This impressive five-volume sourcebook is a “collection of thoughts, opinions, and arguments of the Founders.” It is also
an anthology of reasons and of the political arguments that thoughtful men and women drew from, and used to support, those reasons. . . . [T]hose reasons and political arguments have enduring interest and significance for anyone who purports to think about constitutional government in general and the Constitution of the United States in particular.Philip B. Kurland & Ralph Lerner, eds., The Founders’ Constitution ix, xi (Liberty Fund 2000).
Volumes 2 through 5 are organized by the text of the Constitution and Amendments. Each section is set out, and is followed by an index of the major thoughts, opinions, and political arguments surrounding that section of the Constitution. The sources are many and varied, and include classics, from Calvin to Blackstone to Kent, as well as more obscure sources, letters, and articles. Volume One contains sources for “Major Themes,” from “the Popular Basis of Political Authority” to “Bicameralism.”
A great web-based edition is available here.
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