The Olmsted Case: Privateers, Property, And Politics In Pennsylvania, 1778-1810( Series - Pennsylvania History And Culture Series )

This book examines constitutional law and early American politics in the neglected Olmsted case (United States v. Peters). It is the story of a privateering adventure during the American Revolution that ended thirty years later in an armed rebellion ordered by the governor of Pennsylvania against the United States. The work includes discussion of the domestic political disputes during the American Revolution; cut-throat political practices of the early national period and the constitutional generation's understanding of state sovereignty. The constitutional dialogue on state sovereignty is ongoing in today's courts. The Supreme Court has recently heard several cases based on the Eleventh Amendment rights of the states, an important issue in the Olmsted case. All of these issues are explored in an entertaining narrative of privateer Gideon Olmsted's thirty-year quest for justice from the state of Pennsylvania.