The Ideas That Formed the Constitution, Part 19: Jean-Louis DeLolme: ‘We the People …’
Commentary
Writers on the Constitution seldom mention the name of Jean-Louis DeLolme. This is unfortunate, because DeLolme’s book on the English political system significantly influenced those who participated in the constitutional debates of 1787–1790. The Constitution’s opponents—the Antifederalists—relied on it. And as the leading historian Gordon Wood testified, DeLolme’s book “had an extraordinary influence on Federalist thinking in the late 1780s as well.”
Like two of the Founders’ international law authorities (discussed in the next installment), DeLolme hailed from Geneva, Switzerland. Born in 1740, he was in the early stages of his law practice when one of his political pamphlets offended local officeholders. He thought it wise to embark on an extended vacation. He came to England….