美國革命時期主權之爭

Disputes on Sovereignty During the American Revolution

1760年代初期，大英帝國的商業與稅務政策引起其北美殖民地居民的反彈，但更深層的爭議點在於對主權本質與受管轄地區範疇的立場不同。英國議會認為大英帝國對北美殖民地有絕對的主權，但北美殖民地的人民則主張處理殖民地內部相關事務是當地立法機構的權限。雙方都提出建議，試圖解決爭議，但基於其切身利益的考量，終究無法達成共識。當北美殖民地脫離大英帝國，取得獨立之後，他們必須自己處理有關主權的本質與受管轄地區的爭議。1776年《邦聯條例》顯然不能解決問題，於是產生《聯邦憲法》，取而代之。在《聯邦憲法》中，清楚區分聯邦政府與各州政府的主權，但終究未能阻止1860年代南北內戰發生，而主權最終屬於人民、憲法或最高法院，仍是一個具爭議性的問題。

Britain’s commercial and taxation policies in the early 1760s provoked resentment in the country’s American colonies, but the deeper issue in debate was based on disputes about the nature and location of sovereignty in the British empire. The Westminster parliament claimed absolute sovereignty over the American colonies, but the Americans insisted that the sovereign authority over their internal affairs lay in each colony’s provincial legislature. To resolve this increasingly bitter dispute, both sides put forward suggestions that attempted to reconcile the differences between them. These suggestions failed because neither side was prepared to sacrifice its vital interests. When the American colonies achieved their independence from the British parliament these new states had to decide the question of the nature and location of sovereignty for themselves. Their first solution, the Articles of Confederation, proved unsatisfactory. The Federal Constitution made an impressive attempt to divide sovereignty between the national government and the governments of the individual states, but this did not prevent a civil war in the 1860s and there is still an open question whether sovereignty ultimately lies in the people, the written constitution or the Supreme Court.