Private Property and the Limits of American Constitutionalism: The Madisonian Framework and Its Legacy [Paperback]

The United States Constitution was designed to secure the rights of individuals and minorities from the tyranny of the majority—or was it? Jennifer Nedelsky's provocative study places this claim in an utterly new light, tracing its origins to the Framers' preoccupation with the protection of private property. She argues that this formative focus on property has shaped our institutions, our political system, and our very understanding of limited government.

Jennifer Nedelskyis associate professor of law and political science at the University of Toronto.

Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
I. Private Property and American Constitutional Government
II. The American Conception of Limited Government
III. The Lessons of the Formation
IV. The Focus on the Framers: Madison, Morris, and Wilson
V. The Structure
2. The Madisonian Vision: The Republican Solution to the Republican Problem
I. The Dilemma of Republican Government
II. The Republican Solution to Republican Problems
III. Conclusion
3. Aristocratic Capitalism: The Federalist Alternative of Gouverneur Morris
I. The Priority of Property in the Market Republic
II. Divisions in Society: The Poor versus the Rich
III. The Institutions of Government
IV. Political Liberty in a Commercial Republic
V. Property as Boundary
VI. The Clarity of Singlemindedness
4. The Democratic Federalist Alternative: James Wilson and the Potential of Participation
I. Philosophical Foundations
II. The Objects of Government
III. The Principles of Government
IV. The Institutions of Government
V. Democratic Injustice and Democratic Participation
5. The Madisonian Constitution
I. Class, Power, and the Hierarchy of Rights
II. The Neglect of Self-Governance
III. The Limitations Confirmed: The Anti-Federalist Perspective
IV. The Madisonian Constitution: Republican or Liberal?
V. The Conceptual Framework
VI. Judicial Review: The Conlc–