Law Commons^™

All Things To All People, Part One, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic has identified the fundamental predicate of Government I, which operated, more or less, under Constitution I, the Constutiton of the year One, as a disposable government. See The Standard Model at War, 17 OCL 350. if government asserts, affirmatively, that it is disposable, isn’t it also asserting that it can replicate its systems (= structures political society) at will? OCL builds on its assertion of political society as a three-goaled contrivance. See Why Do Political Societies Exist? 2 OCL 883. Isn’t such a government asserting the primacy of the needs of civil society? By offering to dispose …

Examining Entrenched Masculinities In The Republican Government Tradition, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

No abstract provided.

Building A Regime Of Restrictive Immigration Laws, 1840-1945, Felice Batlan

Felice J Batlan

Indefinite Detention, Colonialism, And Settler Prerogative In The United States, Natsu Taylor Saito

Natsu Taylor Saito

The primacy accorded individual civil and political rights is often touted as one of the United States' greatest achievements. However, mass incarcerations of indefinite duration have occurred consistently throughout U.S. history and have primarily targeted people of color. The dominant narrative insists that the United States is a political democracy and portrays each instance of indefinite detention in exceptionalist terms. This essay argues that the historical patterns of indefinite detention are better explained by recognizing the United States as a settler colonial state whose claimed prerogative to expand its territorial reach and contain/control populations over which it exercises jurisdiction inevitably …

Laws Of Image: Privacy And Publicity In America, Samantha Barbas

Samantha Barbas

Americans have long been obsessed with their images—their looks, public personas, and the impressions they make. This preoccupation has left its mark on the law. The twentieth century saw the creation of laws that protect your right to control your public image, to defend your image, and to feel good about your image and public presentation of self. These include the legal actions against invasion of privacy, libel, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. With these laws came the phenomenon of "personal image litigation"—individuals suing to vindicate their image rights. Laws of Image tells the story of how Americans came …

Federal Justice And Moral Reform In The United States District Court In Indiana, 1816-1869, George W. Geib, Donald B. Kite

George W. Geib

In November 1840, William Martin, an Indiana mail stage driver found himself standing in United States District Court, convicted of stealing a letter containing bank notes from the mail.^1 District Judge Jesse Lynch Holman reviewed the evidence that convinced the jury, and then lectured the defendant upon his future prospects: The prospect before you is truly dark and dreary; yet there is a distant ray of hope that may enlighten your path You may do much by a patient submission to the law—by a reformation of life and an upright line of conduct ... to some extent, to regain a …

Table Annexed To Article: Basic Texts In The Founding Of Parliamentary Science Originating From The United States (In Mr Text Format), Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic presents basic texts in parliamentary practice searchable in MR Text Format; these texts cover all of the procedural rules and standing orders from September 6, 1774 (the First Continental Congress) through the rules governing the United States Senate as of the publication of Thomas Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1801).

The Text Of The Standing Orders Of The Federal Convention: Jackson’S And Madison’S Texts Surveyed, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Drawing on Farrand’s Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. 1, Our Constitutional Logic has reconciled the differences between the text of the standing Orders as presented in the text of William Jackson, the convention’s secretary, and James Madison, the convention’s semi-official reporter, both as edited by Max Farrand. This text will appear in Basic Texts in the Founding of Parliamentary Science Originating from the United Kingdom and United States (in MR Text Format), 2 OCL 136_5; in turn, OCL is producing the first concordance of these texts in Founding the Science of Parliamentary Procedure, 1785-1789: Basic Texts in …

Table Annexed To Article: Delegate Credentialing At The Continental Congress Sampled At The Opening Of Congress On November 3, 1783, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The Continental Congress opened its sessions in November; Our Constitutional Logic has selected the first opening after the Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783) which is detailed at 25 Journals of the Continental Congress 795-799 on November 3 1783. Credentials were required to be no less than a year old or if of older vintage, the delegate must have presented them to the convention less than a year earlier. OCL supplies notes and comments to the passages keyed in at the table annexed hereto.

Delegate Credentialing At The Continental Congress Sampled At The Opening Of Congress On November 3, 1783, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The Continental Congress opened its sessions in November; Our Constitutional Logic has selected the first opening after the Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783) which is detailed at 25 Journals of the Continental Congress 795-799 on November 3 1783. Credentials were required to be no less than a year old or if of older vintage, the delegate must have presented them to the convention less than a year earlier. OCL supplies notes and comments to the passages keyed in at the table annexed hereto.

Table Annexed To Article: Twenty-Five Votes That Made The Presidency, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic details the twenty-five votes at the federal convention on August 24 and September 5 and 6, 1787 which resulted in Article II, Section 1, Clauses 1 to 3 (taken as output) from electing the President to making the second-to-the-top vote getter Vice-President. In this table each vote is broken down to show the proposal, the reasoning, the reconciliation between information from Farrand’s Records and the secretary of the convention, William Jackson, and James Madison’s Notes, along with a “rollcall” of those voting in favor or against, individually and by state, and further broken down into Slave_Owners and …

Why Do Political Societies Exist?, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic details three overarching purposes of political societies considered as constructs within civil or bourgeois society: (1) promoting of private wealth (and its counterpart goal: avoiding wealth destruction); (2) disabling hostility to minorities identified as such; (3) setting a threshold by which minorities (in coalition) may block organic change.

Table Annexed To Article: Thomas Jefferson’S First Inaugural Address In Mr Text Format (March 4, 1801) With Observations On The Tyranny Of The Majority And Tyranny Of The Minority,, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic presents the 1,724 words of Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address, delivered March 4, 1801. The table annexed hereto presents this work in MR Text format. For OCL’s present purpose TJ’s invocation of TOM-TOM – the mathematical logic which supplies no convenient repose between the tyranny of the majority and the tyranny of the minority – is drawn to the reader’s attention.

The Pasha’S ‘Declaration Of Initiative’, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The Pasha has yet more, in this sixth article, to regret, and a Proclamation to his subjects in Far Far Away Sylvania seems in order. With the inestimable assistance of Grand Vizier, one is drafted. By coincidence the text of what we know as the Declaration of Rebellion, August 23, 1775 is at hand. This is has inspired the Pasha to his Declaration of Initiative. King George III isn’t mocked in this article, but the mysteries of text declaring the limits of power sharing, that is, text defining the limits of textual reliability, are surely gored.

Our Illegal Founders, Victor C. Romero

Victor C. Romero

This Essay briefly mines America’s history to argue that the law setting forth where our national borders are and how strictly we patrol them has always been subject to the vagaries of politics, economics, and perception. Illegal (im)migration has long been part of our migration history, engaged in not just by Latin American border crossers, but also by prominent colonists, giving the lie to the claim that upholding border laws should always be sacrosanct. In many school districts today, the usual summary of American history from our childhood civics classes no longer bypasses the uncomfortable truths of conquest and westward …

Table Annexed To Article: Birthing The Michigan Territory As A Nascent State, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic presents, in PDF text format, two statutes of the United States relevant to the founding of the Michigan Territory in 1805.

Details Of Military Service For Thirty-Five General Officers Serving, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic has supplied A Census of Thirty-Five General Officers Appointed By Madison Before or During The Second War for American Independence, 2 OCL 915_Generals_Main; that project surveyed the 35 general officers who served in the regular army from June, 1812 through February, 1815 during the Second War for American Independence. The military service for each officer is detailed along with the most previous battlefield experience prior to selection.

A Census Of Thirty-Four General Officers Appointed By James Madison, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The Standard Model’S Eight Modules And How They Advanced The Eighteenth Century's Agenda, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

‘Why do things have to come out that way?’ Sometime earlier than the fifth century B.C. this question was put to some public body or actor and the available solutions dissected. It turned out that since the systems of a political society were organized to distribute benefits to the members of civil society, many of the systems were designed to deliver product which could be assessed as to quality of output before the output was delivered. Our Constitutional Logic investigates.

Table Annexed To Article: Armstrong’S Hints Passed Through To Armstrong’S Notices, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

After James Madison effectively sacked his Secretary of Defense (August 29), it took John Armstrong until September 4, 1814 to post his resignation. Armstrong’s campaign to revive his reputation matured two decades later, with the publication of his Notices of the War of 1812 (New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1840; 1st ed. 1836). This work offered his readers a species of apologetics, vilification and whining which has few equals in a literature rich in overt posturing and distorted narrative. There is one feature which is unique: Armstrong was able to draw on his own work, Hints for Young Generals, which …

Aristotle Divides ‘Laws Correctly Laid Down’ From ‘Laws Necessarily Just’, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Table Annexed To Article: Hatsell’S Precedents Of Proceedings (Vol. 2, 2nd Ed., 1785) Extracted For Comparison With Other Basic Texts, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

John Hatsell served as Assistant Clerk to the House of Commons (later Clerk) and his four-volume Precedents of Proceedings has achieved a well-deserved iconic status among students of parliamentary practice. Our Constitutional Logic has extracted 58,277 words from Vol. 2, 2nd ed., 1785 for comparison with four principal American texts consisting of procedural rules in legislative assemblies and the federal convention. All five texts now appear in Five Basic Texts in the Founding of Parliamentary Science Originating from the United Kingdom and United States (in MR Text Format), 2 OCL 136_5; in turn, OCL is producing the first concordance of …

Table Annexed To Article: An Introduction To Quorum Issues At The Federal Convention, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The first Standing Order of the federal convention directed voting by states under a ‘one state, one vote’ formula, but without the fatal ‘one state, one veto’ formula which Rhode Island abused in the Confederation Congress. “A House to do business shall consist of the Deputies of not less than seven States; and all questions shall be decided by the greater number of these which shall be fully represented; but a less number than seven may adjourn from day to day.” See A Survey of the Standing Orders of the Federal Convention and the Differences Between Jackson’s and Madison’s Text, …

Table Annexed To Article: William Duane's Military Dictionary, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

In 1810 William Duane, Adjutant General of the United State Army, published his Military Dictionary, under the general title of the American Military Library. The volume enjoyed the distinction of being one of the three volumes burned by the British on August 24, 1814. Duane published a total of nine volumes on related topics, which titles are surveyed by OCL. OCL has surveyed word counts which gather ‘Tactics’, ‘Operations’, and ‘Strategem’ and ‘Policy’, the latter two taken together, since Duane’s Military Dictionary defines ‘Policy’ as ‘Strategem.’ These appear in the table annexed hereto. The word counts are Strategem 15 policy …

Yes And ~Yes: A Lesson For South Carolina In The Illogic Of Secession, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

On December 20, 1860 a convention of South Carolinians claimed to have repealed a previous convention’s ratification of the Philadelphia constitution. This straightforward text of 138 words apparently stands on its own merits, since the long-winded, rambling and thoroughly confused 2,182 words worth of supporting argument did not appear until December 26, 1860. What is the chartered logic applicable to ratifications and un-ratifications? Our Constitutional Logic unleashes Article VII on the problem.

Table Annexed To Article: Machine-Readable Text Of The Federalist Essays, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic presents readers with its source files, that is, the text which it employed in scored word counts, frequencies and VerbumForte scores. The table annexed includes the machine-readable text of all eighty-five Federalist essays. Because many on-line versions are broken into segments which render searches (virtually) impractical.

Table Annexed To Article: Early State Constitutions (Adopted Before 1787) In Mr Text Format, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic has assembled and transcribed (in machine-readable [or searchable] text format the 15 state constitutions adopted from 1777 through 1786. Word counts total 82,250 with asterisks separating the constitutions presented herewith. The reader is directed to Selected Details of State Constitutions Adopted Before 1787, 2 OCL 312 for word counts for each constitution and other details.

Table Annexed To Article: Twenty-Nine Events In Ten Projects (Or Discrete Event States) 1781-1846, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

From 1781 through 1846 American public officials wrestled with the problem of creating and managing a national banking institution that would serve the needs of the federal government. The twenty-nine relevant official events (legislation, presidential approvals/vetoes, court cases) are divided into ten separate Discrete Event States, as the national government attempted to charter or recharter these institutions, along with the relevant sources and dates.

William Duane's Military Dictionary, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

In 1810 William Duane, Adjutant General of the United State Army, published his Military Dictionary, under the general title of the American Military Library. The volume enjoyed the distinction of being one of the three volumes burned by the British on August 24, 1814. Duane published a total of nine volumes on related topics, which titles are surveyed by OCL. OCL has surveyed word counts which gather ‘Tactics’, ‘Operations’, and ‘Strategem’ and ‘Policy’, the latter two taken together, since Duane’s Military Dictionary defines ‘Policy’ as ‘Strategem.’ These appear in the table annexed hereto. The word counts are Strategem 15 policy …

Fighting Over The Founders: How We Remember The American Revolution, Andrew Schocket

Andrew M Schocket

The American Revolution is all around us. It is pictured as big as billboards and as small as postage stamps, evoked in political campaigns and car advertising campaigns, relived in museums and revised in computer games. As the nation’s founding moment, the American Revolution serves as a source of powerful founding myths, and remains the most accessible and most contested event in U.S. history: more than any other, it stands as a proxy for how Americans perceive the nation’s aspirations. Americans’ increased fascination with the Revolution over the past two decades represents more than interest in the past. It’s also …