"Not the Freedom to Do Anything You Damn Well Pleased"

"'It's a very malleable phrase,' said Patrick Henry Jolly, a fifth great grandson of Henry. 'It's something that can be applied to many different circumstances. But I think it's important that people understand the original context.'"

Ben Finley at the Associated Press notes the semiquincentennial of Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech.

"They Indeed Are Replaying the Shadow Side of the Revolution in Their Adherence to Conspiratorial, Violent, and Racist Views That Stemmed From Their Fear of Losing Power"

"Most liberals and many conservatives would recoil at the notion that the people who rampaged through the Capitol Building, injuring police officers and threatening to lynch the vice president and speaker of the House, deserve the label of patriot. Yet as we approach the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, a candid consideration of some of the darker aspects our history, too often overlooked, supports the claims by rioters that they were following in many of our Founders' footsteps, as are millions of Trump supporters today—just not in the way they think."

Andrew Lawler at The Bulwark explains how January 6 insurrectionists connect to 1776.

"Proved Too Weak a Mold to Reshape the Aristocratic Students Whose Formative Years Were Spent Resisting Any Form of Authority"

"The contradiction that proved most damaging to the University of Virginia was the unmanageably ruinous culture of the school's elite student body. Despite receiving state funding, the exorbitant costs of bringing Jefferson's intricate designs to life meant that UVA became the most expensive university in the country in the early nineteenth century. It also discarded Jefferson's ideal of providing scholarships for poor students. As a result, only the sons of the wealthiest families could afford to attend, and they brought with them the unrestrained arrogance, petulance, and violence of Southern slave and honor culture."

At The Bulwark, Nicole Penn reviews Andrew O'Shaughnessy's The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson’s Idea of a University.

"Culture Trumps Policy"

"Right now, the mainstream of the national Democratic Party is still overwhelmingly focused on policy, not culture. They're trying to govern, which is the job they were elected to do. But at some point they'll need to start campaigning again, and if Democrats believe that the passage of an infrastructure program and a large social spending bill will provide the ammunition to repel a new GOP-launched culture war, they are deluding themselves. If you weigh the concerns of parents with their kids' education against a subsidy for electric cars, or a better rail system some years down the line, the scales will tip pretty heavily to one side."

Jeff Greenfield at Politico reacts the Virginia gubernatorial election.

As does Charles Sykes.

As does Andrew Sullivan at The Weekly Dish.

As does Ruy Teixeira at The Liberal Patriot.

"These Deletions Are Not Mere Wording Changes"

"Ms. Hannah-Jones, caught in one lie, doubles down with new and even bigger lies. The Times journalist-celebrity not only denies her project's central argument. In self-contradictory fashion, she also says that the 'true founding' claim was just a bit of a rhetorical flourish. She told CNN that the 1619 Project was merely an effort to move the study of slavery to the forefront of American history."

Tom Mackaman and David North at the World Socialist Web Site declare victory over the The New York Times 1619 Project.

And they provide an update in October.

David Waldstreicher at Boston Review connects the controversy to disputes among historians.

"Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem"

"The point, once again, is to 'reframe American history' so that this appalling history stands at the very center of who we are as a country. Achieving that goal has required the Times to treat history in a highly sensationalistic, reductionistic, and tendentious way, with the cumulative result resembling agitprop more than responsible journalism or scholarship. Putting aside any pretense toward nuance or complexity, the paper has surrendered to the sensibility of left-wing political activists. The result is unpersuasive—and a sad comment on the state of our country's public life."

Damon Linker at The Week criticizes The New York Times' "1619 Project."

Zack Beauchamp at Vox criticizes the critics.

Servants into Slaves

"Even in 1700, Africans were hardly the only unfree colonists, for a majority of those laboring in Virginia were people bound to service. They were indentured whites. Population numbers are crucial in understanding the demography of labor in early Virginia. By 1680, only about 7% of Virginians were of African descent; 20% of Virginians were of African descent by 1700, and by 1750, the 100,000 enslaved Virginian men and women accounted for more than half the population. Here lies the demography of enslavement."

Nell Irvin Planter at The Guardian reminds readers that the first Africans in colonial Virginia were not enslaved.

And Olivia B. Waxman at Time discusses August 1619.

"We Should Probably Remember Jamestown at Least Once a Year"

"The story of Jamestown portrays the United States as a runaway business venture fueled by the greed of capitalists, the desperation of the poor, and the misery of slaves. Jamestown shows that the United States, from its very inception, has treated natural and human resources as equally inexhaustible, and equally expendable. It shows the arrogance of distant elites whose knowledge of their own incompetence is rendered painless by their indifference to human consequences. It's obvious from the historical record that many of the ordinary people involved in this enterprise did not like where it was going, but did not know how to stop it."

Brianna Rennix at Current Affairs argues that Americans should focus on 1607 more than 1620.

"America's First Poster Child"

"In March 1855, young Mary was taken to the offices of the New-York Daily Times, where reporters looked her over and expressed 'astonishment' that this child was 'held a slave.' Today, people are similarly surprised when I show them the daguerreotype of Mary and I point out she was born into slavery. They react the same as people did a century and a half ago, revealing that they still harbor some of the assumptions about race and slavery that Sumner tapped into when he first put Mary onstage."

Jessie Morgan-Owens at Smithsonian tells the story of Mary Mildred Williams.

"20. and odd Negroes"

"'It's rather clear that Virginia did not have a set way of dealing with these folks, and it got worked out over time,' Scott says. 'They had indentured people in Virginia, and some people may have seen Africans just like they saw other indentured people. We know some people became free, so it looks like they were treated like every other indentured person.'
"Other scholars, including Linda Heywood and John Thornton of Boston University, insist that the Africans from the White Lion and the Treasurer were enslaved by the English as they had originally been by the Portuguese slave traders before they were taken by pirates.
"Whether indentured servants or slaves, Newby-Alexander says, 'Either way, they were unfree.'"

E. R. Shipp at USA Today discusses the four-hundredth anniversary of the first Africans arriving in colonial Virginia.

"Race and Freedom Are of One Piece, Are Born at That Same Moment"

"The American Revolution is an extraordinarily important event in world history. And combined with the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, the revolutions in Latin America, this Age of Revolution transforms not simply our own nation but transforms the world as well.
"After the American Revolution, after the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Declaration of Independence, the presumption is that all men are created equal. Equality is the point. And what then has to be explained for the very first time in world history is inequality. And why inequality exists. In other words, if all men are created equal, why are some men and women still slaves?
"And the explanation for the persistence of slavery can be: 'Well, perhaps there is something wrong with that notion of equality.' In which case the whole notion of the post Revolutionary world, the whole notion of American nationality, is also wrong.
"Or the explanation can be: 'Perhaps these people who are enslaved are not quite men.' And of course that leads us to a whole sea change in terms of racial thought."

PBS, at its website for 2003's Race: The Power of an Illusion, offers an interview with historian Ira Berlin.

"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.

"What a Difference a Year Makes"

"The results in Virginia, where the prospects of gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam gave Democrats severe heartburn over the last week, were particularly surprising: Not only did Northam coast to victory over Ed Gillespie, a Republican who had embraced the Trump message if not the president himself, but Democrats won legislative races across the Old Dominion, putting control of the House of Delegates—not generally expected to be up for grabs—within Democratic grasp. Bob Marshall, a particularly outspoken anti-LGBT conservative, was defeated by Danica Roem, who becomes the first openly transgender legislator in state and U.S. history."

David A. Graham at The Atlantic reacts to "a surprisingly robust round of victories Tuesday night" for Democrats.

As does Jonathan Chait at New York.

"The Test Trump Failed"

"Fair or unfair, one of the burdens on modern leaders is the expectation that they will give a shape to the arc of distressing events, or at least will try to. Come to think of it, it's not an unreasonable expectation to place on them, for the enormous power they can wield at their whim.
"Donald Trump had an opportunity yesterday to show that he was more than the ignorant, impulsive, reckless opportunist he appeared to be during the election. To show, that is, that the  burdens and responsibilities of unmatched international power had in fact sobered him, and made him aware of his obligations to the nation as a whole.
"Of course, he failed.
"And those who stand with him, now, cannot claim the slightest illusion about what they are embracing."

James Fallows at The Atlantic laments Donald Trump's reaction to terror in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"In Truth, However, They Are Its Unlikeliest Allies"

"Antifa's perceived legitimacy is inversely correlated with the government's. Which is why, in the Trump era, the movement is growing like never before. As the president derides and subverts liberal-democratic norms, progressives face a choice. They can recommit to the rules of fair play, and try to limit the president's corrosive effect, though they will often fail. Or they can, in revulsion or fear or righteous rage, try to deny racists and Trump supporters their political rights. From Middlebury to Berkeley to Portland, the latter approach is on the rise, especially among young people."

Peter Beinart at The Atlantic discusses the rise of "antifa."

As does Bob Moser at the New Republic.

"The Southern Roots of Modern Conservatism"

"To see all this as simple obstructionism, perversity for its own sake, is a mistake. A cause lies behind it: upholding the sanctity of an ideology against the sins of the majority. This is what drives House Republicans to scale back social programs, or to shift the tax burden from the 1 percent onto the parasitic mob, or to come up with a health-care plan that would leave Trump’s own voters out in the cold. To many of us, it might seem heartless. But far worse, Buchanan once explained in a famous essay, is misguided Good Samaritanism, which, by helping the unlucky, cushions them against the consequences of their bad choices. This is exactly the sentiment voiced by the House Republican who voted to strip away Obamacare and then explained that the new proposal, which punishes people with preexisting medical conditions, has the advantage of 'reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives.'"

Sam Tanenhaus at The Atlantic reviews Nancy MacLean's Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America.

As does Bethany Moreton at Boston Review.

Writ with Lightning?

Leslie M. Alexander in The Nation, Vinson Cunningham in The New Yorker, and Danielle McGuire in The Hollywood Reporter react to 2016's The Birth of a Nation.

"The Elizabeth Warren of the Right"

"From what I’ve observed, Brat has not talked like a forty-seven-per-cent conservative complaining about how tax dollars are being shovelled to the undeserving poor (although maybe he does believe that and didn’t emphasize it in the campaign). He comes across, instead, like a ninety-nine-per-cent conservative who sees the real villain as corporate America and its addiction to government largesse. One of his biggest applause lines is about how bankers should have gone to jail after the 2008 financial crisis."


Ryan Lizza at The New Yorker argues that David Brat ran "an anti-Wall Street and an anti-corporate-welfare campaign."



And John B. Judis at The New Republic discusses right-wing populism.


But Heather Digby Parton urges caution in Salon.

"Radicals in Their Tolerance of Islam"

"The book charts the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in 16th-­century Europe and migration to America a century later. Much of the popular animus toward Islam, she explains, originated in northern Europeans’ fear of the Ottoman Empire (to say nothing of Barbary pirates trolling the Mediterranean for captives). But not every­one took a pejorative view of the faith or its adherents. John Locke, for one, preached toleration and 'civic equality' for England’s Muslim population in the late 1680s, as part of his daring argument for guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of Jews, Roman Catholics and nonconformist Protestants.

"Spellberg specifies Locke as Jefferson’s inspiration and, in the book’s finest pages, sketches a genealogy of his proudest accomplishments, especially the 1786 Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, which anticipated the First Amendment separating church and state."

 

Kirk Davis Swinehart in The New York Times reviews Denise A. Spellberg's Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders.

"The Most Myth-Encrusted Figure in Early America"

"She was born Matoaka, in the mid-1590s, the daughter of Powhatan, who ruled a native empire in what is now eastern Virginia. Powhatan had dozens of children, and power in his culture passed between males. But she did attract special notice for her beauty and liveliness; hence Pocahontas, a nickname meaning, roughly, 'playful one.' This was also the name she was known by to the English who settled near her home in 1607. John Smith, an early leader in Jamestown, described her as beautiful in  'feature, countenance, and proportion' and filled with 'wit and spirit.'

"But contrary to her depiction in films by Disney and others, Pocahontas wasn’t a busty teenager when the English encountered her. Smith called her 'A child of ten years old,' while another colonist described her as a 'young girle,' cartwheeling naked through Jamestown. There is no evidence of romance between her and Smith (a lifelong bachelor, who, to judge from his own portrait, was far from handsome). Nor is there a firm basis for the tale of Pocahontas saving the English captain from execution by flinging her body across his. The only source for this story is Smith, who exaggerated many of his exploits and didn’t mention his rescue by Pocahontas until 17 years after it allegedly occurred."

 

Tony Horwitz in Smithsonian looks at the life and legend of Pocahontas.