tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/john-adams-35341/articlesJohn Adams – The Conversation2024-01-05T16:14:57Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2206102024-01-05T16:14:57Z2024-01-05T16:14:57ZTom Wilkinson: an actor of great humanity who seldom played the lead but dominated the screen<p>It is rare that the news of the death of an actor brings with it a pang of loss for something more than their craft, something perhaps more profound. But such was the public regard and affection for <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65823240">Tom Wilkinson</a> that his death on December 30 at the age of 75 prompted much remembering of something greater than his brilliant acting: his unerring ability to convey a sense of humanity.</p>
<p>Wilkinson seldom played the leading man, and yet he often dominated the screen. That was perhaps most apparent in his appearance in the 2008 HBO series <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/jul/26/john-adams-next-box-set">John Adams</a>, where he played one of America’s founding fathers <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Franklin/Legacy">Benjamin Franklin</a> alongside the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-adams/#:%7E:text=John%20Adams%2C%20a%20remarkable%20political,philosopher%20than%20as%20a%20politician.">titular second president</a> (Paul Giamatti), a role that won him a Golden Globe.</p>
<p>In one scene, when Adams and Franklin meet the French king, Wilkinson stays in the background, but his subtle facial expressions provide a constant commentary on the ridiculousness of the French court which Adams/Giamatti takes in with wonder.</p>
<p>Wilkinson’s Benjamin Franklin is a clever, witty, cantankerous extrovert, often dominating scenes because he has the most dialogue. In many ways, that was unusual in the characters Wilkinson portrayed (with the exception perhaps of Arthur Edens in 2007’s <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/michael-clayton-2007">Michael Clayton</a>). Instead, his characters were often marked by a quiet but confident presence.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5OnBHdp-j2I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It is this quiet, watchful presence that many of his colleagues <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/03/tom-wilkinson-bill-nighy-rachel-weisz-david-hare-richard-eyre-jonathan-pryce">commented on after his death</a>, and which some even found intimidating. Wilkinson, originally from Yorkshire, and educated at the University of Kent and then Rada, seemed to inhabit and even become his characters. Actors and directors who worked with him <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/03/tom-wilkinson-bill-nighy-rachel-weisz-david-hare-richard-eyre-jonathan-pryce">have described</a> his naturalness and gentleness, his lack of ego and vanity, and his innate ability to get to the emotional truth of a character.</p>
<h2>Low-key roles that shine</h2>
<p>He was often cast in roles where he played outsiders whose marginalised status is either masked or played down: in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/1997/aug/29/1">The Full Monty</a> (1997) he plays Gerald, the middle-class one-time foreman among a group of redundant working-class steel workers.</p>
<p>His qualifications land him a job interview when the others remain without luck, and his wife’s credit cards point to a level of affluence that the others can only dream of. But while he is clearly different, he manages to become part of the group, best demonstrated in the hilarious scene in the dole office where Gerald sways in perfect harmony with the others when Hot Stuff plays on the radio.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JKcx_spiE78?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/feb/23/best-exotic-marigold-hotel-review">The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel</a> (2012) Wilkinson portrays Graham Dashwood, a man who returns to India – where he grew up – to make amends to the young Indian man he was unable to love in his youth. His homosexuality isn’t commented on by the other characters, and Wilkinson carries it with the confidence of full acceptance.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2003/03/16/looking-for-normal-finding-the-extraordinary/60f28ad4-2f0b-4437-bc0d-7271d6a930e4/">Normal</a> (2003) he plays a transgender woman who after years of hiding her truth, opens up to her family and gradually transitions to a female body. Again, the quiet confidence in the conviction of having been born in the wrong body shines through Wilkinson’s performance.</p>
<p>This conviction – of knowing who the character is and, with that, how they should be played – is central to all of Wilkinson’s performances. For me, the film that made this most apparent is <a href="https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/priest-2-1200438515/">Priest</a> (1994) where he plays a social-activist cleric in a poor Liverpool neighbourhood alongside a naive novice (Linus Roach). Of Wilkinson’s Father Matthew, the local bishop says: “Colonel Gaddafi would be a wee bit more orthodox than you.”</p>
<p>As a Catholic priest he has an illicit affair with his housekeeper, and regularly flaunts the rules of propriety. But in the end, it is clear that his moral compass is functioning better than that of his fellow clerics. It is because Father Matthew recognises his own fallibility and the shared humanity of those he is meant to guide, that he is able to act out of compassion rather than censure. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9JVlqff_6Uc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This compassion and emphasis on a shared humanity is what made Wilkinson’s performances so quietly powerful. It was there in Arthur Edens’ breakdown, in foreman Gerald’s sense of failure, in Graham Dashwood’s struggle with guilt and sadness, and Father Matthew’s acceptance of his own vulnerabilities.</p>
<p>This focus on humanity gave Wilkinson a reputation for seriousness and as someone who had no time for frivolity, even though many who acted alongside him have spoken of his dry wit and gentle humour.</p>
<p>But it is this sense of deep compassion and knowledge of what is morally right that many, including myself, felt so worthy of celebration. His impeccable performances will be long remembered, and will serve to remind us of what we have lost in Tom Wilkinson.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220610/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elke Weissmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The much-loved Yorkshire actor was held in high regard for his low-key but affecting performances.Elke Weissmann, Reader in Film & Television, Department of English & Creative Arts, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197812023-12-19T19:33:29Z2023-12-19T19:33:29ZJoel Roberts Poinsett: Namesake of the poinsettia, enslaver, secret agent and perpetrator of the ‘Trail of Tears’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566077/original/file-20231215-25-a398jx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1023%2C80%2C4967%2C3907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joel Roberts Poinsett is given credit for bringing the popular red and green plant to the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/close-up-of-poinsettia-flower-royalty-free-image/1188012230?phrase=poinsettia&adppopup=true">Constantine Johnny/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If people know the name Joel Roberts Poinsett today, it is likely because of the <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/features/poinsettias-christmas-classic-south-carolina-history/article_47939016-8dfb-11ee-9a7f-0b56456cf49b.html">red and green poinsettia</a> plant.</p>
<p>In the late 1820s, while serving as the first ambassador from the U.S. to Mexico, Poinsett clipped samples of the plant known in Spanish as the “flor de nochebuena,” or flower of Christmas Eve, from the Mexican state of Guerrero. He then <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/12/23/conspiracy-fueled-origin-christmas-poinsettia/">introduced it</a> to the U.S. on a trip home from Mexico.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2021/12/poinsettia-how-a-u-s-diplomat-made-a-mexican-flower-an-international-favorite/">plant has been named poinsettia</a> ever since. </p>
<p>But much like the history of the U.S., Poinsett had a complex and troubling past. </p>
<p>An ambitious politician, financial investor and enslaver, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joel-R-Poinsett">Poinsett was a secret agent</a> for the U.S. government in South America who fought for the Chilean army against Spain during Chile’s War for Independence in the early 1800s. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A white man is wearing a cloak on his shoulders as he poses for a black-and-white portrait." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566089/original/file-20231215-16097-flqh2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joel Roberts Poinsett served as U.S. secretary of war from 1837 to 1841.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/poinsett-secretary-of-war-news-photo/1371420766?adppopup=true">HUM Images/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A confidant of President Andrew Jackson, Poinsett also served as U.S. secretary of war under President Martin Van Buren and oversaw the ignominy of the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html">Trail of Tears</a>, the forced relocation and deadly march of Cherokee people from the South to reservations in the West during the 1830s.</p>
<p>And yet Poinsett, an avid botanist who brought scores of other plants to the U.S., also helped found an organization that led to the creation of the <a href="https://www.si.edu/about">Smithsonian Institution</a>.</p>
<h2>A privileged life</h2>
<p>I came across his history almost by accident. I am a historian of capitalism in early America, and while I was on a research fellowship for my first book, “<a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12030/manufacturing-advantage">Manufacturing Advantage: War, the State, and the Origins of American Industry</a>,” another researcher suggested I go to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to check out the papers of a few War Department officials. Poinsett was one of those officials. </p>
<p>There, I found a large collection of his letters and other personal papers that spanned five decades of his life. I became so fascinated with his life that I decided to write a book about him. <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo206811148.html">I detail</a> his complicated life in another book, “Flowers, Guns, and Money: Joel Roberts Poinsett and the Paradoxes of American Patriotism.”</p>
<p>Born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, on March 2, 1779, Poinsett was the son of a wealthy doctor and lived a life of privilege. He traveled throughout Europe and Russia in his early 20s before starting a military career.</p>
<p>In the 1810s, Poinsett traveled around South America as a secret agent of the U.S. State Department. His intelligence reports led in part to the drafting of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Monroe-Doctrine">Monroe Doctrine</a>. </p>
<p>That doctrine, written by Secretary of State <a href="https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/monroe-doctrine-1823">John Adams</a> and buried in <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/monroe-doctrine#:%7E:text=President%20James%20Monroe's%201823%20annual,nations%20of%20the%20Western%20Hemisphere.">President James Monroe’s address</a> to Congress on Dec. 2, 1823, sought to prevent European colonization in South America and, in essence, claimed the entire Western Hemisphere for the U.S. </p>
<p>The doctrine also set the stage for two centuries of rocky relations between the U.S and Latin America.</p>
<p>In 1825, the Monroe administration appointed Poinsett as the <a href="https://diplomacy.state.gov/events-listing/minister-poinsett/">nation’s first ambassador</a> to Mexico. He arrived there in the spring of that year and almost immediately instigated a general distrust of American interference. He used his connections to secure favorable plots of land for himself and his friends and established <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3338598">a U.S.-based mining company</a> to exploit Mexican resources for his own benefit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An America soldier stands behind a fence with his thumb on his nose as two soldiers try to climb over the obstacle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566401/original/file-20231218-19-k36ngi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1902 caricature of England and Germany trying to overcome the Monroe Doctrine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/caricature-of-england-and-germany-responding-to-the-news-photo/3305759?adppopup=true">Hulton Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was on a trip to assess the profitability of some mines, in fact, that Poinsett admired the red and green plant and cut clippings to send to horticulturalists in the U.S. Exactly where and how these clippings were made and sent is not quite clear, but he remarked on the beauty of the plants he saw, which Franciscan friars in Mexico had been displaying at Christmas since the 1600s. </p>
<p>Several prominent horticulturalists in the United States later reported that <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/12/13/poinsettia-flower-christmas-holiday-sales-history">Poinsett sent them plant samples</a>. By the mid-1830s, agricultural reports described a plant with brilliant scarlet foliage, “lately referred to as the poinsettia,” as having been introduced by Poinsett in 1828. </p>
<h2>Poinsett’s Latin America meddling</h2>
<p>That same year, Poinsett also supported a coup in Mexico City. </p>
<p>During the Mexican presidential campaign in 1829, Poinsett supported <a href="https://www.mexconnect.com/articles/268-vicente-guerrero-a-study-in-triumph-and-tragedy-1782-1831/">Vicente Guerrero</a>, whom he saw as more amenable to his and U.S. financial interests. When Guerrero lost to moderate <a href="https://www.caller.com/story/news/columnists/2017/07/31/presidents-mexican-texas-1824-1836/526986001/">Manuel Gómez Pedraza</a>, Guerrero staged a coup with Poinsett’s approval that forced Gómez Pedraza to flee Mexico.</p>
<p>Because of Poinsett’s poor conduct during the election, the Mexican government requested Poinsett’s removal from his post. President Andrew Jackson instead <a href="https://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2018/10/1829-andrew-jackson-recalling-joel.html">allowed Poinsett</a> to resign.</p>
<p>Poinsett left Mexico and went back home to South Carolina.</p>
<p>On Oct. 24, 1833, at 54 years old, Poinsett married a 52-year-old, wealthy widow from South Carolina who owned a rice plantation and almost 100 enslaved people. </p>
<p>Though he wrote that he enjoyed married plantation life, he was not done with politics or the military. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A gray-haired white man sits in a chair with his right hand underneath his dark jacket." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=833&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1047&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1047&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566398/original/file-20231218-23-uqnnpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1047&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A portrait of Andrew Jackson in 1830.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/andrew-jackson-the-8th-president-of-the-united-states-news-photo/3087913?adppopup=true">MPI/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1837, Poinsett was named U.S. secretary of war and oversaw the execution of Jackson’s <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/indian-treaties">1830 Indian Removal Act</a> that the Cherokee people referred to as the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/trailoftears.htm#:%7E:text=Guided%20by%20policies%20favored%20by,Southeast%20in%20the%20early%201800s.">Trail of Tears</a>. That act saw the violent displacement of members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations from their homelands in the South to reservations in the West.</p>
<h2>The creation of the Smithsonian</h2>
<p>Based on his travels and experiences around the world, Poinsett believed that the U.S. should have a national museum to conduct scientific research and display the expanding government collections, including plant specimens. </p>
<p>In his retirement, Poinsett <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/a-smithsonian-holiday-story-joel-poinsett-and-the-poinsettia-3081111/">helped found</a> in 1840 and became president of the <a href="https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217217">National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful Arts</a>.</p>
<p>That organization <a href="https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_469">later became part of</a> the Smithsonian Institution, whose gardens now showcase thousands of poinsettias during the Christmas season. </p>
<p>Poinsett died on Dec. 12, 1851.</p>
<p>It remains unclear how long the plant that bears his name will remain known as the poinsettia. After years of controversy, the American Ornithological Society announced that it was going to remove all human names from as many as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-dozens-of-north-american-bird-species-are-getting-new-names-every-name-tells-a-story-217886">152 bird species</a>, including those linked to people with racist histories or people who have done violence to Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>Though no attempts as yet have emerged to rename plants, it’s my belief that Poinsett’s poinsettia may be the first.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lindsay Schakenbach Regele receives funding from Miami University and the Kluge Center.</span></em></p>Much like the history of the US, Joel Roberts Poinsett, after whom the poinsettia is named, had a complicated and troubling history.Lindsay Schakenbach Regele, Assistant Professor of History, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122332023-09-14T18:53:09Z2023-09-14T18:53:09ZHunter Biden is the latest presidential child to stain a White House reputation − but others have shined it up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548059/original/file-20230913-25-9vesrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C2982%2C2020&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden and family after he was sworn in at the U.S. Capitol, January 20, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BidenInauguration/4df43ce386994cf098c6f2e8f1f104fb/photo?Query=Hunter%20Biden%20Joe%20Jill&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1292&currentItemNo=31&vs=true">AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hunter Biden, the surviving son of President Joe Biden, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ded.82797/gov.uscourts.ded.82797.40.0.pdf">was indicted on Sept. 14, 2023</a>, on gun-related charges – facing a possible criminal trial while his father is campaigning for reelection. The charges relate to Hunter Biden’s alleged lying about his drug use when he purchased a gun in 2018. And a conviction could mean <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/14/us/politics/hunter-biden-indictment-gun-charges.html">prison time of 10 years</a> <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/14/hunter-biden-indicted-on-gun-charges-00115964">or more</a>. </p>
<p>As Hunter Biden’s legal peril rises, with all its ensuing political complications, people have rediscovered the likes of <a href="https://www.biography.com/political-figures/a44270818/hunter-biden-scandals-involving-kids-of-presidents">Ulysses Grant Jr., Alice Roosevelt and Neil Bush</a>, as if the best way to make sense of Hunter Biden is found in a rogues’ gallery of difficult presidential relatives. </p>
<p><a href="https://history.wustl.edu/people/peter-kastor">As a historian of the American presidency</a>, I see the case of Hunter Biden as a revealing indicator of the ways that presidential children have figured in American public life, whether they were beloved or reviled. </p>
<p>Most presidents and first ladies have <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/All-the-Presidents-Children/Doug-Wead/9780743446334">attempted to protect their children</a> – especially their young children – from the scrutiny and the emotional toll of public life. Whether they were publicly visible or not, their children have always been factors in the presidents’ public lives and presidents have sought to exploit the political benefits they can draw from their children. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, commentators and the American public alike have drawn their own conclusions about individual presidents and the presidency as an institution in part on the basis of presidential children. </p>
<p>In my own research, I have observed that presidents have consistently looked to their adult sons as potential political allies, only to find that young children and especially young daughters have become more effective political assets. Those dynamics have only intensified over time, especially in recent decades as presidents increasingly <a href="https://commonreader.wustl.edu/c/marriage-in-the-white-house/">put their private lives on public display</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A collage of three photos of men with brides." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Their daughters’ weddings help humanize a president; clockwise from left, Lyndon Johnson and daughter Lynda; George W. Bush and daughter Jenna; Richard Nixon and daughter Tricia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Johnson: Getty Images; Bush: Shealah Craighead/The White House via FilmMagic; Nixon: Nixon White House Photographs</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>America, mirrored</h2>
<p>Presidential children have reflected how Americans think about age and gender, parenting and politics. </p>
<p>Those sometimes abstract concepts assume real form in presidential families. And they operate in unexpected ways. The fact that gender norms often precluded presidential daughters from an <a href="http://ap.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/womens-history/essays/women-american-politics-twentieth-century">explicitly political role</a> paradoxically could make them more popular public figures. The assumption that young children <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/02/politics/political-kids-off-limits/index.html">should be free from the political rough-and-tumble</a> has recently made them highly effective symbols for presidential image-making.</p>
<p>Presidents have often sought a role for their adult sons in supporting their administrations. Many of those sons happily obliged. In 1837, Martin Van Buren <a href="https://www.nps.gov/mava/learn/historyculture/abraham-van-buren.htm">appointed his son, Abraham</a>, to serve as his private secretary, at the time a high-level confidential advisor. Over a century later, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/john-eisenhower.htm">Dwight Eisenhower selected his son, John</a>, to serve as assistant staff secretary. <a href="https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/james-roosevelt-1907-1991">James Roosevelt campaigned for his father, Franklin</a>, and quite literally supported him. In public appearances, Franklin would lean on James, holding his hand in what appeared to be an expression of affection but was actually <a href="https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/james-roosevelt-1907-1991">a tactic to hide his polio-related disability</a>. </p>
<p>The ambitions of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-quincy-adams/">John Quincy Adams</a>, son of the second president of the U.S., <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-adams/">John Adams</a> and himself a future president, raised <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/presidential-nepotism-debate-goes-back-to-the-founders-time">accusations of nepotism</a> in a country that claimed to have eliminated a royal class. But <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/white-house-hostesses-the-forgotten-first-ladies">Martha Jefferson Randolph</a> could fill the traditional role of first lady and serve as confidante to her father, the widower and <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/thomas-jefferson">third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson</a>. </p>
<p>The sons of Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt both faced accusations that they traded on their fathers’ names <a href="https://fdr.blogs.archives.gov/2018/01/31/sons-of-the-commander-in-chief-the-roosevelt-boys-in-world-war-ii/">to secure undeserved offices</a>. <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/291313/wilson-by-a-scott-berg/">In contrast, Woodrow Wilson’s daughter</a>, Margaret, served as first lady for over a year before her widowed father remarried. Her younger sister, <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/pioneering-women-of-the-woodrow-wilson-white-house-1913-1921">Jessie, was an activist</a> for women’s suffrage and the League of Nations.</p>
<p>As journalists, historians and the American public have <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/606853/the-presidents-vs-the-press-by-harold-holzer/">tried to pierce the veil of privacy</a> surrounding presidential private life over the past half-century, presidents and the politicos who surround them have also sought to remove that veil, but selectively so, with an eye toward their own advantage. </p>
<p>Biographers <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6467/6467-h/6467-h.htm">celebrated presidents like Teddy Roosevelt</a> and <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/visit-museum/exhibits/past-exhibits/first-children-caroline-and-john-jr-in-the-kennedy-white-house">John Kennedy who played with their young children</a>. Ronald <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/family-feud-reagans-children-debate-legacy-father/story?id=12786615">Reagan’s children argued about whether he was a good father</a>, claiming that his private behavior should affect whether people should see him as a great president.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/18/politics/gallery/white-house-weddings-history/index.html">White House weddings of Lynda Bird Johnson and Tricia Nixon</a> provided opportunities to soften the image of the brass-knuckles political personalities of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. These were <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/digital-library/exhibits/something-old-something-new-eight-first-daughters-fashionable-white-house-weddings">major public events</a> in their own time, and the notion that Nixon wanted to exploit the event while never abandoning his antagonism toward the Washington press corps was a <a href="https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/the-post">subplot in the 2017 film, “The Post</a>.”</p>
<p>The Johnson and Nixon weddings offered a preview of how White House children provided presidents with image management opportunities. But the process began in earnest 30 years ago, as Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama sought to preserve the privacy of their young daughters even as they made conspicuous efforts to demonstrate their role in raising those daughters. </p>
<p>In “A Place Called Hope,” a promotional film for his 1996 re-election campaign, Bill Clinton beamed with pride as he discussed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFMo3d9zq9g&t=5m4s">Chelsea Clinton’s growing comfort at political events</a>. George W. Bush <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/200372/decision-points-by-george-w-bush/">celebrated both of his daughters’ public careers</a>, even when Barbara became an activist with left-leaning organizations. Barack Obama joked with TV host Jimmy Kimmel about managing his daughters’ social media accounts, as if he were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNyd34TPXUg&t=2m23s">just another befuddled father</a>.</p>
<p>In an era of identity politics, when the explicit <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1993/10/feminisms-identity-crisis/304921/">invocation of feminism could generate a political backlash</a>, these young daughters provided the means for these three presidents to reinforce the image of themselves as members of just another American family and modern fathers who supported their daughters. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LFMo3d9zq9g?wmode=transparent&start=303" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Bill Clinton speaks about his daughter, Chelsea, in a promotional video.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those family-oriented images made the shift to Donald Trump all the more jarring. His approach harkened back to the 19th century, when presidents appointed their adult sons to office while young children rarely appeared in public. Rather than exploit young Barron Trump’s potential to present Trump as a caring father, Trump preferred to emphasize his grown children. </p>
<p>Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/don-jr-and-eric-trump-campaigning-2018-10">regularly served as surrogates for their father</a>. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/10/ivanka-trump-jared-kushner-nepotism-conflicts-of-interest">held official appointments</a> in the administration. </p>
<p>Yet whatever benefit he believed he drew from these adult children, Trump found they were immediate <a href="https://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2021/06/future-proofing-the-presidency/part-3-a-sordid-family-affair/">lightning rods</a> for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/us/politics/donald-trump-jr-eric-trump-business.html">public criticism</a>.</p>
<h2>How to look normal</h2>
<p>The template of presidential children making their fathers appear more familiar and accessible still rules. </p>
<p>While the adult children of most Republican candidates have been invisible on the current campaign trail, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – often described as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/us/politics/desantis-iowa.html">awkward</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/01/17/ron-desantis-likability-issue-on-politics-00077927">lacking charm</a> – has made a point of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/18/us/politics/ron-desantis-age.html">appearing with his young children</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-biden/">Joe Biden’s preferred political origin story</a> is the image of the caring father who was sworn into the Senate in a hospital ward so he did not leave Beau and Hunter following the car crash that killed Biden’s first wife and his only daughter. </p>
<p>At the Democratic Convention in 2008, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden nominated his father <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYjrS-F3dCc">as the party’s candidate for vice president</a>. He was the latest presidential son to campaign for his father. But <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-d8f69eb645d74b7886387f713981b739">Beau died from brain cancer</a> at age 46. With Beau gone and Hunter’s legal problems a political liability, Biden has taken a page from his predecessors’ handbook. </p>
<p>If his administration cannot cast Biden as a young dad like Ron DeSantis, they can surround him with his grandchildren. In fact, when Biden won the presidential election in 2020, one of the first photos from the Biden camp came from his granddaughter, Naomi, showing her generation of the family <a href="https://people.com/politics/election-2020-joe-biden-celebrates-victory-with-grandchildren/">literally surrounding their grandfather</a>. </p>
<p>The indictment wasn’t the only bad news for the Bidens – father and son – in one week. Hunter Biden had already become the ultimate lightning rod for his father, with the announcement on Sept. 12, 2023, by the House GOP that they <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mccarthy-biden-impeachment-shutdown-house-republicans-b187202be8814f7acbdd6e2e937e23d4">will undertake impeachment proceedings</a> based largely on the president’s alleged interactions with his son’s business ventures. Hunter Biden’s place in the story of presidential children is thus clear, a story that politicians now know by heart: As a crucial element in his father’s public image – for better or for worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Kastor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Politics, age and gender combine to shape the understanding of presidents’ families – and the presidents themselves.Peter Kastor, Professor of History & American Culture Studies, Associate Vice Dean of Research, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. LouisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104442023-08-08T19:07:18Z2023-08-08T19:07:18ZKamala Harris has tied the record for the most tie-breaking votes in Senate history – a brief overview of what vice presidents do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540877/original/file-20230802-6332-61kj04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C21%2C4690%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to cast a tiebreaking vote in the U.S. Senate.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vice-president-kamala-harris-arrives-at-the-senate-chamber-news-photo/1500382345">Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Jan. 20, 2021, <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-kamala-harris-joe-bidens-pick-for-vice-president-144122">Kamala Harris</a> became the <a href="https://theconversation.com/kamala-harris-represents-an-opportunity-for-coalition-building-between-blacks-and-asian-americans-144547">first African American, the first person of South Asian descent</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/before-kamala-harris-became-bidens-running-mate-shirley-chisholm-and-other-black-women-aimed-for-the-white-house-143655">first</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/call-in-the-women-chrystia-freeland-and-kamala-harriss-new-roles-respond-to-the-times-144896">woman</a> to serve as vice president of the United States.</p>
<p>More recently, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-tiebreaker-vote-db39d642bc423f4984b0ad7b32139ecb">she made history again</a> by casting her 31st tie-breaking vote in the Senate, matching only one other vice president’s record for such votes. <a href="https://rollcall.com/2023/07/12/harris-ties-calhouns-191-year-old-record-for-breaking-senate-ties/">John C. Calhoun</a>, who was vice president from 1825 to 1832, needed all eight years of his term to reach that number. In contrast, Harris has only been in office for two and a half years.</p>
<p>If her tie-breaking continues, Harris could end up as one of the most <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/3689844-why-kamala-harris-is-already-among-the-most-consequential-vice-presidents-in-history/">consequential</a> vice presidents in history, casting the deciding votes on several laws, <a href="https://theconversation.com/states-pick-judges-very-differently-from-us-supreme-court-appointments-160142">judicial nominations</a> and spending plans. However, this distinction says more about the Senate than the amount of power the vice president actually wields.</p>
<h2>The ‘most insignificant’ office?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="John Adams" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Adams, the nation’s first vice president, called the job ‘the most insignificant Office.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gilbert_Stuart,_John_Adams,_c._1800-1815,_NGA_42933.jpg">Gilbert Stuart, National Gallery of Art via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The role of vice president is only mentioned in the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript">U.S. Constitution</a> a handful of times.</p>
<p>Article I, Section 3 says that the vice president “<a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-section-3-">shall be President of the Senate but shall have no Vote</a>” except in the event of a tie. Historically, ties have been rare. Since 1789, only <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/TieVotes.htm">299 tie-breaking votes</a> have been cast, and 12 vice presidents, including current President Joe Biden, <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/VPTies.pdf">never cast a single one</a>.</p>
<p>The beginning of Article II, Section 1 explains how vice presidents are elected, which was later revised by the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxii">12th Amendment</a>. The end of that section states that presidential power “<a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-section-1--2">shall devolve on the Vice President</a>” in the event of the president’s “Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-1/clause-6/succession-clause-for-the-presidency">As written, it is unclear</a> whether this meant that a vice president became the new president or was simply serving in an acting capacity. This was later clarified with the passage of the 25th Amendment, which states that “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxxv">the Vice President shall become President</a>.” The 25th Amendment also outlines how to fill a vacancy in the vice presidency, and it provides a mechanism for the vice president to serve temporarily as president if a president becomes “<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-25th-amendment-says-about-presidents-who-are-unable-to-serve-102825">unable to discharge the powers and duties</a> of his office.”</p>
<p>Finally, Article II, Section 4 states that vice presidents, like presidents, can be “<a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-section-4--2">removed from Office</a> on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” </p>
<p>So, other than <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1010.html">staying out of trouble</a> to avoid impeachment and waiting around to <a href="https://tbsnews.net/world/what-happens-when-us-president-dies-or-incapacitated-141037">serve as</a> – or replace – the president, vice presidents are really only obligated to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mike-pence-casts-tie-breaking-vote-confirm-betsy-devos-education-n717836">occasionally cast a tiebreaking vote</a> in the Senate. This means that the great majority of the time, vice presidents have no real job to do.</p>
<p>John Adams, the first U.S. vice president, once complained to his wife that the vice presidency was “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-09-02-0278">the most insignificant Office</a> that ever the Invention of Man contrived or his Imagination conceived.” </p>
<p>However, not all have been upset about such inactivity. Woodrow Wilson’s vice president, Thomas Marshall, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/wilson-thomas-marshall/">quipped after he retired</a>: “I don’t want to work … [but] I wouldn’t mind being Vice President again.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Will Hays with Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Warren Harding, center, wanted his vice president, Calvin Coolidge, at right, to play an active role in governing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chairman-of-the-republican-national-committee-will-h-hays-news-photo/501167655">FPG/Keystone View Company/Archive Photos via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘last voice in the room’</h2>
<p>Wilson’s successor as president, Warren Harding, had unconventional views about the importance of the role of the vice president. He thought that “the vice president should be <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDOC-104sdoc26/pdf/CDOC-104sdoc26.pdf">more than a mere substitute in waiting</a>,” and he wished for his vice president, Calvin Coolidge, “to be a helpful part” of his administration. Coolidge later became the <a href="https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_Calvin_Coolidge.htm">first vice president</a> in history to attend Cabinet meetings on a regular basis. </p>
<p>In 1923, Harding died, likely of a <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/after-90-years-president-warren-hardings-death-still-unsettled">heart attack</a>, and Coolidge succeeded him as president. “My experience in the Cabinet,” <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDOC-104sdoc26/pdf/CDOC-104sdoc26.pdf">Coolidge later recalled</a>, “was of supreme value to me when I became President.”</p>
<p>After Harding and Coolidge, many later presidents reverted back to the tradition of keeping vice presidents an arm’s length away, even on key matters. Franklin D. Roosevelt, for instance, <a href="https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/manhattan-project">kept the atomic bomb a secret</a> from Vice President Harry S. Truman, who <a href="https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/harry-truman">didn’t find out</a> about it until Roosevelt’s death.</p>
<p>For the 1960 presidential election, two-term Vice President Richard Nixon faced off against Sen. John F. Kennedy. At one point during the campaign, reporters asked then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Can you think of a major contribution that Nixon has made to your administration?” Eisenhower replied: “<a href="https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/how-many-u-s-vice-presidents-can-you-name/">Well, if you give me a week I might think of one</a>.” Nixon lost that election.</p>
<p>In 1976, Jimmy Carter picked Sen. Walter Mondale as his running mate. In a memo sent to Carter after winning the election, Mondale argued that “[t]he <a href="http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00697/pdf/Mondale-CarterMemo.pdf">biggest single problem of our recent administrations</a> has been the failure of the President to be exposed to independent analysis not conditioned by what it is thought he wants to hear or often what others want him to hear.” </p>
<p>Mondale’s vision for the role of vice president was “to offer impartial advice” so that Carter wouldn’t be “shielded from points of view that [he] should hear.” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/07/20/how-the-vice-president-became-a-powerful-and-influential-white-house-player/">Carter agreed</a> and subsequently made Mondale an integral part of his inner circle.</p>
<p>Biden served 36 years in the Senate before leaving to become Barack Obama’s vice president. When he agreed to be Obama’s running mate, Biden said he wanted to be the “<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2012-09-06-sns-rt-us-usa-campaign-bidenbre8850xj-20120906-story.html">last man in the room</a>” whenever important decisions were being made so he could give Obama his unfiltered opinion. When Biden picked Harris as his running mate, he said he “asked Kamala to be the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-harris-make-appearance-historic-democratic-ticket/story?id=72327968">last voice in the room</a>,” to “[c]hallenge [his] assumptions if she disagrees,” and to “[a]sk the hard questions.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vice President Walter Mondale, right, was an active part of President Jimmy Carter’s administration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CarterMondale/160e66151d984d9fb00f4da936a7252f/photo">AP Photo/Harvey Georges</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An ally in an increasingly divided Senate</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/filibusters-cloture.htm">Under the rules of the U.S. Senate</a>, if just one lawmaker doesn’t want a bill to advance, they can attempt to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HJuaQL3KRI">delay</a> its passage indefinitely via <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-us-states-dont-have-a-filibuster-nor-do-many-democratic-countries-156093">the filibuster</a>. A supermajority of three-fifths of the senators, or 60 of the 100, is required <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-senate-filibuster-explained-and-why-it-should-be-allowed-to-die-123551">to stop the filibuster</a> – or signal that one would not succeed – and proceed to a vote.</p>
<p>Over the years, the Senate has made <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/23/13709518/budget-reconciliation-explained">various procedural</a> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/nuclear-option-what-it-why-it-matters-n742076">changes</a> to the filibuster, limiting when it can be used.</p>
<p>The end result of <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/filibuster-reform-short-guide">these reforms</a> is that the Senate is now empowered to do more with just a simple majority. In addition, in recent years, the <a href="https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm">Senate has become increasingly divided</a>. Together, this has created the conditions that have empowered Harris to cast so many tie-breaking votes so quickly, solidifying both her place in history and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-biden-might-drop-his-vice-president-and-reasons-why-he-shouldnt-199655">her place alongside Biden in the 2024 election</a>.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-the-vice-president-do-152467">article</a> initially published Jan. 19, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210444/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Holzer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kamala Harris is on track to be one of the most influential vice presidents in history. This says more about the Senate than the amount of power the vice president actually wields.Joshua Holzer, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Westminster CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2071652023-06-07T12:25:23Z2023-06-07T12:25:23ZMike Pence is jockeying against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – joining the ranks of just one vice president who, in 1800, also ran against a former boss<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530414/original/file-20230606-23-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence appear together in November 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1285532140/photo/president-trump-delivers-update-on-operation-warp-speed-at-white-house.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=WobfF5DOO2Zm4jugWSZR6Me6_SRCp6LkbcQQUZO4FTk=">Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/us/politics/pence-2024-president-candidate.html">declare his candidacy</a> for president on June 5, 2023 – placing him in unusual ranks. </p>
<p>While 18 of the 49 former vice presidents have gone on to run for president, it’s rare for vice presidents to run against their former bosses. Six of these former vice presidents, including President Joe Biden, were ultimately elected president.</p>
<p>Pence, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/christie-pence-burgum-2024-announce-president.html">alongside other candidates,</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/05/mike-pence-president-run-2024-election">officially announced</a> his bid on June 7. </p>
<p>Pence and former President Donald Trump have had a complicated relationship. Pence’s devout conservative evangelical Christianity was a crucial ingredient in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/03/trump-religious-right-evangelical-vote-pence-desantis-support/673475/">helping carry Trump</a> to victory in 2016.</p>
<p>But Trump <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/14/trump-pence-jan-6-riot-blame">blames Pence</a> for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and has said he is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/06/953616107/pence-faces-his-most-challenging-trump-loyalty-test-yet">angry with him for certifying</a> the 2020 election results. Pence <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/16/mike-pence-40ft-from-mob-january-6">remained trapped at the Capitol</a> during the attack, which <a href="https://time.com/6199490/trump-jan-6-oath-dereliction-duty/">Trump did nothing</a> to try to end. </p>
<p>There are only a few other times in American history that are vaguely similar to the unfolding battle over who will become the Republican presidential nominee. Both were extraordinarily bitter, and centuries later, their strife still makes historians and experts on the presidency – <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_khILTgAAAAJ&hl=en">including myself</a> – raise eyebrows. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with white hair looks to his side at a man with an open mouth and light white hair who is speaking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mike Pence, left, is the second vice president to run against his former boss for election.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1181889149/photo/president-trump-congratulates-astronauts-for-first-all-womens-spacewalk.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=trx6Qu2hTZNb_0HsBc2HKU8etApkdWOBn2rmKsqJeEU=">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Name-calling in 1800</h2>
<p>There is one other time in history when a vice president ran against the president he served with in office. </p>
<p>In the election of 1800, Vice President Thomas Jefferson challenged incumbent President John Adams. Adams had won the presidency in 1796, and Jefferson was runner-up, making him vice president. Until 1804, the person who came in first in a presidential election <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/when-did-vice-presidency-stop-going-to-second-place-ask-smithsonian-180957199/">became commander in chief</a>, while the person who brought in the second-most votes became vice president. </p>
<p>Jefferson, though, <a href="https://lehrmaninstitute.org/history/1800.html">wanted the top job.</a></p>
<p>And so when Adams ran for reelection, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/election-of-1800.html#:%7E:text=The%20extremely%20partisan%20and%20outright,of%20votes%20would%20become%20president">Jefferson ran against him</a> in one of the most <a href="https://ap.gilderlehrman.org/essay/presidential-election-1800-story-crisis-controversy-and-change">notorious races</a> in American history. </p>
<p>Jefferson’s allies called Adams “a hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/are-presidential-campaigns-getting-nastier-not-really">gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”</a> </p>
<p>An Adams ally with the <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/to-the-people-of-the-united-states-september-15-1800-burleigh-connecticut-courant/mwGsTnI8bMhT5g?hl=en&ms=%7B%22x%22%3A0.5081011307166028%2C%22y%22%3A0.4918988692833975%2C%22z%22%3A8.702393504015665%2C%22size%22%3A%7B%22width%22%3A10.300864752031519%2C%22height%22%3A1.229747173208494%7D%7D">pseudonym of Burleigh</a>, meanwhile, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/a-nation-divided-the-election-of-1800-thomas-jefferson-foundation-at-monticello/wgURxDCU-6gaJA?hl=en">offered an omen if Jefferson won the presidency</a>: “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood, and the nation black with crimes,” Burleigh wrote. </p>
<p>The two used proxies to level vicious personal attacks against one another in the press. But neither one gained the advantage. The election ended in an Electoral College tie. This set up what is sometimes known as the <a href="https://americainclass.org/the-revolution-of-1800/">Revolution of 1800</a> – the very first time one group in political power peacefully ceded that power to another group, based on the results of an election. </p>
<p>Jefferson emerged victorious from the election. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows a large room filled with people, in a stadium like setting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A view of the Republican National Convention in June 1912, when William Howard Taft was nominated to serve on the ticket.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/479783275/photo/1912-republican-national-convention-chicago.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=48Sib23_1-KcTzt1akiEv2LQVS3dwW8A8c92o9FptNc=">PhotoQuest/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Dumber than a guinea pig’ in 1912</h2>
<p>But there is another point in history that is similar to the Trump vs. Pence race that is about to get underway.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/theodore-roosevelt">Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency</a> after the death of President William McKinley in 1901. Roosevelt was reelected in 1904 and decided to leave office in 1909, rather than seek another term. </p>
<p>Roosevelt endorsed William Howard Taft, his secretary of war, for president. And Taft <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/william-howard-taft/">won the race easily</a>. </p>
<p>But Roosevelt grew unhappy with the Taft administration, as he felt it was not upholding his beliefs that the president <a href="https://www.americanforeignrelations.com/O-W/Presidential-Power-The-stewardship-theory.html">should do what is necessary</a> for the good of the country, as long as it is not explicitly forbidden by law. </p>
<p>In one instance, the Taft administration <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42621438">filed a lawsuit</a> against U.S. Steel Corporation for violating antitrust laws that prevent unlawful mergers or other business practices. </p>
<p>Roosevelt <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/taft/domestic-affairs">went into a fury</a>. Other factors were at play, but he had personally approved the steel company’s trust and <a href="https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/1912/trusts/trtaft">viewed Taft’s actions</a> as a personal attack against himself and his administration’s legacy. </p>
<p>Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican nomination and ran against him in 1912. The former president dusted off his bully pulpit and used his rhetorical knives to their maximum advantage against Taft. </p>
<p>In the spring of 1912, <a href="https://elections.harpweek.com/1912/cartoon-1912-medium.asp?UniqueID=18&Year=1912">Roosevelt referred to Taft</a> as a “fathead,” “puzzlewit” and “dumber than a guinea pig.” </p>
<p>Taft then used the term puzzlewit in a humorous, self-deprecating way to draw attention to what he felt were <a href="https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/46032385/1912-05-17/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1770&index=0&rows=20&words=brain+puzzle+witted&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=puzzle-witted+brain&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1">failures of Roosevelt</a>. This included Roosevelt’s <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/foreign-affairs">opposition to treaties</a> with Great Britain and France.</p>
<p>Taft also said in a 1912 campaign speech in Ohio that, “I hold that the man is a demagogue and a flatterer who comes out and tells the people that they know it all. <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2020/07/dont-vote-for-the-honeyfuggler/">I hate a flatterer</a>. I like a man to tell the truth straight out, and I hate to see a man try to honeyfuggle the people by telling them something he doesn’t believe.”</p>
<p>The 1912 Chicago Republican Convention, where the two faced off, was <a href="https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/1912/content/RepublicanConvention">one of the most raucous</a> in history. Taft and Roosevelt supporters even got into into fistfights. </p>
<p>The Republican Party leadership ultimately backed Taft. And Roosevelt, in dramatic fashion, removed his supporters from the convention after a speech, in which he declared, “… we stand at Armageddon, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1912-republican-convention-855607/">and we battle for the Lord!</a>” </p>
<p>Then, Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party and split Republicans, paving the way for Democrat Woodrow Wilson’s presidential win. </p>
<h2>No other time exactly like it</h2>
<p>Pence’s decision to run against Trump has no direct equivalent in American history. </p>
<p>This election cycle will break new ground and help establish future expected norms – in part because Trump is the only candidate to have run while <a href="https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/">facing a criminal indictment</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/05/donald-trump-prosecutor-mar-a-lago-classified-documents">multiple other ongoing investigations</a> of potential criminal activity.</p>
<p>However, if the past is a prologue, the Republican primary season will likely have more in common with the Roosevelt and Taft match-up than others, at least in terms of direct insults and attacks upon leadership style – things Trump is known for doing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Bow O'Brien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pence’s announcement that he will run for president brings to mind how rare it is for a vice president to compete against a former running mate.Shannon Bow O'Brien, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2028122023-04-25T11:43:06Z2023-04-25T11:43:06Z80 is different in 2023 than in 1776 – but even back then, a grizzled Franklin led alongside a young Hamilton<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520822/original/file-20230413-28-4blo8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C32%2C5330%2C3840&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Our machines have now been running for 70. or 80. years,' an old Thomas Jefferson, right, wrote to an even older John Adams, left.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/leaders-of-the-continental-congress-john-adams-gouverneur-news-photo/1035081742?adppopup=true">Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Joe Biden’s announcement that he’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/20/us/biden-2024-president-election-news">running for another term</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/23/opinion/biden-age-concern-re-election.html">raises concerns</a> for many Americans. At his potential second inauguration, he would be 82, <a href="https://potus.com/presidential-facts/age-at-inauguration/">beating himself in becoming the oldest among American presidents</a>.</p>
<p>Aging has changed dramatically over the centuries. Medicine and better lifestyles have <a href="https://www.nber.org/bah/spring06/determinants-mortality">significantly diminished the effects of time</a>.</p>
<p>In the past, things were much different. In 1783, for example, at age 51, Gen. George Washington resigned his military commission and took a hard look at himself.</p>
<p>What he saw was a wreck – nearly a Methuselah. He had grown, in his famous statement, “not only gray, but almost blind in the <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/george-washington-newburgh-address-1783">service of my country</a>.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12786/first-among-men">biographer of Washington</a>, I can assure you that his well-known description of his condition may have been a bit of an exaggeration. Washington wasn’t that old, really, although the <a href="https://www.mcall.com/1987/06/28/in-the-america-of-1787-big-families-are-the-norm-and-life-expectancy-is-38/">average life expectancy</a> in that era was 38.</p>
<p>Old people today, so to speak, are much younger than they used to be, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/science/rich-people-longer-life-study.html">especially when they are wealthy</a>. The field of anti-aging is waxing, and data suggests that science might be able to extend <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/opinion/anti-aging-science-longevity.html">not only life span, but also the years a person remains healthy and free from disease</a>. Furthermore, a youthful frame of mind <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/well/mind/age-subjective-feeling-old.html">can have a powerful effect</a>, increasing longevity.</p>
<p>But no matter what, 82 remains a high number.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520826/original/file-20230413-14-y1bi9d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man and woman with three children, in front of a sign that says 'BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520826/original/file-20230413-14-y1bi9d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520826/original/file-20230413-14-y1bi9d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520826/original/file-20230413-14-y1bi9d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520826/original/file-20230413-14-y1bi9d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520826/original/file-20230413-14-y1bi9d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520826/original/file-20230413-14-y1bi9d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520826/original/file-20230413-14-y1bi9d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When Joe Biden announced his first run for president, in 1987, he was much younger than he is now.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sen-joseph-r-biden-jr-standing-with-his-family-after-news-photo/50314092?adppopup=true">The Chronicle Collection/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Old ‘machines,’ giving way</h2>
<p>Americans have long nurtured mixed feelings about age and aged leaders. For starters, the men who fought in the Revolution and molded the young nation were themselves very young.</p>
<p>Alexander Hamilton, the mastermind behind the Constitution of the United States, was only 30 when he attended <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/constitutionalconvention-june18.htm">the famous Philadelphia Convention</a>, where that document was written.</p>
<p>In opposition to “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-05-02-0130">the Old England vices</a>,” America was envisioned as springing out from the creativity of the young. It represented huge potential. </p>
<p>“Great Britain has past the Meridian of her Day,” wrote <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/edward-rutledge.htm">Edward Rutledge</a>, at 26 the youngest delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence. And while England was old beyond recall, “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-16-02-0316">we are young</a>,” he concluded.</p>
<p>During a period when medicine and knowledge of human anatomy were <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479880577/revolutionary-medicine/">all but rudimentary</a>, old age terrified everyone. </p>
<p>“Our machines have now been running for 70. or 80. years,” an old Thomas Jefferson, age 71, explained to an even older John Adams, age 78, “and we must expect that, worn as they are, here a pivot, there a wheel, now a pinion, next a spring, <a href="https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/1591">will be giving way</a>.”</p>
<p>People in their 70s were usually decrepit when the American nation was young. But it would be wrong to assume that the founding generation simply despised old age. Young America admired venerable old sages – <a href="https://www.brucefeiler.com/books-articles/americas-prophet/">Moses of the Bible</a>, first and foremost. </p>
<p>In August 1776, a debate for <a href="https://diplomacy.state.gov/the-great-seal/">designing a new great seal</a> for the republic took place. A commission was formed, and Benjamin Franklin, a member of the commission, proposed to draw a Moses, with his wand lifted, in the act of dividing the Red Sea, and the pharaoh, in his chariot, overwhelmed with the waters. Franklin also suggested a motto: “<a href="https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/personal-seal/#:%7E:text=%22Rebellion%20to%20tyrants%20is%20obedience%20to%20God%22%20was%20a%20motto,Jefferson%20is%20likely%20Benjamin%20Franklin.">Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God</a>.”</p>
<p>Like Washington and Jefferson, who led a revolution against a tyrannical king and his country, Moses had similarly led a liberty-loving people, the Jews, out of the shackles that tyrannical Egypt had kept them in. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A statue of a man on a horse, in front of a round brick structure fronted by columns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521324/original/file-20230417-14-tqtx2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521324/original/file-20230417-14-tqtx2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521324/original/file-20230417-14-tqtx2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521324/original/file-20230417-14-tqtx2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521324/original/file-20230417-14-tqtx2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521324/original/file-20230417-14-tqtx2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521324/original/file-20230417-14-tqtx2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A statue of Thomas Jefferson stands in front of the university he devised, organized, built and supplied when he was in his 70s, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/statue-of-thomas-jefferson-in-front-of-the-rotunda-on-the-news-photo/1347414160?adppopup=true">Robert Knopes/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prophetic old age</h2>
<p>America has repeatedly relied upon very old leaders. At the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/reading_room/2022-07-27-benjamin-franklin-at-the-constitutional-convention">Franklin was 81</a>. This senior statesman from Pennsylvania didn’t talk much.</p>
<p>One of the most charismatic men of the 18th century, Franklin was universally recognized as a prophet, a Moses dressed in American clothing. Despite “his extreme age” and “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Franklin%20%22particularly%20sensible%20of%20his%20weakness%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=1&sr=">particularly sensible of his weakness</a>,” as James Madison said, Franklin stood out from much younger delegates.</p>
<p>His appearance communicated an “antique simplicity,” a French witness held. He looked like a sage, a living classic “contemporary with Plato,” as if he had come directly from “<a href="https://archive.org/details/memoirsrecollect00sg/page/82/mode/2up?q=%22antique+simplicity%22">the age of Cato and of Fabius</a>.”</p>
<p>While Franklin was much more than just someone performing a task, old leaders, back then, could still look to the future and attend to many types of tasks as well.</p>
<p>In 1798, after he had completed two terms as president, a worn-out Washington, age 66, was ready to serve again in a military capacity. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/XYZ-Affair">War with France was probable</a>, and President John Adams had asked for his help.</p>
<p>Washington experienced “Sensations” – which means mixed feelings – at the prospect of entering, “at so late a period of life,” the “boundless field of public action – incessant trouble – <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-john-adams-from-george-washington">and high responsibility</a>.” And yet he agreed to serve. Fortunately for the country, war didn’t come.</p>
<p>Similarly, what Thomas Jefferson achieved during the last years of his life, in his late 70s, is extraordinary. In what he described as “the <a href="https://www.monticello.org/press/monticello-magazine/summer-2019/jefferson-said-it/">Hobby of my old age</a>” he devised, organized and built a public university, <a href="https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4994/">the University of Virginia</a>.</p>
<p>He worked hard on his last project, which opened to students on March 7, 1825. Jefferson would die one year later, elated by this accomplishment. The University of Virginia, Jefferson believed, would create better leaders who would halt the “threatening cloud of fanaticism” polluting the “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-3137">atmosphere of our country</a>.”</p>
<p>Biden is old. His speech is imperfect. For sure, he will execute tasks, but slowly, at his own pace. In many ways, he can’t be a match for younger competitors. What’s more, he’s neither Franklin, nor Washington nor Jefferson.</p>
<p>Yet, had he lived in that earlier age, like his more illustrious predecessors, his value would have likely outweighed his deficits in the eyes of his country – a youthful country fighting against the ossified leadership of its British colonial overlords, but also aware of the wisdom that certain old leaders could still provide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202812/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurizio Valsania does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Americans have long nurtured mixed feelings about age and aged leaders. Yet during the country’s founding, a young America admired venerable old sages.Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di TorinoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853252022-06-17T17:58:53Z2022-06-17T17:58:53ZMike Pence’s actions on Jan. 6 were wholly unremarkable – until they saved the nation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469524/original/file-20220617-25-a88bqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C29%2C4979%2C3289&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vice President Mike Pence returned to the House chamber to finish the process of counting the electoral votes in the early morning of Jan. 7, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CapitolRiotInvestigation/1c4d719ec839475a973e770a1b30a274/photo">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>New revelations from the congressional committee investigating the events on and leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol show the crucial role then-Vice President Mike Pence played in thwarting the insurrection – and reveal the principles behind his actions.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-12/">12th Amendment</a> to the U.S. Constitution reads “the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.” Under the Constitution, the vice president also serves as <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S3-C4-1/ALDE_00001111/">president of the Senate</a>. </p>
<p>At the June 16 hearing, Judge J. Michael Luttig, a <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3525468-who-is-michael-luttig-who-testifies-thursday-before-the-jan-6-panel/">conservative political icon</a>, and Greg Jacob, Pence’s counsel, asserted that the Constitution grants the vice president <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/11/us/politics/pence-jan-6-election-trump.html">no authority to overturn</a> or reject the electoral votes. </p>
<p>Pence himself has said “<a href="https://www.witf.org/2022/06/17/jan-6-committee-leaders-say-trump-broke-the-law-by-trying-to-pressure-pence/">there is almost no idea more un-American</a> than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.” Every single vice president in U.S. history agreed. <a href="https://garamondagency.com/work/an-honest-man-2/">I</a> am a <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674986480">historian of the U.S. presidency</a>. No vice president has ever rejected officially certified electors, refused to count the votes or paused the official ceremony – not even when their own personal interests were at stake. </p>
<p>Indeed, in 2001, Vice President Al Gore <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-06-16/how-to-judge-mike-pence-and-other-takeaways-from-the-jan-6-hearing">proclaimed</a>, “The choice between one’s own disappointment in your personal career and upholding the noble traditions of American democracy is an easy choice.” He then oversaw the process of counting electoral votes that delivered defeat to him in his campaign to win the presidency and victory to his opponent, George W. Bush.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="330" src="https://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4933328/user-clip-gore-certifies-bush-victory" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<figure><figcaption><span class="caption">Vice President Al Gore declares himself the loser, and George W. Bush the winner, of the 2000 U.S. presidential election. (C-SPAN)</span></figcaption></figure>
<h2>Under pressure, and threat</h2>
<p>And yet as the committee’s evidence has shown, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-pressure-pence-key-details-missed-thursdays-jan/story?id=85442808">Trump insisted Pence overturn</a> the election. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/politics/donald-trump-capitol-mob/index.html">Trump fueled the rage</a> of the mob marching toward the Capitol and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/proud-boys-ethan-nordean-egged-on-donald-trump-defense_n_6021dbadc5b6173dd2f8da88">he egged them on</a>, even after he knew violence was possible. When the rioters chanted “hang Mike Pence,” Trump reportedly said Pence “<a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/world/jan-6-hearing-how-did-trump-respond-when-mob-chanted-hang-mike-pence">deserves it</a>.”</p>
<p>Pence barely escaped the mob’s wrath. New testimony shows that the rioters were just <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/proud-boys-jan-6-pence-vp-b2102995.html">40 feet</a> from the vice president. But as rioters called for his execution and erected gallows outside the Capitol building, Pence <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/pence-refused-to-leave-capitol-during-riot-eyewitness-recounts/3737804/">refused to leave</a> the Capitol complex. He didn’t want anyone to see the vice president <a href="https://thehill.com/news/house/3463198-raskin-responds-to-chilling-report-pence-refused-to-leave-capitol-on-jan-6/">fleeing the Capitol</a>. That symbol would be too hard to forget.</p>
<p>We still don’t have all the evidence, but it appears Pence also <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2022/06/10/pence-not-trump-asked-guard-troops-to-help-defend-capitol-on-jan-6-panel-says/">coordinated city and federal responses</a> to the riot from the secure underground location where he took refuge. And once the mob had been driven out of the Capitol, Pence insisted on <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/07/954234902/congress-certifies-biden-victory-after-pro-trump-rioters-storm-the-capitol">completing the ceremony</a> in the early morning hours of Jan. 7.</p>
<h2>A loyal lieutenant</h2>
<p>Until December 2020, Pence had been <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/20/look-vice-president-pences-first-year-office-key-takeaways/1048778001/">unfailingly loyal</a>. He had never publicly disagreed with Trump, regardless of the embarrassment or <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mike-pence-loyal-lieutenant-or-donald-trump-s-scheming-sidekick-jcq5lfpbc">implications for his own future career</a>. </p>
<p>Why did Pence draw such a visible line over the certification of the election? There appear to be two reasons: a clear sense of legality and a deep conviction about his place in history.</p>
<p>The certification of the election appears to have been the first time Trump explicitly asked Pence to break the law. Pence previously defended controversial Trump administration policies like <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pence-doubles-down-border-wall-donald-trump-will-not-be-deterred-1293499">the border wall</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/28/mike-pence-once-called-trumps-muslim-ban-unconstitutional-he-just-applauded-the-order/">the so-called “Muslim ban</a>,” and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/02/15/vice-president-pences-claim-that-u-s-spy-agencies-found-no-impact-from-russian-meddling/">excused Russian meddling</a> in the 2016 election, but they were just words. Pence could make an argument that appealed to the Republican base, even if what he was talking about didn’t comport with U.S. law or tradition. He didn’t have to take action.</p>
<p>The certification of the electoral votes was different. Trump didn’t demand that Pence make a statement at a public event. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/january-6-committee-third-hearing-pence-pressure-campaign-rcna32993">Trump demanded</a> that the vice president overturn a free and fair election – the very bedrock of American democracy. Notably, Pence didn’t speak out about the plans afoot in the White House to overturn the election, which the hearings on Jan. 6 have detailed. But actually participating in the effort appears to have been one step too far for Pence.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SFXcNlycfs4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection examined Pence’s refusal to leave the U.S. Capitol.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A sense of history</h2>
<p>Additionally, Pence had a keen sense of his place in history. The former vice president’s chief counsel told Congress that Pence said he <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-jan-6-vp-mike-pence-founding-fathers-heaven-20220616-sbw5v6w2sva4jayoxktospubgq-story.html">looked forward to meeting the framers</a> of the U.S. Constitution in heaven. That is not the statement of someone with short-term vision.</p>
<p>Furthermore, all of Pence’s advisors, from Luttig to former Vice President Dan Quayle, confirmed that history offered resounding guidance. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/january-6-hearings-june-16/h_2aaf0a0091f0b71b4cfe8458136c41e5">The rule of law is the foundation, the profound truth of the United States</a>. The vice president had no legal authority to overturn the election and nothing in the historical record suggested otherwise.</p>
<p>In February 1801, Vice President Thomas Jefferson <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Author%3A%22Adams%2C%20Abigail%22%20Dates-From%3A1801-01-01&s=1111311111&r=10&sr=">opened the electoral returns</a> from the states and discovered that he and his vice-presidential candidate, Aaron Burr, had tied for first place – which was possible under the Constitution at the time. President John Adams had come in third. While the House of Representatives cast ballot after ballot, attempting to resolve the election, Jefferson and Adams <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%20Dates-From%3A1801-01-12&s=1111311113&r=43">met</a>. They <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%20Dates-From%3A1801-01-19&s=1111311113&r=21">pledged</a> to each other that they would not meddle in the election. On the <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Author%3A%22Adams%2C%20Abigail%22%20Dates-From%3A1801-01-01&s=1111311111&r=10&sr=">36th ballot</a>, Jefferson was elected as the third president of the United States. Adams and Jefferson didn’t just refrain from taking action; they intentionally upheld the sanctity of the electoral process. That is the historical precedent Pence followed.</p>
<p>Since then, no vice president has seriously considered overturning the results of the election. It should be a non-issue. It should be a relatively boring day for the vice president. It should not require courage.</p>
<p>But on January 6, 2021, it required all of Mike Pence’s fortitude. Reflecting on Pence’s actions that day, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, said in the beginning of the third hearing, “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/16/1105683634/transcript-jan-6-committee">Mike Pence and I agree on very little</a>,” but we agreed that “there is no idea more un-American that the notion that one person can choose the president.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/16/jan-6-committee-reveals-new-details-about-pences-terrifying-day/">At 3:50 a.m. on Jan. 7</a>, after the congressional session had concluded, the vice president’s chief of staff, Marc Short, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/takeaways-day-3-jan-6-hearings-lawyer-eastman-told-trump-election-plot-rcna34034">texted Pence a Bible verse</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy%204:7-8&version=NIV">2 Timothy 4:7-8</a>, which reads, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”</p>
<p>Under the terms of the U.S. Constitution, Pence should not have had to fight, nor do very much to finish the race. But when confronted with the unimaginable, he kept the faith. He kept his oath.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185325/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lindsay Chervinsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The vice president has said he looks forward to meeting the framers of the Constitution in heaven. That is not the mindset of someone with short-term vision.Lindsay Chervinsky, Senior Fellow, Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1699242021-10-21T12:45:18Z2021-10-21T12:45:18ZThe American founders didn’t believe your sacred freedom means you can do whatever you want – not even when it comes to vaccines and your own body<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427319/original/file-20211019-18-atnfa9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C0%2C5298%2C3766&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protests against mandates and quarantines get the Founding Fathers' ideas wrong.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/small-group-of-approximately-50-people-hold-open-solvang-news-photo/1222462576?adppopup=true">George Rose/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/us/politics/biden-mandates-vaccines.html">Joe Biden has mandated vaccines</a> for a large part of the American workforce, a requirement that has prompted <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/14/metro/new-hampshire-protests-over-covid-mandates-roil-state-local-governments/">protest from those opposed to the measure</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a similar move in New York City to enforce vaccinations has resulted in more than <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/10/09/over-a-dozen-businesses-fined-for-flouting-nyc-vaccine-mandate/">a dozen businesses’ being fined for flouting the rules</a>.</p>
<p>The basic idea behind the objections: Such mandates, which also extend to requirements to wear masks and quarantine if exposed to COVID-19, are a breach of the Constitution’s <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv">14th Amendment</a>, which states that “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” </p>
<p>The objectors ask: Aren’t mandates un-American?</p>
<p>As a scholar who has spent decades trying to unravel the hurdles that mark the beginning of this nation, I offer some facts in response to that question – a few very American facts: Vaccination mandates have <a href="https://www.governing.com/now/the-long-history-of-mandated-vaccines-in-the-united-states">existed in the past</a>, even though they have similarly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/us/politics/vaccine-mandates-history.html">sparked popular rage</a>. </p>
<p>No vaccination foe, no latter-day fan of the Gadsden Flag’s “<a href="https://theconversation.com/yellow-gadsden-flag-prominent-in-capitol-takeover-carries-a-long-and-shifting-history-145142">DONT TREAD ON ME</a>” message, would ever gain the posthumous approval of the American founders.</p>
<p>George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and the rest of the group cultivated different visions about America. But they agreed on one principle: They were unrelenting on the notion that circumstances often emerge that require public officials to pass acts that abridge individual freedoms.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427287/original/file-20211019-19-2btmux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A print of Gen. George Washington standing among his fellow Revolutionary War generals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427287/original/file-20211019-19-2btmux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427287/original/file-20211019-19-2btmux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427287/original/file-20211019-19-2btmux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427287/original/file-20211019-19-2btmux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427287/original/file-20211019-19-2btmux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427287/original/file-20211019-19-2btmux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427287/original/file-20211019-19-2btmux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gen. George Washington, center, ordered smallpox inoculations for his soldiers, saying there was ‘no possible way of saving the lives of most of those who had not had it, but by introducing innoculation generally.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://lccn.loc.gov/2006691571">Ritchie, Alexander Hay, engraver; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Keen sense of civic duty</h2>
<p>Most of the founders, to begin with, were slave owners, not especially concerned about trampling over and <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/">abridging</a> the rights of the persons they held in bondage. But even when they dealt with those they deemed to be their peers, American citizens, their attitude was rather authoritarian – at least by today’s standards.</p>
<p>In 1777, during the American Revolution, Washington had his officers and troops <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/video/view/7O5xE5hMNkU?pid=PLr40fFkNNADFEgbM2t-CG0kGnHRDHZoje">inoculated against smallpox</a>. The procedure was <a href="https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/inoculation">risky</a>. But for Washington, the pros outweighed the cons. It was an order, an actual mandate, not an option that individuals could discuss and eventually decide. </p>
<p>“After every attempt to stop the progress of the small Pox,” Washington explained to the New York Convention, “I found, that it gained such head among the Southern Troops, that there was no possible way of saving the lives of most of those who had not had it, <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%22After%20every%20attempt%20to%20stop%20the%20progress%20of%20the%20small%20Pox%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=1&sr=">but by introducing innoculation generally</a>.”</p>
<p>During the summer of 1793 an epidemic of yellow fever <a href="https://www.history.com/news/yellow-fever-outbreak-philadelphia">struck Philadelphia</a>, then the American capital. It shattered the city’s health and political infrastructure. Food supplies dwindled; business stopped. Government – federal, state and municipal – was suspended. Within just three months, 5,000 out of nearly 55,000 inhabitants died of the infection.</p>
<p>Public hysteria took off. Philadelphians at first pinned the outbreak on the arrival of refugees from the French colony of Saint-Domingue who were escaping that island’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Haitian-Revolution">slave revolution</a>. </p>
<p>But there was also heroism. Black clergymen <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Allen">Richard Allen</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absalom_Jones">Absalom Jones</a>, for example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-philadelphias-black-churches-overcame-disease-depression-and-civil-strife-153374">tirelessly transported the sick, administered remedies and buried the dead</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/philadelphia-under-siege-yellow-fever-1793">Urged on by Gov. Thomas Mifflin</a>, the Pennsylvania state Legislature imposed sweeping quarantines. And almost everyone complied. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Knox">Henry Knox, then the U.S. secretary of war</a>, didn’t object. Knox had fought during the Revolution. He had risked his life on many battles. He had developed a keen sense of what “civic duty” means: “I have yet six days quarantine to perform,” he wrote to President Washington, “which of the choice of evils <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%22I%20have%20yet%20six%20days%C2%A0quarantine%C2%A0to%20perform%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=1&sr=">is the least</a>.”</p>
<h2>‘Without a flinch’</h2>
<p>The epidemic didn’t abate as quickly as expected. By September 1794 <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/fever-major-american-epidemics-of-yellow-fever/">the yellow fever lingered in Baltimore</a>, where it had spread from Philadelphia. In 1795 it reached New York City.</p>
<p>One John Coverdale, from Henderskelfe, Yorkshire, England, wrote President Washington a long letter. He advocated more drastic measures, including three weeks of quarantine and policemen strategically placed in every corner to hinder people from passing from zone to zone; and he wanted people “to carry with them <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%22certificates%20either%20of%20their%20coming%20from%20places%20not%20infected%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=1&sr=">certificates</a> either of their coming from places not infected or of their passing the line by permission.”</p>
<p>In other words, a quarantine, lockdown and vaccine passports. </p>
<p>No politician we know of at the time considered such measures un-American. In May of 1796, Congress adopted, and President Washington signed, the <a href="https://archive.org/details/lawsofunitedstat03unit/page/314/mode/2up?view=theater">first federal quarantine law</a>. There wasn’t much controversy. In 1799, Congress passed a second and more restrictive <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.22401000/?sp=1">quarantine law</a>. President Adams signed it without a flinch.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427271/original/file-20211019-19-a5pf9z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A head-and-shoulders portrait of Alexander Hamilton." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427271/original/file-20211019-19-a5pf9z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427271/original/file-20211019-19-a5pf9z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427271/original/file-20211019-19-a5pf9z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427271/original/file-20211019-19-a5pf9z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427271/original/file-20211019-19-a5pf9z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427271/original/file-20211019-19-a5pf9z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427271/original/file-20211019-19-a5pf9z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=946&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Founding Father Alexander Hamilton stated, ‘It shall never be said, with any color of truth, that my ambition or interest has stood in the way of the public good.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2016816335/">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Ambition’ vs. public good</h2>
<p>So apparently it’s not certificates, quarantines and vaccine mandates that are un-American, <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1434978332513292291">as some maintain today</a>. </p>
<p>The argument that individual rights trump the greater good is un-American, or at least out of step with American tradition. It’s an attitude that the founders would have put under <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300182804/ambition-history">the encompassing banner of “ambition</a>.”</p>
<p>“Ambition” comes when individuals are blinded by their little – or large – egotisms and personal interests. They lose track of higher goals: the community, the republic, the nation. In the most severe cases, ambition turns anti-social.</p>
<p>Ambitious individuals, the founders were sure, are persons stripped of their membership in a community. They choose to relegate themselves to their solitary imagination. They have become slaves to their own opinions.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton">Alexander Hamilton</a> was tired of being turned into the butt of endless accusations: “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%22my%20ambition%20or%20interest%20has%20stood%20in%20the%20way%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=2&sr=">It shall never be said</a>, with any color of truth, that my ambition or interest has stood in the way of the public good.”</p>
<p>When facing a quarantine, a mandate, or similar momentary abridgments of their liberties, many Americans today react the same way Hamilton did. Like Hamilton, they look beyond themselves, their opinions, their interests. They don’t lose sight of the public good.</p>
<p>Others remain ambitious.</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>._]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurizio Valsania does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Founding Fathers were unrelenting in their commitment to the idea that circumstances can arise that require public officials to take actions abridging individual freedoms.Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di TorinoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1627882021-07-08T18:12:07Z2021-07-08T18:12:07ZAmerica’s founders believed civic education and historical knowledge would prevent tyranny – and foster democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410238/original/file-20210707-27-11akvkr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C26%2C971%2C749&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The founders believed education was crucial to democracy. Here, a one-room schoolhouse in Breathitt County, Ky.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2017805041/">Photograph by Marion Post Wolcott/Library of Congress</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The majority of Americans today are anxious; they believe their democracy is <a href="http://maristpoll.marist.edu/npr-pbs-newshour-marist-poll-bidens-approval-rating/#sthash.oV7MyEGk.nAapWQx5.dpbs">under threat</a>.</p>
<p>In fact, democracies deteriorate easily. As was feared since the times of <a href="https://medium.com/the-philosophers-stone/why-plato-hated-democracy-3221e7dcd96e">Greek philosopher Plato</a>, they may suddenly succumb to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/james-madison-mob-rule/568351/">mob rule</a>. The people will think they have an inalienable right to manifest their opinions – which means to state out loud whatever passes through their minds. They will act accordingly, often violently. They will make <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-tyranny-could-be-the-inevitable-outcome-of-democracy-126158">questionable decisions</a>.</p>
<p>Democracies may pave the way to tyrants. Self-serving leaders will appear. They will seek to rewrite national history by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/us/politics/trump-1776-commission-report.html">purging it of complexity and inconvenient truths</a>. They will capitalize on the widespread frustration and profit from the chaotic situation.</p>
<p>Should these leaders seize power, they will curtail the people’s participation in politics. They will discriminate based on race, sex or religion. They will create <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/business/voting-rights-georgia-corporations.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage">barriers to democratic participation by certain constituents</a>, including moral tests or <a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/democracy-exhibition/vote-voice/keeping-vote/state-rules-federal-rules/literacy-tests">literacy tests</a>.</p>
<p>So, one way democracies degenerate is because of cunning leaders. But democracies crumble also because of the people themselves. As an <a href="https://unito.academia.edu/MaurizioValsania/CurriculumVitae">intellectual historian</a>, I can assure you that the specter of an ignorant populace holding sway has kept many philosophers, writers and politicians awake.</p>
<p>The American founders were at the forefront in the battle against popular ignorance. They even concocted a plan for a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/367502">national public university</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410233/original/file-20210707-15-i6kpdo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A portrait of Thomas Jefferson in his later years, wearing a black jacket, white shirt and looking dignified, as befits a president." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410233/original/file-20210707-15-i6kpdo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410233/original/file-20210707-15-i6kpdo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410233/original/file-20210707-15-i6kpdo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410233/original/file-20210707-15-i6kpdo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410233/original/file-20210707-15-i6kpdo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410233/original/file-20210707-15-i6kpdo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410233/original/file-20210707-15-i6kpdo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thomas Jefferson believed the young United States should ‘illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/thomas-jefferson">Portrait by Rembrandt Peale, the White House collection</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No democracy without education</h2>
<p><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/montesquieu/">Baron Montesquieu</a>, a French philosopher who lived from 1689 to 1755, was a revolutionary figure. He had advocated the creation of governments for the people and with the people. But he had also averred that the uneducated would irremediably “act through passion.” Consequently, they “<a href="https://archive.org/details/spiritoflaws01baro/page/12/mode/2up?q=%22ought+to+be+directed+by+those+of%22">ought to be directed by those of higher rank, and restrained within bounds</a>.”</p>
<p>The men known as America’s Founding Fathers, likewise, were very sensitive to this issue. For them, not all voters were created equal. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton trusted the people – “the people” being, for them, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/elections/right-to-vote/the-founders-and-the-vote/">white property-owning males</a>, of course. But only if and when they had a sufficient level of literacy.</p>
<p>Thomas Jefferson was the most democratic-minded of the group. His vision of the new American nation entailed “a government by its citizens, in mass, acting directly and personally, <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%22acting%20directly%20and%20personally%22&s=1111311111&r=1&sr=">according to rules established by the majority</a>.” </p>
<p>He once gauged himself against George Washington: “The only point on which he and I ever differed in opinion,” Jefferson wrote, “was, that I had more confidence than he had in the <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%22natural%20integrity%20and%20discretion%20of%20the%20people%22&s=1111311111&r=1&sr=">natural integrity and discretion of the people</a>.”</p>
<p>The paradox was that, for Jefferson himself, the “natural integrity” of the people needed to be cultivated: “<a href="https://books.google.it/books?id=6rOu3WYEiiQC&pg=PA259&lpg=PA259&dq=%22Every+government+degenerates+when+trusted+to+the+rulers+of+the+people+alone.+The+people+themselves,+therefore,+are+its+only+safe+depositories.+And+to+render+even+them+safe,+the">Their minds must be improved to a certain degree</a>.” So, while the people are potentially the “safe depositories” for a democratic nation, in reality they have to go through a training process.</p>
<p>Jefferson was adamant, almost obsessive: the young country should “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%22illuminate%2C%20as%20far%20as%20practicable%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=1&sr=">illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large</a>.” More precisely, let’s “give them knowledge of those facts which history exhibits.” </p>
<p>“<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%22Educate%20and%20inform%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=1&sr=">Educate and inform</a> the whole mass of the people,” he kept repeating. It was an axiom in his mind “that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%22our%20liberty%20can%20never%20be%20safe%20but%20in%20the%20hands%20of%20the%20people%20themselves%2C%20and%20that%2C%20too%2C%20of%20the%20people%20with%20a%20certain%20degree%20of%20instruction%22&s=1111311111&">with a certain degree of instruction</a>.”</p>
<p>Education had direct implications for democracy: “Wherever the people are well-informed,” <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/60.html#:%7E:text=a%20sense%20of%20this%20necessity,to%20set%20them%20to%20rights.">wrote Jefferson</a>, “they can be trusted with their own government.”</p>
<h2>A national university</h2>
<p>In 1787, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Rush">Benjamin Rush</a>, the Philadelphia doctor and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, published an “Address to the People of the United States.” </p>
<p>One of his main topics was the establishment of a “<a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/address-to-the-people-of-the-united-states/">federal university</a>” in which “every thing connected with government, such as history – the law of nature and nations – the civil law – the municipal laws of our country – and the principles of commerce – would be taught by competent professors.” Rush saw this plan as essential, should an experiment in democracy be attempted.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410344/original/file-20210708-13-1akm6zn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The top floor of the red brick Congress Hall in Philadelphia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410344/original/file-20210708-13-1akm6zn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410344/original/file-20210708-13-1akm6zn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410344/original/file-20210708-13-1akm6zn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410344/original/file-20210708-13-1akm6zn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410344/original/file-20210708-13-1akm6zn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410344/original/file-20210708-13-1akm6zn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410344/original/file-20210708-13-1akm6zn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 1796, President George Washington gave his Eighth Annual Message to the Senate and the House of Representatives at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, seen here. He wanted to alert Congress to the ‘desirableness’ of ‘a national university.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/congress-hall-in-philadelphia-royalty-free-image/625947436?adppopup=true">Montes-Bradley/iStock / Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>George Washington stressed the same idea. At the end of his second term as president, in December 1796, Washington delivered his Eighth Annual Message to the Senate and the House of Representatives. He wished to awaken Congress to the “desirableness” of “<a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washs08.asp">a national university</a> and also a military academy” whose wings would span over as many citizens as possible.</p>
<p>In his message, Washington embraced bold positions: “The more homogeneous our citizens can be made,” he claimed, “the greater will be our prospect of permanent union.”</p>
<h2>Democracy’s ‘safe depositories’</h2>
<p>A national university homogenizing the American people would likely be ill-received today anyway. We live in an age of race, gender and sexual awareness. Ours is an era of <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/multiculturalism/">multiculturalism</a>, the sacrosanct acknowledgment and celebration of difference.</p>
<p>But Washington’s idea that the goal of public education was to make citizens somewhat more “homogeneous” is worth reconsidering. </p>
<p>Were President Washington alive today, I believe he would provide his recipe for the people to remain the “safe depositories” of democracy. He would insist on giving them better training in history, as both Rush and Jefferson also advised. And he would especially press for teaching deeper, more encompassing political values. </p>
<p>He would say that schools and universities must teach the people that in their political values they should go beyond separate identities and what makes them different. </p>
<p>He would trust that, armed with such a common understanding, they would foster a “permanent union” and thus save democracy.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand what’s going on in Washington.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-most">Sign up for The Conversation’s Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162788/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurizio Valsania does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Democracies degenerate because of cunning leaders. Democracies also crumble because of the people themselves – and the US founders believed education would be crucial to maintaining democracy.Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di TorinoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1570262021-03-18T12:19:18Z2021-03-18T12:19:18ZAll American presidents have made spectacles of themselves – and there’s nothing wrong with that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390139/original/file-20210317-23-1yvecxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C3%2C1002%2C505&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Both Andrew Jackson, left, and Donald Trump presented themselves as men of the people.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3g02109//https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-donald-trump-speaks-to-reporters-on-the-south-news-photo/1230547564?adppopup=true">Jackson, Library of Congress; Trump, Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After four years of Donald Trump as president, many Americans were sick and tired. They booted him out, with large numbers likely preferring not to hear about him ever again. </p>
<p>And yet, as <a href="https://unito.academia.edu/MaurizioValsania/CurriculumVitae">a historian of the early American republic</a>, I dare say that the man – or rather the personage – has already become a classic. Trump will remain in the public debate for centuries.</p>
<p>Trump’s apparently calculated shows of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/05/will-americans-forgive-trump">lack of compassion</a> plus his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/12/us/politics/donald-trump-access-hollywood.html">galloping vulgarity</a> made him into one of the most <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-beastly-is-trump-the-post-gut-checker-investigates/2019/08/23/72b70ab2-c5b3-11e9-b5e4-54aa56d5b7ce_story.html">unpresidential presidents</a> ever. </p>
<p>But while Trump’s <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-trump-norms-presidency-20191028-20191025-sfjob7bizzf2fbqb7eqhcuw3uy-story.html">vulgarity alienated many</a>, a big chunk of Americans saw it as a show, a choreography aimed at doing away with the hypocrisy of Ivy League-educated liberals, although Trump’s appointees were <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/12/01/republicans-criticize-biden-cabinet-ivy-league-reality-check-avlon-vpx.cnn">even more Ivy League</a> than those in other administrations. </p>
<p>As the recent elections demonstrate, large numbers of voters have condoned the former president’s lowbrow attitudes. Vulgarity, for millions, was just a means to an end. It was part of a larger plan, the beginning of a <a href="https://americanexperience.si.edu/historical-eras/colonization-revolution-and-new-nation/pair-daniel-lamotte-independence-squire-jack-porter/">Jacksonian, democratic revolution</a> expected to give <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-legacy-obliterated-norms-chipped-institutions-end/story?id=75275806">a voice to working-class voters</a> who have been overlooked, allegedly smothered by decades of censorship or “<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/04/opinion/trump-speaks-people-whove-grown-weary-political-correctness/">leftist political correctness</a>.”</p>
<p>Trump would have loved to emulate the achievements of <a href="https://www.politifact.com/article/2017/may/02/whats-up-with-donald-trump-andrew-jackson/">Andrew Jackson, his idol</a>. Jackson was the <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/jackson/impact-and-legacy">president who changed 19th-century America forever</a>. He expanded (male) suffrage, fought against the banks, reshaped federal institutions, and championed territorial expansion – at the expense of Native Americans.</p>
<p>Jackson was also the man who <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/430927-america-lived-through-a-trump-like-presidency-before-with-lasting">revolutionized the figure of the president</a>. With a penchant for exaggeration, he called for a degree of authenticity in the personage – and it didn’t matter if it was real or pretended. </p>
<p>It’s an American idea that Trump also got perfectly right: Acting out the “man of the people,” with a load of weaknesses and flaws, may well help the president send citizens the message that the supreme office also belongs to them; that the president is like “<a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/preamble">We the People</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390147/original/file-20210317-13-936aiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Trump at a rally throwing MAGA hats into a crowd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390147/original/file-20210317-13-936aiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390147/original/file-20210317-13-936aiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390147/original/file-20210317-13-936aiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390147/original/file-20210317-13-936aiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390147/original/file-20210317-13-936aiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390147/original/file-20210317-13-936aiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390147/original/file-20210317-13-936aiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump’s ‘galloping vulgarity’ distinguished him among U.S. presidents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-donald-trump-throws-hats-to-the-crowd-during-a-news-photo/1025390272?adppopup=true">Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Alike in style, communication, resentments</h2>
<p>In terms of political achievements and successes, Trump <a href="https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2017/february/donald-trump-is-not-a-twenty-first-century-andrew-jackson/">is not like Jackson</a>. Personally, the two are also very different: While <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/06/655121335/how-trump-got-his-fortune">Trump was steeped in privilege since birth</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andrew-Jackson">Jackson was born into</a> a Scots-Irish family of modest means, somewhere along the border between North and South Carolina. And only Jackson was a <a href="https://thehermitage.com/learn/andrew-jackson/general/#:%7E:text=War%20Hero,them%20to%20withdraw%20from%20Louisiana.">military hero</a> and <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/jackson/impact-and-legacy">a committed</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/24/660042653/what-is-a-nationalist-in-the-age-of-trump">nationalist</a> who, despite all flaws, never chased personal interests. No competition. </p>
<p>But there is one area in which the two can compete: Trump is a novel Andrew Jackson in matters of personal style, approach to communication and raids launched against the “liberal elites” – in Jackson’s case, against the two patrician <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/564486/the-problem-of-democracy-by-nancy-isenberg-and-andrew-burstein/">Presidents Adams</a> – John and John Quincy – plus the presidential class known as the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Virginia-Dynasty-Presidents-Creation-American/dp/1101980044">“Virginia Dynasty</a>”: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390141/original/file-20210317-15-1gkn350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A political cartoon satirizing the pandemonium after President Andrew Jackson tried to shut down a major U.S. bank." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390141/original/file-20210317-15-1gkn350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390141/original/file-20210317-15-1gkn350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390141/original/file-20210317-15-1gkn350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390141/original/file-20210317-15-1gkn350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390141/original/file-20210317-15-1gkn350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390141/original/file-20210317-15-1gkn350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390141/original/file-20210317-15-1gkn350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrew Jackson took aim at elite institutions; this political cartoon shows the mayhem after he withdrew government funds from the Bank of the United States.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-andrew-jackson-refuses-to-renew-the-charter-of-news-photo/2668436?adppopup=true">Artwork printed by H R Robinson, photo by MPI/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both Jackson and Trump put on stage the same seductive character, the “man of the people.” Like Trump, President Jackson was less than regal. Like Trump, Jackson made deliberate shows of coarseness, profanity and vulgarity in general. </p>
<p>By 1829, the year of his inauguration, the man was a physical wreck. Toothless, his lungs chronically irritated by a bullet he was shot with during a duel, Jackson used to sputter what he called “<a href="https://www.healthguidance.org/entry/8908/1/the-health-of-the-president-andrew-jackson.html">great quantities of slime</a>.” There’s worse: In a calculated effort to intimidate his enemies and inspire his followers, Jackson would break into terrible fits of shouting, foot-stomping, book-slamming and <a href="https://history.princeton.edu/about/publications/rise-american-democracy-jefferson-lincoln">table-pounding</a>.</p>
<p>And he cursed like a sailor. President Jackson had a pet parrot, Poll. On June 10, 1845, about 3,000 people attended Jackson’s funeral, at the Hermitage, Tennessee. A story goes that Poll was greatly annoyed by the mourners. Jackson’s propensity for swearing must have rubbed off on his pet, because the parrot unexpectedly launched into a blasphemous tirade. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/12/a-potty-mouthed-history-of-presidential-profanity-and-one-cursing-white-house-parrot/">Everyone was flabbergasted</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390145/original/file-20210317-21-1bhu1x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="George Washington taking the oath of office among almost a dozen men." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390145/original/file-20210317-21-1bhu1x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390145/original/file-20210317-21-1bhu1x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390145/original/file-20210317-21-1bhu1x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390145/original/file-20210317-21-1bhu1x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390145/original/file-20210317-21-1bhu1x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390145/original/file-20210317-21-1bhu1x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390145/original/file-20210317-21-1bhu1x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">George Washington, here being inaugurated as the nation’s first president, had no precedent to rely on for how he acted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-inauguration-of-george-washington-lithograph-currier-news-photo/629448241?adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Demean himself’</h2>
<p>Marking the proper measure of the “regality” of a president is similarly important. For a nation built upon a Constitution, rather than upon hereditary aristocracy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691211992">the figure of the president must be unlike any king</a>. And presidents must not be demi-gods or saints either. </p>
<p>When he was <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-first-president/inauguration/timeline/">sworn in as the new nation’s first president on April 30, 1789, George Washington</a> had no precedent to rely on. Understandably, he was a little bemused. What shall the president be doing? And who is the president, after all? On May 10, Washington wrote to John Adams and asked for his “candid and undisguised opinions” in matter of presidential etiquette and strategies of <a href="http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/self/self-presentation/">self-presentation</a>. </p>
<p>An 18th-century elite man, Washington wasn’t tempted by vulgarity, of course. He wasn’t trying to become a “man of the people” himself. He rather feared he could fall into the opposite excess, aristocracy.</p>
<p>“The President,” he wrote to Adams, “can have no object but to demean himself in his public character, in such a manner as to maintain the dignity of Office, without subjecting himself to the imputation of superciliousness or <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-02-02-0182">unnecessary reserve</a>.”</p>
<h2>‘Persona is a public act’</h2>
<p>Washington’s era was different from Jackson’s era, and from our era. But Washington is still right, I believe, and not only to suggest that moderation may be preferred over extremes. Washington is especially right in his claim that the president’s persona is a public act, and does not belong to the individual exclusively. </p>
<p>In terms of institutional procedures, Trump may have done some harm to the office, but he did not and could not destroy the role of the president – the symbolic, inspirational, educational role attached to that office. </p>
<p>The reason is that this role must be reenacted each time. In over 200 years, all presidents, good and bad, couldn’t help asking themselves what the title “President of the United States” entailed, practically. And what piece of theater they were supposed to perform, exactly.</p>
<p>Joe Biden must be asking himself the same question. And he has already provided some answers. Neither an aristocrat nor a pure “man of the people,” he has already presented himself as an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/joe-bidens-superpower/616957/">empathetic</a> man and a loving, supportive and protective <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/upshot/trump-biden-masculinity-fatherhood.html">father</a> and grandfather. Biden’s persona, presented in an elderly man with feathery white hair, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/20/913667325/how-joe-bidens-faith-shapes-his-politics">brings his religious faith</a> to the fore.</p>
<p>The first Catholic president after John F. Kennedy, Biden offers himself as <a href="https://theconversation.com/anointing-the-nation-how-joe-bidens-catholic-faith-permeated-his-inaugural-address-154672">a novel, much-needed American Moses</a>. Are Americans ready for this personage? Will he succeed in connecting with “We the People?”</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurizio Valsania does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A president’s persona is always a public act. In that way, Trump’s shtick – vulgar man of the people – was not exceptional. And every president has had to invent his version of the role.Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di TorinoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1554602021-02-23T14:49:27Z2021-02-23T14:49:27ZWhat’s an ex-president to do? Trump and the post-White House lives of his predecessors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385574/original/file-20210222-13-1pmvpzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C672%2C4233%2C2244&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this July 2020 photo, former president Donald Trump stands at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Is former president Donald Trump feeling anything like the 19th century’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Simon-Bolivar">Simon Bolivar</a> in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-394-58258-0"><em>The General in His Labyrinth</em></a>? </p>
<p>The ailing and failing South American “liberator” is described in the novel as a man “shaken by the overwhelming revelation that the headlong race between his misfortunes and his dreams was at the moment reaching the finish line … ‘Dammit,’ he sighed. ‘How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?’” </p>
<p>Trump is certainly dealing with multiple misfortunes, including the unique ordeal of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-55656219">a second impeachment trial</a> (despite his acquittal), the humiliation of an election loss, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/riot-lawsuit-just-part-of-trumps-post-impeachment-problems">hydra-headed lawsuits on the horizon</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2020/10/19/trump-will-have-900-million-of-loans-coming-due-in-his-second-term-if-hes-reelected/">looming loan payments</a> that may shake the Jenga towers of Trump’s enterprises. </p>
<p>What’s this former president to do?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/20/politics/trump-cpac-republican-party/index.html">We may find out soon when Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC, this weekend</a>. He will reportedly talk about the future of the Republican Party — and his role in it.</p>
<h2>How early former presidents kept busy</h2>
<p>How have other former presidents occupied their time? </p>
<p>Even though Trump’s interest in history is limited (he has, after all, spoken as if Frederick Douglass <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/politics/donald-trump-frederick-douglass">is still alive</a> and suggested that the <a href="https://time.com/5620936/donald-trump-revolutionary-war-airports/">Continental Army captured airports during the American Revolution</a>), the lessons and patterns of the past might nonetheless help him think productively about the next chapter of his life. </p>
<p>Founding Father presidents — George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — all retired productively to private life after leaving office. Plantation and farm management filled many days; Trump’s business interests might become a 21st century counterpart. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385578/original/file-20210222-19-14bmk3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sign on a white clapboard carriage house reads Adams Homestead, Erected 1717" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385578/original/file-20210222-19-14bmk3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385578/original/file-20210222-19-14bmk3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385578/original/file-20210222-19-14bmk3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385578/original/file-20210222-19-14bmk3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385578/original/file-20210222-19-14bmk3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385578/original/file-20210222-19-14bmk3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385578/original/file-20210222-19-14bmk3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A sign on a carriage house commemorates the 304-year-old John Adams homestead in Newington, N.H.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Adams and Jefferson also savoured the longer hours available for ongoing studies in philosophy, religion and history. Jefferson enjoyed applying his interest in science to crops at his <a href="https://www.monticello.org/slavery-at-monticello/life-monticello-plantation/living-monticello-plantation">Monticello plantation in Virginia</a> — and <a href="https://www.virginia.edu/aboutuva">founded the University of Virginia</a>. </p>
<p>Adams and Jefferson also indulged in vast correspondence, <a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/livingrev/religion/text3/adamsjeffersoncor.pdf">including thoughtful exchanges with each other</a>. The second president’s letters could be eloquently cranky about his fellow men (“human reason and human conscience … are not a match for human passion, human imaginations, and human enthusiasm”); he was also appealingly self-deprecating (“I drop into myself, and acknowledge myself to be a fool.”).</p>
<p>The second president’s son, John Quincy Adams, charted a different course after losing the bitterly fought 1828 election to Andrew Jackson. Rejecting retirement to Massachusetts, he served nine terms in the House of Representatives. <a href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1800-1850/The-death-of-Representative-John-Quincy-Adams-of-Massachusetts/">He even died there</a> — in the speaker’s room, after collapsing during a debate — ending a post-White House career in which he became one of the most prominent anti-slavery voices in the country.</p>
<p>Ulysses S. Grant also travelled his own road, literally. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385576/original/file-20210222-13-1p5pjbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A full-sized statue of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385576/original/file-20210222-13-1p5pjbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385576/original/file-20210222-13-1p5pjbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385576/original/file-20210222-13-1p5pjbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385576/original/file-20210222-13-1p5pjbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385576/original/file-20210222-13-1p5pjbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385576/original/file-20210222-13-1p5pjbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385576/original/file-20210222-13-1p5pjbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A full-sized statue of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, stylized from a photograph, in the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library in Mississippi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He and his wife took two years <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-tour/">to tour the globe</a>, with the hero of the Civil War feted everywhere. There was tea at Windsor Castle (where Queen Victoria found Julia Grant “civil and complimentary in her funny American way”) and <a href="https://www.historynet.com/encounter-ulysses-s-grant-talks-war-otto-von-bismarck.htm">hours of talk with Otto von Bismarck</a> after Grant simply knocked at his front door.</p>
<p>When crowds welcomed him home, the former president made a third run for the White House — <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/-if-any-outsider-is-taken-i-hope-it-will-be-garfield-the-1880-republican-convention.htm">but was out-maneuvered at the 1880 Republican convention by James A. Garfield</a>. Grant’s last years were then spent battling financial difficulties and cancer, with Samuel Clemens — more commonly known as Mark Twain — coaxing him into writing the money-making volumes <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4367/4367-h/4367-h.htm">that remain a masterpiece among presidential memoirs.</a></p>
<h2>Modern former presidents</h2>
<p>The 20th century offers more models. </p>
<p>Theodore Roosevelt’s post-presidential career stands out for drama. After William Howard Taft was inaugurated, Roosevelt led a big game hunting expedition to Africa for the Smithsonian Institution and New York’s Museum of Natural History. <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/teddy-roosevelts-epic-strangely-altruistic-hunt-white-rhino-180958626/">His safari party tallied 11,400 kills, including six white rhinos</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Trump stands in front of a painting of Theodore Roosevelt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385581/original/file-20210222-13-yrbjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385581/original/file-20210222-13-yrbjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385581/original/file-20210222-13-yrbjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385581/original/file-20210222-13-yrbjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385581/original/file-20210222-13-yrbjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385581/original/file-20210222-13-yrbjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385581/original/file-20210222-13-yrbjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this December 2018 photo, Trump stands in front of a painting of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like Grant before him, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/life-after-the-presidency">Roosevelt kept travelling</a>, spending months in Europe meeting monarchs and government leaders. And like Grant, welcoming crowds at home rekindled political appetites. As with Grant, again, that did not go well. </p>
<p>Styling himself a progressive “bull moose,” <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/teddy-roosevelt-nominated-as-bull-moose-candidate">Roosevelt forged a third party</a> when the 1912 Republican convention renominated Taft. <a href="https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/vote/1912/index.html">A three-way electoral split</a> then gave Woodrow Wilson the White House with 42 per cent of the popular vote.</p>
<p>Taft moved from the 1912 melee to a John Quincy Adams-like future. After taking up a Yale law professorship, <a href="https://www.biography.com/us-president/william-howard-taft">he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1921</a>.</p>
<h2>Memoirs, libraries</h2>
<p>By the mid-20th century, post-White House life had some common themes. Beginning with Harry Truman, each president — John F. Kennedy tragically excepted — opted to produce best-selling memoirs and to help build presidential libraries, repressing impulses to resuscitate their political careers.</p>
<p>Some prioritized relaxation while writing. Dwight Eisenhower, for example, spent time golfing, fishing and playing bridge (which had already been a regular features of his time in the White House).</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vglwPqaDFVo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Eisenhower took to golf after he left the White House. Courtesy the World Golf Hall of Fame.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some had limited options because of declining health (<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1973/07/the-last-days-of-the-president/376281/">Lyndon Johnson’s heart problems</a>, <a href="https://www.today.com/health/25-years-ago-president-ronald-reagan-announced-his-alzheimer-s-t166960">Ronald Reagan’s Alzheimer’s</a>). One — Richard Nixon — turned his traditional hard work habits toward reputation rehabilitation, <a href="https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/kasey-pipes-the-resurrection-of-richard-nixon-our-elder-statesman/">using expansive writing to gain elder statesman status</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385597/original/file-20210222-13-wojd5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Jimmy Carter smiles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385597/original/file-20210222-13-wojd5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385597/original/file-20210222-13-wojd5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385597/original/file-20210222-13-wojd5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385597/original/file-20210222-13-wojd5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385597/original/file-20210222-13-wojd5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385597/original/file-20210222-13-wojd5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385597/original/file-20210222-13-wojd5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this November 2019 photo, former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/John Amis)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several have channelled energy and stature into creating new mechanisms for public service — for example, Jimmy Carter’s <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/peace/conflict_resolution/index.html">Conflict Resolution Program</a> and work for <a href="https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/build-events/carter-work-project">Habitat for Humanity</a> and the <a href="https://www.clintonfoundation.org/">Clinton Foundation</a> founded by Bill Clinton. </p>
<p>In the end, of course, Trump will devise his own unique post-presidency career — likely as unconventional and perhaps as troubling as his White House years. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/24/business/mar-a-lago-donald-trump-guests/index.html">There is grumbling and fuming</a> in his Mar-a-Lago labyrinth right now, but Trump is certainly seeking an escape that Bolivar could not find.</p>
<p>There will be golf, of course, à la Eisenhower. There will probably be a memoir, though a ghost writer may emerge battered from drafting sessions with a Trump accustomed to lobbing tweet-sized poison darts.</p>
<p>Most importantly, there will likely be Trump “big bang” efforts — Teddy Roosevelt-esque incursions into the 2024 election, rallies during which he can strut his stand-up routines, <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-fox-news-digital-media-competitor-25afddee-144d-4820-8ed4-9eb0ffa42420.html">perhaps a cable network launch to outfox an insufficiently obsequious Fox</a>. </p>
<p>Whatever Trump’s approach to his post-White House life, there is bound to be some of the miasma Garcia Marquez sensed around Bolivar: “A strange night … heavy with the weeping of orphans and the fragrance of decay.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155460/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronald W. Pruessen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Donald Trump prepares to address the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC, here’s how other former presidents have occupied their time after leaving the White House.Ronald W. Pruessen, Professor of History, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1551802021-02-12T14:38:20Z2021-02-12T14:38:20ZIt’s not just Trump – presidents and politicians have long shredded etiquette<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383887/original/file-20210211-17-1lc2o5m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C0%2C552%2C373&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A cartoonist's image of Sen. Charles Sumner's May 1856 beating by South Carolina Rep. Preston Brooks.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southern_Chivalry.jpg#/media/File:Southern_Chivalry.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Donald Trump has achieved something unique: He is the first and only president to face not one but <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/majority-of-house-members-vote-for-2nd-impeachment-of-trump">two impeachments</a>. But even though the U.S. Senate is still expected to exonerate him from charges that he incited the deadly Capitol insurrection, Americans already know that he won’t go down in history as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/31/trump-abandoned-civility-republican-party">model of civility</a>. </p>
<p>Examples of his bad manners abounded from day one of his presidency. When he gave his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRBsJNdK1t0">inaugural speech</a>, Trump in 2017 craftily avoided any nod to his defeated opponent, Hillary Clinton, or to the other half of the electorate. </p>
<p>Then he started embarrassing foreign leaders <a href="https://apnews.com/article/768b59297e8d4a55998839411490562f">during official trips</a>. “Time after time, diplomatic niceties fell by the wayside as the president contradicted and undermined his hosts,” the Associated Press reported in mid-2019.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/15/i-concede-nothing-trump-says-shortly-after-appearing-acknowledge-biden-won-election/">After the 2020 election, Trump did not congratulate President-elect Joe Biden</a> – <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55736856">and did not attend</a> the inaugural ceremony in January. </p>
<p>As the nation celebrates Presidents Day, it’s good to remember, however, that Trump is not alone in his transgressions of civility. In reality, the shredding of etiquette by presidents, other politicians and public officials has long been a feature of American politics. Ungraciousness is bipartisan: The public has not forgotten House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <a href="https://theconversation.com/civility-in-politics-is-harder-than-you-think-130522">literally shredding</a>, in full public view, the text of President Trump’s State of the Union speech.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tears up what appeared to be a copy of President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tears up what appeared to be a copy of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Feb. 4, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/feb-4-2020-house-speaker-nancy-pelosi-tears-up-what-news-photo/1199118661?adppopup=true">Xinhua/Liu Jie via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ripping off the toupee</h2>
<p>American politicians have long treated one another with disrespect. Trump shunning the president-elect may seem extreme today, but in 1801, at the presidential inauguration ceremony of Thomas Jefferson, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/inaugural/exhibition.html#jefferson">the outgoing president, John Adams, was nowhere to be seen</a> – he was not even invited. For his part, Adams had appointed to high office several anti-Jeffersonian men. And he had done that <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/the-friendship-and-rivalry-of-thomas-jefferson-and-john-adams/">just before leaving office</a>.</p>
<p>Jefferson, in turn, <a href="http://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/thomas-jefferson/#:%7E:text=Jefferson%20even%20refused%20to%20attend,existed%20between%20the%20two%20men.">did not attend the funeral of George Washington</a> on Dec. 18, 1799, and in 1829 John Quincy Adams – another one-term-only president, like his father – <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/not-a-ragged-mob-the-inauguration-of-1829">stayed clear of Andrew Jackson’s inauguration</a>.</p>
<p>In the years before the Civil War, breaches in etiquette <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/opinion/sunday/violence-politics-congress.html">took a dramatic turn</a>. On May 22, 1856, <a href="https://theconversation.com/think-the-us-is-more-polarized-than-ever-you-dont-know-history-131600">U.S. Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina, a Democrat, beat Republican Sen. Charles Sumner</a> with a walking cane. The scene took place on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Brooks was “outraged” by an anti-slavery speech Sumner had given a few days earlier. He stopped short of killing his enemy only because the cane unexpectedly broke.</p>
<p>The floor of the U.S. House of Representatives held ominous scenes as well. On Feb. 6, 1858, at nearly 2 a.m., as members were discussing the admission of the Kansas Territory into the Union, South Carolina Democrat Laurence Keitt and Pennsylvania Republican Galusha Grow exchanged volleys of insults, arguing over whether Kansas would be a free or a slave state.</p>
<p>They switched to blows. More than 30 representatives jumped into the fight, <a href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/The-most-infamous-floor-brawl-in-the-history-of-the-U-S--House-of-Representatives/">leading to a brawl</a>. The situation defused after Wisconsin Republicans John Potter and Cadwallader Washburn ripped the toupee from the head of William Barksdale, a Democrat from Mississippi.</p>
<h2>Founders knew incivility’s risk</h2>
<p>No matter the occasional jeers and laughs; when political leaders treat each other with disrespect, the nation suffers. </p>
<p>Civility is neither frivolous nor a matter of private behavior only. As economist Friedrich Hayek said, civility is a “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/law-legislation-and-liberty-volume-2-the-mirage-of-social-justice/oclc/811505153">method of collaboration</a> which requires agreement only on means and not on ends.” The lack of civility, obviously, decreases the chances of finding solutions to urgent common problems.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PX9reO3QnUA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">At a rally in 2015, then-candidate Donald Trump mocked a reporter with a disability.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The founders, perhaps better than any other generation, were acutely aware of the political risk of incivility. Washington, Adams, Jefferson and the others <a href="https://21stcenturycicero.wordpress.com/tyrrany/the-founding-fathers-the-classics/">knew history by heart</a>. They looked back at the tyrants and all the reckless commanders of the past, like Attila or Caligula. They knew that brash leaders such as these could, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, burst asunder “<a href="https://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/default.xqy?keys=FOEA-print-04-01-02-3893">all the ligaments of duty & affection</a>.”</p>
<p>And they looked forward, with anxiety, to the moment when a new barbarism would come back in full swing. Ominous signs were already looming. <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/04/frontier-racing-and-injured-pride-the-duel-between-andrew-jackson-and-charles-dickinson/">On May 30, 1806, Andrew Jackson killed Charles Dickinson</a>, an attorney who had accused him, of all things, of cheating on a horse race bet. This event did not put a stop to Jackson’s career. He was a brawler and a committed duelist. He snapped easily and showed no respect for his opponents. But “Old Hickory,” as he was known, kept gaining national notoriety. </p>
<p>President Jackson is <a href="https://www.politifact.com/article/2017/may/02/whats-up-with-donald-trump-andrew-jackson/">Trump’s favorite leader</a> – although the two have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/us/politics/donald-trump-andrew-jackson.html">very little in common</a>. Just like Trump, however, Jackson represents a straightforward, low-brow style of unapologetic and ungraceful leadership. Jackson bore exactly those personal attributes which left the founders aghast: “<a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/wheeling-wv-19591010">His passions are terrible</a>,” Thomas Jefferson said about Jackson in a 1824 interview.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president. Thomas Jefferson said 'His passions are terrible.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president. Thomas Jefferson said, ‘His passions are terrible.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c17120/">Engraving by J.B. Longacre/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The founders were passing through the short-lived age of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/22033/the-refinement-of-america-by-richard-l-bushman/">refinement, politeness and civilization</a>. From the 1750s to the early 1800s, American leaders set for themselves an ambitious goal. They wanted to trigger an anthropological revolution and promote a new type of individual – polite, civilized, kind and collaborative.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>A modern nation, for them, relied on politicians who talked a certain way (with a lower voice), dressed a certain way (with less aristocratic pomp) and were able to <a href="https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5039">forestall any boorish posturing</a>.</p>
<p>In this respect, history has proven the founders’ expectations misplaced. These men, slave owners though they were, valued civility as at once liberating for the subject and an effective strategy of survival for the community at large. But “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-11404">the free cultivation of Letters</a>,” as George Washington hoped, “the unbounded extension of Commerce, the progressive refinement of Manners, the growing liberality of sentiment,” did not come about.</p>
<p>Joe Biden, now president, will not reverse the course of history. He cannot restore an age of refinement and politeness. He is not the vaccine. But in the eyes of many, he can be at least an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/opinion/joe-biden-humility.html">antidote</a> against Trump’s lack of grace.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-presidents-snubbing-their-successors-and-why-the-founders-favored-civility-instead-149878">article originally published</a> on Nov. 17, 2020.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155180/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurizio Valsania does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Mind your manners’ isn’t just something your mother told you. Manners – and civility – are an essential component of how things get done in government, and the Founding Fathers knew it.Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di TorinoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1524672021-01-19T17:07:18Z2021-01-19T17:07:18ZWhat does the vice president do?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377391/original/file-20210106-17-lpwkss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5991%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's a top government job, but what does being vice president mean?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakHarris/56ef84b8246447418d250b158f225185/photo">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Jan. 20, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/harris-makes-history-first-female-black-south-asian-american-vp-n1246916">Kamala Harris</a> will become vice president of the United States – the first woman, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/kamala-harris-represents-an-opportunity-for-coalition-building-between-blacks-and-asian-americans-144547">first person of South Asian descent, and the first African American</a> to do so. Harris will also become the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/kamala-harris-on-being-a-graduate-from-a-historically-black-college-this-is-what-these-institutions-were-really-built-for-they-were-built-for-this-moment-11597258044">first</a> vice president to have graduated from a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/historically-black-colleges-and-universities">historically black college or university</a>.</p>
<p>Each of these achievements is significant in its own right. However, the vice presidency itself has traditionally been a relatively insignificant position, though the office has become more influential in recent years.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="John Adams" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377394/original/file-20210106-23-4hlt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Adams, the nation’s first vice president, called the job ‘the most insignificant Office.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gilbert_Stuart,_John_Adams,_c._1800-1815,_NGA_42933.jpg">Gilbert Stuart, National Gallery of Art via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘most insignificant’ office?</h2>
<p>The role of vice president is only mentioned in the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript">U.S. Constitution</a> a handful of times. Article I, Section 3 says that the vice president “<a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-section-3-">shall be President of the Senate but shall have no Vote</a>” except in the event of a tie. Normally, ties are rare, but the vice president’s power to break them will likely become relevant to Harris as Democrats, and independents who caucus with Democrats, are expected to control only 50 of the 100 Senate seats.</p>
<p>The beginning of Article II, Section 1 explains how vice presidents are elected, which was later revised by the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxii">12th Amendment</a>. The end of that section states that presidential power “<a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-section-1--2">shall devolve on the Vice President</a>” in the event of the president’s “Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office.” Finally, Article II, Section 4 states that vice presidents – like presidents – can be “<a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-section-4--2">removed from Office</a> on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”</p>
<p>So, other than <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1010.html">staying out of trouble</a> to avoid impeachment and waiting around for the president to <a href="https://tbsnews.net/world/what-happens-when-us-president-dies-or-incapacitated-141037">need a replacement</a>, vice presidents are really obligated only to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mike-pence-casts-tie-breaking-vote-confirm-betsy-devos-education-n717836">occasionally cast a tie-breaking vote</a>. This means that the great majority of the time, vice presidents have no real job to do.</p>
<p>John Adams, the first U.S. vice president, once complained to his wife that the vice presidency was “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-09-02-0278">the most insignificant Office</a> that ever the Invention of Man contrived or his Imagination conceived.” However, not all have been upset about such inactivity. Woodrow Wilson’s vice president, Thomas Marshall, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/wilson-thomas-marshall/">quipped after he retired</a>: “I don’t want to work … [but] I wouldn’t mind being Vice President again.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Will Hays with Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377397/original/file-20210106-17-109o8zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Warren Harding, center, wanted his vice president, Calvin Coolidge, at right, to play an active role in governing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chairman-of-the-republican-national-committee-will-h-hays-news-photo/501167655">FPG/Keystone View Company/Archive Photos/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The evolution of the vice presidency</h2>
<p>Wilson’s successor as president, Warren Harding, had unconventional views about the importance of the role of the vice president. He thought that “<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDOC-104sdoc26/pdf/CDOC-104sdoc26.pdf">the vice president should be more than a mere substitute in waiting</a>,” and he wished for his vice president, Calvin Coolidge, “to be a helpful part” of his administration. Coolidge later became the <a href="https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_Calvin_Coolidge.htm">first vice president</a> in history to attend Cabinet meetings on a regular basis. </p>
<p>In 1923, Harding died of a <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/after-90-years-president-warren-hardings-death-still-unsettled">likely heart attack</a>, and Coolidge succeeded him as president. “My experience in the Cabinet,” <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDOC-104sdoc26/pdf/CDOC-104sdoc26.pdf">Coolidge later recalled</a>, “was of supreme value to me when I became President.”</p>
<p>After Harding and Coolidge, many later presidents reverted back to the tradition of keeping vice presidents an arm’s length away, even on key matters. Franklin D. Roosevelt, for instance, kept <a href="https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/manhattan-project">the atomic bomb</a> a secret from Vice President Harry S. Truman, who <a href="https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/harry-truman">didn’t find out</a> about it until Roosevelt’s death.</p>
<p>For the 1960 presidential election, two-term Vice President Richard Nixon faced off against John F. Kennedy. At one point during the campaign, reporters asked then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Can you think of a major contribution that Nixon has made to your administration?” Eisenhower replied: “<a href="https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/how-many-u-s-vice-presidents-can-you-name/">Well, if you give me a week I might think of one</a>.” Nixon lost that election.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377399/original/file-20210106-21-14f67c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vice President Walter Mondale, right, was an active part of President Jimmy Carter’s administration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CarterMondale/160e66151d984d9fb00f4da936a7252f/photo">AP Photo/Harvey Georges</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1976, Jimmy Carter picked Walter Mondale as his running mate. In a memo sent to Carter after winning the election, Mondale argued that “[t]he <a href="http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00697/pdf/Mondale-CarterMemo.pdf">biggest single problem of our recent administrations</a> has been the failure of the President to be exposed to independent analysis not conditioned by what it is thought he wants to hear or often what others want him to hear.” Mondale’s vision for the role of vice president was “to offer impartial advice” so that Carter wouldn’t be “shielded from points of view that [he] should hear.” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/07/20/how-the-vice-president-became-a-powerful-and-influential-white-house-player/">Carter agreed</a> and subsequently made Mondale an integral part of his inner circle.</p>
<p>Many vice presidents since Mondale have often offered points of view that didn’t align with that of the president. Bill Clinton and Al Gore, for instance, <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/11/clinton200711">disagreed</a> over the amount of power and influence entrusted to first lady Hillary Clinton; they also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/20/us/once-close-to-clinton-gore-keeps-a-distance.html">disagreed</a> over the handling of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/11/03/131035736/bush-considered-dropping-cheney-from-ticket-in-04">disagreed</a>, at times, over Iraq, as well as the use and nonuse of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/23/dick-cheney-george-bush-libby-pardon">presidential pardons</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, Mike Pence has proved to be a <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2020/0826/Last-man-standing-How-Pence-s-loyalty-helped-him-survive">loyal ally</a> to a president who has a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/">track record</a> of being unwilling to listen to dissent.</p>
<p>In the wake of the Jan. 6 <a href="https://theconversation.com/was-it-a-coup-no-but-siege-on-us-capitol-was-the-election-violence-of-a-fragile-democracy-152803">insurrection</a>, Democrats <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/533112-first-gop-lawmaker-calls-for-invoking-25th-amendment-to-remove-trump">and even a few Republicans</a> called on Pence to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-does-the-25th-amendment-work-and-can-it-be-used-to-remove-trump-from-office-after-us-capitol-attack-152869">remove Trump from office</a> by invoking the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxxv">25th Amendment</a>. Pence ultimately <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/politics/pence-opposes-invoking-25th-amendment.html">avoided</a> taking <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/trump-pence-25th-amendment/index.html">such action</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377412/original/file-20210106-13-1a5nru2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Vice President Mike Pence presides over the joint session of Congress reviewing Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377412/original/file-20210106-13-1a5nru2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377412/original/file-20210106-13-1a5nru2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377412/original/file-20210106-13-1a5nru2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377412/original/file-20210106-13-1a5nru2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377412/original/file-20210106-13-1a5nru2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377412/original/file-20210106-13-1a5nru2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377412/original/file-20210106-13-1a5nru2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One key job of the vice president involves presiding over the process of counting Electoral College votes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vice-president-mike-pence-presides-over-a-joint-session-of-news-photo/1230451359">Saul Loeb/Pool/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘last voice in the room’</h2>
<p>Following Mondale’s model, when Joe Biden agreed to be Barack Obama’s running mate, he said that he wanted to be the “<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2012-09-06-sns-rt-us-usa-campaign-bidenbre8850xj-20120906-story.html">last man in the room</a>” whenever important decisions where being made so he could give Obama his unfiltered opinion. </p>
<p>When Biden picked Harris as his running mate, he said he “asked Kamala to be the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-harris-make-appearance-historic-democratic-ticket/story?id=72327968">last voice in the room</a>,” to “[c]hallenge [his] assumptions if she disagrees,” and to “[a]sk the hard questions.” </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>As Harris begins her trailblazing term as a vice president of many firsts, she has an opportunity to either follow the past as a vice president who is largely ignored, to follow Pence as a deferential foot soldier, or to pick up Mondale’s mantle by making sure that the president isn’t shielded from points of view that he should hear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Holzer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The vice president may be second in line for the most powerful job in the nation, but there isn’t necessarily a lot to do besides wait – unless the president wants another adviser.Joshua Holzer, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Westminster CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1505062020-12-04T13:28:14Z2020-12-04T13:28:14ZHow Hanukkah came to be an annual White House celebration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372888/original/file-20201203-15-15vjmd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C39%2C3747%2C2459&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Donald Trump speaks during a Hanukkah reception at the White House in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TrumpHanukkah/a1da70611d804af38115d0f2d980ec12/photo?Query=white%20house%20hanukkah%20trump&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=58&currentItemNo=7">AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-throwing-in-person-white-house-hanukkah-party-despite-covid-concerns/">President Trump’s plan of holding an in-person Hanukkah reception</a> at the White House on Dec. 9, despite concerns over the coronavirus, is getting much attention on social media. </p>
<p>Some asked whether anyone would be reckless enough to attend, observing that an in-person party, amid the COVID-19 surge, could turn out to be another superspreader event. Others wondered who would be invited, recalling that President Trump, in the past, limited his invitation list to supporters, and why the event was being held on that date. The eight-day festival of Hanukkah, regulated by the Jewish lunar calendar, begins this year on the night of Dec. 10. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1330913002317635585"}"></div></p>
<p>Overlooked amid these questions is one that to me, as a <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/hornstein/sarna/index.html">historian of American Jewish life and a scholar of American religion</a>, seems far more fascinating and important. How did the office of the president of the United States come to hold an official White House Hanukkah party in the first place? </p>
<h2>White House traditions</h2>
<p>For most of American history, the only December holiday that <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/press-room/press-backgrounders/white-house-christmas-traditions">gained White House recognition</a> was Christmas. President John Adams and first lady Abigail Adams, back in 1800, threw the first White House Christmas party, a modest affair, planned with their four-year-old granddaughter in mind, and with invitations sent to selected government officials and their children. </p>
<p>In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge inaugurated the <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/a-coolidge-christmas">practice of lighting an official White House Christmas tree</a>. He also delivered the first formal presidential Christmas message. His message assumed, as most Americans of that time did, that everybody celebrated Christmas. </p>
<p>It displayed, according to <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1352/WHITE_HOUSE_CAROLS_AND_BRILLIA.pdf">The Washington Post</a>, “the reverence of a Christian people giving at the seat of their government the expression of their praise for ‘the King of kings’ on the eve of the anniversary of His birth.” Neither Adams nor Coolidge uttered one word about Hanukkah. </p>
<p>Official notice of Hanukkah waited another half-century – until 1979 – by which time Jews had become much more visible as members of American society and government. Ironically, the president who first <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/525">paid attention to Hanukkah was Jimmy Carter</a>, although he wasn’t the Jewish community’s favorite Democratic candidate. When he ran for reelection in 1980, he got <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-voting-record-in-u-s-presidential-elections">less than 50%</a> of the Jewish vote – less than any Democrat since 1928. </p>
<p>In 1979, following weeks of seclusion in the White House after Iranian students took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran seizing 52 diplomats and citizens, President Carter emerged and crossed over to Lafayette Park. He <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/525">lit the large Hanukkah candelabrum</a>, dubbed the “National Menorah,” <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-theres-30-foot-menorah-national-mall-180961553/">erected in the park with private funds</a> and delivered brief remarks. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372631/original/file-20201202-13-8slr2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372631/original/file-20201202-13-8slr2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372631/original/file-20201202-13-8slr2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372631/original/file-20201202-13-8slr2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372631/original/file-20201202-13-8slr2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372631/original/file-20201202-13-8slr2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372631/original/file-20201202-13-8slr2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372631/original/file-20201202-13-8slr2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The lighting ceremony of the National Hanukkah Menorah, at the Ellipse, near the White House, in 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MenorahLighting/90f1d602ce634eef8ff66f1c25aa48d0/photo?Query=menorah%20white%20house&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=101&currentItemNo=17">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Seeing that Jews celebrate their own holiday in December – not Christmas but Hanukkah – he directed his <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/There_Really_Is_a_Santa_Claus/6rAc9xM5VqYC?hl=en&gbpv=0">next annual Christmas message</a> only “to those of our fellow citizens who join us in the joyous celebration of Christmas.” </p>
<p>Every president since has recognized Hanukkah with a special menorah-lighting ceremony, and limited his Christmas messages to those who actually observe the holiday.</p>
<h2>Menorah lightings</h2>
<p>Hanukkah came to the White House itself, in 1989, when <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/president/holiday/hanukkah/">President George H.W. Bush displayed a menorah</a> there, a candelabrum given to him by the Synagogue Council of America. </p>
<p>But Bill Clinton was the first president to actually light a menorah in the White House. In 1993, he invited a dozen schoolchildren to the Oval Office for a small ceremony. The event made headlines when <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1993-12-09-9312090779-story.html">6-year-old Ilana Kattan’s ponytail dipped into the flame</a> and a wisp of smoke was visible around her head. Clinton was reported to have gently rubbed her ponytail with his fingers.</p>
<p>Menorah lightings grew in prominence during the Clinton years. Memorably, in 1998, Clinton <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/president/holiday/hanukkah/">joined Israel’s then-President Ezer Weizman</a> in lighting a candle on the first night of Hanukkah in Jerusalem. </p>
<p>But no White House Hanukkah parties ever took place under Clinton. Instead, he included Jewish leaders in a large annual “holiday party.” </p>
<h2>Annual Hanukkah parties</h2>
<p>The first president to host an official White House Hanukkah party, and the first to actually light a menorah in the White House residence and not just in its public spaces, was <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?167772-1/hanukkah-menorah-lighting">George W. Bush, beginning in both cases in 2001</a>.</p>
<p>Since Bush made a point of inserting religion, complete with baby Jesus, into his many annual Christmas parties, he sought to underscore through the Hanukkah party that, <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011210-7.html">as he explained</a>, the White House “belongs to people of all faiths.” Since then Hanukkah has become an official White House tradition. </p>
<p>Hasidic leaders in the distinctive black suits worn by members of their community regularly appeared at these parties. Beginning in 2005 the <a href="https://www.insider.com/white-house-hanukkah-party-history-how-it-began#the-white-house-kitchen-was-made-kosher-for-the-occasion-starting-in-2005-7">parties became completely kosher</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372632/original/file-20201202-15-106hf2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C64%2C2502%2C1600&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372632/original/file-20201202-15-106hf2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C64%2C2502%2C1600&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372632/original/file-20201202-15-106hf2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372632/original/file-20201202-15-106hf2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372632/original/file-20201202-15-106hf2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372632/original/file-20201202-15-106hf2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372632/original/file-20201202-15-106hf2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372632/original/file-20201202-15-106hf2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Barack Obama at the annual Hanukkah reception in the White House in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ObamaHanukkah/88ffacdd25304636bef6e2162e018d7a/photo?Query=hanukkah%20white%20house&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=216&currentItemNo=13">AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Barack Obama maintained the tradition of the White House Hanukkah party, holding two of them in 2013, and Donald Trump maintained the tradition as well. Both in 2018 and 2019, he also held <a href="https://www.jta.org/2018/12/07/united-states/trumps-hanukkah-parties-celebrate-his-decision-to-move-the-israel-embassy">two Hanukkah parties</a> for his friends and Jewish family members – including his daughter, Ivanka – and invited selected non-Jewish guests to attend them. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>The fact that this year, amid COVID-19 concerns and a presidential transition, the White House is planning just one Hanukkah party, has pruned the guest list and will <a href="https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/trumps-white-house-is-throwing-an-in-person-hanukkah-party">hold the event on Dec. 9, before Hanukkah starts</a>, remains noteworthy. </p>
<p>What is truly significant, however, is how much America has changed since Presidents John Adams and Calvin Coolidge invented America’s White House Christmas traditions and paid no attention to Hanukkah at all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150506/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan D. Sarna does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For much of American history, the only December holiday to be recognized in the White House was Christmas, but menorah lightings are now an annual tradition.Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1498782020-11-17T20:11:23Z2020-11-17T20:11:23ZA brief history of presidents snubbing their successors – and why the founders favored civility instead<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369678/original/file-20201116-21-1y1ixzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C4713%2C3083&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Republican nominee Gov. Mike Pence and Democratic nominee Sen. Tim Kaine stand after the vice-presidential debate in Farmville, Va., Oct. 4, 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Campaign2016VPDebate/a421c130ee024dd9b81c0bdbf007895b/photo?Query=Sen.%20Tim%20Kaine%20and%20Gov.%20Mike%20Pence%20after%20the%20vice-presidential%20debate%20in%20Farmville&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=12&currentItemNo=6">Joe Raedle/Pool via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s beyond dispute: Donald Trump won’t go down in history as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/31/trump-abandoned-civility-republican-party">model of civility</a>. Examples of his bad manners abound. When he gave his first <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRBsJNdK1t0">inaugural speech</a>, the president craftily avoided any nod to his defeated opponent, Hillary Clinton, or to the other half of the electorate. </p>
<p>Then he started embarrassing foreign leaders <a href="https://apnews.com/article/768b59297e8d4a55998839411490562f">during official trips</a>. “Time after time, diplomatic niceties fell by the wayside as the president contradicted and undermined his hosts,” the Associated Press reported in mid-2019.</p>
<p>Most likely, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/15/i-concede-nothing-trump-says-shortly-after-appearing-acknowledge-biden-won-election/">he will not congratulate President-elect Joe Biden</a> – or he will do it, eventually, but begrudgingly. It’s also <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/525883-mcenany-dodges-on-trump-attending-biden-inauguration-hell-attend-his">possible that he will not attend</a> the inaugural ceremony in January. </p>
<p>Trump is not alone in his transgressions of civility. In reality, the shredding of etiquette by politicians and public officials, including presidents, has long been a feature of American politics. Ungraciousness is bipartisan: The public has not forgotten House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <a href="https://theconversation.com/civility-in-politics-is-harder-than-you-think-130522">literally shredding</a>, in full public view, the text of President Trump’s State of the Union speech.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tears up what appeared to be a copy of President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369677/original/file-20201116-17-b16qes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tears up what appeared to be a copy of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Feb. 4, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/feb-4-2020-house-speaker-nancy-pelosi-tears-up-what-news-photo/1199118661?adppopup=true">Xinhua/Liu Jie via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ripping off the toupee</h2>
<p>American politicians have long treated one another with disrespect. Trump shunning the president-elect may seem extreme today, but in 1801, at the presidential inauguration ceremony of Thomas Jefferson, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/inaugural/exhibition.html#jefferson">the outgoing president, John Adams, was nowhere to be seen</a> – he was not even invited. For his part, Adams had appointed to high office several anti-Jeffersonian men. And he had done that <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/the-friendship-and-rivalry-of-thomas-jefferson-and-john-adams/">just before leaving office</a>.</p>
<p>Jefferson, in turn, <a href="http://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/thomas-jefferson/#:%7E:text=Jefferson%20even%20refused%20to%20attend,existed%20between%20the%20two%20men.">did not attend the funeral of George Washington</a> on Dec. 18, 1799, and in 1829 John Quincy Adams – another one-term-only president, like his father – <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/not-a-ragged-mob-the-inauguration-of-1829">stayed clear of Andrew Jackson’s inauguration</a>.</p>
<p>In the years before the Civil War, breaches in etiquette <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/opinion/sunday/violence-politics-congress.html">took a dramatic turn</a>. On May 22, 1856, <a href="https://theconversation.com/think-the-us-is-more-polarized-than-ever-you-dont-know-history-131600">U.S. Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina, a Democrat, beat Republican Sen. Charles Sumner</a> with a walking cane. The scene took place on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Brooks was “outraged” by an anti-slavery speech Sumner had given a few days earlier. He stopped short of killing his enemy only because the cane unexpectedly broke.</p>
<p>The floor of the U.S. House of Representatives held ominous scenes as well. On Feb. 6, 1858, at nearly 2 a.m., as members were discussing the admission of the Kansas Territory into the Union, South Carolina Democrat Laurence Keitt and Pennsylvania Republican Galusha Grow exchanged volleys of insults, arguing over whether Kansas would be a free or a slave state.</p>
<p>They switched to blows. More than 30 representatives jumped into the fight, <a href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/The-most-infamous-floor-brawl-in-the-history-of-the-U-S--House-of-Representatives/">leading to a brawl</a>. The situation defused after Wisconsin Republicans John Potter and Cadwallader Washburn ripped the toupee from the head of William Barksdale, a Democrat from Mississippi.</p>
<h2>Founders knew incivility’s risk</h2>
<p>No matter the occasional jeers and laughs; when political leaders treat each other with disrespect, the nation suffers. </p>
<p>Civility is neither frivolous nor a matter of private behavior only. As economist Friedrich Hayek said, civility is a “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/law-legislation-and-liberty-volume-2-the-mirage-of-social-justice/oclc/811505153">method of collaboration</a> which requires agreement only on means and not on ends.” The lack of civility, obviously, decreases the chances of finding solutions to urgent common problems.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PX9reO3QnUA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">At a rally in 2015, then-candidate Donald Trump mocked a reporter with a disability.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The founders, perhaps better than any other generation, were acutely aware of the political risk of incivility. Washington, Adams, Jefferson and the others <a href="https://21stcenturycicero.wordpress.com/tyrrany/the-founding-fathers-the-classics/">knew history by heart</a>. They looked back at the tyrants and all the reckless commanders of the past, like Attila or Caligula. They knew that brash leaders such as these could, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, burst asunder “<a href="https://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/default.xqy?keys=FOEA-print-04-01-02-3893">all the ligaments of duty & affection</a>.”</p>
<p>And they looked forward, with anxiety, to the moment when a new barbarism would come back in full swing. Ominous signs were already looming. <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/04/frontier-racing-and-injured-pride-the-duel-between-andrew-jackson-and-charles-dickinson/">On May 30, 1806, Andrew Jackson killed Charles Dickinson</a>, an attorney who had accused him, of all things, of cheating on a horse race bet. This event did not put a stop to Jackson’s career. He was a brawler and a committed duelist. He snapped easily and showed no respect for his opponents. But “Old Hickory,” as he was known, kept gaining national notoriety. </p>
<p>President Jackson is <a href="https://www.politifact.com/article/2017/may/02/whats-up-with-donald-trump-andrew-jackson/">Trump’s favorite leader</a> – although the two have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/us/politics/donald-trump-andrew-jackson.html">very little in common</a>. Just like Trump, however, Jackson represents a straightforward, low-brow style of unapologetic and ungraceful leadership. Jackson bore exactly those personal attributes which left the founders aghast: “<a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/wheeling-wv-19591010">His passions are terrible</a>,” Thomas Jefferson said about Jackson in a 1824 interview.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president. Thomas Jefferson said 'His passions are terrible.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369679/original/file-20201116-17-1c7p8cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president. Thomas Jefferson said, ‘His passions are terrible.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c17120/">Engraving by J.B. Longacre/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The founders were passing through the short-lived age of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/22033/the-refinement-of-america-by-richard-l-bushman/">refinement, politeness and civilization</a>. From the 1750s to the early 1800s, American leaders set for themselves an ambitious goal. They wanted to trigger an anthropological revolution and promote a new type of individual – polite, civilized, kind and collaborative.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>A modern nation, for them, relied on politicians who talked a certain way (with a lower voice), dressed a certain way (with less aristocratic pomp) and were able to <a href="https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5039">forestall any boorish posturing</a>.</p>
<p>In this respect, history has proven the founders’ expectations misplaced. These men, slave owners though they were, valued civility as at once liberating for the subject, and as an effective strategy of survival for the community at large. But “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-11404">the free cultivation of Letters</a>,” as George Washington hoped, “the unbounded extension of Commerce, the progressive refinement of Manners, the growing liberality of sentiment,” did not come about.</p>
<p>Joe Biden, once president, will not reverse the course of history. He cannot restore an age of refinement and politeness. He is not the vaccine. But in the eyes of many, he can be at least an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/opinion/joe-biden-humility.html">antidote</a> against Trump’s lack of grace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149878/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurizio Valsania does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Mind your manners’ isn’t just something your mother told you. Manners – and civility – are an essential component of how things get done in government, and the Founding Fathers knew it.Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di TorinoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1456622020-09-17T11:29:08Z2020-09-17T11:29:08ZPessimists have been saying America is going to hell for more than 200 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358450/original/file-20200916-14-uum7x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C48%2C6418%2C4969&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Today's genuine pessimism about America's future has very old roots.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/stormy-rocky-background-royalty-free-image/115004236?adppopup=true"> Aaron Foster/Getty</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pessimism looms large in America today. It’s not just because of Donald Trump, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/opinion/trump-white-fear-2020.html">vicar of fear and violence</a>. It’s COVID-19, a faltering economy, the growing power of Russia and China, fires and climate change – you name it.</p>
<p>Journalists and analysts have launched warnings: American <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/opinion/trump-republican-convention-racism.html">democracy is about to end</a>; the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/world/trump-empire-decline/">American century is about to end</a>; the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/is-trump-ending-the-american-era/537888/">American era is about to end</a>. If Trump loses, there’s no certainty that the U.S. will make it to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/opinion/can-america-survive-2020.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage&fbclid=IwAR1Dw_uygS4pgpVt6lMkCI031UceU6skQOY4jcSSoMRmjSsU3POb8nkZhYw">the other side</a> of potential political chaos.</p>
<p>That’s no delusion. The bleak scenarios are a possibility, although the probability is that the United States will not descend, any time soon, into a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/10/12/stop-worrying-about-second-civil-war/">second Civil War</a>. The presidential election could well be contested – although the nation will probably <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-trump-refuses-to-accept-defeat-in-november-the-republic-will-survive-intact-as-it-has-5-out-of-6-times-in-the-past-144843">survive intact</a>.</p>
<p>This is not the first time in American history that journalists, writers and intellectuals in general have cast a gloomy light about the future. American leaders as well have often yielded to despair – which is especially notable given that political leaders are expected to be the most optimistic of the herd.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358442/original/file-20200916-22-1ywqa1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kimberly Guilfoyle giving a speech at the GOP convention." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358442/original/file-20200916-22-1ywqa1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358442/original/file-20200916-22-1ywqa1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358442/original/file-20200916-22-1ywqa1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358442/original/file-20200916-22-1ywqa1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358442/original/file-20200916-22-1ywqa1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358442/original/file-20200916-22-1ywqa1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358442/original/file-20200916-22-1ywqa1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump campaign official Kimberly Guilfoyle gives an apocalyptic speech at the GOP convention Aug. 24.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kimberly-guilfoyle-speaks-during-the-first-day-of-the-news-photo/1228189847?adppopup=true">Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘We are not a chosen people’</h2>
<p>During the early stages of national life, the mood was no different. Actually, it was even worse. </p>
<p>When Thomas Jefferson realized the implications of grounding a nation upon slavery, <a href="https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4243">his pessimism</a> reached metaphysical, theological heights: </p>
<p>“<a href="https://kdhist.sitehost.iu.edu/H105-documents-web/week07/Jefferson1787.html">I tremble for my country</a> when reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.” </p>
<p>John Adams, the second president, was similarly prone to frequent bouts of pessimism. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-01-02-0646">Our country will do like all others</a>,” he wrote a few years before entering office, “play their affairs into the hands of a few cunning fellows.” </p>
<p>Then he went through his painful presidency, a single term only, which made him even more bitter: “There is no special Providence for us. <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-5883">We are not a chosen people</a> that I know of.”</p>
<h2>Fending off ruin</h2>
<p>Back then, France and Great Britain acted like the global superpowers. The “American experiment,” on the other hand, was puny, defenseless, hazardous. Consequently, many leaders believed that only a constitution, plus a stronger central government, could forestall ruin. </p>
<p>When Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay set off <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text">to write the famous 85 papers</a> to persuade Americans to adopt the new national charter, pessimism was one of their favorite vocabularies. It was more than just a rhetorical expedient. These men were convinced that society was actually teetering on the edge of the abyss.</p>
<p>Americans would soon behold “<a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed08.asp">plunder and devastation</a>,” Hamilton wrote. Madison echoed his colleague and conjured a “gloomy and perilous scene into which the <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed14.asp">advocates for disunion</a> would conduct us.” </p>
<p>The “advocates for disunion” – the antagonist political party led by James Winthrop from Massachusetts, Melancton Smith from New York and Patrick Henry and George Mason from Virginia – would sap America of all its good energy. “<a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed11.asp">Poverty and disgrace</a>,” Hamilton wrote again, “would overspread a country which with wisdom might make herself the admiration and envy of the world.”</p>
<p>At the end of the 18th century, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41253-019-00084-8#Fn1">negative campaigning</a> was already widespread. Political candidates and their acolytes criticized their competitors and conjured images of destruction if their rivals prevailed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358446/original/file-20200916-20-1r2dbt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Portrait of Thomas Jefferson" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358446/original/file-20200916-20-1r2dbt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358446/original/file-20200916-20-1r2dbt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358446/original/file-20200916-20-1r2dbt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358446/original/file-20200916-20-1r2dbt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358446/original/file-20200916-20-1r2dbt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358446/original/file-20200916-20-1r2dbt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358446/original/file-20200916-20-1r2dbt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If Thomas Jefferson were elected, one newspaper wrote, ‘murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest, will openly be taught and practiced.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-thomas-jefferson-by-rembrandt-peale-circa-1805-news-photo/860684958?adppopup=true">US National Archives/Getty</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If Jefferson were to be elected, one Connecticut newspaper announced, “murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest, will openly be taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries and distress, the soil soaked with blood, and the nation <a href="https://millercenter.org/issues-policy/governance/first-words-thomas-jefferson-march-4-1801">black with crimes</a>.”</p>
<p>Political campaigning and statements bordering on exaggeration should not be taken at face value. But it’s also true that today, like yesterday, a genuine pessimism about America’s future <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1123906?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">exists</a>. </p>
<h2>A patriotic feat</h2>
<p>As a historian of the early republic, I dare say that pessimism is to America what salt is to french fries: without, it wouldn’t be the same.</p>
<p>However, there are two types of pessimism in America, absolute and conditional – a distinction that political scientist <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2125837.pdf">Francis G. Wilson</a> laid out long ago.</p>
<p>Absolute pessimism is the belief that the nation is a big lie, a fraud, a trick that cunning white males have been playing on women, native populations, African Americans, working classes, immigrants. As such, this nation deserves to be cursed, canceled, sunk, forgotten.</p>
<p>Most leaders, journalists, analysts and historians do not endorse this kind of pessimism. They are conditional pessimists, as Wilson would label them. </p>
<p>They are like <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Jeremiad-Sacvan-Bercovitch-dp-0299073505/dp/0299073505/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=">Jeremiah</a>, the weeping prophet of the Bible. They deliver a prophecy of disaster because they want to provide a new hopeful solution. They speak to Americans’ sense of pride, exhort them, incite them, mobilize them, increase the level of commitment to a common cause and enact a ritual whose upshot should be a deeper awareness.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>To repeat: The worst can happen – is happening – today, just as it did 200-something years ago. That’s why these contemporary prophets are not delusional conspiracy theorists, or simply <a href="https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/">paranoids</a>. </p>
<p>Their pessimism is fact based. At the same time, it’s a patriotic feat. Conditional pessimists evoke images of turbulence and peril. But they call on America to be its best self.</p>
<p>Pessimism, in this case, is optimism by another name.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145662/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurizio Valsania does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Think American democracy is ending? You’re not alone, writes a historian. American leaders have often yielded to despair – as far back as the founding of the republic.Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di TorinoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1445312020-08-26T12:23:24Z2020-08-26T12:23:24ZThe right to vote is not in the Constitution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354702/original/file-20200825-22-16e40vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5455%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Voters in Nashville, Tennessee, faced long lines in March 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXElection2020TennesseePrimary/c380e9918f264d63814aec1c8220650c/photo">AP Photo/Mark Humphrey</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’re looking for the right to vote, you won’t find it in the United States Constitution or the Bill of Rights.</p>
<p>Two of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-supreme-court-is-back-in-session-with-new-controversial-cases-that-stand-to-change-many-americans-lives-heres-what-to-expect-190819">most important cases</a> at the Supreme Court this year address voting rights, and both legal controversies focus on the right to vote. But rather than denials of the right to cast a ballot, they address the more subtle forms of manipulation grounded in how votes are counted. Underlying the public discussion of these election law controversies, and many others, is a misunderstanding about the Constitution: the assumption that the right to vote is clearly protected.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/moore-v-harper-2/">Moore v. Harper</a> questions the <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/justices-will-hear-case-that-tests-power-of-state-legislatures-to-set-rules-for-federal-elections/">constitutionality</a> of attempts to rein in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-independent-state-legislature-doctrine-could-reverse-200-years-of-progress-and-take-power-away-from-the-people-186282">partisan gerrymandering</a>, manipulation of the geographic boundaries of electoral districts to advantage the party controlling the map. <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/merrill-v-milligan-2">Merrill v. Milligan</a> deals with <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-allows-states-to-use-unlawfully-gerrymandered-congressional-maps-in-the-2022-midterm-elections-182407">racial gerrymandering</a>, which changes electoral boundaries to <a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/three-takeaways-merrill-v-milligan-oral-arguments/">advantage one race over another</a>.</p>
<p>The Bill of Rights recognizes the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment">core rights of citizens in a democracy</a>, including freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly. It then recognizes several insurance policies against an abusive government that would attempt to limit these liberties: <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/second_amendment">weapons</a>; the privacy of <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/third_amendment">houses</a> and <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment">personal information</a>; <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fifth_amendment">protections</a> against <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/sixth_amendment">false criminal prosecution</a> or <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/seventh_amendment">repressive civil trials</a>; and <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/eighth_amendment">limits on excessive punishments</a> by the government.</p>
<p>But the framers of the Constitution never mentioned a right to vote. They didn’t forget – they intentionally left it out. To put it most simply, the founders didn’t trust ordinary citizens to endorse the rights of others. </p>
<p>They were creating a radical experiment in self-government paired with the protection of individual rights that are often resented by the majority. As a result, they did not lay out an inherent right to vote because they feared rule by the masses would mean the destruction of – not better protection for – all the other rights the Constitution and Bill of Rights uphold. Instead, they highlighted other core rights over the vote, creating a tension that remains today.</p>
<h2>Relying on the elite to protect minority rights</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294442/original/file-20190926-51429-1azrxng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294442/original/file-20190926-51429-1azrxng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294442/original/file-20190926-51429-1azrxng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294442/original/file-20190926-51429-1azrxng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294442/original/file-20190926-51429-1azrxng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294442/original/file-20190926-51429-1azrxng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294442/original/file-20190926-51429-1azrxng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294442/original/file-20190926-51429-1azrxng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Madison of Virginia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Madison(cropped)(c).jpg">White House Historical Association/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of the rights the founders enumerated protect small groups from the power of the majority – for instance, those who would say or publish unpopular statements, or practice unpopular religions, or hold more property than others. James Madison, a principal architect of the U.S. Constitution and the drafter of the Bill of Rights, was an intellectual and landowner who saw the two as strongly linked. </p>
<p>At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Madison expressed the prevailing view that “<a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_807.asp">the freeholders of the country would be the safest depositories of republican liberty</a>,” meaning only people who owned land debt-free, without mortgages, would be able to vote. The Constitution left voting rules to individual states, which had long-standing laws limiting the vote to those freeholders.</p>
<p>In the debates over the ratification of the Constitution, Madison trumpeted a benefit of the new system: the “<a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed63.asp">total exclusion of the people in their collective capacity</a>.” Even as the nation shifted toward broader inclusion in politics, Madison maintained his view that rights were fragile and ordinary people untrustworthy. In his 70s, he opposed the expansion of the franchise to nonlanded citizens when it was considered at Virginia’s Constitutional Convention in 1829, emphasizing that “<a href="https://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/default.xqy?keys=FOEA-print-02-02-02-1924">the great danger</a> is that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the Minority.” </p>
<p>The founders believed that freedoms and rights would require the protection of an educated elite group of citizens, against an intolerant majority. They understood that protected rights and mass voting could be contradictory.</p>
<p>Scholarship in political science backs up many of the founders’ assessments. One of the field’s clear findings is that elites support the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/on-the-conceptualization-and-measurement-of-political-tolerance/579D03FF1A6041C6DB3DD6CB1FBC98E1">protection of minority rights</a> far <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/193786?seq=1">more than ordinary citizens</a> do. Research has also shown that ordinary Americans are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08913819808443510">remarkably ignorant</a> of <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300072754/what-americans-know-about-politics-and-why-it-matters">public policies and politicians</a>, lacking even <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/09/15/public-ignorance-about-the-constitution/">basic political knowledge</a>. </p>
<h2>Is there a right to vote?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353690/original/file-20200819-42861-y7adp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of Andrew Jackson" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353690/original/file-20200819-42861-y7adp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353690/original/file-20200819-42861-y7adp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353690/original/file-20200819-42861-y7adp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353690/original/file-20200819-42861-y7adp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353690/original/file-20200819-42861-y7adp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353690/original/file-20200819-42861-y7adp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353690/original/file-20200819-42861-y7adp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrew Jackson of Tennessee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_jackson_head.jpg">Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What Americans think of as the right to vote doesn’t reside in the Constitution, but results from broad shifts in American public beliefs during the early 1800s. The new states that entered the union after the original 13 – beginning with Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee – <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/evolution-of-suffrage-institutions-in-the-new-world/F7D4A2F6B807F84514340D1F2F084194">did not limit voting to property owners</a>. Many of the new state constitutions also explicitly recognized voting rights.</p>
<p>As the nation grew, the idea of universal white male suffrage – championed by the <a href="https://www.kqed.org/pop/62290/what-we-can-learn-about-trump-from-his-favorite-president-andrew-jackson">commoner-President</a> Andrew Jackson – became an article of popular faith, if not a constitutional right.</p>
<p>After the Civil War, the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxv">15th Amendment</a>, ratified in 1870, guaranteed that the right to vote would not be denied on account of race: If some white people could vote, so could similarly qualified nonwhite people. But that still didn’t recognize a right to vote – only the right of equal treatment. Similarly, the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxix">19th Amendment</a>, now more than 100 years old, banned voting discrimination on the basis of sex, but did not recognize an inherent right to vote.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353681/original/file-20200819-42861-yb58zp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C4741%2C3129&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man stands at an outdoor voting booth." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353681/original/file-20200819-42861-yb58zp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C4741%2C3129&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353681/original/file-20200819-42861-yb58zp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353681/original/file-20200819-42861-yb58zp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353681/original/file-20200819-42861-yb58zp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353681/original/file-20200819-42861-yb58zp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353681/original/file-20200819-42861-yb58zp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353681/original/file-20200819-42861-yb58zp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A voter casts a ballot at a mobile voting station in California in May 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/USElection2020HouseCaliforniaSpecialElection/aa6802a99b304ff5a07d78a24f4571b8/photo">AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Debates about voting rights</h2>
<p>Today, the country remains engaged in a long-running debate about what counts as <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/28/the-missing-right-a-constitutional-right-to-vote/">voter suppression</a> versus what are <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/husted-v-philip-randolph-institute/">legitimate limits or regulations</a> on voting – like requiring voters to provide identification, barring felons from voting or <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/husted-v-philip-randolph-institute/">removing infrequent voters from the rolls</a>.</p>
<p>These disputes often invoke an incorrect assumption – that voting is a constitutional right protected from the nation’s birth. The national debate over representation and rights is the product of a long-run movement toward mass voting paired with the long-standing fear of its results.</p>
<p>The nation has evolved from being led by an elitist set of beliefs toward a much more universal and inclusive set of assumptions. But the founders’ fears are still coming true: Levels of support for the rights of <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/02/27/attitudes-toward-democratic-rights-and-institutions/pg_2020-02-27_global-democracy_01-8/">opposing parties</a> or <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/02/27/attitudes-toward-democratic-rights-and-institutions/pg_2020-02-27_global-democracy_01-5/">people of other religions</a> are strikingly weak in the U.S. as well as around the world. Many Americans support <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/01/30/survey-tepid-support-free-speech-among-students">their own rights</a> to free speech but want to <a href="https://www.bariweiss.com/resignation-letter">suppress</a> the <a href="https://www.zogbyanalytics.com/news/951-the-zogby-poll-a-plurality-of-voters-support-cancel-culture-pluralities-of-republicans-and-very-conservative-voters-also-support-cancel-culture">speech of those</a> with whom <a href="https://www.zogbyanalytics.com/news/951-the-zogby-poll-a-plurality-of-voters-support-cancel-culture-pluralities-of-republicans-and-very-conservative-voters-also-support-cancel-culture">they disagree</a>. Americans may have come to believe in a universal vote, but that value does not come from the Constitution, which saw a different path to the protection of rights.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article originally published Aug. 26, 2020.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgan Marietta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The framers of the Constitution never mentioned a right to vote. They didn’t forget. They intentionally left it out.Morgan Marietta, Professor of Political Science, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1221792019-08-22T21:04:53Z2019-08-22T21:04:53ZWould Trump concede in 2020? A lesson from 1800<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288970/original/file-20190821-170918-8z3d5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=320%2C0%2C3375%2C2488&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will Donald Trump peacefully vacate the Oval Office if he loses the presidential election in 2020? The American 1800 election showed that peaceful transitions of power are the result of choices made by individuals.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As primary season heats up in the United States, the Democrats are anxiously debating the best path to unseat Donald Trump in 2020. But the question of how to beat Trump is perhaps less urgent than the issue of whether he will accept defeat. </p>
<p>Trump has already <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-it-matters-trump-still-rejects-his-popular-vote-loss">questioned his loss of the 2016 popular vote</a> with baseless accusations of voter fraud. He has also repeatedly toyed with the idea of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/18/politics/donald-trump-term-limit/index.html">extending his presidency beyond the eight-year limit enshrined in the U.S. Constitution</a>, even trumpeting Jerry Falwell Jr.’s assertion that his first term be <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/05/trump-term-mueller-1302643">extended by two years</a> to compensate for the Russia investigation. Perhaps most ominously, Trump’s former lawyer <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-2020/ex-trump-lawyer-cohen-says-he-fears-trump-may-not-allow-peaceful-transition-if-he-loses-in-2020-idUSKCN1QG2ZR">Michael Cohen warned</a> while testifying before the House Oversight Committee in February 2019:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Given my experiences working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses in 2020, there will never be a peaceful transition of power.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/04/us/politics/nancy-pelosi.html">recently voiced her concern</a> that Trump will not concede if the Democratic margin of victory is too slim.</p>
<p>The anxiety over Trump’s potential response to 2020 is an outlier in the history of American politics. With the striking exception of 1860 and the ensuing Civil War, the record of American presidential elections is one of peaceful transfers of power. People and parties have rotated the office with minimal trouble for more than two centuries. </p>
<h2>Jefferson versus Adams</h2>
<p>Americans tend to look to the election of 1800 as the precedent for this achievement. After Thomas Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, tied in the Electoral College, the contest was thrown to the House of Representatives to decide the victor. </p>
<p>After 35 successive ties in the House, Jefferson, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Democratic-Republican-Party">a Democratic-Republican</a>, emerged victorious, confining <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Federalist-Party">Federalist</a> John Adams to only one term. </p>
<p>This was the first time a president relinquished his office to a member of a rival faction. The 1800 election tested whether the republic could survive a partisan battle over the presidency and the resulting success assured Americans that the nation’s experiment in democracy could work. </p>
<p>But that’s not the whole story. The election of 1800 was more of a near-miss than most realize. As the House repeatedly deadlocked, the Democratic-Republicans grew wary that the Federalists would use the stalemate to stall until March 4, 1801, at which time Adams’s term would end and the presidency would then pass to the <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/President_Pro_Tempore.htm"><em>president pro tempore</em></a> of the Senate, also a Federalist.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288947/original/file-20190821-170918-1ggpoud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288947/original/file-20190821-170918-1ggpoud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288947/original/file-20190821-170918-1ggpoud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288947/original/file-20190821-170918-1ggpoud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288947/original/file-20190821-170918-1ggpoud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288947/original/file-20190821-170918-1ggpoud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288947/original/file-20190821-170918-1ggpoud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288947/original/file-20190821-170918-1ggpoud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">McKean is seen in this portrait by Charles Willson Peale, some time after 1787.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the March 4 deadline loomed, Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas McKean <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-33-02-0335">prepared to defend the Democratic-Republican presidency by force</a>. In case the Federalists tried to install one of their own, the governor drafted a proclamation ordering all officers and citizens of Pennsylvania to declare loyalty to Jefferson as president and Burr as vice-president. </p>
<p>McKean also readied arms for 20,000 militiamen who he would deploy to arrest any member of Congress who prevented Jefferson from taking the presidency. Virginia Gov. James Monroe likewise ordered a guard for his state’s arsenal to prevent any Federalists from plundering its weapons. </p>
<p>But Jefferson finally received a majority on Feb. 17 and McKean aborted his plan. Still, his preparations are revealing.</p>
<p>McKean’s plot demonstrates the contingency of American democracy and its reliance on the decision-making of those charged with maintaining it. Peaceful transitions of power are the result of choices made by individuals. They are not, nor have they ever been, a natural feature of the American political character. </p>
<h2>Open hostility to democratic norms</h2>
<p>In its first three years, the Trump administration has demonstrated open hostility to the customs that have traditionally stabilized American political institutions. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288948/original/file-20190821-170956-16j0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288948/original/file-20190821-170956-16j0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288948/original/file-20190821-170956-16j0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288948/original/file-20190821-170956-16j0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288948/original/file-20190821-170956-16j0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288948/original/file-20190821-170956-16j0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288948/original/file-20190821-170956-16j0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288948/original/file-20190821-170956-16j0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump has displayed little respect for American political traditions since his election in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Its <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/425879-watchdog-group-trump-had-over-1400-conflicts-of-interest-in-first-two">myriad conflicts of interest,</a> defiance <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-congress/us-house-approves-authority-to-sue-trump-advisers-who-ignore-subpoenas-idUSKCN1TC2CB">of subpoenas</a> and court orders, refusal to release <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-dept-issues-memo-backing-mnuchins-refusal-to-provide-trumps-tax-returns-to-congress/2019/06/14/3c8b3376-8ee7-11e9-b08e-cfd89bd36d4e_story.html">the president’s tax returns</a>, the hiring of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/12/ivanka-trump-jared-kushner-are-case-study-why-nepotism-is-problematic/">Trump’s children</a>, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/trump-ilhan-omar-chant-media-send-her-back_n_5d31c8ede4b0419fd32bfc17">assaults on the media</a> and lack of media access (to name just a few) all raise alarming flags. </p>
<p>And then there’s Trump’s repeated suggestion <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-supporters-might-demand-that-he-serve-more-than-two-terms-as-president/2019/06/16/4b6b9ae2-9041-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html">that he serve more than eight years</a>. All told, Trump looks poised to contest the 2020 results if they do not go his way.</p>
<p>Americans and anxious onlookers should not take a Trump concession for granted. Whether 2020 will follow the peaceful path of 1800 or the road to war of 1860 is anyone’s guess. </p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shira Lurie received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Throughout the course of American history, peaceful transitions of power have been the result of choices made by individuals, not the U.S. political system. What does that mean if Trump loses in 2020?Shira Lurie, University College Fellow in Early American History, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1209552019-07-25T01:06:32Z2019-07-25T01:06:32ZThe Mueller hearing and the death of facts<p>Listening to former <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/mueller-testimony-congress-live/2019/07/24/d51a82d6-aca1-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html">special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony</a> on July 24, the nation heard a duel over the facts. </p>
<p>Not what the facts imply, not our response to them, but what the facts are. </p>
<p>Founding Father John Adams once said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” </p>
<p>But this is no longer Adams’ America, where facts were unalterable.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.leemcintyrebooks.com/lee.php">scholar of philosophy</a> and what I call the <a href="https://www.leemcintyrebooks.com/post-truth.php">“post-truth” era</a>, I believe <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/mueller-testimony-congress-live/2019/07/24/d51a82d6-aca1-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html">Mueller’s testimony shows</a> that at least in the political world, “alternative facts” have replaced actual facts and feelings have more weight than evidence.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285641/original/file-20190724-110175-723di7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285641/original/file-20190724-110175-723di7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285641/original/file-20190724-110175-723di7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285641/original/file-20190724-110175-723di7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285641/original/file-20190724-110175-723di7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285641/original/file-20190724-110175-723di7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285641/original/file-20190724-110175-723di7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, questions Mueller.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump-Russia-Probe/0dacee9a68b64214b2916a3d49efc013/24/0">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Competing dreams</h2>
<p>It has been established that <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/21/17-intelligence-agencies-russia-behind-hacking/92514592/">the Russians hacked the 2016 presidential election</a>. That is one of the few generally accepted facts to emerge from the Mueller investigation.</p>
<p>But did President Trump invite or otherwise cooperate with this interference? And, once an investigation into these questions was taken up by <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sco">Mueller’s Office of Special Counsel</a>, did the president attempt to interfere with it? </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-want-mueller-tell-swing-voters-what-trump-did-wrong-n1032501">The dream for Democrats</a> was that, upon hearing the facts directly from Mueller, the American people might finally begin to pay attention and realize that there was incontrovertible evidence that Trump at least obstructed justice in his <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obstruction-of-justice-10-times-trump-may-have-obstructed-justice-mueller-report/">repeated efforts to derail</a> and <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2019/04/debunking-muellers-conflicts/">discredit the special counsel’s investigation</a>. </p>
<p>Even if Mueller did not introduce any new information beyond the confines of his report – <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/07/24/mueller_opening_statement_testimony_limited_to_report_will_not_discuss_steele_dossier_or_fbi_probe.html">which he did not</a> – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/20/us/politics/mueller-hearings-democrats.html">the hope was</a> that simply by seeing and hearing his report come to life, Americans could finally agree that even if there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Trump conspired with the Russians, the country could at least understand that he threatened, lied, enticed and otherwise interfered with the investigation. It would be like seeing the movie rather than reading the book.</p>
<p>The dream for Republicans was to <a href="https://www.apnews.com/b88a2a9bc3d745439d3f088d2ba783b7">introduce a new set of facts</a>, which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luuRh6UwAV0">they offered</a> with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/07/24/gops-questions-mueller-seemed-bizarre-unless-you-watch-fox-news/?utm_term=.4e89087969b1">largely no evidence</a>, seeking to question the integrity of the investigation from the start. They pursued this line relentlessly.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285642/original/file-20190724-110154-dyqt9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285642/original/file-20190724-110154-dyqt9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285642/original/file-20190724-110154-dyqt9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285642/original/file-20190724-110154-dyqt9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285642/original/file-20190724-110154-dyqt9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285642/original/file-20190724-110154-dyqt9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285642/original/file-20190724-110154-dyqt9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump spoke to reporters after Mueller’s testimony.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2pSVWOXId4">CBS News</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Competing takes</h2>
<p>The problem with facts these days is not that they do not exist. It’s that with a steady stream of propaganda fed to the electorate on a daily basis, the facts are <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-total-exoneration-to-impeach-now-the-mueller-report-and-dueling-fact-perceptions-116488">beholden to your political point of view</a>. </p>
<p>At the break in the Mueller hearings, here were the top three headlines from Fox News:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mueller-flustered-asking-lawmakers-to-repeat-questions-at-hearing">“Mueller flustered, asking lawmakers to repeat questions at tense hearing”</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mueller-friends-with-comey-during-heated-house-hearing">“Mueller admits he was friends with Comey during heated House hearing”</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/heres-how-much-the-mueller-investigation-cost-taxpayers">“Here’s how much the Mueller investigation cost taxpayers”</a></p>
<p>Over at MSNBC, there was an alternate universe:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/mueller-testifies-under-oath-that-his-report-does-not-exonerate-president-trump-64432709750">“Mueller testifies under oath that his report does not exonerate Trump”</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/mueller-president-trump-could-be-criminally-charged-with-obstruction-of-justice-after-he-leaves-office-64441413571">“Mueller: A president could be criminally charged after leaving office”</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/mueller-confirms-trump-asked-staff-to-falsify-records-to-protect-himself-related-to-investigation-64438853740">“Mueller confirms Trump asked staff to falsify records to protect himself”</a></p>
<p>The problem is not that any of these headlines are technically false. It’s that cherry picking what “facts” get reported creates a skewed perception of reality.</p>
<p>In May, Rep. Justin Amash, a Republican (who <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/452261-amash-officially-files-as-independent">became an Independent</a> in July), <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/05/28/justin-amash-donald-trump-impeachment-town-hall/1260471001/">held a series of town halls</a> on why he favored Trump’s impeachment. Several media outlets <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/07/mueller-testimony-barr-narrative/594547/">reported</a> one of the attendees didn’t even know what all the fuss was about. </p>
<p>“I was surprised to hear there was anything negative in the Mueller report at all about President Trump,” <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/07/mueller-testimony-barr-narrative/594547/">Cathy Garnaat said</a>. “I hadn’t heard that before. I’ve mainly listened to conservative news and I hadn’t heard anything negative about that report, and President Trump has been exonerated.” </p>
<p>With polls showing that fewer than 10% of Americans have read any part of Robert Mueller’s report, it’s possible that many rely on news coverage to tell them what it said. Indeed, when the report was released back in April, a poll showed that only “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-want-mueller-tell-swing-voters-what-trump-did-wrong-n1032501">46% of Americans had heard something about the Mueller Report</a>.”</p>
<p>Democrats appear to be nursing the hope that once something happens, people will wake up and care about the facts again. Once the report is released … once people read the report … once Mueller testifies … facts will matter again. </p>
<h2>The death of facts</h2>
<p>But to watch <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republicans-democrats-spin-mueller-testimony-candidates-call-impeachment/story?id=64535060">the spin by both Republicans and Democrats</a> about the hearing – “Republicans and Democrats filtered Robert Mueller’s Capitol Hill testimony through their own prisms Wednesday,” wrote ABC News – one wonders if this is a false hope.</p>
<p>At this point, does it really matter? </p>
<p>Even if the Mueller report had been definitive, some have speculated that <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-total-exoneration-to-impeach-now-the-mueller-report-and-dueling-fact-perceptions-116488">half the country would have rejected it anyway</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps, in order to promote an agenda, you need not offer “alternative facts,” but simply discredit the other side’s fact finders. Or, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/22/trump-told-lesley-stahl-he-bashes-press-to-discredit-negative-stories.html">as Trump once put it</a> – in response to a question about why he attacks the media so much, “I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.”</p>
<p>Shortly after Mueller concluded his testimony, Trump stepped out onto the South Lawn to talk to reporters.</p>
<p>Once again, he called the Russia investigation a “ridiculous hoax” and a “witch hunt” – after Robert Mueller had explicitly told lawmakers that the Russia investigation was neither a witch hunt nor a hoax. In a final tweet, before departing for a fundraiser in West Virginia, Trump tweeted <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-on-mueller-testimony-there-was-no-defense-to-this-ridiculous-hoax">“TRUTH IS A FORCE OF NATURE.”</a> </p>
<p>
<section class="inline-content">
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248895/original/file-20181204-133100-t34yqm.png?w=128&h=128">
<div>
<header>Lee McIntyre is the author of:</header>
<p><a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/post-truth">Post-Truth</a></p>
<footer>MIT Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.</footer>
</div>
</section>
</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee McIntyre is a registered Democrat. MIT Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.</span></em></p>To one scholar of the post-truth era, tuning in to Robert Mueller’s testimony Wednesday was to hear a duel over the facts. Not what the facts imply – but what the facts are.Lee McIntyre, Research Fellow Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1158722019-05-02T10:44:05Z2019-05-02T10:44:05ZTrump’s dirty tricks: Unethical, even illegal campaign tactics are an American tradition<p>Donald Trump pulled some pretty unseemly stunts to win the 2016 United States presidential election. </p>
<p>He threatened to put his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in jail and publicly asked Russia to <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/03/trump-russia-emails-joke-cpac-speech">hack her emails</a>. After Russian operatives did something similar – stealing <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/mueller-report-shows-russians-trump-camp-were-friends-benefits-collusion-n996101">emails from Democratic National Committee servers</a> – the Trump campaign publicized the hacked emails, which were published on WikiLeaks. Trump aides also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/opinion/mueller-trump-campaign-russia-conpiracy-.html">met with Russian spies</a> who promised information damaging to Clinton.</p>
<p>Some of these activities, which special counsel Robert Mueller <a href="https://graphics.axios.com/docs/mueller-report.pdf">uncovered</a> in his 22-month investigation into Trump, may have been illegal. </p>
<p>Other Trump attacks on Clinton were tawdry, unethical and, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/video/barr-to-graham-no-underlying-crime-by-trump-in-mueller-report-1515519043849">Attorney General William Barr</a> in his May 1 testimony to Congress, technically lawful. </p>
<p>The attacks were, for the Justice Department at least, dirty tricks.</p>
<p>Students of American history – including those who’ve read the college U.S. politics textbook <a href="http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ngsp/americangovernment/">I co-authored</a> – will know that Trump has a lot of company in the dirty tricks department: Elections have always been nasty. </p>
<p>Since the earliest years of the republic, candidates have used <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/151920">deceptive, underhanded and dubiously legal tactics</a> to discredit their opponents.</p>
<h2>1800: Jefferson vs. Adams</h2>
<p>The 1800 race between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams was a <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/373588.Adams_vs_Jefferson">lowly beginning for the new American democracy</a>. </p>
<p>Jefferson was Adams’ vice president from 1797 to 1801. To defeat his boss without personally maligning the president of the United States, Jefferson let a journalist, <a href="https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/james-callender">James Callender</a>, do his dirty work.</p>
<p>Callender wrote rapidly partisan articles for the Richmond Reporter newspaper and in a self-published 1800 anti-Federalist pamphlet called “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Prospect_Before_Us.html?id=HLhEnQEACAAJ">The Prospect Before Us</a>.” One of his more creative attacks was to <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/John-Adams/David-McCullough/9780743223133">question Adams’ masculinity</a>. He accused Adams of being a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”</p>
<p>Callender’s anti-Federalist publications during the campaign led to his prosecution under the Sedition Act, according to the <a href="https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/james-callender#footnote5_3u77848">Thomas Jefferson Foundation</a>. In May 1800, he was sentenced to nine months in jail and a US$200 fine.</p>
<p>This bitter contest between president and vice president occurred because President Adams and Vice President Jefferson came from different political party. Back then, voters picked two candidates for president. The top vote-getter became president, the second-place finisher became vice president.</p>
<p>Congress changed this system changed after the dirty 1800 election, passing the <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii">12th Amendment</a>, which established <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Origins_of_the_Twelfth_Amendment.html?id=3n6GAAAAMAAJ">the current running mate system</a>. </p>
<h2>1828: Adultery, murder and pimping</h2>
<p>That didn’t make electoral politics any kinder. The 1828 race between President John Quincy Adams and the southern statesman Andrew Jackson was the United States’ <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/jqadams/campaigns-and-elections">nastiest and most personal election yet</a>.</p>
<p>Democratic President John Quincy Adams lost badly – but not before he did some serious damage to Jackson’s reputation. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272056/original/file-20190501-113864-1czatif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272056/original/file-20190501-113864-1czatif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272056/original/file-20190501-113864-1czatif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272056/original/file-20190501-113864-1czatif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272056/original/file-20190501-113864-1czatif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272056/original/file-20190501-113864-1czatif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272056/original/file-20190501-113864-1czatif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272056/original/file-20190501-113864-1czatif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrew Jackson’s wife, Rachel, was labeled an ‘American Jezebel’ in the 1828 election.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Rachel_Jackson.jpg">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Adam’s campaign surrogates <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/jqadams/campaigns-and-elections">accused Jackson of murder</a> and spread rumors that Jackson’s wife, Rachel – who had previously been married to another man – had never really divorced. </p>
<p>“As a result,” political commentator Rick Unger wrote <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/08/20/the-dirtiest-presidential-campaign-ever-not-even-close/">in Forbes magazine in 2012</a>, “the Democratic candidate was accused of being an adulterer and running away with another man’s wife, while Mrs. Jackson was labeled a bigamist.” </p>
<p>Jackson’s team retaliated by accusing Adams, a former ambassador to Russia, of having provided Russian Czar Alexander I up with young American virgins for his sexual pleasure.</p>
<p>These tactics probably amounted to <a href="https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/defamation-law-made-simple-29718.html">criminal defamation</a>. In the United States, it is unlawful to tarnish a person’s reputation by spreading false information. But there is <a href="https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/facpubs/69/">no evidence that either camp sued</a>. </p>
<h2>Kennedy’s dirty tricks</h2>
<p>In the modern era, John F. Kennedy found subtler ways to discredit his opponents.</p>
<p>When running for Congress in 1946, Kennedy’s competitors in the Democratic primary included a Boston city councilman named <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKOH/Russo%2C%20Joseph/JFKOH-JUR-01/JFKOH-JUR-01">Joseph Russo</a>. Kennedy’s father, the formidable and ambitious Joseph Kennedy, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2893826-the-kennedy-menv">paid a janitor</a> named Joseph Russo to run for Congress as well. </p>
<p>In the confusion over which Russo was the legitimate politician, votes were split. Kennedy won his seat. </p>
<p>Later, when Kennedy was a presidential candidate in 1960, his aides raised the temperature in the TV studio where he would soon face off against Vice President Richard Nixon in the nation’s first-ever televised debate. The Kennedy campaign <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010027716">knew</a> that Nixon suffered from hyperhidrosis, a medical condition that causes a person to easily sweat. </p>
<p>As Nixon perspired and struggled under the bright lights and high heat, Kennedy looked <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/kennedy-nixon-debates">cool, calm and sweat-free</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272044/original/file-20190501-113839-1bg31l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272044/original/file-20190501-113839-1bg31l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272044/original/file-20190501-113839-1bg31l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272044/original/file-20190501-113839-1bg31l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272044/original/file-20190501-113839-1bg31l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272044/original/file-20190501-113839-1bg31l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272044/original/file-20190501-113839-1bg31l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272044/original/file-20190501-113839-1bg31l5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John F. Kennedy’s team turned up the heat in the TV studio before a televised 1960 debate with Richard Nixon, knowing he would sweat heavily.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Campaign-Great-Gaffes/c27f9e6f68df44aca79bc9fc3219e701/5/0">AP Images, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nixon had been politically pranked before. </p>
<p>Dick Tuck, a notorious Democratic Party trickster, was “known to pose as a fire marshal at Nixon appearances and give reporters low estimates for the size of the crowds,” according to his <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-dicktuck/political-prankster-and-nixon-nemesis-dick-tuck-dead-at-age-94-idUSKCN1IV257">obituary by Reuters</a>.</p>
<h2>Party infighting</h2>
<p>As president, Nixon’s team would excel at much dirtier tricks.</p>
<p>To defeat Democrat Hubert Humphrey in the 1972 election, Nixon operatives <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/22/archives/dirty-tricks.html">caused trouble for his campaign</a> in ingenious ways. </p>
<p>At a fancy fundraising dinner for Democratic vice presidential candidate Edmund Muskie, Republican tricksters ordered the delivery of $300 in liquor, 200 pizzas and even a couple magicians – much to the dismay of organizers and the shock of the 1,300 very proper attendees.</p>
<p>The dirty tricks tradition continued into the 21st century, sometimes within the same party.</p>
<p>During the 2000 Republican presidential primary, George W. Bush’s campaign strategist Karl Rove spread rumors in South Carolina that John McCain’s adopted Bangladeshi daughter was <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/dirty-tricks-south-carolina-and-john-mccain/">his “illegitimate black child.”</a> </p>
<p>In 2010, an Arizona Republican political operative named Steve May <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/us/politics/07candidates.html">recruited homeless people to run for several offices</a> on the Green Party ticket, hoping to split the liberal vote. Angry Democrats said that nominating “sham” candidates violated state and federal election laws. </p>
<p>That case didn’t go to trial, but some dirty campaign tricks have spurred legal action. </p>
<p>After the Democratic-aligned <a href="https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2019/04/disbarred-lawyer-garve-ivey-jr-sentenced-to-12-months-behind-bars.html">Alabama lawyer Garve Ivey Jr.</a> in 1998 allegedly paid a call girl to file a false rape claim against the GOP’s candidate for lieutenant governor, Steve Windom, Ivey was charged with criminal defamation, bribery and witness tampering. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $1,000. </p>
<p>While that misdemeanor conviction was later overturned, Ivey was disbarred in 2011 and later <a href="https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2019/02/disbarred-lawyer-garve-ivey-jr-convicted-on-felony-theft-charges-ordered-to-pay-38151520-in-restitution.html">jailed on unrelated charges of misusing client funds</a>.</p>
<p>The lesson here? </p>
<p>The ethical standard for election campaigns in the United States has always been low. Modern techniques like email hacking may be new, but using surrogates to trash your opponent is an electoral strategy as old as the republic itself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115872/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steffen W. Schmidt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Amid all the Mueller report uncertainty, one thing is clear: Donald Trump did some wildly improper things to win the presidency. So did Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, JFK and George W. Bush.Steffen W. Schmidt, Lucken Endowed Professor of Political Science, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/987372018-06-28T15:15:15Z2018-06-28T15:15:15ZMen suffer about 70 percent of fireworks injuries – and other 4th of July facts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224461/original/file-20180622-26576-1dqo9bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">John Adams believed the fourth of July should be filled with 'illuminations from one end of this continent to the other.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Royals-Rangers-Baseball/54dccbc219f44139a966bdf37a8de799/15/0">AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the eyes of many Americans, the Fourth of July is a day for parades, barbecues and, of course, fireworks. </p>
<p>The tradition got its start at the beginning of our nation’s history after the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia to write and sign the Declaration of Independence. A day after the Continental Congress adopted the declaration on July 4, 1776, John Adams – soon the second U.S. president – penned a letter to his wife Abigail, <a href="https://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/doc?id=L17760703jasecond">declaring that Independence Day</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://gurukul.american.edu/heintze/fourth.htm#Beginning">One year later</a>, Philadelphia celebrated the anniversary with fireworks – or “illuminations,” to Adams – plus a parade commemorating Independence Day. </p>
<p>So with that in mind, here are four fascinating sets of facts about fireworks.</p>
<h2>Firework use is growing</h2>
<p>Americans shoot off <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/assets/docs/FactsandFigures/Fireworks%20Consump.%20Figures%202000-17.pdf">almost 1 pound of fireworks</a> each year for every adult. </p>
<p>And this figure has grown rapidly in recent years, from half a pound per adult in 2000. In 1976, the United States’ bicentennial, the figure was just <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/assets/docs/FactsandFigures/2consumpvinjuriesliberalizationgraph%201976-2016.pdf">one-sixth of a pound</a> annually. </p>
<p><iframe id="Bh9T6" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Bh9T6/5/" height="550px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>A reason for the big increase is the steady reduction in <a href="http://time.com/money/4379859/aerial-fireworks-legal-state-map/">state prohibitions against</a> individuals using fireworks. Today only Massachusetts completely prohibits individuals from owning and using any type of fireworks. <a href="https://www.usfireworks.biz/legal/legal.htm">The other states all allow</a> usage in some form.</p>
<p>The most recent states to allow fireworks are <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/apa-applauds-nj-legalization-of-consumer-fireworks">New Jersey</a>, <a href="https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2018/06/yes-a-limited-variety-of-fireworks-are-legal-in-delaware/">Delaware</a> and <a href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/altoona/2017/05/09/communities-respond-new-fireworks-law/101480788/">Iowa</a>, whose new law legalizes fireworks around the 4th of July and New Year’s Eve only.</p>
<p>Fireworks are also illegal in many urban areas, like <a href="http://www.dhses.ny.gov/ofpc/alerts-bulletins/information/documents/2015/sparklers.pdf">New York City</a>.</p>
<p>Because states are now permitting individuals to purchase and possess fireworks, there has been a large shift from professional to amateur use. Back in 2000, roughly one-third of all fireworks were set off during <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/assets/docs/FactsandFigures/Fireworks%20Consump.%20Figures%202000-17.pdf">professional displays</a>, the kind that light the skies of cities around the world on holidays like New Year’s Eve and national celebrations. By 2017, professional displays comprised less than 10 percent.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sparklers cause a large share of fireworks-related injuries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maria Symchych/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Firework prices have fallen</h2>
<p>Just because more regular Americans have been shooting off fireworks doesn’t mean prices have surged. The vast majority of the fireworks shot off in the United States are manufactured overseas, mainly in China. </p>
<p>Each <a href="https://dataweb.usitc.gov/">shipment of fireworks brought into the U.S.</a> includes a detailed invoice that shows the price the importer paid. These invoices show fireworks prices, after adjusting for <a href="http://businessmacroeconomics.com/">inflation</a>, are cheaper today than in the mid-1990s. </p>
<p>In 1996 it <a href="https://dataweb.usitc.gov/">cost</a> about $1.37 in <a href="https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm">today’s terms</a> to import 1 pound of fireworks. By 2017 the price had fallen to just $1.13 a pound. That means pound-for-pound fireworks are less than half the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/data/#prices">price of the hot dogs</a> many people are grilling this 4th.</p>
<p><iframe id="7sep3" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/7sep3/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Accidents and injuries</h2>
<p>Fireworks are dangerous – hence the reason so many states had banned them previously. </p>
<p>And as we’ve exploded more bottle rockets, firecrackers and Roman candles, <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/safety-education/safety-education-centers/fireworks">fireworks-related injuries have increased as well</a>, though they are still far below the rates we saw back in the mid-1980s when cities and states <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1987-06-30/local/me-1174_1_fireworks-bans">began banning their usage</a>. </p>
<p><iframe id="F8RXS" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/F8RXS/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Back in 1986, fireworks injured about 6.6 out of every 100,000 people. Since 1986, injuries have steadily fallen as government regulations made them safer. In 2008, the rate was down to 2.3 people. </p>
<p>But as states have relaxed restrictions, the injuries have started increasing again. The <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/2017-Neiss-data-highlights.pdf?3i3POG9cN.rIyu2ggrsUkD1XU_zoiFRP">latest figures for 2017</a> show a rate of 4 people per 100,000. </p>
<p>In addition, there’s also a big gender divide in who suffers the most injuries. Men experienced about <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/Fireworks_Report_2017.pdf">70 percent of fireworks-related injuries</a> for the one-month period from June 18 to July 18, 2017. </p>
<p><iframe id="ceCby" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ceCby/8/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Beyond such statistics, however low, every year there are <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/2016%20Fireworks%20Fact%20Sheet_0.pdf">horrible stories</a> of both <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/108/1/190">children</a> and adults being maimed and killed. So it’s always important to exercise caution when lighting what amounts to a low-yield missile. </p>
<h2>Fireworks now must meet higher standards</h2>
<p>One reason that injury rates have fallen in the first place is because of the federal government’s <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/">Consumer Product Safety Commission</a>. </p>
<p>This organization regulates fireworks under the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/part-1507">Federal Hazardous Substances Act</a>. It <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/banned-illegal-explosives">banned the sale</a> of the most dangerous fireworks, such as M-80s and cherry bombs, in the 1960s. </p>
<p>Today, it is working to lower injury rates again by requiring manufacturers to adhere to higher standards. In <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/assets/docs/CPSCDocs/cpscfireworksnprmfinal.pdf">February</a> 2017, for instance, the commission passed several of what I believe are common sense regulations for firework manufacturers to make their products safer.</p>
<p><iframe id="vNRDl" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/vNRDl/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>For example, faulty fuses have caused many <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/FireworksPoster2017.pdf?naw5VgnAOQ1Od_QzjYvZiZXeLk.kOqpt">injuries</a>, such as when some burned rapidly and ignite a rocket too quickly, preventing the holder from moving away in time. Other fuses actually take too long to ignite, leading people to investigate whether it needs to be relit just as the firework explodes in their face. So the commission now <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Fireworks/">requires all fuses to ignite</a> fireworks three to nine seconds after being lit.</p>
<p>The commission also now requires fireworks to have bases that are wider and support more weight so they do not tip over after being ignited. This prevents fireworks from firing off horizontally, becoming missiles that bounce along the ground and potentially hit spectators. </p>
<p>It also now bans <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10661-007-9784-1?LI=true">hazardous materials</a> like lead from the powder inside fireworks. This ensures people downwind from the explosions are not <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231006008351">poisoned by breathing</a> the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231007009685">smoke</a>.</p>
<h2>Common sense</h2>
<p>As more states loosen restrictions on fireworks this Fourth of July, millions more people will follow the exhortations of John Adams and celebrate by shooting off “illuminations.” </p>
<p>But if you do plan to shoot off a few rockets or more advance fireworks, use some common sense, especially if children are around. </p>
<p>Whether you are lighting fireworks, watching them explode above you or just <a href="http://forums.webmd.com/3/anxiety-and-panic-disorders-exchange/forum/4777">hiding from the noise</a>, try to have a fun and safe Independence Day.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/americas-dangerous-love-for-pyrotechnics-4-facts-about-fireworks-80181">article</a> originally published on June 29, 2017.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98737/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jay L. Zagorsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An economist explores data on injuries, which states ban fireworks and other interesting stats on what President John Adams referred to as ‘illuminations.’Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/801812017-06-29T13:45:38Z2017-06-29T13:45:38ZAmerica’s dangerous love for pyrotechnics: 4 facts about fireworks<p>In the eyes of many Americans, the Fourth of July is a day for parades, barbecue and, of course, fireworks. </p>
<p>The tradition got its start at the beginning of our nation’s history after the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia to write and sign the Declaration of Independence. A day after the Continental Congress adopted the declaration on July 4, 1776, John Adams – soon the second U.S. president – penned a latter to his wife Abigail, <a href="https://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/doc?id=L17760703jasecond">declaring that Independence Day</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://gurukul.american.edu/heintze/fourth.htm#Beginning">One year later, in 1777</a>, Philadelphia celebrated the anniversary with fireworks, which Adams dubbed “illuminations,” plus a parade commemorating Independence Day. </p>
<p>So with that in mind, here are four fascinating sets of facts about fireworks.</p>
<h2>Firework use is growing</h2>
<p>Currently, Americans are shooting off <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/assets/docs/FactsandFigures/fireworks%20consump.%20figures%202000-16.pdf">almost one pound of fireworks</a> each year for every man, woman and child. </p>
<p>And this figure has grown rapidly in recent years, from half a pound in 2000. In 1976, the United States’ bicentennial, the figure was just <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/assets/docs/FactsandFigures/2consumpvinjuriesliberalizationgraph%201976-2016.pdf">one-tenth of a pound</a> annually.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><iframe id="olsax" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/olsax/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p>A reason for the big increase is the steady reduction in <a href="http://time.com/money/4379859/aerial-fireworks-legal-state-map/">state prohibitions against</a> individuals using fireworks. Today only three states, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Delaware, completely prohibit individuals from owning and using any type of fireworks. <a href="https://www.usfireworks.biz/legal/legal.htm">All the rest allow</a> usage in some form. Since the year 2000, 15 states have liberalized their fireworks laws.</p>
<p>The most recent state to <a href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/altoona/2017/05/09/communities-respond-new-fireworks-law/101480788/">allow fireworks is Iowa</a>, which legalized their use just a couple months ago. But the new law allows them to be exploded only a few days before and after the 4th of July and around Christmas and New Year’s Eve.</p>
<p>Because states are now permitting individuals to purchase and possess fireworks, there has been a large shift from professional to amateur use. Back in 2000, roughly one-third of all fireworks hurled into the sky <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/assets/docs/FactsandFigures/fireworks%20consump.%20figures%202000-16.pdf">were done for professional displays</a>, the kind that light the skies of cities around the world on holidays like New Year’s Eve and national celebrations. By 2016, professional displays comprised less than 10 percent.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176238/original/file-20170629-16053-1pwf0sp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sparklers cause a large share of fireworks-related injuries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maria Symchych/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Firework prices have fallen</h2>
<p>Just because more regular Americans have been shooting off fireworks doesn’t mean prices have surged. The vast majority of the fireworks shot off in the United States are manufactured overseas, mainly in China. </p>
<p>Each <a href="https://dataweb.usitc.gov/">shipment of fireworks brought into the U.S.</a> includes a detailed invoice that shows the price the importer paid. These invoices show fireworks prices, after adjusting for <a href="http://businessmacroeconomics.com/">inflation</a>, are cheaper today than in the mid-1990s. </p>
<p>In 1996 it cost about US$1.34, in <a href="https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm">today’s dollars</a>, to import one pound of fireworks. By last year the price had fallen to just $1.17 a pound. That also means, pound for pound, fireworks are about half the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/data/#prices">price of the frankfurters</a> many people are grilling this Fourth.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><iframe id="8nPBv" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8nPBv/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Accidents and injuries</h2>
<p>Fireworks are dangerous – hence the reason so many states had banned them previously. </p>
<p>And as we’ve exploded more bottle rockets, firecrackers and Roman candles, <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/Fireworks_Report_2015FINALCLEARED.pdf?">fireworks-related injuries have increased as well</a>, though they are still far below the rates we saw back in the mid-1980s when more cities and states <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1987-06-30/local/me-1174_1_fireworks-bans">began banning their usage</a>. </p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><iframe id="x5A0L" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/x5A0L/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p>Back in 1986, fireworks injured about 6.6 out of every 100,000 people. Since 1986, injuries have steadily fallen as government regulations made them safer. In 2008, the rate was down to 2.3 people. </p>
<p>But as states have relaxed restrictions, the injuries have started increasing again. The latest figures for 2016 show a rate of 3.4 people per 100,000. Beyond such statistics, however low, every year there are <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/2016%20Fireworks%20Fact%20Sheet_0.pdf">horrible stories</a> of both <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/108/1/190">children</a> and adults being maimed and killed. So it’s always important to exercise caution when lighting what amounts to a low-yield missile. </p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><iframe id="1WHo5" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/1WHo5/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Fireworks now must meet higher standards</h2>
<p>One reason that injury rates have fallen in the first place is because of the federal government’s <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/">Consumer Product Safety Commission</a>. </p>
<p>This organization regulates fireworks under the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/part-1507">Federal Hazardous Substances Act</a>. It <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/banned-illegal-explosives">banned the sale</a> of the most dangerous fireworks, such as M-80s and cherry bombs, in the 1960s. </p>
<p>Today, it is working to lower injury rates again by requiring manufacturers to adhere to higher standards. This past <a href="http://www.americanpyro.com/assets/docs/CPSCDocs/cpscfireworksnprmfinal.pdf">February</a>, for example, the commission put into law a number of what I believe are common-sense regulations to make firework manufacturers adhere to a higher standard. </p>
<p>For example, faulty fuses have caused many <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/FireworksPoster2017.pdf?naw5VgnAOQ1Od_QzjYvZiZXeLk.kOqpt">injuries</a>, such as when some burned rapidly and ignited a rocket too quickly, preventing the holder from moving away in time. Other fuses actually take too long to ignite, leading people to investigate whether it needs to be relit just as the firework explodes in their face. So the commission now <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Fireworks/">requires all fuses to ignite</a> fireworks three to nine seconds after being lit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176244/original/file-20170629-11015-ammnzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176244/original/file-20170629-11015-ammnzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176244/original/file-20170629-11015-ammnzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176244/original/file-20170629-11015-ammnzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176244/original/file-20170629-11015-ammnzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176244/original/file-20170629-11015-ammnzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176244/original/file-20170629-11015-ammnzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Faulty fuses are responsible for many injuries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Estudi Vaque/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The commission also now requires fireworks to have bases that are wider and support more weights so they do not tip over after being ignited. This prevents fireworks from firing off horizontally, becoming missiles that bounce along the ground and potentially hit spectators. </p>
<p>It also now bans <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10661-007-9784-1?LI=true">hazardous materials</a> like lead from the powder inside fireworks. This ensures people downwind from the explosions are not <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231006008351">poisoned by breathing</a> the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231007009685">smoke</a>.</p>
<h2>Common sense</h2>
<p>So as more states loosen restrictions on fireworks this Fourth of July, millions more people will follow the exhortations of John Adams and celebrate by shooting off “illuminations.” </p>
<p>But if you do plan to shoot off a few rockets or more advance fireworks, use some common sense, especially if children are around. </p>
<p>Whether you are lighting fireworks, watching them explode above you or just <a href="http://forums.webmd.com/3/anxiety-and-panic-disorders-exchange/forum/4777">hiding from the noise</a>, try to have a fun and safe Independence Day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80181/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jay L. Zagorsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Every American shoots off almost a pound of fireworks a year, on average, and their growing personal use is causing injuries to climb.Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/775982017-06-13T02:57:44Z2017-06-13T02:57:44ZIs Trump’s definition of ‘the rule of law’ the same as the US Constitution’s?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173479/original/file-20170612-10249-aikxcu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Donald Trump speaks at the White House.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Alex Brandon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>News <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ninth-circuit-court-declines-to-reinstate-trump-travel-ban-1497287531">such as the recent federal court decision</a> against President Donald Trump’s proposed travel ban and James Comey’s public Senate testimony serve as occasions for <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/336700-dem-rep-trump-administration-showing-incredible-disrespect-for-rule-of-law">outrage</a> among critics about the president’s <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/333263-dan-rather-blasts-trumps-willful-disregard-for-the-rule-of-law">disrespect for “the rule of law</a>.” </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/05/10/warren-comey-firing-shows-trump-disregard-for-rule-law/DTKu5wXPfNPyVmAOMzFIEL/story.html">prominent lawmakers</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-10/comey-s-firing-is-a-crisis-of-american-rule-of-law">law professors</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/opinion/trumps-madness-invites-mutiny.html">journalists</a>, among others, see the new administration as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/26/all-the-times-trump-personally-attacked-judges-and-why-his-tirades-are-worse-than-wrong/?utm_term=.ca88897a8b75">flouting</a> this cornerstone value of American legal politics.</p>
<p>But what is the rule of law? </p>
<p>As a lawyer and political scientist who <a href="https://mei.nus.edu.sg/index.php/web/publications_TMPL/insight-149-contested-meanings-of-the-rule-of-law-in-qatar-and-the-arab-gul">studies this question</a> in <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2005/09/11/legalism-sans-fronti-res-u.s.-rule-of-law-aid-in-arab-world-pub-17440">diverse Arab countries and elsewhere</a>, I can affirm that the answer is not obvious. The rule of law <a href="https://mei.nus.edu.sg/index.php/web/publications_TMPL/insight-158-debates-on-the-rule-of-law-and-why-they-matter">means a variety of things within and across countries</a>. And they are not always consistent. </p>
<p>This helps make sense of the fact that Trump and some of his supporters may actually endorse one version of the rule of law. It just happens to be a version more dominant in nondemocratic political systems.</p>
<h2>Meanings of the rule of law</h2>
<p>Like “democracy” or “equality,” the rule of law is a popular ideal, but not always a clear one. For this reason, United Nations officials have tried <a href="https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/what-is-the-rule-of-law/">to define it</a>. Prominent organizations like the World Bank have measured it through <a href="http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/#home">basic indices</a>, or <a href="https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/wjp-rule-law-index/wjp-rule-law-index-2016">multifaceted criteria</a>, such as civil rights, order and security, constraints on government power and absence of corruption.</p>
<p>Yet using an appealing phrase to describe different social phenomena can have real political consequences. </p>
<p>The “rule of law” has at least two broad definitions that exist in obvious tension. </p>
<p>One is a dominant dogma of American political history, as conveyed by Founding Father <a href="http://www.mass.gov/courts/court-info/sjc/edu-res-center/jn-adams/mass-constitution-1-gen.html#JohnAdamsandtheRuleofLaw">John Adams’ succinct phrase</a>: “a government of laws, not men.” The idea here is basic. Government leaders, like all citizens, should not be above the law, but bound by it. This means, for example, that a U.S. senator who extorts money is no more immune to being charged with this crime than an ordinary American.</p>
<p>A second possible meaning, in tension with the first one but present in democracies nonetheless, is that law ensures that people obey government.</p>
<h2>Law over leaders</h2>
<p>Let’s first consider the rule of law as John Adams and the U.S. Constitution’s framers defined it.</p>
<p>The U.S. Constitution and courts’ mandate to review specific laws define the rule of law as a value and a set of procedures that provide legal protection to all Americans. The framers of the Constitution stressed in <a href="http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/overview-rule-law">Federalist 78</a> the need for judges with autonomy from politics who could defend fundamental citizen rights. <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rule-of-law/">Equality under the law</a> was popularized as a foundation of the rule of law in the wider English-speaking world by the 19th century.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173478/original/file-20170612-10208-261yyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173478/original/file-20170612-10208-261yyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173478/original/file-20170612-10208-261yyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173478/original/file-20170612-10208-261yyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173478/original/file-20170612-10208-261yyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173478/original/file-20170612-10208-261yyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173478/original/file-20170612-10208-261yyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173478/original/file-20170612-10208-261yyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A carving reads ‘Equal Justice Under Law’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This has not meant that all Americans, in fact, <a href="https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/equality-under-the-law-investigating-race-and-the-justice-system/">enjoy equal legal resources</a>. Nor has it prevented powerful individuals or groups from using laws to their advantage. Nonetheless, institutions that enforce the idea that legal rules and procedures bind everyone, including leaders, are central to the U.S. and other countries. The expectation that rules will be applied to everyone also <a href="http://prospect.org/article/america%E2%80%99s-interest-global-rule-law">underpins the contemporary global legal system</a>.</p>
<p>The rule of law, understood as laws over leaders, takes on added significance in the U.S. Here, <a href="https://www.clements.com/sites/default/files/resources/The-Most-Litigious-Countries-in-the-World.pdf">a comparatively large proportion of people become lawyers</a>. In turn, <a href="http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyers_no_longer_dominate_congress_is_commercialization_of_profession_to_b">many lawyers become bureaucrats and politicians</a>. American leaders with legal training are educated to focus on specific rules, procedures and close reading of legal texts. </p>
<p>Because of this, many government officials and members of the private and public-interest law firms who rotate in and out of government care about details of legal rules, procedures and transparency. A leader like Trump, whose tweets denigrate the neutrality of American judges, who <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/26/politics/trump-taxes-reform/">refuses to submit to the same expectations</a> of his peers or other citizens and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/05/09/comey-firing-reaction-from-members-of-congress-on-fbi-directors-dismissal/">who appears to interfere with an important legal inquiry</a>, <a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/trumps-lawyers-rule-law/">raises the hackles of other lawyers</a> and politicians. </p>
<p>Many Americans who are trained in the importance of the autonomy of laws will mistrust a leader who seems not to respect such autonomy. Thus, it was not surprising that as soon as Trump became president, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/trump-travel-immigration-ban-muslims-supreme-court-san-francisco-9th-circuit-555203">lawyers</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcohen1/2017/01/31/with-u-s-democracy-in-crisis-its-suddenly-thank-god-for-lawyers/#54f3c4cf18f0">mobilized against</a> an executive attitude that <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/does-trump-administration-believe-rule-law">demeans their sense of the rule of law</a>.</p>
<h2>Law and order</h2>
<p>Yet, Trump and some supporters appear to embrace a different understanding of the rule of law. The president has in fact <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/01/25/trump-we-are-going-to-restore-the-rule-of-law/">stated his dedication</a> to the rule of law. <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/04/29/rule-law-in-trumps-first-100-days.html">Some argue</a> that his leadership on certain issues, such as <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/20/first-100-days-trump-ushers-new-immigration-enforc/">enforcing immigration law</a>, has confirmed this commitment. This is not merely a case of alternative media. It underscores the importance of multiple meanings for the rule of law.</p>
<p>Trump seems to view the rule of law as deference to political authority and efficient <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/11/09/donald-trump-criminal-justice/93550162/">law enforcement</a>. This includes institutions that execute laws, which might be summarized as “cops, courts, and clinks” (jails).</p>
<p>Part of candidate Trump’s <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/2016/11/22/anti-illegal-immigration-advocates-thrilled-with-trumps-win/">appeal</a> was his repeated charge that people in the U.S. who broke the law, particularly undocumented immigrants, were policed inadequately. Since taking office, he has stressed <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-sign-executive-order-police-more-authority-murder-shooting-us-president-jeff-sessions-a7572001.html">enhancing police power</a> and <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/28/trump-proclaims-may-1-as-loyalty-day.html">loyalty</a> to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/letat-cest-trump/526431/">authority, especially his own</a>. </p>
<p>This is hardly a fringe meaning of the rule of law. Efficient enforcement and state order are critical components of a legal system that also embraces citizens’ rights and protections. Yet these two key facets of the rule of law don’t always sit together well. Strong policing can accompany denial of equal protection to suspected criminals, patterns of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-brutality-of-police-culture-in-baltimore/391158/">brutality</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/us/chicago-police-dept-plagued-by-systemic-racism-task-force-finds.html">racism</a>. Leaders’ natural interest in strong and efficient law enforcement and citizen loyalty can override their legal accountability.</p>
<p>Different political systems strike different balances with this tension. This helps explain Trump’s fondness for presidential immunity from <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/17/15654158/trump-prosecuted-constitution-impeachment-prosecutor">most criminal prosecution</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/11/23/trumps-claim-that-the-president-cant-have-a-conflict-of-interest/?utm_term=.5a52a9d27ff4">some conflict-of-interest standards</a>. This and his <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trumps-anti-democratic-war-on-facts-and-free-speech-w462960">impatience with protest and criticism against him</a> appear to show that the new president cares about law as a tool to bolster his authority rather than to enhance ordinary Americans’ rights. The world is certainly <a href="https://qz.com/643497/we-are-witnessing-the-rise-of-global-authoritarianism-on-a-chilling-scale/">seeing a trend</a> toward leaders like Egypt’s President Sisi and Turkey’s President Erdogan who wish to control law, rather than subordinate themselves to it.</p>
<p>Trump, and Americans who consider him a strong leader, likely believe in the rule of law, as they understand it. The controversy among many lawyers is that the level to which the new administration elevates efficiency, enforcement and executive privilege tramples their dominant sense of the rule of law as government by laws, not people.</p>
<p>Growing conflicts between the Trump administration and a range of lawyers, judges and activists stem, in part, from each side invoking real, contestable concepts of the rule of law. </p>
<p>Naturally, even if Trump and some supporters share a genuine belief in the rule of law as enforcement and order, this does not justify acts he may have taken that violate American laws. It should nevertheless serve as a reminder that using complex concepts like the rule of law without context or nuance may make it much harder to understand important and genuine underlying political disagreements.</p>
<p>Indeed, the world may be witnessing less a clear rejection of democracy as a more subtle move by many <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c5e7e8f8-22c4-11e7-8691-d5f7e0cd0a16?mhq5j=e1">elected leaders to concentrate power in authoritarian ways</a>. With Trump’s occasional <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/donald-trump-praising-authoritarians-rodrigo-duterte">appreciation of leaders with strong power</a>, it becomes particularly important to clarify what he means by the rule of law. That way, each of us can judge whether his legal values are the same as our own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77598/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Mednicoff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The rule of law can take on different meanings depending whom you ask and where you are – but in the US it pretty much means one thing.David Mednicoff, Director, Middle Eastern Studies, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/717762017-01-30T03:53:25Z2017-01-30T03:53:25ZHow distrust of unbelievers runs deep in American history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154437/original/image-20170126-30413-1xj0p96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"> A new megachurch movement is drawing crowds on the basis of belief in nonbelief.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama recently raised eyebrows during his confirmation hearing for attorney general <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/01/jeff_sessions_confirmation_hearing_had_one_moment_that_revealed_why_so_many.html">when he expressed doubts</a> that secular people respected the truth as much as did those with religious convictions. Even as he insisted that there should be no religious tests for holding public office, Sessions was queasy about the potential dangers of the secular worldview. </p>
<p>This was hardly uncharted territory for Sessions. During a speech in 2015, for example, he had singled out the <a href="http://www.salon.com/2017/01/15/can-jeff-sessions-in-good-faith-hire-attorneys-with-no-faith-the-ag-contender-has-repeatedly-disparaged-secularists_partner/">“relativistic, secular mindset”</a> of Justice Sonia Sotomayor as “directly contrary to the founding of our republic.” </p>
<p>The misgivings that Sessions harbors about secularists and nonbelievers – those who “don’t believe in a higher being” – is no mere eccentricity of a senator from the Bible Belt. </p>
<p>As a scholar who has worked for some years now on the history of atheism and secularism in the United States, I find his suspicions deeply familiar. In my book, <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10820.html">“Village Atheists: How America’s Unbelievers Made Their Way in a Godly Nation</a>,” I have examined attitudes toward atheists.</p>
<p>Distrust of the irreligious runs deep in American history.</p>
<h2>The place of religion in civic life</h2>
<p>The proposition that the ungodly are not up to the demands of virtuous citizenship has been an abiding concern, a commonplace of American political discourse from the founding. </p>
<p>The second president of United States, <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102">John Adams, wrote</a> in 1798, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.” </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154446/original/image-20170126-30407-1etqfgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154446/original/image-20170126-30407-1etqfgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154446/original/image-20170126-30407-1etqfgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154446/original/image-20170126-30407-1etqfgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154446/original/image-20170126-30407-1etqfgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154446/original/image-20170126-30407-1etqfgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154446/original/image-20170126-30407-1etqfgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Second U.S. President John Adams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/20942641@N07/8451706806/in/photolist-dSRcYS-6omRDL-iB6QfL-ayy2h8-fcHtNQ-qV1etE-597krR-aFSj4Z-iB75QX-4PmcY3-6SYgap-7inRFS-iB7914-NJwLi-6taBXf-iB6ZpZ-HU6no-8qYFrp-oCSyUG-5HHwG2-QPUsz-azNAX7-fcH9tQ-7imQp2-hqH67y-63H7HG-89AdBp-5FN778-b6JEXz-dtpe2z-9Q3B1D-5EoAKp-pUZchf-7pQB4R-5f3ocG-dgDA3Y-8MpwbA-bxHu1x-dgDyVV-dgDG4m-hLB1BA-dgDwqx-mW325b-hBZHA9-dZ1aQu-8Xs6Mr-e7FB4Q-bcZhmr-vyhy5-f6fuk">NPGpics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was believed that <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102">religion alone was able to check</a> the passions – from avarice to ambition – that would otherwise unravel the country’s republican form of government. </p>
<p>Adams was in plentiful company on the necessity of religion to public order and morality. In the decades following the American Revolution, religious freedom had many exponents, while irreligious freedom had far fewer. The law routinely favored believers over nonbelievers. </p>
<p><a href="https://archive.org/details/federalstatecons11poor">The state constitutions</a> of Pennsylvania (1790), Tennessee (1796) and Mississippi (1817) made holding political office contingent on affirming a belief in God as well as eternal rewards and punishments. Those who would not make such avowals were seen as lacking moral accountability, as unanswerable to a higher truth. </p>
<p>After the Civil War, the state constitutions of Maryland (1867), North Carolina (1868), Arkansas (1874) and Texas (1876) <a href="https://archive.org/details/federalstatecons11poor">all defended</a> the principle of religious liberty, but still specified that those who did not believe in God were to be barred from positions of public trust. </p>
<p>The prejudice against secularists and nonbelievers often extended into American courtrooms. The credibility of witnesses was frequently tied to religious belief; those who refused to swear an oath in God’s name could be barred from the stand as untrustworthy. </p>
<p>The famed French observer of American life, Alexis de Tocqueville, <a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7Ehyper/detoc/1_ch17.htm">reported on one such instance</a> in a New York court in 1831. A witness had made a point of challenging the usual oath, declaring that he “did not believe in the existence of God or the immortality of the soul.” Shocked to find an atheist in his own courtroom, the judge moved quickly to restore order, declaring the United States to be a Christian country and the witness unfit to testify. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154441/original/image-20170126-30404-tkdjma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154441/original/image-20170126-30404-tkdjma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154441/original/image-20170126-30404-tkdjma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154441/original/image-20170126-30404-tkdjma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154441/original/image-20170126-30404-tkdjma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154441/original/image-20170126-30404-tkdjma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154441/original/image-20170126-30404-tkdjma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/91173606@N00/4644500837/in/photolist-9ECrG7-atFVDL-eatz3T-9uMeYy-k639ok-9uMeZE-dTSMEP-dHcV3E-7r7aJn-phSRX3-9EChbd-ax28md-9U6ffs-qA1Vh-gUdxC8-gU97eD-9uMf3j-fpnP8Q-gUdm8f-9Ezx86-auqzVs-auqE17-9uJeVZ-9x7NQQ-6yb8zt-G4bSK-atG5XU-ST91F-N1EN78-9Ezs8i-MAqks-9Rmjm7-9TQHWY-9TMUNZ-9TMUwc-2xoTRt-6MotPz-auo1wp-913pg8-adye3Y-3qtUx-GeUhAh-gU7ddh-6MsF2s-9RME1T-Mmhyr-85qhhD-rVrwDC-rfYPzh-oXNc4s">CAHairyBear</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tocqueville found the episode emblematic of how religion routinely informed the norms of American civic life. Irreligion translated into a lack of integrity, honesty and truthfulness. </p>
<h2>‘Hands-off forbearance’</h2>
<p>The Protestant clergyman Robert Baird crystallized the widespread disregard for atheists and unbelievers in his <a href="https://archive.org/details/religioninameric00bair">“Religion in America (1844)</a>,” a formative textbook on the nation’s churchly character. </p>
<p>“Rights of conscience are religious rights,” he insisted. It was inconceivable to Baird that those rights extended to his fellow citizens who held views that subverted God, virtue and morality. </p>
<p>“What rights of conscience can atheism, irreligion, and licentiousness pretend to?” he asked with his negative answer already in hand. The most he could offer the ungodly was a little hands-off forbearance: Prosecuting the irreligious, after all, often only called people’s attention to their blasphemies. So he concluded, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It is sometimes the best way to silence a noisy, brainless lecturer on atheism, to let him alone.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Nonbelief as moral deficit</h2>
<p>The legal standing of secularists and atheists certainly improved in the 20th century, though the process was uneven. </p>
<p>When, in 1959, a Maryland atheist named Roy Torcaso petitioned to be a notary public without taking the required oath declaring his belief in God, <a href="https://casetext.com/case/torcaso-v-watkins-clerk">he found himself on the losing side</a> in the state courts. </p>
<p>Indeed, the Maryland Court of Appeals <a href="https://casetext.com/case/torcaso-v-watkins-clerk">defended</a> the state’s constitutional ban on atheists in decisive terms: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It seems clear that under our Constitution disbelief in a Supreme Being, and the denial of any moral accountability for conduct, not only renders a person incompetent to hold public office, but to give testimony, or serve as a juror. The historical record makes it clear that religious toleration, in which this State has taken pride, was never thought to encompass the ungodly.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nonbelief was still presented as a moral deficit, a treacherous marker from which the state necessarily recoiled. </p>
<p>Fortunately for Torcaso and other nonbelievers, the legal winds had been shifting at the U.S. Supreme Court. In a unanimous opinion, delivered in 1961, the justices <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/367/488/case.html">ruled for Torcaso</a>, affirming a principle of neutrality in which the religious and irreligious were to be treated equally under the law. </p>
<p>The use of atheism as a civic disqualification was thus officially set aside as unconstitutional. The next year, in Engel v. Vitale, the Supreme Court <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/370/421/">struck down state-sponsored prayers</a> in the public schools, vindicating a group of atheist, humanist, Unitarian and Jewish plaintiffs. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The atheist or agnostic – the nonbeliever – is entitled to go his own way,” Justice William O. Douglas <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/370/421/">wrote in that opinion</a>, underlining the equal liberties now accorded avowed secularists. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The Reagan years</h2>
<p>Those court victories hardly eliminated widespread public distrust of atheists and agnostics. In the throes of the Cold War, no set of judicial opinions was going to dispel the persistent suspicion that the godless were somehow in league with communists. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154445/original/image-20170126-30413-ert9np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154445/original/image-20170126-30413-ert9np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154445/original/image-20170126-30413-ert9np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154445/original/image-20170126-30413-ert9np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154445/original/image-20170126-30413-ert9np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154445/original/image-20170126-30413-ert9np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154445/original/image-20170126-30413-ert9np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. President Ronald Reagan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolinapixel/4313696073/in/photolist-7zbPye-dNwpQd-43gM14-eh8Po8-chpjoL-adfgbr-4MYrTc-5GshWV-ePNwqS-8KZgd6-bbibcK-5GshVK-7xP6aq-dHwkiv-9fgdpn-9eR1Zi-4HMpkS-dE3aDv-9xs4oh-2c4K7k-4T4dgU-E5Wam-dtgqxP-aCVSfT-93Es4P-9k76CJ-d2X9S9-7tdYUr-coD8ts-dhUVhk-dhUUT9-ayJY2G-aEdbhM-4wqHUp-6Kc2Fw-9NKU3M-9jMGj7-dTdT12-9nbaWh-6xrrcm-97CSZB-gLLUF5-DaMwGd-e9GbwZ-CLShev-9uQGfJ-9S7QHk-BPCPLv-34fHY-bQKsSn">Edalisse Hirst</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In many ways, the Supreme Court decisions against prayer and Bible reading in schools only heightened popular antagonisms against nonbelievers. Among religious conservatives, the court was seen as having opened the secular floodgates, which now threatened to wash away the nation’s Christian heritage. </p>
<p>When President Ronald Reagan <a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganecumenicalprayer.htm">spoke at a massive Dallas prayer breakfast</a> in 1984, he dated the tearing of the country’s religious fabric to the Supreme Court decisions of the early 1960s. </p>
<p>Reagan told the assembled,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience… . And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The reservations that Sessions expressed at his confirmation hearing are usefully set against this much larger historical backdrop. He sees religion (especially his Protestant version of it) as having been integral to the welfare of the republic and considers secularism as corrosive of that anchoring synthesis. </p>
<p>He is far from alone in those presuppositions. Leveling the playing field for believers and nonbelievers has been a long and contentious struggle in American public life. The back-and-forth at Sessions’ hearing was another reminder that the skirmishing is far from over.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leigh E. Schmidt has received funding from the American Council of Learned Societies and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to support his research on Village Atheists: How America’s Unbelievers Made Their Way in a Godly Nation (Princeton, 2016), which is the background for this piece. </span></em></p>Distrust of the irreligious has been commonplace in the American political discourse from the founding.Leigh E. Schmidt, Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities, Washington University in St. LouisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.