BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Newseum -- Exhibits -- (5) Great Books

DC -- Newseum -- Exhibits -- (5) Great Books:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. NEWSGB_140126_001.JPG: Great Books
2. NEWSGB_140126_005.JPG: Cornerstones of Freedom: Throughout history, freedom has been the key to open and enlightened societies. It is a powerful, evolving idea. The books and documents in this display are some of the cornerstones of freedom -- important works of political thought and action. They chart the uneven course toward democracy, tolerance and equal rights. They also help illuminate the origins of freedom of the press.
3. NEWSGB_140126_007.JPG: c. 330 BC Politics 1496 edition in Latin The long and uneven path to freedom and equality can be traced in some respects to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, whose rational approach to understanding the world shaped and influenced modern thought. But Aristotle and many other great thinkers of the past would not be recognized today as particularly enlightened, given their advocacy of slavery and censorship, and their belief in the inferiority of women.
4. NEWSGB_140126_016.JPG: 1215 Magna Carta England, 1542 In 1215, rebellious noblemen forced King John of England to approve the Magna Carta (Great Charter). Although commoners gained little, the document guaranteed feudal rights to the aristocracy -- a small but important move toward equality. Notably, one clause says that "no freeman shall be ... imprisoned or exiled ... except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land." That was a crucial limitation on the king's power. This is a 16th-century English translation from Latin, the language of the original Magna Carta.
5. NEWSGB_140126_027.JPG: 1273 Summa Theologica Mantua, Italy, c 1475 In medieval Italy and France, Dominican monk Thomas Aquinas wrote "Summa Theologica," a masterpiece that fused philosophy and theology. It quickly was recognized as a compelling and influential treatise. Even before the development of the printing press in Europe, "Summa Theologica" had been translated into Armenian, Greek and Middle High German. This Latin edition was published just 20 years after the first European printing press came into use.
6. NEWSGB_140126_037.JPG: Index Librorum Phohibitorum List of books banned by the Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition; 1574 edition Issued in 1559 at the direction of Pope Paul IV -- and often called the Pauline Index -- this proclamation was one of the first official acts of censorship of printed books in the Western world. It was drafted in response to challenges to papal authority arising from the printing press and the Protestant Reformation, and listed more than 500 authors, including Erasmus and Machiavelli. The index was opposed as excessively restrictive in Frankfurt, Milan, Naples, Venice, Zurich and other European cities.
7. NEWSGB_140126_045.JPG: 1564 Concilii Tridentini List of books prohibited by the Council of Trent; 1610 edition The Tridentine Index of 1564 was the result of a series of doctrinal councils of the Roman Catholic Church, held in Trent, Italy, over several years. The index was milder than its predecessor, the Pauline Index. While occasionally modified, the Tridentine Index served for more than 300 years as the Roman Catholic Church's fundamental roster of forbidden books.
8. NEWSGB_140126_052.JPG: 1644 Areopagitica London, 1697 English poet John Milton was a pamphleteer who crusaded for religious and civil liberties. "Areapagitica" was a critique of the principle of press censorship, written to protest an English requirement that books be licensed prior to publication. In the pamphlet -- itself unapproved -- Milton defended freedom to publish as essential to moral and intellectual development. "[He] who kills a person kills a reasonable creature," he wrote, "but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself."
9. NEWSGB_140126_058.JPG: 1690 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding London, 1690, first edition A scholar, physician and philosopher, John Locke set out to "inquire into the ... certainty, and extent of human knowledge; together with the grounds and degrees of belief, opinion, and assent." Locke declared that "new opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common." The solution? A devotion to freedom of ideas and expression.
10. NEWSGB_140126_065.JPG: 1694 Two Treatises of Government London, 1694, second edition In 1694, John Locke published this landmark of political theory. He asserted that natural rights -- including life, liberty and the right to hold property -- must be protected by government. Locke rejected the divine right of kings. Revolution, he said, was sometimes needed to bring down tyrants. Locke's philosophy was central to the underpinnings of both the American and French revolutions. His work profoundly influenced Thomas Jefferson, who incorporated Locke's ideas into the Declaration of Independence.
11. NEWSGB_140126_071.JPG: 1698 Discourses Concerning Government 1698 edition English politician Algernon Sidney defended constitutional liberties and limited monarchy in his "Discourses." Opposing King Charles II's dismissal of Parliament in 1681, Sidney agreed with John Locke that armed resistance is justified against tyrants. In response to those who branded that idea anti-Christian, he said: "God helps those who help themselves."
12. NEWSGB_140126_078.JPG: 1720-1723 Cato's Letters London, 1721, second edition From 1720 to 1723, the London Journal opposed restrictive British policies with a series of 138 letters under the pen name "Cato." The authors were John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. Echoing John Locke, they called for representative government and freedom of expression. The letters were reprinted in Colonial newspapers and pamphlets. As one historian has written, Cato's letters became "the most popular, quotable, esteemed source of political ideas in the Colonial period."
13. NEWSGB_140126_085.JPG: 1735 The Trial of John Peter Zenger London, 1762 Criticizing British administrators in Colonial America was hazardous. Under British common law, the truth of allegations about authorities offered no defense against seditious libel. In 1735, John Peter Zenger, publisher of a New York City newspaper, was prosecuted for libel and fomenting discontent with his criticism of the royal governor's conduct. Zenger was acquitted, an outcome that came to be recognized as an important moment in the establishment of press freedom in America.
14. NEWSGB_140126_092.JPG: 1767-1768 Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania London, 1774 After Britain's 1767 tax on imported goods in the Colonies, John Dickinson published his influential "Letters From a Farmer." Moving beyond taxation, the letters addressed the moral requirements of freedom, asserting that an individual subject to the whims of a powerful government was not free. His letters were widely published in newspapers. This is a 1774 reprint.
15. NEWSGB_140126_100.JPG: 1774 Intolerable Acts London, 1774 Britain was outraged by the Boston Tea Party -- colonists dumping cargoes of tea from British ships into Boston Harbor. Parliament retaliated with legislation that came to be called the "Intolerable Acts." The measures strengthened royal authority. Boston's port was closed, and colonists were forced to house troops. Colonial newspapers rallied with slogans such as "Join or Die!" The First Continental Congress approved a boycott of British goods. The move toward revolution accelerated.
16. NEWSGB_140126_106.JPG: 1776 Common Sense London, 1792 In January 1776, Thomas Paine produced "Common Sense." The pamphlet reportedly sold 120,000 copies in three months, helping ignite the move toward American independence. Paine's success owed much to his inspirational, call-to-arms writing style. Six months after the publication of "Common Sense," the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. This London edition is a 1792 reprint.
17. NEWSGB_140126_117.JPG: 1787 Constitution of the United States First pamphlet printing, 1787 In 1787, delegates at a federal convention in Philadelphia established the fundamental laws of the new government when they drafted and adopted the Constitution of the United States, which also defined the rights and liberties of Americans. The document stressed an idea that had evolved from the Magna Carta to the Declaration of Independence: Government must be by the consent of the governed.
18. NEWSGB_140126_124.JPG: 1788 The Federalist, Vol 2 New York, 1788, first edition After the US Constitution was drafted, it was sent to the states for ratification. The first in a series of 85 essays advocating ratification of the proposed Constitution appeared in New York newspapers in October 1787. The collected essays -- known as "The Federalist" (or the "Federalist Papers") -- were published in two volumes in March and May of 1788. The Constitution was ratified in June 1788. The principal authors of the essays were Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, with a few contributions from John Jay.
19. NEWSGB_140126_131.JPG: 1792 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman London, 1792, first edition One of the earliest champions of equality for women, Mary Wollstonecraft published "Vindication" more than 50 years before the women's rights movement emerged as a social and political force in America. Expanding on earlier work, Wollstonecraft wrote that until "woman are more rationally educated, the progress in human virtue and improvements in knowledge must receive continual checks."
20. NEWSGB_140126_138.JPG: 1795 Dissertation on First Principles of Government London, 1795 Thomas Paine emphatically restated his egalitarian views and abhorrence of monarchy in "Dissertation on First Principles of Government," which was intended primarily for readers in Holland. Paine's talent for crafting direct yet impassioned arguments was striking: "The true and only true basis of representative government," he wrote, "is equality of rights. Every man has a right to one vote, and no more, in the choice of representatives. The rich have no more right to exclude the poor from the right of voting... and being elected than the poor have to exclude the rich."
21. NEWSGB_140126_145.JPG: 1881 Life and Times of Frederick Douglass Boston, 1893 Frederick Douglass's cause was freedom. He was, variously, abolitionist, advocate for equal rights of African Americans and women, newspaper editor and government official. He wrote his first autobiography in 1845 after audiences who had heard his eloquent anti-slavery speeches doubted that he had ever been a slave. In 1847, he launched The North Star, a weekly abolitionist newspaper in Rochester, NY. "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass" was his third and final autobiography, first published in 1881. This is an 1893 reprint.
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2014 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Winchester, VA, Nashville, TN, and Atlanta, GA), Michigan to visit mom in the hospice before she died and then a return trip after she died, and my 9th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City, Sacramento, Oakland, and Los Angeles). Ego strokes: Paul Dickson used one of my photos as the author photo in his book "Aphorisms: Words Wrought by Writers". Number of photos taken this year: just over 470,000.
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