The Constitution in Congress: The Jeffersonians, 1801-1829

Because of the judicial branch's tremendous success in reviewing legislative and executive action in the United States, legal scholars have traditionally looked only to the courts for guidance in interpreting the Constitution. This, the second book in David P. Currie's multivolume series, looks to the legislative and executive branches for insights into the development of constitutional interpretation. Currie examines the period of Republican hegemony from the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson in 1801 to the election of Andrew Jackson in 1829. During this time of great leadership and controversy, many benchmark issues—the abolition of the new Circuit Courts, the Louisiana Purchase, the Burr conspiracy, the War of 1812, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Missouri Compromise, among others—were debated and decided almost exclusively in the legislative and executive arenas. With its uniquely legal perspective and comprehensive coverage, The Constitution in Congress illustrates how the executive and legislative branches matched the Supreme Court in putting flesh and blood onto the skeleton of the Constitution.