History by ©Sarah Becker Marijuana – It’s Legal! In 1792, Quaker Edward Stabler borrowed 100 pounds to buy stock for his Alexandria Apothecary Shop. Now a National Historic Landmark, the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Shop’s history dates from 1792 to 1933. Medicinal cannabis was first introduced in the 1850s; on the Leadbeater families’ corporate watch. “Records do not tell us what feelings of uncertainty Edward Stabler may have harbored in relation to his venture,” Eleanor Leadbeater wrote in 1934, “but they do show that his business prospered to such an extent that he was able to return the loan and double his stock of goods during the first year.” Hemp: Cannabis sativa, an industrial crop; a highly profitable fiber crop used in the production of rope and such. The Commonwealth’s latest Industrial Hemp Law was enacted in 2015. Dorland’s Medical Dictionary defines Cannabis as “the dried flowering tops of hemp plants which contain the euphoric principles ^1-3,4-trans and ^6-3,4 trans-tetrahydrocannabinol. It is classified as a hallucinogenic and prepared as bhang, ganja, hashish, and marijuana.” Cannabism: “a morbid state produced by the misuse of cannabis.” Marijuana: “a crude preparation of the leaves and flowering tops of [male and female] hemp plants.” “Two recent articles in Blackwood’s Magazine, on the ‘Narcotics we indulge in,’ have attracted more than ordinary attention: tobacco, hops, opium, hemp, &c.,” The New York Daily Times wrote in 1854. “Smokers, the intellectual class of them, especially, think, speak, and write better under its influence; and the mere fact, that they are inferior to themselves without it, is a good reason for supposing that it creates an abnormal condition….” On February 27, 2021, Virginia became the 4th state to legalize marijuana by way of the legislature–in this instance for adult recreation use. The Virginia House of Delegates passed the…
By Sarah Becker Infectious Diseases Throughout the Years Today it is the unexpected arrival of an acute febrile respiratory disease, COVID-19 that sickens America. COVID-19, a relative of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) was first discovered in China in December 2019. The United States recorded its first COVID-19 case on January 21, 2020; on March 11 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the “novel coronavirus” a pandemic. Fifteen days later one third of the world’s population was on lockdown. The first seemingly flu-like case was diagnosed in Wuhan, China; then Europe, Italy and Spain especially. Now the United States is infected, all 50 states: Washington and New York States; New York City (the epi-center); Los Angeles, New Orleans and Detroit; rural populations as well. Disease surveillance “is the continuing scrutiny of all aspects of occurrence and spread that are pertinent to control.” The speed of COVID-19’s spread boggles the mind. It is transmitted by droplet spread including oral contact (sneeze, cough) and hands (touch and contaminated surfaces). By March 25, 2020, the stay at home health crisis had given way to economic chaos: supply shortages including personal professional equipment [PPE]; prolonged school and business closings; job layoffs and a historic $2.2 trillion Federal relief bill. The Defense Production Act of 1950 was revived, albeit slowly. Disease occurs when cells in the human body are damaged as a result of infection. Infectious diseases are caused by living organisms including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and parasitic worms. The South succumbed to hookworm in 1909. Infectious diseases spread by direct contact: via vectors like the mosquito; contaminated food, water and blood; and airborne droplets. The pandemic Spanish influenza slowed the First World War, and in 1918 in Alexandria “expectorating on sidewalks” became punishable by law. Today’s law enforcement officers spend their time scattering…
Copyright ©2019 Sarah Becker Written by ©2019 Sarah Becker Executive Privilege and Impeachment “The President of the United States is impeachable at any time during his continuance in office,” James Madison wrote (Federalist Paper No. 39). The 2019 calendar is turning and still the country contemplates President Donald Trump’s (R-NY/FL) conduct in office. “If impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, [the President will be] removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.” Last October the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats especially voted to further its impeachment inquiry. “The legislative, executive, and judiciary departments ought to be separate and distinct,” Alexander Hamilton concluded. “Power being almost always the rival of power, the general government will at all times stand ready to check the usurpations….” Power: the ability or capacity to perform effectively; to control. President Donald Trump and, in turn, the Executive branch have repeatedly refused to respond to Congressional subpoenas; requests for information related to the un-redacted Robert Mueller report, citizenship and the 2020 census, Ukraine and an acknowledged Executive quid pro quo. Quid pro quo: thing given as compensation; return made for a gift or favor. Trump’s failure to reply to the latter may result in obstruction of Congress charges. Executive privilege is an implied power, “derived from the concept of ‘process privilege.’” It allows the president and other high officials of the Executive branch to keep “sensitive” communications private should the disclosure of such prove disruptive to the Executive branch. Executive privilege was not legally explained until 1974—United States v. Richard M. Nixon—and mostly applies to matters of foreign policy, national security, and or national defense. President George Washington first exerted his Executive prerogative in 1795. President…
by ©2019 Sarah Becker Civility “So let us begin anew—remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof,” President John F. Kennedy (D-MA) said on January 20, 1961. The Oxford American Dictionary defines civility as politeness; courtesy, respect and amiability. George Washington’s Rules of Civility, Rule 1: “Every action done in Company ought to be with Some Sign of Respect to those that are Present.” Incivility, according to The American Heritage Dictionary, is described as rudeness. “I cannot charge myself with incivility, or, what in my opinion is tantamount, ceremonious Civility,” George Washington wrote in 1775. “I have just repeated word for word the oath taken by George Washington 200 years ago,” President George H.W. Bush (R-TX) said on January 20, 1989. “It is right that the memory of Washington be with us today…he remains the Father of our Country.” “America is a proud, free nation, decent and civil, a place we cannot help but love,” Bush explained. “[But] we need compromise…We have seen the hard looks and heard the statements in which not each other’s ideas are challenged, but each other’s motives. And our great parties have too often been far apart and untrusting of each other. It has been this way since Vietnam. That war cleaves us still…no great nation can long afford to be sundered [separated] by a memory.” “[T]he old bipartisanship must be made new again,” Bush continued. “The American people await action. They did not send us here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the merely partisan.” “No President, no government, can teach us to remember what is best in what we are,” Bush concluded. “But if the man you have chosen to lead this government can help make a…
by ©2019 Sarah Becker Copyright © 2019 Sarah Becker Equal Pay Day – Let’s Celebrate??? April 2 is Equal Pay Day. Wanna celebrate? According to the American Association of University Women’s 2018 annual report, The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap, Virginia ranks 29th in gender equality. The Commonwealth’s Equal Pay laws are “weak,” and the pay gap is “real.” Virginia women “are paid 79 cents, on average, for every dollar paid to a man.” “While the nation’s unemployment rate is down, and the number of women working is up, the wage gap is sadly remaining stagnant,” AAUW Chief Executive Officer Kim Churches said. “It’s unacceptable.” The Equal Pay Act became law in 1963; the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. In the United States, in 2017, median annual earnings for full-time workers were $41,977 for women, $52,146 for men. “If the pay gap narrows at the same rate of change since 2001, it will not close until 2106,” the AAUW explained. Female pay ratios by occupation: financial managers 65%, physicians and surgeons 71%, lawyers 76%, education administrators 78%, and registered nurses 92%. Iceland is first in the world when it comes to gender pay equity. “With a population of just 330,000—fewer people than currently work at Amazon—the island nation has had progressive equal pay laws for years.” Not so in the United States. President Donald Trump (R-NY) froze an equal pay wage data rule in 2017. Compliance, The White House said “imposed an incredible amount of burden” on business. The President also removed the Equal Pay Pledge from The White House website. “Equal work deserves equal pay,” Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) said in 2015. “This isn’t simply an issue of fairness, it’s about strengthening our middle class—putting food on the table, gas in the tank,…
by ©2019 Sarah Becker Mary V. Thompson Researcher, Historian, Writer Mount Vernon Research Historian Mary V. Thompson awaits the release of her second book, The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon (2019). It comes on the heels of Thompson’s first, In the Hands of a Good Providence: Religion in the Life of George Washington (2008). Mary and I first met in 1995; we are colleagues and she joins me for a Q&A. Q1. Jamestown now celebrates 400 years of African-American history. The first 20 black Africans arrived in Jamestown in 1619, twelve years after the Colony’s founding. They came by ship, as human cargo, for sale as indentured servants. Yet George Washington, son of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington of Westmoreland County, Virginia, grew up with slaves. Explain the transition from indenture to slavery; the plantation practices that promoted slavery. A1. George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, into a world in which slavery was simply a fact of life. The first Africans had arrived in Virginia more than one hundred years earlier and new research has shown that, contrary to long-held beliefs, most were enslaved from the outset. The basic outlines of the legal status of Virginia slaves were clarified in the 1660s and 1670s, with the passage of legislation stating that: whether children born in Virginia were free or enslaved depended on the condition of their mother (1662); conversion to Christianity and subsequent baptism would not result in freedom for a slave (1667); masters would have almost total control over how their slaves were disciplined, and would not be prosecuted if a slave died while being punished (1669); and the government would police slaves and owners would be reimbursed for any slaves who were killed while…
Read America! By Parker A. Poodle™ Hello, Alexandria! I, Parker A. Poodle, am reporting from the backseat of my mistress’ car. We have just crossed the 14th Street Bridge en route to The White House. Massachusetts-er John Adams—slaveless property owner, husband of Abigail, father of three and dog owner of two—was the first President to inhabit The White House. His stay was short, four months. The election of 1800, Adams v. Jefferson, was bitterly fought. Adams dogs, Juno and Satan, were the first First dogs to dabble in Washington politics. To—how shall I say?—speak smartly, snarl angrily, perhaps pee on The White House lawn. March 2 is National Read Across America Day and, as biographer David McCullough confirms, children “should read history.” “If it should be the Design of Providence that you should live to grow up, you will naturally feel a Curiosity to learn the History of Causes which have produced the late Revolution of our Government,” John Adams wrote son John Quincy in 1777. “It will become you to make yourself Master of all the considerable Characters….” Reading Education Assistance Dogs are characters, of a type. We went home by way of the Alexandria library. Children are educated. Dogs are trained. I entered the library quietly. George Washington’s Breakfast, a book by Jean Fritz explains the library process. “The librarian smiled when she saw [a poodle patron] come through the door,” Fritz noted. “[I] walked up to the desk” and sat. The librarian “picked out four [children’s] books to take home,” then “promised that she would look at the rest.” “As [George] Washington was the father of our country and [Thomas] Jefferson the author of its ideals, John Adams was the champion of government,” Cheryl Harness wrote in The Revolutionary John Adams. “When the Congress…
by Sarah Becker ©2017 George Washington’s Death and Holiday “Remembering that all must die…I hope you will bear the misfortune with that fortitude and complacency of mind, that become a man and a Christian,” General George Washington wrote in 1777. Washington died at home on December 14, 1799, at age 67. His death surprised the nation. On the morning of December 12, 1799, Washington departed on horseback to inspect his Mount Vernon property. It was a bad weather day; he rode in rain, hail and snow. When he returned home for dinner “his neck appeared to be wet, and the snow was hanging from his hair.” He sat down to eat rather than change his clothes. The next day Washington complained of sickness. His wife Martha noticed he could barely speak, was hoarse and having trouble breathing. The cold and snow continued; Martha’s request for medical help denied. General Washington was stricken with inflammatory quinsy. A variety of home and physician remedies were administered, including a mixture of molasses, vinegar and butter…sal volatile…blister of cantharides…sage tea and vinegar…calomel, as well as tartar emetic. None eased the inflammation. Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, age 37, one of two Alexandria doctors called for consultation, recommended a tracheotomy to ease the General’s breathing. Dr. James Craik, age 70, and Maryland’s Dr. Gustavus Brown refused his advice. Instead Dr. Craik bled Washington for the fourth time, taking five pints of blood in total. Soon after General Washington summoned wife Martha to his side. He requested two documents, burned one and placed the other, his chosen will and testament in her closet. “I die hard, but I am not afraid to go…My breath cannot last long,” Washington told Drs. Craik, Dick and Brown. He then “bid adieu to Sublunary Scenes.” “It is with inexpressible grief, that…
©2017 Sarah Becker The Content of Character “It is your character, and your character alone, that will make your life happy or unhappy,” John McCain wrote with Alexandrian Mark Salter in Character is Destiny. “That is all that really passes for destiny. And you choose it.” McCain, a former Navy flier and maltreated prisoner of war, spent 5 ½ years in North Vietnamese prison camps including the “Hanoi Hilton.” Romans 5:3-4, NIV Archaeological Study Bible: “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope…” The Oxford dictionary defines character “as the collective qualities or characteristics, especially mental or moral that distinguish a person.” It is a quality associated with leadership. Author Bil Holten, Ph.D., describes character as “accelerated principle, underwritten by superior habits and polished by experience.” Perhaps no one has investigated contemporary character more completely than Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Reviewing success literature published within the last 150 years, Covey found that “almost all the [early] literature focused on the Character Ethic—things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule.” “In contrast,” Covey explained, “the success literature of the past 50 years was filled with social image consciousness, techniques and quick fixes.” “Shortly after World War I the basic view of success shifted from the Character Ethic to the Personality Ethic,” Covey continued. “Success became more a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviors, skills and techniques.” Said Covey: “The Personality Ethic—personality growth, communication skill training, and education in the field of influence strategies and positive thinking—is secondary. Only basic goodness gives life to…
By Sarah Becker War & Remembrance Conflict is often remembered by the men and women who cared: for the home front during war; for comrades and soldiers including burials, for the disabled and others. During the Revolutionary War Martha Washington successfully served as the public face of a women’s fund-raising campaign, a national campaign to provide soldiers with shirts. President George Washington, the country’s first commander-in-chief supported “a monument…to the American Revolution.” But for the love of a good woman, George Washington’s Mount Vernon might never have been saved. The restoration effort was born of a boat ride, specifically Alexandria-born South Carolinian Louisa Bird Cunningham’s 1853 Potomac River cruise. May we always remember George Washington, his military service and the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union. “I was painfully distressed at the ruin and desolation of the home of [General George] Washington, and the thought passed through my mind,” Cunningham wrote her 37-year-old daughter Ann Pamela. “Why was it the women of this country did not try to keep it in repair, if the men could not do it?” The Dames of 1846 was established in Texas in 1901 in honor of the Soldiers of the War with Mexico. The Mexican War was West Point graduate Robert E. Lee’s first combat experience. “As the mothers, wives and daughters of the warriors of 1846, we believe that the time is over-ripe for us to commemorate the bravery and devotion of those men who repelled the invader,” Dames of 1846 Founder and National Commandant Mrs. Moore Murdock wrote in 1905. “The notable men and women of our early colonies have had their fortitude and heroism immortalized by the women [National Society Daughters of American Colonists] who trace their ancestry to gallant hands of pioneers in a New World,” Murdock continued. “The…
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