The Ambition of Interests
The Ambition of Interests
American Constitutionalism
This chapter shows how studies of the American Constitutional founding of 1789, though focused on institutional solutions to the problem of ambition frequently overlook the character of political ambition generated by the Constitutional order. The Constitution, as a mechanism designed to alleviate threats posed by ambitious factions, ignores the necessity of cultivating—and educating—citizens’ ambitions and abilities to participate in the governance of public life. By adopting a Constitution seemingly at odds with many revolutionary Americans’ definition of themselves and their country citizens codify an electoral structure that relegates ambition to the pursuit of private self-interest, leaving the public spirited qualities of revolutionary America without a substantive institutional home. This chapter argues that the challenge today is to conceptualize forms of popular participation that link individual ambition for public recognition with collective democratic control.
Keywords: ambition, Constitution, representation, democracy
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