Tuesday, October 13, 2026 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM EDT
Tingfeng Yan, University of Chicago
Comment: Mary Sarah Bilder, Boston College
This event is virtual.
Revolutionary Pennsylvania was an important site in the growth of written constitutionalism in the early United States. Written constitutionalism was the tendency to treat constitutions as primarily written texts to be examined and interpreted. A twofold evolution in Pennsylvanian constitutional thought and practice contributed to the development of written constitutionalism. First, Pennsylvanians increasingly evaluated the legitimacy of their state constitution through the principle of popular sovereignty. Second, the Pennsylvania constitution came to be often treated as a concise document containing many specific provisions to be referenced in making political claims. The Pennsylvania constitution was thus both ideologically consequential and practically useful in public discussions, and intense scrutiny over it drove the rise of written constitutionalism.
Join the conversation at the Pauline Maier Early American History Seminar.
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