"Treason against the sovereignty of the people" is how St. George Tucker described usurpation - or theft - of power by government. But this view was nothing new - the founders and old revolutionaries had long understood usurpation to be an act of tyranny, even including it in the Declaration of Independence.
The post Theft of Power: Usurpation first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." We’re all familiar with this from the Declaration of Independence, but there’s much more to our natural rights foundation. Learn from the Founders and Old Revolutionaries.
The post Our Natural Rights Foundation first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Responding to Federalist claims that rejecting ratification would lead to danger, chaos and potential ruin, Patrick Henry took the other side, “it is the fortune of a free people not to be intimidated by imaginary dangers” and urged the addition of a bill of rights first.
The post Don’t Give in to Fear: Patrick Henry’s Anti-Federalist Speech No. 3 first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Government schools never teach this stuff. But the American Revolution - and the War for Independence - were about much more than “taxation without representation.” The Revolution was about unlimited, arbitrary power - complete and total supremacy over the colonies. And the battles started over a British gun control program.
The post Unlimited Supremacy, Gun Control and the American Revolution first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Incorporation - the legal doctrine whereby the Supreme Court applies the Bill of Rights to the states, was not part of the original, legal meaning of the Constitution. Instead, it arose out of the 14th Amendment, and the court first started applying it “selectively” in 1925.
The post Incorporation: Applying the Bill of Rights to the States first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Going from despotism - living under the largest government in history - to liberty - isn’t going to be a cake walk. But we’ve got some great teachers on how to get from here to there: the Founders and Old Revolutionaries. In their words - telling the story of our foundation, our path to liberty.
The post Path to Liberty: From the Founders and Old Revolutionaries first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
One of the grievances in the Declaration of Independence, the founders and old revolutionaries not only rejected the notion of “arbitrary” government, they considered it the definition of a tyranny.
The post Arbitrary Government: How the Founders Defined Tyranny first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
The founding generation repeatedly warned us about the great dangers to liberty posed by large standing armies. The best way to guard against that danger? Prevent the need for them - one of the leading principles behind the 2nd Amendment.
The post 2nd Amendment: To Prevent “the Greatest Danger to Liberty” first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Few people understand the root cause of the economic troubles we face, but the founding generation knew the situation well. For many, the “evils of paper money” were tyrannical and despotic. Or, as George Washington warned, it would “ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open a door to every species of fraud and injustice.”
The post 8 Founders on the Evils of Paper Money 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.