Extra-Canonical Texts
posted by Gerard Magliocca
In a previous post I talked about the idea — advanced by many scholars — that there are certain statutes that are effectively part of the Constitution. (The Civil Rights Act of 1964 being one example.) That got me to thinking about other documents that might serve this function. In other words, if you asked most people to provide a list of our most important texts, they would probably mention the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But they would also mention things that are not authoritative but still command respect because of the force of their reasoning. A tell-tale sign of these “extra-canonical” documents is that they are the ones that kids are taught in school and get cited by courts. What falls into this category?
1. The Declaration of Independence
2. The Federalist Papers
3. The Gettysburg Address
4. The Emancipation Proclamation
5. The “I Have a Dream” Speech.
Some Honorable Mentions:
1. Washington’s Farewell Address (Interestingly, this used to be canonical, but when its isolationist views fell out of favor after World War II people started paying less attention to this statement.)
2. FDR’s “Four Freedoms” Speech. (This used to be important — consider the Norman Rockwell illustrations — but not so much nowadays.)
3. The “Cross of Gold” Speech.
What else have I missed?
August 18, 2009 at 9:07 am
Posted in: Constitutional Law
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Responses (1)
ohwilleke - August 18, 2009 at 5:32 pm
The Magna Carta (1215).
John Locke’s writings, particularly, (1689) A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), A Second Letter Concerning Toleration (1690), A Third Letter for Toleration (1692) and Two Treatises of Government (1689).
Blackstone’s “Commentaries of the Laws of England.” (1765-1769) (e.g. Chapter 19 on the “Star Chamber” motivates Fifth Amendment law).
Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” (1776).
The notes taken in the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention (1789).
Thomas Jefferson’s letter in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists, (“wall of separation of church and state”). Subsequent letters on same theme by James Madison and John Tyler.
Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” (1835 and 1840).
Declaration of Sentiments from Seneca Falls (1848) (women’s sufferage and women’s rights).
John Brown’s Last Speech (1859).
Wigmore, Treatise on the Anglo-American System of Evidence in Trials at Common Law (1904)
United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
“Twelve Angry Men,” film (1954)
Eisenhower’s statements in connection with calling out the National Guard and deploying the Army at Little Rock (1957).
“A Man for All Seasons,” Robert Bolt (1961) (speech on rule of law by by Sir Thomas Moore)
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham jail (1963) (even though he lost the case that put him there in a minor footnote in federal civil procedure).
Equal Rights Amendment proposal, even though not adopted.
Various foreign policy doctrines attributed to Presidents (Monroe, Truman, Reagan, etc.).
Black’s Law Dictionary (multiple editions).
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