'He has refused his Assent to Laws'

Happy Saturday, and Happy Fourth of July. The Revolution was about a lot of things, and one of them of course was getting out from under authoritarian rule by an arbitrary executive power. An accompanying preference for legislative primacy carried over to state-level constitution-making after the Declaration of Independence — early state constitutions tended to give far more power to the legislative branch than the executive. Pennsylvania didn't even have a "governor" until 1790.

A related sentiment in the early republic was hostility to a strong central government. So they didn't make one. After the Declaration (and oodles of squabbling) states (finally) in 1781 ratified the Articles of Confederation, an agreement between the 13 states that was such a hot mess it's sort of surprising it took them another eight years to replace it with the Constitution. Then again, it's also sort of surprising, or at least it was to some of them, that they finally agreed to a Constitution.

Once they did, the tension between the authority of states and the authority of the national government didn't go away. It wouldn't go away. It still hasn't. But its contours have flipped and changed a few times.

Trump's arbitrary and authoritarian rule by executive power has prompted Republicans to largely — and ironically and hypocritically — abandon their long-touted opposition to, as they have liked to call it, "federal overreach."

Conversely Democrats, who like Reconstruction-era Radical Republicans have looked to the federal government to protect individual rights from being trampled on by states, are now asserting the rights of states against tyrannical infringements on rights (and sense) committed by the federal government. Nevada's resistance to Trump's attempt to take over elections in Nevada is a good local example.

In the Current this morning, reporter Kevin Hardy with Stateline, which like the Current is a part of States Newsroom, and States Newsroom democracy reporter Jonathan Shorman tag team a look at the latest shift in the dynamic between states and the federal government, a dynamic that like so much else in U.S. culture, society, and government, has been torn asunder in and by the age of Trump.

Also, as the Current does every Fourth of July, we're publishing excerpts of the 1852 speech delivered by the abolitionist, author, and statesman Frederick Douglass. As I note in this year's brief introduction, for all the much-warranted critique of the nation Douglass brilliantly and powerfully renders, Douglass, especially at the end, also shares a powerful optimism about the "great principles" in the Declaration, and declares his "spirit" is "cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age." Those lines in the address reminded me that the Declaration was a product of the Age of Enlightenment, and that Douglass was a lot closer to that age than he was to ours.

Speaking of the Declaration of Independence, we're publishing that in the Current this morning as well. I suggest you reread it, and not just for the "we hold these truths" bit at the start, or the "are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States" part at the end. Most of the document's more than 1,300 words are taken up with the list of grievances against the king.

While the Declaration's "great principles," as Douglass characterized them, still inspire, the grievances, for most of the time since they were written, have been of primarily historical interest, not contemporary significance.

That said, the very first phrase of the very first grievance states:

He has refused his Assent to Laws…

If this year's semiquincentennial moments haven't already prompted you to reread the whole Declaration, I encourage you take a few minutes and do it.

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Here are some of the stories we published in the Current earlier this week we wouldn't want you to miss:

Dana — Embattled rule of law makes appearance in immigration court on eve of nation’s birthday and Nevada security guards illegally carrying rifles and shotguns, lawmakers learn

Leilah — Nevada charges inmates to make phone calls. Maybe it shouldn’t.

Michael — Neglected for years, child services funding formulas are badly outdated, lawmakers told

April — Voting rights advocates score three legal victories but remain on alert against election threats

Jen — Nevada joins multi-state task force to update the region’s transmission lines

Hugh — Minimum wage adjusts for inflation in many states and localities July 1, but not in Nevada

Good luck