The fundamental principle of federalism
Thoughts on John Dickinson and the Constitution Party
In “The Spirit of American Constitutionalism” (published in The Imaginative Conservative on September 16, 2024), Gregory S. Ahern maintains that for the framers of the American Constitution, “the sovereignty of the states is not of secondary importance but is one of the pillars of the constitutional edifice. The states, as distinct political communities, provide the source of the virtue and wisdom that are to guide the nation, and they act as a check on the potential abuse of power by those entrusted with it at the national level.” Ahern holds a Ph.D. in Political Theory from the Catholic University of America, and he is a Fellow in Constitutional Theory at the Center for Constitutional Studies, a conservative think tank, of the National Humanities Institute.
Ahern basis his conclusion on the study of the influential American Founder John Dickinson, who wrote essays in defense of the constitution proposed to the people by the Constitution…