Gratitude is the Curse of the Republics”: The Proverbs and Proverbial Expressions of Wharton Jackson Green

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-22-2026

Abstract

This essay explores proverbial language use of Wharton Jack-son Green (1831–1910), revealing how he used it in navigating the various roles he played as a soldier, civilian, and politician. Simulta-neously, it illustrates the complexities of life during the Reconstruction (1865–1877) and Victorian eras (1837–1901), highlighting the extent to which Green’s family history is connected to National history. Drawing from Wolfgang Mieder’s scholarship on the political uses of proverbs, it demonstrates that even if aspects of Green’s writing reflect the racist ide-ology prevalent during Reconstruction, such as “the lost cause,” it is only by examining such instances carefully, that one may develop an under-standing of the complex evolution of American culture. Green’s limited corpus of writings archived at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill includes his autobiography Recollections and Reflections: An Auto of Half a Century and More (1906), an editorial commemorating his fa-ther, Thomas Jefferson Green (1802–1863), written for the North Caro-lina University Magazine (1892), and several Senate speeches. These il-lustrate that Green had a range of uses for proverbial language including engaging in political discourse, conveying life lessons, and coping with the mental and emotional traumas associated with fighting in the Civil War (1861–1865).

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