Table of Contents

A Note on Documents and Editing
Introduction Essay
Part I: Sovereignty and Reserved Powers
Jean Bodin, “On Sovereignty”
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws
Vattel, Law of Nations
Blackstone’s Commentaries
Declaratory Act
Richard Bland, “Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies”
Stephen Hopkins, “The Rights of the Colonies Examined”
Alexander Hamilton, “The Farmer Refuted”
“Articles of Confederation”
Alexander Hamilton, “The Continentalist No. 1”
1783 Treaty of Peace
Meriwether Smith, “Observations on the fourth and fifth articles of the Preliminaries”
Virginia Plan
New Jersey Plan
James Wilson, “State House Speech”
Federalist No. 10
Federalist No. 26
Federalist No. 39
Federalist No. 44
Brutus 1
Brutus 6
Samuel Adams to Richard Henry Lee, December 3, 1787
An Old Whig II
Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention
Tenth Amendment
Thomas Jefferson Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank
Alexander Hamilton Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank
Chisholm v. Georgia
Eleventh Amendment
The Kentucky Resolution
The Virginia Resolution
James Madison, "Report of 1800"
McCulloch v. Maryland
John Taylor of Caroline, New Views of the Constitution of the United States
The Webster-Hayne Debate
South Carolina, Ordinance of Nullification
Andrew Jackson, "Proclamation Regarding Nullification"
Andrew Jackson, Internal Improvements Veto
Andrew Jackson Veto Message Regarding the Bank of the United States
John C. Calhoun, A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States
Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States
Abel Upshur, A Brief Enquiry into the True Nature and Character of Our Federal Government
Luther v. Borden
Ordinances of Secession
Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress in Special Session
Charles Sumner, State Suicide Resolutions
Andrew Johnson, Veto of the First Reconstruction Act
Texas v. White
Woodrow Wilson, "The States and the Federal Government"
Albert Beveridge, “Vitality of the American Constitution"
Theodore Roosevelt, "New Nationalism"
Democratic Party Platform 1912
Progressive Party Platform 1912
Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life
Missouri v. Holland
Franklin Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Message to the Fifth Annual Women’s Conference
Lyndon B. Johnson, “Great Society Speech”
Richard Nixon, "Address to the Nation on Domestic Programs
Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address
Ronald Reagan, “Remarks in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Annual Convention of the National
Conference of State Legislatures"
New York v. US
Printz, Sheriff/Coroner, Ravalli County, Montana v. United States
William J. Clinton, Executive Order 13132
Arizona, et al., v. United States
Tenth Amendment Resolutions
Donald J. Trump, Executive Order Enforcing Statutory Prohibitions on Federal Control of Education
Part II: Civil Liberties
Barron v. Baltimore
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Andrew Johnson, Veto of the Civil Rights Act
14th Amendment (Ratified, 1868)
Platform of the States Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats), 1948
Southern Manifesto
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Eisenhower, “Remarks on Little Rock”
Cooper v. Aaron
George Wallace, “Segregation Now, Segregation Forever”
Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States
Katzenbach v. McClung
Griswold v. Connecticut
Loving v. Virginia
Roe v. Wade
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania et al. v. Casey
Obergefell v. Hodges
Part III: Commerce Clause
Gibbons v. Ogden, (1824)
United States v. E. C. Knight Co., (1895)
Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918)
A.L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (1935)
NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.(1937)
United States v. Darby, (1941)
Wickard v. Filburn, (1942)
US v. Lopez, (1995)
United States v. Morrison, (2000)
Gonzales v. Raich (2005)
Part IV: Incorporation
Preamble to the Bill of Rights 1791
Near v. Minnesota
DeJonge v. Oregon
Everson v. Board of Education
Edwards v. South Carolina
United States v. Cruikshank, (1875)
Presser v. Illinois
Hamilton v. Regents of University of California
United States v. Miller
McDonald v. Chicago
Mapp v. Ohio
Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Chicago
Malloy v. Hogan
Benton v. Maryland
In re Oliver
Gideon v. Wainwright
Pointer v. Texas
Parker v. Gladden
Klopfer v. North Carolina
Washington v. Texas
Minneapolis & St. Louis R. Co. v. Bombolis
Robinson v. Carifornia
Schilb v. Kuebel

About the Author

Aaron N. Coleman is associate professor of history and chair of the History and Political Science Department at the University of the Cumberlands.

Christopher S. Leskiw is professor of political science at the University of the Cumberlands.

Reviews

Well-selected and carefully edited. The readings in this excellent volume show how the drama of American politics has been motivated and made more pronounced by questions of sovereignty. 'Who shall rule' is a question too often given a rote, unthinking answer of 'the people,' without consideration of the important question 'which people?' Would it be the people of Virginia, or Massachusetts, or rather the people of the nation as a whole that would decide the fate of the United States? From civil rights to economic power, central questions of American identity and prosperity hinge on issues of state versus federal power—in short, on the state of our federalism.
*Bruce Frohnen, Ohio Northern University, historian and author of Virtue and the Promise of Conservatism*

This is a highly useful collection for all students interested in American constitutional development. The documents are well-chosen to illustrate the peculiar ways Americans have thought about and applied the principle of federalism. The volume’s greatest strength is its wide historical scope combined with its more narrow thematic focus. It is strongly recommended.
*Jeffery J. Rogers, Gordon State College*

Debating Federalism contains a cache of important primary sources from the sixteenth through the twenty-first centuries covering two of the oldest and most contested topics in American constitutionalism: federalism and sovereignty. From political treatises and pamphlets to speeches and court decisions, the documents reveal that constitutionalism is hardly the dry, dead subject many assume it to be. Aaron N. Coleman and Christopher S. Leskiw provide a learned introduction that speaks to both the past and present relevance of federalism and sovereignty to American history and political life. This book offers an excellent entry point for students and scholars to grapple with these foundational American concepts.
*Adam Tate, Clayton State University*