The Legal Foundations of Inequality
Constitutionalism in the Americas, 1776–1860

This book examines the influence of opposing constitutional ideals during the 'founding period' of constitutionalism in the Americas.

Roberto Gargarella (Author)

9781107617810, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 January 2014

286 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.6 cm, 0.37 kg

“Most notable for its broad comparative approach is Roberto Gargarella’s excellent study of evolving tensions between competing political projects in the nineteenth century and their impact on institutional arrangements that would affect inequality in later years…he presents a provocative and nuanced understanding of the evolution of inequality, showing that there were moments in which the institutional arrangements underpinning inequality came under challenge or were in flux in Latin America. In this, his book provides a welcome alternative to the widespread notion that inequality in the region is simply a persistent legacy of colonial times” -Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz, University of Maryland, Latin American Research Review

The long revolutionary movements that gave birth to constitutional democracies in the Americas were founded on egalitarian constitutional ideals. They claimed that all men were created equal with similar capacities and also that the community should become self-governing. Following the first constitutional debates that took place in the region, these promising egalitarian claims, which gave legitimacy to the revolutions, soon fell out of favor. Advocates of a conservative order challenged both ideals and favored constitutions that established religion and created an exclusionary political structure. Liberals proposed constitutions that protected individual autonomy and rights but established severe restrictions on the principle of majority rule. Radicals favored an openly majoritarian constitutional organization that, according to many, directly threatened the protection of individual rights. This book examines the influence of these opposite views during the 'founding period' of constitutionalism in countries including the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.

1. Radicalism: honoring the 'general will'
2. Conservatism: the moral cement of society
3. Liberalism: between tyranny and anarchy
4. The quest for equality.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Law [L], Political structures: democracy [JPHV], Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]