History Commons^™

Table Annexed To Article: Hamilton And Madison Deploy ‘Constitution’ Surveyed By Percent Of Words In Source, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

In the last of three articles, OCL surveys the deployment of ‘constitution’ through The Federalist Papers, the bank bill debates and the remainder of Madison’s life (post-presidency). Numeric values for hits are computed for the range of semantic values, with the focus being constitution = text (locatable in only one place) competing with constitution = government. A net score is proposed which measures the effort an author has expended to ‘cleanse’ his semantic palette by employing one semantic value over a competing value.

Tea With The Chief: Ocl Interviews Chief Justice Rehnquist, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Annexed to the room in which the justices conference after oral argument, a chamber offers gilt-on-marble in fashion art deco: Rockefeller Center, the steamship Normandie, architectural tastes of futurismo dimension. In short, full on 1930s and architect Cass Gilbert letting his imagination take wing. This interview (re)launched OCL’s career as constitutional historian, following on two years’ study of the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics. This is one of the few interviews not recorded on audiotape. Other interviewees include Michael Foote, J.O. Urmson, and Benson Mates. The interview (in context) continues in the next article. A longer recollection of this interview …

“The Idea Of Freedom Might Be Too Great A Temptation For Them To Resist", Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Table Annexed To Article: Wrongfully ‘Established And Maintained’: A Census Of Congress’S Sins Against Geography, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Taney, C.J. opined, for a majority of the Supreme Court, that Congress lacked the power to establish and maintain colonies as a system by which nascent states were groomed by Congress to join an expanding union. Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857). Did Congress wrongfully acquire half a continent? And what was the state of the union as of the Dred Scott decision?

Table Annexed To Article: From Treaty To Territory: Ocl Inventories American Expansion, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

OCL discusses patterns in state-making including nascent and nearly-nascent states. Divisions in acquisition and organization of land as well as management of territorial boundaries through multiple subdivisions are discussed.

Wrongfully ‘Established And Maintained’: A Census Of Congress’S Sins Against Geography, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Taney, C.J. opined, for a majority of the Supreme Court, that Congress lacked the power to establish and maintain colonies as a system by which nascent states were groomed by Congress to join an expanding union. Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857). Did Congress wrongfully acquire half a continent? And what was the state of the union as of the Dred Scott decision?

Table Annexed To Article: Taney’S Complaint: This Country’S Too Darn Big For Moveables, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Taney’s Dred Scott decision complains that Dred Scott’s freedom’s a federal taking of private property without compensation, a Fifth Amendment violation. How should mobilia be governed, given the nearly four dozen law-making jurisdictions, which, of 1857, are in the business of regulating attributes of mobilia; that is, assigning predicates to objects? A schema for tracking the claims teased out of Taney’s opinion is proposed. Can predicates in motion be made permanent?

Mr. Taney’S ‘Capital Gap’: Charting The Growth Of The Federal Colony System, 1789-1960, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

When Chief Justice Roger Taney conceded the existence of ‘colonies … established and maintained’ by the federal government, albeit denying ‘power given’ in the Constitution, he had the corpus of American history to contend with. The ‘capital gap,’ as OCL defines it, supplies several measures: the balance of power between regions, the remaining inventory of nascent (ready to be made) states (=territories), the remaining inventory of available territories in gross or subdividable, and for the latter two, the net of these inventories on a regional basis. Taney’s opinion, in this fourth in a series, rises or falls on the historical …

The Imperial Semicolon Holds Court At Il Ristorante Beauflanx, Selections From Story Conquers, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Alaska Territory, July, 1947, Il Ristorante Beauflanx: At a dinner party the assembly turns its attention to the Imperial semicolon, citation to works published before the reign of Otto III, and the competing virtues of the double (“) vs. the single (‘) quotation mark. Dydo Barclay presides. Orthographically correct footwear does not make its appearance, however.

Table Annexed To Article: Mr. Madison Counts The Debates Of ‘The People In Their Conventions’, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Madison referred to the ‘sense’ of the Constitution as the ‘sense attached to it by the people in their conventions.’ OCL tables the availability of that ‘sense’ as a resource through the publication (or lack thereof) of ratification convention journals and debates.

Table Annexed To Article: Appraisives In The Early Constitution, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The vocabulary of the federal constitution includes appraisives such as ‘needful’, ‘comfort’ and ‘good.’ These are words employed when the writer is making a value judgment and wants the reader to know that a judgment has been made at the time of the communicative act. In addition, these words can be employed when the writer permits, commands, or prohibits the reader’s conduct in the future. Appraisives used in the Early Constitution are surveyed.

The Pasha's Gift: How The Few Benefit The Many By Arguing About The Perfect World, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

We know that process matters (for the wrong reasons) because participants in the process of organizing future process (such as a convention organizing a congress) will seek to ‘game’ the process. But does why the legislative (second-named) process exist at all? The presumption of rejection asserts that the many are jealous of the few; so how can the few overcome the presumption? The net social benefit conferred by the few is investigated and the Pasha’s search for answers requited.

Stop, Look And Lament: Jeremy Bentham Explains The Texture Of The Bill Of Rights, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Words, phrases and sentences devoted to if … then … or provided that or but or as will not cue restraints, which enhance or diminish the force of commands and permissions, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, prohibitions, in the Early Constitution. Bentham and Madison are surveyed to mine an explanation for variance in texture of the Bill of Rights (1789) as opposed to the Philadelphia Constitution (1787) and the two amendments (1795, 1804) which complete the Corrective Constitution.

Classifying Our Constitution: Amendments Thirteen Through Twenty-Seven In Ctu Format With Word Counts, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Amendments Thirteen through Twenty-Seven are presented in CTU format with word counts to establish word placement. Amendments are grouped by purpose and various versions of the federal constitution are compared and named.

Table Annexed To Article: The Decline Of Virginia’S Voting Strength In Congress, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The voting strength of the original thirteen states declined as new states entered the Union and population moved west. OCL tables the changes in Virginia’s congressional delegation. The information backgrounds Sen. Calhoun’s speech (March 4, 1850) against the Compromise of 1850.

Dr. Franklin's Dilemma: Per Capita Meets Per Stirpes At The Federal Convention, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

At the federal convention, Benjamin Franklin highlighted the difference between the two voting regimes which divide the logical possibilities between them: per capita and per stirpes. Franklin forced the convention to consider what process was best designed to overcome the presumption of rejection by which assemblies are deemed to have rejected action.

The Decline Of Virginia’S Voting Strength In Congress, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The voting strength of the original thirteen states declined as new states entered the Union and population moved west. OCL tables the changes in Virginia’s congressional delegation. The information backgrounds Sen. Calhoun’s speech (March 4, 1850) against the Compromise of 1850.

Who Were The Superfounders? And Why Does It Matter?, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Thirty-two of the fifty-five delegates who attended the federal convention went on to attend a ratifying convention; twenty-five are Yes-Founders and one, Gov. Edmund Randolph, won his ‘SuperFounder’ status at the Virginia Ratifying Convention. Never before surveyed as a group, the table annexed names the SuperFounders and details their opposite numbers, the No-Founders.

Table Annexed To Article: The Crittenden Amendment: The Key To American History, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

“Whereas, serious and alarming dissensions have arisen between the Northern and Southern States,” the Crittenden amendment (1860-1861) proposed “constitutional provisions, which shall do equal justice to all sections, and thereby restore to the people that peace and good will which ought to prevail between all the citizens of the United States.” So what was wrong with the 5,224 words of the federal constitution that these 1,348 words were going to fix?

Table Annexed To Article: Text Of Early State Bills Of Rights, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The thirteen newly-organized colonies (states) began to adopt Bills of Rights. These are presented in Constitutional Text Unit format and analyzed.

Table Annexed To Article: Dual Office Holding / Status Acquisition In The Federal Constitution: The Logic Of Aspirations Introduced, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The federal constitution addresses a number of situations in which an aspirant to office or status must abide by requirements/prohibitions regarding dual office holding and status acquisition. The pertinent provisions are reviewed and logical aspects of this issue are introduced.

Recovered Textures In The Early Constitution: Schemes Vs. Dreams, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Are the Philadelphia Constitution and the Bill of Rights works of art? If so, how would critics describe these works in program notes? Contrast is the order of the day: the features of each one, played against the other. Goethe, Cervantes, Beethoven , Wagner and the divine Wolfgang are invoked, along with Pope, Richardson, and the Immortal Bard.

Crafting The Northwest Ordinance Of 1787: Tracking Delegates Blount, Few, Pierce And Butler, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Tracking Paths of Four Men Who were Delegates and Attendees at both the 1787 Federal Convention and the 1787 Session of the Continental / Confederation Congress, when combined with internal quorum requirements of the Congress, yields significant information about the adoption of the Northwest Ordinance. First in a series.

Table Annexed To Article: What The Polar Bears Taught The Cops, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Charting of Shouldstatements is explored: while parliamentary procedure guides delegates at a constitutional assembly, who, in ordered discourse will tease out goodness, right and duty statements, the delegates could, on the voicing of any proposal, generate twelve statements by resort to a routine which deploys grammatically correct sentences.

Hamilton And Madison Deploy ‘Constitution’ In The Federalist Papers: Semantic Values Surveyed, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The eighty-five Federal Papers (authors James Madison and Alexander Hamilton; John Jay contributed five) are justifiably famous as elaborations of constitutional structure and text, sans citation to the convention, understandably, since secrecy imposed by Standing Order on May 28th was continued indefinitely (at the pleasure/non-action of Congress) on September 17th. Counts on semantic value/s of ‘constitution’ and ‘constitutional’ are surveyed.

Officials Subject To Prohibitions In The Corrective Constitution, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The Philadelphia Constitution created expressly or contemplated, by implication, 107 officials to employ the 91 CTUs (in 4,320) words by organizing and operating a new national government for the United States. Did the commitment to officialdom oblige the ratifying conventions to list some (but not all) prohibitions on official conduct? Or is the list of prohibitions nothing more or less than an alternate census of officialdom?

Table Annexed To Article: Franklin’S Dilemma: Per Capita Meets Per Stirpes At The Federal Convention, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

At the federal convention, Benjamin Franklin highlighted the difference between the two voting regimes which divide the logical possibilities between them: per capita and per stirpes. Franklin forced the convention to consider what process was best designed to overcome the presumption of rejection by which assemblies are deemed to have rejected action.

The Joy Of Text And Numbers, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The text writers of the Philadelphia Constitution divided their product into seven Articles, subdividing five of these Articles into Sections. This presentation was challenged by James Madison in his proposal for a Bill of Rights. What is the deeper understanding of assigning numbers (of one dimension) to text (of two dimensions)?

Table Annexed To Article: Of ‘This’ And ‘That’ In The Early Constitution, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The Early Constitution’s deployment of ‘that’ and ‘this’ are surveyed and tabled.

Table Annexed To Article: Color Me 'Not', Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

‘Not’ makes thirty-four appearances in the Early Constitution which usages break down into sixteen logical ‘nots’ and eighteen abverbial instances. Results are surveyed.