The Spanish enclave of Guatemala declares its independence.
[restored 12/24/2021]
Former Republican (constitutionalist) President James Madison, who is regarded as the “Father of the Constitution,” in a letter to Thomas Ritchie, publisher of the Richmond (Virginia) Enquirer, explains that the proper meaning of the Constitution is to be determined “not in the opinions or intentions of the Body which planned & proposed the Constitution [the framers], but in the sense attached to it by the people in their respective State Conventions [the ratifiers] where it rec[eive]d. all the Authority which it possesses.”
[added 12/24/2021]
Subsequent Events:
References:
“Today in History,” Orange County (California) Register, 15 September 2010, News:3.
Clyde N. Wilson, “Secession: The Last, Best Bulwark of Our Liberties,” Secession, State and Liberty, David Gordon, ed., (New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Transaction, 1998), 93.
James Madison – to – Thomas Ritchie
www.juntosociety.com/i_documents/jm_tr.htm
Current U.s. National Debt:
