Learn the meaning of the Constitution and the principles of American government in this new version of Hillsdale’s most popular course. Continue reading →

An address given by Willkie at the 44th Congress of American Industry on December 8th, 1939

Willkie on the Campaign Trail

The history of government is the history of two conflicting principles: one is the supreme importance of the State; the other is the supreme importance of the individual. Either the people have believed that the State was merely the voluntary creation of individual citizens, responsible to them and designed primarily to protect their liberties; or else they have believed that the State was an authority in its own right to which individual citizens were subject and which could demand of them the suppression of their own desires and talents. The individual versus the State – that is the theme which more than any other has determined the course of civilization. Continue reading →

In contrast to Hamilton, Madison and Jay who supported ratification of the Constitution of the United States, many others did not. While the former’s works were more logically organized (and eventually won the debate), the Anti-federalist writers were nonetheless articulate. Serious questions were raised which eventually led to some of the Federalist writings that served as answers to allegations of the Anti-federalists.

No serious student of the Constitution can be without both sides of the story. Some Anti-federalist prophecies have strangely come true. Writings by “Brutus” and “A Federal Farmer”, particularly relating to the “necessary and proper” clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18), view the future under an unrestrained Congress. Although the “necessary and proper” clause was never meant to be a blanket grant of power, over the years, as the intentions of the Founding Fathers have passed further and further from our memories, all three branches of the federal government have assumed powers that simply do not – and never did – exist. As the states have forgotten how to be a check against a Congress run amok, things are getting worse.

This document has been spell checked and proof-read it several times. Spelling and grammatical errors of the period in which these works were written, have for the most part been left intact. Undoubtedly, we may have missed a dropped character, hyphenation may be inadvertently missing, or other minor flaws may appear.

This work is considered public domain to the extent that the information is historic, and intended for non-commercial, informational purposes. In addition, our purposes in making this entire body of work available are several-fold: First, for the education of the American people so that we might better understand our nations history. Secondly, so that we might be able to use this information as a tool of reference as we contact our elected state and federal officials in order that we might right was has been terribly wronged in our great Republic.

These documents, like the Federalist Papers, themselves, cannot be considered all-inclusive. Many other pro and con pieces appeared in newspapers, in the state ratification conventions, in pamphlets, books, and other sources of the time. But these are considered the premier Anti-federalist writings organized somewhat to coincide with the Federalist Papers.

You will note below, that we have also separately posted the works of one ‘Centinel’  out the works of to focus on for reasons that will become important to this project.

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Not all black folks have bought into the lie that America was founded only on the institution of slavery. This lie is basically what the 1619 Project tries to portray as the foundation of America.

But Mychal Massie, writing on May 2nd gives the lie to Nikole Hannah-Jones now infamous 1619 Project, which, though wildly inaccurate, is now taught in many public schools as “history.” Mr. Massie is black. Continue reading →

A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America is a three volume work by John Adams published in 1787–1788. The work was written while Adams was serving as the American ambassador in London. In Britain and in previous postings in France and the Netherlands Adams had confronted several criticisms of the government systems used by the American states. Adams started the work prior to the writing of the Constitution of the United States and the work is not a defense of that document, but rather of the various state constitutions that were in place in 1787. Continue reading →

From Patriot to pariah, the Franco dereliction and demise of a graveless Revolutionary War Founder.

“But where says some is the king of America? I’ll tell you Friend, he reigns above…” ~ Thomas Paine (1776)

This week, we observe Patriots’ Day, which commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord — and the opening salvo of the American Revolution immortalized in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” as “The Shot Heard Round the World.” The events of that day are a fitting and enduring case study of the consequences when a tyrannical government attempts to disarm the people. In 1775, tyranny was met with defiance and resulted in the dawn of American Liberty and the birth of a new nation.

While this day is always appropriate for studying the heroic figures of the day, it is also a good opportunity to consider the corruption, dereliction, and demise of one of the most influential advocates for independence ahead of the American Revolution and through its conclusion. This historical figure also reminds us of what can happen when one becomes intoxicated with power and detached from his love for Liberty and the unalienable Rights of Man. Continue reading →