We don't die, we nullify!

So, again in the news South Carolina is being known for Nullification. ( The T and D March 2013 ) So just what the heck IS Nullification? Didn't we learn in school that it was John C. Calhoun's pathetic attempt to save slavery?  (I didn't learn that, but apparently many did) Let's take a closer look at what Nullification actually is.

If you do a Google search on "nullification" you will get a number of differing opinions about nullification along with the ad that says "eBay- great deals on nullification" (huh?).  Dig deeper, and you find there are few who actually know what nullification really is.

Nullification is " the action of a state impeding or attempting to prevent the operation and enforcement within its territory of a law of the United States " Merriam-Webster dictionary.   Basically it is the state saying "NO!" to the federal government when a law is passed that is considered by the state to be unconstitutional.   Wait, you say, that isn't in the Webster's definition.  No it isn't, but that is what nullification is.  Its a legal theory, and sometimes practice, where a state determines under the power of the  10th amendment is unconstitutional. 

We all seem to remember ole' John C. Calhoun from our history classes being the "man" on nullification.  Oh he got all hot and bothered over a tariff that would have really hurt the economy of South Carolina.  This was the Tariff of Abominations.  Now all this happened in the 1820's and 1830's.  This Tariff WOULD have hurt South Carolina, as well as other agricultural states.  So, South Carolina said it was not constitutional to levy such a tax on imported goods made from the raw exports from South Carolina, and they refused to collect it for the federal government.  Well President Jackson said he'd send troops to make them collect, and South Carolina threatened to leave the union if they did.  It was sometimes called the "Nullification Crisis", and it ended up with a compromise on the tariff that both kept South Carolina in the Union, and collected a tax on those goods. Anyhow, all of this would be tied to States Rights later on, and then erroneously tied to slavery. 

The idea of Nullification did not come from the loins of our dear John C., (though some historians claim Lincoln did... oh but I digress) the idea was the brain child of Thomas Jefferson.  He said in 1798 that "That a nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument, is the rightful remedy" (Kentucky Resolution, 1799).   Much of what Jefferson believed was influenced by John Locke, but that is another historical story for another day.  None-the-less, Jefferson believed that states could and should nullify things that were not constitutional in order to prevent the federal government from becoming a tyrannous ruler over the free people. 

Are all laws going to be nullified?  No. Most laws are perfectly constitutional.  Should all laws be nullified?  No.  Can all laws be nullified?  No, they must be considered unconstitutional by the states to be subject to nullification.

Some historians blame Calhoun for the crisis that followed the nullification and secession threats.  That crisis was the war between the states.  Some even say nullification was a way to protect slavery.  Those are not true.  It is in many ways a stepping stone to states rights.  The important thing to remember about nullification is that its based on the 10th amendment, and it is a way for the people to protect their rights when the federal government encroaches too far past what the Constitution allows.


(Another good overview of Nullification can be found here: http://www.libertyclassroom.com/nullification/ )

I could eat it with a spoon

I often say that I love history so much I could eat it with a spoon, but I'm not sure that its so easy to explain what that means.

History fills me with joy.  You know that kind of joy you get when someone you love bakes your favorite dish just for you on a day when you really need it.  It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, and makes me smile.  Its a link to the past, and its full of stories and tales that make you wonder why we even have fiction. 

History is a dish that is often served cold, but warms the heart, mind and soul of those that feel that connection to things long past.

History is a mix of things, kind of like a good curry, that without one part, it just wouldn't taste so good.

History is a window into a place that you can no longer travel to by boat, but you can take a trip in your mind, back to a place and time that really did exist.

All things in History are not happy things.  There are many things we don't like, and would like to forget.  We must never forget those things lest we repeat them.

We smile at the sweet things, and scowl at the bitter ones.  We try to figure out what mixes of events happened to make events cook up as they did, and we try to imagine what it would be like with or without many of the ingredients.

We try to remember the stories we were told, you know the ones that never make it into the books, so we can retell them to another generation.  As with a great recipe, each time the stories are passed on they change flavor just a little. We hope the next generation loves the dish enough to remember how it was put together so it can be passed on again and again and again.

There are no calories in History, though it does often lead to heartburn if not properly delivered. (Bad historians are like bad cooks, no one wants to go back and no one forgets them because they often leave a bad taste in your mouth)

Like a wonderful sweet and warm bread pudding, History fills me up. Its satisfying and fantastic to ingest.


History.  One of my favorite things in the world.  I really could put it in a bowl and eat it with a spoon.

There's a Birdie in my family tree

    In an effort to continue the research my mother once did on our family tree, I joined Ancestry.com.  There are many stories that come from my family, some true, others not so much.  One story that IS  true involves the Birdie I found in our tree.  Birdie Pauline Lancaster.  The daughter of Dr. Samuel Theron DeJarnette Lancaster (or STD for short).  Now Dr Lancaster is my great great grandfather, and was a prominent figure in the history of the town where I grew up. Its not really a "town", its not incorporated, but its a farming community located at highway 56 and highway 215 in Spartanburg County. 

    In the early days, post offices were housed at a general store or similar business in a community.  Walnut Grove once had a post office, as did many other tiny communities before the introduction of the Zip code and the combination of post offices nationwide.  Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. 

   The early post offices had a postmaster, and that person was usually the store owner where the post office was housed. That postmaster had the privilege of naming the post office.  And often it changed when the duties of the postmaster were handed to another person.  In the late 1890's, it was decided that the post office names would become permanent.

    The community of Stribling had a postmaster at the time of the decision to solidify the post office names.  The postmaster was Dr. STD Lancaster.  Now, Dr. Lancaster was not only the community doctor, he also owned a store and ran the post office.  When the US Postal Service came around to ask for a more permanent name to the communities post office, it fell to Dr. Lancaster give it a name, for all time.  The name Stribling was already taken, so he named it after one of his lovely daughters, Birdie Pauline. 

   So the Birdie in my family tree is how the town I grew up in got its name.

Among other things, here is an introduction to me.

"Would you like fries with that?" is a blog.  But you knew that right?  The name comes from what I was told I would say over and over with a history degree, because "unless you teach or write, you can't do anything else with a degree in history". 

That student advisor wasn't far off. (You CAN go to law school, but I didn't)  I majored in elementary education, and due to a string of events we shall save for later, I had enough credits to also land a degree in my favorite subject.  You guessed it.  (not that it was that hard or anything) History. 

Oh, I also have a masters in Special Education, but again that's not what I'm doing.  You know, the job market for new teachers sucks, so I work in small government.  I worked as a firefighter for more than a decade, and the vast majority of it was in a specialized field: aircraft rescue.  I have credentials as a haz-mat responder, EMT-B, and arson investigator, among many others. Then I got sick, (Meniere's disease) and that was the end of my career. No one really wanted to hire an unbalanced (no really Meniere's is a balance and hearing disorder) crusty old fireman, so here I am working in small government and happy as a clam.  (Why exactly are clams happy?  Do they want to be in my chowder?)

So, working in small government part-time is what you do with a degree in history, that is if you don't teach or write or go to law school.  So in my spare time, (working part-time that seems to be a lot) I'm going to write a blog about history.  This will likely follow no discernible path from one story to another, but a lot of the historical stories will be local.  Some of the things I write about might even be how- to's on history research and genealogy.  It all depends on my mood.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy some ramblings about history from the Rogue Historian (that's me by the way).

And yes, you DO want fries with that.