Most people’s political convictions resemble those of Captain Renault from the classic film Casablanca; it blows with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be not entirely hostile to states’ rights. But that will likely change. That’s why it’s important that the myths used to smear and tarnish a noble ideology by equating it…
Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution prohibited paper money at both a Congressional and state level.
Today in 1790, future president of the United States John Tyler was born. Mockingly called “His Accidency” by his political rivals, Tyler’s strict devotion to the Constitution made him made enemies, including his own party. Former Mayor of New York Philip Hone wrote in 1842 that Tyler’s administration had consisted of “one year of the…
The act required the colonists to quarter British soldiers at “inns, livery stables, ale houses, victualing houses, and the houses of sellers of wine and houses of persons selling of rum, brandy, strong water, cider or metheglin.
On March 23, 1775, tensions in Virginia were at their highest point during the imperial crisis with Britain. The House of Burgesses, the state’s elected assembly, was about to make a bold decision which may have turned the tide of the entire patriot struggle – a decision commit its militia to the cause. Britain had…
Today in 1766, British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, after months of protest from the colonies and British merchants. On the same day, it also passed the Declaratory Act, a pronouncement that Parliament’s authority in North America was supreme and binding upon the colonies. It declared that Parliament had the authority “to make laws and…
On March 16 1751, James Madison was born. Born to a prestigious family, he built his political career upon his role in the inception of Virginia’s first republican constitution and his advocacy for the Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom. Butting heads with Patrick Henry in the 1780s, he opposed funding for religious establishments in Virginia…
An Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) is not the same as a declaration of war. An AUMF is the Congress abdicating its power and allowing the president to usurp it. More importantly, it allows the president to start a war. The declaration of war power does not allow Congress to start a war. It…
Today in history, Mar. 5, 1770, a violent incident unfolded on Boston’s King Street, where an agitated group of colonists swarmed around a group of British regulars. This came to be known as the “Boston Massacre.” After a group of Bostonians uttered insults, threw snowballs, and dared the British to fire, several soldiers ultimately fired…
On Mar. 1817, President James Madison vetoed the Bonus Bill of 1817 – a plan that called for the federal construction of various roads, bridges, and canals throughout the country. In a letter to Congress, the president explained his rationale. Out of all historical writings on constitutional interpretation, I believe it stands today as one…