Corwin on the Constitution

Edward S. Corwin is the twentieth century's most eminent commentator on the Constitution. Unfortunately, he died before he could write the single definitive work on the Constitution he had planned.

In three volumes, of which this is the first, Richard Loss has edited and introduced major essays by Corwin that best delineate his argument in political thought and constitutional law. The essays in Volume One examine the foundations of American political and constitutional thought, the powers of Congress, and the President's power of removal. Corwin addresses topics that vary from "The Worship of the Constitution" to "The Constitution as Instrument and Symbol." He discusses the lessons of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, takes up the relationship of the Constitution to New Deal democracy, and examines democratic dogma and political science. A fascinating essay treating the theory of evolution shows how this idea replaced the idea of natural law in American constitutional tradition.

Loss's introduction provides a biographical sketch of Corwin, elaborates and appraises his argument and characterizes Corwin's legacy to the present generation of scholars. Loss shows that far from ending debate, Corwin's essays on political thought and the removal power establish an intellectual agenda for further inquiry into the tenets of constitutional law. In an epilogue Loss deals with Corwin's understanding of Alexander Hamilton's position on the President's removal power, an important topic involving not only presidential prerogative, but the comparative rank of Hamilton's Federalist papers on the presidency and Hamilton's Pacificus letters.

Corwin on the Constitution will be of particular interest to judges, historians, law teachers, political scientists, students of constitutional law and American political thought.

Edward S. Corwin (1878–1963) taught at Princeton University from 1911 to 1946. Richard Loss is a political scientist.