GENIUS FORUMS

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies

We hold these truths to be self-evident,

translation:
We never got the hang of formal logic, but we would like to sound philosophical.

that all men are created equal,

Gee Beav, we've led a pretty sheltered life. I guess we plumb forgot about all the people who were different, so they got put in mental institutions or sent to Australia.


Other than that, what they were complaining about sounds much like the government we have now.

Elizabeth Isabelle wrote:Other than that, what they were complaining about sounds much like the government we have now.

Yup, we're still fighting King George:

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Elizabeth Isabelle wrote:Other than that, what they were complaining about sounds much like the government we have now.

If you haven't seen the HBO series John Adams, I highly recommend it. It is fascinating to see how the government we have now came to be. That very thing happened: they began to fashion something very like what they had banded together to resist.

This [pdf] ran in the NYT on July 4th, 2008.

DHodges wrote:Yup, we're still fighting King George:

I'd noticed that we are under the 3rd President named George, just like it was King George III that the colonists rebelled against.

Have not seen John Adams yet. Sounds like something for the "to do" list.

Pretty good pdf - although it is a far incomplete list of infractions. One left out of the pdf that was in the original - and still applies - would be "He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us" and another would be "For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent"

Although he didn't do this to us, he does not understand why the people of other countries might not appreciate his "peace keeping missions" he sends the military on, despite "He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures."

Neither do I see much of an incarnation of the preamble of the Constitution of the United States. Providing for the common welfare sounds like we're supposed to all have access to health care - not just the wealthy and the very poor who are good with complicated paperwork. Although the states themselves are not at war, I couldn't call the crime rate an example of domestic tranquility. Furthermore, what we often need common defense from is our own police forces. As for justice, I know one guy in jail right now who was arrested for suspicion of DUI because he swerved while eating pizza and driving at the same time, and then arrested twice more on charges relating to the original arrest even before having the opportunity to go to trial. I know another guy who is being charged back child support despite an original court statement 20 years ago saying he didn't have to pay - but there is a law stating that the woman can change her mind later and ask for money - and get it. He can't afford it, so is having to borrow money to stay out of jail. Who is that fair to? And thank goodness for The Innocence Project, but how many more don't get a DNA test, especially on low priority crimes?

Elizabeth Isabelle wrote: I know another guy who is being charged back child support despite an original court statement 20 years ago saying he didn't have to pay - but there is a law stating that the woman can change her mind later and ask for money - and get it. He can't afford it, so is having to borrow money to stay out of jail.

I've been talking to some people involved in divorces lately. A quote about the nature of divorce court from one guy's lawyer: "It's not fair, and nobody cares."

Hey Hodges-

This is slightly off-topic, but slightly on, as it has to do with America in the 17th to 18th centuries.

I coincidentally happen to be listening to a recorded lecture on Abigail Adams, wife of John and first real First Lady. The speaker was trying to depict the life of the colonialists and women in particular. He claims that a study of insurance policies of the time show just how hazardous being a fertile woman was in those days. It was easier for a woman who had reached menopause to get life insurance than it was for a woman in her early twenties because so many women died during childbirth in the colonies. Have you ever heard anything like that and does it seem like it makes actuarial sense? To me it would seem like it made sense only if they kept data at Lloyd's or wherever the premiums were arrived at. It is interesting that Fermat and Pascal were formalizing probability theory right about the same time. I wonder if actuaries relied more on anecdotal information back then. I guess they would have had to, right?

I'm a Property-Casualty actuary, not a Life actuary, but I've had some classes on mortality tables and such and use them on occasion.

I'm pretty sure mortality tables were constructed and in use by the time you are talking about. There are almost always separate tables for women and men, because of the significantly different things that impact mortality for the sexes.

In the graphs of the force of mortality I recall seeing in a class, there is a significant, visible lump on the graph for males, around the age of 18-22, that is directly attributable to men learning how to drive. It is plausible that women had something similar related to childbirth, which was notoriously hazardous back then.

As you would guess, actuarial science was considerably less formalized at that time. In today's world, anecdotal evidence might still be used when it comes to predicting future trends. In many cases, you need some sort of assumption of, say, where interest rates will be five years from now, in order to set a current premium rate.

Very Interesting. Thanks!