VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

by St. George Tucker, Clyde N. Wilson (Editor)

American Founding and Constitution

Genres: History, Law, American

504 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1998

About the author

St. George Tucker (July 10, 1752 – November 10, 1827), born in Bermuda, was a lawyer and, after the American Revolution, a professor of law at the College of William & Mary. He notably increased the requirements for a law degree at the college, as he believed lawyers needed deep educations. He served as a judge of the General Court of Virginia and later on the Court of Appeals.

Following the American Revolutionary War, Tucker supported the gradual emancipation of slaves, which he proposed to the state legislature in a pamphlet published in 1796.[1] He wrote an American edition of Blackstone's "Commentaries" that became a valuable reference work for many American lawyers and law students in the early 19th century. President James Madison in 1813 appointed Tucker as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia, later serving on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Many of his descendants were notable lawyers, professors and politicians.

Reviews

[David Kahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read for anybody interested in what the founding fathers intended the Constitution to mean.

[Jacob Lines · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is mostly a historical curiosity. Unlike Joseph Story’s commentary on the Constitution, which still has great insights for us today, this book is interesting only for the light it sheds on Antebellum Jeffersonian thought. He is clear that he views the union as a union of states rather than people. Reading this book, it becomes clear what the problem with that philosophy was. It was based on political expediency, rather than history or the text of the Constitution. Tucker is quite clear in stating his bias in interpreting the Constitution. Rather than interpreting it according to its plain meaning, he interprets it strictly in favor of states, to limit the federal government to as narrow a compass as possible under the Constitution. This work must have been welcome in the old south, but I think it was incorrect then and of little use now. And it isn’t as well organized or convincing as Story’s Commentaries. No wonder Story’s book was read and used so much and this one wasn’t. I wish I would have spent my money on a different book.

[Michele Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. just reading the intro is amazing. What a reminder of what we could be if we would understand the Constitution and the words in the Constitution.

the online Library of Liberty offers this book for download.