“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.”
“Independent of the control or interference of the federal government.” That’s how Tench Coxe described the vast majority of power under the Constitution – reserved to the states and completely off-limits to federal authority. Perhaps better than any...
At a time when partisans on either side of a debate want to sidestep the Constitution for temporary gain, it’s worth reflecting on times when constitutional fidelity was taken seriously. One of the more fascinating and less known incidents was in 1835, when the...
The Pledge of Allegiance is wrong. These United States are not “one nation, indivisible.” They are a federation. This may seem like semantical nitpicking, but it is an extremely important distinction that impacts how we understand the powers of the general...
You’ve been lied to. America is not “one nation.” I know this feels shocking. You’ve proclaimed the United States of America is “one nation, under God, indivisible” your entire life. But you’ve been parroting a myth. Over...
At the heart of the debate over the proposed U.S. Constitution was whether it would preserve or undermine individual freedom and state sovereignty. In his 18th and final letter dated Jan. 25, 1788, the Federal Farmer concluded that ratifying the Constitution without...
One of the Constitution’s most important features – limits on the central government – has been the target of a propaganda campaign for many decades. “Progressive” commentators in politics, academia, and the media claim these limits impede creative and...