2. Section to nation

‘Section to nation’ examines how, by 1830, the American South had long had a predominantly agricultural economy. Its people soon idealized the agrarian republic that had taken shape after the American Revolution as the basis for an emerging sectional identity. Slavery was the basis of a productive economic system, in which the South was enmeshed with northern merchants and traders and the whole financial world of England. The American Civil War undermined southern ideology dramatically through the emancipation of slaves. The Reconstruction era would be nearly equal to the Civil War in forging a self-conscious white southern identity.

Overlooked diversity in exotic Taraxacum in British Columbia, Canada

In almost all North American literature, including in British Columbia, weedy Taraxacum species have been named as Taraxacum officinale F.H.Wigg and Taraxacum erythrospermum Andrz. ex Besser (or Taraxacum laevigatum DC.). This coarse taxonomic approach ignores great diversity in morphology, ecology, and geographical distributions among the exotic established species. Taxonomic refinement would facilitate floristics and ecological studies when exotic Taraxacum species are involved, and the taxonomy of native Taraxacum must first determine which are and which are not native species, which in turn requires knowledge of sectional identity of any specimen. Exotic Taraxacum specimens were identified to species and taxonomic sections using refined species and sectional concepts that align with taxonomic standards used in the native ranges of the species in Europe. Seven exotic sections and one informally named group are found to be present in British Columbia (Borea, Boreigena, Celtica, Erythrosperma, Hamata, Naevosa, Taraxacum, and the Taraxacum fulvicarpum group). The number of exotic Taraxacum species known to occur in British Columbia to date exceeds 100. A key to the exotic sections of British Columbia Taraxacum is presented and the sections are characterized. Species known to date are listed by their sectional placement. Notes are also presented on distinguishing native from exotic Taraxacum in British Columbia.

Dynamics Of Hydropolitics Sustaining Conflict And Catalyzing Cooperation

As noted in the Introduction, it is far from clear why subnational jurisdictions like states and provinces would choose to fight over water, especially for prolonged periods of time. Enmeshed in deep political, social, and economic relationships, these jurisdictions and the politicians who lead them would seem to have much more to gain from cooperation than conflict. In this chapter, I explain the emer¬gence and persistence of subnational conflict and cooperation over water in terms of two oppositional factors, sectional identity and political opportunity structure. As I describe further in this chapter, persistent interjurisdictional water conflict usually results from the conflation of shared water resources and sectional identity. In particular, subnational political leaders often seek to gain political support from geographically concentrated ethnic, linguistic, or other groups by alleging that neighboring groups are effectively stealing water at their constituents’ expense. Because of the unique economic importance and emotional resonance of water, such allegations are highly effective in mobilizing political support, and successive subnational politicians can find it expedient to engage in confrontational rather than cooperative behavior. Using water as a tool for political mobilization can also help subnational politicians achieve other objectives, including enhancing their autonomy, distracting from other political challenges, and outflanking opposition parties. On the other hand, where the political opportunity structure in a given country enables third parties to form alliances with national political elites, these alliances create a constituency for strong interjurisdictional institutions that can prevent and resolve conflicts over shared water resources. This chapter proceeds in three sections. First, it explains how the conflation of sectional identity and shared water resources sustains interjurisdictional conflict over long periods of time. The desire of subnational politicians and geographically concentrated water user groups to seek broader support for their objectives leads them to link water-sharing issues to sectional identity. The second section describes how, provided they enjoy access to the political process, third parties can help to induce collective action in shared river basins.

Lynchers versus Due Process

This chapter treats the Far West, the Upper South, and the Midwest in the mid-to-late 1850s as a laboratory for a variety of lynching violence that would become widespread in the postbellum era. The cultural conflict over the direction of criminal justice took on particular intensity at midcentury, as a result of reformers' success in modifying criminal law, increasing attention to and concerns about perceived threats to sectional identity, and the challenges posed by the rapid growth of a novel, multicultural social landscape with the American incorporation of California and the ensuing Gold Rush. Within these dynamic southern, midwestern, and western cultural and legal contexts, lynchers performed collective violence that protested the administration of criminal justice, particularly the adjudication of homicide cases.