The Political Theory of the Constitution

The tragedies in Tiananmen Square in China and the resurgence of human rights in countries such as Poland and Hungary have rekindled interest in the foundations of American constitutionalism. This volume is intended to invite or renew attention to certain recurrent issues and questions addressed by political and legal theorists of constitutionalism. It revisits the lives, and especially the intellectual histories, of some of the founders in order to establish the need for such thinking. This volume’s three parts include sections on political theory and the founding, political and legal theorists, and problems. Among its contributors are Neal Riemer, Robert J. Morgan, Russell Amos Kirk, Calvin Woodard, Daniel G. Lang, Garrett Ward Sheldon, Robert A. Rutland, Norman Graebner, and William Lee Miller. Its aim is to inspire young scholars and writers to reconsider more traditional concepts and propositions that political and legal theorists once saw as central to their discipline.