If you want to understand the Constitution - its original, legal meaning - don’t rely exclusively, or even primarily on the Federalist Papers. You’ll want to read other federalists like James Wilson, Tench Coxe and John Dickinson, plus the leading Anti-federalists as well.
The post There’s Much More than Just the Federalist Papers first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Focusing on the debate over enumerated powers, this article challenges the unfounded assumptions of Federalist objectivity and Anti-Federalist irrelevance and models the historical method necessary to interpret the ratification debates rigorously.
The post Andrew Coan & David Schwartz: Interpreting Ratification first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.Relying on the federal government to limit the power of the federal government is not just bad strategy – it rejects the advice of the Founders.
What is the federal government constitutionally authorized to do? The short answer, according to James Madison, not a whole lot.
In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I tell you how we can limit federal power based on James Madison’s blueprint. The federal government exercises seemingly unlimited authority and inserts itself into virtually every area of our lives. But the feds were never meant to have this kind of power. As James Madison asserted…
Editor’s Note: For an overview of the health care case oral arguments at the Supreme Court, click HERE. “Nothing is certain but death and taxes,” they say. Unfortunately, there’s some UNcertainty about what is, and is not, a tax at the U.S. Supreme Court, and Monday we all got a chance to listen in on… more
I’ve been fascinated in listening to the oral arguments at the Supreme Court (click HERE for basic information about the argument schedule and subjects to be covered). But, I’ve also been frustrated. It’s as if I am a child, out in a corridor, listening to a conversation coming from inside a room. It’s a strange… more
Members of the Occupy Lincoln group noticed our recent article, “Occupy Lincoln Tipi Smokes and City Ordinances Burn, Officials Fiddle” and left a number of comments there. Because we’ll be referring to some of those comments in the body of this article, we’ve linked directly to them so those who wish may see a particular… more
“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that… more
The story goes that Benjamin Franklin was approached by a woman as he left the Constitutional Convention [1. Recorded by Constitution signer James McHenry in his diary which was reprinted…