What is America? What is this country fundamentally about? By and large, pundits and politicians on the right and the left don’t seem to get it. Some come close, but there is a widespread failure to explain why the Founders established this republic. On this date in history, two of the clearest expressions of the American ideal were first articulated. On October 27, 1787, a young Alexander Hamilton, writing under the pen name Publius, published the first Federalist paper in New York’s Independent Journal. In the very first paragraph, he …
Silly Brits. After all these years, they still don’t understand natural rights. During a moot debate last week at Franklin Hall in Philadelphia, British lawyers argued that the 1776 American Declaration of Independence was not only illegal, but actually treasonable. “There is no legal principle then or now to allow a group of citizens to establish their own laws because they want to,” the British barristers maintained. Well, of course seceding from Great Britain and renouncing allegiance to King George III was both illegal and treasonable by British legal standards. …
Across the country, lawmakers are working to limit illegal immigration and reform policy so that more individuals can honorably and legally become American citizens. Last year’s notorious immigration battle in Arizona was met with hostility from pro-illegal immigration forces who misunderstood the Founders’ intent for a legal and meaningful naturalization process into America. Now, the same kind of battle is heating up in Alabama. With an estimated 120,000 illegal immigrants (according to the Pew Hispanic Center), Alabama leaders felt the federal laws weren’t protecting the state adequately. Considering the population …
When it comes to finding a constitutional authority to validate congressional action, the General Welfare clause is like a box without bottom: there is no project too local or too narrow not to fall under the rubric of “general welfare.” The scope of the General Welfare clause was hotly debated in early America. Alexander Hamilton favored a more expanded reading to enable spending on internal improvements to the Union, but James Madison advocated a more limited reading. To be sure, Congress’s current practices would make both men blush (even Hamilton …
When most people think about the Founders and economics, two common myths arise. The first is that the Founders vehemently disagreed about economics and, therefore, reached no consensus on the subject. This contention is evident in Alexander Hamilton’s and Thomas Jefferson’s famous exchange about whether the American economy should consist of self-sufficient farming or a commercial empire of manufacturing. The second myth is that the Founders saw little or no role for government in the economy—that they embraced a purely laissez faire economic theory. Thomas G. West puts an end …
Just in time for today’s recognition of Bill of Rights Day, the anonymous scribe within The Heritage Foundation – self-identified only as ”A Conservative” — pushed the send button on a fifth electronic circular under the nameplate “New Common Sense.” The e-circular, which bears the headline “The Constitution Protects Us Too,” reads as follows: On Dec. 15, 1791, the first 10 amendments were added to the Constitution after being ratified by three-quarters of the states. Many Americans have taken to praising these amendments, collectively called the Bill of Rights, as providing the true protection …
