Founding Principles
The ideas that formed the Constitution: Public Education
This is the last in the series on “The Ideas That Formed the Constitution.” It applies the series’ lessons to how we educate our young. The U.S. Constitution is America’s highest secular law—“the supreme Law of the Land” (Article VI). It structures the central...
ATF Pistol Brace Rule: An “Experiment of your Disposition”
With an enforcement deadline looming at the end of May, potentially affecting millions of stabilizing braces, the new ATF rule is – as the founders told us – a test or an “experiment of your disposition.” The Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted its “Final Rule” on...
The Militia vs. The Standing Army: Does the Distinction Matter?
Within the debate over the meaning of the Second Amendment, a lot of attention gets paid to the phrase “well-regulated militia.” Most of the time, the focus is on whether or not this phrase infers a collective right, or explains the need for the individual right to...
The ideas that formed the Constitution: Coke, Blackstone, and English law
British institutions were important (although not controlling) models for the American Constitution-makers. For example, the Constitution’s bicameral federal Congress had some similarities with the British Parliament. The Constitution built on the British concept of...