Devising Liberty

'You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself'. In urging the ratification of the Constitution, James Madison had identified one of the central problems of the new American republic, the rivalry of power and liberty. The contributors to this book focus on the various constitutional problems that surrounded the need to provide simultaneously a sufficient degree of union and public authority to guarantee defence and order, and a sufficient degree of individual liberty to satisfy the demands and expectations of private citizens who were wary of the arbitrary powers of government.