1/ In 2020, we learned that some people don't understand what democracy is; don't know that it takes work; don't know that it's fallible; don't accept that the USA can fall; don't know what they lose when democracy falls; & don't know how hard it will be to get it back.
2/ And preventing people from teaching & learning how we've had to fight for democracy; the people & events that attacked it; the people who fought for it vs immense opposition; & the failures in our democratic system from the outset is NOT the way to protect & sustain democracy.
3/ But....people in power know that.
4/ Authoritarian power grabs are about using threats & bullying to intimidate people into compliance or silence. ("I don't know if I'll allow a peaceful transfer of power.")
They're about convincing people to neglect, ignore, or disbelieve in their fundamental rights.
5/ Authoritarian power grabs are about preventing broad swaths of people -- the majority -- from coming together as a "we" who can confirm their rights w/each other and DEMAND them.
They're about fooling people into accepting what they're given.
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2/ In a time of war, the Federalists argued, they could deport dangerous "aliens" if necessary. "Aliens" would have to register their presence.
And it would be illegal to criticize political leaders.
Nothing like a quasi-war to quash the opposition press.
3/ Never comfortable with the more democratic direction that the new nation was heading, and with a presidential election in the wings, the Federalists saw the Quasi-War as a chance to bank on fear of foreign attack.
A John Adams moment on your July Fourth -- which has become a Thomas Jefferson kind of day, rather than a John Adams kind of day.
Adams tho't he'd never get credit for his Revolution work. In 1790, he said:
The History of our Revolution will be one continued Lye from one End to the other. The Essence of the whole will be that Dr Franklins electrical Rod, Smote the Earth and out Sprung General Washington.
Adams on not getting credit for his Revolution work, continued:
He thought people would think that: Franklin smote the earth & out sprung Washington, who Franklin "electrified...w/his Rod, & thence forward these two conducted all the Policy Negotiations Legislation & War."
OK.
I've been holding off on this for a bunch of reasons, but it feels as tho it's time.
Many of you may know of the wonderful early American historian Richard Bernstein (R. B. Bernstein).
A prolific writer, a dedicated teacher, a generous colleague, and the truest of friends.
He just died--unexpectedly.
I'll write an obituary soon, but for now something more personal.
Richard was the most kind-hearted person I've ever known. He wanted his friends to thrive. He wanted his historian friends to thrive & produce great scholarship.
He loved it all.
He was a brilliant scholar--with a truly AMAZING understanding of the founding period and "the guys" as he & I called them. (The Founders).
He was brilliant.
But he was modest.
He simply loved studying, writing, and teaching about the founding period.
2/ The Sedition Act of 1798, passed by the Federalist-controlled nat'l government, made it a crime for US citizens to "print, utter, or publish... any false, scandalous, and malicious writing" about the government."
"Scandalous" and "malicious" are NOT specific terms.
3/ People charged with violating the Sedition Act included people who spoke ill of President Adams.
Federalists said publicly that they were protecting the reputation of the government in time of (quasi)war.
Privately, they gleefully discussed silencing the Republican press.