The Fallacies of States' Rights / Sotirios A. Barber.
Barber, Sotirios A., author.
2013
JK311 .B36 2013
Available Online

Linked e-resources

Linked Resource Online Access

Details

Title The Fallacies of States' Rights / Sotirios A. Barber.
Author Barber, Sotirios A., author.
ISBN 9780674067967
DOI https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674067967
Published Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2013]
Copyright ©2012
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource (234 p.) : 1 table
Item Number 10.4159/harvard.9780674067967 doi
Call Number JK311 .B36 2013
Alternate Call Number MG 70000 BVB
Dewey Decimal Classification 320.473/049
Summary The idea that "states' rights" restrain national power is riding high in American judicial and popular opinion. Here, Sotirios A. Barber shows how arguments for states' rights, from the days of John C. Calhoun to the present, have offended common sense, logic, and bedrock constitutional principles. To begin with, states' rights federalism cannot possibly win the debate with national federalism owing to the very forum in which the requisite argument must occur-a national one, thanks to the Civil War-and the ordinary rules of practical argumentation. Further, the political consequences of this self-defeating logic can only hasten the loss of American sovereignty to international economic forces. Both philosophical and practical reasons compel us to consider two historical alternatives to states' rights federalism. In the federalism of John Marshall, the nation's most renowned jurist, the national government's duty to ensure security, prosperity, and other legitimate national ends must take precedence over all conflicting exercises of state power. In "process" federalism, the Constitution protects the states by securing their roles in national policy making and other national decisions. Barber opts for Marshall's federalism, but the contest is close, and his analysis takes the debate into new, fertile territory. Affirming the fundamental importance of the Preamble, Barber advocates a conception of the Constitution as a charter of positive benefits for the nation. It is not, in his view, a contract among weak separate sovereigns whose primary function is to protect people from the central government, when there are greater dangers to confront.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
In E-BOOK GESAMTPAKET / COMPLETE PACKAGE 2013
E-BOOK PACKAGE HISTORY, POLITICAL SCIENCE, SOCIOLOGY 2013
E-BOOK PAKET GESCHICHTE, POLITIKWISS., SOZIOLOGIE 2013
HUP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 (Canada)
Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
Linked Resources Online Access
Record Appears in Online Resources > Ebooks
All Resources
Frontmatter
Contents
Introduction: America's Oldest Constitutional Debate
1 Why the States Can't Check National Power
2 John Marshall and a Constitution for National Security and Prosperity
3 The Implications of Marshallian Federalism
4 Why States' Rights Federalism Is Impossible to Defend
5 John C. Calhoun's False Theory of the Union
6 States' Rights as Rights Only to Participate in National Processes
7 Why Marshallians Should (But Probably Won't) Win the Federalism Debate
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

Browse Subjects

Show more subjects...

Statistics

from
to
Export