Ratification

Anti-Federalists Strike Back: Two Responses to James Wilson’s State House Speech

by Bob Fiedler | Jun 16, 2022 | A Democratic Federalist, AntiFederalists, Centinel, Constitution, James Wilson, Ratification

On September 17, 1787, the Philadelphia Convention, finished drafting the U.S. Constitution. The Anti-Federalists wasted no time in denouncing the document. The first stand-alone counterattack against the anti-federalists took place in Philadelphia on October 6, 1787,...

The First Salvo in the Ratification Debates: James Wilson’s State House Speech

by Bob Fiedler | Jun 4, 2022 | Constitution, James Wilson, Ratification

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

by Mike Maharrey | Oct 16, 2020 | Constitution, Founding Principles, Ratification

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

by TJ Martinell | May 28, 2016 | 10th Amendment, Bill of Rights, Constitution, Constitution, Eleven Years, Ratification, Ratification Debates

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...

Constitution 101: Was the Constitution Ratified By States or One American People?

by Mike Maharrey | Jun 3, 2014 | Constitution, Founding Principles, Ratification

Was the Constitution ratified by the American people as “one nation” or was it ratified by the states? As pointed out in last week’s Constitution 101 post, the people stand as the sovereign in the system. So it was the people who ratified the Constitution. But, the...

The 10th Amendment

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

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