Review by Choice Review
LaCroix (Univ. of Chicago Law School) has written a delightful book on the ideological origins of American federalism. Rather than rely on the often-examined influence of the self-interest of the American founders, LaCroix transcends that confined scholarship. The founders were not bound by such straits. In the process, the author brings "ideology back into the discussion." As LaCroix asserts, ideas "played a crucial role in defining the contours first of the colonial and then of early national government." The development of federalism was thus an ideological development, and it represented a change from, rather than continuity with, British thought. The path Americans took to rethinking government arrangements occurred because of a long process of grappling with conflicts between the king and Parliament. Many American founders hit the books, reading Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf, John Locke, Lord Kames, and Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui to craft an argument modifying the relationship between the mother country and the colonies. The founders ended up assenting to an old English, but rejected, tradition of imperium in imperio. This empire within an empire is, through much thought and practical example, what came to be known as American federalism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate and above. E. S. Root West Liberty State College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review