Today's Politicos vs The Words and Deeds of The Founders

Federalist Number 11 is yet another one of Hamilton's arguments for Union and the advantages it holds. In this paper Hamilton explores its benefits to commerce and the greater ability of a unified nation to field a strong navy. He concludes with some humorous jibes at European arrogance.

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"An unwritten constitution is not a constitution at all.” Thomas Paine Our Founders wouldn’t have spent so much time on the wording if they intended the Constitution be open to interpretation by whoever happened to be in office or on the court. They wanted it written down because words have meaning and they chose their words carefully.

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Paul Revere's Ride is a historical narrative about Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride into the Massachusetts countryside to warn the people that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord. Author David Hacket Fischer looks beyond the myth to explore what really transpired.

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All of the words in this week's WWTFT puzzle are taken out of the US Constitution, specifically from Article 1.

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Whose government is it anyway? The first words of the Constitution refer to "We the People" as the source of government and the Founders went to great lengths to limit the power that government could exercise in our name. But somewhere between then and now something went terribly wrong.

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Each of the Federalist Papers was an argument for ratification of the Constitution. Frequently the topic addressed was in rebuttal to something that those in opposition to ratification had already written about or in anticipation of an opposing argument yet to be heard. Federalist No. 10 addresses the issue of factions and whether a large republic is the best means of combating them.

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The Motor City Times blog has a piece that we wish we'd posted here! In it he has Madison ask the question: "What part of few and defined don't you get?"

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Federalist No. 9 is Hamilton's response to the common Anti-Federalist argument based on the theories of Montesquieu, who seemed to say in his The Spirit of the Laws that republics can only be successfully implemented in small territories. Hamilton dives deeper into Montesquieu's writing for his answer.

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The first ten amendments to the Constitution are collectively known as the Bill of Rights. James Madison kept his word to the delegates of the Convention and ensured that the amendments were considered in the very first Congress.

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Comparing French Revolutionary Philosophy and tactics with those of Communism yields some interesting correlations.

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