Confused about a constitutional phrase?

One of the most neglected tools for understanding the Constitution is also one of the most important: The Law of the 18th century.

The Constitution is a legal document. It was written mostly by lawyers. It was explained to the ratifying public mostly by lawyers. And that public was exceptionally well-versed in law: As Edmund Burke pointed out in his 1775 speech on Reconciliation with America, “In no country perhaps in the world [as America] is the law so general a study.” And while most of the Constitution is written in straightforward lay language, it does contain some important legal terms of art.

Yet very few writers on the Constitution – even law professors – have made much of an effort to access 18th century law.


The Power to Purchase Happy Meals, Guns, and Drugs

There has been a growing list of things that you can not sell in each of the fifty states. In California you can not sell light bulbs or the American favorite happy meals. Every time they limit what can be sold we seem to lose a little bit more freedom in the choices we can make because limiting what can be sold limits what can be owned. We can not sell guns therefore we can not own them. Its only logical because in order to own something it has to be given to you by someone else thus limiting what can be sold limits what can be owned.

We can not own guns, illicit substances of any variety, happy meals, light bulbs, and the result is a loss of freedom. Our free will to live our lives the way we want is hindered because much of our life revolves around economics. Our desire to use a gun can only be fulfilled when we own a gun which can only be possible when someone can sell it to us. It seems that our freedom to do something is only possible when we have the freedom to dispose of our property the way we wish.

It’s definitely not a coincidence that people who wish to control our lives do so by controlling what we buy and sell to one another.