"He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good."
"He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States, for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands."
"He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers."
"He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries."
"He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures."
"He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation”
"For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.”
• • •
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For the last book in Am Rev, we're reading @iamaraindogtoo's graphic adaptation of the U.S. Constitution. A good way to round out the semester! If you're willing to answer some questions, my students have a few of them for you. No pressure, but here they are:
@iamaraindogtoo What do you think you can do with graphic history that you can't do with the written word?
@iamaraindogtoo You wrote the book in 2008. Would you do anything different if you were writing it today?
A few words about "harmless fun." It is actually very worth our time to linger on the meaning and history of those words. When the words "harmeless fun" are tossed around in reference to sexual aggression, they represent a test: Will women accept their place and play along?
If women complain about indignity or assault, if they demand respect or equal treatment, they fail the test. If women don't accept the ubiquity of a party penis, if they deny the dick as the price of admission, if they see it as anything other than "harmless fun," they fail.
Those who speak of sexual humiliation and assault as "harmless fun" created that language to gaslight women into believing their compliance is a sign of good character. Their acceptance of the game speaks highly of them. Brush it off, you'll do fine. Speak up, you're the enemy.
This piece by @kawulf has me thinking about historical language. The Roberts/Wolf gaffes rested on a failure to understand the historical meaning of words: abortion, death. All historians deal with this. What words have you had to unpack in your work? washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/0…
One I’ve had to unravel is the legal meaning of the word “trespass.” It’s a common word used in freedom suits in late 18/early 19c. Many enslaved people sued for freedom on actions of trespass. I initially thought it was just standard legalese. But there’s a deeper history to it:
Use of the word trespass in freedom suits began during the 1760s. Before this, slave suits usually involved action of “trover.” The difference between the two words is subtle but crucial. Trover is used in cases involving damages to goods or property. Trespass is an action ...
“Before the vote, Kiffmeyer said at a news conference that adding “Bdote” to the sign “IS GREATLY OBJECTED TO* by many people, and the historical society has been quite resistant to listen and to make changes.”
*CAPS LOCK MINE
Apparently, now I’m live tweeting my outrage at this BANANAS story:
“State Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, called the addition “revisionist history” and moved legislation to cut the society’s state funding.”