Shaping the Electoral College Part III
Subtitle: June 2nd. Delegates once again met in committee, the committee of the whole, a parliamentary device that allows a more open exchange of views without the urgency of a… Read more »
Tag: James Wilson
Last Gasp of Republics
Subtitle: Collapse the Rule of Law. Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), winner of two Pulitzers, gave an assessment on the demise of nations in world history: “When a nation goes down, or… Read more »
Article V and Rational Revolution
Must revolution be violent? Must revolution upend an older society and replace it with a new one? Wouldn’t a 21st century restoration of free American government without resort to violence… Read more »
The Great Gamble – Our Beloved Constitution
Subtitle: On Factions III. In 1787, the future of free government was dim. The spectacle of insurrection in Massachusetts, the state with the unquestionably best constitution, did not bode well… Read more »
A Senate of the States: July 27th – August 6th, 1787
The convention adjourned July 26th to offer time for a Committee of Detail to smooth the resolutions passed to date. In addition to its assigned duty, it occasionally added what… Read more »
A Senate of the States: July 14th, 1787
As of this Saturday in mid-July, the familiar enumeration of specific powers in Article I § 8 and prohibitions in Sections 9 & 10 didn’t exist. Delegates had agreed to… Read more »
Article V Opponents and the Question of Sovereignty Part V
In earlier posts, we learned the legal and political sovereign over colonial America was the King-in-Parliament. After independence, both sovereignties relocated to the new state legislatures. From Part IV, the… Read more »
Article V and the Question of Sovereignty Part IV
The Framing generation bequeathed a brilliant governing form to posterity. Perhaps its most notable feature is the separation of powers. Far less well-known, yet just as important, is what the… Read more »
The Framers’ Senate
Charles de Montesquieu wrote, “At the birth of societies, the rulers of republics establish institutions; and afterwards the institutions mold the rulers.” The institution of the US Senate has indeed… Read more »
Government, Virtue & Education
We institute government, the Declaration says, to secure our unalienable rights; among them is the pursuit of happiness. Elaborating upon this straightforward idea, the Preamble to the Constitution informs us… Read more »