A Sketch of the Causes, Operations and Results of the San Francisco Vigilance

Webb, Stephen Palfrey, 1804-1879Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5
Word count
75K words
Chapters
8

Tags

English Originals World History California HistoryUrban GovernanceVigilantismSocial ObservationTeam CollaborationPower GameCivic AwarenessCriminal PsychologyPolicy AnalysisDocumentary Narrative

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Sketch of the Causes, Operations and Results of the San Francisco VigilanceAuthor: Webb, Stephen Palfrey, 1804-1879,Language: English, Class: F850.5: United States local history: Pacific States, Release Date: Jun 1, 2004

Editor's review

This book is Stephen Palfrey Webb's historical review of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee movement, a primary document in the local history of the American Pacific coast. Writing as a participant or contemporary observer, the author traces the movement's causes, operations and results, offering first-hand material for the study of nineteenth-century American western urban governance, judicial order and civic self-rule. Its value lies not in literary quality but in its documentary character and sense of the period: readers can see how citizens' organizations took coercive action on their own, how they justified it, and the complex effects of such action on urban order and conceptions of the rule of law. Because it was written early, the prose carries the tone and stance of nineteenth-century argumentative writing and should be read critically. Suitable as supplementary reading for courses in local history, legal history or American history, and for readers interested in the American West as a topic for focused study.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the introduction or conclusion first to grasp the author's stance, then return to the sequence of events.
  2. Note the author's arguments for the vigilantes' legitimacy as you read, for comparison with later scholarship.
  3. Read alongside other contemporary San Francisco local history sources, distinguishing the author's personal stance from the facts.
  4. The English original is not long; read it in two or three sittings and write a brief summary after each.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8

FAQ

Is this book a scholarly monograph or a primary source? It is closer to a primary document or historical review written by a contemporary than to a modern scholarly monograph. The author narrates the causes, operations and results of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee movement from the perspective of his own time, with a clear personal stance and without modern scholarly notes or literature review, so it is better read as a historical source than as definitive research.
Can I understand it without a background in American history? Yes, but some preparation helps. The book involves nineteenth-century American western urban governance, judicial practice and immigrant society; without any background, readers may mistake the author's stance for objective conclusion. It is advisable to learn the basic outline of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee movement before reading the original, which will make it smoother.
What should I pay particular attention to while reading? Pay attention to the author's period stance and defensive tone. The book has a clear bias regarding the legitimacy of the vigilantes' actions; readers should separate narration from judgment, note which parts are factual description and which are value arguments, and consult other sources for comparison to avoid a single perspective.

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About the author

Webb, Stephen Palfrey, 1804-1879 Author · American · 1804–1879

Stephen Palfrey Webb (1804–1879) was an American lawyer and writer. Public information about him is limited, and many details of his life remain unclear; he worked mainly in law while also leaving his mark in historical and literary writing. One work by him is held in this collection, A Sketch of the Causes, Operations and Results of the San Francisco Vigilance. Judging from its title and subject, the book examines the origins, operations, and results of the San Francisco vigilance movement, a documentary historical study reflecting the author's concern with urban order, civic self-government, and the limits of law. He also wrote works on Boston local history, indicating that his writing centered on local history and public affairs, with a factual, lawyerly, and restrained style. His works were not widely circulated, yet they offer some reference value for the study of nineteenth-century American urban governance and local history.