Category: Augustus Kotka

The Return of We the People: Righteousness

7/1/2026

Acquiescence

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.

Self-evident

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.

For the duration

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

The Return of We the People: Sadness

6/30/2026

Fancy

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.

Visions

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?

Pyre

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

The Return of We the People: Madness

6/29/2026

Contemnation

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?

Hubbard v. Lowe (1915)

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).

See Something, Say Something

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

The Return of We the People: Comedy and Tragedy

6/22/2026

Feelings

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.

Tragedy

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

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

The Return of We the People: thirty Thousand

6/15/2026

Deja vu

9/13

Deja vu Reb.
Over and over Yank.
We skipped by George earlier.
Jeff and the rebels didn't.
George the slaver.
The South liked that and George of Independence.
Not so much George and the thirty Thousand.
Nor the three fifths.
That surprises Reb.
Shows our (the South) Anti-republic side.
Contemnation.
Exactly.
Why?
The thirty Thousand helps the locals.
Jeff didn't want to help the locals?
Jeff wanted slavery to expand Yank.
Control the seats.
More representation means more types of people.
People like us.
We the People Gus.

Three fifths

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?

Ever higher

‘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

The Return of We the People: Betsey

6/8/2026

Parents

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.

Washington DC

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.

Honor

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

The Return of We the People: Betsey and Varina

6/1/2026

Riddles

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.

Taylors

Johnny, did Varina own slaves?
No.
Have money?
No.
Land?
No.
What then?
Intellect.
Jeff was married before … to a Taylor.
Sarah Taylor.
Daughter of the future President Zachary Taylor, right Johnny?
Who threatened to hang his former son-in-law for treason.
Hot potato!?
In the spring of 1850.
Taylor died that summer.
Some say Jeff did it.
Proven?
Not yet Gus.
Interesting.

Wonderment

Varina was at President Taylor’s deathbed.
Doing what?
Comforting her friend Margaret, the grieving First Lady, Jeff’s former mother-in-law.
Where’s Betsey Reb?
Someone was at Varina's beck and call?
Betsey.
Someone rode in the carriage with Varina?
Betsey, or whoever was in the servant slave role, acted as an aide-de-camp.
Jeff became US Secretary of War in 1853 Gus.
Varina was cabinet level.
So too Betsey.
And Varina had full access to DC.
From 1850 until ‘61 Yank.
And there stands Betsey.
Betsey was there when Varina had her first child.
Endearing.
Betsey was there when the same child died of sudden illness two years later.
Consoling.
Crying too.
Crying too.
Wonderment Yank.
That's a riddle, ain't it.
How would Betsey feel toward Varina?

*Next up: 8 June (part 8/13) The Return of We the People: Betsey.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

The Return of We the People: Betsey and James

5/18/2026

James Pemberton

Part 6/13

A bust.
For sure.
The owner of people.
How many Johnny?
Hundreds over the 30 years.
Davis owned James and Betsey?
Yes with a correction clarification.
Go.
Betsey self-emancipated with James Dennison.
Sign said James Pemberton.
Yet James Pemberton died in 1852.
Tough to run in 1864.
Right Yank.
Who was James Pemberton?
Jeff’s personal servant, slave, from 1829 until ‘52.
Twenty-three years.
Served Jeff’s father before that.

James Dennison

So James Dennison was Jeff’s servant slave after Pemberton died.
Now we enter new ground like your story Gus.
You said something was similar between me and Betsey and James.
Did.
What?
You all participated in events people wrote about.
So we can know me from the history of the 99th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
That and the war.
And for James and Betsey it was being a part of this place.
More part of the Davis household.
It is 1852 and James Dennison started … where are they at then?
Mississippi.
Then DC?
From 1853 until 1861 Gus.
DC from the eyes of James and Betsey.
Then Mississippi and Alabama and here in Virginia.
Same James Dennison?
Seems so.
Jeff was kind of stern.
Apparently James knew how to handle him.

Gospel

Betsey Johnny.
Varina's servant slave owned by Jeff.
Married to James?
Yes.
What did that mean, two enslaved in marriage?
Part of that humanness we talked about.
Say more Reb.
If in a long term relationship, that would possibly promote the interests of the owner.
Slave children.
Better behavior.
Less dissent.
More rights.
The Davis enslaved in Mississippi were freed by The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1863.
Correct Gus, and the Yankee army burned the Davis plantation in the same year.
So all their Mississippi friends and family were already free, by proclamation and war, by the time James and Betsey did the Someday walk.
Yes.
Feel like singing Johnny?
Do.
“I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel.”
“As ye deal with my contemners, so with You my Grace shall deal.”

Next up: 1 June (part 7/13) The Return of We the People: Betsey and Varina.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

The Return of We the People: Rebels and Yankees

5/11/2026

Health

Part 5/13

… Rebels Gus.
Festive ones.
We didn't fight all the time.
I never saw ya party.
Just fight.
Is that Varina?
Yes, and she would say they are being kind.
She looks fine.
Exactly.
She didn't think so?
Who does?
Jeff on the left.
Kindness again.
Looks young.
And healthy.
Davis wasn't?
He had four healths Gus.
Okay.
Davis was either sick, getting sick, recovering from sick, or just fine.
Sick call type.
He would be weeks bedridden.
Uhhh …

Soldiers

Here are some Yankees Gus.
Dashing.
The best.
The colonnaded steps.
Yanks took over the building.
How Johnny?
Richmond's mayor went looking for someone to accept the city’s surrender - and for help with the fires.
Who did the mayor find?
The XXVth Corps.
Never heard of them.
A corps of Black soldiers formed in December 1864.
Black soldiers captured Richmond?
And helped put out the fires.
Good Lord Johnny.
The XXVth was commanded by a white German immigrant, Godfrey Weitzel.
Heard of him.
Western campaigns Yank.
Mississippi River.
West Point before that.

Time

Evacuated April 2nd 1865.
Varina left earlier, Jeff that day.
When did Godfrey the Immigrant and the Black XXVth arrive?
Morning of April 3rd.
Davis babies born here.
Two.
And they lost a five year old.
Fell off a ledge and died that day.
Confederate and personal.
Yes.
And self emancipators.
Beginning in May 1862.
I wasn't even a soldier yet.
And no Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation yet.
William took the Someday walk.
Freedom seeker.
James and Betsey are mentioned.
Right.
What do you know about them?
They’re kind of like you Gus.
Interesting - is that Davis?

Next up: 18 May (part 6/13) The Return of We the People: Betsey and James.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

The Return of We the People: Emancipate Yourself

5/4/2026

Hobbes

4 of 13

… Whoa Reb?!
What?
That.
It’s a ship shaft.
No, that side door.
For servants - it’s part of the tour Gus.
Is a servant a slave?
Getting precise.
The two words get slid together.
They do.
What is the distinction Johnny?
A servant slave gives up the right to kill a master.
And a slave never does.
According to Hobbes.
Calvin N. Hobbes?
Thomas Hobbes Gus, in a book called Leviathan.
Sounds Biblical.
Secular tome.
What does the servant get for not killing?
What do you think?

Someday

Something.
Like?
It would vary Johnny.
It did.
Humanness.
More liberty, more security, less violence.
Something.
Wouldn't work otherwise Yank.
Did servants run from here?
Yes.
From that door?
I suppose - I'm Johnny remember?
Duh.
One can say for sure people thought about it.
Start to imagine it.
Lincoln declared it.
So a Someday door.
Someday.

Numbers

Who did?
James and Betsey to name two Gus.
Ran from here?
January 8th in that year of your's.
“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.”
“None but ourselves can free our minds.”
James and Betsey had to free themselves inside.
Like Bob sings of Yank.
What We the People need.
A free mind begins within.
None but ourselves.
Can end the Usurpation.
We got the numbers Johnny.
Napoleon said that was essential.
Nearly 350 million of us.
Against 435 of them.
Thus The Return.
Of We the People.
Let's continue.
This way Yank …

Next up: 11 May (part 5/13) The Return of We the People: Rebels and Yankees.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner