Abstract
Abel P. Upshur was a lawyer and judge from Virginia in the Early Republic. He served as Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of State in John Tyler's administration. This undergraduate thesis outlines his argument for the compact nature of the United States Constitution. His papers are not collected, but his Brief Enquiry (published in Petersburg in 1840) best catalogs his political thought. The paper asserts that Upshur is the transition figure from John Taylor of Caroline to the secessionists of the late 1850s.