Oxford University Press, USA
The Civic Constitution: Civic Visions and Struggles in the Path Toward Constitutional Democracy
The Civic Constitution: Civic Visions and Struggles in the Path Toward Constitutional Democracy
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The role of the Constitution in American political history is contentious not simply because of battles over meaning. Equally important is precisely who participated in contests over meaning. Was it simply judges, or did legislatures have a strong say? And what about the public's role in
effecting constitutional change? In The Civic Constitution, Elizabeth Beaumont focuses on the last category, and traces the efforts of citizens to reinvent constitutional democracy during four crucial eras: the revolutionaries of the 1770s and 1780s; the civic founders of state republics and the
national Constitution in the early national period; abolitionists during the antebellum and Civil War eras; and, finally, suffragists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Throughout, she argues that these groups should be recognized as founders and co-founders of the U.S.
Constitution. Though often slighted in modern constitutional debates, these women and men developed distinctive constitutional creeds and practices, challenged existing laws and social norms, expanded the boundaries of citizenship, and sought to translate promises of liberty, equality, and justice
into more robust and concrete forms. Their civic ideals and struggles not only shaped the text, design, and public meaning of the U.S. Constitution, but reconstructed its membership and transformed the fundamental commitments of the American political community. An innovative expansion on the
concept of popular constitutionalism, The Civic Constitution is a vital contribution to the growing body of literature on how ordinary people have shaped the parameters of America's fundamental laws.
Author: Elizabeth Beaumont
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/15/2018
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780190692551
effecting constitutional change? In The Civic Constitution, Elizabeth Beaumont focuses on the last category, and traces the efforts of citizens to reinvent constitutional democracy during four crucial eras: the revolutionaries of the 1770s and 1780s; the civic founders of state republics and the
national Constitution in the early national period; abolitionists during the antebellum and Civil War eras; and, finally, suffragists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Throughout, she argues that these groups should be recognized as founders and co-founders of the U.S.
Constitution. Though often slighted in modern constitutional debates, these women and men developed distinctive constitutional creeds and practices, challenged existing laws and social norms, expanded the boundaries of citizenship, and sought to translate promises of liberty, equality, and justice
into more robust and concrete forms. Their civic ideals and struggles not only shaped the text, design, and public meaning of the U.S. Constitution, but reconstructed its membership and transformed the fundamental commitments of the American political community. An innovative expansion on the
concept of popular constitutionalism, The Civic Constitution is a vital contribution to the growing body of literature on how ordinary people have shaped the parameters of America's fundamental laws.
Author: Elizabeth Beaumont
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/15/2018
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780190692551
About the Author
Elizabeth Beaumont is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, where she focuses on democracy, citizenship, and constitutionalism. Previously, she was a Research Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. In addition to her work on constitutionalism, she has co-authored books on civic education and political engagement.
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