American Sovereigns: The People and America’s Constitutional Tradition Before the Civil War

Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 11
1 Prologue......Page 15
PART ONE The People’s Sovereignty in the States......Page 23
2 Revolutionary Constitutionalism......Page 25
Genesis of America's New Constitutionalism......Page 27
Revolutionary Constitutional Settlement......Page 30
Sovereigns and Subjects......Page 35
An Enduring Constitutional Legacy of the Revolution......Page 41
The Process of Revolutionary Constitution-Making......Page 45
Political Dimensions of the People's Sovereignty......Page 51
New State Constitution-Making Before the Federal Constitution......Page 58
3 Grassroots Self-Government: America’s Early Determinist Movements......Page 61
Transylvania......Page 69
Vermont......Page 74
Westsylvania......Page 78
Kentucky, Cumberland, and Franklin......Page 81
4 Revolutionary Tensions: “Friends of Government” Confront “The Regulators” in
Massachusetts......Page 94
Underlying Grievances of the Regulation......Page 98
The Revolutionary Context of the Regulation......Page 103
Contrasting Perceptions of Conventions......Page 107
Court Closings......Page 114
Government Response and Regulator Reactions......Page 121
Aftermath of the Regulation......Page 127
PART TWO The Sovereign Behind the Federal Constitution......Page 131
5 The Federal Constitution and the Effort
to Constrain the People......Page 133
Sources of Pessimism by the 1780s......Page 136
Solutions to America's Perceived Dangers......Page 141
Movement Toward the Federal Constitutional Convention......Page 145
Democracy and Filtration of Leadership......Page 146
Greater Governmental Power......Page 148
Constitutional Revision......Page 149
The Constitutional Product of the Federal Constitution......Page 150
Circumvention in the Creation of the Federal Constitution......Page 152
Constitutionalism in the Federal Bill of Rights......Page 155
6 Testing the Constitutionalism of 1787: The Whiskey “Rebellion” in Pennsylvania......Page 167
Background of the Whiskey Excise Tax Protests......Page 172
The Whiskey Excise Tax of 1791......Page 176
Early Pennsylvania Protests, 1791–1792......Page 180
Perceptions Underlying the Suppression of the Protest......Page 185
Competing Views of Constitutionalism and the Democratic Societies......Page 189
Attack on the Democratic Societies......Page 190
Defense of the Democratic Societies......Page 194
Conflicting Attitudes Toward Popular Protests......Page 197
Competing Constitutional Visions......Page 201
7 Federal Sovereignty: Competing Views of the Federal Constitution......Page 204
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions......Page 211
The Hartford Convention......Page 224
The Nullification Crisis......Page 232
PART THREE The Struggle over a Constitutional Middle Ground......Page 249
8 The Collective Sovereign Persists: The People’s Constitution in Rhode Island......Page 260
Early Efforts at Constitutional Revision in Rhode Island......Page 263
The Suffrage Movement and Competing Constitutional Conventions......Page 265
The Struggle for Governmental Legitimacy in Rhode Island......Page 270
Debate over "the Rhode Island Question"......Page 274
The Constitutional Argument of Dorr’s Supporters......Page 275
The Constitutional Position of Law and Order Advocates......Page 277
The Broader Implications of the Rhode Island Debate......Page 282
Struggle over the "Precedent of 1842"......Page 285
9 Epilogue......Page 291
American Constitutional History......Page 297
American Constitutionalism and Constitutional Theory......Page 304
Jurisprudential Implications......Page 310
Constitutional Legacy of the Revolution......Page 312
Key to Abbreviations......Page 317
Notes......Page 321
Selected Short Titles......Page 417
Credits......Page 425
Index......Page 429