In the autumn of 1774, with rumblings of revolt echoing through the 13 colonies, a group of men met in Philadelphia to propose a response to what many saw as an overbearing, unresponsive legislature in a distant land. Among the ideas debated by that First Continental Congress, Pennsylvania delegate Joseph Galloway proposed creating an American parliament of delegates elected by the states that would have increased the political representation of the colonies without severing ties with England.
The Continental Congress rejected Galloway's idea. Other proposal approved by the Congress did not succeed in changing Brittish policy towards the colonies, and ultimately paved the way for the more famous meeting of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia during the summer of 1776. When in the course of human events, and so on.
Perhaps it's the proximity to Independence Day, but I couldn't help but think of Galloway's proposal when I read The New York Times' account of a lawsuit launched by a group of California activists who say their voices are not being heard by the state government in Sacramento.
With ongoing rumblings about potentially splitting California into multiple states (perhaps as many as six of them), the lawsuit—plaintiffs include several northern California towns, residents of those places, and a Native American tribe—seems like an attempt to forestall a radical redrawing of the map and increasing the number of legislative seats in order to give disenfranchised rural Californians a greater say in their government.
The Continental Congress rejected Galloway's idea. Other proposal approved by the Congress did not succeed in changing Brittish policy towards the colonies, and ultimately paved the way for the more famous meeting of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia during the summer of 1776. When in the course of human events, and so on.
Perhaps it's the proximity to Independence Day, but I couldn't help but think of Galloway's proposal when I read The New York Times' account of a lawsuit launched by a group of California activists who say their voices are not being heard by the state government in Sacramento.
With ongoing rumblings about potentially splitting California into multiple states (perhaps as many as six of them), the lawsuit—plaintiffs include several northern California towns, residents of those places, and a Native American tribe—seems like an attempt to forestall a radical redrawing of the map and increasing the number of legislative seats in order to give disenfranchised rural Californians a greater say in their government.