ABSTRACT
During the hundred and forty years that have elapsed since the adoption of the Federal Constitution there have been few controversies which have produced any very significant philosophical discussion. The assumptions of 1789 have, with rare exceptions, continued to be the assumptions of the twentieth century. A genuine exception to the superficial character of subsequent political controversy is the struggle over the institution of negro slavery. The persistent problem of state rights has involved legal and historical arguments rather than those derived from political philosophy, although Calhoun's Disquisition is a notable if lonely exception to the truth of this generalization. And in some of the debates in the various state constitutional conventions one does meet with discussions which penetrate beneath the surface of contemporary assumptions. In these arguments, as in that having to do with slavery, the concept of natural law ordinarily plays a part of some importance.
