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Clinton Lawrence Rossiter III

クリントン・ローレンス・ロシター

Clinton Lawrence Rossiter III

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1917-09-18 （Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.）
Died
1970-07-11 （Ithaca, New York, U.S.） age 52
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Philadelphia (birthplace) → Bronxville, New York (raised) → Ithaca, New York (worked and lived)

Career

Occupations
historian, political scientist, university professor
Active Years
1946-1970
Affiliations
Cornell University
Memberships
Quill and Dagger (student society)

Education

Westminster School (Connecticut)
Country: United States
Attended as a preparatory school student
Cornell University
Degree: AB
Period: 1935-1939
Year of Graduation: 1939
Country: United States
Phi Beta Kappa; member of Quill and Dagger society
Princeton University
Degree: Ph.D.
Year of Graduation: 1942
Country: United States
Doctoral thesis: Constitutional Dictatorship: Crisis Government in the Modern Democracies

Awards

Bancroft Prize
1953
Work: Seedtime of the Republic
Organization: Columbia University (Bancroft Prize)
Result: 受賞
Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award
Work: Seedtime of the Republic
Organization: Woodrow Wilson Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Constitutional Dictatorship: Crisis Government in the Modern Democracies

1948 political history / political science

A study of the operation of constitutional democracies in times of crisis, arguing for emergency procedures that are constitutionally controlled and temporally limited, drawing lessons from the Roman Republic.

constitutionalismcrisis governmentdemocracy

Seedtime of the Republic: The Origin of the American Tradition of Political Liberty

1953 American history / history of political thought

Investigates the roots of American thinking about politics and government leading up to the American Revolution, analyzing the formation of political thought and institutions.

American Revolutionpolitical libertyinstitutional history

Conservatism in America

1955 political thought

An overview of the history and intellectual development of conservatism in America, discussing its traditions and evolution.

conservatismideological study

The American Presidency

1956 political institutions

An introductory and analytical account of the history and functions of the American presidency.

executive branchpresidencyseparation of powers

1787: The Grand Convention

1966 American history / constitutional history

A detailed historical study of the Federal Convention and the making of the U.S. Constitution, regarded as one of the best accounts of the convention.

Federal Conventionconstitutional draftingpolitical history

Alexander Hamilton and the Constitution

1964 biography / history of political thought

Studies the evolution and contemporary relevance of Alexander Hamilton's political and constitutional thought.

Hamilton studiespolitical thought

Bibliography

  • Constitutional Dictatorship: Crisis Government in the Modern Democracies (1948)
  • Documents in American Government (1949)
  • The Supreme Court and the Commander in Chief (1951)
  • Seedtime of the Republic (1953)
  • Conservatism in America (1955)
  • The American Presidency (1956)
  • Alexander Hamilton and the Constitution (1964)
  • 1787: The Grand Convention (1966)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
documentary, interpretive stylecombines primary-source emphasis with interpretive analysis
Recurring Motifs
constitutional control of powergovernance in times of crisisorigins of American political thought

Health

  • clinical depression
    生涯にわたる慢性的な影響（特に晩年）
    A lifelong clinical depression which, according to family accounts, culminated in an overdose of sleeping pills and suicide; it seriously affected his work and personal life in later years.

Legacy

Rossiter left influential work in constitutional history and American political thought. Though his documentary-interpretive approach fell out of favor for a time in the 1970s, scholars rediscovered and reappreciated his contributions from the 1990s onward; his works such as Constitutional Dictatorship and his study of the Federal Convention remain widely referenced.

Academic Societies

  • Quill and Dagger (student society)

Archives

  • Cornell University Archives (holds Rossiter's papers and related materials)

Trivia

  • Served in the U.S. Naval Reserves during World War II, primarily on the USS Alabama.
  • Won the Bancroft Prize in 1953 for Seedtime of the Republic.
  • Suffered from lifelong clinical depression and died in 1970 from an overdose of sleeping pills, ruled a suicide.