This book is written for anyone, anywhere sitting down to write a constitution. The book is designed to be educative for even those not engaged directly in constitutional design but who would like to come to a better understanding of the nature and problems of constitutionalism and its fundamental building blocks - especially popular sovereignty and the separation of powers. Rather than a 'how-to-do-it' book that explains what to do in the sense of where one should end up, it instead explains where to begin - how to go about thinking about constitutions and constitutional design before sitting down to write anything. Still, it is possible, using the detailed indexes found in the book, to determine the level of popular sovereignty one has designed into a proposed constitution and how to balance it with an approximate, appropriate level of separation of powers to enhance long-term stability.

Principles of Constitutional Design

Politics & Social Sciences

Lutz, Donald S.

Politics & Government

Cambridge University Press

Legal Theory & Systems

A Preface to American Political Theory

American political theory needs to be rescued from the undeserved status of a subordinate subfield of political theory, contends Donald Lutz. And so in "A Preface to American Political Theory" he sets out to emancipate American political theorists from empiricism and inappropriate European theories and methodologies. He argues for clarification of the core of American political theory and its attendant methodologies to distinguish it from other intellectual enterprises. The way to achieve that, according to Lutz, is to establish a foundation for the systematic study of American behaviour, institutions and ideas; to provide a general introduction to the study of American political theory; and to illustrate how textual analysis, history, empirical research and analytic philosophy are all part of the scheme. Designed for students and scholars in many disciplines, including political science, history and legal studies, this book is not intended to address central continuing issues. Rather, it aims to provide an effective entree into the study of American political theory. The book sets out to arm readers with the intellectual tools to engage in systematic study and to make them aware of the pitfalls they will inevitably encounter.

Univ Pr of Kansas

Donald Lutz begins A Preface to American Political Theory by explaining what the book doesn't do. It doesn't begin with a panegyric to the American founding. It doesn't answer the following questions: "What are the basic principles in the U.S. Constitution? What were the intentions of the founders with respect to (fill in your own topic)? What is the meaning of pluralism, or separation of powers, or democracy, or (fill in your own concept)?" In short, it doesn't provide an overview of the content, development, or major conclusions of American political theory. What it does do is provide "a pre-theoretical analysis of how to go about studying questions like the ones above-how to conceptualize the project, how to proceed in looking for answers, how to avoid the logical traps peculiar to the study of American political theory." Lutz sets out to emancipate American political theorists from empiricism and inappropriate European theories and methodologies. The end result is to establish the foundation for the systematic study of American behavior, institutions, and ideas; to provide a general introduction to the study of American political theory; and to illustrate how textual analysis, history, empirical research, and analytic philosophy are all part of the enterprise. Designed for students and scholars in all disciplines, including political science, history, and legal studies, A Preface to American Political Theory doesn't provide answers to central continuing issues in American political theory. Rather, it provides an effective, sophisticated entree into the study of American political theory. Readers will be armed with the intellectual tools to engage in systematic study and makes them aware of the pitfalls they will inevitably encounter.

History

Americas

University Press of Kansas

Popular Consent and Popular Control, Donald S. Lutz provides an examination of formal documents and local history in America before 1800. He recreates the evolution of a government based on popular consent and popular control in the 1770s and 1780s, an evolution that began in 1620, not in 1776. His aim is to correct the studies of American political theory and constitutional history that omit discussions of early state constitutions. He also asserts that the political theory underlying the United States Constitution stretches back to European and colonial sources in the 1600s.

Popular consent and popular control: Whig political theory in the early State constitutions

Louisiana State Univ. Press

The Origins of American Constitutionalism (Bibliographies in the History of)

In The Origins of American Constitutionalism, Donald S. Lutz challenges the prevailing notion that the United States Constitution was either essentially inherited from the British or simply invented by the Federalists in the summer of 1787. His political theory of constitutionalism acknowledges the contributions of the British and the Federalists. Lutz also asserts, however, that the U.S. Constitution derives in form and content from a tradition of American colonial characters and documents of political foundation that began a century and a half prior to 1787.Lutz builds his argument around a close textual analysis of such documents as the Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the Rode Island Charter of 1663, the first state constitutions, the Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation. He shows that American Constitutionalism developed to a considerable degree from radical Protestant interpretations of the Judeo-Christian tradition that were first secularized into political compacts and then incorporated into constitutions and bills of rights. Over time, appropriations that enriched this tradition included aspects of English common law and English Whig theory. Lutz also looks at the influence of Montesquieu, Locke, Blackstone, and Hume. In addition, he details the importance of Americans' experiences and history to the political theory that produced the Constitution. By placing the Constitution within this broader constitutional system, Lutz demonstrates that the document is the culmination of a long process and must be understood within this context. His argument also offers a fresh view of current controversies over the Framers' intentions, the place of religion in American politics, and citizens' continuing role in the development of the constitutional tradition.

The Origins of American Constitutionalism

Louisiana State Univ Pr

In The Origins of American Constitutionalism, Donald S. Lutz challenges the prevailing notion that the United States Constitution was either essentially inherited from the British or simply invented by the Federalists in the summer of 1787. His political theory of constitutionalism acknowledges the contributions of the British and the Federalists. Lutz also asserts, however, that the U.S. Constitution derives in form and content from a tradition of American colonial characters and documents of political foundation that began a century and a half prior to 1787.Lutz builds his argument around a close textual analysis of such documents as the Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the Rode Island Charter of 1663, the first state constitutions, the Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation. He shows that American Constitutionalism developed to a considerable degree from radical Protestant interpretations of the Judeo-Christian tradition that were first secularized into political compacts and then incorporated into constitutions and bills of rights. Over time, appropriations that enriched this tradition included aspects of English common law and English Whig theory. Lutz also looks at the influence of Montesquieu, Locke, Blackstone, and Hume. In addition, he details the importance of Americans' experiences and history to the political theory that produced the Constitution. By placing the Constitution within this broader constitutional system, Lutz demonstrates that the document is the culmination of a long process and must be understood within this context. His argument also offers a fresh view of current controversies over the Framers' intentions, the place of religion in American politics, and citizens' continuing role in the development of the constitutional tradition.

LSU Press

Tedin, Kent L., Lutz, Donald S., Fuchs, Edward Paul

Perspectives on American and Texas Politics

Tedin, Kent L.

Fuchs, Edward Paul

Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co.

"Local government in colonial America was the seedbed of American constitutionalism." So begins the introductory essay to this landmark collection of eighty documents created by the American colonists—and not English officials—that are the genesis of American fundamental law and constitutionalism. Most of these documents, commencing with the Agreement of the Settlers at Exeter in New Hampshire, July 5, 1639, and concluding with Joseph Galloway's Plan of Union, 1774—"the immediate precursor to the Articles of Confederation"—have never before been accessible to the general reader or available in a single volume. As Professor Lutz points out, the documents are chosen to make possible "a careful examination of [the American] people's attempt at self-interpretation." All of the principal colonial documents are included, as are all documents attempting to unite the colonies, beginning with the New England Confederation of 1643. Bicameralism, popular sovereignty, the separation of powers, checks and balances, limited government, and religious freedom—in sum, the hallmarks of American constitutionalism—were first presented to the world in these writings. Donald S. Lutz is Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston.

COLONIAL ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION

Liberty Fund, Inc.

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Books by Lutz, Donald S.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lutz, Donald S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Principles of Constitutional Design

Principles of Constitutional Design

A Preface to American Political Theory

A Preface to American Political Theory

Popular consent and popular control: Whig political theory in the early State constitutions

The Origins of American Constitutionalism

The Origins of American Constitutionalism (Bibliographies in the History of)

Perspectives on American and Texas Politics

COLONIAL ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION