Words and Phrases in American Politics: Michigander

Abstract

A H. MARCKWARDT'S article on 'Wolverine and has focused * the problem of the origin of the second of these nicknames on two points. The first is its unique formation. Paradoxically speaking, it has really no right to exist. Its competitors, Michiganian, Michiganese, Michiganer, and Michiganman, are all formed according to well-known patterns. Michigander, on the other hand, is absolutely isolated within the system of English word formation. Besides, as Marckwardt points out, official and unofficial opposition has been voiced against this word. In spite of all that, it has largely replaced all its cognates. Here certainly is a state of things that has to be explained. The second point that Marckwardt has shown to be important is the connection of the term with Abraham Lincoln and in particular with his speech in Congress on July 27, 1848. Before Marckwardt's publication it was assumed that the word was of much earlier origin. This he has shown to be a mistake caused by a wrong date in the DA. No passage found until now antedates Lincoln's speech, and Professor Marckwardt is probably right in saying 'this [the campaign against Cass] is the atmosphere in which the word Michigander first fell upon the ears of a listening audience.' Notice that Marckwardt does not expressly attribute the introduction of the word to Abraham Lincoln, but he points very clearly to the group of sources that has to be scrutinized if we want to find out more about Michigander: the campaign literature of 1848 and in particular the speeches and papers of the Whig and Free Soil parties. I hope to show that both points in question, the singular word formation and the role of Abraham Lincoln, can be satisfactorily cleared up by what these sources offer.