The Project on Liberty and American Constitutionalism seeks to remedy the widespread and growing neglect of the founding principles of American Constitutionalism in teaching and in academic and public discourse.
The Project is a direct outgrowth of the Department of Political Science's unique “Law and Constitutional Studies” major established in 2001. The LCS major is a distinctive political science major that emphasizes the basic ideas and institutions of American Constitutionalism. Courses in the major cover the basics of political philosophy, the Constitutional Convention, the main institutions of government, constitutional law, civil liberties, and the relation of American Constitutionalism to a free market.
DIRECTOR
Anthony A. Peacock is a full
professor in the Political Science Department at Utah State University, where
he is also the director of The Project on Liberty & American
Constitutionalism (http://liberty.usu.edu).
Peacock has a Ph.D. from The Claremont Graduate School and a law degree from
Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. He practiced civil litigation in
Toronto from 1989-1992. He is the author or editor of five books, including How to Read The Federalist Papers (The
Heritage Foundation, 2010), Freedom and
the Rule of Law (Lexington Books, 2010), Deconstructing the Republic: Voting Rights, the Supreme Court, and the
Founders’ Republicanism Reconsidered (The AEI Press, 2008),
Affirmative
Action and Representation: Shaw v. Reno and the Future of Voting Rights
(Carolina Academic Press, 1997), and Rethinking
the Constitution: Perspectives on Canadian Constitutional Reform,
Interpretation, and Theory (Oxford University Press, 1996).
Peacock has also published numerous articles,
book chapters, and book reviews on American and Canadian law and politics. His
work has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada. He has appeared on radio to
provide commentary on state and national politics and has lectured on American
politics and law both nationally and internationally. At Utah State Peacock
teaches courses on constitutional law, constitutional theory, law and policy,
and law, politics, and war.
CO-DIRECTOR
Peter McNamara
teaches political theory. He specializes in early modern and American political thought. He is the author of
Political Economy and Statesmanship: Smith,
Hamilton and the Foundation of the
Commercial
Republic and the editor of
The Noblest Minds: Fame, Honor and the American Founding, and, most recently (with Louis Hunt),
Liberalism, Conservatism and Hayek's Idea of Spontaneous Order. His current research projects include essays on Jefferson on federalism and
Franklin on religion and a book on “Liberalism and the Problem of Human Nature.” In the Fall of 2008 he was the Hayek Visiting Scholar at the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism at
Clemson University,
South Carolina.