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…
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…
TAC memberships help us produce more educational tools like this. Members can download this video and read the full transcript here. Every once in awhile, someone tells us, “The Constitution doesn’t say anything about nullification. That means states simply can’t do it.” But they’ve got things totally backwards. FOLLOW TAC: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TenthAmendmentCenter RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/tacdailydigest Twitter: http://twitter.com/tenthamendment Facebook:…
From the beginning of our history, there have been many people such as Nathaniel Bacon, Tomas Jefferson, James Madison, President John Tyler, John Calhoun, John Taylor of Caroline and the Richmond junto who have championed the idea of nullification. Today, we look back through time and wonder how we can follow in the footsteps of…
TAC memberships help us produce more educational tools like this. Members can download this video and read the full transcript here. The “general welfare” clause does not give the federal government the power to do anything it wants FOLLOW TAC: YouTu...
Even among those committed to liberty, we sometimes see people falling to the temptation to use the federal government advance their cause.
Last week, I appeared on Patrick Timpone’s One Radio network show to talk about AG Jeff Sessions and his feckless pot policy. What was initially slated to be a conversation about state efforts to resist federal marijuana prohibition turned into a wide-ranging discussion on the Tenth Amendment, state power and the effectiveness of nullification. I started the…
Historian Dr. Kevin Gutzman recently appeared on episode 38 of the podcast, The Liberty Chronicles hosted by Dr. Anthony Comegna to discuss a variety of topics, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, the Revolution of 1800, the Louisiana Purchase, and the War of 1812. Gutzman pointed out that the election of 1800 brought a bloodless revolution to…
It was Christmas Eve in 1798, and the Virginia House had already passed resolutions drafted by Madison three days earlier. Introduced by Thomas Jefferson's great friend John Taylor of Caroline, Madison's important draft also included the handiwork of Wilson Cary Nicholas.
In a paper known as Federalist #46, James Madison told us exactly what to do. He provided a blueprint of sorts - a series of actions to effectively stop the feds.