To prevent the federal government from becoming too powerful the Founders made sure its powers were limited and well defined. The powers given to the federal government are listed in the constitution. It has the powers listed there and nothing more. In general, the federal government’s powers are limited to areas that are of interest […]
The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The federal government has only those powers that are specifically granted to it by the Constitution. To learn what those […]
“Our Creator endowed each one of us with certain rights at birth, among which are the rights to life, liberty, speech, and conscience, to name a few. These are not just human rights; they are divine rights.” Those are the words of Ezra Taft Benson. Thomas Jefferson said “The God who gave us life, gave […]
What is freedom of religion? Freedom of religion is made up of two things. The first is separation of church and state. The second is the free exercise of religion. Separation of church and state simply means that the government cannot operate churches and churches cannot operate the government. The government cannot be involved in […]
In 1553, Mary I was crowned Queen of England. A Catholic, she quickly reinstated Catholicism as the state religion. Over the next five years she had over 280 Protestants burned at the stake for heresy. Mary’s father, Henry VIII, had broken with the Catholic Church just 20 years earlier. He had sent scores of Catholics […]