Founding Fathers
Oath vs Censorship: Jefferson on the Duty to Stop Unconstitutional Laws
An act against the Constitution is no law at all – itโs void. This principle, rooted in the American Revolution and the debates over the Constitutionโs ratification, was central to President Thomas Jeffersonโs response to the Sedition Act of 1798. In this...
Conspiracy: Luther Martin’s Anti-Federalist Warnings about Centralization
Luther Martin, the Anti-Federalist firebrand, predicted that the Constitution would lead to a national system of consolidated power that could never secure liberty. He argued this was an intentional conspiracy – a deliberate plan at the Philadelphia Convention...
10th Amendment Explained: Tench Coxe on State vs Federal Power
“Independent of the control or interference of the federal government.” Thatโs how Tench Coxe described the vast majority of power under the Constitution – reserved to the states and completely off-limits to the federal government. In this episode,...
Government is Evil: Timeless Lessons from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
January 10, 1776: Thomas Paine didnโt hold back in Common Sense. Far more than just a call for independence from Britain, it was a bold and uncompromising attack on unlimited, centralized power. In this episode, we explore some of Paineโs top principles from Common...