Setting a Foundation: The Virginia Declaration of Rights
On June 12, 1776, the Fifth Virginia Convention passed the Virginia Declaration of Rights. It is arguably the most important founding document that most people have never heard of. The Virginia Declaration of Rights laid the groundwork for both the Declaration of...
The First Salvo in the Ratification Debates: James Wilson’s State House Speech
While most people today think of the Federalist Papers as the leading defense of the Constitution’s original meaning, it was actually a speech by James Wilson that had a far greater impact on ratification. On September 17, 1787, the Philadelphia Convention,...
Lysander Spooner’s Strategy to Stop Unconstitutional Acts
Resist. That was Lysander Spooner’s strategy to stop unconstitutional acts that was very much in line with James Madison and other prominent founders. Spooner was a prominent 19th-century slavery abolitionist. He is well-known in libertarian and anarchist...