Founding Fathers
Thomas Jefferson and the American Principle of Peaceful Coexistence
With two decades of perpetual war, America has drifted far from one of its founding principles – peaceful coexistence with other nations. Thomas Jefferson summed up this foundational foreign policy in his first inaugural address, calling for a policy of...
Understanding the Constitution: How the Document was Composed
The Constitution’s framers were familiar with a long line of Anglo-American documentary landmarks, of which the most famous was Magna Carta and the most recent were state constitutions and the Articles of Confederation. But in drafting the U.S. Constitution, the...
The Government Spent Over $300 Million a Day for 20 Years on Unconstitutional Afghanistan War
James Madison warned that “of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded.” Why? Because it comprises and develops the germ of every other enemy of liberty. “War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and...
Understanding the Constitution: the style of the preamble
The Constitution begins with an introduction called the “preamble,” a word from the Latin praeambulus, meaning “walking before.” The preamble to a legal instrument identifies the parties, states crucial facts, and/or explains the purpose of the document. The “Whereas”...