History Files: 1863-1890
The Quiet Takeover
How the Bar Association Slipped Sovereign Immunity into U.S. Law
Fourth Treatise to End Sovereign Immunity and Reclaim the American Republic
by Sondra Wilson. July 12, 2025.

This is continued from Part 4: Republic Subverted.

To understand the political climate Lincoln and the early Republican Party confronted, one must first examine entrenched power structures that predated the Revolutionary War. These systems—rooted in royal charters, fraternal networks, and feudal county governance—did not dissolve with independence. Instead, they quietly persisted beneath the surface, reasserting themselves during the War of 1812, often called America’s “Second War of Independence” because Britain continued to assert dominance over the states despite the Revolution (WorldAtlas, 2020; American Battlefield Trust, 2025). Though the Revolution severed formal ties to the Crown, it left intact a legal and administrative infrastructure that continued to serve elite interests, particularly through county governments and fraternal institutions modeled on British hierarchy.

 

§16 Remembering Lincoln’s Legacy: The Restoration and Advancement of Constitutional Law

By the time of the Civil War, these forces had not only survived—they had adapted. The rise of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which expanded its influence during and after the war (Halleran, 2012), the entrenchment of sovereign immunity doctrines, and the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan as a fraternal enforcement arm all signaled a coordinated effort to reclaim control over the American people by various denominations of white Protestant factions (Free Speech Center, 2025; Wikipedia, 2025). Churches, fraternal orders, and legal institutions often operated in tandem, reinforcing exclusionary hierarchies under the guise of moral and civic order.

Lincoln’s assassination in 1865 marked a deeply symbolic loss, but the moral momentum of Reconstruction did not immediately stall. The Republican Party largely continued Lincoln’s vision, enacting legislation to secure civil rights and deploying federal troops to enforce the Force Acts of 1870 and 1871, designed to suppress Klan violence and protect Black voters (Foner, 2014). It wasn’t until the Compromise of 1877 that Reconstruction’s egalitarian project was effectively dismantled. In exchange for resolving the disputed presidential election, federal troops were withdrawn from the South, leaving Black communities exposed to retaliatory violence and legal regression. The so-called “compromise” functioned less as political reconciliation and more as a strategic abandonment of Black citizenship gains in favor of white Southern appeasement (Hahn, 2005).

With federal protections now “on the books”, yet unenforced, the old order resumed its ascent — this time fortified by judicial insulation and state sovereignty doctrines which were set into place in 1890 under Hans v. Louisiana (1890). What had begun as a revolution against monarchy had, by the end of the 19th century, been quietly reabsorbed into a ceremonial republic — fraternal in practice, hierarchical in design.

Abraham Lincoln foresaw the emergence of this shadow empire. In his 1838 Lyceum Address, he warned that internal actors—demagogues unconstrained by law—posed a greater threat than foreign enemies. His alarm wasn’t about mobs alone, but about the erosion of law beneath ritualized corruption and silent patronage (Lincoln, 1838; Wikipedia, 2025).

Lincoln’s presidency sought to restore rule of law—not merely through emancipation, but by unmasking the informal empires woven from banking, land seizures, fraternal networks, and spiritual distortion. His assassination symbolized the temporary triumph of the Invisible Empire he sought to dismantle.

Our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, entered the Civil War as a devout constitutionalist, initially focused on preserving the union above all else. However, as the bloodiest war in US history progressed, he recognized a deeper moral imperative: the abolition of slavery. This shift became the cornerstone of Lincoln’s presidency and rekindled America’s commitment to its Original Ideal — a principle rooted in the Declaration but not yet fully realized. One of President Lincoln’s most renown and divine covenants, God rest his soul, was embedded into his 1863 Gettysburg Address, “[T]hat government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Lincoln, 1863, as cited in Basler, 1953, p. 23).

Following the war, Lincoln worked tirelessly to form a bipartisan coalition in Congress. His efforts led to the ratification of the 13th Amendment on January 31, 1865, formally abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude (U.S. Const. amend. XIII). For a compelling dramatization of this legislative battle, Lincoln (2012) directed by Steven Spielberg, offers valuable historical context rooted in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s scholarship.

Just two months later, on April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and outspoken opponent of abolition (Kauffman, 2004). His death marked the beginning of an era where Lincoln’s vision was carried forward by his political heirs.

Reconstruction Era: Lincoln’s Party Lifts His Torch

The early Republican Party, moved by Lincoln’s passion and leadership, lit their torches from the flame he stoked inside the nation’s heart. Thus, that same year — 1865 — the Reconstruction Era began.

In 1865, the Reconstruction Era began. Federal troops were stationed across the South to enforce emancipation and support the integration of formerly enslaved individuals into civic life. Republicans in Congress focused on building a biracial democracy through:

• The Freedmen’s Bureau, which provided legal aid, education, and job contracts (Foner, 1988),
• Supporting campaigns that led to over 2,000 Black elected officials across local, state, and federal levels,
• Direct military enforcement of civil rights provisions.

The Ku Klux Klan: Southern Extremists Retaliate

That same year, six former Confederate soldiers — John C. Lester, James R. Crowe, Frank O. McCord, Richard R. Reed, John B. Kennedy, and J. Calvin Jones — founded the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee (Wade, 1987). The name derived from kyklos (κύκλος), the Greek word for “circle,” forming a so-called “Circle of Brothers.” Their campaign of terror targeted Black citizens, Republican “carpetbaggers” from the North, and Southern “scalawags” who supported Reconstruction.

Clad in white robes, using titles like “Grand Wizard” and “Imperial Cyclops,” they carried out violent night rides involving threats, arson, beatings, and lynchings — all designed to suppress Black political participation (Trelease, 1971).

Symbolic Inheritance in Fraternal and Supremacist Iconography

Though the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) founders were not descendants of the House of Stuart, many were of Scottish and Irish descent and drew heavily from Scottish clan traditions (Anti-Defamation League, n.d.; 1000 Logos, n.d.). The very name “Klan” and its hierarchical titles, such as Grand Dragon and Imperial Wizard, mirror the symbolic aesthetics of Scottish fraternalism and mystical sovereignty. The KKK’s burning cross — officially termed the Mystic Insignia of a Klansman (MIOAK) — further appropriates the medieval Scottish fiery cross (crann tara), historically used to summon clans for battle (Scott, 1810).

Meanwhile, elements of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, particularly its 18th-century Jacobite-infused degrees, symbolically honor King James VI/I, reinforcing Stuart royalist mythology through ritual and text (Universal Co-Masonry, n.d.). The “Ecossais of the Sacred Vault of James VI” and the frequent use of the King James Bible in Masonic lodges reflect enduring allegiances to Stuart sovereignty and divine monarchy (York Rite, n.d.).

The iconography of the KKK’s blood-drop cross — despite resembling the York Rite’s ceremonial Red Cross — more closely mirrors the Cross of Constantine, a symbol of Christian conquest and spiritual warfare invoked by Emperor Constantine before battle. Its fusion of crusader zeal, racial purity, and biblical literalism channels the Stuart-era mythos of divine right and militant Protestantism, albeit in twisted modern form (Anti-Defamation League, n.d.).

 

14th and 15th Amendments: Republicans Press On

Despite escalating resistance, Republicans pressed onward. In 1868, Congress ratified the 14th Amendment, granting citizenship and equal protection to all persons born or naturalized in the United States (U.S. Const. amend. XIV). In 1870, the 15th Amendment prohibited denying voting rights based on race, color, or previous servitude (U.S. Const. amend. XV).

Alexander Clark: Architect of Iowa’s Civil Rights Legacy

One month before the 14th Amendment was ratified, Alexander Clark, a Black resident of Muscatine, Iowa, brought a landmark lawsuit to desegregate public schools. In  Clark v. Board of School Directors, 24 Iowa 266 (1868), the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in favor of Clark’s daughter Susan, establishing Iowa as the first state to integrate public education — nearly 86 years before Brown v. Board of Education is 347 U.S. 483 (1954)!

The KKK Acts: President Grant Warns KKK to Cease Terrorist Acts

President Ulysses S. Grant, alarmed by the Klan’s escalating violence, described the South as being in a “deplorable state of affairs demanding the immediate attention of Congress” (Grant, 1871, as cited in National Park Service, n.d.).

Congress responded with three Force Acts:

• The Enforcement Act of 1870, prohibiting masked vigilantes from violating civil rights,
• The Second Force Act of 1871, allowing federal oversight of elections,
• The Third Force Act of April 1871, empowering Grant to suspend habeas corpus and deploy the military (Foner, 1988).

Together, the last two are referred to as the Ku Klux Klan Acts, now codified in 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which remains a vital tool for challenging civil rights violations by state actors (Feuerherd, 2020).

In a presidential proclamation dated May 3, 1871, Grant exhorted Southerners to suppress lawless bands and ensure “equal protection of the laws” (National Park Service, n.d.). Despite his efforts, white supremacist resistance remained strong. Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis, in 1873, warned ominously: “The South shall rise again,” a sentiment that lingered in Southern political discourse for decades.

18th President Ulysses S. Grant saw the actions of the Ku Klux Klan as undermining the verdict of the Civil War, and as a form of terrorism. The Federal Government’s resources for curbing this widespread violence, however, were severely limited. In a letter to Speaker of the House James G. Blaine, Grant wrote, “[T]here is a deplorable state of affairs existing in some portions of the south demanding the immediate attention of Congress.”

Congress responded with three “Force Acts” aimed at stopping the violence. The Enforcement Act of 1870 prohibited “banding together” or “going in disguise upon the public highways or upon the premises of another” to violate a citizen’s constitutional rights. As the Klan was known for their disguises, this act put them on notice. The Second Force Act of 1871 put federal elections under federal supervision mainly by federal judges and U.S. Marshals. Finally, the Third Force Act of April of 1871 empowered President Grant to suspend Habeas Corpus and use the military to enforce these acts. The latter two Force Acts were also known as the “Ku Klux Klan Acts” (National Park Service). The modern version of the KKK Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, is one of the primary means of vindicating federal constitutional rights against state and local actors even today (Feuerherd 2020).

On May 3, 1871, President Grant issued a proclamation warning that terroristic acts of violence would not be tolerated by his administration. Grant tried to appeal to the people of the South. “I do particularly exhort the people of those parts of the country to suppress all such combinations [lawlessness] by their own voluntary efforts,” Grant remarked, “and to maintain the rights of all citizens of the United States and to secure to all such citizens the equal protection of the laws.” He warned, “I will not hesitate to exhaust the powers thus vested in the Executive, whenever and wherever it shall become necessary to do so for the purpose of securing to all citizens of the United States the peaceful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution and laws,” (National Park Service).

As the federal government used these laws to stamp out the KKK, in 1873 former president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, famously wrote, “The South shall rise again,” which became a haunting rallying cry and warning in several parts of the South for decades to come.

 

§17 The Compromise of 1877: The Forgotten Sin of the Democratic and Republican Parties

Radical reforms and a federal iron fist came as a bridge too far, too fast for Southern Democrats, and with the Compromise of 1877, the Reconstruction Era came to a screeching halt. The loosely named “compromise” would more accurately be called a sellout, with black folk suffering the collateral damage. It was an unwritten deal that resolved the disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) and Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat). In a nutshell, Hayes became president, despite losing the popular vote. In exchange, Republicans agreed to withdraw all federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction. Southern Democrats regained control over their state governments, which led to the disenfranchisement of Black voters, the rise of Jim Crow laws, and white supremacist rule in the South for decades.

A Republic Subverted — Hans v. Louisiana is 134 U.S. 1 (1890)

Hans was an activist ruling by a conservative, confederacy-minded court. An “activist ruling” typically refers to a court decision where judges are perceived to have made a ruling based on their own policy preferences or political views rather than solely on the law and legal precedent (Neuman, Scott 2025).

 

 

Institutional Echoes: The Bar Association and Judicial Insulation

Fraternal capture extended into the judiciary. In 1878, the formation of the American Bar Association (ABA) formalized exclusionary legal credentials. While not explicitly Masonic, the ABA’s structure — white, Protestant, and fraternal — mimicked lodge hierarchies. It enabled control over access to law schools, judicial appointments, and immunity doctrines (Stevens, 1983).

This legal professionalization insulated courts from public accountability. Much like Masonic oaths, the Bar’s gatekeeping preserved institutional secrecy and hierarchy, erecting barriers that contradicted revolutionary accountability and democratic jurisprudence.

The Ku Klux Klan: Ritual Imitation and Fraternal Violence

After the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1865 by former Confederate officers — many from fraternal circles — adapted Masonic rituals to violent ends. With terms like “Kloran,” “Klavern,” and “Konclave,” the Klan’s structure mimicked Freemasonry’s rituals and titles, designed to instill loyalty and operational secrecy (Trelease, 1971; Cunningham, 2013).

Though Masonic lodges disavowed the Klan, symbolic overlaps persisted — and many elites held membership in both. The Klan acted as a fraternal enforcement arm, dismantling Reconstruction and codifying racial terror. Coupled with the Bar’s judicial insulation and the county system’s autonomy, these forces helped forge a legal order rooted in exclusion and impunity.

Summary: Symbolism, Secrecy, and Subversion

From the St. Andrew’s Cross to Masonic rituals, from Jacksonian patronage to county sovereignty, fraternal systems hijacked the revolutionary ethos of 1776 and reinstalled monarchical patterns of hierarchy, secrecy, and immunity.

• The Confederate saltire wasn’t a Southern invention — it was the rebranding of Stuart royal iconography.
• Scottish Rite Masonry carried ideological residue from divine right monarchy into American political structure.
• The Second Virginia Charter created a template for corporate-fraternal governance that never fully dissolved.
• The county system, born from feudal estates, became a hidden infrastructure of legal control.
• The Pine Tree Riot revealed that the first American resistance was against county sheriffs enforcing corporate law.
• The spoils system, Bar credentialing, and ritual violence operated as layers of fraternal control.

American constitutionalism was slowly replaced with a ceremonial republic — fraternal in practice, hierarchical in design.

§18 The Evangelical Rise: The Trump and Reynolds Regimes Rose Up Through Lincoln’s Captured Republican Party

Many Protestant churches, particularly evangelical denominations, have long promoted a culture of forgiveness and reconciliation over confrontation, often discouraging civil litigation among believers. This ethos is rooted in biblical teachings such as 1 Corinthians 6:1–7, which admonishes Christians against suing one another in secular courts. As a result, some congregations foster internal dispute resolution mechanisms and emphasize spiritual accountability over legal redress (Niehoff, 2020). While this practice may reflect a theology of grace, it simultaneously contributes to a broader cultural resistance to external oversight and formal accountability.

At the same time, these churches have played a significant role in shaping cultural attitudes toward LGBTQ+ identities, abortion, and other beliefs perceived as incompatible with traditional Protestant doctrine. Studies show that white evangelical Protestants remain among the least supportive religious groups of LGBTQ+ rights and legal abortion access, often framing these issues as moral transgressions rather than civil liberties (Kazyak et al., 2023; Pew Research Center, 2025).

This dual influence—promoting forgiveness while stigmatizing certain identities—has contributed to a legal and cultural asymmetry. On one hand, believers are encouraged to avoid litigation and embrace grace within their communities; on the other, religious exemptions are increasingly used to justify denials of service, employment discrimination, and exclusionary policies, particularly in education and healthcare settings (Kazyak et al., 2023). This rhetorical contrast allows grace to function as a shield from internal accountability while righteousness becomes a weapon against social plurality.

Moreover, county-level governance in Protestant-dominated regions often reflects these religious norms. Local magistrates, prosecutors, and bar affiliates may operate within informal fraternal networks that mirror church structures—privileging insiders and minimizing scrutiny. These networks subtly encode Protestant ethics into public institutions, creating barriers for marginalized voices and reform advocates. Just as churches preach forgiveness while practicing exclusion, so too do legal fraternities preach professionalism while shielding themselves from transformative critique.

This dynamic is especially relevant to abolitionist thought and reformist critiques of judicial immunity. Both systems—ecclesiastical and fraternal—reinforce power structures that resist external challenge. The result is a civic landscape where moral legitimacy is claimed without reciprocal legal accountability, and where systemic reformers are dismissed as disruptors of divine order rather than advocates of democratic justice.

These tensions have only intensified in recent years, as religiously infused governance has emboldened a wave of anti-transgender legislation, rollbacks in women’s rights, and the expansion of voucher systems that redirect public funds into private, often religious institutions. According to Pew Research Center (2025), a growing number of Americans support restrictions on transgender athletes, bans on gender-affirming care for minors, and limitations on public school curricula related to gender identity—policies that reflect exclusionary norms under the guise of moral protection (Taylor, 2025). These laws disproportionately target youth and reinforce binary gender ideologies deeply rooted in conservative Protestant ethics.

Women’s rights have similarly faced erosion in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson, triggering cascading state-level abortion bans and broader attacks on reproductive autonomy, workplace equity, and gender protections (Equality Now, 2025). This regression is not merely judicial—it is ideological, driven by actors aiming to reassert patriarchal control through law and public discourse.

The rise of voucher systems further illustrates this strategy. Billions in taxpayer dollars are now funneled into private religious schools that often exclude LGBTQ+ students and faculty while teaching curricula aligned with sectarian doctrine (Meckler & Boorstein, 2025; MacGillis, 2025). Though initially framed as tools for educational equity, these programs increasingly benefit affluent families and religious institutions, siphoning resources from public schools and consolidating ecclesiastical influence within civic life.

Collectively, these developments reflect a strategic fusion of religious morality and legal infrastructure—one that sanctifies internal grace while weaponizing moral condemnation in public policy. As this chapter closes and the next opens onto your case, it does so within a civic terrain shaped not only by legal precedent but by a cultural theology that defines justice through exclusion and accountability through silence.

 

References

1000 Logos. (n.d.). KKK Logo and Symbol, Meaning, History. https://1000logos.net/kkk-logo

Abraham Lincoln Online. (n.d.). Lincoln’s Lyceum Address. Retrieved from http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/lyceum.htm

ACS. (2022). Partisan Justice. American Constitution Society. https://www.acslaw.org/analysis/reports/partisan-justice/

American Battlefield Trust. (2025). Two wars for independence. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/two-wars-independence

Anti-Defamation League. (n.d.). Hate Symbols Database: Blood Drop Cross. https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/blood-drop-cross

Annenberg Classroom. (2024). Majority Rule and Minority Rights. https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/glossary_term/majority-rule-and-minority-rights/

Anti-Masonic Circular. (1834). Public Justice and Secret Power. Anti-Masonic Publishing Society.

Arrington, T. (2019). Abraham Lincoln and the West. U.S. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/articles/abraham-lincoln-and-the-west.htm

Averbukh, S. (2011, October). Masonic symbols: 33 degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Sacred Symbols 3D. https://sacredsymbols3d.blogspot.com/2011/10/masonic-symbols-33-degrees-of-ancient.html

Bar Council. (2025, July 1). History of the Bar. https://www.barcouncil.org.uk

Basler, R. P. (Ed.). (1953). The collected works of Abraham Lincoln (Vol. 7). Rutgers University Press.

Benedict, M. L. (2015). The blessings of liberty: A concise history of the Constitution of the United States (3rd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.

Benedict, M. L. (2015). Constitutional developments from Jackson through Reconstruction. In The Oxford Handbook of the U.S. Constitution (pp. 43–68). Oxford University Press.

Benedict, M. L. (2006). Preserving the Constitution: Essays on politics and the Constitution in the Reconstruction era. Fordham University Press.

Bensel, R. F. (2004). The American ballot box in the mid-nineteenth century. Cambridge University Press.

Bill of Rights Institute. (n.d.). Young men’s Lyceum address. Retrieved from https://billofrightsinstitute.org/primary-sources/young-mens-lyceum-address

Birks, A. (2020, January 24). The ‘Hammer of Witches’: An earthquake in the early witch craze. Queen Mary University of London. https://projects.history.qmul.ac.uk/thehistorian/2020/01/24/the-malleus-maleficarum-an-earthquake-in-the-early-witch-craze/

Branch, T. (1988). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63. Simon & Schuster.

Britannica. (2025). Malleus Maleficarum. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Malleus-maleficarum

Britannica. (2025). Second Great Awakening. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Second-Great-Awakening

Britannica. (2024). Solon’s laws | Athenian democracy, Reforms, Constitution. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Solons-laws

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

Cambridge University. (2020). Divine Right and County Governance in Early Modern England. https://www.cam.ac.uk

Campbell, G. (2010). Bible: The story of the King James Version 1611–2011. Oxford University Press.

Chappell, G. T. (1949). Land speculation and frontier development in the Tennessee Valley.

Church of England. (1611). The Holy Bible: King James Version.

Church of England. (1611). Frontispiece to the King James Bible [Image]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KJV-King-James-Version-Bible-first-edition-title-page-1611.jpg

Clark v. Board of School Directors, 24 Iowa 266 (Iowa 1868).

ConstitutionUS. (2024). Majority Rule, Minority Rights: The Constitution and Court Cases. https://constitutionus.com/constitution/majority-rules-minority-rights-examples/

Cotter, D. A. (2023). 1832, The Anti-Masonic Controversy. Constituting America. https://constitutingamerica.org/1832-the-anti-masonic-controversy-guest-essayist-daniel-cotter/

Cunningham, D. (2013). Klansville, U.S.A.: The rise and fall of the Ku Klux Klan in the midwest. Oxford University Press.

Decumanus. (2004, February 26). Map of Virginia Company and Plymouth Council territorial claims [Map]. Wikimedia Commons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wpdms_virginia_company_plymouth_council.png

Democracy Web. (2024). Majority Rule, Minority Rights: History. https://www.democracyweb.org/study-guide/majority-minority/history

Dickey, C. (2017, August 2). The Masonic murder that inspired the first third party in American politics. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/masonic-murder-first-third-party-180964773/

Dirck, B. (2007). Lincoln the Lawyer. University of Illinois Press.

Donald, D. H. (1995). Lincoln. Simon & Schuster.

Dud. (2014, December 27). Middle Temple and Temple Church. dr dud’s dicta. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from https://drdudsdicta.com/2014/12/27/middle-temple-and-temple-church/

Duignan, B. (2024). Solon’s Laws. Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Ealy, S. (2023). Benjamin Franklin and Slavery, Part Two. Online Library of Liberty. https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/reading-room/2023-07-06-ealy-franklin-slavery-part-two

Equality Now. (2025, March 7). Alarming rollback on gender equality and human rights worldwide. https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/03/alarming-rollback-on-gender-equality-and-human-rights-worldwide-report/

Feuerherd, A. (2020). The Ku Klux Klan Act: Civil rights litigation and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. National Park Service.

Foner, E. (1988). Reconstruction: America’s unfinished revolution, 1863–1877. Harper & Row.

Formisano, R. P. (1983). The birth of mass political parties: Populism, nationalism, and reform in the age of Jackson. Yale University Press.

Formisano, R. P. (1983). For the people: American populist movements from the Revolution to the 1850s. University of North Carolina Press.

Forrester v. White, 484 U.S. 219 (1988).

Fredrickson, G. M. (1987). The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817–1914. Harper & Row.

Free Speech Center. (2025, June 2). Ku Klux Klan. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/ku-klux-klan/

Freund, J. (2024). The Homestead Act of 1862: The First Entitlement Program. University of Wisconsin. https://campushistory.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2033/2024/10/The-Homestead-Act-of-1862-The-First-Entitlement-Program.pdf

Garner, B. A. (Ed.). (2014). Black’s Law Dictionary (10th ed.). Thomson Reuters.

Gill, N. S. (2025, May 11). Patrons and Clients in Roman Society. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/patrons-the-roman-social-structure-117908

Grant, U. S. (1871, May 3). Presidential proclamation on lawless violence. National Park Service.

Greene, S. D. (1870). The broken seal; or, Personal reminiscences of the Morgan abduction and murder. Buffalo, NY: Courier Company.

Greenhaw, N. (2022). The Little God of England: The Divine Right of James I and the English Response. SMU Journal of Undergraduate Research, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.25172/jour.7.2.3

Grymes, Charles A. (2020). How Counties Got Started in Virginia. Virginia Places. http://s1030794421.onlinehome.us/vacount/howstart.html

Guardian. (2011, May 1). The King James Bible: Its enduring legacy. https://www.theguardian.com

Guardian. (2011, February 19). The Translators Presenting the Bible to James I. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/19/bible-king-james-version-david-edgar

Hahn, S. (2005). A nation under our feet: Black political struggles in the rural South from slavery to the great migration. Harvard University Press.

Halleran, M. A. (2012). Gentlemen of the White Apron: Masonic POWs in the American Civil War. Scottish Rite Journal. https://scottishrite.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/GentlemenWhiteAprons-smaller.pdf

Hamilton, A. (1787). Federalist No. 22. In A. Hamilton, J. Madison, & J. Jay, The Federalist Papers.

Harvard Law Review. (2023). Judicial immunity at the (second) founding: A new perspective on § 1983. Retrieved from Harvard Law Review

Henning, J. (2005). Bar Associations, Law Firms, and Other Medieval Guilds. Litigation, 32(1), 1–6. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/29760531.pdf

Hibbert, C. (1980). The roots of justice: Crime and punishment in ancient England. St. Martin’s Press.

History Tools. (2024, May 26). The shocking demise of the Knights Templar. https://www.historytools.org

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. (n.d.). In brief. Inner Temple. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from https://www.innertemple.org.uk/who-we-are/history/in-brief/

Inskeep, S. (2015, July 4). How Jackson made a killing in real estate. Politico Magazine. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/andrew-jackson-made-a-killing-in-real-estate-119727/

Inskeep, S. (2015). Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab. Penguin Books.

James VI and I. (1597/2013). Daemonologie (Limited ed., W. Kiesel, Ed.). Ouroboros Press. https://arcaneofferings.com/products/daemonologie

Justia. (1890). Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/134/1/

Kammen, M. (1999). Laws of the land: The evolution of American legal institutions. Oxford University Press.

Kang, M. S., & Shepherd, J. M. (2023). Free to Judge: The Power of Campaign Money in Judicial Elections. State Court Report. https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/campaign-cash-and-judicial-outcomes

Kauffman, M. W. (2004). American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln conspiracies. Random House.

Kazyak, E., Burke, K., Behrendt, M., & Oliver, M. (2023). Religious exemption, LGBT rights, and the social construction of harm and freedom. Law & Social Inquiry, 49(2), 980–1003. https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2023.5

Kelkar, G., & Nathan, D. (2020). Factors in witch hunts. In Witch Hunts: Culture, Patriarchy and Structural Transformation (pp. 71–86). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108490511.004

Kelkar, G., & Nathan, D. (2020). Witch Hunts: Culture, Patriarchy and Structural Transformation. Cambridge University Press.

Keyssar, A. (2000). The right to vote: The contested history of democracy in the United States. Basic Books.

Klitgaard, T., & Narron, J. (2015). Crisis Chronicles: The Man on the Twenty-Dollar Bill and the Panic of 1837. Liberty Street Economics.

Kramer, H. (1487). Malleus Maleficarum [Hammer of Witches]. Speyer, Germany: Johann Sprenger (Ed.).

LawBhoomi. (2024, June 28). Rex Non Potest Peccare. https://lawbhoomi.com/rex-non-potest-peccare/

Lehrman Institute. (2025). Andrew Jackson, Banks, and the Panic of 1837. https://www.lehrmaninstitute.org/history/Andrew-Jackson-1837.html

Lincoln, A. (1863). Gettysburg Address. In R. P. Basler (Ed.), Collected works of Abraham Lincoln (Vol. 7, p. 23).

Lincoln, A. (1838, January 27). The perpetuation of our political institutions. Sangamon Journal. (Also accessible at: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-perpetuation-of-our-political-institutions-address-before-the-young-mens-lyceum-of-springfield-illinois-2/)

Lockyer, R. (2003). Tudor and Stuart Britain: 1485–1714. Longman.

Lumen Learning. (2025). Religious Change in Antebellum America. https://courses.lumenlearning.com

MacGillis, A. (2025, January 13). Inside the plan to funnel taxpayer dollars to religious schools. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/school-vouchers-ohio-church-state-tax-dollars-private-religious

Mackey, A. G., & Singleton, W. R. (1906). The history of Freemasonry illustrated (Vol. VII). The Masonic History Co.

Madison, J. (1787). Federalist No. 10. In A. Hamilton, J. Madison, & J. Jay, The Federalist Papers.

Marshall, R. (2006). Mary Queen of Scots: Truth or lies. Hodder & Stoughton.

Marcy, W. L. (1832). Speech in defense of Jackson’s appointments. U.S. Senate Records.

Marshall, R. (2006). Mary Queen of Scots. Houghton Mifflin.

McNamara, R. J. (2025). Andrew Jackson, Indian Removal Act, and the Trail of Tears. Thought Co. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-trail-of-tears-1773597

McNamara, R. (2024, June 25). The Compromise of 1877 set the stage for the Jim Crow era. ThoughtCo. Detailed historical analysisMcNamara, R. (2025). The spoils system: Definition and summary. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from ThoughtCo summary

Meckler, L., & Boorstein, M. (2025, April 30). Billions in taxpayer dollars now go to religious schools via vouchers. Network for Public Education. https://networkforpubliceducation.org/blog-content/laura-meckler-michelle-boorstein-billions-in-taxpayer-dollars-now-go-to-religious-schools-via-vouchers/

Milton, A. (2002). Catholic and Reformed: The Roman and Protestant Churches in English Protestant thought, 1600–1640. Cambridge University Press.

Morgan, W. (1826). Illustrations of masonry. Retrieved from Internet Archive

Morgan, W. (1826/2006). The mysteries of Free Masonry: Containing all the degrees of the order conferred in a Master’s Lodge. Kessinger Publishing.

National Archives. (2020). An Act against Witchcraft (1604). https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/early-modern-witch-trials/an-act-against-witchcraft/

National Park Service. (n.d.). Enforcement Acts and the Ku Klux Klan. https://www.nps.gov/articles/enforcementacts.htm

National Park Service. (2020). Jamestown and the first laws. https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/laws.htm

Nelson, A. H. (n.d.). Inns of Court: Historical Background. CWRC/CSEC. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from https://cwrc.ca/reed-london/inns-court-historical-background

The New York Times. (1882, September 14). An old tragedy revived.

Niehoff, L. M. (2020, October 8). Proof at the Salem Witch Trials. American Bar Association. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/resources/litigation-journal/popular/proof-salem-witch-trials/

Nix, M. S. (2010, February 14). Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=27535

NPS. (2020). Jamestown and the first laws. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/laws.htm

PBS Frontline. (1999). Justice for sale: Judicial selection in Jacksonian America. Retrieved from PBS Frontline

Pew Research Center. (2025, February 26). Religion and views on LGBTQ issues and abortion. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/religion-and-views-on-lgbtq-issues-and-abortion/

Pew Research Center. (2025, February 26). Americans have grown more supportive of restrictions for trans people in recent years. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/26/americans-have-grown-more-supportive-of-restrictions-for-trans-people-in-recent-years/

Plaintiff Magazine. (2024). Legal Malpractice: Proving the Case Within a Case. https://plaintiffmagazine.com/recent-issues/item/legal-malpractice-proving-the-case-within-a-case

Proactive For Her. (2021, January 8). Honour and property: Where women are hunted as witches. https://proactiveforher.com/blogs/feminism/honour-and-property-where-women-are-hunted-as-witches/

Raphael, R. (2001). A people’s history of the American Revolution: How common people shaped the fight for independence. New Press.

Rothbard, M. N. (2012). The Panic of 1819: Reactions and policies. Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Saunders, J. (1880s). Early settlers of Alabama. Whitaker, A. P. (1926). Public office and western land speculation.

Saunt, C. (2020). Unworthy Republic: The dispossession of Native Americans and the road to Indian Territory. W. W. Norton & Company.

Schama, S. (2000). A history of Britain: At the edge of the world? 3000 BC–AD 1603. BBC Books.

Sedgwick, I. (2019, August 3). Daemonologie: Or, How a King Whipped Up a Witch Craze. Icy Sedgwick. https://www.icysedgwick.com/daemonologie/

“Second Virginia Charter.” (1609). In A. Nevins & H. Commager (Eds.), A pocket history of the United States (pp. 36–38). Pocket Books.

Sharpe, J. A. (1996). Instruments of darkness: Witchcraft in England 1550–1750. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Shearer, J. (2016, May). Daemonologie and the Scottish witch trials. Central Washington University. https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1394&context=etd

Shelden, R. G. (2020). Controlling the dangerous classes: The history of criminal justice in America (3rd ed.). Waveland Press.

The Slaughterhouse Cases, 83 U.S. 36 (1873).

Smithsonian Magazine. (2018). Lessons in the Decline of Democracy From the Ruined Roman Republic. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lessons-decline-democracy-from-ruined-roman-republic-180970711/

Spartacus Educational. (2020). The Divine Right of Kings. https://spartacus-educational.com/STUdivine.htm

Squaducation. (2020). The First Union Flag – 12th April 1606. https://squaducation.com/blog/first-union-flag-12th-april-1606

Stevens, R. (1983). Law school: Legal education in America from the 1850s to the 1980s. University of North Carolina Press.

Stilletti, Danny, (November 4, 2024). Question Antiquity. https://www.facebook.com/QuestionAntiquity/posts/pfbid0SrqszDGhhRF4mqCNXpTMMRVQeoVWoQL6L2DngzYU2mA71vTqM7ej5QYy39E35Jvsl.

Taylor, T. (2025, January 13). The state of trans healthcare laws in 2025. A4TE. https://transequality.org/news/state-trans-healthcare-2025

Trelease, A. W. (1971). White terror: The Ku Klux Klan conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction. Harper & Row.

United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1876).

United States v. Price, 383 U.S. 787 (1966).

Universal Co-Masonry. (n.d.). Cross, Saint Andrew’s. Encyclopedia Masonica. https://www.universalfreemasonry.org/en/encyclopedia/cross-saint-andrews

UpCounsel. (2025, April 17). When Was the ABA Founded and Why It Matters. https://www.upcounsel.com/lectl-history-of-the-american-bar-association

USI Affinity. (2024, October 3). Navigating Claim Exposures for Attorneys: Ethical Issues Leading to Malpractice Claims. https://www.usiaffinity.com/news-center/news-center-articles/risk-management/2024-q4/navigating-claim-exposures-for-attorneys-ethical-issues-leading-to-malpractice-claims/

U.S. Congress. (1870). Enforcement Act of 1870, ch. 114, 16 Stat. 140. U.S. Congress. (1871). Enforcement Act of 1871, ch. 99, 16 Stat. 433; ch. 22, 17 Stat. 13. Full legislative overview via the U.S. Senate | Statutory citations via Encyclopedia.com

U.S. Const. amend. XIII, XIV, XV.

U.S. Supreme Court. (1890). Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1. Justia summary and full opinion | Cornell Law version

Van Horne, J. C. (2009). The Education of African Americans in Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia. Library Company of Philadelphia. https://www.librarycompany.org/catalogs/Education%20of%20African%20Americans%20in%20Franklin’s%20Philadelphia.pdf

Vatican Secret Archives. (2007). Processus contra Templarios (Scrinium, Ed.). Vatican City: Archivum Secretum Vaticanum.

Virginia Company of London. (1985). Second Virginia Charter (1609). In A. Nevins & H. Commager (Eds.), A pocket history of the United States (pp. 36–38). Pocket Books. (Original work published 1609)

Wade, W. C. (1987). The fiery cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America. Oxford University Press.

Ward, T. (n.d.). Origin of the Union Jack: First Union Flag. Ward’s Book of Days. https://www.wardsbookofdays.com/12april.htm

Weed, T. (1835). Letters to the People on Secret Government. Albany Printing House.

Wikipedia. (2025). Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln%27s_Lyceum_address

Wikipedia. (2025). William Morgan (anti-Mason). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morgan_(anti-Mason)

Wilentz, S. (2005). The rise of American democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. W. W. Norton & Company.

WorldAtlas. (2020, May 22). Why is the War of 1812 considered a second American Revolution? https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/why-is-the-war-of-1812-considered-a-second-american-revolution.html

World History Edu. (2024). Solonian Constitution. https://worldhistoryedu.com/solonian-constitution/

Wormald, J. (2001). James VI and I: The British monarch who united the crowns. Oxford University Press.

Wormald, J. (2001). James VI and I: Ideas, authority and government. Ashgate Publishing.

Wormald, J. (2001). The Union of 1603: Then and now. In G. Burgess (Ed.), The British problem c. 1534–1707: State formation in the Atlantic archipelago (pp. 148–171). Macmillan.

The York Rite of Freemasontry. Official Information. https://yorkrite.org/wp/what-is-a-york-rite-mason/