- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface
- Introduction
-
Part One -
I. 1790: Secretary Jefferson and the Foreign Affairs Power -
II. 1791: The National Bank and the Point of Interpretation -
III. 1793: The Supreme Court and the Metaphysics of Sovereignty -
IV. 1794: Kamper v. Hawkins and the Role of the Judiciary -
V. 1798 (1): Justice Paterson and the Missing Fundamental Principle -
Part Two -
VI. 1798 (2): How to Think about the Sedition Act -
VII. 1800: Marshall and the Role of the Political Branches -
VIII. 1802: How Not to Think about the Judiciary Repeal Act -
IX. 1804: Turpin v. Locket and the Place of Religion -
X. 1806: Hudgins v. Wright and the Place of Slavery -
XI. 1808–1809: A Forgotten Crossroads in Constitutional History -
Part Three -
XII. 1817: President Madison Vetoes His Own Bill -
XIII. 1818: The Congress Thinks about Internal Improvements -
XIV. 1821: The Attorney General and the Rule of Law -
XV. 1829: Writing State v. Mann -
Part Four -
XVI. 1859: The Supreme Court and the Metaphysics of Supremacy -
XVII. 1862: Four Attorneys General and the Meaning of Citizenship -
XVIII. 1873: Slaughterhouse Revisited -
XIX. 1904: Clay May, the Railroad, and Justice Holmes -
XX. 1927: Justice Brandeis and the Final End of the State -
XXI. 1944: Constitutional Injustice -
Part Five -
XXII. 2002: Common Ground after Two Centuries - Conclusion
- Index
1790: Secretary Jefferson and the Foreign Affairs Power
1790: Secretary Jefferson and the Foreign Affairs Power
- Chapter:
- I. 1790: Secretary Jefferson and the Foreign Affairs Power
- Source:
- A Community Built on Words
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
Written constitutionalism, as the founders understood it, requires the creation of other texts, whether written or not, that connect the written Constitution with the propositions and commands attributed to it. The recurrent impulse throughout our nation's history to disavow the creation of these other texts in the name of allegiance to the Constitution alone is not in fact a return to the founders but a repudiation of their own practice. To see this point, this chapter turns to one of the earliest written interpretations of the Constitution as a governing document, a 1790 opinion by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. The opinion is of special interest not only because of its date but also because of its author. Jefferson was a highly skilled lawyer as well as a distinguished statesman; in a 1790 letter, his cousin John Marshall described him as one of “the ablest men & soundest lawyers in America.”
Keywords: Constitution, written interpretations, secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson, foreign affairs, political power
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface
- Introduction
-
Part One -
I. 1790: Secretary Jefferson and the Foreign Affairs Power -
II. 1791: The National Bank and the Point of Interpretation -
III. 1793: The Supreme Court and the Metaphysics of Sovereignty -
IV. 1794: Kamper v. Hawkins and the Role of the Judiciary -
V. 1798 (1): Justice Paterson and the Missing Fundamental Principle -
Part Two -
VI. 1798 (2): How to Think about the Sedition Act -
VII. 1800: Marshall and the Role of the Political Branches -
VIII. 1802: How Not to Think about the Judiciary Repeal Act -
IX. 1804: Turpin v. Locket and the Place of Religion -
X. 1806: Hudgins v. Wright and the Place of Slavery -
XI. 1808–1809: A Forgotten Crossroads in Constitutional History -
Part Three -
XII. 1817: President Madison Vetoes His Own Bill -
XIII. 1818: The Congress Thinks about Internal Improvements -
XIV. 1821: The Attorney General and the Rule of Law -
XV. 1829: Writing State v. Mann -
Part Four -
XVI. 1859: The Supreme Court and the Metaphysics of Supremacy -
XVII. 1862: Four Attorneys General and the Meaning of Citizenship -
XVIII. 1873: Slaughterhouse Revisited -
XIX. 1904: Clay May, the Railroad, and Justice Holmes -
XX. 1927: Justice Brandeis and the Final End of the State -
XXI. 1944: Constitutional Injustice -
Part Five -
XXII. 2002: Common Ground after Two Centuries - Conclusion
- Index