Category Archives: American History

The Layer That Is Not There: Local Government, the Sixth Constitutional Convention, and What Five Previous Conventions Left Unfinished: A white paper by an interested outsider

Posted on August 28, 2026 by nathanalbright

I. Standpoint I am not a Virgin Islander. I am an American researcher who has visited all three main islands, who was driven past the Julius E. Sprauve School and the Myrah Keating Smith clinic by a St. John taxi … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

From Conservative Democrats to Republican Defectors: Florida and the Disappearance of Cross-Partisan Political Space

Posted on August 19, 2026 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Florida’s political transformation during the past half-century provides an unusually useful case study in American partisan realignment. During much of the twentieth century, Florida possessed a Democratic Party broad enough to encompass politicians and voters ranging from relatively … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, History, Musings | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Unexamined Title: Institutions Defended in Operation Whose Origin Is Never Litigated

Posted on August 14, 2026 by nathanalbright

Paper 2 of Five Abstract This paper names a general form: the institution whose daily operation is argued about at length and whose original acquisition is never argued about at all. Defenders and critics alike may contest how the institution … Continue reading →

Posted in American Civil War, American History, History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

What Was Not Said: A Prolegomenon to Reading Absence in Theological Controversy

Posted on August 14, 2026 by nathanalbright

§1. The Problem of the Settled Verdict 1.1 Two ways a field closes A field can close in two ways, and from the outside they look the same. It can be exhausted: every question worth asking has been asked, the … Continue reading →

Posted in American Civil War, American History, Bible, Christianity, History, Musings | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Making Absence Findable Without Making Fabrication Admissible: Institutional Design for the Recovery of Unnamed Maternity

Posted on August 9, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The four preceding papers in this series established an evidentiary typology for founding-era paternity claims, demonstrated that the standard applied to the Jefferson–Hemings case was anomalously strict relative to like claims, proposed a genetic-genealogical program for identifying the mother … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, History | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Unasked Question: Historiographical Incuriosity Toward the Mothers of Acknowledged Illegitimate Children, and a Program for Genetic Resolution

Posted on August 9, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract American historical writing exhibits a consistent and underexamined pattern: where a prominent man acknowledged an illegitimate child, the acknowledgment closed the biographical question, and the mother’s identity ceased to be treated as a research problem. This paper documents the … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, History | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Identifying the Mother of William Franklin: A Proposal for a Genetic-Genealogical and Documentary Research Program

Posted on August 9, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The maternity of William Franklin (c. 1730–1813), illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin and royal governor of New Jersey, has never been resolved. No contemporary document names the woman; no family tradition survives naming her; the historiography has produced candidates … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, History | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Comparable Cases: The Jefferson–Hemings Question Against Other Founding-Era Paternity Claims

Posted on August 9, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The Jefferson–Hemings case is frequently discussed as though it were singular — either as a uniquely well-documented scandal or as a uniquely aggressive scholarly imposition. Neither framing survives comparison. This paper surveys the founding generation for structurally similar claims: … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Evidentiary Standards and the Jefferson–Hemings Question: Distinguishing Genetic Findings, Circumstantial Inference, and Family Tradition

Posted on August 9, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract Public and institutional discourse increasingly treats three distinct propositions as a single settled fact: that Thomas Jefferson fathered the children of Sally Hemings, that the 1998 Y-chromosome study demonstrated this, and that Jefferson and Hemings concluded a negotiated agreement … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Prospectus: A Draft-Format Discussion Game Built on Civil War Command Personnel

Posted on July 29, 2026 by nathanalbright

1. Purpose To determine whether the population of documented Civil War military and administrative figures can support a draft-and-roster game on the scale and cadence of a contemporary fantasy sports league, and to specify the positional structure that would make … Continue reading →

Posted in American Civil War, American History, History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment