Understanding Law as a Democratic Institution Through US Constitutional Development

Abstract

It explains how law has been studied in political science, illustrating how political development became part of the story. It outlines how American political development approaches work when applied to law, noting how studying law transforms these approaches. It notes the insights produced through the blending of American political development and constitutional law, explaining how these insights provide more leverage for understanding the role of courts as democratic institutions. The essay closes by discussing the promising directions these approaches suggest, defending their value beyond political science.

Constitutionalization as Statecraft: Vagrant Nation and the Modern American State

“…APD scholar Ken Kersch has also explored the relationship between constitutional rights and the modern American state (2004). Unfortunately, insights from “law and APD” do not appear to have made much headway among socio-legal historians, or vice versa (Frymer 2008, 783–84; Novkov 2015, 820). Separately, Daniel Ernst (1998) and Reuel Schiller (2005) have encouraged more work at the intersection of APD and legal history.…”