Description
Book SynopsisExamines the history, theory, and politics behind the age qualifications for elected federal office in the United States Constitution. Argues that the right to run for office ought to be extended to all adult-age citizens who are otherwise office-eligible.
Trade Review“John Seery’s book is applied political theory at its best: it enunciates a proposition that no doubt will be initially implausible to many readers and offers a superb defense that should change a lot of minds and, along the way, provide wonderful food for thought about what constitutes a truly democratic electorate.”
—Sanford Levinson,University of Texas School of Law
“So much is controversial nowadays, but not so the set age limits for public service in Washington. Why not? What historical reasons informed these age limits in the first place, and what contemporary reasons support their maintenance now, hundreds of years later? John Seery is a political theorist committed to interrogating questions that many of us never think to ask. When he takes a position, he does not always persuade everyone to his view, but in his intelligence, tenacity, and inventiveness, he never disappoints.”
—Bonnie Honig,Northwestern University
“Seery engages the important but neglected subject of the American age qualifications for public office and does so in an extraordinarily broad-gauged way that sheds a great deal of light on American democracy more generally.”
—Robert Bennett,Northwestern University School of Law
“This is a wonderful challenge to complacency about constitutional rights. Seery asks important questions and provides an energetic defense of the constitutional right of all citizens to hold office in the United States.”
—Mark Graber,University of Maryland School of Law
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. History
2. Theory
3. Politics
Postscript: An Appeal to U.S. Civics Educators
Appendix 1: Federal Age Requirements in Other Democracies
Appendix 2: Average Age of Congress Since 1949
Notes
Index
