User talk:Mattster42/Archive 1

American Revolutionary War
The US Constitution is not the only constitution in the world; see Constitutional monarchy and Constitution of the United Kingdom. References to the colonists' objections to taxation by the Crown as unconstitutional are to the UK constitution, not the US Constitution. (This would have been clear had you actually clicked on the link and read the article there before removing the link.)  General Ization  Talk   23:52, 7 July 2016 (UTC)
 * I am of course aware of the existence of multiple constitutions, and you'll notice that I didn't remove the link in my edit, I just changed the one word. I will admit that I misunderstood the usage of invoking the Constitution of the United Kingdom in rhetorical argument: I always knew that the UK Constitution didn't exist as a discrete document but rather a collection of principles and aggregated law, but further research did show that the rhetoric of the time used the word "unconstitutional" in arguments. However, I was also aware of the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom and how it leads to a common belief that NO law can be unconstitutional, so it never crossed my mind that anyone would consider the use of "unconstitutional" to include the UK Constitution. Regardless, I did click the link and read the article, and I decided that the introductory characterization of the laws as "illegal under the Bill of Rights 1869" was a clearer descriptor that would reduce ambiguity, which led to my original edit attempt. I still believe "illegal" as a descriptor reduces ambiguity and would be better, but I'll let it rest. Please don't assume that I didn't click the link or think about my edit, and please don't assume that I'm unaware of events and institutions outside my home country. Mattster42 (talk) 01:18, 8 July 2016 (UTC)