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January 15, 2019|Barack Obama, Border Wall, Clear Statement Rule, DACA, Delegation of Powers, Donald Trump, Immigration

How Unilateral Claims of Presidential Power Energize Polarization

by John O. McGinnis|

Image: Wael Alreweie / Shutterstock.com
As the parties become polarized, the Presidents become more extreme on the political spectrum.

February 26, 2013|Bank of the United States, Delegation of Powers, Implied Powers, Mercantilism, Sovereignty

The Bank of the United States and Mr. Hamilton’s Surprise!

by Hans Eicholz|

As noted in the first post, Albert Gallatin initially aspired to being a private, rather than a political, entrepreneur. To that end the firm of Albert Gallatin and Co. tried to attract renters or buyers to land in Pennsylvania. McCraw describes how the firm “organized a company store, a boatyard on the Monongahela, and later a glassworks.” (192) Like many commercial men of his day, not the least of whom was Robert Morris, Gallatin’s speculations in land development eventually failed, but the experience of trying to make a go of it in the private economy was important.

Unlike Hamilton, Gallatin had a more nuanced feel for the variations of taste and opinion that a businessman must have to adapt to opportunities as they are, rather than as he might wish them to be. Failure has a way of accentuating the point. Again, McCraw’s text does not specifically highlight this difference, but it comes through well enough in the evidence.

As noted in the two previous posts, a powerful illustration is the attitude of both men to the subject of finance and its relationship to the economy. Most of those who dabbled in political economy at the time presented a hodgepodge of Smithian free-trade arguments and mercantilist expediencies, and neither Hamilton (as we have seen) nor Gallatin were immune to the mixing of apples and oranges.

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Book Reviews

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

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The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.

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Liberty Classics

Rereading Politica in the Post-Liberal Moment

by Glenn A. Moots

Althusius offers a rich constitutionalism that empowers persons to thrive alongside one another in deliberate communities.

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James Fenimore Cooper and the American Experiment

by Melissa Matthes

In The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper defended democracy against both mob rule and majority tyranny.

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Podcasts

Stuck With Decadence

A discussion with Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat discusses with Richard Reinsch his new book The Decadent Society.

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Can the Postmodern Natural Law Remedy Our Failing Humanism?

A discussion with Graham McAleer

Graham McAleer discusses how postmodern natural law can help us think more coherently about human beings and our actions.

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Did the Civil Rights Constitution Distort American Politics?

A discussion with Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell discusses his new book, The Age of Entitlement.

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America, Land of Deformed Institutions

A discussion with Yuval Levin

Yuval Levin pinpoints that American alienation and anger emerges from our weak political, social, and religious institutions.

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About

Law & Liberty’s focus is on the classical liberal tradition of law and political thought and how it shapes a society of free and responsible persons. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law & Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

The opinions expressed on Law & Liberty are solely those of the contributors to the site and do not reflect the opinions of Liberty Fund.
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