Fritz, Christian G.: American Sovereigns: The People and America's Constitutional Tradition before the Civil War.(Book review)

Perspectives on Political Science, 20090129 by Kelly, William E.

Fritz, Christian G.

American Sovereigns: The People and America's Constitutional Tradition Before the Civil War

New York: Cambridge University Press

427 pp., $80.00

ISBN 978-0-521-88188-3

Publication Date: October 2007

Ideas in American society have always played important roles. This becomes quite evident when reading this book, which analyzes the idea of constitutionalism and its effect on the United States. What Christian G. Fritz has done is challenge the view that the idea of constitutionalism today is closely related to that which was espoused at the federal Constitutional Convention in 1787. Fritz defines American constitutionalism as "the people"--that is, a collective sovereign (277). He also notes...

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