Download or read book Montesquieu s Comparative Politics and the Spirit of American Constitutionalism written by Anne M. Cohler and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2021-10-08 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “American republicans,” notes Forrest McDonald, “regarded selected doctrines of Montesquieu’s as being virtually on par with Holy Writ.” But exactly how the French jurist’s labyrinthian work, The Spirit of the Laws, with was published in 1748, influenced the eighteenth-century conception of the republic is not well understood by historians or theorists. Anne M. Cohler undertakes to show the importance of Montequieu’s teaching for modern legislation and for modern political prudence generally, with specific reference to his impact on the Federalist and Tocqueville. In so doing, she delineates Montequieu’s contribution to political philosophy and suggests new ways to think about the formation of the American Constitution. To analyze the comparative politics found in the Spirit of the Laws, Cohler focuses on four fundamental principles underlying Montesquieu’s view of government: spirit, moderation, liberty, and legislation. In this endeavor she is guided by the conviction that the philosopher hews to the spirit of the laws rather than to the laws themselves—that is, to internal rather than external principles. Montesquieu, in Cohler’s argument, addresses the problem posed by the tendency to see human beings in light o universal abstractions at the expense of particular relationships, distinctions, and forms. To counter this tendency, which can be fostered by religion, Montesquieu develops a theory of prudence designed to support the world of politics an dpolitical life, necessarily an intermediate world occupying a space between universal abstractions and individual particularities. Cohler suggest that the Federalists and Tocqueville were most influenced by this preoccupation with spirit and moderation. James Madison and other Federalists, for example, were not drawn to limited government as a principled notion but rather as a consequence of understanding the context within which a moderate government must act not to become despotic. Similarly, Tocqueville extols democracy as self-government as an antidote to the dangers of democracy as a rule; the character of the governed shapes the nature of the governors. These and other conclusions will prove valuable to intellectual historians, political theorists, and students of religion.
Download or read book George Washington and American Constitutionalism written by Glenn A. Phelps and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Known as the Father of His Country, George Washington is sometimes viewed as a demi-god for what he was and did, rather than for what he thought. In addition to being a popular icon for the forces of American nationalism, he served as commander-in-chief of the victorious Continental Army. That he played a key role in securing the adoption of the Constitution is well known, but few credit him with a political philosophy that actively shaped the constitutional tradition.
Download or read book American Constitutionalism written by Stephen M. Griffin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1998-07-27 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the outpouring of works on constitutional theory in the past several decades, no general introduction to the field has been available. Stephen Griffin provides here an original contribution to American constitutional theory in the form of a short, lucid introduction to the subject for scholars and an informed lay audience. He surveys in an unpolemical way the theoretical issues raised by judicial practice in the United States over the past three centuries, particularly since the Warren Court, and locates both theory and practices that have inspired dispute among jurists and scholars in historical context. At the same time he advances an argument about the distinctive nature of our American constitutionalism, regarding it as an instance of the interpenetration of law and politics. American Constitutionalism is unique in considering the perspectives of both law and political science in relation to constitutional theory. Constitutional theories produced by legal scholars do not usually discuss state-centered theories of American politics, the importance of institutions, behaviorist research on judicial decision making, or questions of constitutional reform, but this book takes into account the political science literature on these and other topics. The work also devotes substantial attention to judicial review and its relationship to American democracy and theories of constitutional interpretation.
Download or read book Quaker Constitutionalism and the Political Thought of John Dickinson written by Jane E. Calvert and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the theory of Quaker constitutionalism from the early Quakers through Founding Father John Dickinson to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Download or read book Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism Since the New Deal written by Johnathan O'Neill and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2022-11-29 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this work of intellectual history, the author identifies four transformations in federal goverrnment that followed the New Deal: the rise of the administrative state, the erosion of federalism, the ascendance of the modern presidency, and the development of modern judicial review. He then considers how schools of conservative thought (traditionalists, neoconservatives, libertarians, Straussians) responded to each transformation"--
Download or read book The Political Philosophy of Benjamin Franklin written by Lorraine Smith Pangle and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2007-09-28 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Franklin's political writings are full of fascinating reflections on human nature, on the character of good leadership, and on why government is such a messy and problematic business. Drawing together threads in Franklin's writings, Lorraine Smith Pangle illuminates his thoughts on citizenship, federalism, constitutional government, the role of civil associations, and religious freedom.
Download or read book Common law Liberty written by James Reist Stoner and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an ere as morally confused as ours, Stoner argues, we at least ought to know what we've abandoned or suppressed in the name of judicial activism and the modern rights-oriented Constitution. Having lost our way, perhaps the common law, in its original sense, provides a way back, a viable alternative to the debilitating relativism of our current age.
Download or read book The Origins of American Constitutionalism written by Donald S. Lutz and published by Lsu Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Origins of American Constitutionalism, Donald S. Lutz challenges the prevailing notion that the United States Constitution was either essentially inherited from the British or simply invented by the Federalists in the summer of 1787. His political theory of constitutionalism acknowledges the contributions of the British and the Federalists. Lutz also asserts, however, that the U.S. Constitution derives in form and content from a tradition of American colonial characters and documents of political foundation that began a century and a half prior to 1787. Lutz builds his argument around a close textual analysis of such documents as the Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the Rode Island Charter of 1663, the first state constitutions, the Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation. He shows that American Constitutionalism developed to a considerable degree from radical Protestant interpretations of the Judeo-Christian tradition that were first secularized into political compacts and then incorporated into constitutions and bills of rights. Over time, appropriations that enriched this tradition included aspects of English common law and English Whig theory. Lutz also looks at the influence of Montesquieu, Locke, Blackstone, and Hume. In addition, he details the importance of Americans' experiences and history to the political theory that produced the Constitution. By placing the Constitution within this broader constitutional system, Lutz demonstrates that the document is the culmination of a long process and must be understood within this context. His argument also offers a fresh view of current controversies over the Framers' intentions, the place of religion in American politics, and citizens' continuing role in the development of the constitutional tradition.
Download or read book The Political Theory of the American Founding written by Thomas G. West and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a complete overview of the Founders' natural rights theory and its policy implications.
Download or read book Against Constitutionalism written by Martin Loughlin and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New Statesman Book of the Year A critical analysis of the transformation of constitutionalism from an increasingly irrelevant theory of limited government into the most influential philosophy of governance in the world today. Constitutionalism is universally commended because it has never been precisely defined. Martin Loughlin argues that it is not some vague amalgam of liberal aspirations but a specific and deeply contentious governing philosophy. An Enlightenment idea that in the nineteenth century became America’s unique contribution to the philosophy of government, constitutionalism was by the mid-twentieth century widely regarded as an anachronism. Advocating separated powers and limited government, it was singularly unsuited to the political challenges of the times. But constitutionalism has since undergone a remarkable transformation, giving the Constitution an unprecedented role in society. Once treated as a practical instrument to regulate government, the Constitution has been raised to the status of civil religion, a symbolic representation of collective unity. Against Constitutionalism explains why this has happened and its far-reaching consequences. Spearheaded by a “rights revolution” that subjects governmental action to comprehensive review through abstract principles, judges acquire greatly enhanced power as oracles of the regime’s “invisible constitution.” Constitutionalism is refashioned as a theory maintaining that governmental authority rests not on collective will but on adherence to abstract standards of “public reason.” And across the world the variable practices of constitutional government have been reshaped by its precepts. Constitutionalism, Loughlin argues, now propagates the widespread belief that social progress is advanced not through politics, electoral majorities, and legislative action, but through innovative judicial interpretation. The rise of constitutionalism, commonly conflated with constitutional democracy, actually contributes to its degradation.
Download or read book Private Property and the Limits of American Constitutionalism written by Jennifer Nedelsky and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1994-06-15 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Federalists vision of the Constitution; an interdisciplinary investigation.
Download or read book Liberalism and American Constitutional Law written by Rogers M. Smith and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A major work in the field of American political and legal philosophy. Smith analyzes the liberal goals of the framers of the Constitution and the weaknesses of their political thought...This book will undoubtedly be the focus of debate in scholarly and legal circles for years to come...It is a work of grand scholarship.' -Thomas A. Karel, Law Books in Review
Download or read book Political Thought and the Origins of the American Presidency written by Ben Lowe and published by . This book was released on 2024-09-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the American executive office was constructed in the Constitution and implemented by the first presidents This volume examines the political ideas behind the construction of the presidency in the U.S. Constitution, as well as how these ideas were implemented by the nation's early presidents. The framers of the Constitution disagreed about the scope of the new executive role they were creating, and this volume reveals the ways the duties and power of the office developed contrary to many expectations. Here, leading scholars of the early republic examine principles from European thought and culture that were key to establishing the conceptual language and institutional parameters for the American executive office. Unpacking the debates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, these essays describe how the Constitution left room for the first presidents to set patterns of behavior and establish a range of duties to make the office functional within a governmental system of checks and balances. Contributors explore how these presidents understood their positions and fleshed out their full responsibilities according to the everyday operations required to succeed. As disputes continue to surround the limits of executive power today, this volume helps identify and explain the circumstances in which limits can be imposed on presidents who seem to dangerously exceed the constitutional parameters of their office. Political Thought and the Origins of the American Presidency demonstrates that this distinctive, time-tested role developed from a fraught, historically contingent, and contested process. Contributors: Claire Rydell Arcenas Lindsay M. Chervinsky François Furstenberg Jonathan Gienapp Daniel J. Hulsebosch Ben Lowe Max Skjönsberg Eric Slauter Caroline Winterer Blair Worden Rosemarie Zagarri A volume in the Alan B. and Charna Larkin Series on the American Presidency
Download or read book Crisis and Constitutionalism written by Benjamin Straumann and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The crisis and fall of the Roman Republic spawned a tradition of political thought that sought to evade the Republic's fate--despotism. Thinkers from Cicero to Bodin, Montesquieu, and the American Founders saw constitutionalism, not virtue, as the remedy. This study traces Roman constitutional thought from antiquity to the Revolutionary Era.
Download or read book The Political Philosophy of Alexander Hamilton written by Michael P. Federici and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2012-07-09 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America’s first treasury secretary and one of the three authors of the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton stands as one of the nation’s important early statesmen. Michael P. Federici places this Founding Father among the country’s original political philosophers as well. Hamilton remains something of an enigma. Conservatives and liberals both claim him, and in his writings one can find material to support the positions of either camp. Taking a balanced and objective approach, Federici sorts through the written and historical record to reveal Hamilton’s philosophy as the synthetic product of a well-read and pragmatic figure whose intellectual genealogy drew on Classical thinkers such as Cicero and Plutarch, Christian theologians, and Enlightenment philosophers, including Hume and Montesquieu. In evaluating the thought of this republican and would-be empire builder, Federici explains that the apparent contradictions found in the Federalist Papers and other examples of Hamilton’s writings reflect both his practical engagement with debates over the French Revolution, capital expansion, commercialism, and other large issues of his time, and his search for a balance between central authority and federalism in the embryonic American government. This book challenges the view of Hamilton as a monarchist and shows him instead to be a strong advocate of American constitutionalism. Devoted to the whole of Hamilton’s political writing, this accessible and teachable analysis makes clear the enormous influence Hamilton had on the development of American political and economic institutions and policies.
Download or read book Classics of American Political and Constitutional Thought written by Scott J. Hammond and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 1236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From James I's Address Before Parliament (1610) to Joseph R. Biden, Jr.'s Learned Hand Dinner Address Before the American Jewish Committee (2005), this two-volume set offers an unparalleled selection of key texts from the history of American political and constitutional thought.
Download or read book Constitutionalism and Democracy written by Richard Bellamy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 622 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Constitutionalism and democracy have been interpreted as both intimately related and intrinsically opposed. On the one hand constitutions are said to set out the rules of the democratic game, on the other as constraining the power of the demos and their representatives to rule themselves - including by reforming the very processes of democracy itself. Meanwhile, constitutionalists themselves differ on how far any constitution derives its authority from, and should itself be subject to democratic endorsement and interpretation. They also dispute whether constitutions should refer solely to democratic processes, or also define and limit democratic goals. Each of these positions produces a different view of judicial review, the content and advisability of a Bill of Rights and the nature of constitutional politics. These differences are not simply academic positions, but are reflected in the different types of constitutional democracy found in the United States, continental Europe, Britain and many commonwealth countries. The selected essays explore these issues from the perspectives of law, philosophy and political science. A detailed and informative introduction sets them in the context of contemporary debates about constitutionalism.
