The Landmark Decision of “Dred Scott v. Sandford”

By |2024-03-05T19:53:23-06:00March 5th, 2024|Categories: American Republic, Congress, Constitution, Politics, Slavery, Supreme Court|

“Dred Scott” is a landmark decision because it answered questions regarding slavery that the Supreme Court had not previously addressed. It is also one of the most infamous decisions, furthering the great divide facing the nation regarding the question of slavery and moving the country further down the path toward the Civil War. Dred Scott [...]

“A Heart Devoted to the Welfare of Our Country”

By |2024-02-22T19:34:49-06:00February 22nd, 2024|Categories: American Republic, Constitution, John Quincy Adams, Timeless Essays|

It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me to observe that the great result of this experiment upon the theory of human rights has, at the close of that generation by which it was formed, been crowned with success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its founders. The following is John [...]

The “Genuine Information”: A Warning About the Constitution

By |2024-02-19T18:36:59-06:00February 19th, 2024|Categories: American Founding, Constitution, Featured, Timeless Essays|

The time may come when it shall be the duty of a State, in order to preserve itself from the oppression of the general government, to have recourse to the sword—In which case the proposed form of government declares that the State and every of its citizens who act under its authority are guilty of [...]

Should We Celebrate Presidents’ Day, or Washington’s Birthday?

By |2024-02-18T16:09:00-06:00February 18th, 2024|Categories: American Republic, Constitution, George Washington, Gleaves Whitney, Presidency, Timeless Essays|

People ask why a few of us presidential junkies would like to see Presidents’ Day changed back to Washington’s Birthday. The technical explanation has to do with a misguided law called HR 15951 that was passed in 1968 to make federal holidays less complicated. The real answer is simply this: George Washington is our greatest [...]

Declarations, Compacts, & the American Constitutional Tradition

By |2023-11-20T23:20:12-06:00November 20th, 2023|Categories: Bruce Frohnen, Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Featured, Mayflower Compact, Politics, Timeless Essays|

The American constitutional tradition stretches back beyond our shores to England. It is a tradition shaped on this continent by experience and the character of the people. In this vision, local communities play the primary role in government, protecting the fundamental institutions in which good character is formed. We hold these truths to be self-evident, [...]

Common Ground: The Founding Era

By |2023-09-16T15:06:57-05:00September 16th, 2023|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Constitution, Featured, George W. Carey, Timeless Essays|

With increasing frequency since the turn of the twentieth century, many scholars have raised troubling questions about the founders and their motives. Did they really believe in republican government, or were they intent on constructing a system that would protect elite interests under the rubric of a republican form? Can we take them at their [...]

We Hold These Truths: Thoughts on the U.S. Constitution

By |2023-09-16T15:05:58-05:00September 16th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Constitution, St. John's College, Timeless Essays|

What is the duty of government? What are the rights of man in a civilized society? What is the purpose of law? Mortimer Adler, scholar of, and advocate for, the Great Books, attempts to answer these questions and more in the following interview. Interposed with scenes of discussion from a seminar conducted at St. John's [...]

Defining Life, Defining Law

By |2024-03-08T09:30:37-06:00August 20th, 2023|Categories: Abortion, Christianity, Communio, Constitution, Rule of Law, Supreme Court|

When the law reckons with the matter of life, it inevitably reckons with its own foundation and its own essence. When we attempt to define life in law, in other words, we are necessarily, though implicitly, defining law in an analogous sense at the same time. The background assumption of my brief essay is that [...]

What David French Gets Wrong About the Culture War

By |2023-07-19T15:08:25-05:00July 19th, 2023|Categories: Christianity, Culture War, First Amendment, John Horvat|

According to David French, when Christians and drag queens agree to coexist peacefully, both are “protecting the First Amendment from the culture war.” God and the devil can peacefully waltz together. But God and Satan are eternal and unequal enemies. One rules over His creation—including heaven, earth, humanity, and the universe. The other—the eternal loser—reigns [...]

The Declaration of Independence: Translucent Poetry

By |2023-07-03T16:15:18-05:00July 3rd, 2023|Categories: American Founding, Constitution, Declaration of Independence, E.B., Essential, Eva Brann, In Honor of Eva Brann at 90 Series, James Madison, Samuel Adams, Senior Contributors, St. John's College, Thomas Jefferson, Timeless Essays|

The Declaration of Independence, intended as an expression of the common opinion, is truly a text of "right opinion," a benign practical text which also has a peculiarly sound relation to the realm of thought. Section I:  The Legacy of the Declaration When American schoolchildren first discover that they have a place in the world they [...]

The Supreme Court Ends Racial Discrimination

By |2023-07-03T10:58:28-05:00July 1st, 2023|Categories: 14th Amendment, Constitution, Equality, Senior Contributors, Supreme Court, Thomas R. Ascik|

The Supreme Court has found the race-based admission practices of both Harvard University and the University of North Carolina to be unconstitutional violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., decided [...]

Let Justice Be Our Guide: Federalism & the Constitutional Convention

By |2023-05-03T11:57:21-05:00May 3rd, 2023|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Constitution, Constitutional Convention, Featured, Federalist Papers, Timeless Essays|Tags: |

The paramount issue facing the Constitutional Convention was how to secure the safety and happiness of the people. Therefore, the paramount question which guided the deliberations was: What is justice? James H. Hutson concludes his valuable 1984 survey of two hundred years of Constitutional scholarship on a pessimistic note. Scholarship, says Hutson, is at a [...]

Gordon Lloyd: A Remembrance

By |2023-05-05T16:53:29-05:00May 2nd, 2023|Categories: American Founding, Constitution, Constitutional Convention, Stephen M. Klugewicz|

Such was Gordon Lloyd's contagious energy that his presence at an academic program guaranteed its success. Even now I can see him, with his irrepressible enthusiasm, almost hopping across the stage in excitement, brushing back the bangs of his wavy white hair as they fly about, and boyishly declaiming in the Caribbean accent of his [...]

Orestes Brownson’s New England & the Unwritten Constitution

By |2023-04-16T17:38:55-05:00April 16th, 2023|Categories: American Republic, Civil Society, Constitution, Culture, Featured, History, Political Philosophy, Politics, Timeless Essays|

Orestes Brownson so esteemed New England people, customs, and institutions that they dominated his writings and fit at the heart of his political ideas. The danger of majoritarian tyranny hangs over republics. The dilemma of constituting a virtuous republic while also restricting interests, sects, and factions’ use of unchecked political power possessed eighteenth century American [...]

Go to Top