The Madisonian Constitution (The Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought) - Hardcover

Thomas, George

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801888522 ISBN 13: 9780801888526

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Today, we think of constitutional questions as being settled by the Supreme Court.
But that is not always the case, nor is it what the framers intended in constructing the three-branch federal government. This volume examines four crucial moments in the United States' political history―the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Progressive Era, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency and the New Deal, and the Reagan revolution―to illustrate the Madisonian view that the present rise of judicial supremacy actually runs counter to the Constitution as established at the nation’s founding.

George Thomas opens by discussing how the Constitution encourages an antagonistic approach to settling disputes, thereby preserving itself as the nation's fundamental law rather then ceding that role to the president, Congress, or Supreme Court. In considering the four historical case studies, he focuses on judicial interpretations and the political branches' responses to them to demonstrate that competing conceptions of constitutional authority and meaning, as well as intergovernmental disputes themselves―rather than any specific outcome―strengthen the nature of the nation's founding document as a political instrument.

Engagingly written and soundly argued, this study clarifies and highlights the political origins of the nation's foundational document and argues that American constitutionalism is primarily about countervailing power not legal limits enforced by courts.

About this title

About the Author

George Thomas is an assistant professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. He previously taught at Williams College.

Review

"Broadly theorized, confidently written, thoroughly researched, and cogent in its argumentation, The Madisonian Constitution may indeed define one approach to American constitutional studies for a generation."

(James R. Stoner Jr., Louisiana State University)

"With remarkable intellectual range and sensitivity, George Thomas presents the Constitution as a creatively conflictual document whose meaning has been shaped by a history of political contestation. Much like the Constitution he has so perceptively examined, this important book invites the reader to develop philosophical coherence from the wisdom of its contradictions."

(Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn, University of Texas at Austin)

"In this ambitious, densely written and thought provoking work, Thomas proposes a perspective on constitutional interpretation that is at once a normative theory of constitutional practice and a redescription of constitutional history informed by that practice."

(Douglas C. Dow Law and Politics Book Review)

"By departing from traditional perspectives on judicial review, Professor Thomas provides an unconventional, yet refreshing and historically grounded, view of how historical constitutional conflicts have fallen squarely within Madison's vision."

(Harvard Law Review)

"Thomas’s book paves an important new path for the rest of us in our study of the Constitution and its effect on politics. His account of Madison’s principle of constitutional contestation might well be the best account that yet exists of the reigning principle of our founder’s political thought."

(Benjamin Kleinerman Review of Politics)

"In The Madisonian Constitution, Thomas charts a philosophically grounded and historically informed course... showing that James Madison and most others responsible for framing the Constitution, as well as major statesmen who followed, had a more prudent approach in mind."

(Stanley C. Brubaker Law and Society Review)

"The Madisonian Constitution reminds readers of that moment when, as Justice Story said, the meaning of the fundamental law was something far more important than the mere lawyers' 'extraordinary gloss' it has become."

(Gary L. McDowell Journal of American History)

"Thomas’s Madison points the way to salvation from forms of constitutionalism that either place inordinate power in a small body of elite judges and lawyers, or give up on constitutional government altogether."

(Michael P. Zuckert Claremont Review of Books)

"The Madisonian Constitution is a valuable addition to the growing body of literature that seeks to provide a holistic view of how constitutional meaning develops."

(Gerard N. Magliocca Law and History Review)

Edition details

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0801888522
• ISBN 13: 9780801888526
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 264