The ideas that formed the Constitution
Who created the ideas behind the U.S. Constitution? The history books relate how the Constitution was composed by its 55 “framers” from May 25 to Sept. 17, 1787. But there’s far more to the story than that. On Sept. 28, 1787, the Confederation Congress asked the state...
Why the Framers Thought Ratification by Only Nine States Was Sufficient
In an earlier essay in my “Defending the Constitution” series, I responded to the common charge that the 1787 Constitutional Convention abused its trust. The charge is that the commissioners (delegates) exceeded the scope of the convention “call” issued by Congress....
Understanding the Constitution: The Power to Restrict Immigration
The Constitution doesn’t use the word “immigration.” Those consulting the constitutional debates of 1787–1790 (such as the essays in “The Federalist”) will find no discussion of the subject. Consequently, some modern writers argue that, constitutionally, America...