Matthew Peterson

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MatthewJ. Peterson

Matthew J. Peterson

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Biography

Claremont McKenna College - Government

Vice-President of Education & Editor of The American Mind
Education Management
Matthew J.
Peterson
Greater Los Angeles Area
I am creating a new center designed to support and advance graduate level study of America. I direct the Claremont Institute's Fellowships and continuing educational programming for national leaders and their expansion. I work to increase our role in national discussion and debate over "regime-level" questions, in part through the creation of The American Mind, our new online publication.

Experience

  • John Paul the Great Catholic University

    Professor of Media, Politics, and Culture

    Matthew worked at John Paul the Great Catholic University as a Professor of Media, Politics, and Culture

  • The Claremont Institute

    Vice President of Education

    Matthew worked at The Claremont Institute as a Vice President of Education

  • The Claremont Institute

    Editor, The American Mind

    The American Mind, a publication of the Claremont Institute, is a forum for vigorous yet civil debate about the ideas that drive the news cycle, our culture, and our politics. The American Mind seeks to recover a distinctively American solution to our current intellectual and political crisis.

  • Pepperdine University School of Public Policy

    William E. Simon Distinguished Visiting Professor

    Matthew worked at Pepperdine University School of Public Policy as a William E. Simon Distinguished Visiting Professor

  • Loyola Marymount University

    Part-time Lecturer

    Taught American government and political theory in the Department of Political Science within the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts.

  • Claremont McKenna College

    Visiting Assistant Professor

    Matthew worked at Claremont McKenna College as a Visiting Assistant Professor

Education

  • Claremont Graduate University

    M.A., Ph.D.

    Political Science: Political Philosophy & American Government
    Research Grant, Claremont Graduate University, Spring, 2007; Fall, 2007 Earhart Foundation Fellowship, 2006-2007 Bradley Fellowships, 2002-2006 CGU Fellowship Award, 2002-2005 CGU Research Assistant, 2003-2004

  • Thomas Aquinas College

    B.A.

    Philosophy & Theology; Math & Science; Liberal Arts & Sciences; "Great Books" Program
    Great Books program, no electives, no textbooks, all original works (including math and science), all seminar style classes. Degree equivalent to a double major in Philosophy and Theology with a minor in Math and Natural Science.

Publications

  • 'To Secure the Public Good and Private Rights': the Common Good in the Rhetoric of Ratification

    Claremont Graduate University Dissertation

    The dissertation examines the meaning of the public or common good considered as an end or purpose of government in the public debate over the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Federalists and Anti-Federalists assert that the purpose of government is to both promote the public good and protect individual rights. What did they mean by the “public good” and related phrases? An extended commentary and textual analysis of the published writings of five Federalists (John Dickinson, Oliver Ellsworth, Noah Webster, Tench Coxe, and James Wilson) and five Anti-Federalists (Agrippa, Centinel, Federal Farmer, Impartial Examiner,and Brutus), the dissertation examines the way in which the notion of the public good played a significant part within the larger themes of federalism, representation, liberty versus licentiousness, and union during the ratification period. Neither side’s understanding of the protection of individual rights as the purpose of government forecloses the notion of the public good, but the uniquely federal nature of the Constitution obscures our view of their deeper understanding.The Anti-Federalist view of representation emphasizes that the public good must be truly public without making clear how the public good differs from majority will; the Federalists emphasize the public good must be truly good, the product of sound deliberation. Federalists explicitly claim that liberty is not license, but tied to a common notion of virtue. The Federalists argue that there is a public good for all the states combined and thus the federal government must have supreme power over matters relating to commerce—and commerce is spoken of as intrinsically connected to morality and virtue—for the sake of this national public good. Although the Federalist notion of the public good is limited in scope, remaining partially open as to the final purpose of human beings, it is nonetheless much more than the notion of an interdependent collection of private goods.

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