Bill of Rights: Forgotten Role of the 10th Amendment in Its Creation
By: Michael Boldin The Bill of Rights was born from intense battles between Federalists and Anti-Federalists over delegated and reserved powers. This clash not only shaped its contested origins but ...
Read more.
A Republic at Risk: Cato’s Anti-Federalist Warnings
By: Mike Maharrey “A vile and arbitrary aristocracy or a monarchy.” That’s what the anti-federalist writer Cato warned we would get under the Constitution. This was because, in his view, ...
Read more.
Mercy Otis Warren: Constitution Would “Terminate in the Most Uncontrolled Despotism”
By: TJ Martinell Mercy Otis Warren came down firmly opposed to ratification of the Constitution, and her anonymously written pamphlet titled “Observations on the new Constitution, and on the Federal ...
Read more.
Federal Farmer Makes his Case for the Tenth Amendment
By: TJ Martinell Given the power various officers in the federal government would wield, the Federal Farmer believed that there needed to be a better mechanism to appoint them and remove ...
Read more.
Federal Farmer: Will the Judiciary Preserve or Destroy Liberty?
By: TJ Martinell While many anti-federalists, including Patrick Henry, regarded the judicial branch of the federal government under the proposed U.S. Constitution with deep suspicion, the Federal Farmer took a more ...
Read more.
Federal Farmer: Politicians and Bureaucrats must be “Recallable”
By: TJ Martinell Given the power various officers in the federal government would wield, the Federal Farmer believed that there needed to be a better mechanism to appoint them and remove ...
Read more.
Federal Farmer: Representation Isn’t Sufficient
By: TJ Martinell When it was ratified, the U.S. Constitution set a cap on the number of representatives at no more than one per 30,000 persons. In his seventh letter dated Dec. ...
Read more.
Federal Farmer: Amendments are Essential and Necessary
By: TJ Martinell In his sixth letter dated Dec. 25, 1787, the Federal Farmer wrote of the “essential and necessary” inclusion of meaningful amendments to the Constitution prior to its ratification. Though ...
Read more.
The Federal Farmer: The Constitution Would Lead to a Complete Consolidation
By: TJ Martinell During the debates over ratification of the Constitution, one of the most influential and important series of papers were written by the Federal Farmer, an anti-federalist who forcefully ...
Read more.
The Division of Federal and State Powers
By: TJ Martinell How much power would the federal government have? And what powers would the states retain? This was a hotly debated question as the states considered ratifying a new ...
Read more.