A Colonial Pamphlet Helps Show Why the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause Granted No Power
Learn more: Hear a podcast on this subject. As I have noted before (for example, here and here) pamphlets written in support of the colonial cause during the years 1763-1774 help us greatly in understanding the language of the Constitution. Unfortunately, most constitutional writers regularly overlook those pamphlets—one reason mistakes of constitutional interpretation are so […]
The 1798 “Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen:” Yet another “progessive” irrelevancy
As Tom Woods points out on his blog, advocates of Obamacare have dug up a 1798 federal statute that, they say, shows that the original understanding of the Constitution is broad enough to authorize federal health care programs. The statute authorized creation of federal hospitals for sailors. After I entered a brief response to his […]
Time Mag’s Constitutional Baby Babble
Several readers sent me for comment a lengthy cover article in Time Magazine by managing editor Richard Stengel. Stengel’s piece is one result of new public interest in our Constitution and in “first principles”—interest that has forced political liberals (Stengel has been a paid Democratic activist) to think about the document’s real meaning. Previously, of […]