The Case For Written Constitutions: Even Broken or Bad Promises Are Better in Writing
by Antoine Clarke
Constitutional Economics and the Calculus of Consent
by Tom DiLorenzo and Walter Block
Constitutions Are a Beginning
by Jim Davidson
Argues for a contractual basis for property ownership and the establishment
of governments, as opposed to basing these on natural rights, constitutions,
or conventions.
Constitutions: When They Protect and When They Do Not
by Randy Dumse
"The only value in a constitution, is the commitment of the people who hold
it to assure each other they will come to the defense of the other, should
it be breached. Such mutual commitment is the glue of a free nation."
Constitutions: Written and Actual
by Richard O. Hammer
"... our challenge becomes to discover mechanisms which empower people to do
what we want them to be able to do (and which they also want to do).
These mechanisms, taken together, and assuming they work, constitute an
actual constitution.
When we write a description of this actual constitution we will have a
written constitution."
Economic Principles of Constitutions: An Economic Analysis of Constitutional Law
August 2, 2001
by Jurgen G. Backhaus
"This essay starts by giving an introduction into the economic analysis of constitutional
law. Part I contains an analysis of constitutional guarantees of basic (individual) rights
and procedures, illustrated with three constitutions, the American constitution of 1789
as amended in 1792, the German Basic Law of 1949 and the Dutch Basic Law of 1983.
Although constitutions are meant to be permanent, they continuously change without
amendment. Part II offers an analysis of constitutional change without amendment.
Whoever wants to draft a constitution needs to know how the basic guarantees work, how
procedural rules interconnect basic guarantees and decision takers, and what chances
there are that the meaning of a constitutional provision can be turned upside down.
Economic analysis of constitutions speaks to these three problems."
Is Voluntary Government Possible? A Critique of Constitutional Economics
by Walter Block
No.
A New Old American Concept of Political Liberty
by Norman Barry
"All written constitutions are inadequate surrogates for a genuine political liberty.
For true freedom is found in the active exercise of choice: either in the market for
goods and services or the competition for laws and institutions. If that competition
is attenuated, and citizens are left with only the threadbare protections of democracy
and an activist judiciary, they will soon have little liberty at all."
Europe's proposed constitution:
Where to file it?
June 23, 2003
by The Economist
"Everything that is crucial it gets wrong."
Socialism's Farewell Note:
The new Constitution of the EU
July 3, 2003
by Marian L. Tupy
"The proposed European Constitution represents the last gasp of European
socialism. With its 260 pages and 70,000 words, it is one of the longest
and most uninspiring farewell notes in human history. Like the Roman
Emperor Diocletian, who tried to avert the demise of his weak and
economically mismanaged empire by carving his absurd decrees in stone,
Giscard D'Estaing and his fellow all-too-conventional "conventionalists"
labored for months to codify Europe's venerated model of "social market
economy." History suggests that their efforts will have been in vain."
A Tadpole Constitution, Part I: How Confederacy Could Turn into a Federal Superstate,
Part II: Majority Rule by Any Other Name
by Anthony de Jasay
The constitution of the European Union will likely lead to a superstate.
Wish Fulfillment:
The EU Constitution lays down NGOs' ideals in stone.
June 24, 2003
by Iain Murray
"The draft reflects not so much the will of the people as the will of pressure groups -
labor unions, NGOs, and other single interest groups - all collected
together in one vast, 224-page manifesto. In selling out to these lobbies,
Giscard has shown himself to be not Europe's Madison, but its Benedict Arnold."
Making the World Safe for Theocracy
by Ivan Eland
"To reduce the chances of such a conflagration, the constitution should be amended
to partition Iraq into Shi’ite, Kurdish, and Sunni areas (all lands within these three
or more areas do not have to be contiguous) and to proportionally share petroleum
revenues or even oilfields with the Sunnis. To give the Shi’a and Kurds an incentive
to reach an agreement to share oil, the United States would inform them that the U.S.
military, which is the only thing propping up the Iraqi government, will be exiting
quickly. The administration has dug itself so deeply into the Iraqi hole that no
perfect solution exists to avoid the impending civil war. But this solution at least
stops the digging and begins filling in some dirt."
Anti-Federalist Papers
1787-1789
"The arguments against ratification appeared in various forms, by various authors, most
of whom used a pseudonym. Collectively, these writings have become known as the
Anti-Federalist Papers. We here present some of the best and most widely read of these.
They contain warnings of dangers from tyranny that weaknesses in the proposed
Constitution did not adequately provide against, and while some of those weaknesses were
corrected by adoption of the Bill of Rights, others remained, and some of these dangers
are now coming to pass."
A Brief Enquiry into the True Nature and Character of our Federal Government
1840
by Abel Parker Upshur
"A review of Joseph Story's Commentaries on the Constitution of the United
States, arguing against some of Story's expansive interpretations of national powers."
Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States
1833
by Joseph Story
"Authoritative commentaries by an early Supreme Court justice who helped shape
interpretation of the Constitution for the next century."
The Constitution
by Lysander Spooner
"The number who actually consented to the Constitution of the United States, at the
first, was very small. Considered as the act of the whole people, the adoption of the
Constitution was the merest farce and imposture, binding upon nobody."
Constitutional Con Men
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
"If Lincoln was not, in fact, a devoted champion of the Constitution, the whole
anti-states’ rights house of cards collapses. If he disregarded the Constitution
and acted like a dictator, no matter how noble his ends might have been, then the
sanctity-of-the-Constitution argument against secession goes out the window."
Constitutional Counterrevolution
October 1, 2000
by Charlotte Twight
"Given America’s carefully crafted constitutional restrictions on central government
power, how is it that intrusive federal powers over the lives of ordinary Americans
took root in the twentieth century? If you had just fifteen minutes to explain it to
James Madison, what would you say?"
Constitutional Law, Relative to Credit, Currency, and Banking
by Lysander Spooner
"The constitution expressly provides for an exclusive “tender” - but it has no
provision whatever in prohibition of any merely voluntary currency that might obtain
among the people."
The Constitution and the New Deal by G. Edward White
reviewed by James W. Ely Jr.
"White’s thoughtful volume is a vast improvement over much of the existing literature
on the constitutional dimensions of the New Deal era. It deserves a large audience.
Still, one might suggest that in his well-founded desire to stamp out the myths
associated with the New Deal, White unduly downplays the New Deal as a significant
turning point in constitutional history. The New Deal may not have brought about a
complete change in constitutional theories, and some of the legal doctrines it produced
may have been long in gestation and only coincidentally to have come to a head in the
1930s. The fact remains, however, that for better or worse it was responsible for
bringing these issues to a head and did so in a way that has shaped all subsequent
constitutional discourse."
The Constitution of no Authority
by Lysander Spooner
"The Constitution has no inherent authority or obligation. It has no authority
or obligation at all, unless as a contract between man and man. And it does not
so much as even purport to be a contract between persons now existing. It purports,
at most, to be only a contract between persons living eighty years ago. And it can
be supposed to have been a contract then only between persons who had already come
to years of discretion, so as to be competent to make reasonable and obligatory
contracts. Furthermore, we know, historically, that only a small portion even of
the people then existing were consulted on the subject, or asked, or permitted to
express either their consent or dissent in any formal manner. Those persons, if any,
who did give their consent formally, are all dead now. Most of them have been dead forty,
fifty, sixty, or seventy years. And the constitution, so far as it was their contract,
died with them. They had no natural power or right to make it obligatory upon their
children. It is not only plainly impossible, in the nature of things, that they could
bind their posterity, but they did not even attempt to bind them. That is to say,
the instrument does not purport to be an agreement between any body but "the people" then
existing; nor does it, either expressly or impliedly, assert any right, power, or
disposition, on their part, to bind anybody but themselves."
The Constitution of the United States of America
Analysis and Interpretation Annotations of Cases Decided by the
Supreme Court of the United States.
The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
by James Madison
"These are the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia, an
essential guide to interpreting the intent of the Framers."
The Debates in the Several Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution
1836
by Jonathan Elliot
"A collection of documents, including proceedings of the ratifying state conventions."
A Defence of the Constitutions of Government
of the United States of America
1787-1789
by John Adams
"Comprehensive historical review of how various national constitutions worked, with
quotes from political philosophers and historians, that influenced the Founders in their
drafting of state and federal constitutions."
Did the Constitution Betray the Revolution?
January 1, 1981
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel and William Marina
Hummel argues that that U. S. Constitution betrayed the revolution. Marina argues that
it resolved the issues raised by the revolution.
A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States
1850
by John C. Calhoun
"One of Calhoun’s most important works of political philosophy. In The Discourse
Calhoun attempts to show how the theory he developed in The Disquisition might be
applied to the American context."
Does Rape Violate the Commerce Clause of the Constitution?
October 1, 2000
by Wendy McElroy
"The Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Morrison is not a blow to women’s equality
or safety, which was not the issue under consideration in the ruling. The decision is
an attempt to check the seemingly infinite and non-enumerated powers claimed by Congress
under the Commerce Clause."
The Federalist Papers
by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay
"Newspaper articles which made a case for adopting the U.S. Constitution, and in the
process explained much about the issues of government power."
Hit or Run
by Jess Raley
"As best I can tell from looking, listening, and reading, a great many Americans have
been conned into believing that anything an individual is at liberty to do is a right
guaranteed to them by the Constitution of these United States. More than this it seems
to be generally assumed that the public is bound by that same document to pay, on demand,
for the implementation of these rights."
Is the Constitution Antiquated?
by Wendy McElroy
"It is necessary to look beyond the quaintness of any specific term and ask, what
current legal practice corresponds, in its essence, with one that is prohibited by
the Constitution?"
Libertarians and the Constitution
by Charles Hull Wolfe
"But I now sincerely believe that the apparent clash between libertarianism and the
Constitution is superficial rather than fundamental; that each has its necessary place,
and is important—even indispensable—to the other."
New Views of the Constitution of the United States
1823
by John Taylor
"A discourse on the constitutional nature of the American union reflecting views of
Jefferson and Madison."
On the Constitution and the Union
by William Lloyd Garrison
"A sacred compact, forsooth! We pronounce it the most bloody and heaven-daring
arrangement ever made by men for the continuance and protection of a system of the
most atrocious villany ever exhibited on earth."
The Political Economy of the U.S. Constitution
by Dwight R. Lee
"The U.S. is a wealthy country today in large part because our Founding Fathers had
what can be quite accurately described as a negative attitude toward government. They
had little confidence in the ability of government to promote social well-being through
the application of government power to achieve particular ends. In their view, the best
that government can realistically hope to achieve is the establishment of a social
setting in which individuals are free, within the limits of general laws, to
productively pursue their own objectives."
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution
by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
"To those who weep over the Constitution’s neglect these past 50 or 100 years, Gutzman
shows that defiance of that document has gone on from the beginning, starting in the
1790s. An expert on colonial and early republican Virginia, Gutzman knows the Virginia
ratifying convention inside and out. He knows the promises made to the people, and the
assurances that Virginia’s ratifiers inserted into that state’s ratification instrument.
And he shows that Jefferson and his allies were faithful to those principles and promises,
and that the so-called Federalists and their present-day apologists (which includes just
about everybody) were not."
The Unconstitutionality of Slavery
by Lysander Spooner
"If these opinions are correct, it is the constitutional duty of Congress to establish
courts, if need be, in every county and township even, where there are slaves to be
liberated; to provide attorneys to bring the cases before the courts; and to keep a
standing military force, if need be, to sustain the proceedings."
The Unhonored Prophets: Morton Borden (ed.), The Antifederalist Papers
by C. P. Ives
A View of the Constitution
1829
by William Rawle
"Early commentary on the Constitution and how it should be interpreted. Made point that
the Bill of Rights also applied to the states, something that would later be denied, then
partially reassserted by the 14th Amendment and the doctrine of (selective)
incorporation."
What happens with a Constitution?
Pay No Attention to This Day
October 13, 2003
by Harry Browne
"By the first World War, the Supreme Court had decided that the words "Congress shall
make no law . . . " don't really mean that "Congress shall make no law . . . " They
mean only that the government must have a "compelling interest" in doing something.
Not surprisingly, the government employees on the Court almost always decide that the
government does have a compelling interest."
Why Care What The Constitution Says?
by Randy E. Barnett
"In his book Restoring the Lost Constitution, Randy Barnett argues that since
the nation's founding, but especially since the 1930s, the courts have been cutting holes
in the original Constitution. In the process, the written Constitution has been lost,
and so has an important tool for defending of our liberty."
"The Illusion Is Liberty - The Reality Is Leviathan":
A Voluntaryist Perspective on the Bill of Rights
by Carl Watner
"Constitutions and bills of rights are legitimizing tools of the ruling elite. Both
are badges of slavery not liberty, and should be rejected."
Letter to George Washington on the Bill of Rights
by James Madison
Letter to Thomas Jefferson on the Bill of Rights
by James Madison
The Wall of Separation Between Church and State
by Judd W. Patton
"The purpose of the First Amendment was not to protect Americans from religion, it
was to protect religion from government intrusion. This “understanding” is in full
and obvious accord with the raison d'etre of the Bill of Rights to limit the federal
government's power and thereby secure the freedom of individuals and the rights of
the states. The Bill of Rights was a declaration of what the federal government
could not do."
Internet Encryption and the Second Amendment
by Alexander Tabarrok
"The founding fathers blessed us with the right to keep and bear arms so that the
people would always have a safeguard against tyranny. Encryption techniques are a
similar bulwark protecting liberty."
Militia, Standing Armies, and the Second Amendment: Some Perspectives from the American
Revolution
July 1, 1975
by William Marina
"The regular American army, as well as segments of a rag-tag militia, accepted the
surrender at Yorktown. The existence of that army should never be allowed to obscure the
large reason for the British defeat which was that they could never control, let alone
win over, a population of armed militia that was the foundation of support for the
American government."
Reading the Second Amendment
by Sheldon Richman
"Perhaps the deterioration of American education is illustrated by the high correlation
between the number of years a person has attended school and his inability to understand
the words “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” It is
more likely, though, that those who interpret the Second Amendment to preclude an
individual right to own guns are driven by their political agenda. Whichever the case,
they do themselves no credit when they tell us that a simple, elegant sentence means
the opposite of what it clearly says."
Reports of the Death of the Second Amendment Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: The Emerson
Decision
November 19, 2001
by Stephen Halbrook
"If any argument about the Second Amendment is a "fraud," it is the assertion that the
Framers intended the Second Amendment to protect a "collective" State right to maintain
a militia, not an individual right to keep and bear arms. The 86-page opinion in United
States v. Emerson, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 22386 (5th Cir. 2001), overflowing with
quotations from the Framers, now forces Second Amendment deconstructionists to face the
music."
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms
by Jacob Hornberger
"Arguably, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution should have been made first
in the Bill of Rights because without the right to keep and bear arms, such rights as
freedom of speech and freedom of the press would be treated as nothing more than
meaningless “privileges” bestowed and taken away by government officials at will."
The Second Amendment in the Light of American Republicanism
by Joseph R. Stromberg
"The gun-controllers, to put it another way, can’t see why Americans are so
reluctant to submit themselves unquestioningly to the benevolent rule of a
social-democratic welfare-warfare state of the sort in place in the happy and
peaceful nations of western Europe. In such a state things will be very
orderly—and there is absolutely nothing to fear because we will all have that
all-important right to trudge to the polls every so often to show (perhaps under
threat of fines) our acquiescence in whatever the politicians decide to do with
our lives, incomes, and property. No matter how detailed bureaucratic oversight
of people’s lives may become, they can always vote for a change in personnel—if not
about anything substantive. This happy scenario looks to a re-creation of the
Old Order in which priests and warriors rule over the economic producers who,
after all, need only do what they are told."
Weapons, Technology and Legitimacy: The Second Amendment in Global Perspective
January 1, 1983
by William Marina
"To understand the reasoning of those who framed the Second Amendment, we need to
comprehend their view of social behavior, based upon their distinctive interpretation of
history and their own political experience. In essence they believed the lesson taught by
both history and experience was that an armed citizenry is both necessary against the
perennial threat of tyrannical government, and the ultimate protection against foreign
invasion."
The Athenian Constitution: Government by Jury and Referendum
by Roderick T. Long
Explains the history and operation of the Athenian constitution and
what lessons libertarians can learn from it.
The
Confederate Constitution
by Randall G. Holcombe
The Confederate Constitution was a big improvement over the US version.
Defense of the Albany Plan of Union
1754
by Benjamin Franklin
"The following letters, though first published in 1766, were dated late in 1754, the
year that the actual fighting of the French and Indian War began in the Ohio Valley. They
were addressed to William Shirley (1694-1771 ), governor of Massachusetts. In June and
July of 1754 Franklin had attended the Albany Conference, where negotiations with the
Indian allies of the colonies and discussion of plans for colonial union had been carried
on simultaneously. At that time his famous "Albany Plan," somewhat modified from his
original proposals, was unanimously accepted and recommended to the British and colonial
governments."
An Anarchist's Proposal for Limited Constitutional Government -- Minarchy vs. Anarchy
by weebies
"First the current US Constitution would need to be abolished. A new constitutional
convention would be required where the libertarian ideals of the Declaration of
Independence are actually enshrined as the law of the land. Any ambiguous reference
to the common good that could be incorrectly interpreted must be avoided. It should
be clearly stated that the constitution is not a living document subject to the
interpretation and whims of judges, legislators, and executives, but only serves to
limit what powers they may exercise in their duties. Most importantly, it must
emphasize individual sovereignty, where the rights and property of individuals are
not subject to group whims and demands, and that it is illegal to use force or coercion
to gain individual compliance to any program. Forced collectivism of any type must be
fully renounced as inimical to the foundation of individual liberty."
Imagineering Freedom: A Constitution of Liberty Part I: Between Anarchy and Limited Government,
Part II: Defining Federal Powers,
Part III: Virtual Cantons,
Part IV: The Rights of the People
by Roderick T. Long
In Part I, Roderick Long explains the Preamble and Articles 1.1.1 through
1.2.10 of his
Draft of a Virtual-Canton Constitution, Version 5.
In Part II he explains sections 1.2.11 through 1.4.16.
Part III explains the provisions for virtual cantons.
Part IV explains the rights included in his Constitution.
Libertarian Legal Code
by John Ewbank
Comments on Michael van Notten's
Bill of Law.
Politics Versus Proprietorship
by Spencer Heath MacCallum
Remarks prefatory to discussion of the Orbis Constitution for proprietary
communities.
A State Can Be Designed to Shrink
by Richard Hammer
A proposal to design a government that will not grow, because it has
branches whose only function is to repeal legislation.
Virtual Cantons: A New Path to Freedom?
by Roderick T. Long
Discusses the possibility of a free nation whose political structure is
organized by virtual cantons, which are voluntary organizations that elect
representatives to the national government, but are not tied to geographic
location.
Back to the list of topics
This page was last updated on July 8, 2007.