"A Liberty That Would Be Easily Understood by the Scots-Irish of Appalachia but Would Perplex the Puritans of New England"

"California's convoluted policies toward drugs and mental illness have combined to exacerbate its colossal homelessness problem, setting it apart, once again, from progressive Yankee states. California has the highest rate of unsheltered homelessness, followed by Oregon, whose settlement history and politics are very similar to those of Northern California. By contrast, New York City, whose upstate region was settled by Yankees, has the third lowest rate of unsheltered homelessness in America. Its success in bringing its homeless population indoors is thanks to its 'right to shelter' law—a classic top-down Yankee solution to an urgent social problem. Neither California nor Oregon has such a law."

Leighton Woodhouse at UnHerd claims that California's political problems stem from the influence of two groups from back East.

"Can We Still Hear the 'Shot Heard Round the World'?"

"Within minutes, the British commander, Major John Pitcairn had reasserted control over his forces and ordered them to resume their march to Concord, where they destroyed three large cannon and threw 500 pounds of musket balls into a local pond. A handful of militia companies, totaling a few hundred men, advanced on the British troops and, after being fired upon, fired back at the redcoats—who then beat a retreat. But word of the troops' movements had spread through the countryside and armed locals took up positions behind fences, walls, and trees flanking the return route to Boston along Old Concord Road. As the British soldiers began the lengthy march back to their base, they were met with gunfire from invisible enemies hiding in the forest. The march turned into a mad dash to safety. The war for American independence had begun, even if independence would not be declared for another fifteen months."

Lindsay M. Chervinsky at The Bulwark marks the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

"A Rare Example of Cooperation"

"By 1620, Wampanoag weakness had provided an opportunity for a rival group to the west, the Narragansett, who had largely escaped the impact of the disease. When the Plymouth settlers arrived, Ousamequin was struggling to prevent the Narragansett from subjugating the remaining Wampanoags and forcing them to pay tribute. While he initially kept his distance from the Mayflower's inhabitants, fearing further aggression—and disease—Ousamequin evidently came to the conclusion that an alliance with the new English arrivals in the region could help protect his people."

Sarah Pruitt at "History Stories" discusses the backstory of the 1621 Thanksgiving.

"America Isn't the Church and the Church Isn't America"

"Winthrop got close to getting the analogy right because he called the Puritans to follow and reflect biblical teachings about charity and mercy as they followed Christ. His shortcoming, as seen by the Puritan breakdown over the next few decades, was thinking that a whole society could possibly do that well over the long term. Reagan's vision of America being a city on a hill wasn't terrible because he was simply building off of biblical imagery to make a point about the goodness and potential example of our country, but it still falls far short of what the saying really means."

At The Bulwark, Alan Cross writes that "America Cannot Be the Biblical City on a Hill."

"There's Been Little Fanfare and Even Less Debate"

"But as a country, we've become unrecognizable to that first generation of New Englanders, and no longer as invested in mythologizing their world as were Americans 150 years ago. On the contrary, the rigid society the Pilgrims sought to build, based on exclusivity and sameness, and the narrow definition of citizenship that inspired some Americans to excavate their memory more two centuries later, are out of step with the diverse (and often quarrelsome) capitalist democracy we've come to be."

At Politico, Joshua Zeitz explains why the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's landing in Massachusetts has not drawn great attention.

"The Unwritten Rules Aren't Cutting It Anymore"

"For the company's founders and the residents of New England, the text of the corporate charter served a dual purpose: as a consensual source of sovereign authority that safeguarded them from English rule and as a constitution of their civil government. The charter gave the corporation 'full and Absolute power and Authoritie to correct, punishe, pardon, governe, and rule' all New England residents, granted the authority to pass 'Lawes and Ordinances,' and bestowed upon British residents in the colonies 'all liberties and immunities of free and naturall Subjects … as if they and everie of them were borne within the Realme of England.' As the colonists faced greater threats of dissolution from the crown, the 'Charter Constitution' gained increasing importance in the social and political culture of New England. And although the Massachusetts Bay Company charter was unique in its independence from the crown, by the 1760s, almost all the colonies were governed by 'charter governments.' Bowie shows that these charters provided the templates for America's first written state constitutions, and the modern U.S. Constitution as it exists today."

Danny Li at Slate argues that Britain needs a written constitution.

"How Much Has Been Gained and How Much Further There Is to Go"

"As Abraham Lincoln noted after the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which declared persons of African descent had 'no rights which the white man was bound to respect,' some of those 'Africans' had voted in the elections to ratify the Constitution. Lincoln went on to list five states—New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina—where black men voted at the country’s founding. Later historians would add three more states.
"Lincoln was outraged that the Supreme Court would strip citizenship from men who had been voting for generations, and he wasn't alone."

Van Gosse in a 2015 Boston Globe article discusses the history of black voting rights.

"In Conversation With Each Other"?

"Squanto and Pocahontas were raised in different regions possessing distinct cultural and historical traditions, languages and politics. The colonists who established the first permanent English settlements in America did not encounter some undifferentiated, unsophisticated, inarticulate Natives, but specific historic actors who must be viewed in the context of their own times, places, and individual life experiences. They were multi-lingual, politically and culturally aware, and they reacted in different ways, alternatively embracing and rejecting distinct elements of European tradition."

E. M. Rose at The Junto wonders if Squanto and Pocahontas met in London in 1616.

"No Other Event Until the Vietnam War Evoked as Much Anti-American Sentiment"

"For many people in 1927 and after, the two men were victims of a deep-seated fear of immigrants. For others, they were criminals and terrorists who benefited from a worldwide campaign led by people who despised America and its institutions.
"Today, the United States is engaged in a bitter struggle between these same two views, with the xenophobic forces currently in political power, especially in the White House."

Moshik Temkin at The Observer marks the ninetieth anniversary of the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti.

"But How Has Such a Doctrine Become Holy Writ in a Party Dedicated to the Welfare of the Common Man?"

"Innovation liberalism is 'a liberalism of the rich,' to use the straightforward phrase of local labor leader Harris Gruman. This doctrine has no patience with the idea that everyone should share in society's wealth. What Massachusetts liberals pine for, by and large, is a more perfect meritocracy — a system where the essential thing is to ensure that the truly talented get into the right schools and then get to rise through the ranks of society. Unfortunately, however, as the blue-state model makes painfully clear, there is no solidarity in a meritocracy. The ideology of educational achievement conveniently negates any esteem we might feel for the poorly graduated."

The Huffington Post presents an essay adapted from Thomas Frank's Listen, Liberal.

As does The Baffler.

"I Look Upon This Catalogue and Am Puzzled to Find 'the Whole Truth'"

"When I think of Puritan 'temperance' I am reminded of cherry bounce and also the good old Jamaica rum which New England used to make in such quantities that it would float her mercantile marine. When I think of 'demonology,' I remember that son of Boston, Benjamin Franklin, whose liberality of spirit even Mencken celebrates, when he falsely attributes it to French influence, having never in his omniscience read the Autobiography. When I think of 'liberty and individual freedom,' I shudder to recall stories of the New England slavers and the terrible middle passage which only Ruskin's superb imagination could picture. When I think of 'pluck and industry,' I recollect the dogged labors of French peasants. Catholic in faith and Celtic in race. When I see the staring words 'brutal intolerance' I recall the sweet spirit of Roger Williams, aye, the sweeter spirit of John Milton whose Areopagitica was written before the school of the new freedom was established. When I read 'hypocrisy' and 'canting' I cannot refrain from associating with them the antics of the late Wilhelm II who, I believe, was not born in Boston. So I take leave of the subject. Let the honest reader, standing under the stars, pick out those characteristics that distinctly and consistently mark the Puritans through their long history."


The New Republic posts a 1920 article by Charles A. Beard taking on the Puritans of New England.

"One of the Few Democrats in the Nation Who Are Enjoying 2014"

"'Mitch McConnell is here to work for the millionaires and billionaires. . . . This is right in line with the Republican philosophy across the board, because their view is the most important thing government can do is protect the tender fannies of the rich and powerful,' Warren said Tuesday in Kentucky. McConnell (R-Ky.) is the Senate minority leader, and the incumbent that Grimes is trying to unseat. 'Let's be clear about this: The game is rigged, and Mitch McConnell wants to keep it rigged.'"


David A. Fahrenthold in The Washington Post follows Elizabeth Warren as she campaigns for Democrats.

He Cracked

"And that's where the problems started, almost immediately. I think it was because Jonathan had been changing. I don't think it was so much that he was getting tired of the old songs as he was developing this idea that the whole rock-'n'-roll-star-making machinery was corrupt. And part of that was the whole system of burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, using a lot of power for amps and sound systems, playing stadiums—you know, feeling that there was something wrong in profiting from all these things—and he started tying it all together in his mind and decided that he didn't want the Modern Lovers to be a conventional rock 'n' roll band.
"But it made it impossible for us!"


Ernie Brooks tells Legs McNeil in Vice about the rise and fall of the Modern Lovers.

"There’s a Tendency to Grab a Hold of Some Historical Incident and Yoke It to a Current Agenda"

"Historians say that the settlers in Plymouth, and their supporters in England, did indeed agree to hold their property in common—William Bradford, the governor, referred to it in his writings as the 'common course.' But the plan was in the interest of realizing a profit sooner, and was only intended for the short term; historians say the Pilgrims were more like shareholders in an early corporation than subjects of socialism."

In a 2010 New York Times article, Kate Zernike discusses competing narratives about the Pilgrims.

Unbanned in Boston

"Crucially, Justice William Brennan wrote an opinion clarifying that a work could be obscene only if it were 'utterly without redeeming social value'; by virtue of its historical importance and literary merit, he stated, John Cleland’s novel was demonstrably not in this category. In dissenting opinions, Justice Tom Clark weighed in with an opinion on Fanny herself—'nothing but a harlot'—and Justice Byron White disagreed with Brennan’s assertion that literary value precluded obscenity, suggesting that a primary appeal to 'prurient interest' made a work obscene even if it could also claim some artistic worth. White worried that obscene material would proliferate 'if it has any literary style, if it contains any historical references or language characteristic of a bygone day, or even if it is printed or bound in an interesting way.'
"White was right to worry, as it turned out."

Ruth Graham in The Boston Globe looks back at the obscenity trial over Fanny Hill during the 1960s.

Screaming Fields of Sonic Love

"And yet, as scrutinized as she has been, Gordon has always been considered a mystery. A typical Sonic Youth interview featured Moore waxing philosophical while Gordon, in sunglasses, sat by his side, nearly silent. Aloof, remote, and intimidating are often used to describe her. After decades in the public eye, it seemed like this was the way things would always be. Then, in the fall of 2011, Gordon and Moore announced they were separating. The news called into question the future of Sonic Youth and devastated legions of music fans. Jon Dolan, one of the flintiest rock critics around, began a piece for Grantland about their breakup with this plaintive cry: 'Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!'"

Lizzy Goodman in Elle magazine talks with Kim Gordon.

"In America, Our Oldest Christmas Tradition Is, in Fact, the War on Christmas"

"As the Massachusetts minister Increase Mather explained in 1687, Christmas was observed on Dec. 25 not because 'Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian' ones. So naturally, official suppression of Christmas was foundational to the godly colonies in New England.

"On their first Christmas in the New World, the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony celebrated the holiday not at all. Instead they worked in the fields. One year, the colony’s governor, William Bradford, yelled at visitors to the colony who, unaware that Christmas was celebrated more in the absence than in the commemoration, were taking the day off. He found them 'in the streete at play, openly; some pitching the barr, and some at stoole-ball, and shuch like sports.' After that incident, no one again tried to take off work for Christmas in the colony."

Rachel N. Schnepper in The New York Times discusses Puritan opposition to celebrating Christmas.

As does Abby Ohlheiser at The Atlantic.

Pilgrims' Progress

"According to the hypothesis, infected ship rats landed in the New World and excreted leptospira, infecting raccoons, mink, and muskrats whose urine further contaminated any standing fresh water. It is unclear why this particular infectious disease should afflict Native Americans and not subsequent European colonists. Prior exposure does not necessarily result in immunity because there are a number of different infectious strains."

Madeleine Johnson in Slate looks into why in New England "as many as nine out of 10 coastal Indians were killed in the epidemic between 1616 and 1619."

The Children Assembled First

"Some will no doubt object that this will undermine the 'excellence' of Harvard’s student body. It will, and that’s exactly the point. For one thing, 'excellence' in the Harvard admissions process—and at Harvard—has a lot less to do with virtuous character traits than with an ability to game the system. By placing a premium on students who go above and beyond in extracurricular realms, Harvard has attracted a number of truly incredible people but has also encouraged a high school arms race wherein kids cram their schedules with activities in an attempt to attract admissions officers.
"By selecting for this kind of behavior, the admissions process doesn’t encourage real excellence, but, to use the novelist Walter Kirn’s term from his hilarious book and essay 'Lost in the Meritocracy,' 'aptitude for showing aptitude.' This may well be of use in students’ careers after college, but it is orthogonal if not antithetical to the goals of a liberal arts education.

Dylan R. Matthews in The Harvard Crimson argues in favor of a lottery system for admission to elite universities.

"The Dynasty’s Forgotten Kick-Starter"

"With little money and needing work (and lacking a college degree), Romney saw an ad for a stenography job with the address of the Senate Office Building. He managed to score an interview with Walsh and land the position. But there was a problem: He wasn’t a stenographer.
"It took Walsh all of two days to discover his new aide couldn’t take dictation. But rather than dismiss Romney, Walsh allowed him to swap roles with another man in the office."

John R. Bohrer in New York discusses Sen. David I. Walsh, who gave George Romney a big break in 1929.

And in an article at Buzzfeed, Bohrer portrays George Romney's political career in the 1960s.

Michael Barbaro in The New York Times reports on criticism of Mitt Romney by a longtime George Romney associate.