The Framers Themselves: Constitutional Authorship during the Ratification

Contemporary constitutional theory has placed emphasis on the concept that, through ratification, the people provided authority for the constitutional document. This article suggests that the 1787-88 debates over constitutional ratification evince a more complex account of the manner in which constitutional authority is created. Despite a rhetorical commitment to the idea that the framers were merely "writers" acting under the people's constitutional authority, some Federalists-in particular James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander ConteeHanson-looked to the authorial authority of the Philadelphia convention in order to halt attempts at prior amendment. Arguing that the two-stage model of constitutional creation undertaken in 1787-88 created a need for the textual authority of the author (the convention) in the stage before ratification, this essay challenges recent scholarship that has emphasized the role of popular interpretative authority during the founding period.