Author: Jethro Koller LiebermanPublisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
Examines the vital interplay between the Constitution and the American culture.
The Enduring Constitution
Author: Jethro Koller LiebermanPublisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
Examines the vital interplay between the Constitution and the American culture.
Promises to Keep
Author: Donald G. NiemanPublisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190071656
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
Widely considered the first history of US Constitutionalism that places African Americans at the center, Promises to Keep is a compelling overview of how conflict over African Americans' place in American society has shaped the Constitution, law, and our understanding of citizenship and rights. Both authoritative and accessible, this revised and expanded second edition incorporates key insights from the last three decades of scholarship and makes sense of recent developments in civil rights, from the War on Drugs to the rise of Black Lives Matter. Promises to Keep shows how African Americans have played a critical role in transforming the Constitution from a bulwark of slavery to a document that is truer to the nation's promise of equality. The book begins by examining debates about race from the Revolutionary Era at the Constitutional Convention and covers the establishment of civil rights protections during Reconstruction, the Jim Crow backlash, and the evolution of the civil rights movement, from the formation of the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People to legal victories and massive organized protests. Comprehensive in scope, this book moves from debates over slavery at the nation's founding to contemporary discussions of affirmative action, voting rights, mass incarceration, and police brutality. In the process, it provides readers with a historical perspective critical to understanding some of today's most important social and political issues.
Economic Liberties and the Constitution
Author: Bernard H. SieganPublisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 1412822114
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 437
Book Description
In this seminal work, Bernard Siegan traces the history of onstitutional protection for economic liberties in the United States. He argues that the law began to change with respect to economic liberties in the late 1930s. At that time, the Supreme Court abdicated much of its authority to protect property rights, and instead condoned the expansion of state power over private property. Siegan brings the argument originally advanced in the .first edition completely up to date. He explores the moral position behind capitalism and discusses why former communist countries flirting with decentralization and a free market (for instance, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos) have become more progressive and prosperous as a result. He contrasts the benefits of a free, deregulated economy with the dangers of over-regulation and moves towards socialized welfare—most specifically as happened during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency. Supporting his thesis with historical court cases, Siegan discusses the past and present status of economic liberties under the Constitution, clarifies constitutional interpretation and due process, and suggests ways of safeguarding economic liberties. About the original edition, Doug Bandow of Reason noted, "Siegan has written a vitally important book that is sure to ignite an impassioned legal and philosophical debate. The reason—the necessity—for protecting economic liberty is no less than that guaranteeing political and civil liberty." Joseph Sobran of the National Review wrote, "Siegan...makes a powerful general case for economic liberty, on both historical and more strictly empirical grounds.... Siegan has done a brilliant piece of work, not only where it was badly needed, but where the need had hardly been recognized until he addressed it." And Edwin Meese remarked that, "This timely and important book shows how far we have drifted from protecting basic liberties that the Framers of the Constitution sought to secure. I recommend it highly." This new, completely revised edition of Economic Liberties and the Constitution will be essential reading for students of economics, history, public policy, law, and political science.
Constitutional Stupidities, Constitutional Tragedies
Author: William N. EskridgePublisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814751326
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
While the Constitution is the cornerstone of American government, some who are most familiar with the document find it lacking. This unique volume brings together many of the country's most esteemed constitutional commentators and challenges them to select the "stupidest" provision of the Constitution--then to surmise possible results if different interpretations were applied.
The Cult of the Constitution
Author: Mary Anne FranksPublisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 1503609103
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310
Book Description
“A powerful challenge to the prevailing constitutional orthodoxy of the right and the left . . . A deeply troubling and absolutely vital book” (Mark Joseph Stern, Slate). In this provocative book, Mary Anne Franks examines the thin line between constitutional fidelity and constitutional fundamentalism. The Cult of the Constitution reveals how deep fundamentalist strains in both conservative and liberal American thought keep the Constitution in the service of white male supremacy. Franks demonstrates how constitutional fundamentalists read the Constitution selectively and self-servingly, thus undermining the integrity of the document as a whole. She goes on to argue that economic and civil libertarianism have merged to produce a deregulatory, “free-market” approach to constitutional rights that achieves fullest expression in the idealization of the Internet. The fetishization of the first and second amendments has blurred the boundaries between conduct and speech and between veneration and violence. But the Constitution itself contains the antidote to fundamentalism. The Cult of the Constitution lays bare the dark, antidemocratic consequences of constitutional fundamentalism and urges readers to take the Constitution seriously, not selectively.
Novus Ordo Seclorum
Author: Forrest McDonaldPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
'A witty and energetic study of the ideas and passions of the Framers.' - New York Times Book Review'An important, comprehensive statement about the most fundamental period in American history. It deals authoritatively with topics no student of American can afford to ignore.' - Harvey Mansfield, author of the Spirit of Liberalism
The People’s Constitution
Author: John F. KowalPublisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620975629
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 493
Book Description
The 233-year story of how the American people have taken an imperfect constitution—the product of compromises and an artifact of its time—and made it more democratic Who wrote the Constitution? That’s obvious, we think: fifty-five men in Philadelphia in 1787. But much of the Constitution was actually written later, in a series of twenty-seven amendments enacted over the course of two centuries. The real history of the Constitution is the astonishing story of how subsequent generations have reshaped our founding document amid some of the most colorful, contested, and controversial battles in American political life. It’s a story of how We the People have improved our government’s structure and expanded the scope of our democracy during eras of transformational social change. The People’s Constitution is an elegant, sobering, and masterly account of the evolution of American democracy. From the addition of the Bill of Rights, a promise made to save the Constitution from near certain defeat, to the post–Civil War battle over the Fourteenth Amendment, from the rise and fall of the “noble experiment” of Prohibition to the defeat and resurgence of an Equal Rights Amendment a century in the making, The People’s Constitution is the first book of its kind: a vital guide to America’s national charter, and an alternative history of the continuing struggle to realize the Framers’ promise of a more perfect union.
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States
Author: Charles A. BeardPublisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486140458
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Book Description
This classic study — one of the most influential in the area of American economic history — questioned the founding fathers' motivations and prompted new perceptions of the supreme law of the land.
Modern Constitutions
Author: Rogers M. SmithPublisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812252349
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
More than two millennia ago, Aristotle is said to have compiled a collection of ancient constitutions that informed his studies of politics. For Aristotle, constitutions largely distilled and described the varied and distinctive patterns of political life established over time. What constitutionalism has come to mean in the modern era, on the other hand, originates chiefly in the late eighteenth century and primarily with the U.S. Constitution—written in 1787 and made effective in 1789—and the various French constitutions that first appeared in 1791. In the last half century, more than 130 nations have adopted new constitutions, half of those within the last twenty years. These new constitutions are devoted to many of the same goals found in the U.S. Constitution: the rule of law, representative self-government, and protection of rights. But by canvassing constitutional developments at the national and state level in the United States alongside modern constitutions in Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, and Asia, the contributors to Modern Constitutions—all leading scholars of constitutionalism—show that modern constitutions often seek to protect social rights and to establish representative institutions, forms of federalism, and courts charged with constitutional review that depart from or go far beyond the seminal U.S. example. Partly because of their innovations, however, many modern constitutional systems now confront mounting authoritarian pressures that put fundamental commitments to the rule of law in jeopardy. The contributions in this volume collectively provide a measure of guidance for the challenges and prospects of modern constitutions in the rapidly changing political world of the twenty-first century. Contributors: Richard R. Beeman, Valerie Bunce, Tom Ginsburg, Heinz Klug, David S. Law, Sanford Levinson, Jaime Lluch, Christopher McCrudden, Kim Lane Scheppele, Rogers M. Smith, Mila Versteeg, Emily Zackin.
The Constitution and National Security
Author: Howard E. ShumanPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : National security
Languages : en
Pages : 378
Book Description
This book contains papers from a conference on the U.S. Constitution and national security that was held by the National Defense University. Part I, Dividing Constitutional Powers, contains "White House Decisionmaking," by Paul Anderson; "The Intellectual Legacy of Our Constitution," by Gregory D. Foster; "Foreign Policy and Congressional Presidential Relations," by Robert Jervis; "National Security -- Shared and Divided Powers," by Howard E. Shuman; "The Power of the Purse," by Robert F. Turner; and "The Constitution, Congressional Government, and the Imperial Republic," by Robert S. Wood. Part II, The Evolution of the Presidency, contains "Presidential Powers and National Security," by Larry Berman; "Can the President Lead?," by George C. Edwards, III; "Executive Prerogatives, the Constitution, and National Security," by Joseph E. Goldberg; "Presidential Transitions and National Security Issues," by James P. Pfiffner; "Congress, National Security, and the Rise of the Presidential Branch," by Nelson W. Polsby; and "Institutionalization, Deinstitutionalization, and Leadership," by Bert A. Rockman. Part III, The Constitution and Foreign Policy, contains "The War Powers Resolution," by John C. Culver; "The Legitimacy of the Congressional National Security Role," by Louis Fisher; "Foreign Policy and the Economic World Order of the 1990s," by Gerald Garvey; "Nuclear Defense Policy: The Constitutional Framework," by Louis Henkin; "The War Powers Resolution: Congress versus the President," by Morris S. Ogul; "National Security and the United States Judiciary," by C. Herman Pritchett; "The Constitutionality of Strategic Planning," by George H. Quester; and "Legal Lessons in National Security," by Edwin Timbers.