Re: State Of The Illiteracy

Martin Ambuhl wrote:
> A few snippets from the "illiterate" Andrew Johnson and and Andre
> Jackson (no endorsement of the views below is implied):

No speechwriters back then?
...

> "Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be
> spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms." -- Andrew Jackson

(Thus equable terms are to be desired above peace--unless this is a
hendiadys for something like "lasting because equable".)

> And, of interest to Scalia , Thomas, and others who would use the state
> for their religious purposes (and to Bush an Alito who see no limits to
> the power of the President), Jackson refused to proclaim a national day
> of prayer and fasting against cholera:
>
> "I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by
> the Constitution for the President; and without feeling that I might in
> some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this
> country in its complete separation from the political concerns of the
> General Government."

This use of "transcend" agrees (up to some redundancy) with dictionary
definitions taken literally (1. 1. To pass beyond the limits of:
/emotions that transcend understanding/ --AHD), but I've never heard it
used this way. I'd have said "transgress". Does anyone know whether
"transcend" was commonly used in this negative way back then?

--
Jerry Friedman

.