US Constitution

Recently I've seen a number of postings of the US Constitution that I found interesting. The first was in The Virginian Pilot newspaper from Virginia Beach, VA after the new Tea Party congressmembers read the document into the record. The paper posted the body of the document without the Amendments. The second posting was in a Revolutionary Era historic site in Charleston, SC where again only the body of the document was posted; sans Amendments. I commented to myself at the posting and a lady sitting nearby commented that the Amendments were really not part of the document because of the time difference between the Constitution and the adding of the Bill of Rights a few years later. Is there some larger significance here? Do many people not consider the Amendments part of the Constitution? Is there some overall opposition to the Amendments? Did the reading in Congress recently include the Amendments?

(Source: on the posting of the Constitution; The Virginian Pilot on 1/10/11)

Federalism

It seems it is time for American History teachers to think about spending more time explaining the concept of "federalism" to their classes. At the Richmond, Virginia Tea Party convention held this past week the Attorney General of Virginia-Ken Cuccinelli-made the point at a panel discussion on the Constitution. Cuccinelli has been mentioned as a possible vice president for the republican party in 2012.

As we know the concept of federalism is about the power-sharing between the federal government and the state governments. This combined with those who call themselves "tenthers" seems to suggest that the supremacy of federal law over state law is an active question again, regardless of the outcome of the Civil War in 1865.

(Source: "At tea party rally, Cuccinelli shines among GOP stars" by Bill Bartel of The Virginia Pilot on 10/10/10).

John Adams Presidency

During his term in office, Adams was faced with a growing war threat from France. He believed that agents of the French Directory were operating in the US in a plot to "...force American 'wives and daughters' into 'legal prostitution'..." and that these agents would attack the east coast and try to kill him. Adams referred to this threat as "terrorism", making this one of the first, if not the first, use of the term to define a national security threat to the US.

Adams friend and advisor, Elbridge Gerry, provided an interesting description of the danger poised by a "...large standing army...": it was like a "...swollen penis, providing '...an excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but dangerous temptation to foreign adventure".

(Source: Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss. Simon and Schuster Publishing 2007. Page 35.)

George Washington's Pay

We all know that George refused a salary when he served as the commander of American forces in the Revolution. However, did we know that the bill he submitted to the Continental Congress for his expenses was in excess of $ 450,000 (The article does not say if that is 1783 or 2009 money). The article notes that historians are now going over financial records GW left that up till now had been mostly ignored.

(Source: "Long-ignored logs reveal father of his country, too" by Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post. In The Virginian Pilot on 10/14/09).

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