by Bruce Ackerman



Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews
From distinguished legal scholar Ackerman (Law & Political Science/Yale;
Reconstructing American Law, 1984, etc.)--an original and insightful study
of the theoretical and historical evolution of the Constitution, and its
meaning in modern times. Ackerman creates analytical categories that
define both America's distinctive constitutional system and its
transformative constitutional experiences. He says that while the American
democratic system borrowed much from European theory, Americans have
created a novel constitutional system that, unlike the British or German
models, distinguishes between two types of politics. In ``normal
politics,'' a politically disengaged populace permits interest groups to
lobby democratically elected representatives while the representatives
make policy, and in ``constitutional politics,'' society mobilizes to
debate matters of fundamental principle. Ackerman sees three great
transformative movements of constitutional politics--the establishment of
the basic framework in the 1780's, the reforms of the Reconstruction
Republicans in the 1860's, and those of the New Deal Democrats in the
1930's (who effected their sweeping reinterpretation of the Constitution
by means of seminal Supreme Court decisions rather than by Constitutional
amendments). Each of these movements, the author says, was characterized
by legal creativity bordering on illegality (the framing of the
Constitution did not use the amendment process of the then-regnant
Articles of Confederation, and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments
did not use the amendment process of Article Five of the Constitution),
but, Ackerman argues, each was an authentic response to political crises
of its time and was ultimately legitimized by the people. While Ackerman
admires the Constitution, he is not blind to its faults or to its
historical and imperfect compromises. However, he calls on private
American citizens--those whose concern with government competes with other
personal concerns--to work for the fulfillment of its egalitarian
promises. A thoughtful, informative, and inspiring introduction to our
national bedrock.

Product Details

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Belknap Press; Reprint edition (February 1, 1993)
ISBN: 0674948416