DOCSLIB.ORG

American Governance

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
American Governance American Governance CENTER FOR CIVIC EDUCATION PACKET “WE THE PEOPLE UNITS” 1-6 Stephen Schechter, EDITOR IN CHIEF Thomas S. Vontz, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE EDITOR Thomas A. Birkland, ASSOCIATE EDITOR Mark A. Graber, ASSOCIATE EDITOR John J. Patrick, ASSOCIATE EDITOR From American Governance © 2016 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, Inc. Reproduced by permission. www.cengage.com/permissions. CONTENTS Unit 1: What Are the Philosophical and Historical Foundations of the American Political System? Magna Carta by A.E. Dick Howard ............................1 American Revolution by John P. Kaminski ........................2 Declaration of Independence by John J. Patrick ...................10 Constitutionalism by Herman Belz ............................13 Unit 2: How Did the Framers Create the Constitution? Constitution by John J. Patrick ...............................17 Federalism, Theory of by John Kincaid .........................21 Separation of Powers by Will Morrisey ..........................25 Representation, Idea of by John J. Patrick .......................26 Unit 3: How Has the Constitution Been Changed to Further the Ideals Contained in the Declaration of Independence? American Constitutional Development from 1789 to 1868 by Paul Finkelman .......................................33 Political Party by Paul D. Moreno .............................39 Judicial Review by Daniel E. Hall .............................42 Fourteenth Amendment by Wayne D. Moore .....................45 Unit 4: How Have the Values and Principles Embodied in the Constitution Shaped American Institutions and Practices? Congress as a Governing Institution by James M. Curry .............49 Presidency, The by Amanda Ross Edwards .......................53 Supreme Court of the United States by Peter Charles Hoffer ..........55 Federalism in American History by John Kincaid ..................59 Unit 5: What Does the Bill of Rights Protect? US Bill of Rights by William B. Allen ..........................67 Constitutional Criminal Procedure by David Gray .................69 Freedom of Religion: Free Exercise by Frank Guliuzza ...............73 Freedom of Speech by Stephen M. Feldman ......................77 Unit 6: What Challenges Might Face American Constitutional Democracy in the Twenty-first Century? Citizenship by Thomas S. Vontz ..............................81 Foreign Policy by Stephen Schechter ...........................84 Civic Engagement by Kevin D. Ward ..........................89 Political Judgment by Thomas S. Vontz .........................92 War on Terrorism: A Constitutional Perspective by Louis Fisher .......94 American Governance: Center for Civic Education Packet iii INTRODUCTION Governance refers to the various ways by which the congregations that transmit values. The work also delves act of governing takes place. It includes formal govern- into the local communities, civic associations, and politi- ment structures but also the myriad components (such cal associations that people form for collective delibera- as voluntary civic associations and public and private tion and action, along with the relationships formed educational systems) that make up a given political between a people and their elected representatives. entity and comprise the communal life of its citizens. Each article offers a bibliography and cross- American Governance is a five-volume publication that references to guide the reader to related subjects; other provides scholarship on a wide range of essential issues resources include a thematic outline, historical docu- related to how Americans govern themselves. It offers a ments, an annotated list of useful websites, and over comprehensive, bird’s-eye view of the complete system 300 black-and-white images. of American governance and the complementarity of its parts. This special package of twenty-five entries was designed exclusively for teachers participating in the The set includes approximately 750 signed, peer- James Madison Legacy Project administered by the reviewed entries that explore key topics. These include Center for Civic Education (CCE). The entries in this formal frameworks such as the various US and state package provide an in-depth analysis of key concepts as- constitutions and federal, state, and local governments, sociated with each of the units in CCE’s We the People: as well as action by individuals and their representative The Citizen and the Constitution (Level 3). The entries civic and political organizations. It examines the exercise include concepts associated with each unit. of individual self-restraint, the political norms and ide- als that guide the actions of citizens and leaders, the American Governance is available in print and constitutional and legal frameworks that reinforce and e-book. For purchasing information please contact your modify those norms, and the families, schools, and Gale representative at www.cengage.com. American Governance: Center for Civic Education Packet v Unit 1 What Are the Philosophical and Historical Foundations of the American Political System? Magna Carta acts of grace on the king’s part but matters of right. “Magna Carta is such a Fellow,” Coke declared in a debate in the House Magna Carta (the “Great Charter”) resulted from a meeting of Commons on May 17, 1628, “that he will have no sovereign.” between England’s King John (1166–1216) and his rebellious Ultimately, the Stuart kings’ claim to royal prerogative brought a barons at Runnymede on May 15, 1215. The charter was, in ef- bloodless revolution, the accession of William and Mary to the fect, an attempt at a peace treaty between the king and the throne, and the enactment of the English Bill of Rights of 1689. disaffected barons. As seen by its contemporaries, the document That document itself is, like Magna Carta, the source of specific was addressed at specific grievances the barons and their allies provisions of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, including had with King John. In subsequent centuries, Magna Carta the right of petition and the ban on cruel and unusual came to have much larger meaning, symbolizing such basic punishments. principles as constitutionalism and the rule of law. Magna Carta came to America with the first colonial charters. The Virginia Company Charter of 1606 guaranteed HISTORY OF MAGNA CARTA colonists “all liberties, franchises, and immunities” to the same extent “as if they had been abiding and born” in England. The quarrels that led to Magna Carta were years in the making. Charters of the other colonies contained similar assurances to King Richard I (the “Lion-Hearted”; 1157–99) spent most of colonists and their posterity. English laws and law books, includ- his reign abroad on Crusade or fighting in France. Financing ing Coke’s commentaries on Magna Carta, helped plant the no- these expeditions required money, which had to be extracted tion of fundamental rights as the colonies took root. from reluctant subjects at home. Succeeding Richard on the throne, King John warred with France’s King Philip Augustus In the decade leading up to the American Revolution, an (1165–1223), only to see vast portions of the English king’s outpouring of resolutions and pamphlets attacked British poli- possessions in France, including Normandy, fall to the French. cies, including revenue measures. The Americans made argu- King John also sparred with Pope Innocent III (1160/1161– ments that can be recognized as constitutional. They based their 1216) over the election of a new archbishop of Canterbury. The claims of rights firmly on Magna Carta and on English rights as pope ordered the suspension of sacraments and church services guaranteed by the early charters. Petitioning the king in 1765, in England. Faced with the pope’s threat to release the English the Stamp Act Congress declared that the rights they articulated people from their allegiance to their monarch, King John gave were “confirmed by the Great Charter of English Liberty.” In in to Innocent’s terms, including agreeing to receive the kingdom 1774 the Continental Congress traced the Americans’ rights to as a fief from the pope. At home, complaints mounted, especially the promises made in the colonial charters. about burdensome taxes and feudal obligations. Faced with open rebellion, the king reluctantly agreed to meet with the barons at LEGACY OF MAGNA CARTA Runnymede and hear their demands. These were incorporated Specific provisions of the charter have their echo in modern into the document that, sealed by the king, became what is constitutionalism. No precept in American constitutional law known as Magna Carta. has been adapted to so many uses as due process of law. Not Many of Magna Carta’s provisions deal with feudal relation- only has the Constitution’s due process clause been held to ships and thus are largely of historical interest only. Other provi- require fair procedures, but modern cases have invoked it to sions, however, anticipate some of the basic precepts of modern place substantive limits on the power of government, protecting constitutionalism. Magna Carta pays special attention to legal such interests as privacy and personal autonomy. process and how justice is to be imposed. Chapter 39 declares, More generally, Magna Carta is an early step on the path “No free man shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised [dispos- to written constitutions. Reducing rights and protections to sessed], outlawed, banished or in any way destroyed, nor will we written form is a leitmotif of American constitutionalism, as proceed against or prosecute
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Early Years of First Amendment Lochnerism
    COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW VOL. 116 DECEMBER 2016 NO. 8 ARTICLES THE EARLY YEARS OF FIRST AMENDMENT LOCHNERISM Jeremy K. Kessler* From Citizens United to Hobby Lobby, civil libertarian challenges to the regulation of economic activity are increasingly prevalent. Critics of this trend invoke the specter of Lochner v. New York. They suggest that the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and other legislative “conscience clauses” are being used to resurrect the economically libertarian substantive due process jurisprudence of the early twentieth century. Yet the worry that aggressive judicial enforcement of the First Amendment might erode democratic regulation of the economy and enhance the economic power of private actors has a long history. As this Article demonstrates, anxieties about such “First Amendment Lochnerism” date back to the federal judiciary’s initial turn to robust protection of free exercise and free expression in the 1930s and 1940s. Then, it was those members of the Supreme Court perceived as most liberal who struck down economic regulations on First Amendment grounds. They did so in a series of contentious cases involving the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who challenged local peddling taxes as burdening a central aspect of their missionary faith—the mass sale and distribution of religious literature. In dissent, Justice Robert Jackson warned that the new “liberal” majority’s expansive conception of First *. Associate Professor and Milton Handler Fellow, Columbia Law School. FoR conversation and counsel along the way,
    [Show full text]
  • Magna Carta and the Development of the Common Law
    Magna Carta and the Development of the Common Law Professor Paul Brand, FBA Emeritus Fellow All Souls College, Oxford Paper related to a presentation given for the High Court Public Lecture series, at the High Court of Australia, Canberra, Courtroom 1, 13 May 2015 Magna Carta and the Development of the Common Law I We are about to commemorate the eight hundredth anniversary of the granting by King John on 15 June 1215 of a ‘charter of liberties’ in favour of all the free men of his kingdom [of England] and their heirs. That charter was not initially called Magna Carta (or ‘the Great Charter’, in English). It only acquired that name after it had been revised and reissued twice and after the second reissue had been accompanied by the issuing of a separate, but related, Charter of the Forest. The revised version of 1217 was called ‘The Great Charter’ simply to distinguish it from the shorter, and therefore smaller, Forest Charter, but the name stuck. To call it a ‘charter of liberties’ granted by king John to ‘all the free men of his kingdom’ of England is, however, in certain respects misleading. The term ‘liberty’ or ‘liberties’, particularly in the context of a royal grant, did not in 1215 bear the modern meaning of a recognised human right or human rights. ‘Liberty’ in the singular could mean something closer to that, in the general sense of the ‘freedom’ or the ‘free status’ of a free man, as opposed to the ‘unfreedom’ of a villein. ‘Liberties’, though, were something different (otherwise known as ‘franchises’), generally specific privileges granted by the king, particular rights such as the right to hold a fair or a market or a particular kind of private court, the right to have a park or a rabbit warren which excluded others from hunting or an exemption such as freedom from tolls at markets or fairs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Enlightened Capitalist
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Bichler, Shimshon; Nitzan, Jonathan Preprint The Enlightened Capitalist Provided in Cooperation with: The Bichler & Nitzan Archives Suggested Citation: Bichler, Shimshon; Nitzan, Jonathan (2014) : The Enlightened Capitalist, The Bichler and Nitzan Archives, Toronto, http://bnarchives.yorku.ca/397/ This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/157839 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ www.econstor.eu The Enlightened Capitalist Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan Jerusalem and Montreal April, 2014 www.bnarchives.net Creative Commons Preamble Over the past few years, we have written a series of articles about the global crisis.1 These papers try to break the conventional constrains of liberalism and Marxism, examining the crisis from the new theoretical viewpoint of capital as power.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nixon Theory of the War Power: a Critique
    California Law Review VOL. 60 MAY 1972 No. 3 The Nixon Theory of the War Power: A Critique Francis D. Wormuth* On March 11, 1966, the Legal Adviser of the State Department, Leonard Meeker, submitted to the Senate Committee on Foreign Rela- tions a memorandum that, despite its brevity, proved to be the fullest statement ever made of the legal case for the initiation of war in Viet- nam by President Johnson.' He offered several arguments. The framers of the Constitution had qualified the war clause. They in- tended that the President be free to repel sudden attacks upon the United States without Congressional authorization; with the shrinking of the globe this exception had grown into a power to repel an attack on any country, even one halfway around the earth, if he considered this necessary to safeguard American interests. One hundred twenty- five historic cases of unauthorized executive use of military force sup- plied validating precedents for Johnson's action. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution authorized the President to make war at will in Southeast Asia. The SEATO Treaty authorized him to defend Southeast Asia against Communism. And, finally, by passing appropriation acts, the Congress had endorsed the war. President Nixon, even while withdrawing troops from Vietnam, has continued to commit more troops in smaller numbers. Similarly, he has withdrawn some of the legal justifications adduced by Meeker but has advanced others to replace the arguments that have been re- * Professor of Political Science, University of Utah. A.B. 1930, M.A. 1932, Ph.D. 1935, Cornell University. 1. Meeker, The Legality of United States Participationin the Defense of Viet- Nam, 54 DEP'T STATE BuLL.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Choose a Political Party
    FastFACTS How to Choose a Political Party When you sign up to vote, you can join a political party. A political party is a group of people who share the same ideas about how the government should be run and what it should do. They work together to win elections. You can also choose not to join any of the political parties and still be a voter. There is no cost to join a party. How to choose a political party: • Choose a political party that has the same general views you do. For example, some political parties think that government should No Party Preference do more for people. Others feel that government should make it If you do not want to register easier for people to do things for themselves. with a political party (you • If you do not want to join a political party, mark that box on your want to be “independent” voter registration form. This is called “no party preference.” Know of any political party), mark that if you do, you may have limited choices for party candidates in “I do not want to register Presidential primary elections. with a political party” on the registration form. In • You can change your political party registration at any time. Just fill California, you can still out a new voter registration form and check a different party box. vote for any candidate in The deadline to change your party is 15 days before the election. a primary election, except If you are not registered with a political party and for Presidential candidates.
    [Show full text]
  • Lloyds TSB/HBOS Transaction Customers Will See Greater Continuity of HBOS Products, Services and Brands Than Would Otherwise Be the Case
    Anticipated acquisition by Lloyds TSB plc of HBOS plc Report to the Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform 24 October 2008 Contents I OVERVIEW ................................................................................................ 4 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 4 Merger jurisdiction ...................................................................................... 5 Substantive competition assessment ............................................................. 5 Remedies................................................................................................... 7 Public interest consideration ......................................................................... 7 II PROCEDURAL OVERVIEW ........................................................................... 8 III PARTIES AND TRANSACTION.....................................................................10 The parties................................................................................................10 Transaction rationale ..................................................................................10 IV JURISDICTION AND LEGAL TEST ................................................................11 V THE COUNTERFACTUAL ............................................................................13 Introduction to the OFT's general approach to the counterfactual.....................13 The appropriate counterfactual in this case ...................................................14
    [Show full text]
  • Biodefense and Constitutional Constraints
    Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2011 Biodefense and Constitutional Constraints Laura K. Donohue Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] Georgetown Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 11-96 This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/677 http://ssrn.com/abstract=1882506 4 Nat'l Security & Armed Conflict L. Rev. 82-206 (2014) This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, and the Military, War, and Peace Commons BIODEFENSE AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONSTRAINTS Laura K. Donohue* I. INTRODUCTION"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" & II. STATE POLICE POWERS AND THE FEDERALIZATION OF U.S. QUARANTINE LAW """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 2 A. Early Colonial Quarantine Provisions""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 3 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 4 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""&)
    [Show full text]
  • Rule-Of-Law.Pdf
    RULE OF LAW Analyze how landmark Supreme Court decisions maintain the rule of law and protect minorities. About These Resources Rule of law overview Opening questions Discussion questions Case Summaries Express Unpopular Views: Snyder v. Phelps (military funeral protests) Johnson v. Texas (flag burning) Participate in the Judicial Process: Batson v. Kentucky (race and jury selection) J.E.B. v. Alabama (gender and jury selection) Exercise Religious Practices: Church of the Lukumi-Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah (controversial religious practices) Wisconsin v. Yoder (compulsory education law and exercise of religion) Access to Education: Plyer v. Doe (immigrant children) Brown v. Board of Education (separate is not equal) Cooper v. Aaron (implementing desegregation) How to Use These Resources In Advance 1. Teachers/lawyers and students read the case summaries and questions. 2. Participants prepare presentations of the facts and summaries for selected cases in the classroom or courtroom. Examples of presentation methods include lectures, oral arguments, or debates. In the Classroom or Courtroom Teachers/lawyers, and/or judges facilitate the following activities: 1. Presentation: rule of law overview 2. Interactive warm-up: opening discussion 3. Teams of students present: case summaries and discussion questions 4. Wrap-up: questions for understanding Program Times: 50-minute class period; 90-minute courtroom program. Timing depends on the number of cases selected. Presentations maybe made by any combination of teachers, lawyers, and/or students and student teams, followed by the discussion questions included in the wrap-up. Preparation Times: Teachers/Lawyers/Judges: 30 minutes reading Students: 60-90 minutes reading and preparing presentations, depending on the number of cases and the method of presentation selected.
    [Show full text]
  • THE LEGACY of the MAGNA CARTA MAGNA CARTA 1215 the Magna Carta Controlled the Power Government Ruled with the Consent of Eventually Spreading Around the Globe
    THE LEGACY OF THE MAGNA CARTA MAGNA CARTA 1215 The Magna Carta controlled the power government ruled with the consent of eventually spreading around the globe. of the King for the first time in English the people. The Magna Carta was only Reissues of the Magna Carta reminded history. It began the tradition of respect valid for three months before it was people of the rights and freedoms it gave for the law, limits on government annulled, but the tradition it began them. Its inclusion in the statute books power, and a social contract where the has lived on in English law and society, meant every British lawyer studied it. PETITION OF RIGHT 1628 Sir Edward Coke drafted a document King Charles I was not persuaded by By creating the Petition of Right which harked back to the Magna Carta the Petition and continued to abuse Parliament worked together to and aimed to prevent royal interference his power. This led to a civil war, and challenge the King. The English Bill with individual rights and freedoms. the King ultimately lost power, and his of Rights and the Constitution of the Though passed by the Parliament, head! United States were influenced by it. HABEAS CORPUS ACT 1679 The writ of Habeas Corpus gives imprisonment. In 1697 the House of Habeas Corpus is a writ that exists in a person who is imprisoned the Lords passed the Habeas Corpus Act. It many countries with common law opportunity to go before a court now applies to everyone everywhere in legal systems. and challenge the lawfulness of their the United Kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • American Enlightenment & the Great Awakening
    9/9/2019 American Enlightenment & the Great Awakening Explain how & why the movement of a variety of people & ideas across the Atlantic contributed to the development of American culture over time. (Topic 2.7) Enlightenment: Defining the Period 4 Fundamental Principles 1. Lawlike order of the natural world 2. Power of human reason 3. Natural rights of individuals 4. Progressive improvement of society • Natural laws applied to social, political and economic relationships • Could figure out natural laws if they employed reasoning: rationalism 1 9/9/2019 Most Influential • John Locke • Two Treatises of Government: gov’t is bound to follow “natural laws” based on the rights of that people have as humans; sovereignty resides with the people; people have the right to overthrown a government that fails to protect their rights. • Jean-Jacques Rousseau • The Social Contract: Argued that a government should be formed by the consent of the people, who then make their own laws. • Montesquieu • The Spirit of Laws: 3 types of political power – legislative, judicial & executive which each power separated into different branches to protect people’s liberties. Rationale for the American Revolution and the principles of the U.S. Constitution American Enlightenment Start Date/Event 1636: Roger Williams est. R.I. Separation of church & state Freedom of religion Rejects the divine right of kings & supports popular sovereignty 2 9/9/2019 Benjamin Franklin 1732: popularizes the Enlightenment with publication of his almanac Formed clubs for “mutual improvement”
    [Show full text]
  • Abraham Lincoln: Preserving the Union and the Constitution
    ABRAHAM LINCOLN: PRESERVING THE UNION AND THE CONSTITUTION Louis Fisher* I. THE MEXICAN WAR ..................................................................505 A. Polk Charges Treason ...................................................507 B. The Spot Resolutions ....................................................508 C. Scope of Presidential Power .........................................510 II. DRED SCOTT DECISION ...........................................................512 III. THE CIVIL WAR .....................................................................513 A. The Inaugural Address.................................................515 B. Resupplying Fort Sumter .............................................518 C. War Begins ...................................................................520 D. Lincoln’s Message to Congress .....................................521 E. Constitutionality of Lincoln’s Actions .......................... 523 F. Suspending the Writ .....................................................524 G. Statutory Endorsement ................................................527 H. Lincoln’s Blockade .......................................................528 IV. COMPARING POLK AND LINCOLN ...........................................531 * Specialist in constitutional law, Law Library, Library of Congress. This paper was presented at the Albany Government Law Review’s symposium, “Lincoln’s Legacy: Enduring Lessons of Executive Power,” held on September 30 and October 1, 2009. My appreciation to David Gray Adler, Richard
    [Show full text]
  • Founding Fathers" in American History Dissertations
    EVOLVING OUR HEROES: AN ANALYSIS OF FOUNDERS AND "FOUNDING FATHERS" IN AMERICAN HISTORY DISSERTATIONS John M. Stawicki A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December 2019 Committee: Andrew Schocket, Advisor Ruth Herndon Scott Martin © 2019 John Stawicki All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Andrew Schocket, Advisor This thesis studies scholarly memory of the American founders and “Founding Fathers” via inclusion in American dissertations. Using eighty-one semi-randomly and diversely selected founders as case subjects to examine and trace how individual, group, and collective founder interest evolved over time, this thesis uniquely analyzes 20th and 21st Century Revolutionary American scholarship on the founders by dividing it five distinct periods, with the most recent period coinciding with “founders chic.” Using data analysis and topic modeling, this thesis engages three primary historiographic questions: What founders are most prevalent in Revolutionary scholarship? Are social, cultural, and “from below” histories increasing? And if said histories are increasing, are the “New Founders,” individuals only recently considered vital to the era, posited by these histories outnumbering the Top Seven Founders (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine) in founder scholarship? The thesis concludes that the Top Seven Founders have always dominated founder dissertation scholarship, that social, cultural, and “from below” histories are increasing, and that social categorical and “New Founder” histories are steadily increasing as Top Seven Founder studies are slowly decreasing, trends that may shift the Revolutionary America field away from the Top Seven Founders in future years, but is not yet significantly doing so.
    [Show full text]