Field Notes on the Republic

Filibuster, the Word That Began as a Term for Piracy

Filibuster, the Word That Began as a Term for P...

Michael Fowler

Before it meant a senator talking a bill to death, the word filibuster meant a pirate. Following it from the Dutch and Spanish words for a freebooter to the floor...

Filibuster, the Word That Began as a Term for P...

Michael Fowler

Before it meant a senator talking a bill to death, the word filibuster meant a pirate. Following it from the Dutch and Spanish words for a freebooter to the floor...

The Lunch Counter in Greensboro

The Lunch Counter in Greensboro

Michael Fowler

On February 1, 1960, four freshmen sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro and asked to be served. It looks like spontaneous courage. It was planned, down...

The Lunch Counter in Greensboro

Michael Fowler

On February 1, 1960, four freshmen sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro and asked to be served. It looks like spontaneous courage. It was planned, down...

The Tennessee Vote That Finished the Nineteenth Amendment

The Tennessee Vote That Finished the Nineteenth...

Michael Fowler

On August 18, 1920, a 24-year-old Tennessee legislator wearing a red rose, the color of a vote against, walked in with a letter from his mother in his pocket. Harry...

The Tennessee Vote That Finished the Nineteenth...

Michael Fowler

On August 18, 1920, a 24-year-old Tennessee legislator wearing a red rose, the color of a vote against, walked in with a letter from his mother in his pocket. Harry...

Why Some of the Founders Feared a Bill of Rights

Why Some of the Founders Feared a Bill of Rights

Michael Fowler

The Bill of Rights is the part of the Constitution most Americans can name, so it is surprising that some of the ablest framers argued against having one at all....

Why Some of the Founders Feared a Bill of Rights

Michael Fowler

The Bill of Rights is the part of the Constitution most Americans can name, so it is surprising that some of the ablest framers argued against having one at all....

Marbury, and the Case That Built a Power

Marbury, and the Case That Built a Power

Michael Fowler

The case that gave American courts their defining power was, on its surface, a quarrel about a job, and the man who brought it lost. How Chief Justice John Marshall,...

Marbury, and the Case That Built a Power

Michael Fowler

The case that gave American courts their defining power was, on its surface, a quarrel about a job, and the man who brought it lost. How Chief Justice John Marshall,...

The Printer, the Jury, and a Morning in 1735

The Printer, the Jury, and a Morning in 1735

Michael Fowler

In 1735 a German immigrant printer sat in a New York jail for setting the type of a paper that criticized the royal governor. By every rule of law then...

The Printer, the Jury, and a Morning in 1735

Michael Fowler

In 1735 a German immigrant printer sat in a New York jail for setting the type of a paper that criticized the royal governor. By every rule of law then...