Defending the Constitution: limits on federal authority
A final reason for decentralization is much less widely understood: Political decentralization promotes human progress.
Should we interpret the Constitution so the feds can oversee everything affecting more than one state?
As the framers did with so many other decisions, in allocating authority between states and federal government they balanced competing values.
How our Constitution was supposed to work: new evidence comes to light
. . . [A]ctivities over which the Constitution granted the federal government little or no jurisdiction [included] social services . . . education, religion, real estate, local businesses, most roads and other infrastructure, nearly all criminal law matters, and most civil court cases.
How the Founders told us the Constitution would restrict federal power
This new article presents even more evidence on how the federal government was supposed to be limited.
News on the Constitution’s ratification: More evidence the feds are exceeding their powers
The Constitution created a strictly limited central government, which . . . would have no authority over religion, most criminal offenses, civil justice, social services, education, or most aspects of transportation or the economy.
“Progressives” want federal control of drugs—unless they are harmful
Colorado’s [marijuana “legalization”] is a jerrybuilt legal scheme that, like many other “progressive” programs, looks more like racketeering than true legalization.
New case shows the Supreme Court’s defense of constitutional federalism is only tepid
. . . Those who adopted the Constitution understood that governance of recreational activities, such as sports, was reserved to the states. Regulation of in-state gambling, like other moral issues, similarly was outside the federal sphere.
The Founders’ promises about what the Federal Government could NOT do
Functions outside the federal sphere were to include “social services, education, criminal law, civil justice, land use, and others.”
New information on the Constitution’s ratification — Part III: Vermont
New Hampshire was, and is, quite a small state, but its ratification was particularly significant.
State protection for citizen rights should temper ‘local control’
So when is local control good in reality rather than merely as a slogan?
Evidence on the Powers the Constitution Leaves Exclusively to the States
This column also appears at CNSNews. The Constitution enumerates the powers of the federal government. But has anyone listed the exclusive powers of states—the realm the federal government may not invade without violating the Constitution? When discussing state authority, the Founders usually pointed out only that the federal government’s powers were, as Madison said, “few […]
Resisting Federal Usurpation: Comments by Theophilus Parsons
Several years ago, I wrote on this site about the contributions to the American Founding of Josiah Quincy. Another little-known Founder who should be more widely celebrated today was Theophilus Parsons. Parsons was from the same Massachusetts circle that produced Quincy. He was an an outstanding lawyer and an eloquent spokesman for republican government and […]
