The Ninth Amendment to the Constitution reads: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. This amendment ensures that the Constitution — and by extension, the federal government — is not the final arbiter of a citizen’s rights. The framers of the…
You might be surprised to learn that there are several “official” versions of the Second Amendment. One of these versions, passed by Congress, reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Another version, ratified by…
The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances Plainly,…
If you haven’t heard from us in a while, there’s a good reason for that: we’ve been preparing for the most celebrated week of the year. That’s right, it’s Congress Week! Congress Week takes place during the first week of April and commemorates the 1789 month in which Congress achieved its first quorums. This year,…
Editor’s Note: This post was contributed by Amanda Mylin, Project Archivist at Baylor Collections of Political Materials. The Baylor Collections of Political Materials (BCPM) is excited to introduce our newest tool for searching our collections: the Baylor Archival Repositories Database (BARD). Our finding aids can be located by searching in BARD. Finding aids are created…
If you’re as plugged-in to federal affairs as we are, then you probably already know today is Super Tuesday. As Americans vote for their preferred Presidential candidate, it’s important to remember that voting is only a small part of civic engagement. This calls to mind the variety of ways we can participate in the process.…
Our friends at the Texas Collection posted a dynamite write-up on their blog earlier this week about the General Tire & Rubber Company’s plant in Waco, Texas. Their post mentions Congressman W.R. Poage’s involvement in the plant’s construction; we’re taking this opportunity to tell you more about his work. The whole process began, interestingly enough,…
Black History Month (also known as African-American History Month) initially began in 1926 as “Negro History Week,” an event during the second week of February designed to encourage the study and teaching of American black history in public schools. By the 1960s, political and cultural turbulence surrounding historic events such as the passage of the…
Baylor University has been relatively quiet since finals week last December. The student body’s annual mid-winter migration transformed the campus into a ghost town populated by faculty, university employees, and, of course, archivists. Coincidentally, the 114th Congress is also returning to its second session, and so our first blog post of 2016 commemorates Hatton W.…
The semester is over and winter break is upon us. Many Baylorites (including our staff) are taking the opportunity to reconnect with loved ones, some even traveling hundreds of miles to spend the winter holidays with their family and friends. There are so many reasons to celebrate this month: the end of final exams, football…