Copyrighted 1990, David M. O'Brien. This article originated as a lecture delivered at the “James Madison Symposium” in Madisonville, Kentucky, 27 September 1990, and is reprinted in Constitutional Commentary (1991). The author is grateful for the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Kentucky Humanities Council, and his former colleague, Robert J. Morgan, as well as for the assistance of Stephen Bragaw. While absolving them of responsibility for any of the interpretive arguments here, the author benefitted from the comments on an early draft by Professors Lance Banning, Kermit Hall, and Leonard Levy, as well as from those of three anonymous reviewers. The author is also grateful for the encouragement of Professors Daniel A. Farber and Donald P. Kommers, and Judge Charles W. Boteler, Jr.

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