In his series of 18 letters, Federal Farmer repeatedly warned about the dangers of centralized power, predicting that the proposed government would end in “the destruction of freedom.”
Path to Liberty: August 14, 2023
The post Antifederalist: Top Warnings from the Federal Farmer first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
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.
Unlimited power. Robbery. Consolidation. Anti-federalists repeatedly warned that a federal power of direct taxation would destroy liberty.
The post Taxation: Anti-Federalist Warnings Ignored first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
It should be obvious by now that the executive branch wields far too much power. This kind of consolidation was considered one of the greatest threats to liberty. Some warned that the system wouldn’t self-enforce and predicted the “elective despotism” we live under today.
The post Executive Power Warnings first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
The founders considered consolidation one of the greatest threats to liberty. Both federalist and anti-federalist alike agreed on this political maxim, at least publicly. Their debate was mostly over whether the proposed constitution was creating such a centralized government - including warnings that a tendency towards it would lead to that result in the long run.
The post Destroyer of Liberty: Consolidation first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
In a series of speeches during the Virginia Ratifying Convention, Patrick Henry warned that despite arguments to the contrary, the federal government wouldn’t act like its powers were only those delegated to it. Instead, it would act like all others before it - all powers are granted except those expressly reserved.
The post Implied vs Expressly Reserved: Patrick Henry’s Anti-Federalist Speeches 5-7 first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
During the debates over ratification of the Constitution, Anti-Federalists repeatedly warned about the dangers of too much power. One of their prominent arguments centered around the maxim that once power expands, people with power never seem to voluntarily give it back.
The post Anti-Federalist Warnings: Government Power is Forever first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Few today know the name Tench Coxe, but at the time of the founding, he was famous. He wrote prolifically about the individual, natural right to keep and bear arms, the structure of the republic - and much more.
The post Forgotten Founder: Tench Coxe first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
In his 4th speech during the Virginia Ratifying Convention, Patrick Henry made the case that the constitution was being sold as a response to dangers that didn’t truly exist - but instead created an even greater one, consolidation.
The post Imaginary vs Real Dangers: Patrick Henry’s Anti-Federalist Speech No. 4 first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.