Writs of Assistance and National Security Letters

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Writs of Assistance and National Security Letters

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03. Feb, 2010
Written by: Steve Palmer
Comments 12

One result of diluting the Tenth Amendment for the last century is a federal government which has nearly eliminated any limits which had been placed upon it. Here, we compare two examples of overreach from overly powerful central governments in the American experience.

Writs of Assistance

According to Our Country (1877) in the Public Book Shelf, writs of assistance were “warrants to empower them (agents) to call upon the people and all officers of government in America to assist them in the collection of the revenue, and to enter the stores and houses of the citizens at pleasure, in pursuit of their vocationâ€