“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.”
The impulse from many – left, right, libertarian, and the rest – to give the federal government more power to “protect liberty” from state and local governments might seem like a good idea on the surface. But stop and consider what they’re really doing –...
Did the Constitution fail? A lot of people think it did. This popular quote by Lysander Spooner sums up the thoughts of many. “But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we...
It’s one thing to talk about fighting for liberty. It’s another thing to put your money where your mouth is. John Dickinson did just that. Despite his refusal to sign the Declaration of Independence, he was one of the few members of the First or Second...
On this date in 1776, John Dickinson presented the first draft of the Articles of Confederation to the Continental Congress. Congress began considering a plan for a new government even before declaring independence. On June 7, 1776, following instructions from...
For the federal government to take even a “single step” beyond the limits of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.” The “detestable precedent” is how John Dickinson...