Plain-English translations of the texts that designed American democracy — with the arguments intact, the stakes restored, and the contemporary relevance made clear.
The founding arguments about American democracy were made in 1787 and 1788 — debates between Madison, Hamilton, Jay, and the Anti-Federalists about faction, executive power, judicial accountability, and the conditions under which a large, diverse republic can sustain itself. These arguments anticipated, with uncomfortable precision, the constitutional crises of the present moment.
The Locke Project translates founding-era through modern American political texts into plain, modern English — without losing the argument, without partisan framing, with comparative context from democracies that made different structural choices.
Named for Peter Wiggin's pseudonym in Ender's Game — the character who used accessible writing to shape public understanding of complex political questions.
↓ Download the White PaperEach treatment includes the original text, a plain-English translation, what the author got right, what changed, comparative democracy context, and direct relevance now.
Madison — Faction, pluralism, and the design of the republic
Melancton Smith — The Anti-Federalist counterargument
Hamilton — The executive: energy, unity, accountability
Smith — On the dangers of a standing army
Hamilton — The judiciary and constitutional supremacy
Smith — On judicial overreach and lifetime tenure
Hamilton — The Senate as court of impeachment
The information precondition for republican government
The Steel Seizure Case — limits on executive power
New treatments published as they clear review. Analysis and context via Substack and Medium. No advertising. No data sales.
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The Locke Project is part of a five-site civic information ecosystem addressing the epistemic preconditions for democratic self-governance. It is companion to Rigwatch.org (the author's diagnosis of structural pathologies), Newshound (global news through multiple lenses), Annotary (the deep reading layer), and Sumarium (reasoning tools for complex systems).
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Contact: info@lockeproject.org
Thoughts on the Locke Project? Missing documents, translation errors, suggestions for what to add next?