Crossroads for Liberty

“For more than two decades William Watkins has been exploring alternative views of our republican traditions, and, in the process, has become one of our most provocative and insightful constitutional historians. With Crossroads for Liberty and in an era when we are increasingly coming to realize that we live in a time of government gone amok, Watkins has produced a splendidly inspiring look at the Anti-Federalists, who were able presciently to warn us of the perils to come. Watkins not only gives us a superb exposition of their thought, but he reminds us of some of the wisdom of our First Constitution (the Articles of Confederation, which are helpfully reproduced as an appendix), and offers us some remedies for our ailing polity.”

“At a time in our history when most people take it as an article of faith that the federal government must provide a solution to every major problem, from education to terrorism to economic downturn, the indispensable book Crossroads for Liberty advances the notion that our massive federal government is the problem, and that the solution lies in ideas that have lain dormant for over two centuries. William Watkins gives much needed consideration to the unwisely disparaged ideas of the Anti-Federalists and, particularly, the Articles of Confederation. According to Watkins, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 would have been far wiser to stick with its assigned mission of proposing amendments to the Articles, rather than creating a wholly different and far more centralized form of government that has grown into the behemoth we have today. Recognizing that we cannot turn back the clock and return to the Articles of Confederation, Watkins nevertheless believes that the Articles and their Anti-Federalist proponents have invaluable lessons to teach us, if only we open our minds to the possibility. We would be wise to listen.”

“In his important book, Crossroads for Liberty, William Watkins astutely urges us to study the Framers, but not merely the Federalists. Close attention should be paid to the Anti-Federalists and the contemporary weakening of separation of powers and checks and balances. Instead of a system of self-government, political power has shifted in ever greater degree to the President and the Supreme Court. The results should concern us all.”

“In the compelling book Crossroads for Liberty William J. Watkins, Jr. recounts the rarely examined history of lost liberty in America’s infancy. In a truly eye-opening historical examination, Crossroads explains how the principal goal of the American Revolution in 1776—the removal of centralized power in favor of diverse and independent local and state governance, in which individual Americans could select the level and severity of the governance they wished for themselves—was abandoned in just eleven years. If you yearn, as I do, for minimal government and maximum individual liberty, you need to understand how the monster federal government came about. Crossroads is that well-told but sad story.”

“Given that the Anti-Federalists' predictions about the growth of national power have come true, their views of the weaknesses of the Constitution deserve to be heard. Could the amended Articles of Confederation that they favored have done a better job of protecting our liberty? Read Crossroads for Liberty and decide.”