The University Press of Kansas has released
Rutgers v. Waddington: Alexander Hamilton, the End of the War for Independence, and the Origins of Judicial Review, by
Peter Charles Hoffer (University of Georgia). A description from the Press:
Once the dust of the Revolution settled, the problem of reconciling
the erstwhile warring factions arose, and as is often the case in the
aftermath of violent revolutions, the matter made its way into the legal
arena. Rutgers v. Waddington was such a case. Through this
little-known but remarkable dispute over back rent for a burned-down
brewery, Peter Charles Hoffer recounts a tale of political and
constitutional intrigue involving some of the most important actors in
America’s transition from a confederation of states under the Articles
of Confederation to a national republic under the U.S. Constitution.
At
the end of the Revolution, the widow Rutgers and her sons returned to
the brewery they’d abandoned when the British had occupied New York.
They demanded rent from Waddington, the loyalist who had rented the
facility under the British occupation. Under a punitive New York state
law, the loyalist Waddington was liable. But the peace treaty’s
provisions protecting loyalists’ property rights said otherwise.
Appearing for the defendants was war veteran, future Federalist, and
first secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton. And, as always,
lurking in the background was the estimable Aaron Burr. As Hoffer
details Hamilton's arguments for the supremacy of treaty law over state
law, the significance of Rutgers v. Waddington in the development
of a strong central government emerges clearly—as does the role of the
courts in bridging the young nation’s divisions in the Revolution’s
wake.
Rutgers v. Waddington illustrates a foundational moment in
American history. As such, it is an encapsulation of a society riven by
war, buffeted by revolutionary change attempting to piece together the
true meaning of, in John Adams’ formulation, “rule by law, and not by
men.”
And a blurb:
“Rutgers v. Waddington—a case about a brewery!—is best
remembered by scholars as one of the early milestones in developing the
American doctrine of judicial review. But as Peter Hoffer explains in
this deftly argued book, the case raises a larger array of significant
questions about the nature of American law, politics, and
constitutionalism in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution:
everything from the authority of the law of nations to the practical
problem of reintegrating the Loyalists into the new republic. Hoffer
does a remarkable job of demonstrating how a single case can be read—and
taught—for multiple purposes. ” —Jack N. Rakove
More information is available
here.
