Liberty, Power, Precedent and the People
While most people have never heard his name today, Founding Father John Dickinson was famous at the time of the Revolution. In 1767, he authored the 12 “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania” in response to the hated Townshend Acts. These essays quickly became the...
Understanding the Constitution: The Force of the Preamble
My last essay discussed the style of the Constitution’s preamble. Gouverneur Morris, its principal author, composed a passage that was grand, euphonious, and balanced. This essay addresses the preamble’s substance. The preamble of a legal instrument recites understood...