Full Description
The Complete American Constitutionalism is designed to be the comprehensive treatment and source for debates on the American constitutional experience. It provides the analysis, resources, and materials both domestic and foreign readers must understand with regards to the practice of constitutionalism in the United States. This first volume of a projected eight volume set is entitled: Introduction and The Colonial Era. Here the authors provide the building blocks for constitutional analysis with an in-depth exploration of the constitutional conflicts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that formed the overall American constitutional experience. This is the first collection of materials that focuses on the crucial constitutional documents and debates that structured American constitutional understandings at the time of the American Revolution. It details the roots of the common law rights that Americans demanded be respected and the different interpretations of the English constitutional experience that increasingly divided Members of Parliament from American Revolutionaries.
Contents
List of Tables, Figures, and Images ; Preface ; Part 1: Introduction to American Constitutionalism ; I. What Is a Constitution? ; II. Constitutional Purposes ; III. Constitutional Interpretation and Decision Making ; A. Constitutional Arguments ; B. Sources of Constitutional Arguments ; C. The Politics of Constitutional Argument ; IV. Constitutional Authority ; V. Constitutional Change ; VI. Constitutional Politics and Law ; Bibliography ; Part 2: The Colonial Era: Before 1776 ; I. Introduction ; II. Foundations ; A. Sources ; B. Principles ; C. Scope ; III. Constitutional Authority and Judicial Power ; A. Constitutional Authority ; B. Judicial Selection, Structure and Jurisdiction ; C. Constitutional Litigation ; IV. Powers ; A. General Principles ; B. Congressional (Parliamentary) Power over Domestic Policy ; C. Congressional (Parliamentary Power over Foreign Policy ; D. Congressional (Parliamentary) Power to Acquire and Govern Territory ; E. Powers and Rights of Members of Congress (Parliament), Observers, and Congressional (Parliamentary) Committees ; F. State (Colonial) Powers under State Constitutions (Colonial Charters) ; V. Federalism ; A. The Status of States (Colonies) in the Federal Union (British Empire) ; B. State (Colonial) Sovereign Immunity and Commandeering ; C. Preemption ; D. Relationships between States (Colonies) ; VI. Separation of Powers ; A. General Principles ; B. Presidential (Royal) War and Foreign Policy Powers ; C. Domestic Powers of the President (Monarch) ; D. Presidential (Royal) Power to Execute the Law ; E. Appointment and Removal Powers ; F. Executive Privileges, Immunities and Impeachment ; VII. Individual Rights ; A. Property ; B. Religion ; C. Guns ; D. Personal Freedom and Public Morality ; E. Positive Rights ; VIII. Democratic Rights ; A. Free Speech ; B. Voting ; C. Citizenship ; IX. Equality ; A. Equality Under Law ; B. Race ; C. Gender ; D. Native Americans ; X. Criminal Justice ; A. Due Process ; B. Habeas Corpus ; C. Search and Seizure ; D. Interrogations ; E. Juries ; F. Lawyers ; G. Punishments ; Bibliography ; Appendix: Constitution of the United States ; Index
