A “frightful despotism,” would be the result of an “alternate domination of one faction over another,” warned George Washington. He was joined - with similar warnings - by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Thomas Jefferson and many others. But this opposition to factions didn’t start with the founding generation at all.
The post The Danger of Factions: Nothing New Under the Sun first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Sept. 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris formally established “a general peace.” Signed by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay - Article I affirmed 13 “free sovereign and Independent States,” and remains in force today. Highlighting their views on the treaty - in their own words - from their letters in the weeks that followed.
The post Peace and Independence: Franklin, Adams and Jay on the Treaty of Paris first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
The Constitution is not in force in any meaningful way, but when did things get like this? Some people think 1861, or 1913, or 1933 - but the answer may surprise you.
The post When Did Things Go Off the Rails? first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
This month marks fifty years since President Richard Nixon closed the “gold window” that had allowed foreign governments to exchange US dollars for gold. Nixon’s action severed the last link between the dollar and gold, transforming the dollar into pure fiat currency.
The post From the Nixon Shock to Biden-flation first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Only Congress has the power to “declare war.” But how it’s used today has almost no resemblance to the original, legal meaning in the Constitution.
The post The Power to Declare War: An Introduction first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
It is often alleged that President Andrew Jackson responded to the Marshall Court’s 1832 opinion in Worcester v. Georgia by the quip that “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!”
The post The Myth of Andrew Jackson vs the Supreme Court first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
The United States may have inherent sovereign powers under international law, but as a matter of domestic constitutional law those powers aren't vested in the federal government (as opposed to the sovereign people) unless the Constitution says they are
The post Was the U.S. Acquisition of Hawaii Unconstitutional? first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Supporters of the monster state want you to believe that it’s never enough. Spending, taxing, debt - and the like. President Madison and President Jefferson both saw things much differently - two examples on infrastructure and debt we never see today.
The post Madison and Jefferson on Infrastructure and Debt first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Another forerunner of our Constitution was the Charter of Liberties and Privileges of New York—adopted by the colony’s legislature on October 30, 1683.
Originalists are happy to consider what historians say about matters, but we should remember that often historians have a different objective than originalists do.