A Less Perfect Union: The Case for States' Rights

by Adam Freedman

Overview

“How Washington elites have effectively staged a coup against the sovereign states, usurping powers that were never intended for the central government.” —Mark R. Levin, #1 New York Times-bestselling author

In A Less Perfect Union, Adam Freedman provides an illuminating history of states’ rights, from the Constitutional Convention through the Civil War and the New Deal to today. He reveals how hard the Founders fought to keep power in the hands of the states, the surprising role of states’ rights as a weapon against slavery, and the federal government’s eventual abandonment of all constitutional limitations on the scope of its power. Surveying the latest developments in Congress and the state capitals, he finds a growing sympathy for states’ rights on both sides of the aisle, as the federal government usurps more and more control.

But Freedman goes further, boldly arguing that a return to states’ rights is the only way to check the tyranny of federal overreach, take power out of the hands of the special interests and crony capitalists in Washington, and realize the Founders’ vision of freedom. With concrete policy proposals, A Less Perfect Union lays out an achievable vision of a nation in which states are free to address the health, safety, and economic well-being of their citizens without federal coercion and crippling red tape.

As states’ rights issues continue to drive the national conversation, A Less Perfect Union is essential reading for anyone frustrated by the federal government’s daily infringement of the quintessentially American right of local self-government.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062269966
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/17/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	373
Sales rank:	19,919
File size:	698 KB

About the Author

Adam Freedman is one of America's leading commentators on law and holds degrees from Yale, Oxford, and the University of Chicago. He is also the author of The Naked Constitution: What the Founders Said and Why It Still Matters. A former columnist for the New York Law Journal, Freedman covers legal affairs for Ricochet.com. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two daughters.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The War Against the States 1

The Past: Everything They Taught You Is Wrong

1 The Bill of (States') Rights 35

2 Tree Speech, Tree Trade, and Nullification 51

3 States' Rights and the Abolitionists 73

4 Progressives Give Birth to a Nation 91

5 FDR Creates Satellite States 121

6 Big Brother Comes of Age 145

The Present: The Case for States' Rights Today

7 The Blessings of Liberty 183

8 Democracy, for a Change 207

9 Real Diversity 223

10 A More Competent Government 241

11 A Lasting Peace 261

The Future: Reviving States' Rights

12 An Action Plan 279

Acknowledgments 311

Notes 313

Index 341

Editorial Reviews

A Less Perfect Union explains how Washington elites have effectively staged a coup against the sovereign states, usurping powers that were never intended for the central government. With a presidential election approaching, Americans must, as Freedman urges, rediscover the virtues of federalism and self-government. ” — Mark Levin, author of The Liberty Amendments

From the Publisher

A Less Perfect Union explains how Washington elites have effectively staged a coup against the sovereign states, usurping powers that were never intended for the central government. With a presidential election approaching, Americans must, as Freedman urges, rediscover the virtues of federalism and self-government.

Mark Levin