History

Liberty and the Foundations of the Executive Branch

ABSTRACT

This conference examines primary documents debating the form and nature of power in the office of the president and other officials in the executive branch. These issues divided not only the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists but also caused conflict within the Federalists, and they remain important matters today.

READING LIST

From Liberty Fund

The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793–1794

by By Alexander Hamilton (Pacificus) and James Madison (Helvidius)
Edited and with an Introduction by Morton J. Frisch

The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793–1794 matched Hamilton and Madison in the first chapter of an enduring discussion about the proper roles of executive and legislative branches in the conduct of American foreign policy. Ignited by President Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation of 1793, which annulled the eleventh article of America’s treaty with…

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Additional Readings

"Magna Carta." Yale Law School. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/magframe.asp (November 17, 2009).

"English Petition of Rights." The Constitution Society. http://www.constitution.org/eng/petright.htm (November 17, 2009).

"English Bill of Rights." Yale Law School. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/england.asp (November 17, 2009).

"Pennsylvania Constitution—Preamble, Declaration of Rights, and Sections 19-22." Yale Law School. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/pa08.asp (November 17, 2009).

"Virginia Constitution." National Humanities Institute. http://www.nhinet.org/ccs/docs/va-1776.htm (November 17, 2009).

"Massachusetts Constitution—Part I, Article XXX, and Part II, Chapter II, Section 1." National Humanities Institute. http://www.nhinet.org/ccs/docs/ma-1780.htm (November 17, 2009).

“Declaration of Independence.” Downloaded from TeachingAmericanHistory.org, a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1 (April 3, 2018).

"Articles of Confederation—Articles IX and X." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=47 (November 17, 2009).

Frohnen, Bruce P., eds. The American Republic: Primary Sources. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, Inc., 2002.

"Virginia Plan." Yale Law School. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_529.asp#rand (November 17, 2009).

"New Jersey Plan." Yale Law School. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/patexta.asp (November 17, 2009).

"Federal Farmer V." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1622 (November 17, 2009).

"Federal Farmer XIII." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1763 (November 17, 2009).

"Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=477 (November 17, 2009).

"Virginia Resolution, 1798." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=161 (November 17, 2009).

"Kentucky Resolution, 1799." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=98 (November 17, 2009).

Adams, John. "First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1797." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1160 (November 17, 2009).

Alexander Hamilton. "The Federalist No. 69." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=833 (November 17, 2009).

Alexander Hamilton. "The Federalist No. 70 ." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=16 (November 17, 2009).

Alexander Hamilton. "The Federalist No. 71." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=835 (November 17, 2009).

Alexander Hamilton. "Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Monday, June 18." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/0618.html (November 17, 2009).

An Old Whig. "Antifederalist Papers Number 70." TheVRWC.org. http://www.thevrwc.org/antifederalist/antiFederalist70.html (November 17, 2009).

Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 1st Congress, 1st Session. "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875." The Library of Congress. http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llac&fileName=001/llac001.db&recNum=254 (November 17, 2009).

Cato. "Cato IV." Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=1950 (November 10, 2009).

Elliot, Jonathan. The Debates in the Several State Conventions of the Adoption of the Federal Constitution. Washington, DC: Published under the Sanction of Congress, 1827.

Elliot, Jonathan. "The debates in the several state conventions on the adoption of the federal Constitution." The debates in the several state conventions on the adoption of the federal Constitution (1836): 1-49. http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1906 (accessed ).

Elliot, Jonathan. "The debates in the several state conventions on the adoption of the federal Constitution." The debates in the several state conventions on the adoption of the federal Constitution (1836): 1-16. http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1907 (accessed ).

Hamilton, Alexander. The Works of Alexander Hamilton. Edited by Henry Cabot Lodge. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904. http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1380/64326 (accessed November 17, 2009).

James Madison. "Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Monday, August 6." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/0806.html (November 17, 2009).

James Madison. "Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Friday, August 17." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/0817.html (November 17, 2009).

James Madison. "Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Friday, September 7." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/0907.html (November 17, 2009).

James Madison. "Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Saturday, September 8." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/0908.html (November 17, 2008).

James Madison. "Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Monday, September 10." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/0910.html (November 17, 2009).

Jefferson, Thomas . "First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801." TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=444 (November 17, 2009).

Madison, James. “Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Thursday, September 6.” TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/0906.html (November 17, 2009).

Madison, James. “Vices of the Political System of the United States [April 1787] .” TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=802 (accessed on October 18, 2011).

William Penn. "Antifederalist Papers Number 73." TheVRWC.org. http://www.thevrwc.org/antifederalist/antiFederalist73.html (November 17, 2009).