Constitution
Who Called the Constitutional Convention? The Commonwealth of Virginia
A “call” to an interstate convention is an invitation for state representatives to meet at a particular time and place to discuss prescribed issues. During the Founding Era, convention calls were issued by the Continental and Confederation Congresses, by prior...
The Republic was not Kept: Benjamin Franklin’s Constitution Day Prediction
“A republic … if you can keep it” September 17, 1787 – the day the constitution was signed. We all know Benjamin Franklin’s famous line. But he wasn’t warning us about the government. He wasn’t even warning about the constitution....
The Great Bypass: How the Constitution Was Built to Sideline the States
“This Constitution does not attempt to coerce sovereign bodies, states, in their political capacity.” With that one sentence, future Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth identified the single most important and least understood feature of the Constitution. It wasn’t just a...
How Two Vague Words Were Used to Gut the Entire Constitution
“…do we live under a limited or an unlimited government?” To you, that question probably sounds naive because the answer feels obvious. But in 1792, Thomas Jefferson saw it as the moment of truth. Alexander Hamilton had just laid out his vision for the “general...