Making A New American Constitution

Author : George William Van Cleve
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781735548906
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Making a New American Constitution written by George William Van Cleve and published by . This book was released on 2020-09-20 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about constitutional reform. Today the Constitution is a dangerous threat to Abraham Lincoln's vision of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It served the United States well during its early years, but has numerous remarkably undemocratic features. And the Constitution has an even graver overarching flaw. It is preventing us from making reforms needed to address the collapse of the middle class and to renew our rapidly decaying social bonds. The Constitution is a massive obstruction to national unity and to our country's survival.Today we are a multicultural, racially diverse, heavily urbanized society. And we are now in danger of being governed permanently by a wealthy oligarchy. Our middle class is headed toward collapse, and our democracy cannot survive its demise. Steadily deteriorating socioeconomic conditions facing millions of poor and middle-class Americans are almost certain to result in a political crisis that may weaken or shatter our union.To avoid such a catastrophe, it will be essential for us to make extensive political, social, and economic reforms based on constitutional changes that will enable all Americans to view their government as truly fair and firmly committed to creating equal life opportunities and justice for everyone, not just for one elite class or dominant race. This book explains why the Constitution is a major obstacle to reform, and what we will need to do to create a resilient democracy. It takes a deep look at the Constitution's undemocratic features, and then explores why the Constitution also makes unworkable piecemeal reforms, such as a constitutional amendment to take money out of politics or a balanced budget amendment. The time to change our government has come. Americans can and must hold a popular convention that can achieve a constitutional grand bargain resolving divisive issues, which will renew republican government and avoid permanent authoritarian rule by a wealthy oligarchy. The book explores how a popular convention can be held, and proposes a series of essential constitutional reforms.

Author : Richard Beeman
Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN 13 : 0812976843
Total Pages : 546 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Plain, Honest Men written by Richard Beeman and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2010-02-09 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In May 1787, in an atmosphere of crisis, delegates met in Philadelphia to design a radically new form of government. Distinguished historian Richard Beeman captures as never before the dynamic of the debate and the characters of the men who labored that historic summer. Virtually all of the issues in dispute—the extent of presidential power, the nature of federalism, and, most explosive of all, the role of slavery—have continued to provoke conflict throughout our nation's history. This unprecedented book takes readers behind the scenes to show how the world's most enduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, and fragile consensus. As Gouverneur Morris, delegate of Pennsylvania, noted: "While some have boasted it as a work from Heaven, others have given it a less righteous origin. I have many reasons to believe that it is the work of plain, honest men."

Author : Hannis Taylor
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 736 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Origin and Growth of the American Constitution written by Hannis Taylor and published by . This book was released on 1911 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Alexander Hamilton
Publisher : Read Books Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1528785878
Total Pages : 455 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Federalist Papers written by Alexander Hamilton and published by Read Books Ltd. This book was released on 2018-08-20 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic Books Library presents this brand new edition of “The Federalist Papers”, a collection of separate essays and articles compiled in 1788 by Alexander Hamilton. Following the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, the governing doctrines and policies of the States lacked cohesion. “The Federalist”, as it was previously known, was constructed by American statesman Alexander Hamilton, and was intended to catalyse the ratification of the United States Constitution. Hamilton recruited fellow statesmen James Madison Jr., and John Jay to write papers for the compendium, and the three are known as some of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Alexander Hamilton (c. 1755–1804) was an American lawyer, journalist and highly influential government official. He also served as a Senior Officer in the Army between 1799-1800 and founded the Federalist Party, the system that governed the nation’s finances. His contributions to the Constitution and leadership made a significant and lasting impact on the early development of the nation of the United States.

Author : Larry J. Sabato
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0802777562
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A More Perfect Constitution written by Larry J. Sabato and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-07-23 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The reader can't help but hold out hope that maybe someday, some of these sweeping changes could actually bring the nation's government out of its intellectual quagmire...his lively, conversational tone and compelling examples make the reader a more than willing student for this updated civics lesson." --The Hill The political book of the year, from the acclaimed founder and director of the Center for politics at the University of Virginia. A More Perfect Constitution presents creative and dynamic proposals from one of the most visionary and fertile political minds of our time to reinvigorate our Constitution and American governance at a time when such change is urgently needed, given the growing dysfunction and unfairness of our political system . Combining idealism and pragmatism, and with full respect for the original document, Larry Sabato's thought-provoking ideas range from the length of the president's term in office and the number and terms of Supreme Court justices to the vagaries of the antiquated Electoral College, and a compelling call for universal national service-all laced through with the history behind each proposal and the potential impact on the lives of ordinary people. Aware that such changes won't happen easily, but that the original Framers fully expected the Constitution to be regularly revised, Sabato urges us to engage in the debate and discussion his ideas will surely engender. During an election year, no book is more relevant or significant than this.

Author : Carol Berkin
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 9780156028721
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.27/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Brilliant Solution written by Carol Berkin and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2002 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revisiting all the original documents and using her deep knowledge of eighteenth-century history and politics, Carol Berkin takes a fresh look at the men who framed the Constitution, the issues they faced, and the times they lived in. Berkin transports the reader into the hearts and minds of the founders, exposing their fears and their limited expectations of success.

Author : John F. Kowal
Publisher : The New Press
ISBN 13 : 1620975629
Total Pages : 493 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The People’s Constitution written by John F. Kowal and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Jack N. Rakove
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307434516
Total Pages : 464 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Original Meanings written by Jack N. Rakove and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-04-21 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From abortion to same-sex marriage, today's most urgent political debates will hinge on this two-part question: What did the United States Constitution originally mean and who now understands its meaning best? Rakove chronicles the Constitution from inception to ratification and, in doing so, traces its complex weave of ideology and interest, showing how this document has meant different things at different times to different groups of Americans.

Author : Akhil Reed Amar
Publisher : Basic Books (AZ)
ISBN 13 : 0465029574
Total Pages : 644 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book America's Unwritten Constitution written by Akhil Reed Amar and published by Basic Books (AZ). This book was released on 2012-09-11 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading between the lines: America's implicit Constitution -- Heeding the deed: America's enacted Constitution -- Hearing the people: America's lived Constitution -- Confronting modern case law: America's "warrented" Constitution -- Putting precedent in its place: America's doctrinal Constitution -- Honoring the icons: America's symbolic Constitution -- "Remembering the ladies" : America's feminist Constitution -- Following Washington's lead: America's "Georgian" Constitution -- Interpreting government practices: America's institutional Constitution -- Joining the party: America's partisan Constitution -- Doing the right thing: America's conscientious Constitution -- Envisioning the future: America's unfinished Constitution -- Afterward -- Appendix: America's written Constitution.

Author : Jeff Broadwater
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469651025
Total Pages : 293 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Jefferson, Madison, and the Making of the Constitution written by Jeff Broadwater and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2019-03-27 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, and James Madison, "Father of the Constitution," were two of the most important Founders of the United States as well as the closest of political allies. Yet historians have often seen a tension between the idealistic rhetoric of the Declaration and the more pedestrian language of the Constitution. Moreover, to some, the adoption of the Constitution represented a repudiation of the democratic values of the Revolution. In this book, Jeff Broadwater explores the evolution of the constitutional thought of these two seminal American figures, from the beginning of the American Revolution through the adoption of the Bill of Rights. In explaining how the two political compatriots could have produced such seemingly dissimilar documents but then come to a common constitutional ground, Broadwater reveals how their collaboration--and their disagreements--influenced the full range of constitutional questions during this early period of the American republic.