Constitution
Luther Martin’s Warning: The Constitution as a Threat to State Sovereignty
Luther Martin, a prominent Anti-Federalist, warned that the proposed Constitution would destroy state sovereignty by concentrating power in a centralized national government. One of the few opponents of the constitution to attend as a delegate to the Philadelphia...
Federalism and the 10th Amendment: Tench Coxe Explains Delegated and Reserved Powers
“Independent of the control or interference of the federal government.” Thatโs how Tench Coxe described the vast majority of power under the Constitution – reserved to the states and completely off-limits to federal authority. Perhaps better than any...
Oath to the Constitution: What Adherence Truly Means
“If their duty, their honor, and their oaths will not bind them, let us not put into their hands our liberty and all our other great interests.” These are the powerful words of Gouverneur Morris, the “Penman of the Constitution” and author of...
Duty Bound: James Madison’s Six Principles to Stop Federal Tyranny
The states are โduty bound to interpose.โ Thatโs how James Madison put it in his Virginia Resolutions, passed on Dec 21 and 24, 1798, in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. His resolutions answer a timeless question: What should be done when the federal...