Talk:Gabriel Slaughter

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Good article Gabriel Slaughter has been listed as one of the History good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can delist it, or ask for a reassessment.
An entry from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on August 30, 2007.
October 15, 2007 Good article nominee Listed
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Good article GA This article has been rated as GA-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ]
This article is supported by the Politics and government work group.

I inserted refs and removed div from links and starred.--Dakota 06:19, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] GA Review

GA review (see here for criteria)
  1. It is reasonably well written.
    a (prose): b (MoS):
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
  3. It is broad in its coverage.
    a (major aspects): b (focused):
  4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.
    a (fair representation): b (all significant views):
  5. It is stable.
  6. It contains images, where possible, to illustrate the topic.
    a (tagged and captioned): b lack of images (does not in itself exclude GA): c (non-free images have fair use rationales):
  7. Overall:
    a Pass/Fail:

Another excellent article in the vein of John Y. Brown, although I do have a few small concerns before I can pass the article.

  1. Is there any more information available on his early life? What did his parents do? Are there are details about his militia service that might be interesting? Did he do something specific to be recognized by the legislature, or was it for his overall quality and character of service? How did his first two wives die and what kind of effect did this have on his personal/professional life? Again, like with Brown, you don't have to answer all these questions specifically, but these are the types of questions that could be used to expand the article.
  2. Also, as with the Brown article, I performed some minor fixes, including the changing of words so that similar words are not used back to back. For example, you had:

Slaughter's unpopularity led to the demise of many of his proposals, regardless of their merits. He proposed a comprehensive system of public schools and, though the idea had been proposed by previous governors, Slaughter proposed a means of funding it. The hostile legislature refused the plan and overrode Slaughter's vetoes of bills that allowed individual schools to be supported by lotteries. Slaughter further proposed a reform of the penal system and recommended internal improvements, including the creation of a state library. These measures were also rejected.[1]

Thus you have, proposal, proposed, proposed, proposed and proposed all in four sentences. I have changed them myself, but it may be something that you want to consider in the future if you want to expand this article for A class or FA status.

  1. Again, the later life section could use a little bit of expansion as well. What did he die of? Was his failed bid to return to the state senate a product of his unpopular governorship? Did he fail spectacularly in this bid, or was it a close margin? Again, keep in mind that these are not mandatory questions, but types of questions. Also, is there any way to expand the section on his career as a baptist minister? It seems like there's more to that than just a sentence and a half (reasons for doing it, experiences during it, etc. etc.)

Overall, however, a short but very good article. I am putting the article on hold for a period of up to seven days, so that these minor concerns can be addressed, after which time it may be failed without further notice. Cheers, CP 16:48, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

I might be able to address some of these concerns, but probably not in seven days. I still have Harrison's Kentucky's Governors checked out at home, so I'll see if I can glean any more on his early life from that. I have also determined that there is a biography (not sure how long) in the book The Battle of New Orleans, including previous engagements between the Americans and the British, the Indians, and the Spanish which led to final conflict on the 8th of January, 1815 by Zachariah Frederick Smith. I don't have immediate access to that one, but I'm very sure I can get it on interlibrary loan. Not sure what that might turn up, but it should allow me to expand upon his service and why it deserved commendation. I think there's also a biography in a 1966 issue of the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. No promises that I can lay hands on that, as it won't be as widely available.
Again, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to expand the later life section. As Harrison laments in the foreword to Kentucky's Governors, some of the governors don't even have a single scholarly article written about them. Turning up much info has proven pretty tough for me. If you'd consider giving me a couple of weeks to see what I can find, I'll try to expand this enough to address your concerns. Thanks for another generous review. Acdixon (talk • contribs • count) 17:21, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
Well, I'd rather not fail it if possible, so what I'll do in a day or two is read it over again, then request a second opinion with your availability concerns. So don't stress about it at all, though anything you could do would be helpful. Cheers, CP 17:38, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
Still waiting for a second opinion, but right now I think that the only thing standing in the way of this making GA is the "Later life" section, which needs some expansion. Just giving an update. Cheers, CP 04:43, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
And by way of update, I have obtained Smith's book on the Battle of New Orleans. I made a few updates from it, but I left on vacation before I could get to what made his military service outstanding. It's doubtful that I'll get any later life information from this book. I've also requested an interlibrary loan on the article in The Register; hopefully, it'll be in when I get back to the library on Monday. Thanks for your patience; I'm giving it my best shot. Acdixon (talk • contribs • count) 13:19, 13 October 2007 (UTC)
I have received a copy of the article in the Filson Club Historical Quarterly. (Earlier, I mistakenly said the article was in the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society.) It is more extensive than I had anticipated, and should provide the necessary information to properly expand the article. It will take a few days to get through it, however. Your continued patience is appreciated, and I think the article will pass muster very soon. Acdixon (talk • contribs • count) 18:46, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I made a few minor corrections, but I think now it meets the GA criteria, and now I can finally have the pleasure of passing it! Congratulations, and thank you for your hard work! Cheers, CP 03:38, 16 October 2007 (UTC)