“It is one of the many virtues of Peter Zavodnyik’s excellent new book to take a fresh, and insightful, look at what we tend to regard as the Executive’s quietest years, those from the Founding until the Civil War.” - National Review online“The scope of Peter Zavodnyik’s book is greater than his title may suggest. . . . Zavodnyik gives us a chronological survey of federal policy in the light of constitutional power in interaction with the politics surrounding the use of the powers. He thus gives us a very nice account of the relation between constitutional and political factors, an account often missing in studies that focus on one factor or the other. . . . Zavodnyik has produced a provocative book that not only highlights oftenneglected features of the era, but supplies intriguing insights into the coming of the Civil War.” - The Journal of American History“This work serves as a challenge to the traditional interpretation of the growth of federal power. It also provides another explanation for the secession of the southern states, a topic on which scholars will no doubt be weighing in. This interesting and provocative study, which depends heavily on secondary work, has a place in the collections of all four-year academic institutions. . . . Highly recommended.” - Choice“[A]n important addition to the literature on antebellum federalism.” - Journal of Southern History“[A]n intriguing account of the strict interpretation of the Constitution in light of the growth of federal power during the antebellum period. . .Any student of American constitutionalism will find this work useful if only for his extensive documentation of Congressional speeches highlighting the bitter contest over the Constitution’s meaning. The result is a study that challenges many of historians’ preconceived notions about who advocated strict construction and why.” - The Historian
