The Later Jefferson and the Problem of Natural Rights

Abstract

The late Jefferson presents a puzzle to scholars. In his last years the author of the Declaration of Independence strongly opposed the Missouri Compromise and set important precedents for the political strategy of the antebellum South. This essay argues that these problematic aspects of Jefferson's career are more closely linked to his natural rights doctrine than is generally recognized and extend tendencies already present in Jefferson's draft of the Declaration. Unlike previous scholars who explain Jefferson's problematic politics by his racism or the inherent selfishness of Lockean natural right, I argue that the core flaw in Jefferson's natural rights doctrine is the encouragement it gives to self-righteousness. Because he responded to the problem of slavery in a spirit of angry self-defense, Jefferson's understanding of natural rights blinded him to the ways in which his actions strengthened slavery and undermined his own most cherished political achievements.     

Palaeolithic Human Subsistence in Mount Carmel (Israel). A Taphonomic Assessment of Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic Faunal Remains from Tabun,Skhul and el‐Wad

Detailed archaeozoological studies of Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic (250–40 kya) faunal assemblages from Tabun, Skhul and el‐Wad caves, located in Mount Carmel (Israel), are presented here, expanding on the previous palaeontological analyses carried out by Garrod and Bate in the 1930´s and by Garrard five decades later. Despite the well‐known excavation bias of the older excavations, this study makes greater use of modern taphonomic techniques and statistical procedures, providing new palaeoeconomic insights into the subsistence behaviour of modern humans, Neanderthals and their predecessors in the Levant. The results show that anatomically modern humans (AMH) were more efficient at hunting and foraging in terms of human mobility as well as an incipient prey specialisation. In addition, different uses of the Tabun cave through time have been identified. Tabun B, initially considered as a palaeontological accumulation, was also occasionally accessed by Neanderthals in order to exploit naturally trapped ungulates, and there were sporadic and logistic occupations in Tabun D, one of the oldest Middle Palaeolithic assemblages in the area. Contrastingly, Tabun C showed a comparatively more residential use, which coincided with the new mobility capabilities of AMH. Whereas the intensity of human occupation at el‐Wad varied through time, levels G and F showed very brief occupations in comparison with levels D and E, which showed abundant evidence of human activity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dendrochronological Dating and Provenancing of Timbers from the Arade 1 Shipwreck,Portugal

As part of a larger project promoting the development of historical dendrochronology in the Iberian Peninsula, ship‐timbers from the Arade 1 wreck (mostly planking and framing elements), stored at the DANS/IGESPAR in Lisbon, were examined. Of these, 52 samples were identified as deciduous oak (Quercus subg. quercus) and two as chestnut (Castanea sativa). Of 24 timbers selected for dendrochronological research, 23 could be dated, placing the origin of the wood in western France and the felling of trees between AD 1579 and 1583. Their homogeneity suggests they are part of the original construction, which probably took place shortly after AD 1583. © 2012 The Authors     

The Order of Sima Chengzhen and Wang Ziqiao: An Inquiry into the History of Shangqing Daoism in the Tiantai Mountains

Though small,this work is important for the study of Taoist history.It throws a better light on one of its major representatives,Sima Chengzhen 司马承祯(647-735),12th patriarch of the Shangqing 上清 tradition,a blooming Taoist school under the Tang (618-907).Ute Engelhardt had certainly already studied him notably with her translation of one of his principal texts on the breath technics;Livia Kohn too has worked on one of his short texts on meditation and Paul Kroll has written several articles on his poetry.But Thomas Jülch brings a new vision of this Taoist and his essential role on the legitimation of imperial power with the moving of the Shangqing tradition center to the Tiantai Mountains 天台山.     

KEEPING THE PEACE

This paper locates the emerging professional police force in Copenhagen both in a European‐wide context and in the context of Danish absolute monarchy between 1660 and 1799. The surviving source material on the activities of the new police force itself (from 1683) is reviewed, but the notion of ‘good police’ is placed in a much broader early modern framework involving not only daily security in the city, and matters of criminal and civil law arising naturally in a growing urban environment, but also the relationship between the police master and the many other existing agents of domestic policy in early modern Denmark. The role of ‘good police’ in terms of begging, vagrancy and the workhouse conform largely to contemporary European patterns, but when the police was also (from 1773) given powers to control newspapers and the press, questions of civil rights and obligations were bound to be raised – not least once public opinion became fully aware that the mental condition of Christian VII meant that absolutism could not operate in the normal way. Although the Copenhagen police provided a tool for more co‐ordinated implementation of social policy in the 18th century, there were no sudden changes in domestic agenda.     

Notes,Documents, and Bibliographies

Princess Lieven's Last Diplomatic Confrontation; Daniel H. Thomas

Faisal Ibn Husairi and the Zionists: A Re-examination with Documents; Neil Caplan     

Wellington and the Army of Occupation in France, 1815–1818

MARCEL BEARTH. Weizen, Waffen und Kredite fur den Indischen Subkontinent: Die amerikanische Südasienpolitik unter Präsident Johnson im Dilemma zwischen Indien und Pakistan, 1963–1969. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1990. Pp. vii, 323. DM 64

H.W. BRANDS. India and the United States: The Cold Peace. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990. Pp. xii, 195. $25.95 (US)> cloth; $10.95 (US), paper

DENNIS MERRILL. Bread and the Ballot: The United States and India's Economic Development, 1947–1963. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1990. Pp. xiv, 282. $39.95 (US).