''Common Cause'' was an American magazine published from 1947 to 1951 to support the movement for

world government World government is the concept of a single political authority governing all of Earth and humanity. It is conceived in a variety of forms, from tyrannical to democratic, which reflects its wide array of proponents and detractors. There has ...

that was inspired by the invention and use of the

atom bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explo ...

. Soon after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a group of academics and intellectuals, many of them associated with the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, responded to a call from University of Chicago Chancellor

Robert Maynard Hutchins Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was the President of the University of Chicago, 5th president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and ear ...

to draft a world constitution, joining their efforts to those of

Richard McKeon Richard McKeon (; April 26, 1900 – March 31, 1985) was an American philosopher and longtime professor at the University of Chicago. His ideas formed the basis for the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Life, times, and influences McKeo ...

and Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, who had originally conceived the task. In November 1945 the committee they formed, which included

Mortimer J. Adler Mortimer Jerome Adler (; December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001) was an American philosopher, educator, encyclopedist, popular author and lay theologian. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He taught at ...

, Stringfellow Barr, Albert Léon Guérard,

Harold Innis Harold Adams Innis (November 5, 1894 – November 8, 1952) was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory, and economic history of Canada, Canadian econo ...

, Erich Kahler, Wilber G. Katz, Charles Howard McIlwain,

Robert Redfield Robert Redfield (December 4, 1897 – October 16, 1958) was an American anthropologist and ethnolinguist, whose ethnographic work in Tepoztlán, Mexico, is considered a landmark of Latin American ethnography. He was associated with the Universi ...

, and

Rexford Tugwell Rexford Guy Tugwell (July 10, 1891 – July 21, 1979) was an American economist who became part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first " Brain Trust", a group of Columbia University academics who helped develop policy recommendations leading up to ...

produced a ''Preliminary Draft of a World Constitution,'' later published by the University of Chicago Press (1948). ''Common Cause'' was published from June 1947 through June 1951 in support of the project. The magazine's contributors considered their work to be similar to that undertaken in support of the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

by the authors of

The Federalist Papers ''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The ...

.Mortimer J. Adler, ''Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography'' (Macmillan, 1977), pp. 225-26.

References

{{Reflist Magazines_established_in_1947 Magazines_disestablished_in_1951 English-language_magazines