Free and Independent: The Foreign Policy of Washington and Jefferson
Anxious to preserve their hard-won independence, Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson championed a foreign policy centered on avoiding “entangling alliances.” They envisioned America pursuing peace, trade, and “friendship with all...
Pursuit of Happiness: “We Cannot be Happy without Being Free”
The “pursuit of happiness” is a foundational principle enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. In the Founders’ view, this was inextricably linked to individual liberty and property rights. John Dickinson explained it this way in the last of his 12 Letters from...
Taking Rights Seriously
The world is filled with self-evident truths — truisms — that philosophers, lawyers and judges know need not be proven. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Two plus two equals four. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. These...