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The Ideas That Formed the Constitution, Part 20: Emer de Vattel and the Law of Nations

The Ideas That Formed the Constitution, Part 20: Emer de Vattel and the Law of Nations
Portrait of Emer de Vattel (1714-1767). Oil on canvas by an unknown artist, c. 1760 Bibliothèque publique et universitaire de Neuchâtel
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Commentary

Within the Constitution’s text are meanings that most purported constitutional experts never see. They fail to see those meanings because they don’t take the trouble to learn enough about the environment in which the Constitution arose.

Rob Natelson
Rob Natelson
Author
Robert G. Natelson, a former constitutional law professor who is senior fellow in constitutional jurisprudence at the Independence Institute in Denver, authored “The Original Constitution” (4th ed., 2025). He is a contributor to The Heritage Foundation’s “Heritage Guide to the Constitution.” He also researched and wrote the scholarly article “Virgil and the Constitution,” whose publication is pending in Regent University Law Review.
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