The chapters in the fourth section deal with a troubling trend in contemporary policy: a growing infringement on civil liberties in America. From the Communications Decency Act to proposed "anti-terrorism'' measures, from the restrictions on election-related speech to intrusions on our privacy, from the frightening assaults at Waco and Ruby Ridge to the narrowing of protections for criminal defendants, the federal government is restricting too many of our traditional freedoms. Both liberals and conservatives should be concerned about the intrusion of federal power into every corner of society.
...There is no higher duty for members of Congress than to remind us of the constitutional limits on government when we forget them.
S E L E C T E D - L I N K S
"Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. Philosophy does not result in 'philosophical propositions', but rather in the clarification of propositions. Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and indistinct: its task is to make them clear and give them sharp boundaries." - Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
Article: Magna Carta and its American Legacy
Before penning the Declaration of Independence--the first of the American Charters of Freedom--in 1776, the Founding Fathers searched for a historical precedent for asserting their rightful liberties from King George III and the English Parliament. They found it in a gathering that took place 561 years earlier on the plains of Runnymede...
The Magna Carta from The Avalon Project
Declaration of Rights (1765)
Declaration of Rights (1774)
The Constitution for the United States of America - housed at Cornell University. (full text on one page)
'I have a dream! - Martin Luther King, Jr.">
A Top Site On First Ammendment News is The Cyber Tribune.
The United States Constitution and other founding documents can
also be viewed here:
"The Institute for American Liberty is a
non-profit
organization established in 1995 for literary and
educational purposes to disseminate to the public the
principles of liberty as understood and espoused by
the Founding Fathers. The definitive site includes all
of the founding documents recommended by
Thomas Jefferson including a user-friendly version
of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence,
the Federalsit Papers and George Washingtons
Farewell Address including portraits and pictures.
Unique to our site are significant quotes from
Algernon Sidneys Discourses Concerning
Government, as well as John Locke. Links to all of
the writings of the Founders are included, as well as
quotes from Abraham Lincoln on the Constitution.
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union 1778
The Federalist Papers (originally written anonomously)
basic docs and Constitution (top 5% site by Poincast)
(Constitution; incl. amendments never ratified.)
Cornell uses PGP to 'notorize' SC documents.
Cornell's tracking of Supreme Court decisions.
Constitution at Nat'l Archives w/bio's.
"Liberty Library of Constitutional Classics" - from Plato to the Supreme Court
The National Center for Constitutional Studies
Founding Documents at The Claremont Institute
Richard Kimber's UK page of worldwide Constitutions
U.S., State and International Constitutions +++ at LSU
Archaic Laws, Documents and Tribunals - Constitution and law
The Constitution and resources:
Creation of the U.S. Constitution
The convention had its specific origins in a proposal offered by Madison and John Tyler in the
Virginia assembly that the Continental Congress be given power to regulate commerce throughout
the Confederation.
Storehouses of important historic documents
off-shore
Search the USIA Declassified Historical Information
"The goal of USIA's declassification effort is to alert the general public, epecially academic
researchers, to information no longer classified and now available for release. To that end, as
additional documents are periodically reviewed and declassified, new listings will be added.
What are the 'invisible contracts' between us and the Federal Government?
- 'agreements' that take us beyond 'Constitutional' protections!
O T H E R :
Ben Franklin
2500 BC - The Code of Hammurabi
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
John Lock
John Stuart Mill
Thomas Paine
Plato
Adam Smith
Henry David Thoreau
James's Liberty file collection index