Social Capital, Civic Labor, and State Capacity in the Early American Republic: Schools, Courts, and Law Enforcement

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-353
Author(s):  
Johann N. Neem
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
State Power ◽  
State Building ◽  
Early American Republic ◽  
Early American ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Education And Law

Abstract:This article examines the local roots of the American state to complicate existing historiography. It suggests that, for education and law, the state tapped into local social capital to develop capacity. State and local governments relied on the mobilization of citizens’ bodies—civic labor—to provide public goods. In doing so, it suggests that we need to offer a story that captures the myriad ways that Americans engaged in state-building, and how those different forms shaped Americans’ relations with state power.

scholarly journals Creating Social Capital in the Early American Republic: The View from Connecticut

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann N. Neem
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Voluntary Association ◽  
Early American Republic ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Early American ◽  
Antebellum Era ◽  
New Form

During the early years of the American republic, Connecticut's elite helped to develop a new form of social order, based on voluntary association, replacing the authoritarian, theological hierarchy of the old regime. Social relations, which were once thought fixed in nature by divine sanction, became amenable to the initiatives of the populace. By the antebellum era, Americans had also discovered that social capital could be created through the ordinary activities of people engaged in civil society.

Answering Taxpayers

2019 ◽  
pp. 258-278
Author(s):  
Jason Brennan ◽  
Phillip Magness
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Fire Departments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Tax Benefits ◽  
State And Local ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Many

This chapter considers the many perks enjoyed by colleges at the expense of taxpayers. American colleges and universities spend about half a trillion dollars a year on direct operations. Federal, state, and local governments cover a large portion of these expenses. Overall, colleges get about 37 percent of their revenue from the government. This number does not include indirect spending, such as the public goods colleges consume without having to pay taxes. Colleges do not pay for roads, police, fire departments, military defense, and so on, in the communities where they operate. They also enjoy substantial tax benefits on everything from the property they own to the purchases they make to the way they invest money under their endowments. Thus, colleges receive other hidden subsidies and perks not reflected in those numbers.

The Posse Comitatus Doctrine in Early America

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gautham Rao
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
American South ◽  
White Male ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Early America ◽  
Early American Republic ◽  
Early American ◽  
Fugitive Slaves ◽  
The American South

Courts and legislatures in colonial America and the early American republic developed and refined a power to compel civilians to assist peace and law enforcement officers in arresting wrongdoers, keeping the peace, and other matters of law enforcement. This power to command civilian cooperation was known as the posse comitatus or “power of the county.” Rooted in early modern English countryside law enforcement, the posse comitatus became an important police institution in 18th- and 19th-century America. The posse comitatus was typically composed of able-bodied white male civilians who were temporarily deputized to aid a sheriff or constable. But if this “power of the county” was insufficient, law enforcement officers were often authorized to call on the military to serve as the posse comitatus. The posse comitatus proved particularly important in buttressing slavery in the American South. Slaveholders pushed for and especially benefited from laws that required citizens to assist in the recapture of local runaway slaves and fugitive slaves who crossed into states without slavery. Though slave patrols were rooted in the posse comitatus, the posse comitatus originated as a compulsory and noncompensated institution. Slaveholders in the American South later added financial incentives for those who acted in the place of a posse to recapture slaves on the run from their owners. The widespread use of the posse comitatus in southern slave law became part of the national discussion about slavery during the early American republic as national lawmakers contemplated how to deal with the problem of fugitive slaves who fled to free states. This dialogue culminated with the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, in which the US Congress authorized officials to “summon and call to their aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus” and declared that “all good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be required.” During Reconstruction, the Radical Republican Congress used the posse comitatus to enforce laws that targeted conquered Confederates. After the end of Reconstruction in 1877, Southern states pushed Congress to create what would come to be known as the “Posse Comitatus Act,” which prohibited the use of federal military forces for law enforcement. The history of the posse comitatus in early America is thus best understood as a story about and an example of the centralization of government authority and its ramifications.

scholarly journals High Burden of COVID-19 among Unvaccinated Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto J. Caban-Martinez ◽  
Manjusha Gaglani ◽  
Lauren E.W. Olsho ◽  
Lauren Grant ◽  
Natasha Schaefer-Solle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
Healthcare Personnel ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Using Data

Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs), firefighters, and other first responders are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to healthcare personnel but have relatively low COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Resistance to COVID-19 vaccine mandates among first responders has the potential to disrupt essential public services and threaten public health and safety. Using data from the HEROES-RECOVER prospective cohorts, we report on the increased illness burden of COVID-19 among unvaccinated first responders. From January to September 2021, first responders contributed to weekly active surveillance for COVID-19-like illness (CLI). Self-collected respiratory specimens collected weekly, irrespective of symptoms, and at the onset CLI were tested by Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) assay for SARS-CoV-2. Among 1415 first responders, 17% were LEOs, 68% firefighters, and 15% had other first responder occupations. Unvaccinated (41%) compared to fully vaccinated (59%) first responders were less likely to believe COVID-19 vaccines are very or extremely effective (17% versus 54%) or very or extremely safe (15% versus 54%). From January through September 2021, among unvaccinated LEOs, the incidence of COVID-19 was 11.9 per 1,000 person-weeks (95%CI=7.0-20.1) compared to only 0.6 (95%CI=0.2-2.5) among vaccinated LEOs. Incidence of COVID-19 was also higher among unvaccinated firefighters (9.0 per 1,000 person-weeks; 95%CI=6.4-12.7) compared to those vaccinated (1.8 per 1,000; 95%CI=1.1-2.8). Once they had laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, unvaccinated first responders were sick for a mean+/-SD of 14.7+/-21.7 days and missed a mean of 38.0+/-46.0 hours of work. These findings suggest that state and local governments with large numbers of unvaccinated first responders may face major disruptions in their workforce due to COVID-19 illness.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document