Alternative Constitutions for the United States: A Documentary History

The framers of the Constitution in 1787 created a durable republican government, a unique achievement in the saga of human civilization. Throughout American history, however, a handful of people have suggested that the United States’s problem is its Constitution and that the answer is a new document. This book republishes proposed alternative constitutions, most for the first time.

The volume opens with an introduction that explores the significance of these constitutions to American constitutional development and assesses the framers’ success in nearly precluding counter-constitutional opposition. The ten chapters that follow include an introduction to each proposed constitution, a brief biographical sketch of the author, the constitution itself, and a summary of the contemporary response to the proposed constitution. This book will be of interest to constitutional and legal historians and to intellectual and political historians.