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Stephen West

@stephenwest.bsky.social

7.9K followers 880 following 3.9K posts

Historian of Civil War & Reconstruction. Bicyclist, baker, 3d favorite human of Banjo the dog. Views=mine, repost ≠endorsement

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · Apr 16

"Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?"

W. E. B. Du Bois, "The Propaganda of History" 🗃️

Snip from Du Bois, "The propaganda of History" The closing chapter of black reconstruction in America

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 3h

Sorry, Philip with one "l"

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 3h

Bad takes, "war will some be a thing of the past" edition

Phillip Sheridan, speaking in 1887 at a banquet celebrating the 100th anniversary of the US Constitution

He wants to make a continental republic of this country. But there is one thing that you should appreciate, and that is that the improvement in guns and in the material of war, in dynamite and other explosives, and in breech-loading guns, is rapidly bringing us to a period when war will eliminate itself, when we can no longer stand up and fight each other in battle, and when we will have to resort to something else. Now, what will that ' something else' be ? It will be arbitration. I mean what I say when I express the belief that if any one now present here could live until the next centennial he would find that arbitration will rule the world.

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t0ms3kf5q?urlappend=%3Bseq=525

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 7h

impressed by his self-awareness but also outraged by the use of "gaggle" as a verb

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7h

Trump: "I don't think there's anything that's gonna get me in heaven. I think I'm not maybe heaven bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to make heaven."

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Megan Kate Nelson 📚 @mkn.bsky.social · 4d

It was my pleasure to write about Yellowstone and how it became a national park (SPOILER ALERT: it was NOT unanimous) in 1872, for "History Now."

And I am delighted to share these pages with fellow environmental historians whose work I so admire ...

www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/...

The Natural Resources of the United States in the Shaping of History | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

The Natural Resources of the United States in the Shaping of History | | SPECIAL FEATURE A pair of recent Book Breaks episodes featuring contributors to History Now 76: “Saving Yellowstone: Exploratio...

www.gilderlehrman.org

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 12h

Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans

Image: A variation on Benjamin Franklin’s “Join, or Die” engraving, originally published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. Each segment of the snake has the name of a university sent Trump’s “compact”: Texas, AZ, Vanderbilt, USC, Dartmouth, UVA, Brown, Penn, MIT.

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T. J. Stiles @tj-stiles.bsky.social · 10h

Re-upping this. Historically wonky, if you like that kind of thing. Part of my point is that past abuses, like the corruption of the spoils system, were embedded in a context that made sense of them—and, in many cases, actually limited the president’s power. Trump’s dictatorshit is entirely new.

T. J. Stiles @tj-stiles.bsky.social · 1d

When we say Trump is unprecedented, what do we mean?

In this podcast interview, I give a lightning review of American politics & political practice in the nineteenth century, how & why they were reformed, & how Trump is an entirely new threat to the republic.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

What American History can Tell Us About Today

Podcast Episode · Democrats Abroad: The Blue Vote Café · 09/30/2025 · 1h 1m

podcasts.apple.com

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 10h

a related grammatical gem, by people who probably have a better understanding of keyboards - and grammar

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 5d

Good to include this info - but what a grammatically weird way to do so.

Canada’s Tariff Burden

Mr. Trump has imposed a general 35 percent tariff on Canadian exports based on his claim, which is refuted by data, that Canada is a significant source of migrants and fentanyl for the United States

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Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 1d

Hard to find a more obvious example of the journalism adage “If someone says it’s raining outside and someone else says it isn’t, your job is not to quote them both, your job is to go outside.”

David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 1d

A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 16h

"if this is so, which it is"

What you type when you forget the keyboard has a backspace key

Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 17h

That’s a nice trick, since Biden wasn’t the president on Jan 6.

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Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 1d

Eleanor Holmes Norton has served Washington, DC honorably for a long time. It is time for her to pass the baton to new leaders.
www.notus.org/money/eleano...

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Reelection Campaign Is Nearly Broke as Challenges Mount

The Democratic congresswoman, who has represented D.C. since 1991, is facing internal pressure to retire.

www.notus.org

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 15h

"how do you do, sir, or madam?" at 53 rpm - for 90 minutes

(from a story about Grover Cleveland greeting visitors at a reception at the 1887 commemoration of the Constitution's centennial in Philly)

To each person who saluted him the President gave a brief handshake, a pleasant smile, and a cheery, "How do you do, sir, or madam? as the sex of his new acquaintance might demand. The crowd passed through at the right of fifty-three a minute, which would indicate about 3,200 per hour."

Reposted by Stephen West

KEW @kidadaewilliams.com · 16h

Preservation Maryland has awarded Sumner Hall its 2025 Stewardship Award for its “ongoing preservation & interpretation of Af/Am heritage in Chestertown, inc its role as one of the few surviving Grand Army of the Republic halls built by Black CW veterans.” www.myeasternshoremd.com/kent_county_...

Sumner Hall receives Preservation Maryland’s 2025 Stewardship Award

CHESTERTOWN — Preservation Maryland has awarded Sumner Hall its 2025 Stewardship Award. This award is presented to individuals or organizations in recognition of exemplary stewardship of Maryland’s hi...

www.myeasternshoremd.com

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 16h

"if this is so, which it is"

What you type when you forget the keyboard has a backspace key

Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 17h

That’s a nice trick, since Biden wasn’t the president on Jan 6.

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Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 1d

More judges speak to the press (the NYT) about what a disaster the Supreme Court (specifically the shadow docket) has been - “incredibly demoralizing & troubling”; a “judicial crisis”; a “slap in the face to district courts.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

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SI: Museum of African American History (Bot) @simuseumafro.bsky.social · 1d

Flyer promoting the Citizenship Education Project https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2010.60.1.56.1

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Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 2d

This is a problem with so much legacy media raising journalists with underdeveloped personal morality, trained to seek “iDEoloGIcaL diVErsitY” and not right and wrong. Because this argument is stupid and puny, and any columnist who can’t call it out immediately is not a serious person.

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 2d

Counterpoint:

You absolutely do not have to hand it to enslavers

Wilson: Now, one of the things I want to do is say: I’m really glad that slavery’s gone, and good riddance. And I want to say that the Southern slave owner, who read the books of Ephesians and Colossians and 1 Timothy and treated his slaves decently, remembering that he had a master in heaven who he studiously tried to obey — what Paul said slave owners were supposed to do — I would say he was not an orc, and he is part of the reason why slavery ended. In other words, I would say he’s a good guy.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 2d

Ross Douthat treats this guy like they're having some deep conversation about the relationship of Christianity and the government, but the dude is a garden-variety dull, shallow, hateful, worthless bigot with nothing interesting to say, just endless riffs on "God hates everything/everyone I do."

Douthat: So that’s the first purpose of your political project, for America to stop making God angry.

Wilson: Yes. And most people think that when they are confronted with that project, they think that we want to get our tentacles into everything and start controlling everything. I actually think we need limited government. The government should be significantly smaller than it is, and we need to curtail a lot of the busybodyness that we have. That’s why I would call myself a theocratic libertarian. There is a true libertarian element in this, and yet, the transcendent grounding for what we’re talking about means that we acknowledge the authority of God.

We have racked up quite a body count of awful crimes, and I believe the only way out is for us to repent and turn to Christ. This would be things like no more Pride parades, no more drag queen story hours, no more abortion on demand, no more legalized same-sex unions — all of that, done. That’s the repentance part.

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 2d

Auditioning for the Smokey and the bandit remake

Photo of Jackie Gleason from Smokey and the Bandit, as Buford T Justice with a thin mustache l, sunglasses and brimmed hat

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NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 2d

The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 2d

It was quite the discovery!

Reposted by Stephen West

Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 2d

Murray Rothbard famously said that his conservatism would “repeal the 20th century”, but these guys seem to be gunning for the 19th.

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 2d

Counterpoint:

You absolutely do not have to hand it to enslavers

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 2d

yeah

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 2d

But you shouldn't be too surprised when they say stuff like this:

"You were better off being a Black person in Charleston, S.C., in 1850, when they had an operating slave market than being conceived as a Black baby in New York City or Baltimore today."

I don’t want to take any guidance at all from the secular society around us. And the reason I don’t is they killed 60 million babies. I don’t want to hear any more lectures from these people about slavery. You were better off being a Black person in Charleston, S.C., in 1850, when they had an operating slave market than being conceived as a Black baby in New York City or Baltimore today.

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, Doug Wilson, whom Ross Douthat thought worth an extended interview - see the 2d post

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 2d

Spending your time talking to someone who wants to relitigate slavery is definitely a choice you can make

Opinion | He Believes America Should Be a Theocracy. He Says His Influence Is Growing.

www.nytimes.com

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