American Dialogue: The Founders and Us, by Joseph J. Ellis. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2018. 283 pp. Reviewed by Edward Spannaus , November 29, 2018 This is both an ambitious and a provocative book. Joseph Ellis, who taught college-level American history for decades, takes the major debates among the […]
The sixth and final article in the series “The Supreme Court Affirms the American System.” Sept. 17, 2018–We publish this article today to commemorate Constitution Day, the 231st anniversary of the signing of the founding document of the United States of America. It was Supreme Court Justice John Marshall who […]
by Edward Spannaus Fifth of a series. The first four parts of this series, devoted to “John Marshall and the American System” can be found here. July 23, 2018–With the help of American System champion Henry Clay and his supporters, John Quincy Adams was elected President in early 1825, after […]
By Edward Spannaus June 15, 2018–Much ink has been spilt over President Donald Trump’s use of his pardoning power. Yet his use of that power is entirely consistent with the powers granted to the President by the U.S. Constitution, and with the intent of its Framers. It is refreshing to […]
By Edward Spannaus Part One- Marshall’s Supreme Court Affirms American System Part Two- Creating Legal Infrastructure for a National Economy Part Three- Virginia’s Assault on the Marshall Court Part Four- Steamboat Case Clears Way for the American System Part Five – Marshall Defends the American System against Jacksonian Populism. […]
by Edward Spannaus Fourth in a series on The Supreme Court Affirms the American System It is not immoderate to say that no other judicial pronouncement in history was so wedded to the inventive genius of man and so interwoven with the economic and social evolution of a nation and […]
by Edward Spannaus Third in the series “The Supreme Court Affirms the American System” May 3, 2018–Six weeks after his March 1819 monumental opinion in McCullough vs. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall, having returned to Richmond, wrote to Associate Justice Joseph Story: “Our opinion in the Bank case has aroused […]
By Nancy Spannaus The following discussion of FDR’s 100 Days was written in May of 2013, and has been slightly edited for republication. FDR’s New Deal moved to reverse more than 30 years of subversion of the American System of economics, and restore the principles enshrined in the Preamble of […]
Part II of The Supreme Court Affirms the American System by Edward Spannaus April 17, 2018–As we discussed in the first article in this series, John Marshall’s monumental ruling in McCullough vs. Maryland not only upheld the constitutionality of the National Bank, but it established in American law the principle that […]
By Nancy Spannaus May 20, 2019–George Washington’s “Grand Idea” of uniting the country through developing the Potomac River as the gateway to the West, was the subject of a lively book talk last night. Author Joel Achenbach spoke to a group of approximately 30 people about his book The Grand […]
By Nancy Spannaus May 15, 2019—On May 8, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, under Chairman Peter DeFazio, took a baby step toward increasing Federal spending on vital national infrastructure. It passed out of Committee HR 2440, a bill which would allow the Army Corps of Engineers to utilize the […]
The Constitution and Slavery: The Missing Economic Dimension
A Book Review by Nancy Spannaus No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation’s Founding Sean Wilentz Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2018, 349 pp. March 5, 2019—I can say without hesitation that anyone writing about the history of slavery in the United States should read […]