WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Deep Dive. We're really thrilled

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to have you with us today. Yeah, thanks for joining

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us. Now, to be perfectly upfront, if you were

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to look at the source material sitting on the

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table between us right now, you might be a little

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skeptical. Oh, absolutely. It doesn't exactly

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scream page -turner. Right. Today, we are exploring

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a Wikipedia article titled, List of United States

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Senators from Maryland. Yeah. And on the surface,

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yes, it sounds like a very dry administrative

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document. Just a spreadsheet, basically. Exactly.

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You might be anticipating a straightforward reading

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of names and dates, but that is not what we do

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here. We're going to unpack this document together

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because when you actually read between the lines,

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this list is a hidden map of American history.

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It really is. It is full of political musical

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chairs, strange constitutional quirks, and, well,

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and a nearly century -long delay on radicalization.

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Which is wild. It provides this remarkable window

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into how the mechanics of our government have

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evolved. To understand what we're looking at,

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we need to establish the foundational context

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first, which takes us all the way back to the

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very beginning of the republic. Right. Setting

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the stage. Yeah. So Maryland was the seventh

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state to ratify the U .S. Constitution. They

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did that on April 28, 1788. And when the framers

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were designing the legislative branch, they were

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deeply concerned with this concept of continuity

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of government. They didn't want everything changing

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all at once. Exactly. They recognized that if...

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The entire Senate were up for election at the

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exact same time. A sudden shift in the public

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mood could result in a 100 percent turnover.

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Just wiping the slate clean. Right. That would

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completely wipe out the institutional knowledge

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of the chamber literally overnight. So to prevent

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that total turnover, they created a system of

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staggered classes. Yes. Where senators serve

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six year terms, but the actual elections are

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offset. Precisely. They divided the Senate into

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three classes. That way, only about one third

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of the Senate is up for election during any given

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two year cycle. It's a really elegant solution.

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It is. And when Maryland joined the union, the

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state was assigned to class one and class three.

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That incredibly simple structural decision, you

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know, made back in the late 1700s. It set the

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stage for the centuries of political evolution

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we're about to explore. And looking at the early

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days of this list, that evolution was shaped

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by rules that seem well. entirely foreign to

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us today. Oh, completely. Let's look at the geographic

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rulebook. The text reveals a highly specific

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and honestly largely forgotten rule that dictated

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exactly who was allowed to sit in these Maryland

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Senate seats. Yeah, the regional divide. Right.

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For over a century, the state maintained a strict

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geographic division for its senators. If you

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were going to be a senator in class three, you

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had to be chosen from the eastern shore. No exceptions.

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Right. Meanwhile, the senators in class one were

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chosen from the remainder of the state. Yeah.

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What's fascinating here is when you analyze that

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requirement, it tells you a great deal about

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the priorities of early state politics. How so?

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Well, we often think of early political battles

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purely in terms of ideological differences or,

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you know, party affiliation. But this rule highlights

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an institutionalized geopolitical truce. truce

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between different parts of the state. Exactly.

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The eastern shore of Maryland has a distinct

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geography, its own economy and culture compared

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to the western part of the state or say the areas

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surrounding Baltimore. Very different over there.

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Right. So the early political leaders recognized

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that if they didn't explicitly guarantee representation

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for the eastern shore, the sheer demographic

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weight of the rest of the state would just constantly

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overpower them. It was a regional power sharing

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agreement baked directly into their federal representation.

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And what stands out in the text is how deeply

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entrenched that geographic mandate became. This

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wasn't just some temporary compromise to get

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the state through its first few elections. No,

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it stuck around. It really did. This strict regional

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divide was the standard operating procedure until

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1897. Almost the 20th century. Yeah. It was finally

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broken when George L. Wellington, who was from

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Cumberland in the western part of the state,

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was appointed to a Class III seat. But for over

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100 years, geography was the ultimate prerequisite

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for that specific Senate seat. The fact that

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Wellington was appointed brings us to another

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critical difference in how early politics operated.

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Oh, this is a huge one. When we look at this

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early list, we have to remember that the individuals

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holding these offices were not answering to the

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general public in the way we understand it today.

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That is a crucial distinction for you to keep

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in mind. Originally, US senators from Maryland

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were not chosen directly by the voters. They

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were actually selected by the Maryland General

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Assembly. That was the standard constitutional

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practice across the entire country. until the

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20th century. The original idea was that the

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House of Representatives represented the people

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directly, while the Senate represented the interests

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of the state governments. A different kind of

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representation. Right. But that entire system

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was radically altered by the 17th Amendment to

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the U .S. Constitution, which was passed by Congress

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in 1913. The Direct Election Amendment. Yes.

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The 17th Amendment finally established the direct

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election of U .S. senators by popular vote. This

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represents a monumental shift of power. I mean,

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you are looking at the federal government taking

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the authority to choose senators out of the hands

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of political insiders and state legislators and

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handing it directly to the voters. It fundamentally

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rewrites the job description of a senator. Completely.

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Instead of just campaigning to a few dozen state

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legislators in Annapolis, you suddenly have to

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campaign to millions of everyday citizens across

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the entire state. The Wikipedia text contains

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a detail about this amendment that is just genuinely

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surprising. This is one of my favorite parts

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of the document. So the 17th Amendment was passed

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in 1913, and it became the law of the land shortly

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after when three -fourths of the states ratified

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it. However, the Maryland General Assembly did

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not officially ratify the 17th Amendment until

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April 1st, 2010. It is a remarkable administrative

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anomaly. That is nearly a hundred year delay.

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Yeah. The state operated under the rules of the

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17th Amendment for almost a century, holding

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direct popular elections for their senators just

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like everyone else, while the official paperwork

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to ratify the amendment apparently just sat in

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a drawer somewhere in the statehouse. Just gathering

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dust. This specific quirk perfectly illustrates

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the sometimes baffling nature of legislative

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bodies. You see, once the 17th Amendment reached

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the necessary threshold of states to become constitutional

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law, Maryland's formal ratification became legally

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moot. They had to follow the new election rules

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regardless. Exactly. Because the immediate political

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urgency was gone, the formal vote to ratify just

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became a piece of procedural housekeeping. It

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turned into a loose thread that successive generations

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of state legislators simply ignored or honestly

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probably just forgot about entirely. Right. It

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serves as an excellent reminder for us that government

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processes are rarely sleek, perfectly oiled machines.

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They are prone to oversight, inertia and administrative

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backlogs that can take a century to clear up.

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And that inherent dysfunction in the state legislature

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brings us to perhaps the most fascinating part

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of the historical record, the sheer chaos of

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the early Senate roster. Oh, it's a mess. It

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really is. When you examine the table of senators

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from the late 1700s and early 1800s, it looks

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nothing like the stable institution we picture

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today. It is a constant revolving door of resignations

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and vacancies. The turnover rate is striking.

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And to understand it, we have to kind of reorient

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our modern perspective on political ambition.

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Because today, a seat in the U .S. Senate is

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widely considered the pinnacle of a political

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career. You get there and you stay there. Right.

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It's the destination. But the text. shows early

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politicians treating the U .S. Senate as a temporary

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gig or even a stepping stone to jobs back at

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the state level. Which sounds backward to us.

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Totally backward. Yeah. The document lists numerous

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specific examples of this. For instance, Charles

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Carroll served in the very first Congress in

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Class I, but by 1792, he resigned his federal

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seat specifically to remain in the Maryland Senate.

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He preferred the state job. Right. A few years

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later... Richard Potts resigned his seat, and

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eventually Robert Wright in Class III did the

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exact same thing. Both men left the U .S. Senate

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to become the governor of Maryland. We also see

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Ezekiel F. Chambers, who served a pretty lengthy

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stint from 1826 to 1834, suddenly resigning to

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become a judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals.

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What really stands out about those career moves

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is how clearly they map the perceived centers

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of power in the early republic. From a modern

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vantage point, leaving the federal Senate to

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serve as a state level judge or a state senator

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seems entirely counterintuitive. It feels like

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a demotion. Exactly. But in the decades immediately

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following the ratification of the Constitution,

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the federal government was still a very nascent

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experiment. It was physically small, lightly

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funded, and its influence over the day -to -day

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lives of citizens was minimal compared to the

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sweeping powers of the state governments. So

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they went where the action was. Yes. For a highly

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ambitious politician like Charles Carroll or

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Robert Wright, the real tangible influence was

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wielded in the state capitol, not in Washington.

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That explains why the senators were so eager

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to leave. But the text also reveals that the

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Maryland General Assembly itself struggled to

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keep the seats filled. The roster lists multiple

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terms where the Senate seat is simply recorded

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as vacant. Yes, the infamous failures to elect.

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Right. The given reason is that the state legislature

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failed to elect the senator. This occurs in 1801,

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again in 1813, 1815 and 1819. The state simply

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operated shorthanded in the U .S. Senate because

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the assembly couldn't agree on a candidate. Those

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failures to elect provide a really clear window

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into the intense political fracturing of that

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era. Keep in mind the mechanics of how this worked.

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Both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly

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had to reach a consensus to send a senator to

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Washington. They had to agree. Right. And when

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you track the party affiliations listed alongside

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these dates, you see a constant churning shift

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in the national political landscape. The dominant

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factions move from the pro -administration and

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anti -administration groups to the Federalists

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and the Democratic Republicans. It's constantly

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evolving. It is. And eventually you see the rise

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of the Jacksonians, the National Republicans

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and the Whigs. Every time those political winds

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shifted, it created massive friction in the statehouse.

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If one party controlled the state Senate and

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an opposing faction controlled the state House

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of Delegates, the selection process would simply

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grind to a halt. Total gridlock. The political

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deadlock was so severe that they actually preferred

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to leave the state unrepresented at the federal

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level rather than compromise with their rivals.

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That is just incredible. Deeply entrenched partisanship

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only intensifies as the timeline moves forward

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into the 1860s. The party labels listed in the

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text undergo a dramatic transformation. You stop

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seeing traditional 19th century parties like

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the Whigs, and the roster is suddenly dominated

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by labels like union and unconditional union.

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The vocabulary of the roster itself begins to

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reflect the existential crisis of the Civil War.

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Maryland was a border state. And the ideological

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divide within the state was profound. The tension

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between remaining loyal to the federal government

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and sympathizing with the Confederacy bled directly

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into their political representation. And the

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Wikipedia article gives us a very stark example

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of those tensions clashing with constitutional

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mechanics. The text details the situation of

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Philip F. Thomas in 1867. A really important

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case study. So Thomas was a Democrat. And according

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to the records, he was successfully elected to

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the U .S. Senate by the Maryland legislature.

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However, he failed to qualify for the seat specifically

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due to his support for the Confederacy. Right.

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The T was forced to remain vacant until a man

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named George Vickers was elected to finish out

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the term. The case of Philip F. Thomas is a brilliant

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illustration of federal authority overriding

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state selections during a national crisis. Article

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1 of the Constitution explicitly gives the Senate

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the power to be the judge of the elections, returns,

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and qualifications of its own members. So the

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Senate has the final say. Yes. The Maryland legislature,

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which clearly still harbored strong Confederate

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sympathies following the war, elected Thomas.

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But the federal Senate exercised their constitutional

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right and refused. refused to seat him, essentially

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stating that his actions during the war disqualified

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him from serving in the federal government. It

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is a profound moment of constitutional friction

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captured right there in a single administrative

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footnote. Navigating that kind of volatile, deeply

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divided political environment required a very

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unique kind of political agility. And if we look

00:12:47.620 --> 00:12:49.419
at the specific individuals operating during

00:12:49.419 --> 00:12:52.700
this era, one resume stands out as the ultimate

00:12:52.700 --> 00:12:55.340
example of a political survivor, and that is

00:12:55.340 --> 00:12:58.200
Reverdy Johnson. Reverdy Johnson is a fascinating

00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:02.039
case study. His career trajectory is almost unfathomable

00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:04.320
by today's standards. According to the roster,

00:13:04.500 --> 00:13:06.519
Johnson treated these high -level federal positions

00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:09.600
like a rotational training program. He first

00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:11.879
enters the Senate in the 1840s, serving as a

00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:14.710
Whig. He serves for a few years, then resigns

00:13:14.710 --> 00:13:17.110
in 1849 to accept a position as a U .S. Attorney

00:13:17.110 --> 00:13:19.490
General. Which is a huge job. You would think

00:13:19.490 --> 00:13:21.929
that might be the capstone of his career. But

00:13:21.929 --> 00:13:24.690
years later, in the 1860s, he returns to the

00:13:24.690 --> 00:13:26.610
U .S. Senate, this time navigating the Civil

00:13:26.610 --> 00:13:29.649
War era as a member of the Union Party. And he

00:13:29.649 --> 00:13:31.669
doesn't stop there. He resigns from the Senate

00:13:31.669 --> 00:13:34.490
a second time in 1868 to become the U .S. Ambassador

00:13:34.490 --> 00:13:37.049
to the United Kingdom. He was a true political

00:13:37.049 --> 00:13:39.830
chameleon, constantly lifting his affiliations

00:13:39.830 --> 00:13:41.990
and his roles to fit the shifting needs of the

00:13:41.990 --> 00:13:44.649
moment. But while Johnson's ability to bounce

00:13:44.649 --> 00:13:47.029
between the Senate The cabinet and the diplomatic

00:13:47.029 --> 00:13:50.190
corps is impressive. It also serves as further

00:13:50.190 --> 00:13:52.669
evidence of the sheer instability we've been

00:13:52.669 --> 00:13:55.629
tracking. Just constant movement. Yes. The 19th

00:13:55.629 --> 00:13:57.950
century portion of this list is defined by movement

00:13:57.950 --> 00:14:00.490
resignations, appointments, shifting parties

00:14:00.490 --> 00:14:03.629
and vacancies. And we also have to recognize

00:14:03.629 --> 00:14:06.990
another major factor contributing to that turnover,

00:14:07.129 --> 00:14:09.610
which was the physical realities of the time.

00:14:09.710 --> 00:14:12.129
The text makes that incredibly clear in the electoral

00:14:12.129 --> 00:14:16.120
history column. The phrase died in office. appears

00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:19.159
with alarming frequency. Alexander Hansen died

00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:22.279
in office in 1819. William Pinckney died in office

00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:25.720
in 1822. Joseph Kent died in office in 1837.

00:14:25.980 --> 00:14:28.039
And those are just a few examples. It was a hazardous

00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:30.360
job. It really was. Whether it was the stress

00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:32.519
of travel, the environment in Washington, or

00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:34.899
simply the state of 19th century medicine, completing

00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:36.860
a full six -year term was often the exception

00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:39.070
rather than the rule. The high mortality rate

00:14:39.070 --> 00:14:41.429
compounded the already chaotic nature of the

00:14:41.429 --> 00:14:43.990
appointment process. The state legislature was

00:14:43.990 --> 00:14:47.049
constantly being forced to convene to fill unexpired

00:14:47.049 --> 00:14:50.090
terms, which, of course, only provided more opportunities

00:14:50.090 --> 00:14:52.629
for the political deadlocks and failures to elect

00:14:52.629 --> 00:14:54.870
that we discussed earlier. But as you scroll

00:14:54.870 --> 00:14:57.549
further down the Wikipedia table, crossing into

00:14:57.549 --> 00:15:00.549
the 20th and 21st centuries, the tone of the

00:15:00.549 --> 00:15:04.090
document shifts entirely. The chaos practically

00:15:04.090 --> 00:15:06.669
vanishes. We begin to see the modern era of the

00:15:06.669 --> 00:15:09.620
Senate take shape. The position transforms from

00:15:09.620 --> 00:15:12.500
a regional temporary appointment heavily influenced

00:15:12.500 --> 00:15:15.240
by state level power struggles into a highly

00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.679
stable career destination. And the absolute embodiment

00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:21.480
of that modern stability is Senator Barbara Mikulski.

00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:24.360
According to the data, she is officially Maryland's

00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:27.080
longest -serving senator. A Democrat, she secured

00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:30.279
her Class 3 seat in 1987 and held it continuously

00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:33.919
until 2017. That is three decades of uninterrupted

00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:36.360
service in a single seat. No resignations to

00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:38.899
become a state judge, no failures to elect, and

00:15:38.899 --> 00:15:41.059
no jumping to different cabinet positions. Just

00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:43.440
30 years of direct elections and steady representation.

00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.539
Senator Mikulski's tenure illustrates the final

00:15:46.539 --> 00:15:48.460
stage of the historical evolution we've been

00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:51.539
analyzing. By the late 20th century, the prestige

00:15:51.539 --> 00:15:53.600
and power of the federal government had vastly

00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:55.700
eclipsed that of the individual states. The power

00:15:55.700 --> 00:15:58.600
dynamic flipped. Exactly. A seat in the U .S.

00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:01.159
Senate was no longer a stepping stone. It was

00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:04.440
the ultimate objective. And because of the 17th

00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:06.480
Amendment, holding that seat meant maintaining

00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:08.759
a long -term connection with the entire voting

00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:11.220
public of the state, not just a faction of state

00:16:11.220 --> 00:16:13.919
legislators. That brings us to the very bottom

00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:16.320
of the list right up to the present day in 2026.

00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:19.230
The current delegation gives us a snapshot. of

00:16:19.230 --> 00:16:21.629
the modern mechanics in action. In the class

00:16:21.629 --> 00:16:23.950
three seat, we have Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat.

00:16:24.230 --> 00:16:27.149
The text notes his cycle was last contested in

00:16:27.149 --> 00:16:30.610
2022, meaning he is next up for election in 2028.

00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:33.110
Right. And in the class one seat, we have Angela

00:16:33.110 --> 00:16:35.730
Alsobrooks, also a Democrat, who was elected

00:16:35.730 --> 00:16:38.269
in the 2024 cycle and officially took office

00:16:38.269 --> 00:16:41.649
on January 3, 2025. Her seat will be up again

00:16:41.649 --> 00:16:44.389
in 2030. Looking at Van Hollen and also Brooks

00:16:44.389 --> 00:16:47.009
provides a stark contrast to the politicians

00:16:47.009 --> 00:16:49.350
at the top of the list. They campaign directly

00:16:49.350 --> 00:16:52.129
to the voters across the entire state, completely

00:16:52.129 --> 00:16:54.710
unbounded by geographic restrictions like the

00:16:54.710 --> 00:16:57.110
old Eastern Shore mandate. It's a completely

00:16:57.110 --> 00:16:59.870
different game now. It is. Their terms are highly

00:16:59.870 --> 00:17:02.370
scheduled, predictable events. It represents

00:17:02.370 --> 00:17:05.109
the complete stabilization of a system that spend

00:17:05.109 --> 00:17:08.170
its first century in near constant flux. So.

00:17:08.539 --> 00:17:11.079
What does this all mean for us? We began this

00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:13.119
deep dive by looking at what appeared to be a

00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.920
simple Wikipedia table, just a grid containing

00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:19.180
names, dates, and party affiliations. Very unassuming.

00:17:19.380 --> 00:17:21.619
But by pulling on those threads, we uncovered

00:17:21.619 --> 00:17:23.880
a massive story about the changing nature of

00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:26.839
American power. We tracked how early politicians

00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:28.799
viewed state governments as more prestigious

00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:31.440
than the federal Senate. We explored how intense

00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:34.039
regional loyalties forced an institutionalized

00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:37.539
geographic truce for over a century. And we uncovered

00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:40.220
bureaucratic absurdities, like a state government

00:17:40.220 --> 00:17:42.819
waiting nearly 100 years to officially ratify

00:17:42.819 --> 00:17:45.220
a constitutional amendment they were already

00:17:45.220 --> 00:17:47.400
following. It demonstrates that the political

00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:49.880
structures we often take for granted today were

00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:52.980
not smoothly implemented. They were forged through

00:17:52.980 --> 00:17:56.279
decades of trial, error, intense partisanship,

00:17:56.339 --> 00:18:00.039
and constitutional testing. But as we wrap up

00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:02.359
our analysis of this historical record, I want

00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:04.440
to leave you with a final concept to consider

00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:06.980
on your own. OK, what is it? Let's return to

00:18:06.980 --> 00:18:09.200
the very first point we established today. The

00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.640
framers of the Constitution deliberately created

00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:14.980
staggered classes, Class 1 and Class 3, with

00:18:14.980 --> 00:18:17.140
the specific intention of providing continuity

00:18:17.140 --> 00:18:19.839
of government. They wanted to ensure institutional

00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:22.440
stability by preventing a total turnover of the

00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:24.779
Senate. Right. They designed a system to keep

00:18:24.779 --> 00:18:27.559
things steady. That was the intent. But when

00:18:27.559 --> 00:18:29.819
you look at the evidence presented in this text,

00:18:29.940 --> 00:18:33.480
the sheer volume of midterm resignations, the

00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:35.859
legislative failures to elect anyone at all,

00:18:35.940 --> 00:18:38.640
the Senate refusing to seat elected members due

00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:41.519
to Civil War loyalties, and the extremely high

00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:44.279
rate of deaths in office, it raises a rather

00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:46.579
provocative question about that original design.

00:18:46.819 --> 00:18:48.700
Oh, I see where you're going with this. Did the

00:18:48.700 --> 00:18:51.440
staggered class system actually provide the institutional

00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:53.960
stability the framers hoped for? Or given the

00:18:53.960 --> 00:18:57.339
immense political volatility of the 1800s, did

00:18:57.339 --> 00:19:00.460
staggering the seats merely ensure that the chaos

00:19:00.460 --> 00:19:03.019
of the era was evenly distributed across every

00:19:03.019 --> 00:19:05.799
single election cycle rather than contained to

00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:08.869
one? That is a fascinating perspective. Did they

00:19:08.869 --> 00:19:11.549
engineer continuity or did they accidentally

00:19:11.549 --> 00:19:14.650
invent a slow drip mechanism for political chaos?

00:19:14.869 --> 00:19:17.170
Exactly. That is definitely something to think

00:19:17.170 --> 00:19:18.970
about the next time you cast a ballot. We want

00:19:18.970 --> 00:19:20.470
to thank you for joining us on this deep dive

00:19:20.470 --> 00:19:22.990
today. We hope this exploration encourages you

00:19:22.990 --> 00:19:25.089
to look a little closer at the seemingly mundane

00:19:25.089 --> 00:19:28.529
information around you. as we saw today even

00:19:28.529 --> 00:19:31.190
a dry administrative table is hiding an incredible

00:19:31.190 --> 00:19:33.769
story about who we are and how we govern ourselves

00:19:33.769 --> 00:19:35.990
if you just take the time to read it we will

00:19:35.990 --> 00:19:36.529
see you next time