| Historians of constitutional thought in Early America typically examine the colonial period or English philosophy for influences on the structure of the new republic. Despite the connections between America and France, few scholars seriously consider French influences on American constitutionalism. The project analyzed correspondence, printed works, and hundreds of newly recovered titles in Jefferson and Madison's libraries, to reveal reciprocal influences in the emerging French and American constitutional ideologies.; The formation of American government was influenced by the interactions of French intellectuals. Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. In comparison with English political philosophy and institutions, French and American thinkers more fully developed the concepts of popular sovereignty, representation, and perhaps most importantly the role of public opinion in the mechanisms of provincial and national republican government.; Madison utilized French constitutional thought to conceive of a majoritarianism that distilled public opinion institutionally and non-institutionally to formulate rational and just public policy. Education, print culture, the republic of letters, and local governing bodies rationalized public opinion. Considering the identification of electors and elected, French and American constitutionalists asserted the necessity of a facilitated interaction between the institutional elected representatives and non-institutional corporate and individual interests of citizens. Utilizing nascent French social sciences Madison reconfigured Hume's theories concerning extended republics and their plurality of interests that were inherent to human nature. Madison believed the employment of these republican mechanisms limited factional tyrannies and provided the necessary constitutional energy, the deficiency of which, Madison realized, had caused the demise of past republics. |
