St. George Tucker on Article II, Section 3: A Brief Synopsis

Abstract

St. George Tucker is commonly regarded as the most important commentator on American law in the first half of the nineteenth century, and the first major post-ratification commentator on the U.S. Constitution. Tucker's edition of Blackstone's Commentaries is widely cited, but his extremely valuable law lectures, which date to the early 1790s, remain in manuscript form and are less accessible. In these lectures, Tucker examines the new Constitution and how he and others expect it to work. In the first of ten notebooks of law lectures, Tucker includes thoughts on Article II, Section 3, which has become the subject of much current national and scholarly discussion; Tucker outlines what he sees as the meaning of the clause and its applications. I became aware of this material while researching Murder in the Shenandoah: Making Law Sovereign in Revolutionary Virginia (New York: Cambridge, 2019). As one of the only scholars with deep familiarity with both Tucker and his archival materials, in this short document I offer an introduction to this critical source so that it might be of use to other scholars and lawyers alike. 

Keywords: American legal history; American founding;, American founding, U.S. Constitution, American constitutional history, St. George Tucker, Adjournment, prorogation, state constitutions, American Revolution, Article II Section 3