Fencing Bear at Prayer

Once upon a time, there was a colony that revolted against its ancestral kings and established itself as a republic.  The people of the former colony constituted a government in which the men of the republic voted for their administrative officials by tribe, each of which was determined geographically, not ethnically or by kinship groups. Having established a government, the new state began extending its authority by conquest and trade, until eventually it controlled a vast region previously occupied by multiple peoples, including several older empires.  Although citizenship was initially limited to the members of the founding tribes, over the centuries, as more and more nations were absorbed (or coerced) into the empire, the franchise was extended even to those whose ancestors had no association whatsoever with the founding of the state. These new citizens saw themselves as fully “native,” regardless of where they came from, within or without the empire. They adopted the...

Stephen B. Presser, Raoul Berger Professor of Legal History Emeritus, Northwestern University School of Law, gives Milo Chronicles a rave review in Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture ! The adventure continues! Risus et bellum, infans! Follow my further adventures with Milo at Milo Chronicles . Visit the Dragon Common Room for tea, poetry, and trolling for Christ.