
Ratification


The First Salvo in the Ratification Debates: James Wilson’s State House Speech
While most people today think of the Federalist Papers as the leading defense of the Constitution’s original meaning, it was actually a speech by James Wilson that had a far greater impact on ratification. On September 17, 1787, the Philadelphia Convention,...
The Nature of the Federal Government
We have flipped the American constitutional system on its head. It operates exactly the opposite of how the supporters of the Constitution said it would. So, what type of government did the Constitution create? Is it powerful or weak? Is it expansive or limited? How...
The Virginia Ratifying Convention and the Birth of the Tenth Amendment
The modern debate over the meaning of the Constitution often devolves into a dueling opinions between legal experts and judges. But the true meaning of the document and the kind of government it created isn’t found in Supreme Court decrees or through interpretation...