Posted on 03/30/2015 10:26:39 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In questions of powers, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. — Thomas Jefferson
Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t instantly recognize those words from Thomas Jefferson. They’re not etched in marble on his memorial in Washington. While they express a common sentiment of the founding generation — that since men are no “angels,” the Constitution is necessary to control their baser acts — the occasion for Jefferson’s “chains” was anything but common.
The words come from Jefferson’s draft of the Kentucky Resolutions, in which he espoused the doctrine of nullification, by which the states could declare acts of Congress null and void when, in their view, such acts are an abuse of power.
“Where powers are assumed which have not been delegated,” he wrote in his draft, “a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy.” The targets of nullification were the Alien and Sedition Acts, which among other things allowed for the jailing of people critical of the government.
But Jefferson’s draft Kentucky Resolutions and the version ultimately enacted in the state lived on only in infamy, resurrected by secessionists in the pre-Civil War era but otherwise disowned for their potential to break up the union. Jefferson’s “friends and admirers sought to distance themselves and him” from the whole episode, according to scholars. Jefferson ghost-wrote the resolutions for someone else, and did not own up to authorship until late in life — and only when pressed.
Ted Cruz is not a supporter of nullification. But he sure loves the “chains” quote....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
BrakBrak Obama has repeatedly said that he’s frustrated by the restrictions that the Constitution puts on the powers of government.
His is a lawless administration.
Apparently, a whoring, self-serving, drunk EXEMPT Congress
and a traitorous (not an American based upon the
absence of documentation) CIC, is enough to nullify,
what was once, the US Constitution.
Nixon resigned on an impending Constitutional crisis
because HE WAS AN AMERICAN.
Can’t be said of the criminal Moslem Tyrant
by Pelosi’s fraud.
Do we really have to share this continent with them?
bkmk
CRUZ or LOSE!This is quite revealing .. the DemocRATS are always lauding Jefferson. I wonder if they really knew he felt that way about the subject of “power”. LOL
I confess that I am not familiar with that quote, but it is outstanding. Cruz continues to impress.
Have heard that quote many times. Good one for him to use.
NICE logo!
“Cruz continues to impress.”
Yup, the more I hear about - and especially from - him, the more I like him as a candidate.
As J.J. used to say “I found it!”
Oh, look - it’s our Sunni President Gibsmedat!
The post article is just agitprop. The Supreme Court has upheld nullification as recently as 1997 in Prinz v United States.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/95-1478.ZO.html
States cannot constitutionally be forced to enforce federal law.
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