Archive for: Companion Reading for the JER

poster advertising sheriff's sale

The Power of Paper in the Early Republic

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Among other symbols of authority available to local officials like sheriffs, as Chad Holmes demonstrates, even mere scraps of paper held immense power in the early republic.
map of boston from 1725.

When Did the Police Become a “Machine”?

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The journey of America's police force from a non-professional night watch to a highly visible and professional force is the topic of Nicole Breault's newest essay.
illustration of man chasing a hog

Let’s Give Hog Reeves Their Due!

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As a companion piece to his introduction to the new JER forum on "Local Governance in the Early Republic," Gabriel Loiacono explores the important, though often overlooked, role of local hog reeves in early America.
Angelica Schuyler holding child alongside her governess

The Unbroken Lineage of American Dynasty: From Revolution to Succession

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Tom Cutterham explores the problem of American dynasty from 18th century examples to current pop culture iterations in shows such as Succession.
frontpiece to "A Sure Guide for His Majesties Justice of Peace" featuring a king sitting on a throne.

The Jack-of-all-trades Magistrate: Grappling with the Expansive Governing Role of Justices of the Peace in Early America

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Sung Yup Kim examines the importance of (and controversy surrounding) one of the most powerful elements of local magistracy in early America: justices of the peace.

Counting Care

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Nicole Lee Schroeder explores the historic and contemporary implications regarding how data on disability is collected and discussed.
James Iredell, head-and-shoulders portrait, right profile

The Pope and the Treaty Power: A Strange Incident in the North Carolina Ratification Debate

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In a new companion piece to his latest JER article, Robert Smith discusses some of the unusual ways that religion came into play at North Carolina's Hillsborough Convention in 1788.

The Language of Race in Early America

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Alexander Boulton considers the evolution of language and its impact on ideas of race during the Revolutionary era.

Echoes of Spanish-Mexican Women in California’s Constitutional Debates of 1849

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In 1857, Maria Natividad de Haro de Tissol petitioned the Fourth District Court of California to appoint a trustee over her separate property.
Print of a room full of men in 18th century dress sitting at desks deliberating the constitution.
A miniature portrait of a thin white man with dark hair wearing a formal black coat and a white shirt with a high collar.
A line drawing of a large building set back from a grassy waterfront with small figures moving about in the foreground.
Tinted lithograph of a blacksmith in a bowler hat in his shop striking iron on the anvil while a boy works the bellows and another man shoes a horse
An engraving of a man bound, blindfolded, and seated in a chair facing a firing squad, with a priest on one side of him and a solider on the other.
Black and white aerial photograph of a brand new sprawling subdivision