Loose Leaf Outline Map [Proposed U.S. Supreme Court Districts]

An innovative proposal for defined Supreme Court districts across the United States.

This rare and ephemeral circular was distributed by the National Whig Party in the early 1960s to encourage popular support for a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The text of this amendment, which can be found on the verso, outlines a nine-member Supreme Court, each appointed for six-year terms from regionally-defined districts across the continental U.S. (Hawaii and Alaska are in District 9).

Quotations from Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, listed immediately below, offer additional support and encouragement for the amendment’s passage. The corresponding image roughly outlines the proposed districts atop a Loose Leaf Outline Map created by Rand McNally.

Based on a similar example at Geographicus, the map was probably created by Archibald Stinson Coody, a pharmacist, journalist, and politician from Mississippi. At the time of publication, the National Whig Party largely represented conservative values espoused as a reaction to contemporary progressive political movements like the Civil Rights Era. Bold excerpts from the quotes on the verso reflect this, such as this emphasis on Lincoln, taken hilariously out of context. “We denounce the lawless invasion by ARMED FORCE of the soil of any State or Territory.”

Source: Geographicus;