Liberty, Property, & the Foundations of the American Constitution
Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1989. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. xiv, 181, [3] pages. Minor cover wear and soiling. Illustrations. Contributors. Index. Includes Acknowledgments, Preface; "The Rights of Property, and the Property in Rights;" Moral Philosophy and the Framing of the Constitution; The Great Fence to Liberty: The Right to Property in the American Founding; Jefferson and Property Rights; Republicanism, Commerce, and Private Rights: James Madison's Path to the Constitutional Convention of 1787; One People as to Commercial Objects; The Economic Policy of the Constitution; and Contract Rights and Property Rights. This is one of the SUNY Series in the Constitution and Economic Rights. The essays contained in this volume address the important connections between property and liberty, and they do so at the time of the Founding. What intellectual forces shaped the thought of our Founders? How did they envision America's economic future? What constitutional mechanisms did they design to make our economic rights secure? The essays that follow address these questions, and together they many help us understand why economic liberty held such a central place in America's political culture. Among the contributors are: Gordon Wood, Michael Kammen, Andrew Reck, Edward Erler, Jean Yarborough, Charles Hobson, Bernard Siegan, William Letwin and Michael McConnell. Among the topics are: Property Rights, Right to Property, The Constitution, Liberty, Republicanism, James Madison, Constitutional Convention, Commercial Objects, Economic Policy, Contract Rights, Case Study, Individual Liberty. Here is what the Framers of the Constitution thought about economic rights. To the current debate over constitutional interpretation, this book adds a dispassionate examination of our beginnings. It focuses on the philosophical, political, and social currents that influenced the thought and behavior of the Framers. What was the relationship between property rights and liberty? How important to the Framers was the protection of economic liberties? In what ways does the Constitution protect these liberties? Was the Constitution a document forged with the intent of securing what would later be called a capitalist system? Or were the Framers primarily concerned with promoting a society based upon civic virtue? These are a few of the major themes that the authors of this volume address. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Property Rights, Right to Property, The Constitution, Liberty, Republicanism, James Madison, Constitutional Convention, Commercial Objects, Economic Policy, Contract Rights, Case Study, Individual Liberty
ISBN: 0887069142
[Book #82404]
Price: $100.00