In Marbury v. Madison Chief Justice John Marshall defined the
Constitution as "a superior, paramount law," one that superseded
the laws passed by Congress and state legislatures. What makes it
paramount? This book sets out to recover the enduring principles,
purposes, and meanings that inform the founders' charter and
continue to offer us political guidance more than 200 years later.
In so doing it steers a middle course between "originalists" who
constrict interpretation to constitutional specifics and
"relativists" who adapt the Constitution to the moment by ignoring
original meaning. "Original intent," Ralph Ketcham argues, is best
discerned by a study of the political climate that nourished the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights and, more particularly, by
understanding the broader meanings, intentions, and purposes of the
framers.
To recover this full context of political thinking, Ketcham
delves not only into the meaning of the documents but also into the
connotations of the framers' vocabulary, the reasoning behind both
accepted and rejected propositions, arguments for and against, and
unstated assumptions. In his analysis the fundamental or enduring
principles are republicanism, liberty, public good, and federalism
(as part of the broader doctrine of balance of powers).
Ketcham answers convincingly those who question the relevance to
modern constitutional interpretation of the finding that the
founders were both republican and liberal. He asserts that the
rights-protecting character of the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights derived from the founders' belief that private rights
depended upon active government and public virtue. In other words,
private liberties rested on the citizenry's right to
self-governance.
James Madison sought to ensure a system of government that would
serve as guardian "both of public Good and of private rights." In
providing an interpretation of the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights that incorporates both republican and liberal perspectives,
Ketcham should find a wide readership among politically active
citizens, lawyers, judges, and those who teach and study
constitutional law and political theory.
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