The American Historical Review for January is an unusually interesting number. The opening article is from the pen of Professor George B. Adams and is entitled The Origin of the English Constitution. Professor Adams seeks to answer the question, Why England came out of the Middle Ages a limited monarchy. By this phrase he means the notion of a body of law above the king which he may be conmpelled to obey. In his opinion the body of Magna Carta and clause 61 is the first inclination of the Constitution towards a limited monarchy. In the fourteenth century Parliament,—whose development had been going on apart from the experiment in methods of coercing the king—become the embodiment of this fundamental principle of the Constitution.

Louise R. Loomis writes upon The Greek Renaissance in Italy, and attempts to show that “the part played by Greek literature in fifteenth century Italy was less triumphant than it is ordinarily supposed to have been.” Facts are mentioned to show that the enthusiasm, in so far as it was influential and genuine, was for Roman antiquity rather than for Hellenic. Even in philosophy the influence, from antiquity which helped to shape the thought of the fifteenth century were derived more directly from the Empire than from Hellas.

Professor A. B. Hart contributes an article on John Knox as a Man of the World in his usual direct style. He discusses John Knox from several standpoints, emphasizing his pride as a man, his vehemence as a writer, his violence as a preacher, his intemperate zeal as a reformer, and his practical failure as a constructive statesman,—all in all, a vivid glimpse of Scotland's great reformer.

In The First Hayburn Case, the writer, Professor Max Farrand, adduces evidence to show that on April 11, 1792, James Wilson, John Blair, and Richard Peter declared the Invalid Pension Act of 1792 unconstitutional, though there is no official record of the case. This is therefore the first instance of the Supreme Court asserting its right to declare an act of Congres invalid because contrary to the Federal Constitution.

The American Acta Sanctorum is the annual address of the president of the American Historical Association, Professor J. Franklin Jameson, delivered at Madison, December 27, 1907. The writer makes a plea for the recognition of the claim of American religious history by those who would completely understand the American character and spirit.

The Review prints two documents: one, Joseph Gales on the War Manifesto of 1812; and the other, Robert Barnwell Rhett on the Biography of Calhoun, 1854, contributed by Gaillard Hunt.

Eighty pages of this number of the Review are devoted to review of books. It also contains a communication from George W. Graham: The Mecklenburg Declaration: What Did the Governor See? and Notes and News.

J. E. Winston .

How to cite:
Winston, James E., "The American Historical Review", Volume 011, Number 3, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 239 - 240. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v011/n3/review_21.html
[Accessed Sun Nov 23 13:43:28 CST 2008]