Jeffersonian Democracy and Newspaper Popular Constitutionalism.

Popular constitutionalism describes the process by which understandings of the Constitution are developed, and sometimes acted on, by non-judicial actors such as "the people" themselves. This paper examines a variant of popular constitutionalism that can be termed "newspaper constitutionalism:" the practice in early nineteenth century America of publishing commentaries and essays in politically-sponsored newspapers to advance partisan-based interpretations of the Constitution. The paper presents the results of research into the numerous essays and commentaries on constitutional themes that appeared in Thomas Jefferson's presidential newspaper, the National Intelligencer, from 1801 to 1805. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]