Powers Prohibited to the States
St. George Tucker was the most widely cited legal scholar of the early American Republic. This article on the nature of the 10th Amendment is excerpted from his work, Blackstone’s Commentaries.
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James Madison: Veto Message on the Internal Improvements Bill
March 3, 1817: As his last official act as President, Madison vetoes a bill that would provide federal funding for building roads and canals throughout the United States. The President finds no expressed congressional power to fund roads and canals in the Constitution, and he believes that the federal government should not encroach upon matters delegated to state governments.
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Nullification Strategy vs Failed Calls for Federal Agent Arrests
Despite any value you might find in legislation with arrest “teeth,” it becomes a liability when it guarantees failure.
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James Madison and the Case Against Compromise
Today, as the federal government acts every day with “injustice and the minority on [its] side,” it is vain for states to sell their birthright of personal and political liberty for a mess of bipartisan pottage.
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Franklin Pierce: The Reviled Jeffersonian
Most modern historians have rated Pierce very poorly, pontificating that the President was a “do-nothing” that sat by and watched a divisive population grow even more divided. To the contrary, Pierce respected the Constitution as ratified and not as it was muddled by federal judges and legal precedents.
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The 4th of July: A Day of Deceit?
A classic from Harry Browne: The America that’s celebrated no longer exists.
DetailsThe Original Meaning of the Tenth Amendment and “Expressly” Delegated Power
In an important law review paper, Kurt T. Lash delved into the original meaning of the Tenth Amendment. The following is an overview of the paper, which is a must-read for anyone wanting to learn about the original meaning of the 10th Amendment.
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Constitutionally Sound: Nullification of the Fugitive Slave Act
The northern abolitionists resisting the fugitive slave acts stood on solid constitutional ground. The American system was designed to ensure states would check on federal power.
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The French Origins of American Nationalism
The next time you see a politician at the federal, state or local level make the case for unchecked federal supremacy, ask him why he’s willing to trade our revolution for France’s.
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John Adams: The Meaning of the American Revolution
In this 1818 essay, John Adams forcefully asserts that the American Revolution was not, in fact, the war for independence. Instead, he suggested the war was a culmination of the real revolution.
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Federalist #46: Influence of State and Federal Governments
In Federalist 46, Madison stresses that states and the people themselves have significant – and effective – means at their disposal to counter “unwarrantable” (unconstitutional, that is) or “warrantable” but unpopular federal acts.
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