Liberty First Society — Descriptive Course Catalog

Constitutional Foundations

1. Origins of Liberty

Trace the development of the principles of individual liberty and limited government through the historical documents, ideas, and struggles that shaped the American constitutional tradition. Learn why the Constitution cannot be fully understood without understanding the concepts of liberty that came before it.

2. Bastiat: The Law

Explore Frédéric Bastiat’s classic examination of law, government, property, and individual rights. This course considers when law protects liberty, when government exceeds its proper purpose, and how legalized plunder can occur through political institutions.

3. The Individual v. the Collective

Examine the fundamental tension between individual rights and collectivist theories of government. Learn how the American constitutional system begins with the rights and responsibilities of individuals rather than treating people primarily as members of political or social groups.

4. The Rule of Law

Discover what it means to live under the rule of law rather than the rule of rulers. This course examines equality before the law, limits on governmental discretion, due process, and the constitutional principle that government officials are themselves bound by law.

5. Federal Supremacy

What does the Constitution actually mean when it declares federal law to be the “supreme Law of the Land”? Examine the Supremacy Clause, delegated federal authority, state powers, and the limits of federal supremacy within the constitutional system.

6. Property Rights

Explore the historical and constitutional foundations of private property. Learn why the founders treated property rights as closely connected to liberty and examine the constitutional limitations placed on government when it takes, regulates, or interferes with private property.

7. Right to Alter or Abolish

The Declaration of Independence recognizes the people’s right to alter or abolish government when it becomes destructive of its proper ends. Examine the historical meaning of this principle, its relationship to self-government, and the difference between lawful resistance, political reform, and revolution.

8. Morality of Resistance

When does obedience to authority cease to be a moral duty? Drawing from history, political philosophy, and principles of conscience, this course examines the duty and limits of peaceful resistance to unlawful, tyrannical, or conscience-violating government.

9. Origins of the Constitution

Follow the political and historical developments that produced the United States Constitution. Examine the weaknesses of earlier governing arrangements, the disputes surrounding the Constitutional Convention, and the principles the framers sought to preserve.

10. Articles of Confederation

Study America’s first national governing compact and the political system that existed before the Constitution. Learn what the Articles accomplished, where the system struggled, and why those experiences shaped the debates that produced the Constitution.

11. The Declaration of Independence

Study the Declaration as more than a statement separating the colonies from Great Britain. Examine its principles of natural rights, equality, legitimate government, consent of the governed, and the people’s responsibility to preserve liberty.

12. The Preamble

Examine the opening words of the Constitution clause by clause. Learn what the Preamble tells us about the source, purposes, and limits of constitutional government—and what powers it does not grant.

13. The Pursuit of Happiness

What did the founding generation mean by the “pursuit of Happiness”? Explore the historical and philosophical background of this phrase and its relationship to property, liberty, virtue, personal responsibility, and the proper role of government.

14. State Sovereignty

Examine the constitutional position of the states and the division of authority between state and federal governments. Learn the difference between delegated federal powers and retained state authority and why federalism remains essential to the constitutional structure.

15. Separation of Powers

Learn why constitutional government divides power among separate institutions rather than concentrating authority in one set of hands. Examine the historical reasons for separation of powers and the safeguards created to prevent the accumulation and abuse of governmental power.

16. Political Parties

Explore the founders’ warnings about factions and political parties and examine how party politics developed in the early republic. Consider how political loyalty can affect constitutional accountability and the responsibilities of citizens and elected officials.

The Three Branches

Article I — Legislative Authority

1. Introduction to Legislative Authority

Examine Article I and the constitutional role of Congress. Learn why legislative power was placed in a representative body and why Congress possesses only those federal legislative powers delegated by the Constitution.

2. Duty of the House

Study the unique constitutional responsibilities of the House of Representatives, including representation, revenue measures, impeachment, and accountability to the people.

3. Power of the Purse

Explore one of Congress’s most important constitutional checks: control over taxation and government spending. Learn how the power of the purse was designed to restrain executive authority and keep public money accountable to the people.

4. Role of the Senate

Examine the constitutional design and responsibilities of the United States Senate, including legislation, treaties, appointments, and impeachment trials, along with the Senate’s original relationship to the states.

5. Delegated Authority

Learn how the doctrine of enumerated and delegated powers defines congressional authority. Examine what Congress may constitutionally do, what remains outside federal jurisdiction, and why the distinction matters.

Article II — Executive Authority

1. President v. King

Compare the constitutional American presidency with the executive powers of monarchy that the founding generation knew firsthand. Learn why the president was created as a limited constitutional officer rather than an elected king.

2. Presidential Qualifications

Examine the constitutional qualifications for the presidency and the principles behind them. Consider citizenship, age, residency, eligibility, and the constitutional expectations attached to the office.

3. Electoral College

Study the constitutional system for selecting the president. Learn how the Electoral College was designed, how it has changed, and how it reflects the federal character of the United States.

4. Twelfth Amendment

Explore the election controversy that led to the Twelfth Amendment and learn how the amendment changed the process for electing the president and vice president.

5. Unconstitutional Powers

Examine presidential actions and authorities that extend beyond the powers delegated by Article II. Learn how executive power expands, how constitutional boundaries can be blurred, and what checks exist to restrain executive overreach.

Article III — Judicial Authority

1. Introduction to the Judiciary

Study Article III and the constitutional design of the federal judiciary. Learn the intended role of judges, the scope of federal judicial power, and the distinction between interpreting law and making law.

2. Courts

Examine the structure and jurisdiction of the federal court system and the constitutional relationship between the Supreme Court, inferior federal courts, Congress, and the states.

3. Judicial Review

Does the Supreme Court have the final word on the Constitution? Examine the history and constitutional basis of judicial review, the limits of judicial authority, and the responsibilities of the other branches and the people in constitutional interpretation.

Article IV — The States

1. Instructions to the States

Examine Article IV’s provisions governing relations among the states, recognition of public acts and judgments, interstate obligations, admission of new states, republican government, and federal protection.

Article V — Amendments

1. Article V, Part 1

Learn how the Constitution may be formally amended and why the framers deliberately made constitutional change possible while requiring broad agreement.

2. Article V, Part 2

Take a deeper look at the amendment process, including proposals by Congress and the states, ratification, the convention method, and the constitutional questions surrounding efforts to amend the Constitution.

Article VI

1. Supremacy Clause

Examine the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties as the supreme law of the land. Learn why the crucial constitutional phrase is not simply “federal law,” but federal law made in pursuance of the Constitution.

Bill of Rights and Amendments

1. The Great Debate

Explore the struggle over ratification of the Constitution between Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Learn why demands for explicit protections of individual liberty ultimately produced the Bill of Rights.

First Amendment

1. Speech and Press

Examine the historical foundations and constitutional protections of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Learn why these liberties are essential to public debate, accountability, and republican government.

2. Protest, Assembly, and Riot

Explore the constitutional right of peaceful assembly and the distinction between protected protest and unlawful violence. Learn how the First Amendment protects civic participation without creating a constitutional right to riot or destroy property.

3. Religious Liberty

Study the historical struggle for religious liberty and the First Amendment’s protections for religious exercise. Examine establishment, free exercise, conscience, and the relationship between religion and government in the American constitutional tradition.

4. Petition

Examine the right of the people to petition government for a redress of grievances. Learn how petitioning functioned historically and why direct appeal to public officials remains part of constitutional self-government.

Second Amendment

1. Second Amendment Exposition

Study the text, history, and constitutional principles behind the right to keep and bear arms. Examine the relationship between the individual right, the militia, self-defense, and the founding generation’s distrust of concentrated military power.

2. America Disarmed

Explore the political and historical consequences of disarmament and the arguments used to restrict civilian possession of arms. Consider those developments in light of the principles protected by the Second Amendment.

3. Militia

What did the founding generation mean by “the militia”? Examine historical militia institutions, the constitutional text, federal and state authority, and the relationship between an armed citizenry and organized military forces.

Third Amendment

1. History and Abuses of Quartering

Explore the history behind the Third Amendment and colonial objections to the quartering of soldiers. Learn how this rarely litigated amendment reflects broader constitutional principles concerning property, privacy, military authority, and civilian government.

Fourth Amendment

1. Fourth Amendment Exposition

Study the constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Examine warrants, probable cause, particularity, privacy, property, and the historical abuses that led to the Fourth Amendment.

2. Civil Asset Forfeiture

Examine the practice of government seizure of property suspected of connection to criminal activity and evaluate civil asset forfeiture through the constitutional principles of property rights, due process, and limits on governmental power.

3. Immunity

Explore doctrines that protect government officials from certain forms of legal liability. Consider how governmental immunity interacts with constitutional rights, individual remedies, and public accountability.

Amendments Five Through Eight

1. Criminal Process

Examine constitutional protections for people accused of crimes, including grand juries, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, notice of charges, confrontation, counsel, jury trials, bail, and punishment.

2. Due Process and Eminent Domain

Study the Fifth Amendment’s protections for life, liberty, and property. Examine due process and the government’s power of eminent domain, including the constitutional requirement of public use and just compensation.

3. Jury Nullification

Explore the historical role of the jury as more than a finder of facts. Examine the tradition of jurors judging both the application of law and the conduct of government and the controversy surrounding jury nullification today.

4. Regulatory Authority and Administrative Law

Examine the growth of administrative agencies and regulations created outside the ordinary legislative process. Consider administrative government in light of separation of powers, delegated authority, due process, and constitutional accountability.

Ninth and Tenth Amendments

1. Delegated v. Reserved Powers

Study the Ninth and Tenth Amendments and the constitutional distinction between powers delegated to the federal government and powers retained by the states and the people.

Fourteenth Amendment

1. Understanding the Fourteenth Amendment

Examine the historical context, text, and constitutional consequences of the Fourteenth Amendment. Explore citizenship, privileges or immunities, due process, equal protection, and the amendment’s impact on the relationship between federal and state authority.

Sixteenth Amendment

1. Taxation and the Constitution

Trace the constitutional history of federal taxation and examine Congress’s taxing power, direct and indirect taxes, apportionment, and the changes associated with the Sixteenth Amendment.

Seventeenth Amendment

1. Direct Election, Recall, and Term Limits

Examine the original constitutional method of selecting United States senators and the transformation created by the Seventeenth Amendment. Consider direct election, state representation, accountability, recall, and debates over term limits.

Nineteenth Amendment

1. History of Women Voting in America

Explore the history of women’s political participation and suffrage in America before and after the Nineteenth Amendment. Examine the people, events, state developments, and constitutional changes associated with women’s voting rights.

Clauses

Three Clauses

Study three constitutional clauses whose meaning has had an outsized effect on federal power and individual liberty. Learn how careful attention to constitutional language can dramatically change our understanding of government authority.

Privileges and Immunities

Examine the Constitution’s protections for the privileges and immunities of citizens and their historical role in interstate equality, citizenship, and constitutional liberty.

Founder’s Writings

1. Overview of Writings and Resources

Learn how to approach the political writings that shaped the American founding. This course introduces important primary sources and provides a framework for using the founders’ own words to understand constitutional principles.

2. Thoughts from Locke

Explore selected writings of John Locke and their influence on natural rights, property, consent, government, and the American theory of liberty.

3. Paine — The Crisis

Read and examine selections from Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis, written to strengthen the cause of independence during the Revolution. Explore Paine’s arguments about liberty, courage, perseverance, and political responsibility.

4. Paine — Rights of Man

Examine Thomas Paine’s defense of natural rights and representative government. Consider his arguments about hereditary political power, liberty, political legitimacy, and the rights of citizens.

5. Selected Federalist Papers

Study key essays from The Federalist Papers to understand arguments offered in defense of the proposed Constitution, including federalism, separation of powers, representation, and the structure of the new government.

6. Selected Anti-Federalist Papers

Examine the concerns raised by opponents of the proposed Constitution, including consolidation of power, the absence of a bill of rights, federal courts, executive authority, and the protection of state and individual liberty.

7. Selected Cato Letters

Explore selections from Cato’s Letters, an influential eighteenth-century defense of liberty and warning against corruption, concentrated power, and political tyranny.

8. Important Letters

Study correspondence from influential founders and political thinkers that illuminates constitutional principles, political disagreements, and the reasoning behind the American system of government.

American History

1. Pre-Settlement England

Examine the English political, legal, religious, and intellectual history that preceded the settlement of America. Learn how centuries of conflict over law, monarchy, representation, and liberty contributed to the American constitutional tradition.

2. Settlement to Ratification

Trace American history from colonial settlement through independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitutional Convention, and ratification. Follow the development of the political principles that eventually shaped the Constitution.

3. Politics and Principles of the War Between the States

Examine the political and constitutional disputes surrounding the Civil War, including slavery, federalism, secession, state authority, and competing understandings of the Union.

4. Women in America

Explore the contributions of women throughout American history, including political advocacy, resistance, war, education, family, reform movements, and the preservation of liberty.

5. Patriots of Color

Recover the stories of Black Americans and other patriots of color whose contributions to the founding, independence, military service, abolition, and American liberty are often overlooked in conventional histories.

6. History of Slavery

Trace slavery through its historical, political, and legal development in America. Examine the institution of slavery, constitutional controversies, abolition, the Civil War, and the struggle to reconcile American practice with the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

7. Mercy Otis History

Explore American history through the life, writings, and political thought of Mercy Otis Warren, one of the founding era’s most significant female writers, historians, and defenders of republican liberty.

Present Day Issues

History and Philosophy of Socialism

Trace the intellectual and historical development of socialist political thought. Compare socialist theories of property, economics, collective authority, and government with the constitutional principles of individual liberty, private property, and limited government.

History of the American Education System

Examine the development of American education from local and community-based systems to the modern institutional structure. Explore the political philosophies, laws, and policies that shaped the role of government in education.

Constitutional Sheriffs Training

Examine the constitutional role and responsibilities of the sheriff and other law-enforcement officers. This professional course explores the oath of office, constitutional limits on governmental authority, the protection of individual rights, and the responsibilities of law enforcement within a constitutional republic.