane chasing of dollar bills.
The South also had slavery, which at the time of Trollope's travels, was one of the sparks that had started secession and civil war. Trollope's comments on the institution are most interesting, as they inform one as to what an intelligent, aristocratic Englishman, whose sympathies lay with the North/Union, believed.
To begin with, Trollope's depiction of slave life in Kentucky: "A farm in that part of the States depends, and must depend, on slave-labour . . . A gentleman in Kentucky does not sell his slaves. To do so is considered to be low and mean, and is opposed to the aristocratic conditions of the country. A man who does so willingly, puts himself beyond the pale of good fellowship with his neighbors. A sale of slaves is regarded as a sign almost of bankruptcy".
Oops! Looks like Uncle Tom's Cabin was not actually a real depiction of slavery!
Trollope continues: "I went into some of their [slave] cottages on the estate which I visited, and was not in the least surprised to find them preferable in the size, furniture, and all material comforts to the dwellings of most of our own [English] agricultural labourers. Any comparison between the material comfort of a Kentucky slave and an English ditcher and delver would be preposterous [!]. The Kentucky slave never wants for clothing fitted to the weather. He eats meat twice a day, and has three good meals; he knows no limit but his own appetite; he has many varieties of amusement; he has instant medical attention at all periods of necessity for himself, his wife, and his children. Of course he pays no rent, fears no banker, and knows no hunger".
"I would not have it supposed that I conceive slavery with all these comforts to be equal to freedom without them; nor do I conceive that the Negro can be made equal to the white man. But in discussing the condition of the Negro, it is necessary that we should understand what are the advantages of which abolition would deprive him, and in what condition he has been placed by the daily receipt of such advantages. If a Negro slave wants new shoes, he asks for them, and receives them, with the undoubted simplicity of a child. Such a state of things has its picturesquely patriarchal side; but what would be the state of such a man if he were emancipated tomorrow?"
What would be the state of such a man? What would be the state of such a country where he is released? What would be the state of an industrious, German Chicago; of a noble, artistic Baltimore; of a food-giant Detroit; of an old and revered Philadelphia?
We now know, unfortunately. American society started out as a pious dream for Northern European freedom and intra-group equality. Trollope describes the situation in 1862: "With us [Englishmen] there is no level of society. Men stand on a long staircase, but the crowd congregates near the bottom, and the lower steps are very broad. In America, men stand upon a common platform, but the platform is raised above the ground, though it does not approach in height the top of our staircase. If we take the average altitude of the two countries, we shall find that the American heads are the more elevated of the two".
This higher average altitude (quality) of European-Americans was all well and good in 1862. But what if that common platform starts including everyone? What if it includes not just the poor, but now the disabled, now the mentally retarded, now the horrifically obese, now the lazy, now the unworking, now the unassimilable alien, now the unthinking savage?
Such a platform will collapse into the depths of Hell with its dead weight — which is perhaps where we are now. The American Dream! A dream of progress! A dream of a new European homeland, driven by the sweat of one's brow! A dream of new riches!
Ah, fellow European, I believe we have awoken from such a fever dream. We have woken up to reality. Our sweet ideals — destroyed. Nature has revolted against such ideals, and has bitten us with a vengeance. Our cities in flames, our streets unliveable, our public transportation full of drugs and shootings, the hearts of our greatest cities emptied of productive members of society — ah, how Nature has shaken our ideals!
We cannot break Nature. We cannot defy Her laws for long. We best accept them, start thinking straight, ignore any hysteric shouts to the contrary, and make our nations and lives better thuswise.
October 7, 2021
vol 1 5-12, 126-82, 210-17
vol 2 46-67
GRAIN ELEVATORS
vol 2 46-67
GRAIN ELEVATORS
May 23, 2008
One of 3 travelogs about visits to America in the 19th century. All wonderfully written. I forgot to mention - all 3 are available free from Project Gutenberg. My complete notes at http://nortspews.blogspot.com/2008/03...
July 19, 2008
An interesting contrast with his mother's much more opinionated and forthright 'Domestic Manners of the Americans'. Anthony Trollope takes a more considered approach and doesn't find so much to condemn, though he is still critical.
January 18, 2013
Trollope had a typical upper-class Englishman's view of America. Still, he liked it more than his mother did! Not as interesting at his book about the West Indies, though.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews