Continental Congress
Following the Boston Tea Party in December 1773, the British government closed the Boston port, placed a British general in charge of Massachusetts’s government,…
Constitutionalism
Constitutionalism is committed to the rule of law. In constitutional, rule of law regimes, preexisting rules provide necessary foundations for all government actions. A…
Nationalization of the Bill of Rights
As it emerged from the Philadelphia convention in the fall of 1787, the proposed new Constitution of the United States did not contain a…
New Jersey Plan
On June 14, 1787, William Paterson, delegate from New Jersey, rose in the Convention on behalf of a coalition of delegates who desired to…
Connecticut Compromise
The Connecticut Compromise was a proposal in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to create a bicameral legislature composed of a Senate, with equal representation…
State Legislatures
State legislatures have a significant impact on American federalism due to their constitutional responsibilities, political influence, and intergovernmental roles. They vary remarkably in their…
Seventeenth Amendment
On May 12, 1912, the Seventeenth Amendment, replacing indirect election of the U.S. senators by state legislatures with direct election by the people, was…
Virginia Plan
On May 29, 1787, the third day of the Constitutional Convention, Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph submitted a proposal for a new form of government.…
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA) had two constitutions, a Provisional Constitution that was in effect from February 8, 1861, to February 18, 1862,…
Police Power
“Police power” refers to the inherent and general authority of a state government to enact laws to protect the health, safety, and welfare of…
Covenant
A covenant is a morally informed, perpetual, consent-based agreement that depends primarily on the efforts of the covenanting parties themselves for monitoring and enforcement.…
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
In 1816, Congress chartered the Second Bank of the United States. (A first bank had been established in 1791 during the administration of George…
Conditional Grants
Conditional grants are monetary transfers from one level of government to another, either through competitive project grants or through more general block grants, which…
