河南师范大学学报(哲学社会科学版)

在卡尔霍恩长达半个世纪的政治生涯中,他以坚定的联邦主义立场,顽强地维护着联邦宪法的权威,他不仅是南方精神的领袖,而且是杰斐逊的继承者、美国精神的塑造者。南方在美国内战中的失败并没有掩盖卡尔霍恩思想的光芒,反倒使其政治思想受到了前所未有的重视。在卡尔霍恩去世的前几年,全面总结其政治思想和实践的《论政府》和《论合众国的宪法和政府》两篇长论文相继面世。在这两篇关于政府的专门论述中,卡尔霍恩详细阐明了自己的宪政思想,包括主权的来源和归属、联邦政府内部的权力划分、联邦与州之间权力的分配以及如何防止二者之间——主要是联邦对州——权力的侵蚀等。事实证明,卡尔霍恩对联邦宪法的解释、对政府复杂而精细的设计,不仅符合当时的美国政治,甚至对当前美国政治也具有相当重要的影响,为我们研究美国宪法和美国政治提供了新的视角。

In half a century of Calhoun's political career,his strong Federalism position maintains the authority of the Federal Constitution stubbornly,he is not only the spiritual leader of the South,but also Jefferson's successor,one of the founders of American Spirit.The failure of South in the US Civil War did not cover the radiance of Calhoun thought,actually,his political thought has been unprecedented attention.Several years before he died,the books of comprehensive summary of his political thought and practice——Disquisition on Government and A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States——have been published.In these two specialized expositions on the government,Calhoun elaborated his constitutional thought,including the sources and attribution of sovereignty,the division of powers within the federal government,distribution of power between the federal and state and how to prevent the erosion of power between the two and so on.Facts have proved that the interpretation of the Federal Constitution of Calhoun,the intricate designs government,not only in line with the then US politics,but also has a very important influence with current US politics,provides a new perspective for our study of the American constitution and American politics.