The Heritage Guide To The Constitution is a reference that no home should be without. James explains why you need it and what it's for.   Read the rest of this entry »

George Mason was one of three attendees present at the close of the Constitutional Convention who refused to sign. He couldn't be bought. He stood on principle because of his serious doubts about a Constitution lacking a bill of rights. He was right to be concerned.   Read the rest of this entry »

In less than three hundred words, the convention delegates instructed Congress on ratification and the mechanics for starting a brand new government from scratch. They far exceeded their mandate and it's a good thing they did.   Read the rest of this entry »

Gouverneur Morris was quite a writer. It was Morris who gave us the magnificent style and beautiful prose of the Constitution. But, he was much more than an editor. He had quite a lot to say during the convention.   Read the rest of this entry »

During the second half of the eighteenth century, the United States was blessed with numerous renaissance men and several geniuses. Benjamin Franklin was both.   Read the rest of this entry »

Roger Sherman was the only Founder to sign all the major documents of the era, and he was on the final committees for the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. Admired by his contemporaries, political friends and enemies alike, "the old puritan" was an omnipresent patriot during our founding who wasn't afraid to stand up for his beliefs.   Read the rest of this entry »

The system of checks and balances we gloss over in the education system deserves a closer look. The Constitution is a contract that ensures those checks and balances and that the government is ultimately answerable to the people. It's not a "living document" as so many would have us believe. No lawyer believes in a living contract. If something isn’t working properly, then the contract must be amended, and contracts are amended every day all over this country. In fact, the United States Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times. That doesn't mean that the contract is subject to interpretation - just amendment through the designated process.   Read the rest of this entry »

Larry Schweikart's What Would The Founders Say is a book we've been waiting anxiously for. The title alone was enough to pique our interest. The best-selling author of A Patriot's History of the United States, doesn't disappoint with his latest effort.   Read the rest of this entry »

Things are bad, but they've been bad before. How Hamilton saved the nation by instilling confidence and a sound economic policy.   Read the rest of this entry »

The Boston Tea party was more than a protest over taxes. Nor was it just a prank perpetuated by a few rowdies dressed as Native Americans. On December 16, 1773, as many as 7,000 people congregated around the Old South Meeting House. John Adams did not like mob action, but he wrote this about dumping the tea: "There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire."   Read the rest of this entry »