How About Tuesday? Let’s Vote On It

The U.S. Congress decreed in 1845 that the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November would be the official voting date for presidential elections. The law was extended to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1875. It took another 39 years before the uniform date was extended to the U.S. Senate elections.

That totals 69 years of indecision about which day would become the official date to vote in all the national elections. And what about the confusing way the day of the week became Tuesday after the first Monday?

Most states used the decreed date for their own elections long before it was made official in 1845. At the time, it made sense to set the voting date on that November weekday. The country was an agrarian society. Most crops were already harvested by the beginning of November, allowing farmers enough travel time to reach the county seat where most polls were held.

The voting date was kept off the first day of the month. That’s when merchants totaled their incomes for the previous 30 days. Politicians didn’t want the necessary bookkeeping to prevent business owners from voting. They kept the voting time away from the weekend

because people who traveled by horses and carts often spent the night on the road, and they didn’t want to miss the Sabbath.

Weather was another consideration.  The temperatures were mild enough to make traveling over unimproved roads tolerable.

Today’s society offers many conveniences that make the process of voting easy compared to the hardships endured by patriots in the 18th and 19th centuries. Yet the United States ranks pitifully in the percentages of citizens throughout the world who have the privilege of voting.

Fifteen states in the U.S. still have elections only on the one day in November. The percentage of voter participation has increased among the 35 states that offer early voting that extends through weekends. 

Early voting varies from four to 50 days prior to Election Day.

The United States ranks 138 among 172 nations with free elections in the percentage of people who vote. Being too busy and not being able to get time off from work are two of the most mentioned excuses for not voting.

Election Day is a government holiday in Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, West Virginia and the territory of Puerto Rico. California government allows workers two hours off with pay in order to vote.  At least five countries in the free election world give voters a paid holiday on national election days.  

Veterans Day is November 11. Visit here during the first few days of November for information about its origin.  If you enjoy these blog postings, visit my website, www.joevlatino.com, where you can see information about my book of short stories, “The Device.”

Broad Stripes and Bright Stars

The first official U.S. flag had 13 stars representing the original colonies on a blue background. Thirteen stripes alternating in red and white made up the rest of the flag. The number of stripes still numbers thirteen.

There were several variations of the flag that were flown before and after the Continental Congress accepted the official look on June 14, 1777. Some of the variations continued putting the 13 stars in a circle while other versions set the stars into uniform rows.

The red, white and blue colors had been consistent years before the official ruling about the looks of the flag. Many different opinions suggested what each color represented. The meanings of the colors weren’t officially named until the government created the United States Seal.

The Continental Congress authorized an official seal during their historic session on July 4, 1776. It must have been a very busy day as it included the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Creating a seal for the new country might have been an afterthought, but it was as significant a decision as the move to standardize the design of the flag the following year. The final design of the seal was not accepted until six years later on June 20, 1782. That’s when the meanings of the red, white and blue became official.

Charles Thompson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, reported to the Congress why the three colors, the stars and the stripes were used to create the seal:

“White signifies purity, and innocence; red, hardiness and valor; and blue signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice. The star is a symbol of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial. The stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun.”

The same definitions of the elements in the U.S. Seal apply to the country’s flag. Our Founding Fathers must have realized that the U.S. Seal and Old Glory would both function as material representations of the bravery that led to our country’s freedom. Designing them to look similar was an intentional decision.

Several variations of the seal are used in the departments of the United States. The President and the Vice President both have their own seals that identify the Executive Office. The appropriate seal is always positioned on the front of the podium used by the number one and number two top executives.

The Judicial Branch has its own seal as does the Legislative Branch. Each branch of the military has its own distinctive seal. The various seals look similar and are easily recognizable as symbols of the United States.

When a seal is transported, it’s carried in a protective covering and treated with respect. Flags are moved much more often and also require special treatment.

The flag of the United States is folded in a particular way each time it’s lowered. This same procedure is used when a flag is taken off the coffin of a veteran. Then the flag is folded and handed to a family member in its unique form.

When folding a flag in the correct way, it resembles a triangle with only the blue field showing. Tradition holds that the three-corned shape represents hats used by military people throughout the country’s battles during the Revolutionary War and later.

Why is Election Day on the first Tuesday of November? Read the answer in this space during the last week of the month.

Check my website, www.joevlatino.com, for information about my book of short stories, “The Device.” You can also read a piece of flash fiction there.

Columbus Didn’t Know He Discovered the New World

Columbus Day is one of the Monday holidays mandated by the federal government in 1970. It occurs on the second Monday of October that will fall this year on the 13th. Next year the holiday will come on the exact date Christopher Columbus landed on what he thought was the East Indies, 523 years ago on October 12, 1492.

The expedition of three small ships with a crew of 90 men landed at what we now call Haiti in the Dominion Republic. Columbus claimed the land for the King and Queen of Spain. He named it Espanola. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella funded the cost of the voyage after Columbus made several, persistent requests to the Spanish royalty.

A faster way to sail to the East Indies and China was tempting to any nation that wanted to get the spices and gold available there. Spices from the East often were more valuable than gold.  Columbus’ theory was to sail westward across the ocean to reach the riches of the East.

His idea had at least two major flaws. The earth is much larger than he realized, and such a trip would take at least 5,000 miles longer than his calculations indicated. Also, nobody knew about the two land masses that exist across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus eventually bumped into both of them—North America and South America.

Columbus began his career when he went to sea as a 14-year-old boy.  He became an expert in navigation. As a ship’s captain, he often was credited as having a keen sense of understanding the influences of weather in changing ocean conditions. These abilities helped him make the first trip from Spain across the ocean.

During the two-month trek, the crewmen begged Columbus to turn back. That uncharted part of the ocean was called the Sea of Darkness. Superstitious sailors believed in sea monsters and whirlpools that could swallow ships.  Just two days before making land, some men threatened mutiny.

Columbus held the crew under control by constantly insisting that they would find land in just a few days.  He also explained that only he knew the way home to Spain, and he wasn’t going to turn the ships back.

The expedition landed on an inhabited island in the Bahamas. Natives welcomed the travelers who thought they found the East Indies. In a short ceremony, Columbus claimed the island for Spain. He completely ignored the ownership of the natives, because he needed to start paying tribute to his patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

Columbus and his crew members were welcomed warmly by the natives who gave them food and shelter. The locals wore ornamental gold that was found in shallow mines. Gold had no value to the natives except as jewelry. They eagerly traded the precious metal for feathers and beads.

The Santa Maria, the fleet’s flagship, sank after making landfall. Columbus sailed the two other ships, the Nina and the Pinta, on the trip back to Spain to show the king and queen the spoils from what he was convinced was part of the East Indies. The smaller ships were too crowded and thus prohibited thirty-nine crewmen from leaving. They became the first colony established for Spain.

Columbus was greeted as a hero by the royalty and the populace of Spain. The gold he brought back impressed Ferdinand and Isabella who immediately began assembling an armada of ships to take workers and colonists to the discovered land.

The Spanish travelers landed at the site of the first colony in September, 1493. None of the thirty-nine men survived. They were killed by the native population during an uprising against the harsh rule imposed by the Spanish invaders.

Greedy for gold, the sailors in the colony chained and beat the natives to make them mine more gold. The crew men, greatly outnumbered, were killed. Their bodies were left hanging in trees for Columbus to find. 

Columbus with the soldiers in the new expedition killed hundreds of native men, women and children to revenge the death of the crew. Slavery became the order of the day as Columbus looked to find more gold for Spain. Lives of the native population were regarded as disposable.

The third trip Columbus made from Spain involved his colonizing land in San Salvador in the Bahamas. Again, the Spanish colonists took charge of local natives and demanded gold. The promises of becoming rich from gold discovery were exaggerated, and the Spanish explorers were disillusioned about how rich they could get.

After the third trip from Spain, Columbus came back dishonored and rejected by the king and queen. His health started to deteriorate as he clung to the false belief that he found the route to the East.

One last voyage in 1502 put Columbus in the middle of several uprisings from the numerous colonists that sailed there in the second and third waves of ships. So-called settlers were eager to leave for home.

Ferdinand and Isabella felt compassion for their former hero. They made sure he had enough money to survive. Columbus died in December, 1504. He never stopped insisting that he found the westward route to the riches of the East Indies and China. Ironically, he wasn’t able to realize that his greatest accomplishment was in making the first lasting European exploration, conquest and colonization of The New World.

Thank you for reading this blog. Check this space later this month to read about the meaning of our flag’s colors.

Visitwww.joevlatino.com to read a new piece of flash fiction.  You can also find a link to my book, "The Device."