An Important Early Contribution to the Field of Political Science This work received high praise from Chancellor Kent, Henry Clay, Rufus Choate, Joseph Story and others. At the time of publication, there was a great deal of debate about the interpretation of the United States Constitution, and this book is Lieber's contribution to the mix. He asserts that Constitutions should be construed closely, since their words were carefully measured, and distinguishes between interpretation ("the art of finding out the true sense of any form of words") and construction as the drawing of conclusions...