The Essential Originalist Papers - Paperback

by Brion McClanahan (Editor), Brion McClanahan (Author)

Originalism is based on the principle that the Constitution should be interpreted the way the founding generation insisted it would be interpreted at the time of ratification, not one hundred or two hundred years after some other justices on the Supreme Court wrapped their paws around it with dubious decisions.

This book contains 77 of the most important public documents that favored ratification in 1787 and 1788, or in other words the real basis of originalism. Some of the Federalist Papers are included, but you'll also hear from other important--perhaps more important than Hamilton, Madison, or Jay--members of the founding generation who supported ratificaiton and why. Several themes become apparent when going through this stack of speeches, pamphlets, and essays, but the most important is the primacy of the States in the system and the limited powers of the general government. There is some deviation to this narrative, even from men like Hamilton, but most agreed the Constitution was so limited in its delegated powers that other than commerce and defense, the people of the States would rarely notice the general government.