The influence of the Scottish Enlightenment on American Constitutionalism

Abstract

There are numerous and truly scientifically significant analyses produced during the years on the influence exerted by the centuries-old British Constitution on American constitutional democracy. However few highlighted the existing links between Scottish constitutionalism, distinct (and for certain aspects far away) from the English one, and the process of American constitutionalization. Though, if we focus our attention on certain concepts and especially on the people who actively took part in the affirmation of the American constitution, unexpected and fundamental links between these two spheres can be highlighted: links which, for example, marked the thought and the work of some among the most important American Founding Fathers. This is what the authors of this piece of research work try to underline. Particularly, this essay stresses the influence exerted by two Scottish Enlightenment followers, David Hume and Adam Smith on two noble Fathers of American constitutionalism: James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. All this will favour the individualisation of the philosophical political coordinates in order to understand, among other things, the constitutional principles upon which the system of relationship between State and Churches is built in the history of American republicanism.