ascanius

1795. ~60 years before the ruinous Dred Scott decision, but two years after the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act. A runaway slave, whose name is lost to us, is apprehended by bounty hunters in Middlebury, VT and brought before the Vermont Supreme Court by his owner to arrange his return. Justice Theophilus Harrington demands that the 'owner' produce proof of ownership. The owner produces a bill of sale for the slave and the slave's mother. Not good enough, says Justice Harrington. Well, what sort of proof is required, responds the 'owner.'
You need the original title, says the Justice, "a bill of sale from the almighty himself."
Yes, friends, Vermont is a state I dearly love.

Oh, and I'm in love with Karma's new set. And her A in applied entomology.

Edit:/ Double oh, I had a dream last night that there was a subsection of the Neocon movement calling themselves Neo-Confucians and advocating American Confucianism. In the dream I was listening to a piece about it on NPR. When I thought of that this morning I had to google Neo-Confucianism to check if I had dreamed it or if it was a reality. Ah, the dreams of a derelict Asian Studies major.