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.
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.
In a series of speeches during the Virginia Ratifying Convention, Patrick Henry warned against a combination of the treaty, the judicial power and - the supremacy clause - that it would lead to government violating individual liberty with impunity.
The post Treaties, Trials and Supremacy: Patrick Henry’s Anti-Federalist Speeches 8-10 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.
In a huge change from the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution eliminated “requisitions,” what many saw as a primary reason for the new system of taxation. Rejecting Alexander Hamilton and other Federalists in this debate were Patrick Henry and the anti-federalists.
The post Tax Battle! Henry vs Hamilton on the Requisition System 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.
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.
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.
When the first Congress met in Philadelphia in March of 1789, there were still only 11 states in the Union. North Carolina had held a convention, but it had not voted to ratify. And little Rhode Island had refused to even hold a convention.