The Ethical Center of American Constitutionalism
Much has been written in the past century about the state of American constitutionalism and the political culture that serves as its animating force. Some scholars have…
“Poison Under Its Wings”: The Constitution and Its Defects
The beginning of the American political order goes much further back than the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. Political scientists and political theorists are understandably fixated on the…
The Role of the “Middle Delegates” at the Constitutional Convention
Historians of the Constitutional Convention have agreed that there were divisions among the delegates, but have disagreed as to what those divisions were and what underlays them.…
Original Unintentions: The Franchise and the Constitution
The controversy over originalism-the question whether judges, in interpreting the Constitution, should be guided by the original intentions of the Framers or by some other standard-has generated…
The Constitutional Convention and Political Participation in the Early Republic Event
The Constitutional Convention and Political Participation in the Early Republic Thursday, April 29th | 2 pm ET Webinar Event Join us on Thursday, April 29th at 2pm…
Constitutional Interpretation as a Defense Against Tyranny
In their debates and considerations regarding the formation of an official constitution, the Framers of the United States Constitution were searching for ways to maintain a strong…
Decentralism and Meritorious Government: Reflections on Jeff Taylor’s Politics on a Human Scale
In the autumn of 2013, an American political theorist at Dordt College, Jeff Taylor, published a remarkable book entitled, Politics on a Human Scale: The American Tradition…
A Return to Natural Rights Jurisprudence?
Justice Stephen Field’s Cooperative Constitution of Liberty: Liberty in Full. Adam M. Carrington. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2017. During his Senate confirmation hearings held to determine…
What Is the Constitution For?
All nations have constitutions—whether written down or not. Why? Because every nation must have rules determining who gets to govern and how. And you don’t need to…
The United States Constitution in Film
In 2006, the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum conducted a survey to measure Americans’ knowledge of their First Amendment constitutional freedoms (the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly,…
The Constitution at the Movies
The United States Constitution in Film: Part of Our National Culture. Eric T. Kasper and Quentin D. Vieregge. Lanham, MD. Lexington Books, 2018. In his opinion…
Crisis and Constitutionalism: Roman Political Thought from the Fall of the Republic to the Age of Revolution
Crisis and Constitutionalism: Roman Political Thought from the Fall of the Republic to the Age of Revolution. Benjamin Straumann. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Crisis and…
An “Ever Better” Constitution? Progressivism as Ideology and the U.S. Constitution
As a document written in the 1700’s, all the framers of the U.S. Constitution as well as their immediate relatives, friends, and colleagues are now deceased. We…
The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution
The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution. Ganesh Sitaraman. New York: Knopf, 2017. “The number one threat to American constitutional government today is the collapse of the…
The Transformation from Theocracy to Democracy in Utah
Although all states in the Union are part of a shared political and cultural heritage, Utah’s constitution, written in 1895, reflects much of the uniqueness of Utah’s…