The Preamble to the Constitution: What It Tells Us and What It Doesn’t
While the preamble does not tell us anything about the extent of government power, it does reveal to us where that power comes from.
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This Week in History: The Philadelphia Convention Begins
On May 14, 1787, delegates from the several states convened in Philadelphia, forming a convention with the initial aim of proposing amendments to the Articles of Confederation.
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Constitution 101: To “Provide for the Common Defense”
Many people use the general welfare clause as their “the federal government can do anything and everything clause.” Others have turned the phrase “provide for the common defense” into a similar justification for federal overreach.
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Nine Reasons the “Living, Breathing” Constitution View Is a Lie
American colonists fought the Revolution to extricate themselves from a political system based on a “living breathing” constitution.
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Tench Coxe on State vs Federal Power under the Constitution
The federal government has no constitutional authority to do the vast majority of the things it does today.
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Due Process Is Vital to Freedom
The clash in American history between liberty and safety is as old as the republic itself.
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The Ninth and Tenth Amendments: Keystones of Liberty
The founding generation created a political system that carefully divided powers and that was designed to ensure the general government remained limited in its scope and power.
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No Federal Power over Guns, Even if the 2nd Amendment Never Existed
the Constitution only delegates specific powers to the federal government. The enumeration of certain powers logically excludes all powers not listed.
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The Virginia Ratifying Convention and the Birth of the Tenth Amendment
The modern debate over the meaning of the Constitution often devolves into a dueling opinions between legal experts and judges. But the true meaning of the document and the kind of government it created isn’t found in Supreme Court decrees or through interpretation based on opinion.
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The Constitutional Case For Gridlock
The founders valued partisan gridlock as a roadblock to the destruction of human liberty and the consolidation of centralized power.
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What Criminal Laws are Congress Authorized To Make?
The Constitution grants to Congress only limited powers to make criminal laws. These powers fall into five categories
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Evidence on the Powers the Constitution Leaves Exclusively to the States
The Constitution enumerates the powers of the federal government. But has anyone listed the exclusive powers of states—the realm the federal government may not invade without violating the Constitution? When discussing state authority, the Founders usually pointed out only that the federal government’s powers were, as Madison said, “few and defined,” and that the states…
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