Steady Hand at the Wheel
Thomas Johnson was born in Calvert County, Maryland, on his father’s lands near the mouth of St. Leonard’s Creek. He was the son of Thomas and Dorcas Sedgwick Johnson and the grandson of Thomas Johnson,… »
What if We Listened to the Southern Founders?
Mel Bradford’s outstanding tome A Better Guide Than Reason lifted that phrase from a speech John Dickinson made during the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. Dickinson worried that the delegates to what we now call the… »
The Legacy of Anti-Federalism
A review of The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788-1828 by Saul Cornell (University of North Carolina Press, 1999). The Anti-Federalists who opposed ratification of the Constitution have not fared well among… »
The Americanization of James Iredell
James Iredell was born at Lewes, Sussex County, England. He was the eldest of the five sons of Francis Iredell, a Bristol merchant, and Margaret McCulloh Iredell, originally of Dublin. Young James came to the… »
The Lost Tribes of the Irish in the South
Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen: I am speaking but the plain truth when I tell you that I would rather be here tonight facing an assemblage of men and women of Irish blood and… »
This is why the Founding Generation Crafted the 2nd Amendment
With the current heated debate over gun rights and the 2nd Amendment of the United States Constitution (which serves to affirm our natural rights…rights we have whether the State recognizes them or not), I thought… »
Remembering St. George Tucker
Washington, Adams, Madison, Jefferson, Franklin. All of these Founding Fathers are well known and need no first names. Tucker, however, that’s a surname of a member of the Founding Generation that isn’t familiar at all… »
George Mason and Original Intent
Every fact bearing upon the character and service of the statesmen whose genius created a model form of human government should receive a warm greeting from those who are proud of the growth, progress, and… »
The Fighting Gamecock: Thomas Sumter
Thomas Sumter in his encounters with the Indian nations enters the pages of recorded history. He had probably been present at the fall of Fort Duquesne and in the campaign across the Ohio River and… »
The Nabob as Antifederalist: Benjamin Harrison of Virginia
Benjamin Harrison the Signer was born at Berkely (later called Harrison’s Landing) in Charles City County, Virginia. He was the son of Benjamin Harrison and Anne Carter Harrison, daughter of Robert ‘King’ Carter of Corotoman.… »
