220 years ago, Congress passed the first of what would become known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. The government argued that these measure became necessary for national security. War with France seemed imminent and 25,000 French refugees came to America. When a group of French scientists wanted to visit the country, President Adams opposed …
My Country – The Virtue of Free Speech On another horrific day where someone shoots people they disagree with, we need to continue to value freedom of speech. A man with a questionable past got a gun and decided to shoot people he disagreed with. Nothing in those actions or that opinion derives itself from …
My Country – Thomas Jefferson and Free Speech On June 13, 1779, Thomas Jefferson wrote an article of faith on free speech. [T]he opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain …
My Country – The Land Ordinance of 1785 On May 20, 1785, the Continental Congress passed a law providing for the surveying and selling of public lands. It provided that Lot 16 of every township should be reserved for the maintenance of public schools. Over the course of our history (up until the writing of An …
My Country – Separation of Church and State As mentioned in the conversation on the Bible in school, Justice Potter Stewart examined lots of different recent Supreme Court decisions. Unlike Justice Stewart, Justice Douglas drew a hard line. He wanted a high and strong wall between church and state – especially in regards to education. …
My Country – Speech and Debate Clause After the imprisonments of Sir John Elliot and Peter Wentworth in the Tower of London, our Founding Fathers took Congressional immunity into account. The Constitution states that “for any Speech or Debate in either House, [senators and representatives] shall not be questioned in any other place.” The phrase has …
My Country – Alexander Hamilton and the National Bank On March 7, 1819, Chief Justice John Marshall upheld the chartering of the National Bank in McCulloch v. Maryland. The Creation of a National Bank Alexander Hamilton proposed the charter of the bank in 1790, but many argued the Constitution did not grant an express power to …
My Country – Thomas Jefferson and We Are All Federalists On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson became the third President of the United States. The day began with the discharge of a cannon from the Washington artillery company. At noon, “dressed as a plain citizen, without any distinctive badge of office, the President-Elect walked up …