The ink was barely dry on the Constitution when it was almost
destroyed by the rise of political parties in the United States. As
Bruce Ackerman shows, the Framers had not anticipated the two-party
system, and when Republicans battled Federalists for the presidency
in 1800, the rules laid down by the Constitution exacerbated the
crisis. With Republican militias preparing to march on Washington,
the House of Representatives deadlocked between Thomas Jefferson
and Aaron Burr. Based on seven years of archival research, the book
describes previously unknown aspects of the electoral college
crisis. Ackerman shows how Thomas Jefferson counted his Federalist
rivals out of the House runoff, and how the Federalists threatened
to place John Marshall in the presidential chair. Nevertheless, the
Constitution managed to survive through acts of statesmanship and
luck.
Despite the intentions of the Framers, the presidency had become
a plebiscitarian office. Thomas Jefferson gained office as the
People's choice and acted vigorously to fulfill his popular
mandate. This transformation of the presidency serves as the basis
for a new look at Marbury v. Madison, the case that first asserted
the Supreme Court's power of judicial review. Ackerman shows that
Marbury is best seen in combination with another case, Stuart v.
Laird, as part of a retreat by the Court in the face of the
plebiscitarian presidency. This "switch in time" proved crucial to
the Court's survival, allowing it to integrate Federalist and
Republican themes into the living Constitution of the early
republic.
Ackerman presents a revised understanding of the early days of
two great institutions that continue to have a major impacton
American history: the plebiscitarian presidency and a Supreme Court
that struggles to put the presidency's claims of a popular mandate
into constitutional perspective.
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