Ordered Liberty: A Constitutional History of New York

The impending 1997 mandate to place before the voters the question on whether to convene a convention to revise and amend the New York Constitution becomes increasingly important and deserving of careful attention. Ordered Liberty provides a comprehensive chronicle of the constitutional history of New York state. There exists no single or multi-volumed work in print which examines this crucial history. This volume, bringing all previously published studies up to date, uses as its organizational frame the nine constitutional conventions in New York history and the constitutions each produced. Each convention is placed in its political, legal, and economic context- the work of the convention is examined, and the political theory reflected in each is explained. Finally, an assessment of each convention's accomplishments is presented. Subsequent sections of the volume examine appropriate methods to achieve that reform. An extensive bibliographical essay of primary and secondary sources on the state's constitutional history is provided.

Peter Galie is Professor of Political Science at Canisius College.