Things We've Learned:

-Despite their purported anti-Pureblood tendencies, American wizarding families still have ludicrous names. I have difficulty believing Rappaport and (especially) Twelvetrees were common names in 1790s America.

-There was an International Confederation of Wizards in the 18th century, who were issuing Statutes. That's all extremely legalistic-sounding, and rather strange to boot. Hmm.

-MACUSA (I'm still betting on them having renamed themselves a couple of decades prior to this) has a single central location, which seems really bizarre when you have teleportation. Why not just meet in fields by moonlight (har, har)?

-But, on the plus side, they're not sexist! Their fifteenth President (in 100 years, indicating elections and terms of 4-8 years - how very US-ian, despite starting a hundred years before it...) was female.

-American wizards are paranoid. The whole incident describes predates photography, so the 'they printed pictures' thing refers to woodcuts and the like. So, yeah, a couple of papers published pictures of a stick and said it was super-magic - that definitely sounds like a good reason to entirely cut off communications with the No-Maj world! What a measured and reasonable response!

I think this comes from their history. American wizards come from three sources:

-Native wizards who were cast as devil-worshippers and cannibals by the colonials.
-Colonials who were fleeing persecution when they went to America, and who have only just (a century prior) gotten rid of their own internal KKK, after facing massive persecution from, like, everyone.
-Mentioned nowhere by Rowling but almost certainly there: black slaves.

That is a community rife with paranoia. Let's not forget that their own government is incredibly heavy-handed - it was formed on the principle of 'let's wipe out bloodlines we don't like' (the Scourers), and has no qualms utterly uprooting families under Rappaport's Law. Oh, and that these are US Americans just after the War of Independence, a culture which was extremely pro-individual, anti-international - yet their magical government is acting on international obligations to enact massively anti-individual laws... yeah, I can totally see a paranoid culture developing out of this.

hS

"Having gathered as much information as he could from Dorcus, Bartholomew stole the wand she had obligingly demonstrated for him, showed it to as many pressmen as he could find, then gathered together armed friends and set out to persecute and, ideally, kill all the witches and wizards in the vicinity. Bartholomew further printed leaflets giving the addresses where witches and wizards congregated and sent letters to prominent No-Majs, some of whom felt it necessary to investigate whether there were indeed ‘evil occult parties’ happening at the places described."


...He demonstrated the wand. The nonmagical guy, with no magical talent, demonstrated a wand. He must've been a FANTASTIC orator to gather a bunch of suspicious people together, wave a stick around, and go 'Look! Magic!'

Also, what pressmen. Seriously, I'm taking a class on the history of newspapers and the New York Times in America, and guess what there really wasn't in 1790? An organized press! At that point in American history, due to the importance of pamphlets and other such writings during the revolution, laws were made protecting the public sphere - the right to a free press. This meant that basically anyone who could write (or dictate, I suppose) and pay for printing could make leaflets and talk about what they wanted.

There were newspapers at the time, but they would not have printed anything to do with magic - firstly, they normally carried very dry business news, and were aimed at merchants (what boats came in, what your goods are selling for) or political. Other than mailed-out broadsheets that were more or less gossip, there wasn't what we'd recognize as a newspaper. The idea of newspapers writing to a wide audience, and about current events, really only start in the early-mid 1830s with the founding of the New York Sun and the New York Herald.

In short, by this point in time? There really was no organization of 'pressmen' to be called together, Barebone had no credibility and no proof, and it's pretty likely that anyone who got one of his leaflets would just use it as kindling.

few newspapers had taken him seriously enough to print pictures of Dorcus’s wand and note that it ‘had a kick like a mule’ if waved.

pictures

Photojournalism. Did not start until the invention of the camera. Before then, some drawings WERE used, but they were incredibly rare, and the first illustrated paper started in London in 1842.

"Wizards were no longer allowed to befriend or marry No-Majs. Penalties for fraternising with No-Majs were harsh. Communication with No-Majs was limited to that necessary to perform daily activities."

...Really now. Let's look at a quote from yesterday.

". This meant a far higher percentage of No-Maj-born witches and wizards in the New World than elsewhere. While these witches and wizards often went on to marry and found their own all-magical families, the pure-blood ideology that has dogged much of Europe’s magical history has gained far less traction in America."

America's wizarding population was heavily muggle-born. At this point, there's no reason to think that it still isn't. So this person decides to outlaw ANY fraternization. THis might work ok for purebloods, but they are clearly the minority in America. This essentially requires American wizards to cut off all contact with their families. You want to send your brother a heartfelt letter on his birthday? That's fraternizing (literally!) with the muggles, off to jail with you. And of course, those Native American wizards who were actually parts of their tribes, apparently have to exile themselves now.

Something tells me that the MACUSA was not really a representative government. I'm still having a hard time seeing it as anything other than the most isolationist and blueblooded wizards grabbing power and going 'yeah we're in charge now' with no justification.

By the time America was becoming a democracy, American wizards were on their way to become staunch pro-wizards, enraged and insular purebloods? That's the recipe for a major disaster.