Declaring Rights A Brief History with Documents

by Rakove, Jack N.

• ISBN13: 9780312137342
• ISBN10: 0312137346
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-10-15
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

Questions about the original meaning of the Bill of Rights remain a source of active concern and controversy in the twenty-first century. In order to help students consider the intentions of the first Constitutional amendments and the significance of declaring rights, Jack Rakove traces the tradition and describes the deliberations from which the Bill of Rights emerged.

Author Biography

Jack N. Rakove is Coe Professor of History and American Studies and professor (by courtesy) of political science at Stanford University. His scholarly work concentrates on the creation of a national policy in Revolutionary America, the problem of ascertaining the "original meaning" on the Constitution, and the political career and thinking of James Madison. His most recent book, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (1996), won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in history. Rakove's other works include James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic (1990), Interpreting the Constitution: The Debate over Original Intent (1990), and The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretative History of the Continental Congress (1979). He contributes to numerous scholarly and legal journals and lectures both in the United States and abroad.

Table of Contents

Foreword	v
Preface	vii
Introduction: Rights across the Centuries	1	(4)
PART ONE Rights in Revolution	5	(92)
The Seventeenth-Century Background	7	(10)
English Precedents	7	(7)
American Precedents	14	(3)
Puzzles about Rights	17	(15)
Defining a Right	19	(2)
The Holders of Rights	21	(2)
The Threat to Rights	23	(1)
The Sources of Rights	24	(2)
The Form and Function of a Declaration of Rights	26	(3)
The Popularity of Rights-Talk	29	(3)
The Colonists' Appeal to Rights	32	(7)
The Legacy of 1689	39	(7)
Constraining the King	40	(6)
Convention Parliament, Declaration of Rights, February 12, 1688 o.s.	41	(5)
Rights in Resistance	46	(23)
Challenging the Stamp Act	47	(3)
Resolutions of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, October 29, 1765	48	(2)
Disputing the American Claim	50	(4)
A Letter from a Gentleman at Halifax (1965)	51	(3)
Martin Howard, Jr.
Constitutional Rights in the British Tradition	54	(7)
The Earl of Clarendon to William Pym, January 27, 1766	55	(6)
John Adams
Declarations of Rights as Instruments of Negotiation	61	(8)
Contiental Congress, Declaration and Resolves, October 14, 1774	63	(6)
Rights in the First Constitutions	69	(28)
Constitutions: A New Definition	70	(3)
Four Letters on Interesting Subjects, 1776	71	(2)
Populist Suspicions	73	(2)
Resolutions of Concord, Massachusetts, October 21, 1776	74	(1)
Declaring Rights: The First Models	75	(12)
Third Draft of a Constitution for Virginia, Part IV, June 1776	79	(2)
Thomas Jefferson
Virginia Provincial Convention, Committee Draft of a Declaration of Rights, May 27, 1776	81	(4)
Pennsylvania Convention, Declaration of Rights, 1776	85	(2)
Massachusetts: A Final Example	87	(7)
A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1780	88	(6)
A Legislative Milestone	94	(3)
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1786
PART TWO The Constitution and Rights	97	(113)
Madison and the Problem of Rights	99	(9)
Framing the Constitution	108	(7)
The Basic Positions Stated	115	(9)
A First Try at Amendments	116	(3)
Amendments Proposed to Congress, September 27, 1787	117	(2)
Richard Henry Lee
A Crucial Federalist Response	119	(5)
Statehouse Speech, October 6, 1787	121	(3)
James Wilson
The Anti-Federalist Case	124	(19)
The Traditional Position Restated	126	(6)
Second Essay Opposing the Constitution, November 1, 1787	126	(6)
Brutus
Rights and the Education of Citizens	132	(11)
Federal Farmer, Letter XVI, January 20, 1788	133	(10)
The Federalist Position	143	(4)
Can We Enumerate All Our Rights?	144	(3)
Speech in the North Carolina Ratification Convention, July 28, 1788	145	(2)
James Iredell
Madison and Jefferson: The Classic Exchange	147	(20)
Defending the Veto	148	(5)
Letter to Thomas Jefferson, October 24, 1787	150	(3)
James Madison
The View from Paris	153	(5)
Letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787	154	(3)
Thomas Jefferson
Letter to James Madison, July 31, 1788	157	(1)
Thomas Jefferson
Madison's Response	158	(6)
Letter to Thomas Jefferson, October 17, 1788	160	(4)
James Madison
Jefferson's Common Sense	164	(3)
Letter to James Madison, March 15, 1789	165	(2)
Thomas Jefferson
Framing the Bill of Rights	167	(43)
Madison's Statesmanship	168	(14)
Speech to the House of Representatives, June 8, 1789	170	(12)
James Madison
Unweaving the Amendments	182	(4)
U.S. House of Representative, Constitutional Amendments Proposed to the Senate, August 24, 1789	183	(3)
Editorial Changes	186	(5)
U.S. Congress, Constitutional Amendments Proposed to the States, September 28, 1789	189	(2)
Residual Ambiguities	191	(3)
Epilogue: After Two Centuries	194	(5)
APPENDICES
A Constitutional Chronology (1603-1791)	199	(4)
Questions for Consideration	203	(1)
Selected Bibliography	204	(6)
Index	210