Constitution
Taxing Power: Luther Martin’s Anti-Federalist Warnings
Luther Martin believed the Constitution’s sweeping taxation power was one of its most dangerous features, a direct threat to both state sovereignty and individual liberty. Long before the Sixteenth Amendment and the rise of federal income taxes, Martin warned that the...
General Welfare Clause: The Truth They Never Teach
“It would be ABSURD to say … Congress may do what they please.” That was James Madison, obliterating the modern lie that the general Welfare Clause is a blank check for almost unlimited power. But that’s exactly how it’s treated and used today. The general Welfare...
Nondelegation: The Constitutional Principle Almost Everyone Ignores
“The very definition of tyranny.” That’s how James Madison described the consolidation of legislative, executive, and judicial power in the same hands. This wasn’t just a warning. It’s one of the core principles underlying the Constitution:...
Three Pillars of Power: Luther Martin’s Anti-Federalist Warnings
Luther Martin warned that the Constitution would create a centralized national government with few real restraints – one that would steadily erode state sovereignty, override local control, and impose its will under the guise of law. In his essay Genuine...