From: Desi Hiotis
Question: Could you please
suggest reading material on the changing definition of
equality in America through the end of the civil war?
Thank you very much for your assistance.
Answer: Dear Ms. Hiotis,
When I began a search of bibliographies
and library catalogs, I was surprised at the shortage
of monographs surveying the evolution of American political
thought before the Civil War. A good selection of books
dealing with this subject for 1865 to the present (or
any date in between), but none for the time period in
which you're interested. I'm sure you discovered this
long before I did - be reassured that you didn't miss
something.
I scoured the online catalog for Brown University,
which I know well. I've included a list of books dealing
with the evolution of the concepts of equality and inequality
in general; books dealing with the development of political
thought in British North America for the 17th, 18th,
and 19th centuries individually; and surveys of the
development of American political theories. You should
be able to find all of them at your library, ,and I'd
suggest a visit there - haul all of the books to a table,
flip to "e" in the index of each, and find
whatever is helpful. I'm sorry that there isn't a tidy,
convenient source, but perhaps you can produce one -
it's certainly badly needed. Let me hear from you if
I can be of more help. (List
of Books)
Mary-Jo Kline
From:
Carlye Bushen
Question: What
were some of the types of questions on the religious
test given during Colonial times for voting?
Answer: Dear
Carlye:
While some of the British North American colonies had
different kinds of religious qualifications for voting
(just as Great Britain did at the time), there were
no formal tests with questions that voters had to pass.
A voter merely had to prove that he (remember women
weren’t allowed to vote) was a member of a religious
group whose adherents had the right to vote in the colony
where he lived.
This Website offers a useful summary of laws in various
colonies that dealt with religion and voting rights.
As you’ll see, it’s a real hodgepodge:
http://www.undergodprocon.org/pop/statereligions.htm
Mary-Jo Kline
From: Jan R. Ozog
Question: My name is Jan R.
Ozog and I was born and live in Plymouth, England.
I recently saw, at a memorial service, an elderly gentleman
who was proudly wearing his purple heart - apparently
won during the Korean conflict. Could you please tell
me how many British servicemen have been recipients
of this award through history.
I await your answer in anticipation.
Yours, with best wishes and greetings from Plymouth.
Answer: Dear
Ms. Ozog,
These webpages give a good basic history of the American
Purple Heart Medal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart
http://www.purplehearts.net/id6.html
As the U.S. Congress authorized award of the medal
to men and women wounded in the service of “friendly
foreign forces” as well as members of U.S. services
who were nationals of other countries,, I’m not
sure you’ll ever be able to run down the statistics
for British recipients of the medal, but you might try
the Military Order of the Purple Heart, whom you can
contact through this Website:
http://www.purpleheart.org/
Let me know what luck you have. My husband, Theodore
Crackel, earned a Purple Heart in Vietnam, and he’s
now head of a project that will publish the papers of
George Washington, who authorized the medal more than
225 years ago, so he’s intrigued by your question
as well.
Mary-Jo Kline
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