A Blog Exploring American History and Politics
States’ Rights
Constitution Sunday: “Publius,” The Federalist XLVI [James Madison]
New-York Packet January 29, 1788 James Madison, who would later become the fourth President of the United States, sought to quell fears of an overreaching and overly powerful federal government. The Constitution’s opponents had shared their fears—fears that Madison called “chimerical”—of a federal government that took power from the states and dominated the country’s governing. […]
MoreConstitution Sunday: “Publius,” The Federalist XLIV [James Madison] Part I
New-York Packet January 25, 1788 In a country comprised of states, there is bound to be overlap between what those states’ governments may do and what the federal government may do. But the draft Constitution clarified those boundaries and identified many of the rights that states have and don’t have. Crucially, the Constitution sets limits […]
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Constitution Sunday: Robert Whitehill at the Pennsylvania Convention
Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention. November 30, 1787. At the Pennsylvania Convention, Robert Whitehill rose to speak about the proposed Constitution including—and perhaps especially—its biggest flaw. To Whitehill, despite the fact that the country’s learned people devised the Constitution, “the defect is in the system itself,—there lies the evil which. no argument can palliate, no sophistry can […]
MoreThe North’s Attempt at Salvation
The Deep South’s animating of a Second American Revolution, by seceding from the Union and laying the foundation for an operational Confederate government, forced the North to either suppress the South’s uprising or craft a resolution. The likelihood of war would deter any widespread northern suppression, leaving the question: What compromise could the North propose that appeased […]
MoreConstitution Sunday: Answers to Mason’s “Objections”: “Marcus” [James Iredell] IV
Answers to Mason’s “Objections”: “Marcus” [James Iredell] IV Norfolk and Portsmouth Journal (Virginia), March 12, 1788 Following are excerpts from James Iredell’s responses to George Mason’s “Objections” to the Constitution: “VIIIth. Objection. ‘Under their own construction of the general clause at the end of the enumerated powers, the Congress may grant monopolies in trade and […]
MoreThe Theories of Slavery
In the 15 years leading up to the Civil War, a wide variety of theories emerged for how the federal government should deal with slavery expanding, or not expanding, into the territories acquired by the United States.
MoreThe Role of Slavery in Splitting America
Since the outbreak of the Civil War and continuing to the present day, the role of slavery in splitting America has been hotly debated. One may wonder whether there was merely a correlation between slavery and the Civil War or whether slavery was the cause. Investigating the nuances of the issue of slavery reveals that […]
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