History

Rhetoric and Resistance in the Face of Tyranny

by Mike Maharrey | Nov 18, 2022 | American Revolution

As the British put increased pressure on the American colonists in an effort to force them into submission, the colonists backed up their increasingly forceful rhetoric with concrete actions to undermine British authority. The colonists began perfecting this formula...

Thomas Paine: The First American Whistleblower

by Dave Benner | Nov 17, 2022 | American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine

In 2013, Edward Snowden’s revelations about the invasive nature of the American surveillance state raised many questions about state secrecy, the morality of state whistleblowing, and the role of government in general. What many don’t realize, however, was that the...

Constitutional Genealogy: Benjamin Franklin’s First Articles of Confederation

by Mike Maharrey | Oct 31, 2022 | Articles of Confederation, Benjamin Franklin, Founding Principles

Most people recognize that the Constitution evolved out of the Articles of Confederation. But the Articles were also part of a long evolution in political thought and constitutionalism that started long before the colonies’ quest for independence. An important...

Liberty Without Tumult: Understanding the Politics of John Dickinson

by TJ Martinell | Oct 24, 2022 | American Revolution, John Dickinson

John Dickinson is among America’s “Forgotten Founders.” Despite authoring the most widely-read documents on American liberty before 1776, representing Pennsylvania at the Second Continental Congress, and being a primary author of the Articles of Confederation, many...

Today in History: First Continental Congress Passes the Continental Association

by Mike Maharrey | Oct 20, 2022 | American Revolution, History

Today in history, on October 20, 1774, the First Continental Congress adopted the Continental Association. This agreement put teeth into the Declaration of Colonial Rights the Congress adopted a week earlier by formalizing a coordinated economic embargo on British...

Why the Framers Thought Ratification by Only Nine States Was Sufficient

by Rob Natelson | Oct 18, 2022 | Constitution, Constitutional Convention, Ratification Debates

In an earlier essay in my “Defending the Constitution” series, I responded to the common charge that the 1787 Constitutional Convention abused its trust. The charge is that the commissioners (delegates) exceeded the scope of the convention “call” issued by Congress....

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The 10th Amendment

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

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