Geoffrey Kirsch
@geoffreykirsch.bsky.social
Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, studying 19th c. American literary and legal history. Opinions my own.
https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/people/Geoffrey.Kirsch
https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/people/Geoffrey.Kirsch
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
November 20, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod.
November 18, 2025 at 1:47 PM
There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
Moby Dick was published on this day in 1851, so today's bank note comes from Nantucket and features a large vignette of whalers in a longboat about to harpoon a spouting sperm whale. Also on the right, note the Hydrostatic Oil Press. Manufacturers and Mechanics Bank, Nantucket, MA, $3, Dec 5, 1843.🗃️
November 14, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Moby Dick was published on this day in 1851, so today's bank note comes from Nantucket and features a large vignette of whalers in a longboat about to harpoon a spouting sperm whale. Also on the right, note the Hydrostatic Oil Press. Manufacturers and Mechanics Bank, Nantucket, MA, $3, Dec 5, 1843.🗃️
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
Illinois congressman John Farnsworth comparing the U.S. Supreme Court in Dred Scott to the Bleak House chancery court in 1859 is just *chef's kiss*
[4 weeks out from my book deadline and still finding gems in my own research 🙃]
[4 weeks out from my book deadline and still finding gems in my own research 🙃]
November 2, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Illinois congressman John Farnsworth comparing the U.S. Supreme Court in Dred Scott to the Bleak House chancery court in 1859 is just *chef's kiss*
[4 weeks out from my book deadline and still finding gems in my own research 🙃]
[4 weeks out from my book deadline and still finding gems in my own research 🙃]
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
Boy, Holmes' bad man is really getting a workout these days.
September 22, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Boy, Holmes' bad man is really getting a workout these days.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
Political violence is bad. It usually begets more political violence.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
September 10, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Political violence is bad. It usually begets more political violence.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets.
Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe.
It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
And as for small difficulties and worryings, prospects of sudden disaster, peril of life and limb
September 7, 2025 at 12:47 AM
And as for small difficulties and worryings, prospects of sudden disaster, peril of life and limb
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
Multiple National Guard vehicles at the Lincoln Memorial which is not a problem area for crime
August 17, 2025 at 11:34 PM
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
Planning this panel for next year's @c19americanists.bsky.social conference in Cincinnati. Email/DM me with questions and/or proposals!
May 31, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Planning this panel for next year's @c19americanists.bsky.social conference in Cincinnati. Email/DM me with questions and/or proposals!
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
For God’s sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of man’s blood was spilled for it.
July 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
For God’s sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of man’s blood was spilled for it.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
Nearly 250 years of a republic struggling to live up to the ideals of its founding documents only to arrive here.
“For 30 or 40 miles…I staggered on, fearing every instant I should be …crushed within the jaws of some disturbed alligator. The dread of them now almost equalled the fear of the pursuing hounds.” -Solomon Northrup, Twelve Years a Slave
June 28, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Nearly 250 years of a republic struggling to live up to the ideals of its founding documents only to arrive here.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
What are the Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish?
June 23, 2025 at 6:47 AM
What are the Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish?
O gentlemen, the time of life is short;
To spend that shortness basely were too long
If life did ride upon a dial’s point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
An if we live, we live to tread on kings.
To spend that shortness basely were too long
If life did ride upon a dial’s point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
An if we live, we live to tread on kings.
June 14, 2025 at 3:40 PM
O gentlemen, the time of life is short;
To spend that shortness basely were too long
If life did ride upon a dial’s point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
An if we live, we live to tread on kings.
To spend that shortness basely were too long
If life did ride upon a dial’s point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
An if we live, we live to tread on kings.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
“It is…a small college. And yet, there are those who love it”
As Trump attacks Harvard/higher ed, it is worth remembering that in 1819 the US Supreme Court ruled that in the United States citizens could form private corporations to promote public goods and ideas without fearing direct retribution by the state. That's part of freedom. #civilsociety
Public Men and Private Corporations: Dartmouth v Woodward and the Development of U.S. Civil Society
Editors’ Note: This post from Johann Neem begins HistPhil’s online forum marking the 200th anniversary of the Supreme Court case Dartmouth College v. Woodward, a landmark decision in sh…
histphil.org
June 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM
“It is…a small college. And yet, there are those who love it”
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
“Kafka name-checked three words in” feels like the lawyer equivalent of noticing a small red dot appearing between your eyes
Have not read the full opinion here, but when it starts out this way, I have a sense of where it's going...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
![One morning, Kafka’s Josef K. awakens to encounter two strange men outside his room.
As he gets his bearings, he realizes that he is under arrest. When he asks the strangers why, he
receives no answer. “We weren’t sent to tell you that,” one says. “Proceedings are under way
and you’ll learn everything in due course.” Franz Kafka, The Trial 5 (Breon Mitchell trans.,
Schocken Books Inc. 1998). Bewildered by these men and distressed by their message, K. tries
to comfort himself that he lives in “a state governed by law,” one where “all statutes [are] in
force.” Id. at 6. He therefore demands again, “How can I be under arrest? And in this manner?”
“Now there you go again,” the guard replies. “We don’t answer such questions.” Undeterred, K.
offers his “papers” and demands their arrest warrant. “Good heavens!” the man scolds. “There’s
been no mistake.” “[O]ur department,” he assures K., is only “attracted by guilt”; it “doesn’t
seek [it] out . . . . That’s the Law.” Id. at 8–9. “I don’t know that law,” K. responds. “You’ll feel
it eventually,” the guard says. Id](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cak4klqoj3bqgk5rj6b4f5do/bafkreihlyu22uwmyd47gczww4e3gtsflqbsiuyl67bxv6kcgmtq7mo2pd4@jpeg)
June 4, 2025 at 11:04 PM
“Kafka name-checked three words in” feels like the lawyer equivalent of noticing a small red dot appearing between your eyes
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
Who’s to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to the bar?
June 2, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Who’s to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to the bar?
Planning this panel for next year's @c19americanists.bsky.social conference in Cincinnati. Email/DM me with questions and/or proposals!
May 31, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Planning this panel for next year's @c19americanists.bsky.social conference in Cincinnati. Email/DM me with questions and/or proposals!
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
Most foreigners at Harvard grasp American principles better than most senior officials in the Trump administration.
May 22, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Most foreigners at Harvard grasp American principles better than most senior officials in the Trump administration.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
This intolerable attack on Harvard’s independence and academic freedom is plainly government retaliation for Harvard’s speech standing up for itself and the rule of law. America must rally to the side of Harvard and its students in court, in Congress and in our communities.
Trump Administration Halts Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students
www.nytimes.com
May 22, 2025 at 6:47 PM
This intolerable attack on Harvard’s independence and academic freedom is plainly government retaliation for Harvard’s speech standing up for itself and the rule of law. America must rally to the side of Harvard and its students in court, in Congress and in our communities.
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
"Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges."
―Billy Budd, Sailor
―Billy Budd, Sailor
May 12, 2025 at 12:34 PM
"Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges."
―Billy Budd, Sailor
―Billy Budd, Sailor
Reposted by Geoffrey Kirsch
it has taken me a minute to finish, but if you’re a 19th century american history/legal theory nerd you will love this book yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
The Interbellum Constitution
A synthesis of legal, political, and social history to show how the post-founding generations were forced to rethink and substantially revise the U.S. consti...
yalebooks.yale.edu
May 8, 2025 at 2:44 PM
it has taken me a minute to finish, but if you’re a 19th century american history/legal theory nerd you will love this book yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
