As the EU approves a second bailout for the failing Greek economy, we thought it would be a good time to hear from historians John P. Kaminski and Richard Leffler. Why, you might ask, would we consult experts on the ratification of the U. S. Constitution for their take on Europe’s current condition? Because their most recent project, an English-language edition of Jürgen Heideking’s The Constitution before the Judgment Seat, reveals many compelling parallels between Europe’s current fiscal challenges and those faced by the founders in the days of the early republic.

Q: Why should this book on the debate over the adoption of the U.S. Constitution more than 200 years ago be of interest to Europeans today?

A: It’s true that history does not repeat itself. But Americans in the period from 1781 to 1789, when the Constitution went into effect, had to confront many of the problems that Europeans confront today: political, constitutional, recession, currencies, public debt.

Q: Is that why Professor Heideking wrote this book, to become involved in the European debate?

A: No. Jürgen wrote the book to coincide with the Bicentennial of the American Constitution, which was celebrated in 1987-1988. He wrote it as pure history, and as anyone who reads it can tell, it is a masterful piece of historical writing by a great historian. But when in 1979 he contacted Professor Merrill Jensen—who was editing The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution at the University of Wisconsin at Madison—about coming to do research in the project files, Jensen encouraged him, as Jürgen recalls, “to take a fresh look at the formation of the American Constitution,” which had been debated voluminously already, “from the unbiased perspective of an ‘outsider.’”

Q: But was Heideking aware of and moved by the history of Europe, and did he see a relevance to the American experience of 200 years ago?

A: Yes, to both. He had done his first graduate work at Tübingen on modern European history. As he says in his Introduction, “Every politically minded individual, particularly a native of central Europe, with its painful, cataclysmic history, must regard it as a supreme intellectual challenge to study a constitutional system which for over two hundred years has continually provided the foundation and framework for the political and social life of a great nation.” Jürgen considered the Constitution as a great success, and the founding of the nation on that Constitution as “one of the most important and influential events in world history,” and therefore well worth studying. His father had served in the German army during the war and Jürgen was born barely two years after it ended, and he believed that “in light of modern-day experiences with authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, we can perhaps understand better than ever before the significance of British Prime Minister William Gladstone’s assessment of the American Constitution as ‘the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.’”

Q: But were the issues in America in the 1780s relevant to modern-day Europe?

A: Just look at the way Jürgen described the issues in America, and you decide for yourself. He says “To the extent that the debate [over the Constitution] dealt with such fundamental issues as the nature of government, sovereignty, the separation of powers, federalism, representation, political participation, and human rights and liberties, it has lost none of its relevance or importance.”

Q: Specifically, did Heideking believe that this debate had anything to tell us about the attempt to establish “Europe” today?

A: Yes, he did. Although he wrote this book as history and not as advocacy, he wrote that “it was my sincerest hope that the book’s significance would extend beyond [the celebration of the American Bicentennial], and that the process of European integration might benefit from the example of the thirteen American states, which, in free and open debate crafted a constitutional framework for a common future.”

Q: Has his hope been realized?

A: That is for Europeans to determine. But Jürgen has presented the great and complex issues he mentions truly, with great insight, and with profound knowledge. To the extent that we can learn from history, he has done all that a historian can do. It is now up to the people of Europe to decide whether they can benefit from the American example.

The Constitution before the Judgment Seat is available now. Kaminski and Leffler also serve as editors of our digital edition of The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, published by our electronic imprint, Rotunda.