Mudsill

All of this -- but little understood within a very few years -- has been of late made generally intelligible on this side of the border, thanks, perhaps, as much to Mr. Hammond's word 'mudsill' as to any other cause. ❋ Various (N/A)

If your house is not a "mudsill" you may rest your sill logs upon posts or stone piles; in either case, in the Northern States, they should extend three feet below the ground, so as to be below frost-line and prevent the upheaval of the spring thaw from throwing your house "out of plumb." ❋ Daniel Carter Beard (1895)

If you are building a "mudsill," that is, a building upon the ground itself, the sill logs will be subject to dampness which will cause them to rot unless they are protected by some wood preservative. ❋ Daniel Carter Beard (1895)

When Douglas reached New Orleans he substantially repeated these declarations in another long speech, and, as if he had not yet placed himself in entire harmony with Southern opinion, he added a sentiment almost as remarkable as the "mudsill" theory of Hammond, or the later ❋ John George Nicolay (1866)

This is usually accomplished by bolting the "mudsill," the piece of wood at the base of the wall, to the foundation.

'mudsill' from Vermont, and when the war broke out I applied to be received into the hospitals, but was refused on account of want of experience. ❋ Various (N/A)

a "mudsill," wet the floor until it becomes spongy, then with the butt end of a log ram the dirt down hard until you have an even, hard floor -- such a floor as some of the greatest men of this nation first crept over when they were babies. ❋ Daniel Carter Beard (1895)

"mudsill," as the cartoonist was pleased to call the President of the ❋ Unknown (1868)

"mudsill" speech as a defiant rejoinder to Northern criticisms of slavery. ❋ Unknown (2010)

We push below this mudsill the derelicts and halfmen, whom we hate and despise, and seek to build above it—Democracy! ❋ W.E.B. DU BOIS (2004)

The demand moves around among various ethnic and economic groups all over the world throughout history that, for whatever reason, have found their place at the bottom of the proverbial mudsill. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Since 1942, and the Bracero program, the overwhelming majority of our agricultural “mudsill” is comprised of Hispanic laborers. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Economists in the American Old South that wanted to justify slavery referred to “the mudsill”, after a home-construction technique wherein a plank of wood - the “mudsill” - formed the foundation of a house. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Some group of laborers, argued these economists, had to be the ones exploited by everyone else, so that everyone else could live happily in a nice house upon that bloodied, ignorant mudsill. ❋ Unknown (2008)

But even the journalists at the mudsill level were industrious, politically sophisticated, and occasionally eloquent. ❋ Richard Brookhiser (1999)

[Kip]: Baseball is for low life, [aggro], retards. Jim: Yeah. [Baseball fans] are total mudsills. ❋ Sooperfun (2011)