Customer Reviews

Colonial Origins of the American Constitution

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The American Constitution did not spring fully formed, Athena-like, from James Madison's fevered brow. It was the product of many men's ideas and experiences. It was also a link in a long chain of efforts by the political communities of North America to put down on parchment the proper relationship between government and citizen. In showing (to change the metaphor) the family tree of the U.S. Constitution, this book is an invaluable documentary resource for anyone attempting to understand the origins and meaning of our system's central document.

From the 'Articles, Laws, and Orders, Divine, Politic, and Martial for the Colony in Virginia' (1610) and the Mayflower Compact (1620), through to the Articles of Confederation (1777), Donald Lutz has assembled an impressive documentary history. But his intention isn't simply to catalogue old contracts. As he notes in his Preface, Lutz's goal is to show how the early Americans thought of themselves, how they began to knit themselves together as a people, and how certain critical concepts -- popular sovereignty, rule of law, a virtuous society -- were adopted as 'symbols' of an emerging American consciousness. In this regard, the 'Introductory Essay' is itself a valuable piece of work.

Both as an analysis and a collection of primary documents, this book deserves to be near at hand to any student of American constitutional history and practice.

Donald S. Lutz, professor of political science at the University of Houston, has long studied the colonial antecedents and development of American constitutionalism. In this fine documentary anthology, he presents the fullest collection of sources yet published to document the Americans' constitutional experiments from the 1630s through the 1770s. Many Americans forget that the time span between the first permanent English settlement in America and the declaration of American independence, (1607-1776, or 169 years), is the same length as the time span between independence and the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1776-1945). That long, contentious, and intellectually fruitful history deserves to be better known, and Lutz is eminently qualified to present and interpret it. This fine book is a worthy companion to his monographs POPULAR CONSENT AND POPULAR CONTROL (Louisiana State University Press, 1980), THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONALISM (Louisiana State University Press, 1988), and A PREFACE TO AMERICAN POLITICAL THEORY (University Press of Kansas, 1991).

The book begins with an excellent and lucid analytical introduction and then presents the full texts, with informative headnotes, of eighty documents of American political foundation -- organized by individual state, with a final grouping devoted to "confederations." A fine brief bibliography of editions of colonial and state documents concludes the book. My only regret is that the volume lacks an index.

Finally, a word about the other review of this book. It is grotesquely antihistorical to claim that the United States is a Christian nation. To be sure, the vast majority of the settlers of the colonies founded in North America were Protestant Christians -- and most of the remainder were Roman Catholics. However, in Rhode Island and in Pennsylvania, the colony's founders and later governors carefully preserved religious liberty (under the label of toleration) for anyone "demeaning themselves peaceably." Furthermore, the generallly libertarian and enlightened members of the Revolutionary generation of Americans went beyond the model of a majority's toleration for a dissenting minority. In such states as Virginia, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and New York, they embraced religious liberty to protect the church from the corrupting influence of the state, and the state from the corrupting influence of organized religion, and the individual human mind from the dangerous alliance between the two.

-- Richard B. Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York Law School

Though challenging at times to read - both because ot the period spelling and sometimes complex prose - I give this book a thumbs up for any history buff wanting to understand America in the era leading up to the revolution and establishment of the constitution.

Realize this is a compendium of documents and thus don't expect much narrative. There is some in the form of introductions to each article as well as a detailed preface-introduction; you will need to draw more from study ( and discussion if you can read with others) but nothing worthwhile is all that easy!

Is America a Christian Nation? This book answers the question. It is not more arguments from each side pontificating about abstract principles. Instead in quick fashion this work presents the documentary history of colonial constitutional documents.

Each colony's basic documents are presented with only slight editorial introduction for historical context.

The reader will find that, yes, overwhelmingly, every colony whether "Catholic" or "Congregational" adhered to the orthodox creeds of the church universal and self consciously attempted however imperfectly to govern themeselves according to God's Holy Word the Bible.

Read it, and you will know one of two things: 1) that you either hate what America was and must confess you seek to rebuild it after your own image or 2) that you loved what America was and see how far it has fallen.

This should be required reading for every College Freshman or High School Senior.