Reclaim Liberty : 3-Step Plan for Restoring our Constitutional Government By Robert J. Thorpe For...

Reclaim Liberty: 3-Step Plan forRestoring our Constitutional Government

By Robert J. Thorpe

For each book you purchase at the retail price of $15.00, the Flagstaff Tea Party will get $5.00

Robert J. Thorpe, Contact me at:

[email protected]

www.ReclaimLiberty.us

Is it Important to Know Our Constitution and Our Rights?

Coconino County voting poll workers stopped and harassed Mrs. Diane Wickberg of Flagstaff for wearing her tea party T-shirt: “We the People” and “Flagstaff Tea Party – Reclaiming our Constitution Now.” Maricopa County was also targeting Tea Party members. The Goldwater Institute filed two federal civil rights lawsuits, and last November, U.S. District Court Judge James Teilborg ruled against Maricopa County, where the judge held its ban on tea party apparel was unconstitutional. Coconino County is also changing their polling standards based upon the ruling.

Flagstaff Tea Party Constitutional StudiesRequired Book:

The Original Constitution:What it Actually Said and Meant

by Robert G. Natelson

Flagstaff Tea Party Constitutional StudiesTopics to be Covered in the book “The Original Constitution”

Session I

Introduction, History, Structureand Preamble 7 – 28

Interpreting the Constitution 29 – 38

The States 41 – 58

Flagstaff Tea Party Constitutional Studies Topics to be Covered in the book “The Original Constitution”

Session II

The House, the Senate andthe Vice President 59 – 74

About the Grants of Powers to Congress75 – 84

The Authority of Congress 85 – 114


Session III

The Executive 115 – 138

The Judicial Branch 139 – 146


Session IV

The Bill of Rights and other ExternalLimitations of Federal Powers 147 – 192

The Ninth and Tenth Amendments193 – 202

Removal from Office 203 – 210

Ratification and Amendments 211 – 216

Conclusion 217

Is it Possible to Reconstruct the Constitution's Original Meaning? (9)


Law professor, President Obama from his book "The Audacity of Hope: "It's unrealistic to believe that a judge, two-hundred years later, can somehow discern the original intent of the Founders or ratifiers."


Yes. Competent founding era scholars largely agree on what most of the original Constitution's provisions mean. Most disagreement comes from unfamiliarity with the historical record, or with eighteenth-century law.

Who were the “Framers” (10)

Who were the “Framers” (10)

Fifty-five men, from twelve states (Rhode Island was absent), who drafted the Constitution at the federal convention in Philadelphia between May 29 and September 17, 1787.

George Washington was the President of the Constitutional Convention.

Who were the “Ratifiers” (10)

Who were the “Ratifiers” (10)

1,648 delegates at the thirteen state ratifying conventions, meeting from late 1787 through May 29, 1790.

Who were the “Federalists” (10)

Who were the “Federalists” (10)

Participants in the public ratification debates who argued in favor of the Constitution.

The “Federalists Papers” were written by John Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton and published in the newspapers.

Who were the “Anti-Federalists” (10)

Who were the “Anti-Federalists” (10)

Those who had concerns with portions of the new Constitution, or who favored staying with the Articles of Confederation.

Who were the “Founders” (10)

Who were the “Founders” (10)

All who played significant roles in the creation of the Constitution, and included people from the above four groups, the Confederation Congress and the first Federal Congress.

Who were the “Founding Generation” (10)

Who were the “Founding Generation” (10)

Includes all the people from the above groups.

Standard Sources for Seeking the Constitution's Original Legal Effect (11)

Standard Sources for Seeking the Constitution's Original Legal Effect (11)

The text of the Constitution, the federal convention notes (James Madison and others), the Federalists Papers, and other documents such as the Articles of Confederation and early state constitutions.

In that the Constitution was a legal document, knowledge of eighteenth-century law and the way legal documents of the time were created is important.

Character of the Men Who Wrote and Ratified the Constitution (13)

Character of the Men Who Wrote and Ratified the Constitution (13)

They believed that God had established a natural law for mankind (John Locke)

They were lawyers or knew the law

They knew history and had a common U.S. and British history

The Constitution as a Legal Document (13)

The Constitution as a Legal Document (13)

The Constitution used the vocabulary of Anglo-American law and followed the customs of legal drafting.

During ratification debates, disputants carried on much of the discussion in legal terms.

Documents that Influenced the Constitution (14)

Documents that Influenced the Constitution (14)

Non-American Documents:The Magna Carta (1215)The Petition of Rights (1628)The Instrument of Government (English Constitution, 1635)The Humble Petition and Advice (second English Constitution, 1657)The Habeas Corpus Act (1679) The English Bill of Rights (1689, which also influenced our Declaration of Independence)

American DocumentsThe colonial chartersCommissions and other instructions from the CrownThe Mayflower Compact (1620)The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)The Massachusetts Charter of Rights and Liberties (1641)The constitutions of the eleven newly independent states (plus Vermont)The Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)The Articles of Confederation (1781)

Conventions (15)

Conventions (15)

Conventions were a British device where the people theoretically retook political power and arranged ("constituted") affairs anew.

Colonial conventions between 1774 - 1776 were used to displace the traditional royalist governments and proposed independence. Both interstate and federal conventions met during the Revolutionary War.

When it became clear that the Articles needed strengthening (i.e., power over commerce), several states sent delegates to Annapolis in 1786, where Congress was asked to address problems with the Articles.

The Constitutional (Federal) Convention of 1787 (15)

The Constitutional (Federal) Convention of 1787 (15)

Fifty-five delegates from twelve states (Rhode Island was absent), who drafted the Constitution at the Federal convention in Philadelphia between May 29 and September 17, 1787.

George Washington was the President, however much of the debate took place in the Committee of the Whole. Although the proceedings were kept secret, James Madison (and other delegates) took copious notes.

Ratification of the Constitution (16)


Once the Constitution was sent to Congress and became public, opposition arose for fear that it would create a central government that was too strong and would suppress liberties, they wanted to be governed locally.


The published Federalists Papers (John Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton) and Federalists speakers at the state ratification debates help persuade half the states to ratify.

The other half also wanted guarantees of a Bill of Rights which was introduced by James Madison on June 8, 1789, and was comprised of the first 12 amendments (10 of which were ratified, with the 11th in 1992.)

The Constitution, a Restraining Document (18)

The Constitution, a Restraining Document (18)

The Constitution consisted primarily of rules to bind politicians (more than two-thirds addresses the task of making government act in accordance with law.)

Elbridge Gerry: "The people of America can never be safe, if Congress have a right to exercise power of giving construction to the constitution different from the original meaning."

The Five Core Values and Principles (18)

The Five Core Values and Principles: #1 Liberty (18)

Liberty: (Lockean natural law): God had bestowed certain powers upon individuals that were referred to as "rights" and were limitless.

When you move into society and form a government, individuals alienated (transferred) rights (powers) to the government to, i.e., keep the peace and protect the remaining rights. Rights central to individual liberties were retained and were unalienable (non-transferable.)

The Five Core Values and Principles: #2 Effective (18)

Effective (or energy of) government: The Articles had been deemed ineffective or insufficiently effective. The preamble listed the effective goals: to form a more perfect union, insure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense.

A central feature: to tax and regulate individuals directly (would no longer rely on the states for revenue and to enforce federal laws.)

The Five Core Values and Principles: #3 Republican (18)

Republican government: a representative government without aristocracy, the states were forbidden from awarding titles of nobility or adopting non-republican forms of government.

The Constitution restricted democracy by taking certain decisions out of the hands of the majority. Even though the Founders (John Adams) believed that the citizenry and government should be virtuous, they left most issues of religion and morality in the hands of the states.

The Five Core Values and Principles: #4 Decentralized (18)

Decentralization government (Federalism): strong states with limited central authority and powers.

Government close to home, not at a remote national capital.

The Five Core Values and Principles: #5 Fiduciary (18)

Fiduciary government: "faith and fidelity," the special obligations that one assumes when managing the property and affairs of another. Government should be a fiduciary enterprise, officials are referred to as the people's "agents, trustees, servants and guardians."

The Five Core Values and Principles: #5 Fiduciary (18)

Obligations: obey instructions, honor limits, act loyally to the interests, avoid (disclose) conflicts of interests, act in good faith, honesty, exercise independent judgment, no delegation without permission, exercise appropiate level of care, treat all impartially and regular accounting (reports) of their actions.

The Constitution's Legal Environment and Structure (25)


Many of the leading Founders were or had been practicing lawyers and had libraries containing books on theology and law, and had been trained at London's Inns of Court (English barristers) or by attendees. The Constitution's basic structure followed most legal documents of the time.


Just like a royal charter granting power, "We the People" were first words in the Preamble, identifying the "grantor," and was followed by seven Articles. The first four Articles were divided into Sections, and paragraphs in Article VI were called Clauses.


Articles I, II and III each addressed the rules pertaining to a branch of power, the legislative, the executive and the judicial, and conferred "enumerated" powers.

Articles IV and VI contained terms to tie the states together more completely.

Article V outlined methods of amendments and VII specified the process of ratification.


Like most legal documents of the time, the Preamble is the statement of the assumptions and purposes of the document and served as the "key to open the minds of the makers" and could shed light on the meaning of the main body of the document:


"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The Six Purposes of the Preamble (28)


1) To make the union that already existed more "prefect" or complete, for a more "effective" government.

2) To establish "justice" (the fiduciary ideal of "impartiality") that had been impaired at times by misgovernment in some states.

3) To ensure “domestic tranquility”, then threatened by contentions between the states and social classes, for a more "effective" government.


4) To provide for the "common defence," a weakness of Congress under the Articles. This was related to both a more "effective" and "impartial" government.

5) To promote the "General Welfare," as opposed to that of individuals, regions or interests, which was a central goal of "public trust."

6) To "secure the blessings of liberty", another core founding principle.

The Founders' Guide, the Intent of the Makers (29)


John Dickinson: "We are not forming plans for a day, month, year or age, but for eternity." The is at odds with many country's constitutions that change every decade or so.

One error (common among lay people) is that the Constitution need no interpretation, that you can simply read it. The opposite error (common among commentators) is that you can interpret it using rules different from those applied to other kinds of legal documents of the time.


The Constitution included a recognized set of rules and guidelines about how a text should be construed, which was the "intent of the makers" (ratifiers) or the "spirit" of the document. The "original understanding" of the meaning of the Constitution was to understand what the ratifiers did understand it to mean, or would have understood it to mean.


The fact that majorities in the ratifying conventions voted for the Constitution after hearing the Federalists is strong evidence that those majorities accepted the Federalists' version of the Constitutions' meaning.

In the absence of coherent subjective understanding, one construed the document in the same way a reasonable, involved person would have construed it at the time, or the "original meaning" or "original public meaning."

Finding the “Intent of the Makers" from the Text (32)


When considering the intent of the makers, you need to think in terms of how the Founding Generation saw things, through the filter of liberty, effective (or energy of) government, republican government, decentralization government (Federalism) and fiduciary government. You need to also read the words as they meant in the 1780s, for example, Samuel Johnson’s eighteenth-century dictionary. Also, many legal documents of the time used Latin, and the Founders made many references to Latin terms and Roman literature.


Legal documents used “concise maxims” called “canons of construction or rules of construction,” knowledge of which helps the reader understand the intent. Over ninety percent of these maxims were expressed in Latin, and many are still used by lawyers today. Often, these rules of construction were generalizations about how people entered into legal relationships.


Courts often take the stand that “words should signify something, they should be understood to have force.” The words that are used needed to be somewhat concise and lead to the understanding.

So for example, if “provide for the general welfare” meant that Congress could do anything it wished, then there would be no need for the Constitution to list over thirty other congressional powers. The listing of other powers tells us that the general welfare clause had limitations.

Rules of Construction (32)

Rules of Construction (32)

Understanding the intent behind the document helps you understand it’s meaning, i.e., if it’s a personal will, it’s intended for distributing assets after death.

The Preamble was often the key to the document’s meaning. The naming of one thing implies the exclusion of another. The Constitution contained several of its own rules of construction to be applied specifically to it, including the Necessary and Proper clause, the Supremacy clause and the Ninth and Tenth amendments.

Finding the “Intent of the Makers" from the Surrounding Circumstances (35)


Historically, you would want to know the circumstances surrounding its creation, what problems needed to be solved, what customs did they want to follow, what assumption did they have, what did they say at the time about the subject and were there documents or subjects that they agreed to at the time. The topics and books they read at the time included religion and the Bible, law and jurisprudence, British / Greek / Roman history, economics, science, agriculture and philosophy.


Some of the most immediate and useful materials are the records of the constitutional debates including delegates’ notes from the federal drafting convention of 1787, the most complete of those were by James Madison. Also, speeches, pamphlets, the Federalists Papers, the state ratifying conventions between 1789-1790 and the first session of Congress (1789), which was also the session that debated and proposed the Bill of Rights.

Equitable Construction (36)

Equitable Construction (36)

In the English system, parliamentary intent, not parliamentary words, were the supreme law.

There is very little need for equitable construction in interpreting the Constitution because very few phrases clearly contradict the Founders’ understanding.

Common Errors of Interpretation (37)


Sometimes a writer or lawyer argues a case (or point or position) rather than seeking the truth, subordinating good facts to a good argument. Writers with an agenda tend to emphasize the evidence they like (that supports their position) over the rest.

More innocent errors come from not considering the Constitution’s text of what the Founders said about the text. Lack of information, i.e., reading eighteenth-century text with twenty-first-century eyes.


Not understanding the eighteenth-century principles and values that underlay the Constitution.

Not understanding eighteenth-century law, so the Constitution may seem somewhat broad and meaningless when applying twenty-first-century, and yet very precise when applying the context of eighteenth-century law, such as “necessary and proper, due process of law, Privileges and Immunities, Advice and Consent, and high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”


Lastly, if you want to understand the 1789 original meaning of the Constitution, you need to typically limit your resource material to that dated, for example, no later than the ratification of the Bill of Rights, December 15, 1791. Our book typically excludes material later than 1796.

The States in the Constitutional System; Compact or Popular Grant (41)


The Constitution divides sovereignty between the federal government and the American people as a whole and the subsets of the American people operating through their state governments.


Was the Constitution an agreement as an interstate compact between the states and the federal government (that could be broken) or as a popular grant.

A grant, where powers not specifically given to the federal government remain in the respective states, and those powers not assigned to either are retained by the people.


The Declaration of Independence refers to Americans as “one people”, not thirteen different states.

During the ratification debates, the prevailing notion was that the Constitution was a grant from the people and that the people, not the states, were creating the federal government.


In stark contract to the Articles that was an interstate compact, the Constitution followed the royal convention of listing the grantor at the beginning of a grant: “We the People.”

Also, in other locations in the Constitution, it refers to the American people as a whole rather than as “peoples” of individual states.

The American people conferred specific powers to the federal government, retained the state governments as agents or subsets of the American people for non-federal purposes.

State Powers (43)

State Powers (43)

The Constitution bestowed limited functions (enumerated powers) on the federal government, and all else was reserved for the states, such as the power to police, tax and to regulate for the public safety, health and morals.

State Powers (43)

The federal government would have almost no role over agriculture or other forms of land, real estate titles and conveyancing, use of personal property outside of commence, wills and inheritances, business regulation and licensing, manufacturing, local government, marriage and family, religion, education, criminal law, civil disputes between citizens of the same state or social services.

State Powers (43)

Sometimes, the state and federal governments shared regulation with the goals and benefits of preventing a concentration of power. Both the state and federal governments would have the power to tax and concurrent jurisdiction over foreign, interstate and Indian commerce.

During conflicts, federal law would prevail (the Supremacy clause.)

State Powers (43)

State legislatures elected U.S. Senators, regulated voting for the U.S. House or Representatives, the times and manner of elections for Congress, and the place for choosing members of Congress (subject to congressional override), selecting vice and presidential electors, and two-thirds of the state legislatures could force Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments.

State immunity from Lawsuits and the Eleventh Amendment (45)


In Anglo-American tradition, citizens of a sovereign government were not allowed to sue that government unless the government allowed itself to be sued.

The Constitution granted the federal courts jurisdiction over “cases, in law and equity” between a state and citizens of another state and “between a state and foreign citizens or subjects.”


The Constitution granted the federal courts power only over “cases” and “controversies.”

Eleventh Amendment (ratified in less than one year) came out of anger over the a Supreme Court decision that held that the citizens of South Carolina could bring an unwilling State of Georgia into federal court, thus violating it’s state sovereignty.

Qualifications of State Sovereignty; Foreign and Military Affairs (48)


States had to yield partial control of their respective militias if nationalized by the federal government during emergencies. At other times, the states would regulate their militias, appoint officers, but Congress would prescribe the training regiment.

States could wage war if invaded or about to be invaded. They otherwise need congressional permission to wage war, to raise armies or navies in peacetime, and were banned from issuing letters of marque and reprisal that authorized ship captains to privateer on behalf of the state.


The states were prohibited from entering into Treaty, Alliance or Confederation, but could enter into an “Agreement or Compact with another state of foreign power” with congressional permission.

If a state were allowed to make a treaty, alliance or confederation it would provide a pretence of international sovereignty, which would contradict with the central government’s role of speaking for the states with a single voice in diplomatic affairs.

Qualifications of State Sovereignty; Foreign Commerce (50)

Qualifications of State Sovereignty; Foreign Commerce (50)

The Constitution limits state jurisdiction over commerce with foreign nations to duties imposed on imports for the sole purpose of funding states inspection laws.

With federal approval or by federal treaty, states could impose embargos on imported goods.

Qualifications of State Sovereignty; Internal Commerce (51)

Qualifications of State Sovereignty; Internal Commerce (51)

The states could not coin paper or metallic currency or issue bills of credit (paper evidence of state debt intended to circulate as money.)

States were barred from passing “tender laws,” where creditors had to accept particular items of payment, except gold or silver coin.

Qualifications of State Sovereignty; Promoting Interstate Comity or Respect (51)

Qualifications of State Sovereignty; Promoting Interstate Comity or Respect (51)

Federal installations could not be abused or held hostage by the host state. States had to give “Full Faith and Credit” to public acts, records and court judgments of other states and respect their extradition orders.

States could enter into compacts with other states to address multi-jurisdictional problems, subject to congressional approval.

The Privileges and Immunities Clause (52)


A provision of Article IV specified that citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges (or a benefit bestowed) and immunities of citizens of the several states. For example, the privilege of a tax exception provided an immunity from paying taxes.


Privileges and immunities did not include “natural rights,” such as free speech and property, but could provide protection of natural rights. For example, the privilege of a patent protected one’s intellectual property.

The Guarantee Clause (53)

The Guarantee Clause (53)

A provision of Article IV guarantees to every state a republican form of government, where the federal government is required to intervene if the rule of law broke down within a state, the state erected a monarchy or the government became immune from citizen control.

One argument over the years is that voter initiatives violate the republican form of government within a state.

Qualifications on State Sovereignty; the Ban on Bills of Attainder (54)

Qualifications on State Sovereignty; the Ban on Bills of Attainder (54)

The Constitution bars Congress and state legislatures from passing bills of attainder for treason or felony resulting in permanent forfeiture of all lands, a sentence of death or a “corruption of blood” (they could not inherit land not transfer it to heirs or a spouse.)

Although an attainder was permissible punishment for treason, as long as it did not include corruption of blood or forfeiture for longer than the life of the person attended.

Qualifications on State Sovereignty; the Ban on Ex Post Facto laws (55)

Qualifications on State Sovereignty; the Ban on Ex Post Facto laws (55)

The Constitution bars Congress and the states from passing retroactive laws after the fact for crimes that were legal when initially committed.

Qualifications on State Sovereignty; the Supremacy Clause (57)

Qualifications on State Sovereignty; the Supremacy Clause (57)

A hierarchy by which state (and federal) judges would prioritize federal and states enactments.

The order or hierarchy of supremacy: first the Constitution, then duly enacted federal laws (in pursuance of the Constitution), then treaties, then state constitutions, then finally state laws.

Federal “actions” taken outside of federal power were not “laws”, and therefore, are not in this hierarchy.

Reclaim Liberty : 3-Step Plan for Restoring our Constitutional Government By Robert J. Thorpe For...

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