The Spirit of the Constitution

The Spirit of the Constitution PDF Author: David S. Schwartz
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190699485
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
The Spirit of the Constitution covers the impact and reputation of both McCulloch and Justice Marshall himself throughout American history. One of the central threads of American history is the battle over the proper reach of the federal government's power, and that story cannot be told without reference to McCulloch. Schwartz's analysis of the shifting interpretations of McCulloch and Marshall over the course of American historynot only reaffirms the case's importance, it also helps us understand the circuitous process by which American constitutional law and ideology are made.

The Spirit of the Constitution

The Spirit of the Constitution PDF Author: David S. Schwartz
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190699485
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
The Spirit of the Constitution covers the impact and reputation of both McCulloch and Justice Marshall himself throughout American history. One of the central threads of American history is the battle over the proper reach of the federal government's power, and that story cannot be told without reference to McCulloch. Schwartz's analysis of the shifting interpretations of McCulloch and Marshall over the course of American historynot only reaffirms the case's importance, it also helps us understand the circuitous process by which American constitutional law and ideology are made.

The Spirit of the Law

The Spirit of the Law PDF Author: Sarah Barringer Gordon
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674046542
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
The author explores the interaction between the Constitution and religious practices in public life. School prayer, religion in prison, and same-sex marriages have created controversies challenging the Supreme Court and the nature of laws regarding religion. The author addresses such issues to trace the relationship between church and state.

The Spirit of American Government

The Spirit of American Government PDF Author: James Allen Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Constitutional law
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description


Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws

Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws PDF Author: Charles de Secondat baron de Montesquieu
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521369749
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 814

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Book Description
The Spirit of the Laws is, without question, one of the central texts in the history of eighteenth-century thought, yet there has been no complete, scholarly English-language edition since that of Thomas Nugent, published in 1750. This lucid translation renders Montesquieu's problematic text newly accessible to a fresh generation of students, helping them to understand quite why Montesquieu was such an important figure in the early enlightenment and why The Spirit of the Laws was, for example, such an influence upon those who framed the American constitution. Fully annotated, this edition focuses attention upon Montesquieu's use of sources and his text as a whole, rather than upon those opening passages towards which critical energies have traditionally been devoted, and a select bibliography and chronology are provided for those coming to Montesquieu's work for the first time.

The Antebellum Origins of the Modern Constitution

The Antebellum Origins of the Modern Constitution PDF Author: Simon J. Gilhooley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108853412
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
This book argues that conflicts over slavery and abolition in the early American Republic generated a mode of constitutional interpretation that remains powerful today: the belief that the historical spirit of founding holds authority over the current moment. Simon J. Gilhooley traces how debates around the existence of slavery in the District of Columbia gave rise to the articulation of this constitutional interpretation, which constrained the radical potential of the constitutional text. To reconstruct the origins of this interpretation, Gilhooley draws on rich sources that include historical newspapers, pamphlets, and congressional debates. Examining free black activism in the North, Abolitionism in the 1830s, and the evolution of pro-slavery thought, this book shows how in navigating the existence of slavery in the District and the fundamental constitutional issue of the enslaved's personhood, Antebellum opponents of abolition came to promote an enduring but constraining constitutional imaginary.

The Spirit of 1787

The Spirit of 1787 PDF Author: Milton Lomask
Publisher: Fawcett
ISBN: 9780449702628
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Discusses the aftermath of the Revolutionary War and the creating of a Constitution for the new country.

The Spirit of 1787: The Making of Our Constitution

The Spirit of 1787: The Making of Our Constitution PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780812452365
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Complete Works

Complete Works PDF Author: Charles de Secondat baron de Montesquieu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : French literature
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description


Equality under the Constitution

Equality under the Constitution PDF Author: Judith A. Baer
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501722751
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
The principle of equality embedded in the Declaration of Independence and reaffirmed in the Constitution does not distinguish between individuals according to their capacities or merits. It is written into these documents to ensure that each and every person enjoys equal respect and equal rights. Judith Baer maintains, however, that in fact American judicial decisions have consistently denied individuals the form of equality to which they are legally entitled—that the courts have interpreted constitutional guarantees of equal protection in ways that undermine the original intent of Congress. In Equality under the Constitution, Baer examines the background, scope, and purpose of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment and the history of its interpretation by the courts. She traces the development of the idea of equality, drawing on the Bill of Rights, Congressional records, the Civil War amendments, and other sections of the Constitution. Baer discusses many of the significant equal-protection cases decided by the Supreme Court from the time of the amendment’s ratification, including decisions on reverse discrimination, age discrimination, the rights of the disabled, and gay rights. She concludes with a theory of equality more faithful to the history, language, and spirit of the Constitution.

Montesquieu's Comparative Politics and the Spirit of American Constitutionalism

Montesquieu's Comparative Politics and the Spirit of American Constitutionalism PDF Author: Anne M. Cohler
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700631445
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
“American republicans,” notes Forrest McDonald, “regarded selected doctrines of Montesquieu’s as being virtually on par with Holy Writ.” But exactly how the French jurist’s labyrinthian work, The Spirit of the Laws, with was published in 1748, influenced the eighteenth-century conception of the republic is not well understood by historians or theorists. Anne M. Cohler undertakes to show the importance of Montequieu’s teaching for modern legislation and for modern political prudence generally, with specific reference to his impact on the Federalist and Tocqueville. In so doing, she delineates Montequieu’s contribution to political philosophy and suggests new ways to think about the formation of the American Constitution. To analyze the comparative politics found in the Spirit of the Laws, Cohler focuses on four fundamental principles underlying Montesquieu’s view of government: spirit, moderation, liberty, and legislation. In this endeavor she is guided by the conviction that the philosopher hews to the spirit of the laws rather than to the laws themselves—that is, to internal rather than external principles. Montesquieu, in Cohler’s argument, addresses the problem posed by the tendency to see human beings in light o universal abstractions at the expense of particular relationships, distinctions, and forms. To counter this tendency, which can be fostered by religion, Montesquieu develops a theory of prudence designed to support the world of politics an dpolitical life, necessarily an intermediate world occupying a space between universal abstractions and individual particularities. Cohler suggest that the Federalists and Tocqueville were most influenced by this preoccupation with spirit and moderation. James Madison and other Federalists, for example, were not drawn to limited government as a principled notion but rather as a consequence of understanding the context within which a moderate government must act not to become despotic. Similarly, Tocqueville extols democracy as self-government as an antidote to the dangers of democracy as a rule; the character of the governed shapes the nature of the governors. These and other conclusions will prove valuable to intellectual historians, political theorists, and students of religion.