What happened after the First Thanksgiving?

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the harvest festival we now call “The First Thanksgiving”. This historic moment was commemorated with a big parade in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the town where the event took place in 1621. We all know the story we were told as schoolchildren: a group of English religious dissenters sailed to the New World aboard the Mayflower, signed an agreement for their colony’s self-government called the Mayflower Compact, and struggled with disease and starvation their first winter, but then were saved by the local Wampanoag tribe that befriended them and taught them how to survive in this new land, leading to the celebration of the First Thanksgiving after the colony’s first successful harvest.

That’s where the story stops in almost all retellings of this history. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag celebrated together… and that’s it. Obviously, there is more to this story, as Plymouth Colony lasted for a further 70 years after this event. What happened after the First Thanksgiving?

I recently read the book Plymouth Colony: Its History & People 1620-1691 by Eugene Aubrey Stratton. This book goes into tons of detail about the lives of the people who lived in the colony during this time, right down to the surviving court records of domestic disputes. Obviously, I won’t be going into quite that much detail here, but I do want to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the First Thanksgiving with a broad overview of the Plymouth Colony’s history.

Figuring out how to colony

One often-overlooked aspect of the Mayflower Pilgrims is that not all of them were part of the Separatist religious group that were seeking religious freedom in the New World. The majority were actually so-called “Strangers”, outsiders brought to the colony to help ensure its survival (farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, and so on). The critical importance of these Strangers meant that the colony’s leaders had to make some accommodation for their religious differences, such as turning a blind eye to their celebration of Christmas as long as they did so in the privacy of their homes, but it wasn’t long before their English compatriots sent more Separatists over to shift the demographic balance in their church’s favor. In 1621, the Fortune arrived with 35 new colonists. Unfortunately, the ship didn’t bring enough supplies to support this new group of colonists, so their arrival put a tremendous strain on the small colony.

In the first few years of Plymouth Colony’s existence, according to Stratton’s book, “the settlers were to live a virtually socialistic life, sharing everything in common.” However, the colonists quickly realized this wasn’t working, as Stratton recounts: “By 1623 many were complaining that the industrious ones were working to support the lazy ones.” To fix this, the colonists agreed to split the land into private property, each family receiving a share of the available land to work for themselves.

In 1624, Capt. John Smith (of Jamestown fame) paid a visit to Plymouth, and recounted: “At New Plimouth there is about 180 persons… 32 dwelling houses, whereof 7 were burnt in the last winter.” I don’t know about you, but that fire sounds like it would have been a very traumatic event for the colonists!

The colony also faced significant financial difficulties in its early years. Someone had to pay to send the colonists over to the New World, and that someone was a group of investors called the “Adventurers”. The agreement was that the colonists would trade for furs with the local tribes, and the profits from this trade would be used to pay the Adventurers’ debts. This plan ended in disaster, as the colony just wasn’t bringing in enough fur to offset the huge debt, and what money did come in was badly mismanaged. Soon, most Adventurers sold off their shares to some of the colonists, who became known as the “Purchasers” and used their status to increase their power.

This leads me to the obvious question of how the colony was run. After all, the Mayflower Compact didn’t actually specify a form of government, it was merely an agreement to form one. The Adventurers chose John Carver to be the first governor of the new colony before the Mayflower had even set sail, but he died just a few months after arrival. The power vacuum that followed was quickly taken up by the only other person in the tiny, new colony with any authority: their preacher, William Bradford. In short order, the colonists elected Bradford as their new governor, and he would hold this position almost continuously until his death.

Bradford would govern with the assistance of, um, the “Assistants”, who would be elected by the colonists annually to administer the day-to-day running of the colony. The Governor and Assistants would meet together as the “Council”, that wielded both executive and judicial power. Interestingly, it seems that the Council made its decisions by majority vote, with the Governor getting a double-vote but no veto.

The biggest decisions, such as new laws, the election of the Assistants, and the most important court cases, were decided by the General Court. This was a body that met four times a year and was made up of every colonist who had voting rights (called “freemen”). This made Plymouth Colony something of a direct democracy. However, not everyone in Plymouth Colony was a freeman; obviously, women couldn’t vote, and men had to earn the approval of the General Court before being awarded this status. This appears to have been entirely based on merit, as there was no religious test or property-ownership criteria required to be awarded freeman status.

The Pilgrims’ church

Don’t let the fact that there was no religious qualification to having voting rights imply that Plymouth Colony had no religious tensions or issues. In fact, the opposite was usually the truth.

As previously mentioned, there was some tension from the beginning between the Separatists and the Strangers. The Separatists, like the very similar Puritans they are often mistaken for, believed that the only proper church was one that was based on the New Testament (as they understood it). This is why they refused to celebrate Christmas or Easter, as both holidays were originally Christianized versions of earlier pagan holidays. The only music allowed in their church were the Psalms from the Bible, and men and women were segregated in the pews. Interestingly, they rejected the idea of a church led by bishops (even though the New Testament absolutely does mention such an office existing in the early church), and instead believed each congregation should be self-governing.

The Strangers were technically members of the Church of England, but being the sort of working-class folks they were, they didn’t really worry about religious details too much. They attended the Separatists’ church services, and were allowed to maintain their own private religious traditions, such as celebrating Christmas or Easter and singing church songs other than the Psalms, in the privacy of their homes.

This state of affairs lasted until the 1630’s, when a religious whirlwind appeared in the form of Roger Williams, a Puritan minister who brought his family to Boston, just a few miles to the north. Boston’s leaders felt it was the government’s job was to ensure proper religious morality and observance among its people. Williams rejected this idea, and argued in favor of separation of church and state. In short order, he became the preacher in the town of Salem, only to be kicked out by the Boston authorities. Williams tried a stint in Plymouth, only for his ideas to again lead to trouble with the authorities. At last, he ended up leading his followers to Narragansett Bay, where he would found the colony of Rhode Island.

Having a haven of religious freedom on one’s doorstep was troublesome for the Plymouth Colony’s leaders. Ironically, even though they had come to the New World to escape religious oppression, the Separatists had no qualms about perpetrating some religious oppression of their own. If you were a Quaker in Plymouth, you would be exiled. If you gave hospitality to a Quaker, you would be whipped. If you were a Baptist, you would be excommunicated, publicly shunned, and ineligible for any elected political office. In the end, though, the Plymouth Colony’s attempt to control the religious life of its residents was a doomed endeavor. By the 1680’s, Baptist churches were operating out in the open.

The colony’s growth – and conflict

Throughout its history, the Plymouth Colony grew. From a single settlement of 102 Pilgrims, it would expand to 18 townships with a total population of 3,055 by 1690. While part of this growth was due to the Pilgrims raising families, most of it came from immigration from England. After all, Plymouth was a colony for Separatists, who flocked to the area to live among like-minded faithful and escape the Church of England’s grasp.

Of course, the land that these new arrivals were settling belonged to the Wampanoag tribe, who grew increasingly concerned by this wave of immigrants. However, and I feel it is really important to point this out, the generation that held the First Thanksgiving maintained the Pilgrim-Wampanoag alliance for the rest of their lives. Both sides were committed to making this unusual alliance work, with both Bradford and Wampanoag leader Massasoit finding creative solutions to relieve any tensions between the two communities and renew their friendship.

It was the next generation that screwed it all up.

After the initial generation that held the First Thanksgiving gradually passed away, the younger leaders were nowhere near as careful or diplomatic, and were more willing to escalate the conflict. To the Wampanoag, their very survival was at stake, as they were increasingly penned in by new settlements. The spark that set off the conflict came in 1675, when three Wampanoag men murdered John Sassamon, a Wampanoag man who was on friendly terms with the colonists. The colonial authorities arrested the trio, put them on trial, and hanged them. Think about that for a moment: Plymouth Colony was now asserting that it had legal authority over the Wampanoag tribe! Well, the new Wampanoag chief Metacomet wasn’t going to take that sitting down, and launched a series of attacks against Plymouth townships.

The three-year war that followed is the bloodiest in U.S. history relative to the populations of the groups involved. Dozens of colonial settlements were utterly destroyed and hundreds of colonists were killed. In retribution, the colonists devastated the Wampanoag, with the few who survived Plymouth’s wrath being sold into slavery.

The end of Plymouth Colony

A 1913 photo of reenactors dressed as Mayflower Pilgrims from the Robbins Library

By the late 17th century, the political situation in both New England and old England had completely changed. Wars with Indian tribes had brought the New England colonies closer together, as they had to band together for mutual defense. Meanwhile, the mother country had suffered a civil war, the restoration of the crown and old order, and then a revolution, leading to the Church of England taking on its final form, a form that had no room for Puritans. This meant that the remaining Puritans and Separatists came together, forming the basis of the congregational churches we have today.

Plymouth Colony had reached the end of its ability to grow on its own, and soon there was talk of merging with a neighboring colony. Most people expected they would join Massachusetts, as the two had a very close relationship for decades. However, some colonists who were still holding on to old suspicions of their former religious rivals tried to prevent this merger by proposing a union with New York instead. Imagine if they had gotten their way! Nevertheless, simple geography favored the Massachusetts merger, which finally went through with royal approval in 1691. With that, the history of Plymouth Colony came to an end.

While it only existed for a mere 71 years, Plymouth Colony was very important to U.S. history. While other colonies established previously were imperialistic projects for the benefit of their mother countries, Plymouth was the first to be established by a group of people for their own benefit, the first to organize its own government, and the first to operate essentially independently. I genuinely believe the United States would not exist today without the Mayflower Pilgrims. That’s why, to me, Thanksgiving matters.

The Origins of Our Favorite Halloween Monsters

Art photography by Jill Wellington

Fall has arrived, bringing cooler temperatures, leaves changing their color, pumpkins on porches, pumpkin spice flavors at the coffee shops, and earth tones on the home decorations sold in every store. There are also other things that are prominently displayed in every store: Halloween costumes, spooky cheap plastic decorations, and candy. Lots of candy. Halloween is one of the biggest and most prominent celebrations of the year, among the likes of Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or the Fourth of July.

Six years ago, I wrote about the origins of the holiday and its most popular traditions. In that post, I talked about where our tradition of trick-or-treating came from. This year, I thought I would talk about the costumes themselves, or rather, the most popular monsters we like to disguise ourselves as on Halloween. Where did they come from? Let’s take a look at the history of:

Ghosts

Art by Ariadne A Mazed

Sometimes, when looking into the history or origins of something, you discover that the thing is basically universal across all of humanity. Such is the case with ghosts, a concept that has appeared in many forms across numerous civilizations all around the world.

We humans seem to have this innate understanding that we are more than a mere physical collection of meat and bones, but have a soul that contains our essence, and that soul will somehow live on after our bodies have stopped living. This appears to be the reason we developed the practice of holding funerals for loved ones who have departed, as a way to appease their souls and give them peace. If we don’t do this, countless myths across the world warn, their souls will haunt us and bring us suffering and misery!

In ancient Mesopotamia, it was believed that the souls of all who died would end up in Irkalla, the land of the dead, but a few souls would not be allowed entry until they had punished some living wrongdoers for their sins by bringing them illness. To the ancient Egyptians, the soul was actually made of multiple components, and if the proper burial rites had not been practiced to put the deceased at peace, the Akh would appear among the living to seek vengeance. This is very similar to the Navajo concept of the Chindi, a spirit that would form from all the negative aspects of a person who died. To avoid being cursed by a Chindi, the Navajo traditionally have strict taboos against coming into contact with the dead or the place where someone died.

On a more upbeat note, the Chinese practice of performing rituals that venerate one’s ancestors to show respect and ask their spirits to positively impact the lives of their living descendants goes back thousands of years, and both Confucianism and Taoism encourage these practices. Similarly, ancestor worship is an important part of the traditional Shinto religion of Japan as well.

On the opposite side of the continent, ancient Celtic peoples believed that the souls of the dead would join the living on the nights of October 31st and November 1st, and celebrated these nights with the festival of Samhain where they would honor their lost loved ones by preparing their favorite meals. Indeed, the very holiday of Halloween traces its roots to these Celtic festivals, as the medieval Christian church adapted the idea to celebrate All Saints’ Day on November 1st, also called “All Souls’ Day” and “All Hallows’ Day”. The name “Halloween” derives from “All Hallows’ Eve”, and the traditional purpose of wearing costumes and putting up spooky decorations is to scare away demons and evil spirits to make sure All Saints’ Day is purified and sacred. In Mexico and parts of the United States, the original meaning of this holiday is preserved in the holiday of Dia de los Muertos, where people honor the memories of their lost loved ones with a big celebration of their lives on the one night of the year they are believed to come back for a visit.

Witches

Yet another seemingly universal concept is that of witchcraft: the use of magic powers to bring harm to others. Before our modern understanding of medicine, diseases were often assumed to be the work of witches preying on the innocent. Even today, there are some people in sub-Saharan Africa known as “witch-doctors” who use traditional African medicine and magic to heal those who believe themselves cursed by evil spirits. Some ancient Greek legends mention witches. In the Odyssey, a witch named Circe puts a curse on people to transform them into animals. Speaking of curses, we have evidence that ancient Greeks would practice a form of mild witchcraft by writing curses against their enemies down on tablets.

There are also plenty of legends about witches that have been passed down by the first Americans. The Zuni creation story tells how a witch brought death into the world, and according to traditional Zuni belief, witches must constantly kill others to survive. This Penobscot legend recounts how Snowy Owl tricked a witch so he could marry her daughter. The Navajo call witches “skin-walkers” due to the belief that they use animal skins to shapeshift into the animal whose skin they wear in order to avoid detection. The Wabanaki told stories about the evil Jug-Woman, who would transform into a black cat and kidnap children.

The Bible absolutely condemns witchcraft in no uncertain terms. Numerous Biblical passages make it very clear that occult practices using magic, sorcery, or divination are antithetical to belief in God. However, the Biblical understanding of witchcraft that would have been held by people in medieval and renaissance Europe or the early colonial period in the United States was that a “witch” was any person, male or female, who made a pact with Satan.

So where, exactly, did our modern pop-culture image of witches as green-skinned women dressed in black and riding a broomstick come from? That derives from the famous 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. In 1900, L.Frank Baum’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published, and it told a fantastic tale of a young girl from Kansas lost in a land of magic and mystery. In the novel, the Wicked Witch of the West is one of the main antagonists. However, the original novel’s illustrations show the witch as just being an old lady wearing a wizard’s colorful robes decorated with stars.

The movie, however, went with an altogether different look. Instead of a colorful outfit, they dressed her all in black to showcase how evil she was, and they gave her green skin to make her look more monstrous. As for her flying through the air while riding a broomstick, the idea that witches might do this dates back at least to the 15th century. All these elements came together in the spectacular performance of Margaret Hamilton, whose on-screen charisma and charm as a bad-to-the-bone villainess remains one of the most iconic film roles of all time. It is no surprise, then, that her portrayal cemented that image in people’s minds of what a “witch” is. Even today, nearly a century later, most Halloween “witch” costumes are modelled on that one character.

Vampires

Photo by George Hodan

Unlike ghosts and witches, our modern conception of vampires derives specifically from Eastern European folklore. In Albania, a creature called a shtriga was said to use its fangs to drink the blood of children, rendering them weak and feeble. To kill a shtriga, various Albanian legends say, requires the use of religious symbols like crosses and holy water. Already, I’m sure, you can see the parallels with the vampires we are familiar with.

However, there were other mythical creatures that also influenced the form modern vampires took. The Romanian strigoi would also feed off of innocent people’s blood, but would only attack at night, as they slept during the day. Strigoi are believed to be incredibly strong and gifted with magic abilities like shapeshifting. The strigoi are said to hate garlic, and can be killed with a wooden stake speared through the heart.

These legendary monsters were highly influential to Irish author Bram Stoker, who introduced vampires to the English-speaking world with his classic novel Dracula. The infamous Transylvanian count represents a fusion of various Eastern European monsters with similar characteristics, plus one critical innovation that Stoker invented for his novel – that being bitten by a vampire can turn you into one.

As with witches, we can thank Hollywood for cementing a particular image of vampires in our imaginations thanks to a movie adaptation. In 1931, Universal released a film version of Dracula, starring the iconic Bela Lugosi in the title role. As Count Dracula was supposed to be Transylvanian nobility in the novel, the filmmakers decided to dress the character in a fancy tuxedo and cape like a stereotypical aristocrat of the late Victorian age. Lugosi’s performance had such an impact, that his version of Dracula became the default image of what a “vampire” looks like in American popular culture.

The Undead

In Vodou (also spelled “Voodoo”), a religious tradition of West African origin prominent in parts of the Caribbean, Brazil, and Louisiana, there is a belief that dark magic users known as bokors can use special poisons to make people appear dead, then “resurrect” their victims as mindless, drugged-out shells of their former selves under the complete mental control of the bokor. Thus, the bokor can use their victims to do their bidding. A person in this state is called a “zombi“.

However, there is very little resemblance between these victims of drug-induced mind control and the zombies of popular culture today. If anything, our popular conception of zombies has much more in common with a different undead monster, who often appears on Halloween with his own, distinct costume:

In 1818, a 21-year-old English woman named Mary Shelley published the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, a tale of gothic horror surrounding a mad scientist named Victor Frankenstein who creates life by assembling body parts from a nearby cemetery into a monstrous man and then bringing it to life. The novel presents Frankenstein’s creation as a perfectly normal, intelligent, and creative man who just happens to have a monstrous appearance and a penchant for responding to problems with violence. Once again, it was Hollywood, and specifically Universal Pictures, who established our popular image of this monster in a famous film adaptation, with Boris Karloff portraying the creature as a slow, shambling, barely animated being that can only grunt and moan.

The impact of this film would not only shape how we have imagined Frankenstein’s monster ever since, but also how we have imagined the “undead” would behave more generally. This can be seen with the movie that gave us the modern, pop-culture “zombie”: Night of the Living Dead.

In 1968, a young filmmaker who just graduated from college named George Romero directed his first movie with his friends. He initially thought about making a movie about aliens, but then decided to make a horror film about reanimated corpses that attack and eat living humans. The extremely violent and gory film depicted shambling undead corpses that grunt instead of talk, just like Karloff’s monster from decades earlier. The movie was incredibly popular upon release, but what really cemented its staying power was the fact that Romero accidentally forgot to copyright the movie. As a result, Romero’s zombies were in the public domain, meaning any filmmaker, author, comic book artist, or video game developer could use them in their own works. This proliferation of Romero-style zombies has had a huge impact on popular culture, with the idea of a “zombie apocalypse” becoming a popular cultural trope.

I have to admit, when I started researching this topic, I had no idea how much of an influence Hollywood had on shaping our mental image of various Halloween monsters. It makes sense, though; films are a visual medium, and a truly scary movie is quite memorable. Especially to a child that isn’t supposed to be watching the movie but sneaks a peek anyway.

I hope you have enjoyed this look at the origins behind five of our favorite frightening creatures to spook each other with. Here’s hoping your Halloween this year is a scary good time!

The History of the Police

Ever since the tragic death of George Floyd last year, there has been an ongoing conversation in American society about the appropriate role of our law enforcement. As often happens whenever there is a major controversy, some misinformation has unfortunately entered the conversation and has been circulating within it. Specifically, I am talking about the claim that policing is a modern invention that evolved from 18th-century patrols that hunted for escaped slaves. While such patrols absolutely did exist, to claim that ALL of our modern policing evolved from that one origin is as disingenuous as claiming that our Constitution was inspired by the Iroquois Confederacy while ignoring the many, many other influences that went into its formation.

Law enforcement has been around since laws existed. This should be obvious on its face, as what makes a rule into a law is the power of the government to force people to comply with it or face punishment for non-compliance. Foraging societies, making their living by hunting and gathering in nomadic bands, have no formal governments or political structures, and thus have no real laws. Disputes are resolved either with informal agreements between the individuals involved, or by some sort of contest, such as a sing-off. Those who are seen to have truly violated the tribe’s key taboos are shunned and banished, a very serious punishment in such societies as survival without the support of a social group in the wilderness is extremely difficult. Even so, life without law can be a frightening prospect from our modern viewpoint – among the Ju/’hoansi tribe in Botswana and Namibia, it is not uncommon for men to murder each other over rival claims to their women.

The oldest police force we know about existed in Ancient Egypt. Wealthy aristocrats would hire gangs to protect their property and keep important public buildings safe. Later, the government took over responsibility for law enforcement, centralizing power over the maintenance of public order with formal courts that determined the guilt or innocence of the accused. Nubian mercenaries from modern-day Sudan were hired to serve as law enforcement, and eventually Egypt would have ten times more police officers per capita than the modern United States has!

The word “police” itself comes from the Ancient Greek word “polis”, their name for their city-states. Responsibility for maintaining order in ancient Athens was held by 41 civil magistrates who collectively commanded a force of 300 slaves that did their dirty work for them. Later, the first Roman Emperor would create the Cohortes Urbanae, a subset within the Praetorian Guard who served as the police force in the city of Rome. In the Roman provinces, soldiers would be stationed in cities and towns to maintain order and capture criminals.

Law enforcement in ancient China took on many forms. Under the Tang Dynasty, the Gold Bird Guards were responsible for apprehending those accused of committing one of the Ten Abominations such as rebellion, treason, murder, assaulting a parent, or sorcery. Later, the Song Dynasty initiated a system known as “baojia” that made all the families in a village or neighborhood responsible for policing each other, with each family required to to train two sons in martial arts so they could act as the village’s police force.

In the Inca Empire, laws were enforced by local chiefs who were responsible to the emperor. Inca punishments were meant to set an example, so they were incredibly harsh – for example, adultery was punishable by being pushed off a cliff, and thieves would have a limb cut off. If a chief refused to enforce these Inca laws, he would be replaced by a new chief who would.

The earliest roots of our modern concept of policing originated, perhaps unsurprisingly, in medieval England. The Anglo-Saxons saw law enforcement as a collective responsibility of the community, with every person required to help in apprehending criminals. They grouped themselves into “shires”, and the criminal-hunting parties were organized by a figure called the “shire-reeve”. Yes, this is where we get the word “sheriff”. After the Norman Conquest, a new class of low-level nobles called “constables” were created who would act as a town guard, monitoring who entered or left the gates of a city. In 1361, King Edward III created a new, professional law enforcement officer called the “justice of the peace” who would act as his deputy in cities, towns, and villages across England.

Yet even as law enforcement in England gradually became more professionalized, the idea that it was up to ordinary citizens to stop crime remained in place as late as the 18th century. By then, London and many other English cities had established a system of paying cash rewards for the apprehension of criminals. This unintentionally led to large-scale corruption, as exemplified by the case of Jonathan Wild. Calling himself the “Thief-Taker General”, he led a team of criminal-hunters while simultaneously being one of London’s biggest criminal gang leaders. His “Thief-Takers” would arrest his competition while leaving his own underlings alone. Eventually, Wild’s double-life was found out, and he was hanged in 1725.

This sort of corruption ultimately led to large-scale reforms in the way the British handled policing. The Scottish city of Glasgow created a formal, professional police service in 1800, and in 1822 the Royal Irish Constabulary was created to maintain order on the Emerald Isle. One of the most important advocates for police reform in those days was Sir Robert Peel, a British politician who helped push through several police reform laws and created the Metropolitan Police Service of London (better known as “Scotland Yard”) in 1829. This new police force was based on a set of principles Peel created that all ultimately boil down to the idea that law enforcement doesn’t serve the government; it serves the public. Originally, British police officers wore a uniform Peel devised that included a top hat (representing authority) and a servant’s jacket (representing, well, public service).

You have to admit, they look a bit different than the modern uniforms we’re used to.

These reforms were remarkably successful, and police forces across the UK soon copied Scotland Yard’s model. Before long, cities in the United States followed suit, starting with the New York Police Department, founded in 1844.

Obviously, there was law enforcement in the United States since early colonial times. In 1636, Boston established a formal “night watch” to patrol its streets, just six years after its foundation. However, colonial-era policing was usually handled either by local volunteers or by for-profit entrepreneurs who would offer their services to the local merchants in a community for a fee. One of the main reasons why big cities adopted London-style police forces was because, frankly, it was cheaper to have a taxpayer-funded, government-run police service.

While America’s big cities copied the British when designing their police forces, that doesn’t mean Americans couldn’t innovate in this realm, too. The world’s first dedicated detective unit whose sole job was to investigate crimes after they had already been committed was established within the NYPD in 1857.

However, this professional and formal model of policing, tailored to serve the needs of big cities, didn’t translate well to the wild frontiers of the American West.

“Git yer city ways outta here!”

In a newly-established town, locals would often form vigilante groups to punish those the community saw as wrong-doers. As the town grew, formal sheriffs could be elected or hired by the local city council. In U.S. territories, the Department of Justice would send a U.S. Marshal out to patrol a particular region and arrest any bad guys in a given area. Often, these Marshals would take a cut of the fines charged to the criminal upon conviction, leading many to basically be bounty hunters in all but name. Such was the life and career of Bass Reeves, a former slave who became the most successful lawman in U.S. history, apprehending as many as 3,000 outlaws over the course of his career.

This face is crime’s worst nightmare

Eventually, as the United States became more industrialized and urbanized, concerns about police corruption grew, leading to numerous reforms. These included making the hiring of police forces more professional and less dependent on political favors, along with the creation of a new federal police force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Still, there were many in the 1960’s and 1970’s who accused police departments across America of not respecting citizens’ civil rights, being racially biased, or both. These accusations have remained prominent over the decades since, in spite of numerous attempts to reform the police to assuage these concerns.

Law enforcement has taken many forms over thousands of years, and will likely take even newer forms in the generations to come. Nevertheless, as long as we live in a society that agrees some rules need to be enforced and some actions should be punished so that each and every one of us can sleep in safety at night, walk through the park safely during the day, and rest assured that we will still have our homes and our stuff when we get off of work, there will always be a need for the police.

Strange Politics: What is a Governor-General?

July 26 will be a historic moment in Canada, as their first Governor-General of Inuit ancestry takes office. Mary Simon is a former diplomat and Inuit rights activist who will take her oath of office before the Canadian Senate on Monday. Queen Elizabeth II appointed Simon for the role on July 6, and Her Majesty spoke to Simon by video chat earlier this week in preparation for her inauguration.

Hold on. The Queen? As in, the British monarch? What is she doing picking a Canadian government official? Isn’t Justin Trudeau supposed to be Canada’s leader? What, exactly, is a Governor-General, anyway? What is going on here?

Strange Politics. That’s what’s going on.

To understand what the Governor-General of Canada’s role is, you first have to know an important fact about the “True North Strong and Free”. Canada has never actually declared its independence. To this day, Canadians acknowledge Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom as their sovereign ruler, who is recognized as “Queen of Canada”. This is why her portrait appears on all Canadian coins and the Canadian $20 bill. Canadian passports are issued in her name. All immigrants must swear a personal oath of loyalty to the Queen upon becoming Canadian citizens, and Canadian politicians, soldiers, and police officers also swear an oath to serve Her Majesty.

I’m still your colonial master, Canada!

In Canada today, you will sometimes see the Union Jack, officially called “the Royal Union Flag” by the Canadian government, flown from important buildings. The famed Canadian “Mounties” are officially named the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, one of many government agencies in our northern neighbor that uses the term “Royal”.

Yet on world maps, Canada is shown as an independent nation. The Canadian flag is listed on diagrams of the flags of the nations of the world. Canada has its own Olympic team, its own seat at the United Nations, and its own embassies in nations around the world. The world treats Canada like an independent nation, and in most senses, it functionally has become one.

To understand what is going on here, we need to dive into a bit of Canadian history. In the mid-19th century, Canada had a growing population that was increasingly tired of being governed by officials sent from Great Britain and having no say in their own local laws. In 1837, Canadian demands for self-government led to open revolt. The rebellion was quickly crushed, but the British remembered how they lost a certain set of 13 other colonies a half-century earlier and didn’t want to make the same mistakes. Gradually, the British began allowing Canadians to elect their own local leaders and allowing those leaders to act independently, without having to get London’s approval on everything. In 1867, the modern form of Canada’s government was largely set when the British Parliament passed the British North America Act.

This new law joined several of the British colonies in the northern part of North America together as provinces within a union that would have a Parliament of its own, as well as their own provincial legislatures. From this point onwards, the British began to largely leave Canada to its own devices on matters that didn’t affect the Empire as a whole. This arrangement was fine until World War I happened.

When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, the entire British Empire automatically went to war along with it. This proved to be rather controversial, as the war dragged on and Canadians died in the battlefields of Europe for what many saw as Britain’s war. In the aftermath, Canadian politicians began demanding even more freedom to control ALL Canadian affairs, including foreign policy. It wasn’t just Canada, either – Australia and New Zealand wanted similar freedom. After years of negotiations, the British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster in 1931. This law defined these colonies as “Dominions” of the British Empire, and declared that the United Kingdom would give up its right to pass laws for the Dominions without their permission.

At that point, the British were basically granting these colonies their independence without having to officially admit they were doing so.

Well, mostly. See, Canada actually did ask the British to pass laws for them in 1940, 1943, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1974, 1975, 1977, and 1982. What was going on here? Well, remember the British North America Act of 1867 that created Canada? That law, along with a collection of other laws passed by the British Parliament, were functionally serving as the “constitution” of Canada, and the only way to “amend” Canada’s “constitution” was with an Act of the British Parliament. This embarrassing situation was finally resolved in 1982, with the simultaneous passage of the Canada Act in the United Kingdom and the Constitution Act 1982 in Canada. These laws finally created a system for Canada to amend its own constitution without needing to ask Westminster to do it for them.

So, now Canada is an independent nation, right? In every practical way that matters in the real world, mostly, yes. However, Canada still symbolically acts like a British colony in a few key ways. One of these ways is with the office of the Governor-General of Canada.

So, what is a Governor-General?

Officially, the Governor-General is the representative of the reigning British monarch, chosen by Her Majesty to exercise her royal powers within Canada, as she can’t be in two places at once. No Canadian law can pass unless the Governor-General gives it the royal assent on the Queen’s behalf. The Governor-General is the commander-in-chief of the Canadian military and appoints the Canadian Prime Minister, the other ministers of the Canadian government, the judges of Canada’s Supreme Court, the members of the Canadian Senate, and the governors of Canada’s provinces. The Governor-General can dismiss the Prime Minister or dissolve the Canadian Parliament and call for new elections. Only the Queen can veto a Governor-General’s decision.

On paper, this makes the Governor-General an all-powerful figure who dominates Canada’s political system. However, the reality is far more nuanced. Just as how the Queen only uses her supposedly wide-ranging powers to do what the democratically-elected representatives of the British people want, the Governor-General only ever acts “on the advice of the Prime Minister”.

Every Governor-General has always automatically chosen the leader of the political party with the most seats in the elected Canadian House of Commons to serve as Prime Minister. Officially, Mary Simon is going to be Justin Trudeau’s boss, but if she acts the same way that every other Canadian Governor-General has, she will always do what Trudeau tells her to do. Indeed, it was Trudeau who recommended Simon for the role, and throughout her reign, Elizabeth II has always selected the Governor-General that Canada’s Prime Minister has recommended.

In practice, the Governor-General has a purely ceremonial role, her job being to act as a symbolic link to Canada’s past as a British colony.

Gen. David Hurley, the current Governor-General of Australia

This isn’t actually a political arrangement that is unique to Canada. Remember how the Statute of Westminster also covered Australia and New Zealand? Well, both have Governors-General to this day. In fact, these three original Dominions have been joined by Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. As the term “Dominion” is now seen as too colonial-y and Imperial-y, these days the collective term for these 15 countries is “Commonwealth realms”. Each Commonwealth realm is basically an independent nation that shares the same monarch as the United Kingdom, making Elizabeth II technically the sovereign of 16 separate countries simultaneously.

In short, Canada and 15 other nations around the world have gradually become independent nations in practice without ever having to declare it, but as a side-effect, they continue to symbolically pretend to be British colonies. This means that each has a Governor-General chosen by the local Prime Minister as a stand-in for the Queen to act like a colonial governor while only rubber-stamping the decisions of their country’s Prime Minister and Parliament.

Looks like the sun still hasn’t quite set on the British Empire yet.

The origins of U.S. state nicknames

The Golden State. The Lone Star State. The Sunshine State. The Empire State. The Keystone State. These are the top five most populous states in our great nation, listed in order. Surely, these nicknames conjured up images in your mind of the states they represent – California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania, respectively. Obviously, every state in the United States of America has a name, but what I personally find to be a very fun American tradition is the practice of giving these states a second, colorful, descriptive name that acts as that state’s branding. It’s fun looking at the creative and unique nicknames each state has come up with to represent itself on license plates and in tourism ads.

State nicknames are meant to tell people something about the state’s history, culture, and character. That’s why this year, for the 4th of July, I want to take a look at where each state nickname came from.

Alabama – So, um, it turns out the state of Alabama has no official nickname. Well, that’s an auspicious start.

Fortunately, Alabama does have a few popular, unofficial nicknames. The most widely-used is “the Yellowhammer State”. Yellowhammer is another name for the northern flicker, a species of woodpecker that often exhibits yellow feathers on the bottoms of its wings in the eastern U.S. During the Civil War, the Confederate soldiers from Alabama wore uniforms with gold trim, and were nicknamed “Yellowhammers” by the other Confederate units because of this.

Alaska – The Last Frontier. In 1890, the U.S. Census Bureau declared that the American frontier had officially closed. This marked the end of one of the most consistent trends in U.S. history since the first landings at Jamestown and Plymouth. Or did it? The Census Bureau’s announcement really only applied to the contiguous part of the United States, not to Alaska, a land still known to this day for its vast wilderness and the rugged people who eke out a living there. Up north, the frontier is still very much alive and well.

Arizona – The Grand Canyon State. This one should be pretty self-explanatory. Arizona is certainly proud of the famous natural wonder within its borders.

It’s only one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been, no big deal.

Arkansas – The Natural State. As you can see, Arkansas is another state proud of its natural wonders. It adopted this nickname in 1995 to celebrate its scenic beauty, including no fewer than eight locations that are part of the National Parks Service.

California – The Golden State. You would be forgiven for thinking this state nickname comes from the famous gold rush of 1849 that helped make California a state. While this is partially correct, when the state legislature formally adopted this nickname in 1968, they also cited the state flower, the golden poppy, as another reason for the “golden” nickname.

Colorado – The Centennial State. You might be surprised that this state’s nickname isn’t something like “the Rocky Mountain State” thanks to its most famous geographic feature, but no. Instead, Colorado’s nickname references the fact it joined the Union in 1876, the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Connecticut – The Constitution State. In the 1630’s, English and Dutch traders competed with each other over trading rights along the Connecticut River. To enforce their claim, Massachusetts sent several parties of settlers to build towns in the region. In 1639, representatives from these settlements got together and drew up a constitution for their colony, the first formal constitution in the New World.

Delaware – The First State. On December 7, 1787, Delaware was the first U.S. state to ratify our Constitution, kick-starting the process of formally adopting this foundational document. The state adopted this nickname in 2002, at the request of a first-grade elementary school class.

Florida – The Sunshine State. Another self-explanatory nickname, Florida formally adopted it in 1970 in reference to the state having an average of 230 sunny days every year.

Georgia – Another state with no official nickname, though it is quite common for people to refer to it as “the Peach State” after the state’s official fruit.

Hawaii – The Aloha State. Technically, Hawaii doesn’t consider this an official nickname, but rather Hawaiian law states this is the “popular name” of the state, “so long as the legislature of the State does not otherwise provide”. Since Hawaii’s legislature has not “otherwise provided”, it continues to use this phrase to celebrate its native Hawaiian language, where “Aloha” famously means “hello”, “goodbye”, and “love”.

Idaho – The Gem State. In 1860, a man named George Willing tried to get Congress to name a new territory in the Rocky Mountains “Idaho”, telling them it was an old name the local tribes used for the land that meant “Gem of the Mountains”. Congress eventually decided to name the territory “Colorado” instead, but a few years later, they gave another new territory in the region the name of “Idaho”. The state that was created from this territory still uses the name today. However, the name is not actually of Native American origin; Willing just straight-up invented the name and gave it a fake backstory. Nevertheless, Idaho adopted the nickname “the Gem State” in reference to this fabricated origin of their state’s name.

Illinois – This state also has no official nickname, though it does have an official state slogan: “Land of Lincoln”. The state legislature adopted it in 1955 to honor the most famous and celebrated president that came from their state.

“Well, I humbly accept this honor.”

Indiana – The Hoosier State. The origin of this state nickname is a complete mystery that has stumped historians and linguists. Although we know the term “Hoosier” for someone from Indiana dates to at least the 1830’s, we just don’t know how the term came to be.

Iowa – The Hawkeye State. In 1832, a brief but bloody and brutal war was fought between a band of Indian warriors and civilians led by Chief Black Hawk of the Sauk tribe and the Illinois state militia. The end result of this war was that the land Black Hawk’s followers had occupied would be opened up to settlement by a fresh wave of pioneers, who would eventually form the state of Iowa. An early Iowan named James G. Edwars suggested the nickname “the Hawkeye State” as a tribute to Black Hawk.

Kansas – Our fourth state with no official nickname, though it has a few popular, unofficial nicknames. The most popular one is “the Sunflower State”, named after the official state flower.

Kentucky – The Bluegrass State. Just so we are clear, this popular species of grass is actually green, and for most of the year, it just looks like regular grass. Its name comes from its blue flowers that bloom in spring. Also, the state nickname comes from the grass, and the genre of music gets its name from the state. Got it? Good.

Louisiana – The Pelican State. This state has not only adopted the brown pelican as its official state bird, it also has embraced the symbolism of the pelican on its flag, seal, and even license plates. This obsession with pelicans is in reference to the state’s Catholic heritage; the bird is seen as a symbol of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice due to the belief that the birds would feed their young with their own blood in times of hardship.

Maine – The Pine Tree State. The official state nickname of Maine refers to the fact that it, uh, has a lot of pine trees. That’s pretty much it.

Maryland – The Old Line State. In 1776, shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed, British forces landed on Long Island on a mission to capture New York City. It soon became clear that the Continental Army was outflanked and outmatched, and they were forced to evacuate lest they be utterly wiped out in a single battle. The Maryland Line covered the retreat, holding firm in the face of the British onslaught as they protected their comrades. After the battle, George Washington was said to call the Maryland regiments “The Old Line” as a term of endearment in gratitude for their heroism.

Massachusetts – The Bay State. In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was set up under an English royal charter granted the year before. Massachusetts Bay is one of the five bays that dominate the state’s coast. Though the state dropped “Bay” from its official name in 1788, becoming the “Commonwealth of Massachusetts”, its residents were still called “Bay Staters”. Ironically, this centuries-old nickname didn’t become official until 1990.

Michigan – Yet another state with no official nickname. The two most common nicknames you might hear for it are “the Great Lakes State” and “the Wolverine State”. The former simply refers to the fact it is surrounded by the Great Lakes, but the latter is a bit more interesting. In the early 19th century, Michigan and Ohio had a territorial dispute over control of the city of Toledo, and in 1835, they went to war with each other over this dispute. Local legend holds that the Ohioans were impressed by the tenacity of the Michigan militia and compared them to wolverines. However, before the two states escalated the conflict too far, Congress intervened, granting Toledo to Ohio but offering Michigan the Upper Peninsula as compensation.

Minnesota – The North Star State. This state nickname is derived from its motto, “L’Étoile du Nord”, French for “the star of the north”. Minnesota is the northernmost state of the lower 48.

Mississippi – The Magnolia State. This state sure loves Magnolias, having made them their state flower and state tree, as well as putting a Magnolia on their state flag.

It’s not like they have an obsession or anything.

Missouri – The Show-Me State. This may not be an official nickname, but it might as well be, given how it is such a popular symbol of this state. It refers to a speech given in 1899 by Rep. Willard Duncan Vandiver (D-Mo.), who told the crowd: “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.”

Montana – No official nickname, but you might hear it referred to as “the Treasure State” due to the abundance of natural resources like gold, silver, and gemstones mined in the state.

Nebraska – The Cornhusker State. Many of the early settlers in this state were corn farmers, and the local University of Nebraska honored this heritage by calling their team “the Cornhuskers”. In 1945, the state legislature officially adopted “the Cornhusker State” as the state nickname.

Nevada – The Silver State. This state was the source of one of the largest deposits of silver in 19th-century America, prompting a huge silver rush that fast-tracked the region to statehood in 1864. When I was at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City a few years ago, I remember they had a huge exhibit showcasing the state’s silver-mining heritage and showing off many artifacts made from Nevada silver.

New Hampshire – The Granite State. Similarly, New Hampshire’s state nickname refers to the state’s abundance of granite quarries.

New Jersey – The Garden State. Another state nickname of mysterious origin, some sources claim it was coined by Abraham Browning in 1876, but it isn’t clear why he referred to the state by that nickname, and some historians dispute that he was the one who coined it.

New Mexico – Land of Enchantment. Originally a slogan that was used to attract tourism to the state, it turned out this slogan had enough staying power to last for decades, and it was eventually adopted as the official nickname in 1999.

New York – The Empire State. This is another state nickname credited to George Washington. New York City was under British occupation throughout most of the American Revolutionary War, and after the British forces finally left, Washington wrote a letter to city officials where he thanked the city for persevering throughout the occupation. He wrote that with the war over, New York is “at present the seat of the Empire”.

North Carolina – The Tar Heel State. Okay, this state nickname is very strange, and is just begging for an explanation. Unfortunately, that’s a big part of why there are multiple explanations floating around out there, with seemingly everyone telling a slightly different story. One thing most versions seem to agree on is that it stems from the fact early 19th-century North Carolina was a major producer of tar for use in naval ships. It seems many versions then go on to claim the phrase “Tar Heel” was first used to describe people from the state during the Civil War. Some say the term was meant to showcase how brave North Carolinian soldiers were, standing firm and never retreating. Others claim that it was an insult, used to make fun of the poor and working-class soldiers from North Carolina. Still others say it stems from an incident where a regiment from the state mocked a Virginia regiment for cowardice, saying “Old Jeff Davis is going to put tar on your heels so you stop running away.”

North Dakota – The Peace Garden State. No, this nickname has nothing to do with New Jersey. Instead, it was adopted in 1957 to honor the International Peace Garden, a park that straddles the U.S.-Canadian border that was created to celebrate the mutual friendship between the two countries.

Ohio – The Buckeye State. The buckeye tree has been a symbol of Ohio since 1840, when William Henry Harrison ran for president and his campaign worked hard to give him an image as a rugged frontiersman, living in an Ohio log cabin made from buckeye trees. As for the tree, its name comes from the resemblance its seeds supposedly have to the eyes of a deer:

I don’t see it.

Oklahoma – The Sooner State. Remember how in 1890 the frontier was declared closed? Well, there was one area that pioneers still hadn’t settled: Indian Territory. This was the place where tribes from the eastern United States who had been forced off their land were resettled by the U.S. government in the infamous “Trail of Tears”, the idea being that this land would be reserved for their use. Well, now the U.S. government decided it was high time these tribes moved over and made room for one last wave of pioneers. There was so much demand for free land, the government held literal races – first pioneer family to a plot of land got to claim it. Well, some people cheated and snuck in the night before the race, claiming their land “sooner” than everyone else. So, the people who claimed land legitimately took to calling the cheaters “Sooners”.

Oregon – No official nickname, but many people call it “the Beaver State” in honor of the fact the North American beaver is the state’s official animal and there is a beaver on the reverse of Oregon’s state flag.

Pennsylvania – The Keystone State. This is a very appropriate nickname for a state that played a key role in the American Revolution, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written, and where the Continental Congress was based.

Rhode Island – The Ocean State. I suppose when you are the smallest state, nestled in a corner of New England with very little besides ports and harbors, it makes sense to adopt this as your official nickname.

South Carolina – The Palmetto State. In 1776, Col. William Moultrie led a group of South Carolinian Patriots to Sullivan’s Island near Charleston, to block a British assault on the city. Building a makeshift fort from sabal palmetto logs, they managed to withstand the British attack and foil their plans. Ever since, the palmetto has been an important state symbol, appearing on every version of the state flag since 1861.

The blue background and crescent moon both come directly from Moultrie’s flag at that battle.

South Dakota – The Mount Rushmore State. Here is another state that, like Arizona, decided to get straight to the point and adopt a nickname referencing its most famous landmark.

Tennessee – The Volunteer State. Like the Show-Me State, this state nickname has never formally been adopted as the official state nickname, but it has become so famous and so closely associated with the state’s identity that it seems odd to split hairs about that. The nickname refers to the large number of soldiers from Tennessee who volunteered to take up arms to defend the United States in the War of 1812.

Texas – The Lone Star State. Believe it or not, this is technically the newest state nickname, having only been officially adopted in 2015. Of course, people have been referring to the state by this nickname for centuries. This nickname comes from Texas’s flag, that famously has a single star on it, representing the classic Texan independent spirit.

Utah – The Beehive State. In the Book of Mormon, the word “deseret” is used to mean “honeybee”. When members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints settled along the Great Salt Lake, they proposed the creation of a State of Deseret, but Congress quickly quashed that idea. Instead, the area was named “Utah” for the Ute people who lived there, but Utahans never gave up their honeybee symbolism, putting a beehive on the state seal and calling themselves “the Beehive State”.

Vermont – The Green Mountain State. This is probably the most boring nickname of them all, as “Vermont” literally just means “Green Mountains”.

Virginia – The Old Dominion. This is by far the oldest state nickname, given to Virginia when it was still a colony. During the English Civil War, the colony remained loyal to King Charles I and his heir, King Charles II. In gratitude, the king gave Virginia the honorific “Old Dominion” after he was restored to the throne. Ironically, Virginia would join the American rebellion against British rule a century later, yet keep the nickname.

Washington – The Evergreen State. Another unofficial but widely-used nickname, coined by C.T. Conover, an early pioneer, in honor of the state’s evergreen forests.

West Virginia – The Mountain State. No relation to Vermont, this state nickname refers to the fact the entire state is covered by the Appalachian Mountains.

Wisconsin – The Badger State. This nickname dates from the early 19th century, as lead mining became a major industry in the region. It was said that the miners digging for ore would remind some local farmers of badgers, who also dig holes for a living.

Wyoming – The Equality State. In 1869, Wyoming became the first state to grant women the right to vote. In honor of this decision, the state adopted the nickname “the Suffrage State”, but later, this was changed to “the Equality State” as a broader commitment to equal rights for all.

Whew! That’s quite a few nicknames to go through. Still, I hope you enjoyed this fun celebration of our nation, and I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!