The Place Where It All Starts
At Starting Points, we take the long view of American politics. Non-partisan and interdisciplinary, we aim to understand American politics by looking before and beyond our current political situation—before to the historical, cultural and intellectual roots of American politics, and beyond to the overarching ideas and guiding ideals of our unique political tradition.
There is no need to rehearse in detail the various debates over the Founders and slavery that have roiled academic and political waters since the mid-twentieth century. Suffice it to say that the main antagonists can plausibly be called Neo-Garrisonians and Neo-Lincolnians, after William Lloyd Garrison, the famous abolitionist, and Abraham Lincoln. Today these two […]
Professor Gibson has offered me the opportunity have the “last word” in our debate about James Madison, and I am glad to accept. First, though, I want to express my deepest appreciation for the essay he wrote—I think roughly twice as long as my own!—in response to my remarks about Madison’s “fatherhood” of the Constitution. […]
In his contribution to this symposium, Sanford Levinson joins a list of scholars denying James Madison the title “Father of the Constitution” and challenging, in their estimation, exaggerated claims about his influence in the constitutional moment of 1786 to 1789. For his part, Professor Levinson emphasizes the radical character of Madison’s universal veto of state […]
One of the hoariest cliches of American constitutional history is that James Madison is the “father of the Constitution.” Wikipedia, an authoritative source on conventional wisdom, states that “[h]e is hailed as the ‘Father of the Constitution’ for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the United States Bill of Rights.” […]
