Our Peculiar Security

Eugene W. Hickok, Jr. is a professor at Dickinson School of Law and Dickinson College. Gary L. McDowell is Bradley Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. Philip J. Costopoulos is senior editor of the Journal of Democracy.

The Federalist Papers have been described as the 'most important work in political science that has ever been written, or is likely ever to be written, in the United States.' True enough, which makes it difficult to understand why the Constitution, the subject addressed in those papers, occupies at best a peripheral place in what passes for constitutional scholarship in our day. These essays, all previously unpublished, may help it regain the place it deserves. The issue-the future of constitutional government in the United States-speaks of its own importance. -- Walter Berns, John M. Olin University Professor, Georgetown University ... splendid essays ... this book is must reading in the nineties for anyone who genuinely cares about the rule of law... the editors have assembled one of the best and most convincing collections of writing on 'originalism' as the only valid theory of constitutional interpretation, and the republic is in their debt. -- Stephen B. Presser, Northwestern University School of Law This is a wide-ranging collection of essays by a distinguished array of constitutional scholars that will provide students a splendid introduction into the philosophical dimensions of American constitutionalism which is also solidly grounded in the historical realities that form the context for the American Founding. -- Herman Belz, University of Maryland

• Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence: The Two Documents Support and Complement Each Other Chapter 3 The Ratification Struggle of 1787-1788 and the Anti-Federalists Chapter 4 The Legislative Power: Structure and Limits Chapter 5 Executive Power and Republican Government Chapter 6 The Judiciary and American Constitutionalism Chapter 7 A Nation of States: Federalism in the Framing of the Constitution Chapter 8 Constituting and Preserving the Republic Chapter 9 The Supremacy Clause: The Central Element of the Constitutional Scheme Chapter 10 Reflections on the Bill of Rights Chapter 11 The Civil War Amendments: A Bicentennial Remembrance