Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association (CCTA)

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The Key To Unlocking Original Intent:  State Ratifying Conventions and the Debate for the U.S. Constitution

Many Americans are now expressing interest in the U.S. Constitution and original intent. On January 6 Congress even read the U.S. Constitution.

James Madison, the father of the Constitution, once remarked that the Constitution’s meaning "is not in the opinions or intentions of the body which planned and proposed it, but in those of the state conventions where it received all the authority which it possesses." Notice the last six words! And a leading Federalist from North Carolina and one of the first justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, James Iredell, remarked at the 1788 ratification convention that it would be pointless for future generations to discuss original intent without any references to state ratifying conventions.

That’s why the John Locke Foundation and North Carolina History Project started offering constitutional workshops in 2010 and are now offering several more in 2011. The next one is scheduled for January 15 in Morehead City.

In “A Citizens’ Constitutional Workshop: What The State Ratifying Convention Can Teach Us Today,” participants learn about the importance of state ratifying conventions and that they gave the Constitution its legitimacy. Attendees are also introduced to leading North Carolina Federalists and Anti-Federalists—men such as William Blount, William R. Davie, Timothy Bloodworth, Samuel Spencer, and Willie Jones, and many other important luminaries and founding documents.

The workshops are an effort to understand original intent and to remind North Carolinians that a search for original intent must include a study of state ratification conventions.

For more information about North Carolina History Project or the constitutional workshops, please contact Founding Director Troy Kickler at tkickler@northcarolinahistory.org.

A Citizens’ Constitutional Workshop sponsored by the Crystal Coast Tea Party Patriots and presented by The John Locke Foundation and The North Carolina History Project

Saturday, January 15 at 9:30 am to 3:00 pm, Joslyn Hall, Carteret Community College, 3505 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557. Cost is $5.00 (does not include lunch).
Click Here for More Information and/or to Register


http://www.johnlocke.org/events/event.html?id=845