Communism ESSAYS ON FOUNDING DOCUMENTS & ADDITIONAL READINGS
August 24, 2010 – Federalist No. 85 – Some Final Thoughts, From McLean’s Edition, New York (Hamilton) – Guest Blogger Charles K. Rowley, Ph.D., Duncan Black Professor of Economics at George Mason University and General Director of The Locke Institute in Fairfax, Virginia
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 In writing about Federalist No. 85 – the final paper in a lengthy series of defenses of the proposed Constitution for the United States of America – it is entirely appropriate that I have just returned from a several day visit to Colonial Williamsburg.  For that historic site epitomizes better perhaps than any other location in America – even perhaps than Phila

August 20, 2010 – Federalist No. 83 – The Judiciary Continued in Relation to Trial by Jury, From McLEAN’S Edition, New York (Hamilton) – Guest Blogger: Kelly Shackelford, President/CEO of the Liberty Institute
Friday, August 20th, 2010 Federalist 83, written by Alexander Hamilton and published in July of 1788, singles out opposition to the new Constitution due to the lack of a clause requiring jury trials in civil cases.  At the time, some opponents claimed that the Constitution’s notable silence on the issue meant that the use of a jury was abolished in civil cases, while extreme opponents argued

August 5, 2010 – Federalist No. 71 and Federalist No. 72 – Cathy Gillespie
Thursday, August 5th, 2010 Greetings from Mt. Vernon, Virginia! Once again, I write from ground that belonged to our first President of the United States, and once again, George Washington is a leader, by example, on the item under discussion! Federalist Papers 71 and 72 deal with the President’s Term in Office, and the idea of Presidential Term Limits. Through the four year Presiden

July 26, 2010 – Federalist No. 64 – The Powers of the Senate, From the New York Packet (John Jay) – Guest Blogger: Professor Will Morrisey, William and Patricia LaMothe Chair in the United States Constitution at Hillsdale College
Monday, July 26th, 2010 Publius now begins his fifth and final topic respecting the Senate: its powers.  In Federalist 64 he considers the power to ratify treaties. Publius argues that the state legislatures will likely choose outstanding men to represent them in Congress.  Senators will be known to their electors, who will “not be liable to be deceived by those brilliant appear

July 23, 2010 – Federalist No. 63 – The Senate Continued, For the Independent Journal (Hamilton or Madison) – Guest Blogger: Professor Will Morrisey, William and Patricia LaMothe Chair in the United States Constitution at Hillsdale College
Friday, July 23rd, 2010 Federalist 63: Responsibility and the Rule of Reason A small Senate whose members serve long terms answers the need for “order and stability” in the national government, thus fostering respect for the “political system” of America—the institutional architecture of popular self-government.  In Federalist #63 Publius turns to the importance

July 19, 2010 – Federalist No. 59 – Concerning the Power of Congress to Regulate the Election of Members, From the New York Packet (Hamilton) – Guest Blogger: Kyle Scott, Political Science Department and Honors College Professor at the University of Houston
Monday, July 19th, 2010 In a representative system of government the election of legislators is of paramount importance. Given that the legislature is to be the primary lawmaking body, the election of its members will go a long way in deciding what gets done. Thus, it is no surprise that the method by which members of the House and Senate were to be chosen under the new Constitution became a co

July 12 – Federalist No. 54 – The Apportionment of Members Among the States, From the New York Packet (Madison or Hamilton) – Guest Blogger: Joerg Knipprath, Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School
Monday, July 12th, 2010 Although the essay’s authorship has been disputed, I am following the broad consensus that Madison wrote it along with the rest of the papers about the organization of the House. James Madison was a Southern slaveholder. But one might never have surmised that from the curiously detached tone that Publius affects in Federalist 54 in talking about what “our southern

June 25, 2010 – Federalist No. 43 – The Same Subject Continued: The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered, for the Independent Journal (Madison) – Guest Blogger: Guest Blogger: Joerg Knipprath, Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School
Friday, June 25th, 2010 In Federalist 43, Madison continues his examination of Congress’s enumerated constitutional powers, presenting a miscellany of provisions. Tucked away at the end of this rather lengthy essay, as if Publius half hopes the reader will be too fatigued to notice, is a matter of signal importance, the provision that only nine states’ approval was necessary to establish th

June 24, 2010 – Federalist No. 42 – The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered, From the New York Packet (Madison) – Guest Blogger: Horace Cooper, Legal Commentator and Director of the Institute for Liberty’s Center for Law and Regulation
Thursday, June 24th, 2010 In Federalist #42, James Madison attempts to clarify the importance of national powers found in the Constitution that are essential to the successful operation of the government particularly in national and international affairs.  Categorizing these powers as second and third class was a means of distinguishing them not to disparage them.  Among them are: relations w

June 21, 2010 – Federalist No. 39 – The Conformity of the Plan to Republican Principles, For the Independent Journal (Hamilton) – Guest Blogger: John S. Baker, Jr., the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law at Louisiana State University
Monday, June 21st, 2010 Federalist 39 answers attacks that the proposed Constitution is not “republican” and not “federal.”  In his response, Publius effectively redefines both terms. Claiming the proposed government is not “strictly republican” is a serious charge.  Publius recognizes this, saying “no other form would be reconcileable with the genius of the people of America

June 9, 2010 – Federalist No. 31 – The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation, From the New York Packet (Hamilton) – Guest Blogger: Horace Cooper, Director of the Center for Law and Regulation at the Institute for Liberty
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 Federalist #31 continues on the topic of the taxing power of the new central government.  Contrasting his significant math and science knowledge with his considered skepticism about humankind generally, Hamilton suggests basic maxims ought to apply as a principle for government’s effective operation.  Just as the maxims in geometry, that “the whole is greater

June 8, 2010 – Federalist No. 30 – Concerning the General Power of Taxation, From the New York Packet – Guest Blogger: Attorney Janice R. Brenman
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 Alexander Hamilton is widely known as the first Secretary of the Treasury, and one of the strongest advocates of our Constitution.  Born illegitimately in the Caribbean to a Scottish merchant father and a mother of French Huguenot descent, he was already managing the affairs of an accounting office by age 15.  After penning an essay in French detailing the devastation