A View of the Constitution of the United States of America

William Rawle, who died in 1836, was a leading member of the first generation of American lawyers after independence, and his A View of the Constitution was one of the most influential books on constitutional law published before the Civil War. The book?s interest is not, however, merely historical: Rawle?s approach provides a powerful challenge to contemporary assumptions about the original meaning and ongoing significance of the Constitution. His understanding of the constitutional authority of the president ? he saw it as broad yet legally bounded ? is especially interesting given our current debates.This book is part of the Carolina Academic Press Historical Reprint Series, edited by H. Jefferson Powell, Duke University School of Law.

H. Jefferson Powell is a professor of law at Duke University School of Law.