American Sovereigns: The People and America's Constitutional Tradition Before the Civil War (Cambridge Studies on the American Constitution)

American Sovereigns: The People And America's Constitutional Tradition Before The Civil War Challenges Traditional American Constitutional History, Theory, And Jurisprudence That Sees Today's Constitutionalism As Linked By An Unbroken Chain To The 1787 Federal Constitutional Convention. American Sovereigns Examines The Idea That After The American Revolution, A Collectivity - The People - Would Rule As The Sovereign. Heated Political Controversies Within The States And At The National Level Over What It Meant That The People Were The Sovereign And How That Collective Sovereign Could Express Its Will Were Not Resolved In 1776, In 1787, Or Prior To The Civil War. The Idea Of The People As The Sovereign Both Unified And Divided Americans In Thinking About Government And The Basis Of The Union. Today's Constitutionalism Is Not A Natural Inheritance, But The Product Of Choices Americans Made Between Shifting Understandings About Themselves As A Collective Sovereign.--book Jacket. American Sovereigns Is A Path-breaking Interpretation Of America's Political History And Constitutionalism That Explores How Americans Struggled Over The Idea That The People Would Rule As The Sovereign After The American Revolution. National And State Debates About Government Action, Law, And The People's Political Powers Reveal How Americans Sought To Understand How A Collective Sovereign-the People-could Both Play The Role As The Ruler And Yet Be Ruled By Governments Of Their Own Choosing. Prologue -- The People's Sovereignty In The States -- Revolutionary Constitutionalism -- Grass-roots Self-government : America's Early Determinist Movements -- Revolutionary Tensions : 'friends Of Government' Confront 'the Regulators' In Massachusetts -- The Sovereign Behind The Federal Constitution -- The Federal Constitution And The Effort To Constrain The People -- Testing The Constitutionalism Of 1787 : The Whiskey 'rebellion' In Pennsylvania -- Federal Sovereignty : Competing Views Of The Federal Constitution -- The Struggle Over A Constitutional Middle Ground -- The Collective Sovereign Persists : The People's Constitution In Rhode Island -- Epilogue. Christian G. Fritz. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 403-410) And Index. Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page ix) 1 Prologue (page 1) PART ONE. THE PEOPLE'S SOVEREIGNTY IN THE STATES (page 9) 2 Revolutionary Constitutionalism (page 11) 3 Grassroots Self-Government: America's Early Determinist Movements (page 47) 4 Revolutionary Tensions: "Friends of Government" Confront "The Regulators" in Massachusetts (page 80) PART TWO. THE SOVEREIGN BEHIND THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION (page 117) 5 The Federal Constitution and the Effort to Constrain the People (page 119) 6 Testing the Constitutionalism of 1787: The Whiskey "Rebellion" in Pennsylvania (page 153) 7 Federal Sovereignty: Competing Views of the Federal Constitution (page 190) PART THREE. THE STRUGGLE OVER A CONSTITUTIONAL MIDDLE GROUND (page 235) 8 The Collective Sovereign Persists: The People's Constitution in Rhode Island (page 246) 9 Epilogue (page 277) Key to Abbreviations (page 303) Notes (page 307) Selected Short Titles (page 403) Credits (page 411) Index (page 415) American Sovereigns is a path-breaking interpretation of America's political history and constitutionalism that analyzes the understanding of how the American people were to rule as a collective sovereign. National and state political controversies produced choices that shaped the current American view of the meaning of the sovereignty of the people.