Among many days worthy of remembrance, one that is often forgotten is June 8, 1789, when James Madison, in the first Congress under the newly ratified Constitution, addressed the House in a historic speech. The government had been operating for only a few months. Several states had submitted proposed amendments to the Constitution which Madison encouraged Congress to consider and worked to consolidate and draft himself. The result would be what the world now knows as the Bill of Rights.
PREVIOUS EPISODES
“Today, all Americans and the whole world can see that the American government has chosen not to defend American territory or even American interests.”

“Tocqueville reflected that administrative centralization would lead to ‘administrative despotism’—a distant, all-powerful, central government, beyond control, managing the minute details of the lives of every individual.”

WHAT IS THE AMERICAN STORY?
The American Story is a production by Chris Flannery of the Claremont Institute.