Critical Skills

The Insurrection Act of 1807 has lain dormant for thirty-three years. Now it threatens to awaken. The Founders warned us about this moment—Patrick Henry predicted ambitious presidents would use military force to “render himself absolute,” and Hamilton cautioned that citizens subjected to soldiers eventually see them “not only as their protectors, but as their superiors.” The Act contains a fatal flaw: it never defines “insurrection.” The president decides. Courts defer. States cannot resist. Minnesota may become the testing ground for whether a president can deploy troops against political opposition rather than genuine rebellion. If this precedent stands, the Republic changes fundamentally. Every state that disagrees with federal policy lives under the shadow of occupation. Jefferson swore eternal hostility to tyranny. Do we?

Madison built a republic that expected disagreement—he called it the price of liberty.

Hamilton demanded a government strong enough to act when it mattered.

Brutus warned that any machine built by ambitious men would serve only its operators.

Now imagine they received reports from our time: a Congress that cannot pass budgets, confirm appointments, or respond to crises.

In this fictional exchange, three founders wrestle with a question that echoes through every shutdown and standoff:

Is the noise of disagreement the sound of liberty—or proof that liberty has gone silent beneath it?

Read what Madison, Hamilton, and Brutus might say about a future they feared but could not prevent.