I'm not sure that the instructors have realized it, but the form of framing that we are learning is a uniquely american one. This is "square rule" timber framing. It's a very american thing - it builds on the european idea of "scribe rule" framing - the same style of mortises, tenons, sills, beams, posts... but it's in the spirit of liberalism.

Yes, liberalism. I don't mean democrat or left-wing - I mean the spirit or philosophy that understands a human person fundamentally as an individual, not a part of a society.

Blank-slate. Tabula rasa. Interchangeable.

[STANDING OUTSIDE THE AMERICAN PRECISION MUSEUM]

I'm standing outside the American Precision Museum, which was once the Robbins & Lawrence Armory, an early machine shop which proved the efficacy of the American system.