Improving Education With Primary Sources

Pivotal primary source documents elevate the intellectual horizons of students. Great statesmen and important thinkers from the past help students today see the world from a higher point of view.

Primary Source Engagement

My days right now are dedicated for the most part to the ongoing development of a novel digital platform designed for educators, which is nearing completion but not yet available for public viewing. Soon, my friends. Soon.

This initiative aims to enhance pedagogical practices by providing resources that deepen teachers’ understanding of important primary source documents. My goal is to help good teachers become extraordinary at telling the human story and preparing students for the responsibilities of civic and personal self-government.

Platform Overview

At the core of this project lies a carefully curated collection of primary source documents, organized into four subject areas:

• Early American History

• Later American History

• Philosophy in Their Own Words

• Fundamentals of Economics & U.S. Citizenship

These primary sources are complemented by a suite of tutorials in multiple formats—written, audio, and video—tailored specifically for teachers.

The objective is to equip and prep teachers with an understanding of the key ideas and central arguments enshrined within select primary source documents, thereby enhancing their ability to teach these documents effectively.

The Value of Primary Source Documents

For students wanting to learn, there is no substitute for primary source documents. Direct encounters with seminal texts, renowned speeches, and influential thinkers—those who advanced liberty and human flourishing, as well as those who did the opposite—empowers students.

When a student grasps the arguments of Plato or Aristotle, comprehends the design and purpose of the United States Constitution as articulated by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, or evaluates the core ideas of Karl Marx and recognizes both their appeal and tyrannical danger, the student is immersed in the Socratic method, which is a catalyst for higher-order thinking and intellectual growth.

As all good classicists have long recognized, familiarity with pivotal primary source documents elevates the intellectual horizons of students. By studying the works of great statesmen and important thinkers, students begin to see the world from a higher, broader point of view.

Academic Rigor Through Primary Sources

The study of primary source materials engenders academic rigor that surpasses standard textbooks, conventional lesson plans, and diluted mainstream curricula. Reading a textbook summary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, for instance, pales in comparison to the transformative experience of analyzing and discussing the actual debates between Messrs. Lincoln and Douglas.

Among the materials I have curated is the United States Constitution, a foundational primary source document in American history. Rather than dismissing the Constitution as a product of monied interests and racism—as the Constitution is often presented in mainstream academia—my platform prepares teachers to guide students in unpacking the Constitution’s grand purpose, design, and strategy for liberty.

Sample Tutorial: Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution

What follows is a sample tutorial for teachers, focusing on the first sentence of the Constitution after the Preamble—Article I, Section 1. This tutorial is designed to equip teachers with the knowledge and pedagogical strategies to illuminate the Constitution’s principles for their students.

As you read it, imagine a future where large numbers of American students learn these basic lessons:

Teacher Tutorial: Article I, Section 1

Educators should remind students of John Locke’s definition of political power, which he describes as the authority “of making laws with penalties of death, and consequently all lesser penalties” (Second Treatise of Government, 1690). Emphasize that there are three forms of political power: legislative, executive, and judicial.

Note that each of the first three Articles of the Constitution opens with a Vesting Clause, which delegates (or vests) a specific type of power to each of the three branches of the federal government:

• Article I establishes the legislative branch and opens with a Vesting Clause concerning legislative power.

• Article II establishes the executive branch, vesting “the executive power” in a “President of the United States of America.”

• Article III establishes the judicial branch, vesting “the judicial power of the United States” in “one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”

Direct students to the text of Article I, Section 1 (the Legislative Vesting Clause), ideally displaying it on a screen or board so that everyone can read it:

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Pose the following questions to students:

• According to this clause, what legislative powers are vested in Congress?

• Does Congress have all legislative powers imaginable?

• Is Congress given unlimited power to enact whatever laws members of Congress feel are beneficial for the nation, or for themselves?

• Does Congress have the legislative power to confiscate money and resources from some citizens in order to give money and resources to politically-connected groups?

The answer to these questions is unequivocally: No.

Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution specifies that Congress possesses only the legislative powers herein granted—those powers explicitly granted within the Constitution itself, neither more nor less. The very clause that vests legislative powers in Congress simultaneously limits those powers, confining Congress to the powers explicitly delegated by We The People through our Constitution.

Later, in Article I, Section 8, the Constitution provides a concise list of the legislative powers We The People granted to our Congress. The list is short – students can read it within a minute or two. It includes powers such as:

• regulating commerce with foreign nations and among the several states;

• establishing a uniform rule of naturalization (the process by which a foreigner can be invited to become a U.S. citizen);

• declaring war;

• raising and supporting armies;

• providing and maintaining a navy.

The powers in that list are the powers of Congress.

Self-governing citizens of the United States established and ordained a constitutional government characterized by enumerated, delegated, and limited powers. If the Constitution does not grant a specific power to Congress, Congress does not have that power and may not lawfully or constitutionally exercise it.

Case Study: The 18th Amendment and Prohibition

To illustrate the principle of vested, enumerated legislative powers, consider the example of the 18th Amendment and Prohibition.

The original Constitution did not grant Congress any power to regulate or prohibit alcohol. In the 1910s, when members of Congress sought to exercise such power, they recognized the absence of constitutional authority. Consequently, they proposed a constitutional amendment by which citizens could grant this power to Congress.

And Americans did grant that power to Congress by ratifying the 18th Amendment, in January 1919, which declared: “The manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors…is hereby prohibited.” It further empowered Congress, stating: “The Congress…shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

The 18th Amendment expanded Congress’s legislative authority beyond the original Constitution, granting to Congress the power to pass legislation related to the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol.

Prohibition, however, proved to be a policy failure. It led to increased organized crime, including gang and mafia activities, and more theft, assault, and murder. Americans established clandestine bars known as “speakeasies” and developed networks for the illegal production, sale, and transportation of alcohol.

Most notably, rates of alcoholism increased, undermining the amendment’s intended goals. Prohibition did not work. It was counterproductive, misguided, and foolish.

In 1933, United States citizens ratified the 21st Amendment, repealing the 18th Amendment and ending Prohibition. It states: “The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.”

No Regulatory Agencies

Returning to Article I, Section 1, the Constitution does not stipulate that some legislative powers are vested in Congress and other legislative powers are allocated to regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Labor (DOL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), or Federal Reserve Board (FRB).

The Constitution grants no legislative authority to any regulatory agency, nor does it recognize the existence of any regulatory agency. Article I, Section 8 enumerates the powers of Congress, and nowhere does the Constitution authorize Congress to delegate its own legislative power to independent agencies such as those listed above.

Nowhere does the Constitution authorize Congress to vest power in agencies to issue and enforce regulations that are binding on citizens and have the power of law in courts. Regulations are not laws. Regulations are not exercises of the limited legislative power that is vested in Congress. Regulations, therefore, should not have the power of law.

Conclusion

There is an important reason for vesting legislative power exclusively in Congress: its members are elected and thus accountable to voting citizens. If Congress enacts unconstitutional or unwise laws, voters can hold Representatives and Senators accountable by voting them out of office.

The design of the Constitution locates the origin of all rightful political power and sovereignty in We The People of the United States.

Furthermore, the Constitution does not authorize Congress to delegate its legislative powers to the President or the Executive Branch. Nevertheless, over the past century, Congress has repeatedly done precisely that – creating and expanding the powers of Executive Branch agencies, granting to Presidents all kinds of powers the Constitution did not delegate to Presidents – contravening the framework of the Constitution and ignoring the Vesting Clause of Article I, Section 1.