"we may have an irruption of the inhabitants of Central Asia, of Affghanistan, and of the Hindoos; and if they cut down and fell our forests, without attempting to regulate our institutions, we will be fortunate indeed" (p.69)Grymes is arguing against residence requirements for naturalized citizens before they can be eligible to be elected to public office. So, I link to Bobby Jindal, his official state site and his Wikipedia page. I disagree with Jindal on a range of issues (somewhere between 'every damn thing' and 'good lord, what is this man's problem'), but his election shuts up Grymes. (Yes, I know that death did that a long time ago, but this is the problem with living in the history.) Jindal was raised Hindu, converted to Catholicism, and is the first Indian-American governor in the United States. And it brings me a totally un-warranted pleasure to think that Voorhies would be aghast.
Reading the constitutional convention debates is fascinating; but with history being another country and all that jazz, I find it hard to be a partisan. That is, while it is very easy to find yourself repulsed by certain delegates (such as Grymes), and there is a definite attraction to other delegates, it is difficult to maintain these feelings across issue areas. This is largely because the ones defending (or even advancing) black suffrage are often the ones trying to impose restrictions on foreigners, or on poor whites. The lines of belonging parameterize the commitment to principle. There are some exceptions: Wisconsin in 1846 seems to be remarkable in that the people trying to expand the suffrage to blacks also want immigrant voting and are at the very least not rolling back white voting and are often loudly defending the unqualified right of the governed to vote, with at least some suggestions that this might include women. But generally, and to me surprisingly, finding heroes in the past is at least as difficult as finding them in the present--although villains abound in both.
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