Jim Cooper Quotes
Equality under the law is the slow triumph of hope over history.
Cooper, Jim. "Statement on the Supreme Court Decision on Marriage Equality." U.S. House of Representatives, 26 June 2015.
The issue of slavery which had been suppressed in Congress for the first decades of the nation broke out when Missouri statehood was considered. By previous agreement, slavery was not even discussed in Congress but the time period elapsed. Tallmadge not only proposed that no more slaves could come into Missouri {613176} but most shocking to the Southerners was that every person born in the new state would be free at the age of 25. In a generation, there would be no more slavery in Missouri and there would be no economic compensation for slave owners at all. The House of Representatives accepted the amendment, but it failed in the Senate. At that time, Senators were not elected by voters but were appointed by the state legislators and the Southern slave states had a disproportionate share of the senate from a population point of view. But what this quotation shows clearly that a majority of the country in 1819 were opposed to slavery and were willing to end it without compensation.
“Familia” in Latin meant in this context, the community or the citizens as opposed to the officials, The Bishop determined the former was under attack by the officials who in the probating of wills and estates would take bribes or levy taxes under “laws” that they would make up on the spot bilking the rightful inheritors of the property and wealth of the deceased. The principle that laws and regulations must be written down in advance and not otherwise, is a fundamental part of Western law today, But as this quotation shows, it was not always such.
James Hayes Shofner Cooper is an American politician who has served since 2003 as the U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 5th congressional district (based in Nashville). He is a member of the Democratic Party and the Blue Dog Coalition, and represented Tennessee's 4th congressional district from 1983 to 1995. His district includes a large part of Nashville. He is dean of Tennessee's delegation to the House of Representatives.
