My academic career can be summed up in two words: Article XIX
I just encountered one of those weird, completely random research moments that nobody will care about but me. My M.A. thesis involved the anti-Chinese movement in California in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1879, Article XIX became part of the second California Constitution, which stated that "no corporation now existing or hereafter formed under the laws of this State, shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, employ directly or indirectly, in any capacity, any Chinese or Mongolian," and that "no Chinese shall be employed on any State, county, municipal, or other public work, except in punishment for crime." Article XIX was repealed in 1952.
In 1938, the state adopted Article XXVI, which stated that all taxes on motor vehicle fuels "shall be used exclusively and directly for highway purposes." The bounty reaped from the gasoline tax helped to launch the state's massive highway projects over the following decades. A couple paragraphs in my dissertation will discuss efforts to amend Article XXVI in the 1970s to allow gas tax revenues to be diverted to air pollution research. In 1974 Article XXVI was repealed and a new version that allowed for smog research was renumbered and reinserted two years later.
As Article XIX!
And my research comes full circle.
That's it. What, you were expecting something interesting or exciting? From dissertation research? How naive...
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Now playing: The Beatles - Blue Jay Way
via FoxyTunes
In 1938, the state adopted Article XXVI, which stated that all taxes on motor vehicle fuels "shall be used exclusively and directly for highway purposes." The bounty reaped from the gasoline tax helped to launch the state's massive highway projects over the following decades. A couple paragraphs in my dissertation will discuss efforts to amend Article XXVI in the 1970s to allow gas tax revenues to be diverted to air pollution research. In 1974 Article XXVI was repealed and a new version that allowed for smog research was renumbered and reinserted two years later.
As Article XIX!
And my research comes full circle.
That's it. What, you were expecting something interesting or exciting? From dissertation research? How naive...
----------------
Now playing: The Beatles - Blue Jay Way
via FoxyTunes