Lysander Spooner in the antebellum period has been overlooked. He was a radical abolitionist lawyer. He wrote The Unconstitutionality of Slavery. William Lloyd Garrison felt the Constitution was a bloody pro-slavery compact.

1798 was an important year. The Principles of ’98 influenced all of American history. The Alien and Sedition Acts and the Kentucky Resolutions revealed these principles.

As of 1790, all original thirteen colonies had ratified the Constitution. Four clauses have caused great trouble ever since: The War Powers Clause; The Commerce Clause; The Necessary and Proper Clause; and, The General Welfare Clause.

Fischer’s book Albion’s Seed described four British folkways into the colonies.  The four were Puritans to New England, aristocrats to Virginia, Quakers to Pennsylvania, and borderland immigrants to Appalachian backcountry.