Amar, Akhil Reed, America's Constitution A Biography. | America's Constitution: A Biography

Schlorly text for a classroom | America's Constitution: A Biography | Akhil Reed Amar

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	• America's Constitution: A Biography Akhil Reed Amar Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006 - 672 pages average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Living and Breathing America's Beginnings

These are times when the US Constitution is on the forefront of American political and social debate. How many Americans have read and understood the Constitution, originally flawed by the 3/5s proposition? How many have traveled the intellectual and political roads that led to the most powerful and influential political document since the Magna Carta and the Mayflower Compact? What better a guide and companion than Yale law professor Akhil Reed Amar's monumental work, "American's Constitution: A Biography"?

Amar takes the 4000+ words that are the signature of American life, admired the world over, and gives us a sturdy volume (657 pages), exhaustively researched, written with clarity and style. Anyone interested in American life and values should not fail to read (and re-read) this near classic.

Why a "biography"? Because the US Constitution is at once a rock solid declaration, and a celebration of a modern democracy and, unlike other antecedent models of government, has a built-in safeguard against abuse through its compelling amend-ability. It has a life; it was born; it was nourished; it matured and is subject to re-birth through the will of the people.

Amar has made an adventure story of the documentary founding of the nation and has parsed the enduring words and phrases whose meanings and interpretations and re-interpretations over the nation's history are forever marked by the glorious and majestic opening line, WE THE PEOPLE. . . .

Scholars and laymen alike will be enriched by this book.

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Amar, Akhil Reed, America's Constitution A Biography.

For those looking for an in-depth reflection on the American Government's foundational document, Mr. Amar's text is that you seek. As the title offers, this is a tale of our Constitution from it's heritage, development and final ratification. The principle arguments engaged for each article and amendment is offered with a comprehensive discussion of those making the arguments. The heritage is tracked back to known government structures and philosophies of the time. The Articles of Confederation is briefly outlined as an experiment that failed to provide a viable representative government. It did establish a representative and political structure that allowed the Constitution to develop.

The reader will find the author's attempt to present not only the history, but he adds the political, economic and social dimension that has not been provided effectively elsewhere. The State's supporting that peculiar institution (slavery) is proffered as exercising significant control over the Constitution, from the compromises made to ratify, the character of selecting elected officials and the suffrage of the voters.

As the Nation matures, the Constitution evolves to meet the developing opinions of the Governed. That evolution is tracked by the Amendments offered, those that failed and passed, the arguments offered, pro and con, and the circumstances that prompted each. In many the driving force was an opinion by the Supreme Court that promoted public disapproval or sometimes outrage. The politics, economic and social circumstances involved in each of the Amendments are discussed.

This is a book for the knowledgeable reader. It relies upon a host of historical material, legal analysis and supporting material attributed to the principles. There is a clear distinction between documented fact and opinions offered. The text is amply footnoted, a strong bibliography and a comprehensive index to assist those interested in follow-up study. This text, I believe, is addressed to those who are interested in the not only what the Constitution says, but what the basis and intent for each component of this remarkable document. Your impression will change, you will be enlightened and you will find that many of your preconceived notions will be challenged.

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Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1RBR0DXEYQ8A1 This is my review of the book

In America?s Constitution, one of this era?s most accomplished constitutional law scholars, Akhil Reed Amar, gives the first comprehensive account of one of the world?s great political texts. Incisive, entertaining, and occasionally controversial, this ?biography? of America?s framing document explains not only what the Constitution says but also why the Constitution says it.

We all know this much: the Constitution is neither immutable nor perfect. Amar shows us how the story of this one relatively compact document reflects the story of America more generally. (For example, much of the Constitution, including the glorious-sounding ?We the People,? was lifted from existing American legal texts, including early state constitutions.) In short, the Constitution was as much a product of its environment as it was a product of its individual creators? inspired genius.

Despite the Constitution?s flaws, its role in guiding our republic has been nothing short of amazing. Skillfully placing the document in the context of late-eighteenth-century American politics, America?s Constitution explains, for instance, whether there is anything in the Constitution that is unamendable; the reason America adopted an electoral college; why a president must be at least thirty-five years old; and why?for now, at least?only those citizens who were born under the American flag can become president.

From his unique perspective, Amar also gives us unconventional wisdom about the Constitution and its significance throughout the nation?s history. For one thing, we see that the Constitution has been far more democratic than is conventionally understood. Even though the document was drafted by white landholders, a remarkably large number of citizens (by the standards of 1787) were allowed to vote up or down on it, and the document?s later amendments eventually extended the vote to virtually all Americans.

We also learn that the Founders? Constitution was far more slavocratic than many would acknowledge: the ?three fifths? clause gave the South extra political clout for every slave it owned or acquired. As a result, slaveholding Virginians held the presidency all but four of the Republic?s first thirty-six years, and proslavery forces eventually came to dominate much of the federal government prior to Lincoln?s election.

Ambitious, even-handed, eminently accessible, and often surprising, America?s Constitution is an indispensable work, bound to become a standard reference for any student of history and all citizens of the United States.

From the Hardcover edition.

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