Founding Principles
Constitution Day: Every Day, Not Just a One-Day Federal Mandate
Ok, here we go again. It’s September 17th and that means it’s “Constitution Day” in the United States. On this date 231 years ago, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had drafted. Sadly, though, this so-called...
Originalism Myths #1: Originalists Think the Framers Agreed on Everything
With the new Supreme Court nomination, originalism is likely to be back in popular commentary as it was during Justice Gorsuch’s confirmation. I hope to use this time to highlight the arguments against originalism and separate the good ones from the bad ones. ...
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 Founders’ Promises About What the Federal Government Could NOT Do
The Constitution created a federal government with powers that, as James Madison said, were “few and defined.” Yet today the feds have their paws in almost every pocket of American life. How did that happen? One reason is that if you don’t know much about the...