Musings of a Patriot

Tag: documents

  • Constitutional Amendment 18

    The Eighteenth Amendment is a great example of constitutional law. After one year from the ratification of this article, the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. I…

  • The American’s Creed

    I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom,…

  • Constitutional Amendment 17

    Following close on the heels of the sixteenth amendment (both in terms of time and impact) comes what may well be the second most fundamental alteration to the public perception and operation of our government through the Seventeenth Amendment. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each State, elected…

  • Constitutional Amendment 16

    The longer I live and the more I study, the more convinced I become that the sixteenth amendment is the greatest assault on liberty in our Constitution. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census…

  • The Pledge of Allegiance

    The Pledge of Allegiance may well be the most widely memorized bit of prose in the United States. In fact it is so widely known that I wonder how many people have ever stopped to consider where it came from or what it means (few I suspect). It was first written in 1892 but it’s…

  • Constitutional Amendment 15

    The 15th Amendment appears to be the first attempt to curb the efforts of those who were trying to deny blacks the right to vote as explicitly established in the 14th amendment. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any…

  • Constitutional Amendment 14

    I have written previously about the Fourteenth Amendment as an example of a law that declares a legal principle of equality but does not extend to defining a quantitative measure of the level of equality that is expected. This amendment is applicable to current political debates for two reasons. First, that we are grappling with…

  • Constitutional Amendment 13

    The Thirteenth Amendment is about as straightforward as any of the first ten amendments (I find it interesting to notice that the most obvious and natural amendments tend to be the shortest). Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the…

  • Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

    I was tempted not to include Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address among my review of founding documents, but I have become very interested in the parallels between the struggles over slavery and some of the struggles of our day. One question I asked as I read it again was, “have we learned anything in the last…

  • The Gettysburg Address

    Everyone should already be familiar with The Gettysburg Address and have a basic understanding of the context in which it was crafted and delivered. I don’t think there is much I could have to add to that understanding, but I submit that the basic message of the address is still applicable today and that with…