Emblems of Pluralism: Cultural Differences and the State

224 Pages·2002·1.86 MB·English

by  Carol Weisbrod

Acknowledgments
✦ EMBLEMS OF PLURALISM is the development of material that has en-
gaged me for a very long time. Inevitably, the book is built on past and
presentworkandassociation.
Many people have provided assistance at some point in the project.
Family,friends,andparticipantsinthemeetingsatwhichthisworkwas
first presented have all made contributions. Among those to be particu-
larly thanked are Milner Ball, Mark Janis, Carolyn Jones, Richard Kay,
MarthaMinow,CarlSchneider,andStevenWilf.Thanksarealsodueto
theCentreforStudiesofReligionandSocietyattheUniversityofVictoria,
whereIwasafellowinJanuary1998.
Aviam Soifer deserves special thanks for his consistent willingness to
readand commenton drafts.Referencesto artand arthistoryshow my
debttoPamelaSheingorn.
I would like to thank Austin Sarat for his general encouragement of
interdisciplinarywritingonlawandforhisspecificsuggestionsconcern-
ing the manuscript. And I am grateful also for the comments made by
anonymousreviewersforPrincetonUniversityPress.
IcontinuetobegratefulforinstitutionalsupportfromtheLawSchool
andtheLawLibraryoftheUniversityofConnecticut.
Finally,Iwouldliketoacknowledgehelpfulexchangesovermanyyears
withthelateLeonLipsonandthelateHenrySchwarzschild.
Thisbookisbasedinsubstantialpartonreworkingofthefollowingpubli-
cations:
“TowardsaHistoryofEssentialFederalism:AnotherLookatOwenin
America.”ConnecticutLawReview21(1989):979.
“TheLawandReconstitutedChristianity:TheCaseoftheMormons.”
Reprinted by permission from Religious Conscience, the State, and the
Law: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Significance, by John
McLaren and Harold Coward (eds.), the State University of New York
Press.©1999StateUniversityofNewYork.(AllRightsReserved.)
“MinoritiesandDiversities:TheRemarkableExperimentoftheLeague
ofNations.”OriginallypublishedintheConnecticutJournalofInterna-
tionalLaw8(1993):359.
“EmblemsofFederalism.”MichiganJournalofLawReform25(1992):
795.
Otherrelatedworkisalsoused,andcitedasappropriate.
PART ONE
Monumental Federalism
ErastusField’sHistoricalMonumentoftheAmericanRepublicisapaintingabout
history,notabouttheoriesoffederalism,buttotheextentthatitinvokespolitical
(rather than social) history, it implies a hierarchical understanding of American
federalism.1Itisarepresentationofverticalrelationsbetweengroups.
Thepaintingwasbeguninthe1860s,andFieldfinishedmostofthepieceby
1867.In1876,FieldaddedthePhiladelphiaCentennialExhibitionHalltothetop
of what was called the Central Tower, and, in 1888, he added the two end
towers.2MaryBlackrecordedthatFieldsawthepaintingas“theculminationand
chiefworkofhislongcareer.”3
FrankJenkinsdescribedthepaintingasfollows:
Fromaformalgarden,reminiscentofthebrand-newparkofanindustrialtown,
risetengreattowers,circularandpolygonalinplan,madeupofsectionsdimin-
ishingastheyrise.Theseareencrustedwithanincrediblearrayofarchitectural
bric-a-brac.Almosteverystyleisrepresented—Egyptian,Greek,Roman,even
medievalmachicolationsareintroduced.Sevenofthetelescope-liketowersare
joined near their summits by delicate iron suspension bridges, across which
steam-trainspuff.4
MaryBlacknotedinhercatalogofField’swork,“Everylevelofeverytowerin
Field’sMonumentiskeyedto anincidentinAmericanhistory.”5Apparently,the
“idea of an historical painting on a grand theme had been with Field since the
beginningofhiscareer.Theevolutionofhisplanfollowedalongprogresslikely
to have been conceived as early as November 1824 when he entered Samuel
Morse’sstudioasanapprenticestudent.”6
1ThepaintingisonexhibitattheMuseumofFineArtsinSpringfield,Massachusetts,aspartofthe
MorganWessonMemorialCollection.
2Mary C. Black, Erastus Salisbury Field: 1805–1900 (Springfield, Mass.: Museum of Fine Arts,
1984),41.
3Black,ErastusSalisburyField.Fieldwasanitinerantpainterwhospentmostofhiscareerinthe
Northeast.MaryC.Black,“ErastusSalisburyFieldandtheSourcesofHisInspiration,”Antiques,February
1963,201–4.Blackwritesthatin1933thepaintingwasfoundrolledupintheatticofarelative’shome
and“rescuedbyMadelineBallWright,Field’sgrand-niece,fromignominiousstorageinashedbehind
apigstyinPlumtreesinthemid-1940’s”(47).
4FrankI.Jenkins,“SomeNineteenth-CenturyTowers,”JournaloftheRoyalInstituteofBritishArchitects,
February1958,124,126.
5Black,ErastusSalisburyField,41.
6Ibid.,42.Blacknotesthat“FieldwasasviolentlyopposedtoslaveryasMorsewasforit.Whileboth
menopposedsecession,theirdivergentviewsmadetheinterpretationoftheMonumentasitcamefrom
FieldafardifferentpaintingthananythingMorsemighthavecreated”(42).
FieldhimselfpublishedadescriptivecatalogoftheHistoricalMonumentofthe
AmericanRepublicthatpredatestheadditionofthetwofinaltowers.7Thecatalog
beginswithaparagraphexplainingField’sultimateintention:hewantedareal
structuretobebuilt.Followingtheplandepictedinthepainting,thestructurewould
haveacentraltowersurroundedbyotherlargeandelaboratetowers.8Thevarious
humanfiguresinthepaintingwouldbestatueswith“[t]hedarkfigures...repre-
sentedinbronzetodenotethecoloredrace.”9
The Field catalog contains a statement of his limits and purpose. “I am not a
professedarchitect,”Fieldwrites,“andsomethingsaboutitmaybefaulty.Bethat
asitmay,myaimhasbeentogetupabriefhistoryofourcountryorepitome,in
amonumentalform.”10Fieldexplainsthatthecolumnsrepresentthecoloniesand
the states. He also describes not only each of the towers, but each of the small
picturesonthetowers,beginningwiththesettlementofJamestownbytheEnglish
in 1607.11The figureson thefirst orcentral towerconsist of armies,presidents,
andtheForty-FourthCongress.12Theothertowershaveelaboraterepresentations
ofvariousbattlesandincidentsinAmericanhistory,placingconsiderableempha-
sis on the Civil War. Outside the towers we see ladies and gentlemen out for a
walkandtroops“marchingaroundthemonumentwhichillustratesthecentennial
anniversaryoftheAmericanIndependence.”13TheMonumentincludestextfrom
theDeclarationofIndependence14andalongessayonthecriticalimportanceof
the Bible. The platform of the main towers carries the letters “T. T. B.,” meaning
“TheTrueBase.”15Althoughconceivedasaplanforanarchitecturalwork,Field’s
monumentremainsapainting.Nostructurebasedonithaseverexisted.
WecanviewErastusField’sfolkpaintingasrepresentingafederalschemefo-
cusedonpoliticalunits(statesandcolonies),imbeddedinhugetowers,whichare
connected in various ways to the whole. It emphasizes public officials, armies,
andgreatpoliticalcontroversies.Itseemstorepresentaconceptionoffederalism
7ErastusSalisburyField,“DescriptiveCatalogueoftheHistoricalMonumentoftheAmericanRepub-
lic”(Amherst,Mass.:H.M.McCloud,1876),reprintedandincludedinBlack,ErastusSalisburyField.
8Ibid.,1.
9Ibid.
10Ibid.
11Ibid.,1,4.Field’sdescriptionofaportionoftheeighthtowerinthecenterofthepaintingindicates
thelevelofhisdetail:“Abovetheconstitutionareseenindividualswatchingforachancetoassassinate
theheadsofthegovernment.Sewardisonhisbed.AboveonthegreatplatformtheassassinBoothis
shootingthePresident.Washingtonisnearbyexpressingastonishmentatsuchadeed.Underthecano-
piesonthepillars,peopleareweeping.AboveisseenthefuneralprocessionofthePresident.Aboveis
histomb.OnthetopoftheeighthtowerPresidentLincolnisascendinginafierychariotandanangelis
intheactofcrowninghim”(10).
FrederickB.Robinsonobservedthatwhilethepainting“cannotbecalledgreatart,itisoutstandingin
thefieldoffolk-art.Andofevengreaterimportanceitprovidesstillfurtherinsightintothephilosophyand
thoughtof19thcenturyAmerica.”“ErastusSalisburyField,”ArtinAmerica,October1942,244,253.
12Field,“DescriptiveCatalogue,”10–11.
13Ibid.,11.
14Ibid.,6.
15Robinson,“ErastusSalisburyField,”253.
involvingthefederalgovernmentandthestates—hierarchical,integrated,andti-
tanic—thatisdominantinAmericanhistory.Field’spaintingwassaidtobepreoc-
cupiedwithheight.16Andso,onemightsay,ispoliticalfederalism.Thefederalist
positionfromthestartfocusedoncentralauthority.Thistendencyisgenerallyseen
to have strengthened over time, perhaps along the lines of the structurally inte-
grated model used by Erastus Field. But there is a counterstory. There are chal-
lenges,repeatedly,tothemainstory.
16SeeJenkins,“SomeNineteenth-CenturyTowers,”126.Perhapsitalsohasasubtextofviolence.
Introduction
✦ “TODAY we take the state for granted,” writes Joseph Strayer. “We
grumbleaboutitsdemands;wecomplainthatitisencroachingmoreand
more on what used to be our private concerns.”1 At the same time, he
says,wecanhardlyconceiveoflifewithoutthestate.“Theoldformsof
socialidentificationarenolongerabsolutelynecessary.Amancanleada
reasonablyfulllifewithoutafamily,afixedlocalresidence,orareligious
affiliation, but if he is stateless he is nothing.” Such a person has “no
rights,nosecurity,andlittleopportunityforausefulcareer.”Theconclu-
sionisthere“isnosalvationonearthoutsidetheframeworkofanorga-
nizedstate.”
We shape our experiences as citizens of the state. At the same time
we are members of other groups. The norms to which we are subject as
citizens are called law. The norms of groups other than the state are, at
leastinitially,oftencalledrolesorframes.Whenthesesolidify,whenthe
group is identified and the relationship between the individual and the
groupisseenasstructural,wecall thesenormativesystemsgroupcodes
orrules.
Thisbookconsistsofessaysonthesubjectofindividuals,groups,and
thestate,focusingonthestate’sresponsetoculturaldifference,aresponse
thatoftentakestheformoflaw.
There is no attempt here to define culture. A useful starting point for
discussionisRaymondWilliams’sKeywords,whichnotesthatcultureis
oneofthemostcomplicatedwordsinthelanguage.2Clearly,thetermcan
bedefinedfromwithinadisciplineorausage.Afamiliaranthropological
definition,forexample,is“[that]complexwholewhichincludesknowl-
edge,belief,art,morals,law,custom,andanyothercapabilitiesandhab-
itsacquiredbymanasamemberofsociety.”3AsTerryEagletonnotes,this
seems to mean that “[c]ulture is just everything which is not genetically
transmissible.”4 The idea of culture adds to the scholarly conversation
about law and society an opportunity to invoke materials beyond the
1Joseph Strayer, On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (Princeton: Princeton
UniversityPress,1970),3;cf.W.H.Auden,“September1,1939,”inSelectedPoems,ed.
EdwardMendelson(NewYork:VintageBooks,1979),88:“Thereisnosuchthingasthe
State/Andnooneexistsalone.”
2RaymondWilliams,Keywords:AVocabularyofCultureandSociety,rev.ed.(Oxford:
OxfordUniversityPress,1985).
3TerryEagleton,TheIdeaofCulture(Oxford:Blackwell,2000),34.
4Eagleton,TheIdeaofCulture.