The Tea Act of 1773 Was a Test of Obedience
On May 10, 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act. To the average observer, it seemed like a break. Cheaper tea. A financial rescue for the struggling East India Company. A convenient solution. But to the American Revolutionaries, it was a trap. And Benjamin...
No Deal for Gun Control: North Carolina and the “Wicked Rebellion” Against the British
NO DEAL – That was the response from the Sons of Liberty and other North Carolina patriots in 1776 to a British “offer” – surrender your guns, abandon your allies, give up your right to local self-government – in exchange for a promise of...
Precedent: Letting Yesterday’s Crimes Justify Tomorrow’s Tyranny
“One of the vilest systems that can be set up.” That’s how Thomas Paine described government by precedent – when government uses power not because it’s authorized, but because someone else got away with it first. No constitution. No...