Government Officials Who Abuse Their Power Deserve Derision Not Respect
They say we should “respect the office.”’ That certainly isn’t how the American colonists treated British officials who were abusing their power.
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Does the Federal Government Have the Power to Regulate Immigration? Thomas Jefferson and James Madison Said No
federal regulation of immigration is a power both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison maintained was “no where delegated to the federal government.”
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James Madison Refutes Expansive Reading of the General Welfare Clause
His speech is a stinging refutation to all those who claim the clause empowers the federal government to spend money for anything and everything
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A Jeffersonian American Patriot is a State Patriot
One day in January 1811, Thomas Jefferson wrote to a French man of letters whose book he so much admired that he translated it into English and saw to its American republication. Along the way, he explained to the Frenchman why there had been such a difference between the outcomes of their countries’ revolutions. “The true barriers [defenses] of our liberty in this country,” Jefferson instructed, “are our State governments; and the wisest conservative power ever contrived by man, is that of which our Revolution and present government [the Federal Government] found us possessed.”
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The Founders on Federal Enforcement
Some people believe that all branches of the federal government should fully enforce all federal laws until they’re overturned by a court or repealed by Congress. But the Founders disagreed. In many cases, vehemently.
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The Cost of America’s Wars Is More than Monetary
For all practical purposes, America has been fighting foreign wars for more than a century. The monetary cost alone is extraordinary.
DetailsToday in History: Thomas Jefferson is Born on Apr. 13, 1743
Jefferson’s vision for the United States held that “energetic” government was to be rejected in favor of republicanism and federalism.
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16 Choice Quotes from James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution”
March 4th marks the anniversary of the beginning of government under the U.S. Constitution in 1789.
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The Poetry in the Constitution’s Preamble
The Preamble, which begins with “We the People,” is one of the world’s most recognizable bits of prose — prose that, at least in some ways, approaches poetry.
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Federalist 21: Hamilton’s Plea for Power
Here, we see shadows of Hamilton’s real goal: a powerful central government that can extend its power into the states.
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Mercy Otis Warren: Conscience of Great Causes
It’s for eminently good reason that Mercy Otis Warren is regarded in history as “the conscience of the revolution.”
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The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions: Offering a Pathway to a More Free Society
Although written several years after the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were ratified, these resolutions lay out the philosophical basis of the 10th Amendment and reveal exactly how the federal government derived its authority.
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