Today is the anniversary of Marbury v. Madison, a case that established the right of the courts to determine the constitutionality of the actions of the other two branches of government. This was an important step to creating “checks and balances” to prevent any one branch of the Federal Government from becoming too powerful.
This historic document bears the marks of the Capitol fire of 1898. As you can see, information that is lost to fire cannot be replaced. The document was stored folded (in a tri-fold fashion), which caused more damage than if it had been stored unfolded.
In part because of our experience with fires in our past, we are always thinking about how to safeguard records for the future. National Archives facilities have records emergency plans in place that assess risks to the records from hazards such as fire, flood, water leak, pipe burst, and earthquake, just to name a few.
Relevant considering the state of checks and balances today.
130 notes (via todaysdocument & preservearchives)
I read this case! (or at least a part of it)
Man. Would not mind getting a job with these guys.
Guys, this shit is important. Marbury vs. Madison is fucking important.
what if i have to teach us history? WHAT IF?