The Federal Principle in American Politics, 1790-1833

Republicans like James Madison and Andrew Jackson felt republicanism could only flourish if state and federal authorities confined themselves to their proper spheres. Federalists like Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Wilson believed in a more expansive role for the federal government (based on the common law and the law of nations). Lenner examines the constitutional conflicts of the republic's first decade, discusses Virginia's three Republican Presidents, the political and constitutional thought of the National and Old Republicans, the nature of the Jacksonian movement, the doctrine of dual sovereignty, and the nullification crisis. In examining the conflicts of the revolutionary era, Lenner's work provides a ground-breaking overview of the "culture of constitutionalism" -- the clash of ideas about the nature and structure of the Union -- that pervaded the early republic.