Necessary is Supposed to Mean Necessary
By: Michael Boldin When the Constitution was ratified, the word necessary meant, well, necessary. But in the dystopian “future” we live under today, words don’t mean what they actually mean. They ...
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Con-Con Proponents Try to Force Congress to Call a Constitutional Convention
by Christian Gomez Across the political spectrum, 82 percent of likely U.S. voters “have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of the Constitution.” That is according to a nationwide telephone and ...
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James Wilson Delivers “State House Yard Speech” in Favor of the Constitution
By: Dave Benner On October 6, 1787, eminent Pennsylvanian James Wilson delivered his famous “State House Yard Speech” in support of the Constitution in Philadelphia. On the dawn of the first ...
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Patrick Henry Warns of a “Great and Mighty Empire”
By: TJ Martinell On June 5, 1788, Patrick Henry gave a speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention warning that “consolidation” – centralizing of power – would turn the United States into a dangerous ...
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Did the Constitution Fail the People? Or Did the People Fail the Constitution?
By: Mike Maharrey Did the Constitution fail? A lot of people think it did. This popular quote by Lysander Spooner sums up the thoughts of many. “But whether the Constitution ...
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The Constitution isn’t Absolute?
By: Mike Maharrey Arguing that “high-caliber” weapons should be federally banned, President Joe Biden claimed, “Remember, the Constitution was never absolute.” Biden was merely advancing the popular notion of a “living breathing ...
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How to Interpret the Constitution, and How Not to
By: TJ Martinell How does one properly interpret the U.S. Constitution? Is originalism just a codeword used by “conservatives” to interpret it in the same manner as “liberals” view it as ...
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The First Salvo in the Ratification Debates: James Wilson’s State House Speech
By: Bob Fiedler While most people today think of the Federalist Papers as the leading defense of the Constitution’s original meaning, it was actually a speech by James Wilson that had a far ...
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Tench Coxe on State vs Federal Power under the Constitution
By: Mike Maharrey The federal government has no constitutional authority to do the vast majority of the things it does today. Of course, this truth runs counter to conventional wisdom and ...
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Constitutional Supremacy, Not Judicial Supremacy
By: TJ Martinell In response to a U.S. Supreme Court opinion, President Andrew Jackson allegedly remarked “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!” Whether he actually said ...
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