Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2019 July 9

= July 9 =

Legal Compliance
Hello! Can someone tell me more about legal compliance (context: law)? I know all the basics but I'd like more information on just legal compliance and not legal governance/risk management, etc. I've looked at every link and even went past the 9th page on Google but I couldn't find anything of substance (just businesses explaining how they follow all the rules and stay legally compliant). Also, if there are any associations/organizations related to legal compliance, please list them. Thank you!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.163.57.173 (talk) 01:56, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
 * "Legal compliance" just means following the law. It isn't really a topic in its own right. - Jmabel &#124; Talk 03:21, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
 * However, we have Category:Regulatory compliance including a number of articles with "compliance" in their names... AnonMoos (talk) 06:18, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * The police department, traffic department and municipalities are examples of "associations/organizations" that can charge/fine/arrest you if you are not legally complying with the law. This will happen through the courts and if you don't comply with the court order you could go to jail. 41.165.67.114 (talk) 06:05, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

Yes, there are such associations: is there a particular type of business you are concerned about? A web search for "compliance officer" might help you find useful info. Compliance officers are people in companies who design and audit the company's procedures to make sure they comply with relevant laws/guidelines. We have articles compliance officer and Compliance Week (an industry mag) that might get you started. 173.228.123.207 (talk) 03:32, 13 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Here's a report by the Financial Conduct Authority highlighting best practice: .  Here's the FCA's guidance to firms: .   Here's the FCA handbook:  .   You can browse the handbook here:  . 2A00:23C5:C708:8C00:B18A:406E:9654:B2B7 (talk) 11:28, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

Did the leader of the US have to be a natural-born US citizen before the adoption of the US Constitution?
Did the leader of the US have to be a natural-born US citizen before the adoption of the US Constitution in 1787? Futurist110 (talk) 05:46, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * There wasn't any real "leader of the U.S." before 1787. Under the Articles of Confederation there was a semi-loose confederation of 13 autonomous states, each of which had one vote in the Congress of the Confederation, or Continental Congress.  Sometimes people try to invoke the Presidents of the Continental Congress to try to claim that "George Washington wasn't the first president" etc. ad nauseam, which is very stupid, since it was a completely different office with much much less power than the Presidency of the U.S. under the 1787 constitution... AnonMoos (talk) 06:11, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
 * I was curious, so I checked the list. Only one continental president was born outside the 13 colonies : Arthur St. Clair, who was born in Scotland.
 * Obviously the president of the Continental Congress was not the "leader of the US", because there was no US, but it'd be a stretch to even call them the "leader of the Continental Congress". Their job was basically to be a neutral master of ceremony when the congress was in session, not to make decisions on their own. The continental congress intentionally had no individual leader.ApLundell (talk) 06:56, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * To answer a slightly different interpretation of this question that people occasionally wonder : Obviously, George Washington could not possibly have been a "natural born" citizen of USA, so how did he qualify? But the constitution accounts for that, the full requirement is "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution".
 * ApLundell (talk) 06:56, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
 * So it would have covered Lafayette, who was made a citizen of several of the states during his 1784 visit, but would not have covered a slave born at Monticello, who was not considered a citizen.--Wehwalt (talk) 07:11, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Slaves were not citizens by definition. Whether free black people (including ex-slaves) could be federal citizens was not definitively established until the Dred Scott decision in 1857, which stirred up huge political turmoil and was pretty much nullified by the 13th amendment in 1865... AnonMoos (talk) 18:45, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

The Articles of Confederation only require that the President of the Congress be appointed from among the delegates, and there is no citizenship requirement placed on the delegates - the states are left to figure out who can be a delegate and how to appoint them. Someguy1221 (talk) 07:14, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

As a separate question, I should say the state governments pre-dates the federal government. 13-states created the federal government, so what if someone was born in the U.S. but outside the 13-states, would he not be considered a citizen? 67.175.224.138 (talk) 04:41, 11 July 2019 (UTC).


 * Originally there wasn't really anyplace "in the U.S. but outside the 13 states", since there were a lot of overlapping state claims, and many states claimed expansive western boundaries (in some cases theoretically extending all the way to the Pacific). It was one of the tasks of the Continental Congress to resolve many of these overlaps and persuade states to give up some of their more extravagant theoretical claims (see State cessions).  One of the main results of this effort was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787... AnonMoos (talk) 06:04, 11 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Also take note of the 14th state. The Vermont Republic (1777-1791) was annexed by the United States in 1791. Dimadick (talk) 07:52, 11 July 2019 (UTC)

Publishing an essay.
I recently wrote a political essay. Is there any way for a non academic "ordinary guy" to have his paper published? Are there online websites with sufficient notability that will allow a non expert to write a piece? What are my options? -- Puzzledvegetable |💬|📧|📜 16:15, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
 * You could publish it yourself on a blog. If you're a previously unpublished writer that's probably your best chance of getting it out there. --Viennese Waltz 16:19, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Self-publication (followed by self-marketing to draw attention to the piece) is not the only option. There are freelance writers who make a living writing essays or doing political reporting; they sell to magazines and newspapers (and their websites). If you are interested in going this route, your best bet is not to google - you'll be swamped with predatory content mills trying to attract writers for poor pay. If you're not careful, you'll make $0 or pennies, could sign a predatory contract that takes your republication rights, and will attract little attention. Instead, suggest you reach out to the closest journalism department in a university or college near you, and ask if you could come in and chat with a mentor about what the business is like and how to get into it. They can give you proper advice on how to pitch your essay and what steps to take once your piece is accepted. You might even get help editing it and making it more marketable before you start pitching, which will give you a head start, or advice on how to build a bit of a portfolio before you pitch something so close to your heart. If you don't live near any colleges, universities or newspaper companies, reach out online for advice from a reputable writers organization such as ASJA, NWU, SPJ. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 16:42, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * You might also try sending it to a reputable political magazine, of which there are many: I cite the New Statesman as a UK example, and The New Republic from the US (with which I myself am not familiar, being a Brit). Note that both articles are included in relevant Categories linked at the foot of each which should yield other examples – you will doubtless already be familiar with other US publications. While it's unlikely that the Editor would want to publish your current piece straight off, he might, if it shows sufficient promise, be willing to give feedback on it and consider you for future commissions. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.177.55 (talk) 17:37, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * What do you mean by "published"? In some academic review? In a paper media? I never saw any non academic "ordinary guy" political essay published. I saw some from rich people, from famous people, or from anonymous but well connected group of civil servants. And I saw quite a lot on blogs, some relevant (or not...), attracting enough attention for, eventually, be famous enough to get published; in such case, that was the result of a hard long work to produce content, to build up an audience (a single essay was not enough). Gem fr (talk) 17:44, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

Newspapers often publish op-eds written by non-academics. Publishing your own stuff online is very easy. If you mean you want your essay to acquire the patina of serious editorial review without actually going through that review, in principle that shouldn't be possible, but as someone above mentioned, there is a whole predatory publishing industry complete with cross-citation rings to let you SEO your h-index. Or for political stuff you could try a lower tier online publication like Quillette (conservative leaning) or [Ghion journal (left wing). [[Special:Contributions/173.228.123.207|173.228.123.207]] (talk) 04:17, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

US states that have or previously had only one legislative house
What US states were there that have or previously had only one legislative house? I know that Nebraska still has a unicameral legislature even today and that Pennsylvania apparently had a unicameral legislature in Benjamin Franklin's time, but what about any other US states? Futurist110 (talk) 18:35, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * per the Wikipedia article Unicameralism, Nebraska and the council of the District of Columbia are the only current US examples.70.67.193.176 (talk) 18:48, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * What about in the past, though? Futurist110 (talk) 20:02, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Georgia until 1789 and Vermont until 1836. 77.58.230.187 (talk) 23:00, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Futurist110 (talk) 23:53, 9 July 2019 (UTC)