State Ratifying Conventions
Forgotten Founder Tench Coxe: Ignored Federalist Papers
Almost totally ignored today, Tench Coxe was famous at the time of the Founding. And his essays of โA Pennsylvanianโ in support of the Constitution were actually far more widely read and influential during the debates over ratification than todayโs far more famous...
Was the Constitution Sold on a Lie? Shays’ Rebellion and Ratification
Shays’ Rebellion was repeatedly cited by Federalists as a primary reason to replace the Articles of Confederation with a Constitution with a stronger central government. But what if the threat was exaggerated? Anti-Federalists sure thought so. In this episode,...
Top 3 Anti-Federalist Arguments: Controversy over the Constitution
Was the Constitution a recipe for tyranny? That’s what Patrick Henry, Brutus, Federal Farmer and many other Anti-Federalists feared. In this episode, we’ll explore three of their top arguments against ratification and their warnings about centralized power...
Did the Founders Ignore their own Warnings on Consolidation?
Consolidation – we were warned – would guarantee a destruction of liberty. But many founders seemed to believe they could pull off a โproperโ or โpartialโ consolidation and not get a system of โunremitted despotism.โ Path to Liberty, Fast Friday Edition:...