The Complete American Constitutionalism, Volume One Introduction and The Colonial Era

The Complete American Constitutionalism is designed to be the comprehensive treatment and source for debates on the American constitutional experience. It provides the analysis, resources, and materials both domestic and foreign readers must understand with regards to the practice of constitutionalism in the United States. This first volume of a projected eight volume set is entitled: Introduction and The Colonial Era. Here the authors provide the building blocks for constitutional analysis with an in-depth exploration of the constitutional conflicts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that formed the overall American constitutional experience. This is the first collection of materials that focuses on the crucial constitutional documents and debates that structured American constitutional understandings at the time of the American Revolution. It details the roots of the common law rights that Americans demanded be respected and the different interpretations of the English constitutional experience that increasingly divided Members of Parliament from American Revolutionaries.

Howard Gillman is Chancellor and Professor of Political Science, History, and Law at the University of California, Irvine. He has authored many books, contributed book chapters, and articles among which include: The Constitution Besieged: The Rise and Demise of Lochner Era Police Powers Jurisprudence (1993); and The Votes That Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election (2001). He received a number of awards for his scholarly contributions, including the C. Herman Pritchett Award for best book in the field of public law, and the American Judicature Society Award for best paper presented at a regional or national conference, both bestowed by the Law & Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. He has chaired that section and been honored by it for exceptional service and mentoring.

Mark A. Graber is Professor of Law and Government at the University of Maryland's Francis King Carey School of Law. He authored many books and articles focusing on American constitutional law, development, theory, and politics. He has been the section chair of the Public Law Section of the American Political Science Association and the Constitutional Law Section of the American Association of Law Schools.

Keith E. Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University, and is currently director of graduate studies in the Department of Politics. He has published extensively on American constitutional theory and development, federalism, judicial politics, and the presidency. He is the author of Constitutional Construction: Divided Powers and Constitutional Meaning; Constitutional Interpretation: Textual Meaning, Original Intent, and Judicial Review ; and Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy: The Presidency, the Supreme Court, and Constitutional Leadership in U.S. History (which won the C. Herman Pritchett Award for best book in law and courts and the J. David Greenstone Award for best book in politics and history). He has been a John M. Olin Foundation Faculty Fellow and American Council of Learned Societies Junior Faculty Fellow, and a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Texas School of Law. He is a member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences.

List of Tables, Figures, and Images

Preface

Part 1: Introduction to American Constitutionalism

I. What Is a Constitution?

II. Constitutional Purposes

III. Constitutional Interpretation and Decision Making
A. Constitutional Arguments
B. Sources of Constitutional Arguments
C. The Politics of Constitutional Argument

IV. Constitutional Authority

V. Constitutional Change

VI. Constitutional Politics and Law

Bibliography

Part 2: The Colonial Era: Before 1776

I. Introduction

II. Foundations
A. Sources
B. Principles
C. Scope

III. Constitutional Authority and Judicial Power
A. Constitutional Authority
B. Judicial Selection, Structure and Jurisdiction
C. Constitutional Litigation

IV. Powers
A. General Principles
B. Congressional (Parliamentary) Power over Domestic Policy
C. Congressional (Parliamentary Power over Foreign Policy
D. Congressional (Parliamentary) Power to Acquire and Govern Territory
E. Powers and Rights of Members of Congress (Parliament), Observers, and Congressional (Parliamentary) Committees
F. State (Colonial) Powers under State Constitutions (Colonial Charters)

V. Federalism
A. The Status of States (Colonies) in the Federal Union (British Empire)
B. State (Colonial) Sovereign Immunity and Commandeering
C. Preemption
D. Relationships between States (Colonies)

VI. Separation of Powers
A. General Principles
B. Presidential (Royal) War and Foreign Policy Powers
C. Domestic Powers of the President (Monarch)
D. Presidential (Royal) Power to Execute the Law
E. Appointment and Removal Powers
F. Executive Privileges, Immunities and Impeachment

VII. Individual Rights
A. Property
B. Religion
C. Guns
D. Personal Freedom and Public Morality
E. Positive Rights

VIII. Democratic Rights
A. Free Speech
B. Voting
C. Citizenship

IX. Equality
A. Equality Under Law
B. Race
C. Gender
D. Native Americans

X. Criminal Justice
A. Due Process
B. Habeas Corpus
C. Search and Seizure
D. Interrogations
E. Juries
F. Lawyers
G. Punishments

Bibliography

Appendix: Constitution of the United States

Index