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> The Wiki page on it says there were no reported deaths from T&F in the Revolutionary period [ND]

Not reported doesn't mean non-existent. Why should deaths have been immediate and who would they have reported them -to-? No central government or dense web of reporters or tracking mechanisms, travel and information exchange often easier with England than up and down the colonial coast before paved roads/infrastructure.

Oh dear. Somewhere I’ve heard a phrase before, ah yes, “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”. Profound stuff. Thanks Phil.

And how many tax collectors and loyalists just went missing during the period? Any unexplained disappearances? Maybe the rebel-sympathising coroners systematically falsified the cause of death for the countless victims. And maybe there's a celestial teapot...

Interesting stuff. My ancestors were Massachussets Tories and there is a family legend that one of them was tarred and feathered and ridden on a rail. He died shortly after that but no cause of death has been found.

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This is a great little essay.

It's good to post a comment on something you like, not because someone is a friend (or not) but because if something is good, that supports it. I just read George's essay and wanted to post a comment but unfortunately (I've seen this elsewhere) you have to comment "using" Facebook or Yahoo. Not quite sure what that means, but I'm no longer on Facebook and when I clicked on Yahoo, it seemed to want me to give permission to make public my Yahoo emall address. No thank you.

(Note also that personal animosities or ill-will or having been insulted by someone are often not a sufficient reason for failing to give credit where it's due. It's not like there is a huge oversupply of good writing on history or in other intellectual areas.)

I forgot to mention below that another good thing about it is its brevity. Like Lincoln, it's legs are just long enough to reach the ground.

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Here is what I wrote about this essay on the Coercive Acts and would have been happy to post on libertarianism.org if it weren't for the hurdles/roadblock I just mentioned:

"This is a very good essay. First of all, the author clearly, logically traces the sequence of events and how they escalate, how one source of suspicion or infringement leads to a small response which leads to a retaliation, which leads to bigger response and so forth. That was never fully clear to me in the history courses I took during my school days. And what I'd call "the logic of escalation" happens all the time and is useful to understand: It has many applications in human affairs. Second, his use of documentation, quotes from Washington and others is helpful and gives the flavor of the times. This sort of exposition would have made my history textbooks far more interesting and the circumstances leading to the American Revolution more clear."

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Here is what I wrote about this essay on the Coercive Acts and would have been happy to post on libertarianism.org if it weren't for the hurdles/roadblock I just mentioned: "This is a very good essay. First of all, the author clearly, logically traces the sequence of events and how they escalate, how one source of suspicion or infringement leads to a small response which leads to a retaliation, which leads to bigger response and so forth. That was never fully clear to me in the history courses I took during my school days. And what I'd call "the logic of escalation" happens all the time and is useful to understand: It has many applications in human affairs. Second, his use of documentation, quotes from Washington and others is helpful and gives the flavor of the times. This sort of exposition would have made my history textbooks far more interesting and the circumstances leading to the American Revolution more clear."

Thanks, Phil. I very much appreciate your comments.

You are on my What a swell guy! list until we lock horns once again. 8-)

Ghs

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"We can now appreciate whey [sic] many Americans detested being called 'rebels.'"

Thanks for the heads-up. I had not been able to check the posted essay yet. I notified the webmaster about this typo (and one other I noticed), and he said that both had been fixed. It sometimes takes a little while for corrections to show up.

Ghs

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http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/excursions/roots-state-education-part-1-spartan-model

The Roots of State Education

Part 1: The Spartan Model

My Cato Essay #16 is now up. This is the first in a series on the history of state education.

Ghs

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http://www.libertari...1-spartan-model

The Roots of State Education

Part 1: The Spartan Model

My Cato Essay #16 is now up. This is the first in a series on the history of state education.

Ghs

Sparta was a National Socialist State, in the spirit of Progressive Liberalism. With a little prettying up, the likes of Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt would have approved. Sparta was fascist before there was Fascism.

All jesting aside, Spartan tropes have been adapted by most modern nation states as a model for their military forces. Imperial Rome reproduced Sparta on an Industrial Scale.

Ba'al Chatzaf

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http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/excursions/roots-state-education-part-2-platos-case-against-free-market-education

The Roots of State Education, Part 2: Plato's Case Against Free-Market Education

My Cato Essay #17 is now up.

Ghs

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http://www.libertari...arket-education

The Roots of State Education, Part 2: Plato's Case Against Free-Market Education

My Cato Essay #17 is now up.

Ghs

There isn't any market any more for the likes of Ward. The intellectual pretensions of the left have dissolved in the blood they generated. What's left is a deadly inertia with a cliff ahead.

--Brant

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George,

Great essay on Herbert Spencer.

I can't wait for Part 2.

Robert Campbell

Thanks, Robert.

Not long ago someone donated money to Cato for the express purpose of advertising the Libertarianism.org site. The results have been dramatic, beginning with my essay from last Tuesday (on Jefferson and education), which got 366 "likes" -- far more than any previous essay. And the current essay on social Darwinism, which has only been up for around ten hours, has already gotten 486 "likes."

Almost all these "likes" are Facebook related, so the actual number of hits is considerably higher. But I do use them as a relative measure of reader interest.

Ghs

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