Amity Quotes
This is the first American ordinance of freedom of conscience. Note that it only provided freedom of religion for Christians. However, that was an important first step as different sects of Christianity had been persecuting each other whenever the opportunity arose.
Previously the Federalist Party had virtually self-destructed in ideological bickering and partisanship, even throughout the War of 1812.
The Iroquois had a very successful confederacy of 6 tribes in a relatively democratic government with a written constitution. They dominated the Eastern part of North America for years. The were able to maintain a permanent unity with a unified and decentralized combination of government—much like the United States would become. At the time of this advice, each American colony was a government unto itself. The three Iroquois Indian delegates were Canassatego, Tachanoontia, and Gachradodow.
Hall’s novel was banned in England and America on obscenity grounds for the quoted sentence. The characters were both women and the veiled implication of possible sex between two women was then considered pornography per se. The New York Judge who found the publisher guilty said “the book tends to debauch public morals.” The guilty verdict was overturned on appeal. As a result of the “negative publicity” the book sold over 1 million copies in the author’s lifetime and was translated into 11 languages. Suppression had the effect of giving the book enormous publicity which is often true in censorship cases. If nothing else, people want to see what the society says that they should not read.
