On June 1, the president delivered a message to Congress outlining British transgressions against the U.S. The grievances primarily revolved around actions taken by the British navy off the U.S. coast.
The post Today in History: First Declaration of War under the Constitution first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Approved unanimously on June 12, 1776, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, drafted primarily by George Mason, is one of the most important founding documents that many people have never even heard of. It influenced the text of the Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The post Forgotten Foundation: Virginia Declaration of Rights first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
The British had a constitution and the Parliament continually violated it. That, more than anything else, led to the final break in 1776.
The post The Origins of Originalism first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Born Sept. 27, 1722 - some “experts” would have you believe his political career “peaked” in 1776, and mostly ended there. But more important were his ideas, which not only helped influence an entire generation to resist the empire, but can live on today as well - and help drive resistance to another.
The post Samuel Adams: The “Father of the American Revolution” first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
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.