Constitutional Convention
Today in History: Founding Father Josiah Bartlett Born
On this date in 1729, Josiah Bartlett was born. Bartlett signed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He was also instrumental in securing New Hampshire’s ratification of the Constitution. Bartlett was born on Nov. 21, 1729, in...
History Ignored: James Wilson’s Speech on the Constitution
On Oct. 6, 1787, just over a week after the Confederation Congress voted to send the proposed Constitution to the 13 states for consideration, future Supreme Court justice James Wilson gave one the most prominent and important speeches in support of ratification. Yet,...
The 10th Amendment: An Introduction
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” What does it mean, why did they think it was so important? And would we even have a...
Gouverneur Morris’s Rewriting of the Constitution
Recently, the Center for the Study of Constitutional Originalism held its annual Works-in-Progress Conference. One of the papers was written by Dean William Treanor of Georgetown Law School. (Both Bill and I were at Yale Law School as students and we both wrote...