Revisiting Dred Scott: Prudence,Providence, and the Limits of Constitutional Statesmanship

Abstract

After the Dred Scott decision in 1857, Abraham Lincoln embarked on a public campaign to prevent the expansion of slavery in the federal territories. Lincoln's opposition to Dred Scott was, however, bound up with a certain theoretical orientation that is often rejected in the general milieu of modern constitutional theory. Within the context of two recent revisionist accounts of slavery and American constitutionalism, I argue that our retrospective evaluations of the sixteenth president's statesmanship must enter into a deeper engagement with Lincoln's attachment to natural law and his theological interpretation of the Civil War.     

Geomorphic perspectives on the sterkfontein australopithecine breccias

Breccias in the upper Sterkfontein cave system levels have yielded artifact assemblages as well as Homo and Australopithecus africanus remains. As mapped by the author, this sytem can be subdivided into a northern sector, comprising small, bedding-controlled passageways, and a southern one with large galleries controlled by subvertical fracture zones and partly filled with two generations of external, detrital sediment. A four-stage model describes the development of these deposits. The implications of this study include: (1) The caves formed in one rather than two phases, as a result of structural rather than watertable controls. (2) The lowest strata of both depositional generations, 50–60 m below the hillcrest are probably the oldest. T. C. Partridge's Sterkfontein Formation only includes approximately the upper half of the stratigraphic column recognized here. Deposits underlying those he described are also fossiliferous and probably substantially older than the 2·8+ million year age attributed to the lower units of the Sterkfontein Formation. (3) The Sterkfontein Formation, as defined by Partridge, is a composite stratotype, comprising one surface exposure and another underground, at mid to upper levels in the system. Their stratigraphic relationships are obscure and since the lower boundary of the Formation also is in doubt, erection of a formal stratotype is premature. Deep-lying breccias may ultimately warrant another component, extending the Sterkfontein Formation to the lowest known levels of the cave system.     

The internationalism of stateless nations: The case of Hong Kong

Nationalism is often associated with xenophobia and isolationism in academic literature. The negative image of nationalism has been further strengthened by the electoral success of far-right political figures across the world. However, treating all nationalism as a uniformly negative phenomenon risks over-simplification, as nationalism might manifest differently given different social context and rhetorical resources available. Taking Hong Kong as a case, this paper theorises Hong Kong as a stateless nation and examines the alleged negative association of nationalism. It moves beyond the traditional ‘Hong Kong vis-a-vis China’ framework and explores the relationship between Hong Kong nationalists and non-Chinese international actors. Drawing on data from major Hong Kong political parties' Facebook page, this paper shows that Hong Kong nationalism exhibits a high level of internationalism in both inward and outward dimensions, theorised, respectively, as the willingness to accept foreign influence and to invite international cooperation, and therefore offers a nuanced understanding about the relationship between nationalism, xenophobia and isolationism.     

Rewriting Merovingian history in the tenth century: Aimoin of Fleury's Gesta Francorum

Aimoin of Fleury's Gesta Francorum has mostly been ignored apart from its importance as a source for the Grandes Chroniques de France. Aimoin's editorial techniques in reworking his Merovingian‐era sources deserve more attention, however. Through a process of selective editing, strategic silence, and rhetorical invention he compiled a history that would appeal to its probable target audience, King Robert II of West Francia. The most noteworthy changes wrought by Aimoin are the assignment of a divinely appointed imperial and evangelizing mission to the Franks and the transformation of Clovis into an exemplary Christian king.