Liberty First Society Education
Explore What You’ll Learn
Understand the Constitution through the history, original writings and principles that gave it meaning. Explore the powers of government, the rights of the people, American history and the practical responsibilities of preserving liberty.
What Do You Want to Understand?
Browse by subject or search the complete catalog. You do not have to follow one rigid sequence—start with the constitutional question, historical subject or area of government that interests you most.
Constitutional Foundations
Discover where American liberty came from and the principles upon which constitutional government was constructed.
Explore Foundations → Learning Area 02Government & Its Powers
Examine Congress, the President, the courts, the States and the constitutional mechanisms designed to divide and limit power.
Explore Government → Learning Area 03Rights & Amendments
Study religious liberty, speech, arms, searches, criminal process, property, federalism and the amendments protecting liberty.
Explore Rights → Learning Area 04Founder’s Writings
Go directly to Locke, Paine, the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Cato and other writings behind the founding.
Read the Sources → Learning Area 05American History
Explore the people, events, conflicts and ideas that shaped American constitutional government.
Explore History → Learning Area 06Principles in Practice
Apply constitutional ideas to socialism, education, law enforcement, civic activism and contemporary government.
Explore Application →Explore the Subjects
Each course approaches the Constitution as part of a larger historical tradition. Browse the complete range of subjects currently taught by Liberty First Society.
Constitutional Foundations
Start beneath the Constitution itself—with the ideas, history and principles that explain why the American system was created as it was.
Origins of Liberty
Trace the historical development of individual liberty, natural law and limited government.
Genealogy of the Constitution
Follow the principles behind America’s founding documents through the earlier liberty charters from which they developed.
Bastiat: The Law
Examine law, property, individual rights and the proper purpose—and potential abuse—of government.
The Individual v. the Collective
Compare individual rights with systems that place collective political authority above the individual.
The Rule of Law
Explore equality before the law, due process and the principle that government officials are themselves bound by law.
Federal Supremacy
Understand the Supremacy Clause and why federal supremacy operates only within constitutionally delegated authority.
Property Rights
Examine private property as a central component of liberty and the constitutional limits on governmental interference.
Right to Alter or Abolish
Study the Declaration’s assertion that the people may alter or abolish government that becomes destructive of its purposes.
Morality of Resistance
Explore the moral questions surrounding obedience, conscience and peaceful resistance to unlawful authority.
Origins of the Constitution
Follow the historical and political developments that led to the Constitutional Convention and ratification.
Articles of Confederation
Examine America’s first national governing compact and the experience that preceded the Constitution.
Declaration of Independence
Study natural rights, equality, consent and legitimate government through the Declaration itself.
The Preamble
Examine what the Constitution’s opening words reveal about its source, purposes and limits.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Explore the founding-era meaning of happiness and its relationship to liberty, property and responsibility.
State Sovereignty
Understand delegated federal power, retained State authority and the constitutional structure of federalism.
Separation of Powers
Learn why governmental power was divided and how that structure was intended to prevent concentrated authority.
Political Parties
Examine faction, party loyalty and the founders’ concerns about political organization and constitutional accountability.
Government & Its Powers
Walk through the constitutional structure itself: legislative, executive and judicial authority, the States, amendments and constitutional supremacy.
Introduction to Legislative Authority
Understand Congress as a representative institution possessing delegated—not unlimited—legislative power.
Duty of the House
Examine representation, revenue, impeachment and the constitutional responsibilities of the House.
Power of the Purse
Study congressional control over taxation and spending as a constitutional check on executive power.
Role of the Senate
Explore legislation, treaties, appointments, impeachment trials and the Senate’s relationship to the States.
Delegated Authority
Learn how enumerated powers establish the boundaries of federal legislative authority.
President v. King
Compare the constitutional presidency with monarchy and examine why executive authority was deliberately limited.
Presidential Qualifications
Examine citizenship, residency, age and the constitutional qualifications attached to the presidency.
Electoral College
Understand the presidential-selection system and its relationship to the federal character of the Union.
Twelfth Amendment
Study the election controversy that changed the method for choosing the President and Vice President.
Unconstitutional Powers
Examine executive actions beyond delegated authority and the constitutional mechanisms designed to restrain them.
Introduction to the Judiciary
Study the intended role and constitutional jurisdiction of the federal judiciary.
Courts
Examine federal court structure and the relationship among Congress, the Supreme Court, inferior courts and the States.
Judicial Review
Explore judicial review and the constitutional question of whether courts possess the final word on constitutional meaning.
Instructions to the States
Examine interstate relations, republican government, new States and federal protection.
Article V — Part 1
Learn how formal constitutional amendments are proposed and ratified.
Article V — Part 2
Explore deeper questions surrounding conventions, delegates, ratification and constitutional change.
Supremacy Clause
Understand why federal law is supreme only when made pursuant to the Constitution.
General Welfare & Commerce
Examine constitutional language frequently invoked to justify broad federal authority.
Privileges & Immunities
Explore citizenship, interstate equality and the constitutional protections attached to privileges and immunities.
Rights & Amendments
Examine the historical meaning of the Bill of Rights and later amendments through the particular liberties and governmental limitations they address.
The Great Debate
Explore the Federalist and Anti-Federalist struggle that helped produce the Bill of Rights.
Speech & Press
Study the historical foundations of expression, publication and public accountability.
Protest, Assembly & Riot
Examine peaceful assembly and the constitutional distinction between protected protest and unlawful violence.
Religious Liberty
Explore establishment, free exercise, conscience and America’s historical struggle for religious liberty.
Petition
Study the right to petition public officials for the redress of grievances.
Second Amendment Exposition
Examine the text, history, militia tradition and individual right to keep and bear arms.
America Disarmed
Explore the history and constitutional implications of civilian disarmament.
Militia
Understand the historical militia, an armed citizenry and federal and State military authority.
Quartering & Military Authority
Explore quartering abuses and the amendment’s broader implications for property, privacy and civilian government.
Fourth Amendment Exposition
Study searches, seizures, warrants, probable cause, particularity, privacy and property.
Civil Asset Forfeiture
Examine government seizure of property through due process and property-rights principles.
Governmental Immunity
Explore doctrines limiting government-official liability and their relationship to constitutional remedies.
Amendments Five Through Eight
Examine self-incrimination, counsel, juries, confrontation, bail, punishment and other protections of the accused.
Due Process & Eminent Domain
Study life, liberty, property, public use and just compensation.
Jury Nullification
Explore the historic role of jurors in judging the application of law as well as facts.
Regulatory Authority & Administrative Law
Examine agencies and regulation through delegation, separation of powers and due process.
Delegated v. Reserved Powers
Study the constitutional distinction between delegated federal powers and powers retained by States and people.
Understanding the Fourteenth Amendment
Examine citizenship, privileges or immunities, due process and equal protection.
Taxation & the Constitution
Trace federal taxing authority, apportionment and the constitutional history of taxation.
Direct Election, Recall & Term Limits
Compare the original Senate-selection structure with direct election and debates about accountability.
History of Women Voting in America
Explore women’s political participation and the history leading to constitutional suffrage protections.
Founder’s Writings
Learn constitutional principles from the writings that influenced, defended and challenged the American founding.
Overview of Writings & Resources
Learn how to use primary political writings to understand the ideas behind the Constitution.
Thoughts from Locke
Explore natural rights, property, consent and government through selected writings of John Locke.
The American Crisis
Examine Paine’s Revolutionary-era arguments about liberty, perseverance and political responsibility.
Rights of Man
Study Paine’s arguments concerning natural rights, representative government and hereditary power.
Selected Federalist Papers
Examine major arguments offered in defense of the proposed Constitution.
Selected Anti-Federalist Papers
Study warnings about consolidation, courts, executive authority and protection of liberty.
Selected Cato Letters
Explore influential eighteenth-century warnings about corruption, concentrated power and political tyranny.
Important Letters
Study correspondence that illuminates political disputes, constitutional principles and founding-era reasoning.
American History
Put constitutional ideas back into their historical setting and recover people and events too often separated from the story of American liberty.
Pre-Settlement England
Explore the legal, political and religious history that preceded English settlement in America.
Settlement to Ratification
Trace America from colonial settlement through independence, Confederation, Convention and ratification.
Politics & Principles of the War Between the States
Examine slavery, federalism, secession, State authority and competing understandings of the Union.
Women in America
Explore women’s contributions to advocacy, resistance, war, education, reform and preservation of liberty.
Patriots of Color
Recover stories of Black Americans and other patriots of color in America’s founding and development.
History of Slavery
Trace slavery through American political, legal and constitutional development.
Mercy Otis Warren
Explore American history through the life, political thought and writings of Mercy Otis Warren.
Principles in Practice
Bring constitutional principles into modern institutions, civic action and the responsibilities of public officials.
History & Philosophy of Socialism
Compare socialist theories of property and collective authority with principles of individual liberty and limited government.
History of the American Education System
Follow American education from local systems into the modern institutional structure.
Constitutional Sheriff’s Training
Examine the Sheriff’s oath, constitutional authority, individual rights and the responsibilities of law enforcement.
Activism Boot Camp
Learn practical principles of organization, influence, public engagement and constitutional civic action.
American Government Primer
Build a working foundation in the structure and operation of American constitutional government.
Films & Special Programs
Liberty First education also extends beyond traditional courses into documentary storytelling, professional training and practical civic instruction.
NONCOMPLIANT
State sovereignty and divided governmental authority examined against the backdrop of the COVID years.
NONCOMPLIANT 2: The Sheriff
Explore the history of the office of Sheriff and its relationship to local authority and individual liberty.
Activism Boot Camp
Move from constitutional knowledge to organization, influence, accountability and civic participation.
One Membership. A Growing Library.
Liberty First Society members receive access to the educational library, documentary programming and new material added as the curriculum continues to grow.
Explore Membership