Rights and Duties: Reflections on Our Conservative Constitution

~Rights and Duties: Reflections on Our Conservative Constitution~ is a thought-provoking exposition of the American constitutional order including its history, its developments, and its future. The conservative luminary Russell Kirk was a deeply reflective conservative thinker possessed of a profound sobriety and Burkean predilections. Kirk eschews ideology and reminds us that conservatism is the negation of ideology. He doesn't let patriotic nostalgia or caricatured revolutionary ideology sully his historical interpretation. He recognizes that the American War for Independence-often called the American Revolution-was not a revolution at all, but a revolution prevented. Echoing the wisdom of Edmund Burke, Kirk brilliantly illuminates the conservative sobriety of the so called Glorious Revolution of 1688 in Great Britain and the so called American Revolution of 1776. When the two are juxtaposed against the French Revolution of 1787, the events of 1688 and 1776 appear not as revolutions at all, but as revolutions prevented. Kirk is not alone in this elucidation, as American historian Daniel Boorstin declares, "The most obvious peculiarity of our American Revolution is that, in the modern European sense of the word, it was hardly a revolution at all." For Kirk to characterize the constitution's purpose as conservative recognizes that the fundamental law preserves the pattern of political order through the lapse of time and change. The unwritten constitution embodies the conservative essence, and it should go without saying that the letter of the law in the written constitution can be changed demonstrably by "construction." One of perennial elements of Russell Kirk's idea of a conservative constitutional order is rooted in the broad history of Anglo-American as well as Western Civilization. In affirming that "constitutions are something more than lines written upon parchment," Russell Kirk conveys the importance of unwritten constitution. Kirk observes, "True constitutions are not invented: they grow." He traces our rich constitutional heritage of course to the several centuries of British experience, but Kirk doesn't stop there. In the Roots of American Order, Kirk traced the roots of an unwritten constitution back to ideas, customs, traditions, and institutions drawn from ancient Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome, medieval England, and the Protestant Reformation. Recognizing that our unwritten constitution draws from an expansive constitution than his conclusion is simple: the Constitution taken as "a whole" in our political order is both written and unwritten. Kirk echoing Burkean wisdom recognizes that a good constitution grows out of the common experience of a people steadily over the years. "It is not possible to create an improvised constitution out of whole clothe." The unwritten constitution encompasses precedent, prescription, and custom. It should go without saying that the U.S. Constitution of 1787 exists in continuity with the Magna Charta of

Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was perhaps the preeminent conservative scholar in twentieth century America, who gained national attention with THE CONSERVATIVE MIND, published 50 years ago. Kirk had a life-long interest in the law, and was in fact a justice of the peace in Michigan for two terms. This collection (and expanded version of the CONSERVATIVE CONSTITUTION) contains a number of Kirk's articles on the Constitution and its background, which were published in various journals and law reviews. These essays revolve around a central claim of Kirk's: the U.S. Constitution, far from being an Enlightenment document, is in fact a conservative document based on Roman, Christian, and common law sources. As Kirk shows, contrary to the widely asserted claims, the framers were hardly deists whose main influence was John Locke. Most professed at least some form of Christianity. They were steeped in the common law tradition of England. I particularly enjoyed the two articles on Church/State issue. One concerns the well-known Alabama case of Wallace v. Jaffree, in which it was alleged that Alabama schools were teaching secular humanism, and the other the lesser-known Shelton College case. Dr. Kirk testified as an expert in both cases. As Kirk says, the best solution to these issues would be to put these questions back into the hands of the states and reject the incorporation doctrine. The final chapter, "Ideology and Property," is a strong defense of private property and free enterprise. This book contains an excellent introduction by Russell Hittenger, an important legal scholar in his own right, who was an associate of Dr. Kirk's.

This volume, tragically out of print now, is a wonderful treatment of the history, importance and interpretaion of the US constitution. Mr Kirk writes clearly and simple, but is nonetheless full of suprising anecdotes and quotations. The book explores the question of what were the actual influences on the constitution (and what weren't), and how we ended up so different from France which went through a "revolution" at much te same time.He also discusses in some detail the application of the various parts of the first ammendment, as well as other provisions, throughout american history. Particularly of note is his treatment of the Mobile, AL public school textbook case, a case in which he served as an expert witness.The overall theme, amply demonstrated and hinted at by the title, is that the constitution of the US has acted as a conservative (or preserving) force on the way our government functions, and how this has helped preserve a somewhat consistent and peaceful way of life here.

Russell Kirk (d. 1994) was a quiet genius who, for some 40 years, provided the intellectual foundations of genuine conservatism in America, drawing heavily upon European, specifically English, thought along the way. This book gathers his final essays and addresses. It represents, as it were, his last analysis of the system and, to some degree, his prognosis for its future. The introduction is by Dr. Russell Hittinger, perhaps Kirk's most perceptive interpreter. Requires attentive reading, but those shy of extensive academic credentials need not hesitate to approach this work. Excellent for college or graduate level political philosophy courses.END