When challenged on the federal government’s constitutional authority to create welfare programs, meddle in education or run a national healthcare system, progressives will almost always appeal to the “general welfare clause.”Details
It has been 227 years since August 23, 1787, but the debates that occupied the 50 or so delegates present that day at the so-called Federal Convention in Philadelphia can still be heard in Congress today.
On that hot summer day, representatives confronted the delicate and divisive issue of state sovereignty.Details
Who decides when the federal government has acted outside of those delegated powers? Most Americans will quickly answer, “The Supreme Court, of course!” Thomas Jefferson emphatically disagreed, arguing that the states make the determination in the last resort. Jefferson pointed out the absurdity of a branch of the federal government determining the extent of the…Details
St. George Tucker was the most widely cited legal scholar of the early American Republic. This article on the Constitutional power to declare war is excerpted from his work, Blackstone’s Commentaries, published in 1803.Details
In the Constitution, the Founders intentionally prohibited the Executive branch from having the power to unilaterally determine whether or not the country would engage in war. Few were more adamant about this than James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,” who wrote: “The constitution supposes, what the history of all governments demonstrates, that the executive…Details