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journal/Archive/Blog Drafts/THE INTERCHANGEABLE AMERICAN.md
Thaddeus Hughes 608c43a71f init
2025-10-09 20:43:40 -05:00

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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.