DOCSLIB.ORG

If James Madison Had Had a Sense of Humor1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
If James Madison Had Had a Sense of Humor1 IF JAMES MADISON HAD HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR1 HE Historical Society of Pennsylvania has an exhibition that Tstands among the highest of the many that have been prepared in recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Constitution. The accompanying catalogue is one of the features raising this exhibition to pre-eminence. An excellent introductory essay by the Librarian, Mr. Julian P. Boyd, is followed by a bibliographical description of the items shown which is a model of completeness and accuracy. Sev- eral times in that bibliography occurs the cryptic comment, "Not in Farrand." Aside from the modest disclaimer that he is neither omnis- cient nor omnivorous, the editor would be the first to declare that the Records do not include one sort of material that is necessary to understand the formation of the Constitution. That missing feature is the subject of the paper presented to you this afternoon. Under the circumstances, the temptation was almost irresistible to take as the title, "Not in Farrand," but on the whole it seemed more decorous to make Madison responsible for the defi- ciency. The publication in 1840 of T^he Takers of James ^Madison gave the world its first comprehensive and trustworthy account of what had taken place in the convention that framed the Constitution of the United States. This statement does not overlook the printing early in 17882 of Luther Martin's report to the Maryland House of Representatives. That effusion with its superfluity of italics ought never to have been called Qenuine Information, for little in the nature of fact is to be found therein. It might better have been entitled the "rambling diatribe of an irreconcilable." Nor has the Journal printed in 1819 been forgotten. According to a footnote in a recent volume of the Journals of the Continental Congress William Jackson received $866.60 for his four months' service as secretary of the Federal Convention. If the pitiful record 1 Paper read at a session of the American Historical Association in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, December 29, 1937. 2Dunlap's Maryland Gazette and Baltimore Advertiser, December 28, 17 8 7-February 8, 1788. 130 1938 IF MADISON HAD HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR 131 embodied in the official journal is all that the Convention and pos- terity received for its money, he was overpaid. Robert Yates's Secret Troceedings was published in 1821. His notes are of no importance for the opening days of the Convention but offer a fuller report after the presentation of the New Jersey plan on June 15. While they do not give at all a complete picture of what was happening they throw light upon the attitude of individ- uals in the debates, but they stop with the fifth of July, before any- thing had been accomplished. The assertion originally made accordingly holds good, that the publication of Madison's Tapers in 1840 gave us our first rational narrative of what had been done in Philadelphia. By that time—that is, in the generation after the War of 1812—respect for the written instrument of government under which the nation had grown and prospered, had already developed into admiration, and with some it had reached the stage of reverence and even of veneration. The Con- stitution later stood the stress of civil war. There followed an amazing industrial development, with a great concentration of industry and a corresponding concentration of wealth. Influential business men and the propertied classes naturally wished to preserve the existing status. The Constitution, having been given the basic credit for the unprece- dented growth and prosperity of the United States, was being held up, more unconsciously than deliberately, as almost sacred. That was when the "Worship of the Constitution" seems to have become a part of the American tradition, well exemplified in Bryce's ^American Commonwealth, published in 18 8 8: But reverence for the Constitution has become so potent a conservative influence, that no proposal of fundamental change seems likely to be enter- tained. And this reverence is itself one of the most wholesome and hopeful elements in the character of the American people. Gladstone's overworked eulogy is considerately omitted here.3 The very fact that arguments before the Supreme Court and the decisions of the court itself turned upon the interpretation of words and clauses, and even at times upon punctuation, placed the Constitu- tion on a par with the Bible in respect to its infallibility. 8 A later attempt to phrase his sentiments is to be found in the Historical Society's exhibit, in a letter written by Gladstone at the time of the Centenary of the Constitution at Philadelphia in 1887. The earlier version, as it appeared in an article in the North Ameri- can Review in 1878, entitled "Kin beyond Sea," is much better, and its popularity is attested by the frequency with which it is quoted. 132 MAX FARRAND April Revolt against such a doctrine was inevitable, and there came a persistent effort to show that the Constitution was of human rather than of divine origin. An inference, apt to follow, is that its framers were actuated by motives none too altruistic. In response to the de- mand for further information as to what had taken place in Phila- delphia, there came, commencing in the last decade of the nineteenth century, a succession of publications presenting original material re- lating to the Federal Convention.4 Just at that time the people of the United States were in the throes of revising their conception of the fundamental purposes of govern- ment. The Constitution had been framed by men who, in the war for independence, had rebelled against what they considered the arbitrary control of their affairs by King and Parliament. They wished, accordingly, to establish a government strong enough to maintain order, but the powers of that government were to be care- fully defined. States and individuals were to be left free to proceed in their own ways, provided they did not encroach upon the limited authority specifically granted to the central government. A century later, men were beginning to believe that it was the province of gov- ernment to regulate economic affairs; and the whole trend of the last forty years has been to restrict the individual in the larger interests of society. The two conceptions are as far apart as the poles. When a person with this modern idea as to the scope of governmen- tal activities goes back to 1787 in order to learn how the Constitu- tion came into being, unless rigorously schooled in historical methods he is almost certain to read into the records his own beliefs and even his own fears and suspicions. Professor Thomas Reed Powell in a recent review wittily summarized this tendency, when he wrote that each "book by itself gives a more accurate picture of the mind of the author than of the totality of the forces behind the Constitution." Madison has left us an extraordinary record. Remembering that this was before the days of perfected and practiced shorthand and 4 Madison's Debates had been reprinted in Elliot's Debates in 1845 and in subsequent editions. Albert Scott and Company's two editions of Madison's notes were issued in 1893. The Documentary History of the Constitution began publication in 1894. Rufus King's notes appeared in the same year. The reprinting of Pierce's notes in 1898 was the first of a series in the American Historical Review•, which was continued at intervals over a period of several years. The editing of the Records of the Federal Convention was begun soon after 1900, at the suggestion of J. Franklin Jameson, and was evidently a response to the growing and insistent demand for all the information available, in convenient and reliable form. 1938 IF MADISON HAD HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR I33 before the invention of the typewriter, his notes of the debates were a real achievement. They were comprehensive, accurate, impartial, and impersonal. Oddly enough, the latter virtues are now our chief cause of complaint: his notes are too impartial and impersonal. The trend of modern historical scholarship is all in the direction of including within the scope of our investigations various hitherto neglected aspects of life, that may help to explain the forces causing men to act as they did in particular circumstances. The ex- cellent series, *A History of American cQifey edited by Fox and Schle- singer, is indicative of the tendency. Much has been accomplished in this direction, but much still remains to be done. Among others, we ought to have studies of our people in their social relations, of their manners, behavior, and conduct, and of the improvement in the art and grace of living. That story has never been told and is greatly needed, for it should underlie every attempt to explain any incident or event in the past, where human actions and motives are involved. The history of manners in America might well begin with the dominance, in colonial times, of English traditions and standards. Where economic conditions were more nearly equal, as they were in America, and where opportunities were open to all, social privileges, any more than political privileges, could not be maintained on the same strict lines that had long prevailed in England. The process, once started, has continued steadily onward, until it may be said that the manners and behavior of the mass of the American people are fashioned after models coming from the English aristocracy. Mass production inevitably means a lowering in quality. Machine- made furniture does not have the perfection and finish of a product from the hand of Thomas Chippendale.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Construction of the Massachusetts Constitution
    Construction of the Massachusetts Constitution ROBERT J. TAYLOR J. HI s YEAR marks tbe 200tb anniversary of tbe Massacbu- setts Constitution, the oldest written organic law still in oper- ation anywhere in the world; and, despite its 113 amendments, its basic structure is largely intact. The constitution of the Commonwealth is, of course, more tban just long-lived. It in- fluenced the efforts at constitution-making of otber states, usu- ally on their second try, and it contributed to tbe shaping of tbe United States Constitution. Tbe Massachusetts experience was important in two major respects. It was decided tbat an organic law should have tbe approval of two-tbirds of tbe state's free male inbabitants twenty-one years old and older; and tbat it sbould be drafted by a convention specially called and chosen for tbat sole purpose. To use the words of a scholar as far back as 1914, Massachusetts gave us 'the fully developed convention.'^ Some of tbe provisions of the resulting constitu- tion were original, but tbe framers borrowed heavily as well. Altbough a number of historians have written at length about this constitution, notably Prof. Samuel Eliot Morison in sev- eral essays, none bas discussed its construction in detail.^ This paper in a slightly different form was read at the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian Society on October IS, 1980. ' Andrew C. McLaughlin, 'American History and American Democracy,' American Historical Review 20(January 1915):26*-65. 2 'The Struggle over the Adoption of the Constitution of Massachusetts, 1780," Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 50 ( 1916-17 ) : 353-4 W; A History of the Constitution of Massachusetts (Boston, 1917); 'The Formation of the Massachusetts Constitution,' Massachusetts Law Quarterly 40(December 1955):1-17.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of the Third Term Tradition, 1789-1928
    University of the Pacific Scholarly Commons University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 1940 A history of the third term tradition, 1789-1928 Elmer Ellsworth Stevens University of the Pacific Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds Part of the American Politics Commons, Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Stevens, Elmer Ellsworth. (1940). A history of the third term tradition, 1789-1928. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/991 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A HISTORY,, OF THE THIRD TERM TRADITION 1789 - 1928 ~--...... - ·- .." .·•. ',;'. i :.<!" '. ·.;• by ~ ,., ' Elmer E. Stevens H• May 20, 1940 A Thesis Submitted to the Department of History C9llege of the Pacific In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts APPROVED ?J!at~ rr. ~ Chairman of the Thesis Committee DEPOSITED IN THE COLLEGE LIBRARY: Librarian DATED: To Dr. Malcolm H. Eiselen, teacher, guide and friend, for his patience a.nd advice and to my wife, Margaret, I dedicate this thesis A CKJ-J 0 \iVLEDG EMENT For their· help 2.nd encouragement, I am e;rateful to Dr. M. R, Eiselen, ~L. Margaret Stevens, Dr. G, A, vVerner, Marie L. Breniman, Lorraine Knoles, ' Dr, Tully C, Knoles, Albert c. Gerould and the staff of the California State "! Library.
    [Show full text]
  • Bridging the Gap Between Popular Sovereignty and Original Intent
    Fordham Law Review Volume 69 Issue 5 Article 28 2001 "Public Citizens" and the Constitution: Bridging the Gap between Popular Sovereignty and Original Intent Robert W. Scheef Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Robert W. Scheef, "Public Citizens" and the Constitution: Bridging the Gap between Popular Sovereignty and Original Intent, 69 Fordham L. Rev. 2201 (2001). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol69/iss5/28 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NOTE "PUBLIC CITIZENS" AND THE CONSTITUTION: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY AND ORIGINAL INTENT Robert W. Schef, I sincerely congratulate the citizens of America upon the fair prospect which now presents itself to their view; and promises a long reign of virtue, happiness, and glory, as the result of a constitution which is the real vox populi so often ardently desired by mankind, in vain, and now, for the first time, discovered by the patriotic sages of America.1 INTRODUCTION "A Real Patriot's" congratulatory note to the citizens of America highlights two points regarding the creation of the Constitution. First, it was the people who had the right to establish the fundamental law upon which government was based. As Thomas Jefferson declared in the Declaration of Independence, it was the people's right "to alter or to abolish" government, and "to institute new government" to secure2 fundamental rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
    [Show full text]
  • Beatrix Farrand's Early Years at the Arnold Arboretum
    Lady into Landscape Gardener: Beatrix Farrand’s Early Years at the Arnold Arboretum Jane Brown One of America’s great landscape gardeners, Beatrix Farrand was deeply influenced by Professor C. S. Sargent, the Arboretum’s first director. For the whole of her long and successful refers to herself as "the old lady" whose mind career, Beatrix Farrand was consistently and works very slowly-are dated in the spring of loyally appreciative of the place she regarded 1953, just six years before her death. as her alma mater, the Arnold Arboretum. This well-documented relationship of her Her gratitude and affection shine through her later years will be the subject of a future public writings, from a piece she called "The Arnoldia article, but for the moment, I would Debt of Landscape Art to a Museum of Trees" like to concentrate upon how it all began. For for the Architectural Record of November my forthcoming book on Beatrix Farrand’s life 1918/ to her pieces for Arnoldia in 1949, and work, I have had to piece together much describing her work on the azalea border and more elusive evidence on how she came to her layout plan for Peters Hill.2 Her friendship study at the Arnold in the 1890s and what she with Professor Charles Sprague Sargent, her did there. She left no diaries or letters of that adored "Chief," who had taught her "by time, and her references to it were persistently precept and example," was maintained until vague, even to the drafting of what amounted the end of his life in 1927; and after that, she to her own obituary, for the Reef Point Bulle- conducted a lengthy and vigorous correspon- tin, where she mentioned "a fortunate meet- dence with Alfred Rehder and Karl Sax, and ing" (one of many in her life) with Mrs.
    [Show full text]
  • Abbott, Judge , of Salem, N. J., 461 Abeel Family, N. Y., 461
    INDEX Abbott, Judge , of Salem, N. J., 461 Alexandria, Va., 392 Abeel family, N. Y., 461 Alleghany County: and Pennsylvania Abercrombie, Charlotte and Sophia, 368 Canal, 189, 199 (n. 87) ; and Whiskey Abercrombie, James, 368 Rebellion, 330, 344 Abington Meeting, 118 Alleghany River, proposals to connect by Abolition movement, 119, 313, 314, 352, water with Susquehanna River and Lake 359; contemporary attitude toward, Erie, 176-177, 180, 181, 190, 191, 202 145; in Philadelphia, 140, 141; meeting Allen, James, papers, 120 in Boston (1841), 153. See also under Allen, Margaret Hamilton (Mrs. Wil- Slavery liam), portrait attributed to James Clay- Academy of Natural Sciences, library, 126 poole, 441 (n. 12) Accokeek Lands, 209 Allen, William, 441 (n. 12) ; papers, 120, Adams, Henry, History of the United 431; petition to, by William Moore, States . , 138-139 and refusal, 119 Adams, John: feud with Pickering, 503; Allen, William Henry, letters, 271 on conditions in Pennsylvania, 292, 293, Allhouse, Henry, 203 (n. 100) 300, 302; on natural rights, 22 Allinson, Samuel, 156, 157 Adams, John Quincy: position on invasion Allinson, William, 156, 157 of Florida, 397; President of U. S., 382, Almanacs, 465, 477, 480, 481-482 408, 409, 505, 506; presidential candi- Ambrister, Robert, 397-398 date, 407, 502-503, 506 American Baptist Historical Society, 126 Adams, John Stokes, Autobiographical American Catholic Historical Society of Sketch by John Marshall edited by, re- Philadelphia, 126 viewed, 414-415 American Historical Association: Little- Adams and Loring, 210 ton-Griswold committee, publication of Adams County, 226; cemetery inscriptions, Bucks Co. court records, 268; meeting, 273 address by T.
    [Show full text]
  • The Creation of the Constitution: Scholarship at a Standstill James H
    The Creation of the Constitution: Scholarship at a Standstill James H. Hutson Reviews in American History, Vol. 12, No. 4. (Dec., 1984), pp. 463-477. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0048-7511%28198412%2912%3A4%3C463%3ATCOTCS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H Reviews in American History is currently published by The Johns Hopkins University Press. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/jhup.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers, and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take advantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org Fri Feb 29 14:29:17 2008 THE CREATION OF THE CONSTITUTION: SCHOLARSHIP AT A STANDSTILL James H.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Constitutional Lawyers and Historians Should Take a Fresh
    Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship 1993 Why Constitutional Lawyers and Historians Should Take a Fresh Look at the Emergence of the Constitution from the Confederation Period: The Case of the Drafting of the Articles of Confederation Eric M. Freedman Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/faculty_scholarship Recommended Citation Eric M. Freedman, Why Constitutional Lawyers and Historians Should Take a Fresh Look at the Emergence of the Constitution from the Confederation Period: The Case of the Drafting of the Articles of Confederation, 60 Tenn. L. Rev. 783 (1993) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/faculty_scholarship/62 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WHY CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYERS AND HISTORIANS SHOULD TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT THE EMERGENCE OF THE CONSTITUTION FROM THE CONFEDERATION PERIOD: THE CASE OF THE DRAFTING OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION ERIC M. FREEDMAN* Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ........................................ 784 I. THE PROBLEM: THE CRITICAL WEAKNESSES OF "THE CRITICAL PERIOD" .................................... 785 1I. TESTING A SOLUTION: A RECONSIDERATION OF THE DRAFTING OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION ....................... 797 A. Outline of CongressionalProceedings .................. 797 B. PriorInterpretations ................................ 801 1. The Jensen Thesis ................................ 801 2. Newer Interpretations ............................ 803 3. An Assessment ................................. 804 a. The Jensen Thesis ........................... 804 b.
    [Show full text]
  • How Bad Were the Official Records of the Federal Convention? Mary Sarah Bilder Boston College Law School, [email protected]
    Boston College Law School Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School Boston College Law School Faculty Papers 10-17-2012 How Bad Were the Official Records of the Federal Convention? Mary Sarah Bilder Boston College Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/lsfp Recommended Citation Mary Sarah Bilder. "How Bad Were the Official Records of the Federal Convention?." The George Washington Law Review 80, no.6 (2012): 1620-1682. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law School Faculty Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. How Bad Were the Official Records of the Federal Convention? Mary Sarah Bilder* ABSTRACT The official records of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 have been neglected and dismissed by scholars for the last century, largely to due to Max Farrand’s criticisms of both the records and the man responsible for keeping them—Secretary of the Convention William Jackson. This Article disagrees with Farrand’s conclusion that the Convention records were bad, and aims to resurrect the records and Jackson’s reputation. The Article suggests that the endurance of Farrand’s critique arises in part from misinterpretations of cer- tain procedural components of the Convention and failure to appreciate the significance of others, understandable considering the inaccessibility of the of- ficial records. The Article also describes the story of the records after the Con- vention but before they were published, including the physical limbo of the records in the aftermath of the Convention and the eventual deposit of the records in March 1796 amidst the rapid development of disagreements over constitutional interpretation.
    [Show full text]
  • CORNELL Veterinary Medicine SPRING 2004
    CORNELL Veterinary Medicine SPRING 2004 PRINCIPLES A FEW PAGES FROM THE BOOK IN PRACTICE OF ROBERT W. KIRK SPRING 2004 PRINCIPLES contents 9 Don’t Forget the Horse Doctor 10 A Case of Mistaken Memory 15 Auxiliary 18 Torres Testifies 18 CVM People 24 Endnote Dede Hatch IN PRACTICE CORNELL VETERINARY MEDICINE Robert W. Kirk, DVM ’46 was out ager with a love of the outdoors. His standing in a field — a potato field, to work on a nearby Guernsey farm in- be exact — when Dean William Hagan spired him to major in dairy and ani- called in 1952 to invite him to inter- mal husbandry at the University of view for a position at Cornell. Hadley Connecticut, and he graduated with Stephenson, DVM ’20 was retiring from high distinction. The student’s interest the Small Animal Clinic, and Ellis in cattle was serious enough that he won Leonard, DVM ’34 needed to replace the beef-cattle category of the judging him. Kirk had also been offered a posi- competition at the 1941 International tion in the recently established veteri- Livestock Show. That summer he nary college at the University of A FEW PAGES worked on another dairy farm, Judd’s California, Davis, but he opted for the Bridge. While there, he first glimpsed known quantity. his future — or thought he had. The “quantity”, he knew, would not from the Judd’s Bridge Farm was home to the be much. “Bob Kirk and E. P. Leonard top Brown Swiss herd in the world. were the faculty in small animals, let’s When a daughter of the most famous face it,” says Mark Morris, Jr., DVM ’58.
    [Show full text]
  • Rossiter: 1787: the Grand Convention
    BOOK REVIEWS 1787: THE GRAND CONVENTION. By Clinton Rossiter. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966. Pp. 443. $7.95. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 is, the author states, "the supreme event in the life of the American people .... It is in the nature of a memorable event that it must be restudied and re- told by each generation .... ." And the convention of 1787 was, he states, "an event about whose nature, meaning, origins, purposes, staging, techniques, cast of characters, and consequences men have been speculating in print ever since it was first recognized as history (as early, it would appear, as 1789), and about which they will con- tinue to speculate until the end of the Republic-and perhaps, if History is still being written after that calamity, until the end of recorded time."' In the nineteenth century the adoption of the Constitution was viewed as an act of divine providence which rescued the American people and their republican principles from the chaos and catas- trophe which ensued under the Articles of Confederation. The Founders were seen as Olympian superstatesmen, motivated solely by selfless idealism and undefiled patriotism. This was basically the interpretation advanced by such eminent constitutional historians as George Bancroft and George Tickner Curtis, whose works, I hasten to add, are still highly valuable as rich storehouses of factual information. Perhaps the best-known and most widely read work of this early period was John Fiske's The Critical Period of Ameri- can History, 1783-1789 (1888). Early in this century Charles A. Beard published An Economic Interpretationof the Constitution of the United States (1913), prob- ably the single most influential book yet written on the Founders and the adoption of the Constitution.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Sue the President: a Proposal for Legislation Establishing the Extent of Presidential Immunity
    Valparaiso University Law Review Volume 30 Number 1 Fall 1995 pp.283-333 Fall 1995 How to Sue the President: A Proposal for Legislation Establishing the Extent of Presidential Immunity Jennifer L. Long Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Jennifer L. Long, How to Sue the President: A Proposal for Legislation Establishing the Extent of Presidential Immunity, 30 Val. U. L. Rev. 283 (1995). Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol30/iss1/6 This Notes is brought to you for free and open access by the Valparaiso University Law School at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Valparaiso University Law Review by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at [email protected]. Long: How to Sue the President: A Proposal for Legislation Establishing How to Sue the President: A Proposal for Legislation Establishing the Extent of Presidential Immunity The President must be greater than anyone else, but not better than anyone else. .... A Presidential slip of the tongue, a slight error in judgment-social, political, or ethical-can raise a storm of protest .... And with all this, Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him.' I. INTRODUCTION The common law maxim of "the King can do no wrong"2 has had, at best, a limited reception in the United States.' As they debated the benefits and burdens of a strong executive, the Framers of the Constitution were wary of allowing the President too many powers,4 and thus provided a means of 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Vindicating-Ch.-1-Slavery.Pdf
    Notes Preface 1. Conor Cruise O'Brien, The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson and the French Rev­ olution, 1785-1800 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 319.Thurgood Marshall, "Reflections on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution," Harvard Law Review 101 (November 1987): 4.John M. Blum, Liberty,]ustice, Order: Essays on Past Politics (New York: Norton, 1993), 25; to illustrate the Founders' understanding, Blum attributes this view (incorrectly) to John Locke, "to whom," he correctly says, "so many American political theorists repaired" during that era. Richard N. Current et al., American History: A Survey, 7th ed. (NewYork: Knopf, 1987), 142. Karen O'Connor and Larry]. Sabato, American Government: Roots and Reform (New York: Macmillan, 1993), 133. Rogers Smith, "The 'American Creed' and American Identity: The Limits of Liberal Citizenship in the United States," Jiliestern Political Quarterly 41 (1988): 245.Joan HoffWilson, "The Illusion of Change,'' in The Amer­ ican Revlution: Explorations in the History ofAmerican Radicalism, ed. Alfred EYoung (Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1976), 387. 2. George Washington, To the Roman Catholics in the United States, 15 March 1790, in George Washington: A Collection, ed. W B. Allen (Indianapolis: Lib­ erty Classics, 1988), 54 7. In my quotations from the Founders in this book, I have sometimes modernized spelling, capitalization, and punctuation for the sake of readability. 3. Thomas G. West, "Was the American Founding Unjust? The Case of Slav­ ery,'' Principles, Spring/Summer 1992, 1-12. "Was the American Founding Unjust? The Case ofWomen," Principles, Winter 1993, 1-12. "Was the American Founding Unjust? The Case ofVoting Rights," Principles, Spring/Summer 1993, 1-12.
    [Show full text]