Jefferson’s Judicial Blunders
When Jefferson ran for president in 1800, he made it clear that he supported strict construction, original intent jurisprudence, federalism, and states’ rights
Jefferson, State Sovereignty, and the Constitution
Part of Jefferson’s defense of the sovereignty of the several states concerns the right implicit in that status to legislate in matters that “concern themselves alone.â€
State Sovereignty: A Tool to Protect Freedom
The Founders knew that if permitted, the federal government would transgress the limits of the constitution, and, as Thomas Jefferson remarked, “[annihilate] the state governments and erect upon their ruins a general consolidated government.”
Fertile Ground for Freedom
we must stop cowering in fear at the mere mention of federal power, as if the United States government were some omnipotent god to whom we must bow down and serve.
Was Thomas Jefferson a Great President?
One’s answer to that question depends on how one defines “greatness.”
Hijacking Thomas Jefferson
President Obama used Thomas Jefferson as a springboard to advocate for government power. There is little in the world more full of irony than a defense of big government using the mantle of Jefferson.
Nullifying Federal Tyranny
Those who hope to revive a constitutional role for the States as counters to the present U.S. Empire, must hope to make the States once more into self-conscious, viable polities who have the political will to enact nullification and stand by it.
Thomas Jefferson’s Other Declaration
Most Americans know that Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of “The Declaration of Independence”, the most important of all our founding documents. Yet few of them have even heard of another document that I would say might be the second most important declaration he ever wrote
Federalism: The Early Years
In 1798, Thomas Jefferson gave us a timeless message which was a reminder that “we the people†are ultimately in charge, not the federal government. The federal government derives its power from the people.
Jefferson vs Lincoln: America Must Choose
Over the course of American history, there has been no greater conflict of visions than that between Thomas Jefferson’s voluntary republic, founded on the natural right of peaceful secession, and Abraham Lincoln’s permanent empire, founded on the violent denial of that same right.
Jefferson’s Union
Jefferson’s account of the nature of the Union–a voluntary contract among free and independent States in order to establish a common caretaker for few and enumerated things–contains a great deal of common sense
Giving a Voice to the Jeffersonian Tradition
Thomas Jefferson: “the support of the state governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies”
Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian?
The battle between Jefferson and Hamilton is of very great significance, and precisely because it represented a clash between two fundamentally contrasting systems of political principle.
Standing up for the Constitution
If Thomas Jefferson could come back and visit the United States for a day, would he recognize the government his wisdom and wordsmithing helped create?
John Marshall Vs Thomas Jefferson on Constitutional Interpretation
Jefferson argues against exclusive judiciary construction; he felt it would undermine the principle of checks and balances
Happy Birthday, Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States of America, was an architect, a philosopher, a Deist and an impeccable prose stylist. His passionate appeal to dissolve ties with England—the Declaration of Independence—led the early colonies to war and ultimately freedom. As president, he earned respect for his sound principles and industrious nature, though his private life has been subjected to intense scrutiny.
Jefferson’s Views on the Union as a Compact Among the States
Jefferson portrayed the Union as voluntarily entered into by the states; the states were “not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government”
Nullification: The Jeffersonian Brake on Government
by Thomas E. Woods, The Freeman Thinkers in the classical-liberal tradition, to the extent that they support a coercive state at all, speak routinely of the importance of keeping government strictly limited. To that end, the United States has a written Constitution, which enumerates the relatively brief list of tasks entrusted to the federal government [...]
Jefferson’s Arguments for Nullification and Limited Government
by Gennady Stolyarov II The doctrine of nullification, i.e., the idea that states have the right to unilaterally render void an act of the federal government that they perceive to be contrary to the Constitution, finds its origins in the writings of Thomas Jefferson, most notably his 1798 Kentucky Resolutions, written to protest the Federalist [...]
Remembering Sedition
A few days ago, July 14th to be exact, was the anniversary of President John Adams signing the Sedition Act into law. July 14, 1798 was not a good day for this country. At the time, the two major political parties were the Federalists (led by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton) and the Democratic-Republicans (led [...]
The Statist and the Straw Man: Answering Attacks on Tenthers
The sovereignty movement is feared and ridiculed for its independence by weak minded men who consider themselves intelligent, but are really nothing more than altar boys for the State.
Feb 20, 2011 | Categories:Constitution, Featured, State Sovereignty Movement | Tags: 10th Amendment, bill-of-rights, Constitution, Enumerated Powers, federal-government, Federalism, Founding Fathers, Guest Commentary, State Sovereignty Movement, thomas jefferson | 20 Comments »