Between Authority and Liberty: State Constitution-making in Revolutionary AmericaIn a major reinterpretation of American political thought in the revolutionary era, Marc Kruman explores the process of constitution making in each of the thirteen original states and shows that the framers created a distinctively American science of politics well before the end of the Confederation era. Suspicious of all government power, state constitution makers greatly feared arbitrary power and mistrusted legislators' ability to represent the people's interests. For these reasons, they broadened the suffrage and introduced frequent elections as a check against legislative self-interest. This analysis challenges Gordon Wood's now-classic argument that, at the beginning of the Revolution, the founders placed great faith in legislators as representatives of the people. According to Kruman, revolutionaries entrusted state constitution making only to members of temporary provincial congresses or constitutional conventions whose task it was to restrict legislative power. At the same time, Americans maintained a belief in the existence of a public good that legislators and magistrates, when properly curbed by one another and by a politically active citizenry, might pursue. |
Contents
America | |
The Compact of the Whole People and the Limitation of | |
Represented According to the True Intent and Meaning | |
The Suffrage | |
Bicameralism and | |
The Mechanical Polity | |
Notes | |
Other editions - View all
Between Authority & Liberty: State Constitution Making in Revolutionary America Marc W. Kruman No preview available - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
amendment American Archives appointed assembly authority bicameral Bushman Caesar Rodney Carolina Constitution 1776 citizens colonial colonists committee constitution makers constitutional convention Continental Congress councillors County court Declaration of Rights disfranchised draft electors enfranchised established executive council framers freeholders Georgia Constitution 1777 governmental power governor Hampshire Constitution Hancock Handlin and Handlin Henry Laurens Homsey ibid independence instructions Jersey Constitution 1776 John Adams legislative power liberty lower house Maryland Constitution 1776 Maryland Declaration Massachusetts Constitution Massachusetts Constitution 1780 Massachusetts Declaration mixed government North Carolina officeholders Papers of Adams Parliament Pennsylvania Constitution 1776 Pennsylvania Declaration Pennsylvania Packet plans of government political Popular Sources president Proceedings of Delaware provincial congress qualifications representation republican Revolution revolutionary senators separation of powers South Carolina Constitution state’s Thorpe Thoughts on Government towns tyranny unicameral legislature upper house Vermont veto Virginia Declaration vote voters Whig Wood write York Constitution 1777