Forrest McDonald

One of the most original and influential historians writing on the American founding period, Forrest McDonald speaks here about his life and the development of his work. In candid reflections, McDonald analyzes his intellectual formation in Texas in the 1950s and how he came to write his landmark We the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution, which upset the…

Fresh from a battle against monarchy, the American Founders were wary of a strong executive, but they were equally conscious that unchecked legislative power risked all the excesses of democracy. Creating an effective executive who did not dominate the legislative body posed a significant challenge. In The Creation of the Presidency, 1775–1789, Charles Thach’s lucid analysis reveals how these conflicting…

It is Berger’s theory that the United States Supreme Court has embarked on “a continuing revision of the Constitution, under the guise of interpretation,” thereby subverting America’s democratic institutions and wreaking havoc upon Americans’ social and political lives. Raoul Berger (1901–2000) was Charles Warren Senior Fellow in American Legal History, Harvard University.