428Uses

Great Chain of Being

Menocchio

and Martin Guerre

Some Uses of History

Accident and Luck

Identity

Montana, 1876

Weapon

Pearl Harbor, 1941

Consolation

Pakistan, 1220

Delaware, 1776

Virginia, 1800

Gabriel the Blacksmith

Haiti, 1800

Mexico City, 1519

Toussaint L’Ouverture

“A lawyer who was present at their trials at Richmond, informed me that on one of them being asked, what he had to say to the court on his defense, he replied, in a manly tone of voice:

"I have nothing more to offer than what General Washington would have had to offer, had he been taken by the British and put to trial by them. I have adventured my life in endeavoring to obtain the liberty of my countrymen, and am a willing sacrifice in their cause: and I beg, as a favor, that I may be immediately led to execution. I know that you have pre-determined to shed my blood, why then all this mockery of a trial?“’