Law and History Reject Unlimited Legislative Power
Dr. David Adler · December 15, 2022
For the generation that framed and adopted the Constitution, legislative despotism was not merely theoretical, but real. The Founders' fears were drawn from their experience under Parliament, which saddled an aspiring Republic with laws that violated their rights and liberties and denied their goal of independence. Henry Adams, the preeminent historian of the founding period, observed, "a great majority of the American people shared the same fears of despotic government."
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