Re: An American Classical Liberalism

In An American Classical Liberalism, Lew Rockwell lyrically describes an amazing dream in which he envisions the United States under the Constitution as originally sold to the state ratifying conventions as a decentralized federal republic with explicitly limited powers granted to it by the states, with the remaining reserved powers exercised by states and localities under their jurisdiction. This was the “originalist” vision of the Framers. But it was a myth and was quickly demonstrated to be illusory. The 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia actually performed a coup d’état and, under Lincoln’s transformation, radically created what emerged as a consolidated nationalist empire with imperial designs overseas, and draconian regimentation and centralized control at home.

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