Fruchtman - American constitutional history : a brief introduction

Author

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Jack Fruchtman

This edition first published 2016
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For Clara, Juliette, Sophia, Elsa, and Nicholas

Five political scientists and historians have inspired the organization of this book as revealing how the Constitution evolved through a series of republics. None of them have developed the idea of six republics. Bruce Ackerman, who is also a law professor, Stephen Skowronek, Theodore Lowi, Richard Cortner, and Michael Lind have all argued that while the Constitution is virtually unchanged since the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, the document did indeed evolve through distinct periods. I am grateful to them for their observations and analyses, which have informed my own thinking but which also differs from theirs in many respects.

I wish to thank Dean Terry A. Cooney of the College of Liberal Arts and Provost Timothy Chandler, both of Towson University, for granting me a year-long sabbatical to work on and complete the manuscript. Discussions about American constitutional history have been invaluable to me as I formulated my thinking about the Constitutions evolution. In particular, I thank my colleagues Cynthia Cates, H. George Hahn, and Richard Vatz for raising questions and stimulating debate about the Constitution. In addition, I will always be indebted to John Pocock and J. Woodford Howard Jr. of the Johns Hopkins University whose work has long been a model to all who write history. In addition, I would like to recognize Stephens Broening, Herbert Goldman, Xerxes Mehta, and Judge Allen Schwait for engaging me in conversation and debate over the years about the nature and meaning of the Constitution.

I also appreciate the support that John Wiley & Sons have given me, especially my editor Peter Coveney who supported this project and Jan East who edited it. I am grateful to the three anonymous reviewers of my manuscript, whose observations helped make the book more accessible to readers. Finally, I could not have completed this work without the support and devotion of my wife, JoAnn, whose lifelong companionship has been invaluable. All errors are of course my own.

The United States Constitution is the oldest, continuous, national republican document in existence today. It was not the first. Republics, or mixed regimes as they are also known, existed long before the Americans crafted theirs in 1787. Most did not last very long. In the ancient world, the Roman republic collapsed when it degenerated into empire. During the Renaissance, the Florentine republic in Italy survived a mere 14 years, from 1498 to 1512. It dissolved when the powerful Medici family, which had once ruled Florence, re-established a dictatorship. According to the classical republican tradition, republics were fragile political organizations, because the critical balance between the various branches of government could easily crumble when one or two dominated the others. The Americans modeled their constitution on the British government with its one-person executive and two-part legislature. The British failed to create a true republic, because a hereditary monarch led the executive branch and hereditary aristocrats controlled the upper house, the unelected House of Lords. Large landowners controlled the House of Commons and only a few men possessed the right to vote. Americans believed that after separating from the British Empire, they could create a true republican structure where citizens participated in decision-making and enjoyed peaceful transitions of power.

The Constitution created a democratic republic, not a democracy. In a democracy, citizens vote directly on government policies, while in a republic, they elect representatives to develop policies on their behalf. Vestiges of democracy remain in America. They include the New England town meeting when residents directly vote on issues, such as whether the town should purchase a new police cruiser. The ballot initiative, also called the referendum, exists in over 40 states, allowing voters to make specific policies, such as whether a state should repeal its capital punishment law. Most laws in the United States today, however, are passed by representatives elected by the citizens. This system comprises the republic.