Constitution-Making
Alignment and Realignment in the Federal Convention of 1787
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3148015 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Calvin C Jillson (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1981 |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 598-612 |
| Publication date | 1981-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1960955 |
| OpenAlex | W2319938144 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
| References cited | 22 |
This study offers an empirical description of the voting alignments that dominated the American Constitutional Convention as the delegates struggled to produce the final report of that historic assembly. Its conceptual roots are firmly planted in the theoretical traditions of Schattschneider on conflict and cleavage, and of Key, Burnham and Sundquist on critical realignment of the American party system. I demonstrate that dynamic processes analogous to Key's conception of "critical elections" at the macro-level of national politics can also be identified and analyzed at the micro-level of the constituent assembly. Therefore, I argue that one of the "mainsprings of American politics," as Burnham calls the critical election phenomenon, permeates all levels of the American political system and not simply the national level of electoral mass politics. More specifically, this clear description of coalition alignment, operation and realignment in the Constitutional Convention, when informed and enlightened by the "critical realignment" model, greatly facilitates the more traditional discussion of debate, conflict and ultimate decision on the central issues before that body-representation, federalism, senatorial authority, and the nature of the executive in a republican government
Cleavage (geology · Constitution · Convention · Federalism · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Representation (politics · Separation of powers · Sociology · Voting · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Engineering · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Public Administration
Revolutions and Law
The Effects of the Great Compromise on the Constitutional Convention of 1787
The Making of an American House of Lords
A New Dataset of Delegate Positions on All Substantive Roll Calls at the U.S. Constitutional Convention
Voting on slavery at the Constitutional Convention
Philadelphia reconsidered
A Social Choice Model of Politics
James Madison and the Problem of Founding
Three-Fifths a Racist
Coalitional Instability and the Three‐Fifths Compromise
Constitution Making
An Economic Model of Voting Behaviour over Specific Issues at the Constitutional Convention of 1787
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 Revisited
A Spatial Analysis of Delegate Voting at the Constitutional Convention
Political Action and Party Formation in the United States Constitutional Convention
Critical elections and the mainsprings of American politics.
The ideological origins of the American Revolution.
The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787
Dynamics of the party system
The Making of the Constitution
Turner and Beard
The Virginia Convention of 1788
Secular Realignment and the Party System
A Theory of Critical Elections
Classification of Presidential Elections
Understanding factor analysis
Turner and Beard
Republican Ideology and the Triumph of the Constitution, 1789 to 1793
Anti-Federalism in Maryland, 1787-1788
| Unique citing works | 15 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,38 |
| Citation span | 1986 - 2024 (39) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 15 |