Benjamin A. Railton's Blog, page 23

January 22, 2025: Misread Quotes: The Constitution

[I hadoriginally planned a series on historical inaugurations this week, but I don’timagine too many of us want to be thinking about the inauguration any more thanwe have to. So instead, I’m gonna go with a suggestion from my wife, using theoccasion of MLK Day to highlight a handful of historical quotes, from him andothers, that our conservative commentators and politicians tend to get verywrong!]

On three complexConstitutional quotes that conservatives consistently over-simplify.

1)     The2nd Amendment: I said a good bit of what I’d want to say aboutthe minefield that is the 2nd Amendment in that hyperlinked SaturdayEvening Post Considering History column. I’m not going to pretend that forthose of us who are for stringent gun control the amendment is a slam-dunk inour favor, as it’s much more complicated than that—and that’s the thing, it’sreally quite complicated, historically as well as legally. 2ndAmendment absolutists refuse to recognize those layers, and that’s a deeply problematicover-simplification.

2)     The10th Amendment: The balanceof federalism and “states’ rights” (a phrase not specifically found in theConstitution) in the founding era was at least as complicated as the questionof guns, and the very brief 10th Amendment doesn’t do much toresolve those complexities. But I think there is a crucial part of that brief amendmentthat has been consistently overlooked by those who argue for “states’ rights”: thatthe powers not delegated to the federal government “are reserved to the Statesrespectively, or to the people.” That is, there’s a third powerful party inthis framing in addition to the U.S. and the states; and when it comes tocurrent controversial issues like whether individual states have the power to passrestrictive abortion laws, I’d argue that conservatives are overlooking thepeople’s power in that equation.

3)     “Wethe People”: I began that hyperlinked book with an extended discussion ofwhy I believe that opening phrase of the Constitution’s Preamble represents a trulystriking and significant choice, locating the new nation’s identity not in lawor religion or any other overarching frame we might expect, but in the humancommunity itself. That entire book project was an attempt to argue that wehaven’t meant just one thing by that phrase, though, and more exactly that theconservative emphasis on a homogeneous white America as our origin point is atbest just one perspective and at worst (and what I would really argue) a mythicpatriotic perspective with very little basis in history or reality. At thevery least, we can’t let that perspective dictate what we mean by “we the people,”no more than any other part of our Constitution.

Next misreadquote tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? 

January 21, 2025: Misread Quotes: Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural

[I hadoriginally planned a series on historical inaugurations this week, but I don’timagine too many of us want to be thinking about the inauguration any more thanwe have to. So instead, I’m gonna go with a suggestion from my wife, using theoccasion of MLK Day to highlight a handful of historical quotes, from him andothers, that our conservative commentators and politicians tend to get verywrong!]

On what Lincolndid indeed say in his 1865 second inaugural address, and two other things heimportantly said as well.

AbrahamLincoln’s SecondInaugural, delivered on March 4th, 1865, is not quite as briefas the GettysburgAddress but is still quite short (especially for an inaugural address), totalingless than 700 words. That makes every one of those words even more significant forsure, and so I don’t entirely disagree with the emphasis that has long beenplaced on Lincoln’s brief and pointed final paragraph: “With malice towardnone, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to seethe right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’swounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow andhis orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peaceamong ourselves and with all nations.” There are more clauses in that one-sentenceparagraph than have generally been the focus, but “malice toward none” and “charityfor all” are indeed two striking perspectives at the end of the Civil War, andare thus indeed a model for reconciliation as this passage has long been read.

But at justover 70 words, that brief paragraph comprises about one-tenth of the inaugural,and for most of the rest of it (hyperlinked above so you can read the wholething for yourself), Lincoln says some quite different things about the warthat, not surprisingly, have not figured into conservative collective memory ofthis speech and moment. For one thing, he is quite clear about thecauses of the Civil War: “These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerfulinterest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen,perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgentswould rend the Union even by war.” The paragraph which begins with thosesentences is by the longest in the address, indeed comprises nearly two-thirdsof the entire speech, and so it’s more than fair to say that the main thrust ofLincoln’s remarks was not on imagining a reunited future, but on being veryclear about what had brought the nation to this present point. Anyone who arguesthat he would have let the nation forget those histories had he lived into Reconstructionneeds to grapple with that fundamental fact.

Moreover,Lincoln ends that longest paragraph on an even more somber and striking note,one that would not be out of place in another greatAmerican speech, Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the 4thof July?” Having expressed the “fond and fervent” hope that “this mighty scourgeof war may speedily pass away,” Lincoln adds, “Yet, if God wills that it continueuntil all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequitedtoil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall bepaid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, sostill it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteousaltogether.’” In OfThee I Sing I made the case for Lincoln as a consistent voice ofcritical patriotism, and I don’t think he ever expressed that perspective moreclearly nor more powerfully than in this impassioned sentence. Let’s make sureto remember it as well every time we quote the malice and charity moment.

Next misreadquote tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? 

January 20, 2025: Misread Quotes: MLK’s Dream

[I hadoriginally planned a series on historical inaugurations this week, but I don’timagine too many of us want to be thinking about the inauguration any more thanwe have to. So instead, I’m gonna go with a suggestion from my wife, using theoccasion of MLK Day to highlight a handful of historical quotes, from him andothers, that our conservative commentators and politicians tend to get verywrong!]

On twoways to reframe the one King quote we collectively (but inaccurately) remember.

For manyyears now, I’ve shared the samepost for MLK Day, highlighting the many layers of King beyond the March on Washingtonspeech (and even the many layers of that speech beyond the famous “content of theircharacter” line). That’s all important context for today’s post, so I’d ask youto check it out and then come on back for more.

Welcomeback! All those are reasons to go beyond this one quote and this one speech incommemorating King, but it’s equally true and important to reframe ourcollective memories of that individual quote in multiple ways. For one thing,the “content of their character” paragraph is the third of five straight “Ihave a dream” paragraphs (here’s thefull transcript of the speech), each articulating a different (if interconnected)dream about race, community, and America. Three of the other four focus inparticular on Southern states, highlighting quite fully the layers ofprejudice, racism, segregation, and racial terrorism that these communitiesstill feature so prominently and centrally in 1963 (one hundred years after theEmancipation Proclamation, a frustrating anniversary with which King begins hisspeech). King might be arguing in the “content of their character” paragraph thatit would be ideal if we could stop seeing and thinking about skin color and race(which is how conservatives love to use that line), but these adjoiningparagraphs make clear that the targets of that argument are Southern white supremacistsspecifically and (I would argue) all white Americans generally. Physician, healthyself.

Relatedly,but even more overarchingly, King frames all five of those “I have a dream”paragraphs with a sixth, introductory paragraph worth quoting in full: “So eventhough we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. Itis a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one daythis nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We holdthese truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” In this SaturdayEvening Post Considering History columnfor MLK Day four years ago, I made the case for King as exemplifying my conceptof critical patriotism, and I don’t think he ever did so more succinctly and potentlythan in this quote. That means we have to recognize that every one of thesubsequent dreams is a goal for the future, and also and most importantly somethingwe have to work for together, to push the nation toward that idealized but neveryet realized more perfect union. Conservatives want to read King as chastising hisprogressive peers for a misplaced focus on race, but the truth was preciselythe opposite—he was critiquing conservatives for the ways their racism has keptus from progressing. Feels like an important lesson to consider for MLK Day2024.

Next misreadquote tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? 

January 18-19, 2025: Spring Semester Previews: My Scholarly Work and You

[AnotherSpring semester is upon us, and with it my annual Spring semester previews.This time I’ve focused on one skill I’m excited to be teaching as part of eachof these courses. Leading up this post with a request for help with my nextscholarly project!]

I’ve gotsome steady public scholarly work that I very much plan to continue in 2025,from this blog to my biweekly SaturdayEvening Post Considering Historycolumn to my #ScholarSundayThreads newsletter. But my first experience creating a public scholarly narrative historypodcast was extremely enjoyable, and so I’m definitely looking to createanother!

We can callthat a second season of The Celestials’ Last Game if we’d like, and Imight because of branding and whatnot (he said very knowledgeably), but Ifirmly believe I’ve done what I can with that particular history so this secondseason would have to focus on a new subject in any case. I’ve got one idea, whichis the really fascinatingstory of the early 20th century barnstorming baseball team theHouse of David (to keep the baseball thread going, natch). But I don’t yetknow enough about that story to know if there’s a 9-Inning podcast there, so…

…thisspace for rent! Or rather, as in this blog’s long and proud history of crowd-sourcedposts, this space for y’all’s suggestions. Any ideas for other histories or stories—whetherrelated to baseball, sports stories, or some other under-remembered part ofAmerican history—will be very welcome! Share ‘em below, or shoot me an email (brailton@fitchburgstate.edu), andthanks in advance!

Nextseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

January 17, 2025: Spring Semester Previews: The Short Story Online

[AnotherSpring semester is upon us, and with it my annual Spring semester previews. Thistime I’ll focus on one skill I’m excited to be teaching as part of each ofthese courses. Please share what you’ve got going on this semester and year aswell!]

I saidmost of what I’d want to say about generative AI, in the classroom andeverywhere else, in this year in review post on the subject a few weeks back. Butsince my online-only courses have been the place where I’ve encountered the useof ChatGPT most consistently, I’ll add this: I’m not looking, as I never havelooked and never will look, to be a cop in the classroom. What I am looking todo, now more than ever, is to have all the conversations, including the toughestones. So despite not meeting this class face-to-face, I’m still going to try tohave a conversation with them at the start of the semester on why using AI forclasswork isn’t just a potentially dangerous thing to do for their own futures,but also will lead to both mediocre work and, y’know, the further destructionof our planet. The skill of resisting these understandably tempting technologicaltools is no easy task in January 2025, but I skill I look forward to helping thestudents who are up for the challenge to practice.

Scholarlyupdate this weekend,

Ben

PS. What’son your radar?

January 16, 2025: Spring Semester Previews: American Literature II

[AnotherSpring semester is upon us, and with it my annual Spring semester previews. Thistime I’ll focus on one skill I’m excited to be teaching as part of each ofthese courses. Please share what you’ve got going on this semester and year aswell!]

I’vewritten a lot in this space, especially in semesterpreviews and reflectionsseries, on my back and forth, both over the last few years and in differentspecific courses, on whether to continue using longer readings like novels orto focus entirely on shorter texts. My default has certainly shifted towardshorter works, not only for reasons of attention span/focus but also because suchworks are much more frequently available online for free (I try hard these daysnot to require students to purchase readings). But I try to approach eachcourse and case on its own terms, and to think about when and how it does makesense to use some longer works as well. This Spring I’ll be doing so in bothyesterday’s subject (Major American Authors) and in my American Lit II survey,we’re start for example with two weeks each on Huck Finn and TheMarrow of Tradition. Both of those late 19th century works arechallenging to read in 2025, and I don’t expect most of the students will getthrough all of them (and they’re able to do the work successfully even if theycan’t, to be clear). But I believe that they are well worth making the effortfor, and that the effort itself, the goal of staying focused on and engagedwith a longer text, is a skill worth continuing to practice despite all its2025 challenges.

Lastpreview post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What’son your radar?

January 15, 2025: Spring Semester Previews: Major American Authors of the 20C

[AnotherSpring semester is upon us, and with it my annual Spring semester previews. Thistime I’ll focus on one skill I’m excited to be teaching as part of each ofthese courses. Please share what you’ve got going on this semester and year aswell!]

This isone of the Literature courses I’ve taught the most times and over the longest period,as I believe I had a section in my first Spring at Fitchburg State (20 yearsago!). A lot has changed in what and how I teach it across those decades, butone thing that hasn’t is the second weekly post I have the students write foreach of our authors and texts: after a more analytical/standard first week’spost, the second one asks them to imitate the author’s style in order to think abit about some key aspects of how each of our authors writes (this second postis entirely ungraded so they don’t have to worry about whether they’re doing it“right”). That’s not an easy thing to do, especially when some of our authorshave particularly unique and challenging styles (I’m looking at you, TheodoreDreiser and Sylvia Plath). But I think it’s an incredibly rewarding one, notonly for what it can help us see and analyze, but also and especially because itrequires empathy, imagining ourselves into a different perspective and person.Not sure there could be a more important skill to hone in 2025.

Nextpreview post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What’son your radar?

January 14, 2025: Spring Semester Previews: First-Year Writing II

[AnotherSpring semester is upon us, and with it my annual Spring semester previews. Thistime I’ll focus on one skill I’m excited to be teaching as part of each ofthese courses. Please share what you’ve got going on this semester and year aswell!]

I’m notgonna lie, probably the hardest part of my Spring semester is going to be theweek we watch Fruitvale Station in my First-Year Writing IIclasses (as part of a unit where they write a comparative analysis of a couplefilms/TV shows/multimedia texts). I wish I felt we were in a better place as acountry than we were 15+ years ago when that film’s events took place, or adecade+ ago when the film itself was released. I wish it didn’t seem so clearto me that so many of my fellow Americans would watch that film and argue that Oscar Grantgot what was coming to him, or worse. But a central aspect of what we do in theclassroom is to try to engage with our toughest conversations, to developindividual voices and ideas, but also and perhaps especially as communities. Sothis hardest part of my semester might well be the most important part of thesemester as well.

Nextpreview post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What’son your radar?

January 13, 2025: Spring Semester Previews: Graduate Research Methods

[AnotherSpring semester is upon us, and with it my annual Spring semester previews. Thistime I’ll focus on one skill I’m excited to be teaching as part of each ofthese courses. Please share what you’ve got going on this semester and year aswell!]

I writeand think a lot about dualities, and more exactly about analyzing them ratherthan seeking to reduce them as is our natural human tendency. But I’ll admitthat there’s a particularly complicated one that I struggle with maintaining inmy own work: the duality of nuance and clarity, of trying to approach oursubjects as the multilayered things they are, while at the same time trying tostay what we have to say about them clearly and compellingly. I think finding away to do both of those at once is at the heart of what I do—as a thinker, as awriter, as a teacher, as a public citizen—and so I’m very excited to make itthe heart of my Graduate Research Methods syllabus as well. For example, we’llstart by reading both TheTurn of the Screw and the manifold contexts and lenses that inform howwe read it—and our goal will be to keep a sense of just how nuanced this textis, while still figuring out how to express our own takes on it with clarity. I’mexcited to work with our phenomenal grad students to practice those vitalskills!

Nextpreview post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What’son your radar?

January 11-12, 2025: The Great Society in 2025

[60 yearsago this month, PresidentLyndon B. Johnson—fresh off his successful re-electioncampaign—created his Great Society program, pushing Congress to help him (as heput it in his1964 speech acceptance the presidential nomination) “build a great society, aplace where the meaning of man’s life matches the marvels of man’s labor.” Sothis week I’ve AmericanStudied a number of Great Society laws, leading up tothis post on what we still desperately need to learn from these histories.]

Honestly Ithink I said a good bit throughout this series about what we can, should, andmust learn from both individual Great Society laws and programs and the overarching,progressive emphases of this administration and moment. So I’m simply gonna addone follow-up thought here, courtesy of HonestAbe himself:

“Now weare engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation soconceived and dedicated, can long endure.”

Am Isaying we are currently engaged in a civil war? Not exactly, although I think ourmoment qualifies at least as one of profound civil conflict (that’s only likelyto deepen in the coming years). And in any case, I believe Lincoln’s more centralpoint was about the nation’s ideals being put to the test. I would argue, and Ihope have argued throughout this series in fact, that the Great Society bothexemplified and amplified many of those ideals. And I know that 2025 and beyondwill test the Great Society and our ideals alike in all kinds of ways. I’m outof the predicting business, but I know I’m proud to be in that fight with y’all.

Springsemester previews start tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?