How Two Vague Words Were Used to Gut the Entire Constitution
“…do we live under a limited or an unlimited government?” To you, that question probably sounds naive because the answer feels obvious. But in 1792, Thomas Jefferson saw it as the moment of truth. Alexander Hamilton had just laid out his vision for the “general...
John Taylor’s Forgotten Assault on Hamilton’s Economic Scheme
In 1794, John Taylor of Caroline published a devastating critique of Alexander Hamilton’s financial system: the national bank, paper money, and debt. Taylor saw these for what they really were: not mere policy disagreements, but a war on the Constitution itself....
The National Bank That Breached the Articles of Confederation
Despite having no express authority to do so, Congress created a national bank under the Articles of Confederation by invoking an invented doctrine of “inherent sovereign authority.” The episode reveals that even under a framework built on explicit and limited...