"states rights" is code for "don't tell us what to do with our nigras".

Or our wimmin.

I've always found that the more I study about US history the less it makes sense.

Sometimes the hypothesis that ADHD is so much more prevalent in the U.S. than in Europe is because so many of the colonists must have had it - those traits that make for an uncomfortable fit in an established hierarchy may motivate a person to leave, and might actually be useful traits in a colony - makes a lot of sense. Way too damn much "ooh, shiny" in our leaders and in the people who elected them.

Say, what's the big deal with the debate about centralized government, or the different concepts of liberty, freedom and citizenship. Or the federal system. Or the place of religion.

That's a complex question. Or several complex questions. I think I can only manage to expound upon the bit about centralized government. The Articles of Confederation were hastily thrown together (well, really, a year of debate while there was a war on, and there was very little in the way of other governments to model the U.S. system on, that's really not a heck of a lot of time to stitch together an entire government from whole cloth). At the time, the former colonies transformed themselves into States, and much of the thinking was that the United States was not a single nation, but a confederation of several, separate allied States (independent countries on their own account) - a big centralized government was perceived to be a threat to the sovereignty of those States, little better than the British Empire whose tyranny they were working so hard to free themselves from. Of course, there were those among our Founding Fathers who advocated for a strong central government, because they saw the advantages of a closer union. The weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation became strikingly apparent during the Revolutionary War - Congress had the authority to make certain decisions, but no authority to actually enforce them, and no authority to do simple things like collect taxes to fund the fledgling government - but it took ten years from the signing of the Declaration of Independence for the pressures of conflicts within and between States to become so great that a Convention (the Annapolis Convention) of State's representatives called for another Convention to form the next year in 1787 for the purpose of modifying and improving the Articles. At the Philadelphia Convention, delegates met ostensibly for that purpose, but quietly drafted a new Constitution, reorganizing the government of the United States into one that had much more authority. Under the Articles, Congress could tell the States to do something (for example, send money or soldiers) but the States could ignore the request, leaving the Confederation unable to do fun things like win battles (Seriously, how the heck did we win? Oh, that's right, Britain was more concerned about other bits of the Empire and didn't really care all that much.) or pay the army. Under the Constitution, the Federal government could collect taxes, enforce laws, develop a single military rather than attempting to run wars with armies and navies from individual States, regulate trade, make decisions about disputes between States, and develop a stronger foreign policy.

Many people said what I was hoping to convey much more succinctly than I managed. For all I like to think of myself as a big picture person, sometimes I can't describe the forest because I get stuck on the trees.

Shir!

Today I sang two services and planned tomorrow's teaching and wrote some of my paper on gospel healing narratives and did some singing practice and went out for lunch and debated theology with The Girl AND fit in a drink in the pub after evensong, so I'm a bit too tired for the history. And also my brain is full of cotton wool and biblical studies. But it's interesting history all the same.

I am of the opinion that all I need to know about American history may be found in this article: [link]

Awesome dovetail with what I am immersed in teaching right now! I am teaching Native Son and The Poisonwood Bible, and the kids are (mostly) digging them. We just came off of Oedipus and Beowulf and these are much more accessible for them, and we're having some good conversations!

I miss Shir, too! I cut the stamps off the box you sent me to send to my stepson, who's Jewish, and was FASCINATED by the fact that I got a box from Israel and I'm NOT EVEN JEWISH! Crazy!!

OK, back to work.

One of the ironies of American history is that Jefferson doomed his own vision of a loose confederation of states inhabited by sturdy yeoman farmers by being unable to pass up one of the great bargains of all time: the Louisiana Purchase. When more land is owned by the government than all the states combined, you end up with a strong central government whether you want it or not.

While the Pilgrims and Puritans were escaping a state-run religion, they promptly established a theocracy that as intolerant as the one they left, and that was certainly part of the thinking behind freedom of religion. The men behind the revolution were a motley crew of Deists, atheists, Unitarians and freethinkers who would be appalled at the notion of this being established as a Christian nation. As Jefferson said, "it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

I am of the opinion that all I need to know about American history may be found in this article: [link]

Right? Andrew Jackson = BAMF.

As Jefferson said, "it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

I've never heard that quote, Ginger. That's fantastic.