Tag: Constitution
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What if our founders hadn’t been slave holders?
A Constitution free of slavery A great many American historians, it seems to me, have accepted that the many compromises made to create an acceptable constitution were, however distasteful, necessary. Most unfortunate among these, so the narrative goes, were the bargains struck over the issue of slavery. While unproductive to consider even the possibility of nine…
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An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution at 100
Thoughts on a classic I’m not proud of the fact that I’ve only now begun to read the late Charles Beard’s classic work, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. However, now that I’ve cracked this book open, I’m learning some compelling facts about both the text and it’s author. My intent…
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Shays’ Rebellion
Shays’ Rebellion – Populism versus Power Touched upon in American History books, but not nearly with the emphasis the event deserves, the series of protests in West-Central Massachusetts known as Shays’ Rebellion began on this date in 1786. More closely related to the Occupy Movement than contemporary anti-government ideology, those who took part in the civil…
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Election Night 2012 – The Electoral College Decides
Our nation’s Electoral College is deserving of a better label than archaic. We Americans seldom acknowledge the fact that votes cast by electors, not those of the popular will, decide the winner of presidential and vice-presidential races. This is understandable since in more than 90 percent of the time, the two outcomes are indistinguishable from…