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Influence of the Scottish Enlightenment Upon the Constitution of the United States of America

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Influence of the Scottish Enlightenment Upon the Constitution of the United States of America Mackenzie, Charles Alfred (2012) Influence of the Scottish Enlightenment upon the Constitution of the United States of America. LL.M(R) thesis http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3682/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Influence of the Scottish Enlightenment Upon the Constitution of the United States of America Charles Alfred Mackenzie B.A., M.A., J.D. Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Law School of Law College of Social Sciences University of Glasgow August 2012 © C. Alfred Mackenzie ii Abstract A fair amount of scholarship1 and popular writing2 has been devoted to the impact great thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment had on the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the Scottish Enlightenment influenced the drafting of the United States Constitution and the establishment of a constitutional republic. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the Scottish Enlightenment and introduces the key Scottish thinkers whose Enlightenment ideas appear to have influenced the American philosophical debates during the late eighteenth century. Chapter 2 is an examination of that influence upon colonial Americans. Chapter 3 explores the philosophical debates from the Declaration of Independence through the drafting of the Constitution. Chapter 4 takes the debate from the Framers who drafted the proposed Constitution to the Founders who ratified the Constitution through a state convention process. Chapter 5 examines the continued influence of the Scottish Enlightenment during the early days of the constitutional republic. A final chapter of concluding remarks offers the thesis that, while it is unrealistic to conclude that the Enlightenment influence in American political thought in general or upon the United States Constitution in particular was uniquely Scottish, neither should the distinctively Scottish contributions to the shaping of the constitutional republic be ignored in the historical record as had been the case during most of the nineteenth century. As was true of the development of competing Enlightenment ideas in Scotland, the private deliberations at the Constitutional Convention, the public pamphlet campaign waged by Federalists who supported the proposed Constitution and Anti-Federalists who opposed it, and the successive decisions by state ratifying conventions to adopt the Constitution were all characterized by vigorous debates about reason and passion, virtue and ambition, and authority and liberty. Ultimately, it would be the courageous spirit of reasoned public discourse, as much as the developing themes of liberty, that the Scottish Enlightenment would contribute to the constitutional debates in the emerging United States. 1 See e.g., Garry Wills, Inventing America: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1978). 2 See e.g., Arthur Herman, How the Scots Invented the Modern World (New York: Crown Publishers, 2001). iii Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................. ii Contents ............................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgement.................................................................................................................. v Author’s Declaration ............................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1: Introduction to the Scottish Enlightenment .......................................................... 1 Origins of the Scottish Enlightenment .......................................................................... 1 Contributions to Political Discourse ............................................................................. 3 Moral Sense Theory ............................................................................................ 5 Sentimentalists ..................................................................................................... 7 Civil Society....................................................................................................... 14 Philosophy of Common Sense ........................................................................... 17 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: Enlightenment Theory in Colonial America ...................................................... 19 Scottish Immigration to America................................................................................ 20 Reading the Scottish Enlightenment ........................................................................... 23 Travel and Correspondence ........................................................................................ 26 Scottish Influence on Colonial American Writings .................................................... 27 Chapter 3: An Enlightened Path to a Constitutional Republic ............................................. 29 Declaration of Independence ...................................................................................... 29 Revolutionary War and the Confederation ................................................................. 32 Constitutional Convention .......................................................................................... 33 Enlightenment Influences on the Framers of the Proposed Constitution ................... 39 Chapter 4: Ratification of the Constitution .......................................................................... 42 Proposed Constitution Presented to the States ........................................................... 42 Ratification Debates.................................................................................................... 42 iv Power of the People .......................................................................................... 42 Political Factions and an Extended Republic ................................................... 45 Political Economy ............................................................................................. 48 Virtue and Ambition .......................................................................................... 49 Demand for a Declaration of Rights ................................................................. 50 Ratification by New Hampshire—the Ninth State ..................................................... 52 Confederation Congress Calls for First National Elections ........................................ 52 Virtue and Liberty....................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 5: The Constitution Established.............................................................................. 54 Early Days of the Republic ......................................................................................... 54 Formation of the Government ........................................................................... 54 Adoption of the Bill of Rights ............................................................................ 54 Impact of Scottish Enlightenment on Separation of Powers ...................................... 56 Article I — A Bicameral Legislature ................................................................. 58 Article II — A Unified Executive ....................................................................... 60 Article III — An Independent Judiciary ............................................................ 61 Virtue as an Inadequate Protector of Liberty .............................................................. 66 First Amendment — First Freedoms ................................................................. 66 Second Amendment — Right to Keep and Bear Arms ....................................... 68 Scottish Enlightenment Ideas Reflected in the New Republic ................................... 69 Chapter 6: Concluding Remarks .......................................................................................... 74 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 77 v Acknowledgement I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisors in the University of Glasgow School of Law: Ernest Metzger, the Douglas Chair in Civil Law, and Adam Tomkins, the John Millar Chair of Public Law. Professor Metzger’s and Professor Tomkins’ wise insights, constructive criticism, and valuable suggestions during the course of my research and the writing of this thesis are acknowledged with gratitude. I also wish to acknowledge Dr. Fiona Leverick for her encouragement and guidance during the early stages of my participation in the LLM by Research programme. Finally, I wish to thank my wife,
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