Oxford High School - Ravelins Yearbook (Oxford, MA)

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THE RAVELIN S 1938 t1ons the respect1ve powers of the natlonal government and of the governments of the sep arate commonwealths We Amerxcans are often lnclxned to vlew the Constltutlon of the Umted States as entlrely self created and developed 1n lsolatlon Such IS not exactly the case It IS essentlal to keep ln m1nd that 1n the early perlod the Amerlcan colomes were outposts of England and were constantly affected by her lnternal problems and by the reactlons of other of the European governments to her Th1s wlll account for a slxght European background xn our ldeas of government Yet It IS true also that our Const1tu tlon has evolved to a great degree, from the 1nd1v1dual experlence 1n government that each of 1ts colomes had We must remxnd our selves that var1ous Amerlcan colomes were settled by d1fferent types of people whose purposes ln commg to the new world varled cons1derably V1rg1n1a was founded by a trad 1ng company and was managed for a t1me l1ke a commercxal corporatlon Massachusetts was settled by a rellgxous group 1nterested ch1efly 1n perpetuat1ng 1ts own form of worshlp Rhode Island was founded by refugees from the re lxgxous persecutxon of Massachusetts New York was or1g1nally establlshed by the Dutch Penn sylvan1a was conferred upon Wxlham Penn ln payment of a debt owed to his father by the crown of England Georgxa was founded as a barrler agalnst the Spanlards ln Florlda and as a refuge where long 1mpr1soned Engl1sh debtors could make a new start 1n llfe The per1od of settlement covered over a century and a half durmg whxch t1me lmportant changes were tak1ng place ln the 1deas of the settlers 'I'he settlements extended for more than a thousand mlles along the Atlantlc seacoast The cl1mate and the manner of 11 vmg d1ffered great ly for each group Yet 1n spxte of these pomts of dxfference ln purpose and 1n envxronment, the gradually envolvmg governments of the varlous colomes showed marked s1m1lar1t1es Each of the thlrteen colomes had a governor a legislature of two houses fexcept ln Penn sylvanlaj a Judlclal system and a system of local goverrunent The ch1ef d1fference appear ed 1n the method of selectmg the colonxal gov ernor In e1ght of the colomes the governor was chosen by the Br1t1sh Crown He was usu ally an Enghshman sent to Amerlca to look af ter the xnterests of the mother country In three of the colomes the governor was chosen by the hexrs of the proprletors to whom the colony had or1g1nally been granted The remalmng two colomes, under thelr charters, possessed the nght to choose thexr own governors Wlth the outbreak of the Amerlcan Revolu t1on the colonxal form of government ln the Amerxcan colomes went to PIECES The royal governors were dnven out In many cases the Colomal Assembly was dlssolved by the gov ernor s orders before he departed Consequent ly, some 1mmed1ate arrangement had to be made to ma1nta1n internal peace and order Fmally at the suggestlon of the Contmental Congress, the var1ous states exceptlng Con nectlcut and Rhode Island, whxch retalned thelr charters, each drew up a wrltten plan outlm 1ng a framework of government for xtself These were the first effect1ve wr1tten constltutlons of modern t1mes The 1dea of a wrxtten const1tut1on had come from var1ous sources The charters 1ssued to the colomal commercxal companles had been use ful 1n help1ng to suggest th1s 1dea The great documents of Eng11sh hxstory The Magna Car ta The B111 of Rlghts and The Act of Settle ment, contr1buted to the 1dea of a fundamental wr1tten statement upon whlch the powers Of government and the restr1ct1ons upon 1ts au thorlty should be based The general belxef 1n the theory of socxal contract, accord1ng to wh1ch government was based on a voluntary cove nant among the governed was laso a v1tal fac tor 1n establxshmg th1S 1dea The fact that 1t had already been applxed m the Mayflower Compact and 1n the Fundamental Orders of Connectlcut, showed 1tS mfluence on colomal thought Durmg the txme of Cromwell a wrxt ten const1tut1on The Instrument of Govern ment, had been drawn up by the Independ ants 1n England Th1s document, Whlle never put 1nto practxce, no doubt swayed lead1ng th1nkers m Amerlca ln the d1rect1on of a wrxtten const1tut1on to stab1l1ze thexr umon From 1643 wlth the formation of the New England Confederat1on and w1th the Albany Convent1on of 1754 the 1dea of a umon was grow1ng apace When the war broke out m 1775 the Second Contmental Congress was forced to take charge of the campeugn ralse money to wage war, and enter 1nto relatlons w1th forexgn states as well as regulate domes txc affaxrs ThlS body finally provlded the rules for a form of umon ln the Artxcles of Confed eratxon adopted 1n 1781 Th1s plan was weak as 1ts provlsos show It 1 , 21 . . . . . - ' , 1 . . 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THE RAVELIN S 1938 no crltxcxsm of hls actlons promptly set up a court to hear the complamts In thxs tr1bunal he acted as Judge and Jury He sentenced An ders to be hanged and to lnsure proper per formance of the sentence, he served as Ander s executxoner hlmself Forts were erected both at the Wharf of Rocks and at T1n1cum Island where Governor Prmtz had h1s headquarters He commanded the people to fulf1ll the purpose for whlch they had been sent to Amerlca namely to trade w1th the Indxans For a txme the new colomsts busxed themselves m exchanglng knlves axes kettles and gewgaws for valuable furs but thexr hearts were not ln thxs buslness They found that they were better farmers than trad ers and so dug themselves ln They were far happler as they began to cultlvate corn and ralse anlmals They made one attempt at chrlst lamzmg the Indlans but gave lt up and devoted themselves to remaxnlng frxendly wxth them There IS no record of any trouble between the Swedlsh colomsts and the Red Men even though settlers of other natxons were often en dangered by the Herce war lust of the Indlans As IS customary wlth the Swedxsh people ev en today, these early people were contmually lmprovmg thelr communltles They lald roads bullt crude but eflicxent beglnmngs of mdustry held courts admmlstered laws establlshed schools and churches and pald thexr taxes There were twelve more expedltlons from Swe den and from Fxnland together The expand mg colony soon covered a good part of what IS now Delaware south western New Jersey Pennsylvama and a small part of Maryland It was at thls perlod of thelr colon1zat1on that they were taken over by the Dutch whom they served loyally Later, together wlth the Dutch ln New York they were absorbed mto the Amerlcan colorues and many of Amerlca s statesmen and leaders trace thelr ancestry back to those first Scand1nav1an colomsts It IS the tercentenary of the modest begmmnvs of thls loyal and steadfast band, commemorat 1ng the contrlbutlons to Amerlcan culture made by these two sturdy and s1ncere countrles that wlll be celebrated thls year Delaware has made a publlc park of the land1ng place calhng xt the Fort Chr1st1na State Park A monument to be placed there w1ll be a glft from the Swedlsh people havmg been pald for by popular sub cr1pt1on ln Sweden One of the ma1n Delaware hxghways leadlng to Pennsylvanla has been renamed Governor Prmtz Boulevard Amerl can Unlversxtles have mvlted leadmg Swedxsh scholars durlng the current academlc year to serve ln thelr lnstxtutlons as tercentenarv lec turers One of these great men wxll be Professor The Svedberg of the Unlversxty of Upsala w1n ner of the 1926 Nobel prlze ln Chemlstry who wnll take part ln the dedlcatlon of the new chemlstry buxldlng at the Unlverslty of Dela ware m October The prlncxpal ceremony of the celebrat1on w1ll be held IH W11mmgton Delaware on June 27 1938 Presldent Roose velt accompanled by other Umted States d1g nltarxes wall go to meet Crown Prlnce Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and other members of the Royal famxly on the very rocks on whlch three hundred years before the1r ancestors landed There will be other ceremomes throughout the country to commemorate the three hun dredth anmversary of the commg of these peo ple who have contrlbuted by the sweat of thexr honest brows thelr manual Sklll thelr mven tlveness and thelr speclal tralts of character to the growth of the Umted States THE ORIGIN OF 'IHIL CONISTITLTIOV By Russell Proctor As thls year marks the 150th annxversary of the adoptxon of the Const1tut1on It 1S only Ht t1ng that some eflort should be made to com memorate thls memorable event For thls rea son I have chosen as my toplc, The Orxgln of the Const1tut1on A constltutlon accordlng t0 Webster IS the fundamental law of the state 1ts purpose bemd to put mto wrltten form the baslc framework of the pohtlcal system of a natxon The Const1tut1on of Our Umted States has three component par s deflmng the mode of government of a unlted country ruled by the people It outhnes the ma1n organs of govern ment the method by whlch ofHc1als are chosen and the dutxes whlch they perform It appor 20 ' , 9 7 . . . , , . , - - . .. 7 ' . . . . 97 . 3 7 Y 9 ' - 1 1 y v 9 - ' ' v x - as ' rs - nz 77 - . . . . . . . 9 1 . Y - - - u as . . . . ' v a 1 u , , I - . , , - ' 1 Q 9 9 ' , , - . , - 1 v ' v - V W i w 1 I I , ' , . - . L . Q U . H . . . - - rv . . 1 y 1 7 J Q - '

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THE RAVELIN S 1938 made no provision for a national executive or Judiciary It gave each state an equal vote in a unicameral Congress It made the union only a loose league, and in spite of the fact that the Articles spoke of the union as perpetual the states held no such concept of the duration of their membership In 1787, at Philadelphia all hope of amend mg the existing system of laws was abandoned The men at this convention set to work to draw up a new set of fundamental laws This evolved into the Constitution of the United States On September 17 1787 this document was submitted to the thirteen states for ratifi cation At least nine s ates were required to approve of it before it could be accepted Seven of the state conventions, in ratifying the Constitution expressly stated their desire to have a Bill of Rights to protect the1r inter ests, and made concrete proposals, totaling ov er one hundred, of the specific laws they wish ed to have mcluded To satisfy this desire, Madison, in 1789 intro duced in Congress a number Of amendments to the original Constitution, s ating that they would rally many people to the support of the new government, The House finally passed seventeen of these amendments The Senate reduced the number to twelve In 1791, ten were eventually ratified as the first amend ments to the Constitution In this way a Bill of Rights became an mtegral part of the Federal Constitution These rights were later enlarged by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment which provide for the legal revision of the Constitution, when changing condi 1d'1S re quired such action ADVICE TO INDI RGRADLA1 ES By Gordon Chaffee We, the class of 1938, welcome you pai ents, teachers, friends, and fellow students to our Class Day Exercises You, our parents friends, and teachers, we are both proud and glad to have with us on this day, which begins the of our local school life These are days that you, as well as we, have worked and wished for, for many years May their realization equal the dreams of them which each one of us has car ried in his heart' Fellow students of O H S we welcome you and we who have passed four year in high school feel qualified to give you sound coun sel Let the voice of our experience tell you to do as we say not always as we did The best words of advice which you will flnd on any seniors lips are For goodness sake watch your school habits' Make it your practice to work hard first then play equally hard after your work IS done Take part 1n every activity of high school life that you can but once you have started a thing carry it through to completion You all know from reading the ads that scientis s have proved that stop and go driv mg 1S expensive because it wastes a great deal of gasoline and causes wear and tear that shortens the life of the car You might compar yourself to an automobile and the energy spent in school and school life to the gasoline If you start many things, and instead of carrying each through to completion you stop, change your aim and start off again on another venture, you are doing the same thing that a car does things you waste a great deal of energy and reach no goal, and more than the automobile does when xt is continually starting and stop ping but never getting very far In order to use your nergy and get the most out of high school do not use the stop and go method get into the habit of carrying what you begin through to its completion When we, who are seniors and about to grad late, were underclassmen we saw things Just about as you do Now, we see them differ cntlv We have reached the end here w car not retrace our path but you are still on the road We are pointing our mistakes out to you for this purpose only that you may avoid not only some of the unhappy situations which ue have experienced, but others that w , too in a mlraculous manner, seem to have escaped On the whole our days at O H S have been delightful and in behalf of our cla of 1938 Iwish to thank each of you for his part in ma 4 mg them such, and to wish you if possible, even greater en3oyment of your school days than we have had 22 ' , , 1 . . y ' , . Y - - I b a r I . , l ' . v ' . . . 3 , - I ,,...........-..- 7 Y 1 7 T , 1 ' l L ' Y I . . f l . , ' I ' 1. A series of ceremonies that mark the completion il1'NSt0P and E0 driving- In this WHY Of doing , , . - . I . . . e ' , ss 77 I , ., L I , I I c 1 , I C v ' - ' . , 7 O V' I D u 0 . 7 4 5 ' , - . . , . , ,, , ' I 7 3 ,- . yy . ' , ' I I y 1 , I C I . . . . , , . -. . . , . vi , . ' ff 7, . , . . . ' ' f N ' - 1 53 1 . ,, . . . - - - 1 - - ss of ' ' ' ' . 1 ' . ' e