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The 1803 purchase of the Louisiana Territory was a watershed event
for the fledgling United States. Adding some 829,000 square miles
of territory, the Louisiana Purchase set a striking precedent of
Presidential power and brought to the surface profound legal and
constitutional questions. As the nation continued to expand
westward and into the Pacific and Caribbean, critical social,
political and constitutional questions arose that greatly tested
American resolve and reshaped the nation's founding premises. In
this exciting collection, Sanford Levinson and Bartholomew Sparrow
bring together noted scholars in American history, constitutional
law, and political science to examine role that the Louisiana
Purchase played in shaping both the expansionist policies of the
nineteenth century and critical interpretations of the
Constitution. The Louisiana Purchase and American Expansion, 1803
1898 provides a fascinating overview of how the U.S. Constitution
and the American political system is inextricably tied to the
Louisiana Purchase and the territorial expansion of the United
States."
The Constitution in Congress series has been called nothing less
than a biography of the US Constitution for its in-depth
examination of the role that the legislative and executive branches
have played in the development of constitutional interpretation.
This third volume in the series, the early installments of which
dealt with the Federalist and Jeffersonian eras, continues this
examination with the Jacksonian revolution of 1829 and subsequent
efforts by Democrats to dismantle Henry Clay's celebrated "American
System" of nationalist economics. David P. Currie covers the
political events of the period leading up to the start of the Civil
War, showing how the slavery question, although seldom overtly
discussed in the debates included in this volume, underlies the
Southern insistence on strict interpretation of federal powers.
Like its predecessors, The Constitution in Congress: Democrats and
Whigs will be an invaluable reference for legal scholars and
constitutional historians alike.
Currie's masterful synthesis of legal analysis and narrative
history, gives us a sophisticated and much-needed evaluation of the
Supreme Court's first hundred years. "A thorough, systematic, and
careful assessment...As a reference work for constitutional
teachers, it is a gold mine."--Charles A. Lofgren, Constitutional
Commentary
This is an examination of the US constitution, providing an
analysis from a legal perspective of the first six congresses
constituting the federalist period. The book aims to establish that
the Constitution was forged, not in the courts, but in the
legislative and executive branches of government. The first half of
the book is devoted to the work of the First Congress, which was
virtually a continuation of the Constitutional Convention, setting
up the executive cabinet departments, the judiciary, a taxation
system, and a host of other institutions. The second part of the
book examines the Second to the Sixth Congresses, where partisan
battles arose over such controversial initiatives as the Alien and
Sedition Acts.
Constitutional amendments, like all laws, may lead to unanticipated
and even undesired outcomes. In this collection of original essays,
a team of distinguished historians, political scientists, and legal
scholars led by award-winning constitutional historian David E.
Kyvig examines significant instances in which reform produced
something other than the foreseen result. An opening essay examines
the intentions of the Constitution's framers in creating an
amending mechanism and then explores unexpected uses of that
instrument. Thereafter, authors focus on the Bill of Rights and
subsequent amendments, addressing such subjects as criminal justice
procedures, the presidential election system, the Civil War's
impact on race and gender relations, the experiment in national
prohibition, women's suffrage, and, finally, limits on the
presidency. Together these contributions illuminate aspects of
constitutional stability and evolution, challenging current
thinking about reform within the formal system of change provided
by Article V of the Constitution. Forcefully demonstrating that
constitutional law is not immune to unanticipated consequences, the
eight scholars underscore the need for care, responsibility, and
historical awareness in altering the nation's fundamental law.
The Constitution in the Supreme Court: The Second Century traces
the development of the Supreme Court from Chief Justice Fuller
(1888-1910) to the retirement of Chief Justice Burger (1969-1986).
Currie argues that the Court's work in its second century revolved
around two issues: the constitutionality of the regulatory and
spending programs adopted to ameliorate the hardships caused by the
Industrial Revolution and the need to protect civil rights and
liberties. Organizing the cases around the tenure of specific chief
justices, Currie distinguishes among the different methods of
constitutional exegesis, analyzes the various techniques of opinion
writing, and evaluates the legal performance of different Courts.
"Elegant and readable. Whether you are in favor of judicial
restraint or judicial activism, whatever your feelings about the
Warren Court, or the Renquist Court, this is a book that justifies
serious study."--Robert Stevens, New York Times Book Review
A masterly introduction to the United States Constitution, this
slim book leads the reader through a concise overview of the
document's individual articles and amendments. With clear and
accessible language, Currie then examines each of the three
branches of the federal government and explains the relation
between the federal and state governments. He analyzes those
constitutional provisions that are designed to protect citizens
from governmental interference, such as the due process and equal
protection clauses and the confusing first amendment provisions
respecting the separation of church and state, and includes
discussions of judicial review and freedom of speech and of the
press.
A sympathetic yet critical guide, Currie's book enables students
and laypersons to understand one of the cornerstones of the Western
political tradition. The second edition, along with an updated
chronology and bibliography, incorporates the Supreme Court
decisions over the past decade that have affected constitutional
interpretation.
"Superb . . . highly recommended for those seeking a reliable,
understandable, and useful introduction to our
constitution."--"Appellate Practice Journal and Update"
In the most thorough examination to date, David P. Currie analyzes
from a legal perspective the work of the first six congresses and
of the executive branch during the Federalist era, with a view to
its significance for constitutional interpretation. He concludes
that the original understanding of the Constitution was forged not
so much in the courts as in the legislative and executive branches.
Judicial review has enjoyed such success in the United States that
we tend to forget that other branches of government also play a
role in interpreting the Constitution. Before 1800, however, nearly
all our constitutional law was made by Congress or the president,
and so was much of it thereafter. Indeed a number of constitutional
issues of the first importance have never been resolved by judges;
what we know of their solution we owe to the legislative and
executive branches, whose interpretations have established
traditions almost as hallowed in some cases as the Constitution
itself. The first half of this volume is devoted to the critical
work of the First Congress, which was in many ways a continuation
of the Constitutional Convention. In addition to setting up
executive departments, federal courts, and a national bank, the
First Congress imposed the first federal taxes, regulated foreign
commerce, and enacted laws respecting naturalization, copyrights
and patents, and federal crimes. In so doing it debated a myriad of
fundamental questions about the scope and limits of its powers.
Thus the First Congress left us a rich legacy of arguments over the
meaning of a variety of constitutional provisions, and the quality
of those arguments was impressively high. Part Two treats the
Second through Sixth Congresses, where members of the legislative
and executive branches continued to debate constitutional questions
great and small. In addition to such familiar controversies as the
Neutrality Proclamation, the Jay Treaty, and the Alien and Sedition
Acts, this part traces the difficult constitutional issues that
arose when Congress confronted the problems of presidential
succession, legislative reapportionment, and the scope of the
impeachment power. Proposals to provide relief to New England
fishermen, Caribbean refugees, and the victims of a Georgia fire
all helped to define the limits of Congress's power to spend. And
the period ended with a burst of fireworks as Federalist
congressmen concocted schemes of doubtful constitutionality in an
effort to deny their defeat at the polls. Constitutional debates
over some of these controversial matters tended to be highly
partisan. On the whole, however, Currie argues that both Congress
and the presidents during this period did their best to determine
what the Constitution meant and displayed a commendable sensitivity
to the demands of federalism and the separation of powers. Like its
predecessors in Currie's ongoing study of the Constitution's
evolution, this book will prove indispensable for scholars in
constitutional law, history, and government.
Because of the judicial branch's tremendous success in reviewing
legislative and executive action in the United States, legal
scholars have traditionally looked mostly to the courts for
guidance in interpreting the Constitution. This, the second book in
David P. Currie's series, looks to the legislative and executive
branches-whose members swear to uphold the Constitution just as
judges do-for insights into the development of constitutional
interpretation.
Having examined the Federalist period in the previous volume,
Currie now turns to the period of Republican hegemony from the
inauguration of Thomas Jefferson in 1801 to the inauguration of
Andrew Jackson in 1829. During this time Republicans, mostly
Virginians, occupied the President's House, and their party
dominated Congress. Many benchmark issues were decided during this
time of great leadership and controversy-the abolition of the new
Circuit Courts, the Louisiana Purchase, the Burr conspiracy, the
War of 1812, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Missouri Compromise.
These issues, and many others, became constitutional controversies,
as politicians sought to apply the broad principles laid out in the
constitution to concrete, often unforeseen, events. As Currie
shows, they were fought out almost exclusively in the legislative
and executive arenas, not in the courts.
Although federal judges began to contribute more significantly to
the interpretation of the constitution, their decisions were
commonly based on the extensive discussions that had taken place in
the legislative and executive branches. "And even today," Currie
writes, "it is not to the courts that we owe our understanding of
the constitutional issues surrounding theLouisiana Purchase, the
impeachment of Justice Chase, or the Cumberland Road."
With its unique perspective and comprehensive coverage, "The
Constitution in Congress" illustrates how the executive and
legislative branches matched the Supreme Court in putting flesh and
blood onto the skeleton of the Constitution.
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