
Founding Principles


Thomas Paine and Religious Liberty
In Thomas Paine’s day, no idea was more accepted than the idea that the church was inextricably connected to the state. In the 1700s, the concept had centuries of precedent in nearly all corners of the world, including England, France, and even America – where several...
Power From the People
We’ve all heard or seen the slogan, “Power to the People,” but it gets things almost completely backwards. The word “TO” is the wrong word, by far. Under the system and principles of the founders and old revolutionaries, all power comes FROM the people. They don’t...
Liberty, Power, Precedent and the People
While most people have never heard his name today, Founding Father John Dickinson was famous at the time of the Revolution. In 1767, he authored the 12 “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania” in response to the hated Townshend Acts. These essays quickly became the...
The ideas that formed the Constitution: Aristotle
Unlike Socrates, Xenophon, and Plato—the subjects of the third and fourth installments in this series—Aristotle wasn’t an Athenian. (For the first and second installments, see here and here.) Aristotle did, however, win fame in Athens. He was bornin Macedonia in 384...