​



As He Died To Make Men Holy.
Let's Kill Rebels To Make Men Free.
Gus?
What?
That's not the line.
Trying to be clear Reb.
You died to make men free.
Yes.
You died to end slavery.
Yes.
What's your point?
I don't think I wanted to die.
Okay.
I would have been just fine killing you.
I imagine so.
We had to kill each other.
War.
Still shameful. 

​




You did right Gus.
I don't mean the particulars of that day in 1864.
What do you mean?
I spent 23 months at war with you.
Lots of battles.
Lots of skirmishes.
Lots of walking.
All the way to Georgia to be buried.
To kill me Yank.
It was me or somebody else had to kill you.
I hear ya.
I was shooting at you all the time.
Right.
I killed you just like you killed me Johnny. 
Just you didn't have to die.
I had to kill.
Damn it.
Damn it.

*Next Up: 18 August part 4/13 The Turn of We the People: Up Words.

Posted by Bryan W Brickner / Support the US Constitution 

​




2/13

Where were the Chestnuts from Johnny?
South Carolina, and it is Ches-nuts.
Chesnuts? 
Right.
Is that a South Carolina thing?
French.
Didn't Elbridge mention Thomas Sumpter was Sumter.
Correct Yank.
The Carolina Gamecock.
A Spirit of ‘76.
Who defended the Constitution on 9 April 1792.
Usurpation Day.
The Congressional Record, according to Elbridge, lists Representative Thomas Sumpter as voting against the usurpation.
It says that Yank.
So Kotka becomes Koka.
If ya want Koka.
The goddesses said Keep Moving.
Just move.

​

They know us Reb.
All those empty chairs.
We never had it so fancy.
We stay in cemeteries mostly.
There and battlefields.
Which are basically cemeteries.
Comedy and Tragedy are like Snake and Turkey.
Morgan gave us a starting point Gus.
Berryville, Virginia. 
And now Comedy and Tragedy gave us advice.
A sign.
Keep Moving. 
Why did the Carolina Gamecock lose his p Johnny?
Could be the name meant too much.
Like how?
Could be the name was greater than Calhoun.
So misdirect from Sumpter's support of the thirty Thousand.
And away from Calhoun's treason.
The Chesnuts?
Yes.

​

​
Start somewhere Johnny.
The Chesnuts were close to the Davises.
Trusted.
James Chesnut was loyal to Jeff.
How loyal?
James Chesnut was a person who deferred.
Okay.
Jeff needed people who deferred. 
So they fit temperamentally.
Right on.
What of Mary Chesnut Johnny?
Mary had wit like Varina.
Compatible.
Was a writer like Varina.
Words.
Anti-slavery.
What!?
Anti-Black too.
I see why the Chestnuts are hard to explain.
Chesnuts.
Is that the entryway? 
Careful Gus …

*Next Up: 11 August part 3/13 The Turn of We the People: As He Died To Make Men Holy.

Posted by Bryan W Brickner / Support the US Constitution

​

​

​1/13

Didn't see that happening Johnny.
Me either.
They can move.
Yes they can.
And communicate.
With and without words.
No masks either.
They did admit to singing.
We spent America’s 250th 4th of July in Richmond Virginia. 
In the Confederate Executive Mansion.
And not just you and me Johnny.
With two goddesses.
Comedy and Tragedy.
Happened.
Probably forgot all about your stomach flipping, eh Reb?
Mostly.
Lingering?
In a good way.

​

They remembered you.
Seems so.
They said so Johnny.
Yeah.
Nice of them.
Didn't feel bad.
Comedy and Tragedy named Mary Chestnut and her diary.
Part of those days. 
They also mentioned 12th and Clay.
The Chestnuts had a place on the corner Gus.
Neighbors of the Davises?
Friends too.
Like hang out in these rooms?
Countless times, happy and sad.
The goddesses cleared up why the blood red walls.
And the vine carpeting Yank.
Said it was for a Greek god of wine.
Dionysus.
Fancy name.

​

​


Partier.
So just make the carpets and walls red for the spilling of wine.
Of course.
One thinks of Jesus.
The wine?
Communion.
Others have said so too.
Dionysus like theater Johnny?
The Greeks held theatrical festivals in his honor.
How old is the dude?
Putting me on the spot Yank.
Estimate.
At least 3300 years.
Geepers!
Once upon a time Yank.
Our American spirit is just beginning. 
In relation to Dionysus, we would be seven years old.
That explains things.
We ready Yank?
Ready to be ready Reb.

*Next Up: 7 August part 2/13 The Turn of We the People: Keep Moving.

Posted by Bryan W Brickner / Support the US Constitution 

​


​

13/13

How’s your stomach Reb?
Almost there.
We had a madness flip.
And a sadness flip.
Most pancakes take at least three flips Johnny.
Righteousness.
Teach.
It is wrong.
The 435?
I mean how no one speaks publicly Yank.
Silence is acquiescence.
And it is wrong.
We have the right to petition.
We can read.
We can ask.
We can do.
The Constitution was written for a simple audience Johnny.
It was read before fireplaces and around tables.

​

​In fancy rooms and log cabins.
Wherever Americans gathered.
No one needed a lawyer.
Righteous.
No one needed a Supreme Court.
Righteous.
Because constitutional representation was self-evident.
Is.
We don't need a court to tell us it says two Senators per state.
Manifest Yank.
The Constitution is wisdom to the mighty.
And succour to the brave.
Elbridge being back is a sign needed Reb.
He represents someone who denied the thirty Thousand on Usurpation Day.
An original Usurpecan.
And someone who comes back to the Republic.

​

Like Lee.
Longstreet and Mosby too Yank.
Seems Lincolnesque.
The returning.
Righteousness is more than being right.
Rooted in justice.
It is a commitment.
For the duration.
Victory.
Madness, sadness, and righteousness Gus.
Feelings Johnny.
Nice to feel again.
If your stomach flipping is a sign, what would it mean?
Some kind of turn.
For?
We the People.

*Next up: 31 July 2026 (part 1/13) The Turn of We the People.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner / Support the US Constitution 

​



12/13

These rooms Johnny?
Fancy.
This house was built rich.
This house was built to make the rich envious.
Sadness.
This house gives like that Gus.
It gives spirit.
Varina had a funeral vision here.
Betsey around?
Most likely, it was a special day.
What vision?
It started as Varina went out the front door.
Passing Comedy and Tragedy.
It was Jeff's inauguration.
In Richmond?
Capitol Square by the statue of George Washington on a horse.
When?
That would have been 22 February 1862, George's birthday.
Can we light a match?
Want some light?
Yes.

​
Here ya go Yank.
That door ahead leads to the foyer and Comedy and Tragedy.
And the one on the right to the first room.
So Varina and Betsey are going to Jeff's inauguration.
High noon.
The morning is spent in preparation.
As they go out the front they see four Black men there to accompany their brief carriage ride.
So?
Varina sees them dressed as pallbearers.
Why?
They wanted to dress-up and these were the best outfits they had.
Okay.
Varina and Betsey take the pallbearers and carriage to the inauguration.
Any problems?
The problem is Varina is in public, on the stage and needs to leave.
She leaves?
Gets up and walks out.
Unprecedented.
Varina had a vision Yank.
Of what?

​

Jeff and a funeral pyre.
Jeff didn't die in the war.
I suppose it was our funeral pyre Gus.
Soldiers and civilians.
Worlds.
Varina saw what?
As Jeff took the oath Varina saw him as a willing victim going to a funeral pyre.
Then what?
After seeing the funeral pyre she got up and left.
Left while Jeff was taking the oath?
And took the carriage back to the mansion.
Likely with Betsey.
Her aide-de-camp.
Betsey would have seen all sides of Varina and Jeff.
Someone famous said a slave knows their master better than their master knows themselves.
The slave knows what the master tries to keep hidden.
Well said.
I’m imagining smoke and shadows of fire dancing on these blood red walls Johnny.
Maybe stop that.
Sadness is okay, on occasion.
Agreed Yank.

*Next up: 1 July (part 13/13) The Return of We the People: Righteousness.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner / Support the US Constitution

​



11/13

Aloha!
Madness Yank.
Let it out Reb.
Jeff and the rebellion and George.
You and I give George a negative for being a slaver.
Jeff hailed it.
We hail 1776 Independence George.
Jeff too.
We hail thirty Thousand George.
Jeff showed contemnation.
Which turned into treason.
Correct Gus.
That makes George a plus one for us and Jeff.
Just a different plus one.
Part of the madness Reb?
Well, I mean old-fashioned smoke coming-out-my-ears madness Yank.
Not insane madness?

​



​Mad like George the Mason would be.
Just count We the People.
And divide by thirty Thousand.
Or less Johnny.
Or less Gus, as the Constitution says shall not exceed.
How simple.
Make a machine do it Yank.
Very 21st century.
The thirty Thousand has the same meaning in all parts of the United States.
Sacred Johnny.
It cannot give way to the spirit of contemnation in the Supreme Court any more than it can yield to the sin of usurpation and treason in the Legislative and Executive.
We the People. 
And the rule of law.
A law made outside the law is never a law at all.
According to America's founders and the Supreme Court.
Can you name a legal precedent Johnny?
Hubbard v. Lowe (1915).

​

This room is bigger than most cabins we grew up in.
It's one of many on the tour.
Reb, the thirty Thousand falls under the timeless rule of See Something, Say Something.
The thirty Thousand precedes the Bill of Rights.
So it made things like the Second Amendment.
Celebrate.
See that door stain.
Do.
Betsey and James would have been See Something, Say Something on that.
Efficient like a soldier.
The door too.
Say more Gus.
The way we become who we think we should be passing from one room to another.
We hail ourselves.
Betsey and James would be thinking something.
Then pause before opening this door.
Who am I?
Inside, free thoughts Yank.
Outside, Jeff's servant slave thoughts.
Madness.

*Next up: 30 June (part 12/13) The Return of We the People: Sadness.
​
​Posted by Bryan W. Brickner / Support the US Constitution

​
10/13

Where are the goddesses?
[Silence]
Reb?
[Silence]
This is no time to go poofing Johnny?
I, I … didn't poof.
You okay?
I think I had a feeling Gus.
You?
I know.
A feeling?
I think it was.
What?
Felt like I had a stomach and it was flipping.
Flipping?
Like a pancake.
Why?
Spirits.
Where are the goddesses?
Turn to the left.

​


​

Who is this Johnny?
Tragedy I think.
Tragedy?
A representation.
Why Tragedy?
Ask the Greeks.
Why here I mean?
Came with the house.
Shouldn't it be Athena?
It was Tragedy.
Victory?
We have Comedy over here.
Of course we do.
They go together.
In theater and war.

​


Comedy Yank.
So these were here when Robert E. Lee walked in?
Lincoln too.
And when Varina and Betsey went out for the day.
And here to welcome them home.
Quite the symbols.
Set a tone.
What’s with the wired chairs?
Props.
Don't sit?
Right.
Won't stop a goddess.
Hardly.
You hear that?
Hear something.
Sounds of music.
A cue perhaps?
Goddesses suggesting we move on.
Outro music.
Let's continue touring Reb.
And leave the timeless to be.

*Next up: 29 June (part 11/13) The Return of We the People: Madness.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner / Support the US Constitution 

​
​

When did the thirty Thousand enter the constitutional debate?
When discussing the right to suffrage.
How early Reb?
It was the second week, 11 June 1787.
And the three fifths clause?
Same day.
What did the founders vote to do?
To move to an equitable ratio of representation.
Instead of equal representation?
Yes.
No more one vote per state Reb.
The three fifths clause was part of who counted.
Who counted?
White and Black people.
What did it say exactly Johnny?

​‘That the right to suffrage in the first branch be according to the whole number of white and three fifths of the other inhabitants.’
No untaxed Indians yet?
Nor the language of free and all other Persons Gus.
The three fifths is what set Elbridge off.
The three fifths had been used to tax slaveholders for their property.
Meaning a two fifths tax reduction for said property, a Black person?
Correct Yank.
When?
Four years earlier, in 1783.
Familiar to the founders.
And not a single founder would've accepted the stunting logic of 435.
Shall we proceed Johnny?
Let's.
Goddess yes?
Plural.
Ever higher …

*Next up: 22 June (part 10/13) The Return of We the People: Comedy and Tragedy.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner / Support the US Constitution

​
8/13

How do we know about Betsey Johnny?
Sort of how we know things about you.
Okay.
As far as we know, you are from Indiana.
So we can say Betsey is from Mississippi.
Born into slavery Gus.
Mom and dad.
Parents.
When was Betsey born, estimated?
Varina was born in 1826.
Betsey is probably younger than Varina Johnny.
Why?
Malleability.
Not much younger Yank.
Compatibility.
Varina was 18 when marrying Davis in 1845.
Okay Reb.
Estimate Betsey at, what, maybe 16 in 1845?
That would mean she self-emancipates in her mid-thirties.
Sounds fair.

​

​A Crazy Baldhead Johnny.
One of the craziest.
No doubt.
The first years of the Davis marriage were not copacetic.
Say more.
Jeff was under his brother Joseph's thumb.
And Varina?
She saw that and let Jeff know.
Ouch.
And when Jeff went to Mexico for the war, he made his brother Joseph her guardian.
In case he died?
Right.
When did Varina and Betsey get to DC?
In 1849.
In time for President Taylor's death.
Davis was then a US Senator from Mississippi.
And they are in DC until 1861?
Only a few short trips to Mississippi … and a vacation to the White Mountains.
New Hampshire: Betsey?
No.
What was in New Hampshire?
A friend of Jeff’s from West Point.
Betsey?
A summer in DC.

​Where?
On loan, working somewhere.
Not alone Johnny.
Not alone.
The Davises left DC in 1861.
Some of the last Southerners to leave.
Betsey with them?
Someone was helping Varina with a sick Jeff, three children and whatever baggage Yank.
They went to Mississippi?
By train, where Davis soon received news he was elected President of the rebellion.
Davis then to Alabama?
Montgomery, and likely James Dennison with him.
Someone Johnny.
Betsey and Varina soon follow.
Betsey witnessed all that?
Yes.
You always try to honor me Reb.
You do the same to me Gus.
Let's do the same with Betsey and James.
Jeff and Varina?
We’ll see.
Ready Yank?
To the door …

*Next up: 15 June (part 9/13) The Return of We the People: thirty Thousand.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner / Support the US Constitution

​


Part 7/13

A goddess Johnny.
There are more.
This ain't the one?
There are two and two more.
Riddler.
House of riddles Gus.
Why we’re here.
I think so too.
We talked of Betsey and the men in her life.
Jeff and James.
What of Varina?
Loaded question Yank.
How did Varina and Betsey meet?
Mississippi.
Betsey running was their ending I imagine.
It was.
What does the record say about their beginning?
Betsey is just always there.
When did Varina and Jeff meet?
Married in 1845.