The original text of The Virginia Plan presented at the Constitutional Convention. Discusses federal versus consolidated government.

This Executive Order signed by President Bill Clinton on 8/4/99 is an order that describes the balance between state and federal governments, as warranted by the Framers of the Constitution and federalism.

At this site you can read Chapter XVI, Of Conquest, by John Locke stating that the basis of any government must be the consent of the people, and implying in the writing that war or revolution is often mistaken as consent. (Published in...

A searchable and browsable database of U.S. federal regulations and rules issued by U.S. federal agencies.

The Governor of Wisconsin's remarks on monetary policy. The article discusses the effective operation of the central bank within government. (October 24, 2000)

Direct online access to the basic Federal Government documents that define our democratic society, a core group of current and historical Government publications.

Read this text of the 16th Amendment, followed by the history of the Amendment and an analysis. (PDF)

A complete government description of Section 3789d of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, which explicitly prohibits the federal government from controlling state or local police agencies, and which explicitly...

The German Law Archive publishes cases, statutes, literature and bibliographies on German law in English language.

From the Federal Records in the National Archives, find the Table of Contents listing all the records and history of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. (The actual documents themselves are not here.) Click on Administrative History...

A 1934 article depicting the poor quality of housing in the larger cities of America and the Federal government's efforts to correct the problems.

Historical document excerpt written in opposition to federalist proposal, October, 1787. Argued against the formation of a federal government and criticized the proposed Constitution. Numbered paragraphs added and spelling modernized.

"Sustainability and Monetary Policy," Remarks by Governor Laurence H. Meyer before the National Economists Club and the Society of Government Economists, Washington, D.C., January 20, 2000. With links to graphics files in PDF format.

A scholarly paper on the U.S. banking debacle of the 1980s and the lesson it holds on government mismanagement. Provides background on the history of savings and loans and draws the conclusion that the banking debacle was primarily an...

This letter from George Mason shows his Anti-Federalist opinions and opposition to a planned centralized government.

Read the authentic notes on Virginia's selection of their delegates to the Federal Constitutional Convention. The transcript describes the nominations and the final tally - George Washington, Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair,...

A very interesting look at the efforts made by the Wilson administration and the American public in feeding its citizens during World War I. Find out about the extraordinary legal actions taken by the federal government to assure a...

Original photos that look at housing, employment, and unemployment during the hard times of the Great Depression and the changing role of the federal government with the New Deal.

This is an annual report issued by the SSA in which they evaluate the state and health of the Social Security program and make projections. It is also in PDF format and there is a summary available.

The preamble is the introduction to the Constitution. It outlines the general goals of the framers: to create a just government and to ensure peace, adequate national defense, and a healthy, free nation. With its first three words, "We...

Resource explains how during the time of the Civil War the Supreme Court used Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution to show that the Confederation formed by the seceding States had no legal existence. The site also...

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which became known as the Indian New Deal, dramatically changed the federal government's Indian policy. This letter by Antonio Luhan to the then-Indian Commissioner gives an impression of its...

Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood. -...

This is the text of the constitutional amendments proposed by the Hartford Convention in 1814, trying to get the federal government to give control of militias to the states and recognize other New England interests.