In his last major speech during the Virginia Ratifying Convention, Patrick Henry warned against the potential for “ten thousand implied powers,” and called for a number of amendments prior to ratification.
The post Ten Thousand Implied Powers: Patrick Henry’s Final Antifederalist Speech first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Despite the large slave population, and the colony serving as a key player in the slave trade, abolitionist sentiment grew, and on June 13, 1774, the colony enacted "An Act for Prohibiting the Importation of Negros."
The post Today in History: Rhode Island Becomes First Colony to Ban Importation of Slaves first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
For the old revolutionaries, a government that could define its own limits, take property at will - an arbitrary power - was the very definition of a tyranny, reducing the people “to the most abject slavery.” In their view, liberty could only exist in a society that’s awake, aware, and actively engaged - in both supporting freedom, and resisting attempts to restrict it.
The post “Slavery is ever preceded by sleep” first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
Today in history, John Laurens, who was a Revolutionary War hero and a close confidante of George Washington, was killed in the Battle of the Combahee River. He was also a southerner far ahead of his time who came up with a scheme to offer some slaves the hope of freedom.
The post Today in History: Revolutionary War Hero John Laurens Killed in Battle first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
The first attempt in history to include anti-slavery, free-soil provisions into a national constitutional instrument was written by Thomas Jefferson. Most historians teach us about the slave-owning of Jefferson - which is important history, but they ignore this fact, and fact that his text of 1784 was copied almost verbatim as Section 1 of the 13th Amendment.
The post Did Thomas Jefferson Write the 13th Amendment? first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.
the Vermont constitution ended adult slavery in the state, declaring that "all persons are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."
The post Today in History: Vermont Abolishes Adult Slavery first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.Most people’s political convictions resemble those of Captain Renault from the classic film Casablanca; it blows with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be not entirely hostile to states’ rights. But that will likely change. That’s why it’s important that the myths used to smear and tarnish a noble ideology by equating it…
After listening to the Confederate flag debate for several days, I was left feeling like neither "side" of the issue really captures the crux of the matter.
In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I talk about nullification, slavery and segregation. Opponents of nullification love to slap down the race card as a way to discredit Madison and Jefferson’s principles without having to actually engage in an intellectual debate. They call us “neo-confederates” and imply that we must harbor racist motives.…
Officials on notice that you know about CAFR… Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports! I can send you some info on the Federal Level CAFR if you want. We must contact media, powerful people with a voice? Anyone got Rick Santelli’s email? Tweet this to him! Walter Burien is the expert…his contact info is below! 