Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of The Right To Privacy In Montana Discourse And The Montana Constitution, Scott A. O'Donnell

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

No abstract provided.

Higher Law And Lincoln's Antislavery Constitutionalism: What It Means To Say The Civil War Was Fought Over Slavery, Joel A. Rogers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The US Civil War was fought over slavery. But what do we really mean when we say that? This paper examines that question, first by exploring the idea of “higher law,” which gained tremendous traction in American society starting around 1850. Proponents of the idea claimed that laws such as the Fugitive Slave Act are immoral; that the immorality of such laws is self-evident, and that such immoral laws should be resisted—sometimes even with violence. Meanwhile, opponents of the idea of higher law were not necessarily in favor of slavery, but they opposed the use of extra-Constitutional means to bring …

The Pardon Paradigm: The Presidential Pardons Of Donald J. Trump, Hlynur Saemundsson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The presidential pardon power is an oft-overlooked political institution that seems to be perceived as being innocuous and irrelevant to larger political concerns. This research examines the pardons issued by President Donald J. Trump in an effort to evaluate whether they align with constitutional expectations regarding the use of this unrestricted presidential power. Dr. Jeffrey Crouch, a leading scholar on the subject, has demonstrated that the pardon power was intended to be used as a disinterested act of grace or an act in the public interest. A close survey of President Trump’s use of this power shows that many of …

Constitutional Reflections Of The People: Representation In The Constitutions Of The United States (1789) And Chile (1833), Zoe E. Nelson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This paper is a comparative analysis of the American Constitution of 1789 and the Chilean Constitution of 1833, as well as the political writings of major political theorists prior to the making of each constitution. In comparing the historical development and making of Constitutions in post-war, newly independent American nations, this paper seeks to understand the similarities between American and Chilean Constitutional institutions and underlying political theory from a historical perspective. Bearing this purpose in mind, this paper asks, “In what ways were the Constitution making measures of Chile and the United States in 1833 and 1789, respectively, a reflection …

Public Financing Of Elections In The States, Nicholas Meixsell

Honors Theses

In the US, there is a history of the courts striking down campaign finance reform measures as unconstitutional. As such, there are few avenues remaining for someone who is interested in 'clean government' reforms. One such avenue is publicly financed elections, where the state actually provides funding for campaigns. These systems can be quite varied in the restrictions and contingencies they attach to the money, and for examples one has to look no further than the states There are many states that have some form of public financing for elections, and by looking at the different states' systems we are …

Referendum On The Revolution: The Pennsylvania Constitutional Debate, 1776-1784, Tristan James New

Online Theses and Dissertations

The Pennsylvania constitution of 1776 ignited an extensive and intractable debate that remained at the center of the state’s politics throughout the Revolutionary period. This debate encompassed disagreement over a broad range of questions relating to the relationship between government and society, many of which brought into question the implications of the concept of popular sovereignty for governmental structure and popular political agency. Competing notions regarding these issues, while expressed within a general framework of consensus concerning the source of political authority [the people], revealed fundamentally different visions of governmental order. Partisans presented these visions as inextricably connected to their …

“Of Every Sort”: Conceptions Of Property Rights At The Time Of The American Founding, Zachary Wong

CMC Senior Theses

The most contentious issues of our day often have to do with political and social rights as opposed to economic rights. Through the lens of property rights I investigate whether this dichotomy existed at the time of the American founding. First, I examine the state constitutions and identify three clauses, common to the documents, which protect property rights. I examine their historical basis and reveal their connection to English common law and Locke, primarily. Then, I discuss the personal views of Madison and Jefferson to gain insight into the personal thoughts of two of the most influential Founders. Finally, I …

Land In South Africa: Dispossession, Constitutionalism, Political Expediency, Dylan Anton Sparks

Senior Projects Spring 2019

This project explores the political history of land dispossession in twentieth century South Africa. It conducts a comprehensive analysis of the legal mechanisms and public policies articulated in the democratic era to address the dark history of dispossession and land theft. It concludes with the suggestion that the resurgence of land in the contemporary political debate questions the legitimacy of the democratic transition and Constitution, when, in fact, the political establishment bears a large responsibility for the glacial pace of land reform over the first twenty-five years of democracy.

"True Principles Of Liberty And Natural Right" : The Vermont State Constitution And The American Revolution, Kevin R. Ingraham

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The Vermont state constitution was the most revolutionary and democratic plan of government established in America during the late eighteenth century. It abolished adult slavery, eliminated property qualifications for holding office, and established universal male suffrage. It invested broad power in a unicameral legislature, through which citizens might directly express their will through their elected representatives. It created a weak executive with limited power to veto legislation. It mandated annual elections for all state offices, by which the people might frequently accept, or reject, their leaders. It thus established a participatory democracy in which ordinary citizens enjoyed broad access to …

Is ‘Military Necessity’ Enough? Lincoln’S Conception Of Executive Power In Suspending Habeas Corpus In 1861, Evan Mclaughlin

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

In May 1861, President Abraham Lincoln's decision to suspend habeas corpus in Baltimore following an attack on Federal troops as they marched through Baltimore on April 19th to answer Lincoln’s call to defend the Capitol. To complicate matters further, Congress was still in recess, so they could not legislate a solution to the growing insurgency. In order to check these actions, Abraham Lincoln authorized General Scott to suspend Habeas Corpus between Baltimore and Philadelphia. When John Merryman was arrested, detained, and denied habeas corpus, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney issued an in-chambers decision, Ex Parte Merryman, to voice his …

Think Of The Children: Child Labor Through The Progressive Era In Early Twentieth-Century America, Thomas Clark

History Undergraduate Theses

Child labor in America was a pivotal component of the Progressive reform movement throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Beginning my research, I looked into the role of child labor in the creation of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The FLSA was the first federal law to abolish child labor successfully. Throughout my research, I noticed a trend of law passage and Supreme Court denial.

The most referenced events involving child labor as an evil to society came in the early part of the twentieth-century. The two most famous events were Mary “Mother Jones” Harris and …

Kentucky's First Statesman : George Nicholas And The Founding Of The Commonwealth., Benjamin Michael Gies

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In late 1789, Colonel George Nicholas arrived in the Kentucky District from eastern Virginia. Nicholas’s political astuteness prompted his swift rise to prominence in the Kentucky District’s political affairs. In 1792 Nicholas asserted himself as the Kentucky Constitution of 1792’s primary author. Nicholas’s Kentucky Constitution of 1792 mirrored the federal Constitution of 1787 that had earlier been rejected by Kentuckians in the 1788 Virginia Ratifying Convention. The Kentucky Constitution of 1792 placed the Kentucky District square within the ethos of the Anglo – American constitutional tradition and secured the proposed Commonwealth of Kentucky’s separation from the district’s “parent-state,” the Commonwealth …

James Wilson And Anglo-American Customary Constitutionalism., Sean Allen Southard

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

To Begin Anew: Federalism And Power In The Confederate States Of America, Geoffrey D. Cunningham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The leaders of the Confederate States of America proved eager and desirous of the power of the federal government. Rather than constituting an anomalous, ironical, or revolutionary episode in American political history, the Confederacy sought to conserve their definition of American liberty and democracy, with its racial grants, privileges, and sanction of slavery, through the power of government. The embrace of federal power was an intentional, central, and desirable feature of government, and one that Confederates embraced in order to sustain and project their nation and its vision of American democracy.

Virginia's Pursuit Of Self-Government : The Effects Of The Civil War And Interregnum On England's First Successful Colony In North America, 1652-1660., Lloyd Franklin Fowler

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Our Congregationalist Constitution; The Congregationalist Origins Of Americcan Federalism, Emily Graham

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Pulpit And The Nation: Clergymen, Political Culture, And The Creation Of An American National Identity, Spencer W. Mcbride

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the politicization of clergymen during the American Revolution and explains the direct impact this process had on the development of a national polity and a distinct American national identity in the early republic. Both during and after the Revolution, clergymen utilized providential rhetoric and biblical symbolism to assign greater religious and moral significance to political events. Focusing on the period between 1775 and 1800, this dissertation describes and analyzes the extent to which national political leaders relied on local clergymen when securing independence and thereafter inventing a new nation. Ultimately, it argues that clergymen were essential to …

Rendez Donc A Cesar, Problemes Avec Les Mots De Dieu: Land And The Civil Constitution Of The Clergy Of 1790-1791, Jonathan Monroe

All Theses

This study investigates the state's sale of Church lands and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution. The Civil Constitution has been seen as a turning point in the era's progression; it created very sharp divisions in revolutionary ideals by forcing clergy members to take an oath to the state that was condemned by the pope. These divisions helped feed Jacobin extremism and an era of Christian suppression and the Terror eventually ensued. Despite these problems, the struggling country under the Old Regime was desperate for Church reform that the Civil Constitution provided. The prohibition of the …

The Bane Of Liberty: Opposition To Standing Armies As The Basis Of Antifederalist Thought, Charles Brand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The severely neglected subject of Antifederalism is the focal point of this project. As the framing ideology opposed to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, Antifederalism has not been treated with the same historical care as Federalism, the successful and currently operational ideology. This is both an intellectual and ethical mistake that ignores the role that Antifederalism played in procuring the Bill of Rights, and still plays in the sphere of political dissent. The de facto successors to the Revolutionary mentality, Antifederalists took it upon themselves to conclusively secure the American conception of liberty, already wrested from British hands, from …

Slavery In The Constitution: The Ironic Shifts In Tension Over Three Pivotal Clauses, Joseph Privitera

Honors Theses

As scholarship has attempted to demonstrate in recent times, early United States history has unfortunately been stained with slavery. The founding document of the nation, the Constitution, is no exception. The three provisions which affected the institution most directly are the three-fifths, slave trade, and fugitive slave clauses. Of these sections, the latter proved to be by far the most controversial in the long-run. Although the other two received lengthy debates and caused great concern in 1787 during the General Convention and over the next few years as the states discussed ratification, they caused limited levels of strain on the …

Preservation Of The Old Dominion: The Role Of National Security Concerns In The Virginia Ratification Debates, Joseph Harrington

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis will display the ways in which national security concerns played into the debate over whether Virginia should ratify the United States Constitution. The vast majority of primary sources used in this thesis come from speeches delivered by the representatives from throughout Virginia (which at this time included present-day West Virginia and Kentucky) in the Virginia Ratifying Convention. The three major areas which this thesis explores are the threat of war with other states, the threat of war with foreign nations, and the threat of slave insurrections. The chapter on threat of war with other states examines the possibility …

The Power Behind The Constitution: The Supreme Court., Sallie Raye Trudden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The framers of the Constitution designed a document to be the "Supreme Law of the Land" and within its pages a branch of government, a federal judiciary, never before envisioned. The Constitution, along with the Federal Judiciary Act of 1789, set the framework for building the strongest branch of government, the Supreme Court. Historical events and court decisions with few exceptions strengthened the power of the judiciary contributing to its authority. The Supreme Court Justices, by interpreting the Constitution and judging the legality of laws instituted by both state and federal legislatures, solidified its superior position in the government hierarchy. …

Rights Of Humans, Rights Of States: The Academic Legacy Of St. George Tucker In Nineteenth-Century Virginia, Chad Vanderford

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

College professors in the nineteenth-century South lavished a great deal of attention on the issues of slavery and constitutionalism, and they paid careful attention to the connections between these issues and the idea of natural rights. In this dissertation I offer an analysis of the lives and writings of three generations of college professors in nineteenth-century Virginia, focusing especially on St. George Tucker and his descendants. As a contemporary of Thomas Jefferson and as a delegate to the Annapolis convention, Tucker can rightly be considered as one of the founding fathers. But he is best known for inaugurating the academic …

Pardon You? Pardon Me. Controversial Usage Of The Presidential Pardoning Power: From Carter To Clinton., Michael Keith Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study I propose to examine the usage of the pardoning power of the president as it relates to four aspects: the Nixon pardon, political advancement, defense of the person and his party, and independent private gain through the issuance of pardons. These aspects are all a part of the modern day usage of Article II Section 2 of the Constitution.

The study relies primarily on statements made from the presidents involved, as well as statements made by judicial persons involved in the pardoning process. The study is also drawn from direct investigations, both private and governmental. A good …

Nineteenth Century Constitutional Amendment In Maine, Peter Neil Berry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The state of Maine has had but one constitution in its one hundred and forty-four year existence. The document itself, however, has been amended nearly one hundred times. Thirty of these amendments came before the close of the nineteenth century; most of the subsequent amendments were either suggested initially before the turn of the present century or owe their existence to an amendment approved prior to 1900. What is proposed in this study is an examination of the amendments with particular emphasis upon the conflicting reasons of proponents and opponents of specific measures. This study will attempt to evaluate the …

A Thesis On The Constitutional History Of The American Negro From 1776 To 1875, Clothilde Labat

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation

In a democracy there should never have been an occasion whereby the enactment of a separate and distinct legislation was necessary for welfare of land and its people. Democratic principles as pronounced from the preamble of the constitution of the United States of America should have been the grounds sufficient for prohibiting the development of forces which eventually led to written end unwritten legislation for a cross section of the population.