accidental Paine kink

[felinejumper]

… the complex checks and balances of the American Constitution as analysed in The Federalist (1788), which were designed to keep radicals like [Thomas] Paine trussed and tied.

Somebody please advise, my book used this offhand phrasing and now I don't know what to do with these somewhat-unwanted visuals that immediately presented themselves.

(Source: The Invention of Science, David Wootton, p 20)

Comments

[redsnake05]

If they're only somewhat unwanted, then the obvious answer is reading/writing some historical RPF.

[felinejumper]

The only challenge would be balancing the *extreme* crackiness of such a concept with my pathological anxiety about historical accuracy, but I KNOW. The Constitution as a ~binding document...

[siderea]

Well, my interest in early American history just went way up.

[felinejumper]

Ahem, just like, presumably, some of the constitutional signatories themselves.

[sea_changed]

Thanks for the DELIGHTED CACKLE I let out upon reading this. What a mental image, indeed.