Real freedom is when the people exercise their rights – whether the government likes it or not.
In 1767, John Dickinson asked an essential question: “For WHO ARE A FREE PEOPLE?”
He began answering his rhetorical question by emphasizing that free people don’t simply trust the government to do the right thing.
“Not those, over whom government is reasonable and equitably exercised.”
That’s nothing more than good luck.
According to Dickinson, a free people are “those, who live under a government so constitutionally checked and controlled, that proper provision is made against its being otherwise exercised.”
And what is “that proper provision?”
Thomas Jefferson laid it out in the Kentucky Resolutions when he declared, “Where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy.”
Even Alexander Hamilton believed it was up to the people to keep the federal government under control, writing in Federalist #33 that actions not supported by the Constitution “will be merely acts of usurpation, and will deserve to be treated as such.”
Here at the Tenth Amendment Center, we are working tirelessly to equip the people to exercise their rights and live as free people. But we can’t do it alone. We need your help.
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Archibald Maclaine said it starts with the people demanding the government stay within the power they delegated to it.
“If Congress should make a law beyond its powers and the spirit of the Constitution, should we not say to Congress, ‘You have no authority to make this law. There are limits beyond which you cannot go. You cannot exceed the power prescribed by the Constitution.”
But it goes beyond pointing at the Constitution and making a pronouncement. The people have to act.
Maclaine emphasized that people are in charge and the government is “amenable to us” for its conduct. When an act is unconstitutional, “We will disregard it and punish you for the attempt.”
You can’t build a true “land of the free” on hope, wishing for the “right people” to gain power and resist the temptation to abuse it.
A free people love liberty and have the backbone to defend it. As Jefferson proclaimed, they claim their rights, as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.”
If we’re not free, the responsibility falls on us. As Samuel Adams declared, “All might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they should.”
- Freedom Isn’t Granted: It’s Exercised and Defended - February 18, 2026
- Who’s in Charge? The Founders on Sovereignty - February 4, 2026
- Usurpation: Weapon to Destroy Freedom - January 25, 2026