Legitimacy and History: Self-Government in American Constitutional Theory

This powerfully conceptualized book is both a rich intellectual history of two hundred years of American constitutional theory and an original philosophical inquiry into the possibility of self-government. Legitimate government in the United States means self-government. Yet Americans also believe that their government must be constrained by a Constitution that is now two hundred years old. Paul W. Kahn sees the development of constitutional theory as a continuous effort to resolve this con...