American Interpretations of Natural Law: A Study in the History of Political Thought

by Benjamin Fletcher Wright

Overview

This book illustrates the deep roots of natural law doctrines in America's political culture. Originally published in 1931, the volume shows that American interpretations of natural law go to the philosophical heart of the American regime. The Declaration of Independence is the preeminent example of natural law in American political thought—it is the self-evident truth of American society.

Benjamin Wright proposes that the decline of natural law as a guiding factor in American political behaviour is inevitable as America's democracy matures and broadens. What Wright also chronicled, inadvertently, was how the progressive critique of natural law has opened a rift between and among some of the ruling elites and large numbers of Americans who continue to accept it. Progressive elites who reject natural law do not share the same political culture as many of their fellow citizens.

Wright's work is important because, as Leo Strauss and others have observed, the decline of natural law is a development that has not had a happy ending in other societies in the twentieth century. There is no reason to believe it will be different in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412863278
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/2016
Series:	Library of Liberal Thought
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Benjamin Fletcher Wright (1900–1976) was an American professor of political science. He taught at the University of Texas and Harvard, where he served as chairman of the government department. As president of Smith College, 1949-1959, he fought for intellectual freedom in the face of McCarthyism.

Sidney A. Pearson, Jr. is professor emeritus of political science at Radford University. He is the editor of Transaction’s Library of Liberal Thought series.

Table of Contents

Contents Introduction to the Transaction Edition, Sidney A. Pearson, Jr. Preface I introduction II Divine Law in Early New England III Colonial Importations IV The Revolution V The First Constitutions VI The Framing and Ratification of the Federal Constitution VII Controversial and Non-Systematic Theory since 1789 General Tendencies Debates in the State Constitutional Conventions The Slavery Controversy VIII Systematic Studies of Politics IX Constitutional Interpretation X Critics and Defenders XI Conclusion Index

Editorial Reviews

"Professor Wright has given us a highly useful volume, compendious, orderly, and clearly written. . . . Professor Wright’s volume is commendably comprehensive." —Edward S. Corwin, Columbia Law Review "[This book’s] historical survey is so complete and authentic that a study of that sort will not have to be made again. And no one is more competent than Professor Wright to deal with any question concerning the present theoretical and practical significance of the concept of natural law in America." —Francis W. Coker, The American Political Science Review "Professor Wright moves among his authors with very great skill and with a due sense of their relative importance and interest, and he has notably illustrated a leading motive in American political theory and history. . . . A solid piece of work." —D. W. Brogan, The New England Quarterly "Such books as Mr. Wright’s are of much value. He has brought together diligently, completely, and intelligently the materials for an understanding of natural law in American political thought. . . . An important undertaking well carried out." —Roscoe Pound, Harvard Law Review

From the Publisher