Perfecting the Constitution

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Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739183869
Total Pages : 253 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Perfecting the Constitution by : Darren Patrick Guerra

Download or read book Perfecting the Constitution written by Darren Patrick Guerra and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-06-10 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He who can change the Constitution controls the Constitution. So who does control the Constitution? The answer has always been: “the people.” The people control the Constitution via the Article V amending process outlined in the Constitution itself. Changes can only be made through Article V and its formal procedures. Article V has always provided a means of perfecting the Constitution in an explicit, democratically authentic, prudent, and deliberative manner. In addition to changing the Constitution Article V also allowed the people to perfect and preserve their Constitution at the same time. In recent years Article V has come under attack by influential legal scholars who criticize it for being too difficult, undemocratic, and too formal. Such scholars advocate for ignoring Article V in favor of elite adaptation of the Constitution or popular amendment through national referendums. In making their case, critics also assume that Article V is an unimportant and expendable part of the Constitutional structure. One notable scholar called the Constitution “imbecilic” because of Article V. This book shows that, to the contrary, Article V is a unique and powerful extension of the American tradition of written constitutionalism. It was a logical extension of American constitutional development and it was a powerful tool used by the Federalists to argue for ratification of the new Constitution. Since then it has served as a means of “perfecting” the US Constitution for over 200 years via a wide range of amendments. Contrary to contemporary critics, the historical evidence shows Article V to be a vital element in the Constitutional architecture, not an expendable or ancillary piece. This book defends Article V against critics by showing that it is neither too difficult, undemocratic, nor too formal. Furthermore, a positive case is made that Article V remains the most clear and powerful way to register the sovereign desires of the American public with regard to alterations of their fundamental law. In the end, Article V is an essential bulwark to maintaining a written Constitution that secures the rights of the people against both elites and themselves.

The Law of Article V

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781728867885
Total Pages : 148 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (678 download)

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Book Synopsis The Law of Article V by : ROBERT G. NATELSON

Download or read book The Law of Article V written by ROBERT G. NATELSON and published by . This book was released on 2018-11-30 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's possible: we Americans can fix our broken federal government. Our Founders made sure of it. For 50 years, political insiders have been trying to suppress all knowledge of how to reform our government. No longer! In this book, America's leading active scholar on the constitutional amendment process reveals how we can bypass Congress to win the reforms we need. Relying on three centuries of history, over two centuries of decided case law, and vast historical and legal research, Professor Natelson answers such questions as: * How does the Constitution let us bypass Congress to get the reforms we need? * What exactly is a "convention for proposing amendments"--and what it is not? * How is the convention organized and governed? * What are the legal rules governing the process? * Which writings about the amendment process are reliable--and which are just propaganda? The Law of Article V is an indispensable guide for all Americans who love their country.

The Article V Amendatory Constitutional Convention

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Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 1498501044
Total Pages : 197 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (985 download)

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Book Synopsis The Article V Amendatory Constitutional Convention by : Thomas E. Brennan

Download or read book The Article V Amendatory Constitutional Convention written by Thomas E. Brennan and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2014-10-08 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the process of amending the federal constitution as defined in Article V by means of a convention for proposing amendments. It shows that the constitution can be amended in two ways: either by ratifying an amendment proposed by the Congress or by ratifying an amendment proposed by a convention. Article V requires the Congress to call a convention whenever the legislatures of two thirds of the states request one. The federal constitution has been amended twenty-seven times. All 27 amendments were proposed by the Congress. There has never been an Article V amendatory constitutional convention in the 230 year history of the nation. Over the years, every state in the union has asked for a convention at one time or another. Congress has never acknowledged those requests or evaluated them. The history of the 1787 constitutional convention in Philadelphia shows that the founders intended the Article V convention to be a means for the states to seek amendments which the Congress refuses to consider. The book describes the efforts of a number of citizens groups that are trying to get an Article V convention, and it describes the weaknesses and strengths of each. It comes to several conclusions: A. That the Congress will never voluntarily call a convention no matter how many petitions are received, because a convention might propose amendments which would decrease the powers or prerogatives of Congress. B. That the states have the right to call an Article V convention without the concurrence of the Congress whenever two-thirds of the states wish to participate. C. That citizens of the several states have the constitutional right to organize a convention for proposing amendments, without the call of Congress or the approval of the state legislatures. D. That no amendment proposed by a convention, of any kind, will become a part of the federal constitution unless it is ratified by three quarters of the states, as required by Article V. The book urges the convening of a constitutional convention by the voluntary action of citizens, and recommends a number of matters that should be on its agenda.

The Living Constitution

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199703698
Total Pages : 171 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis The Living Constitution by : David A. Strauss

Download or read book The Living Constitution written by David A. Strauss and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-05-19 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once remarked that the theory of an evolving, "living" Constitution effectively "rendered the Constitution useless." He wanted a "dead Constitution," he joked, arguing it must be interpreted as the framers originally understood it. In The Living Constitution, leading constitutional scholar David Strauss forcefully argues against the claims of Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Robert Bork, and other "originalists," explaining in clear, jargon-free English how the Constitution can sensibly evolve, without falling into the anything-goes flexibility caricatured by opponents. The living Constitution is not an out-of-touch liberal theory, Strauss further shows, but a mainstream tradition of American jurisprudence--a common-law approach to the Constitution, rooted in the written document but also based on precedent. Each generation has contributed precedents that guide and confine judicial rulings, yet allow us to meet the demands of today, not force us to follow the commands of the long-dead Founders. Strauss explores how judicial decisions adapted the Constitution's text (and contradicted original intent) to produce some of our most profound accomplishments: the end of racial segregation, the expansion of women's rights, and the freedom of speech. By contrast, originalism suffers from fatal flaws: the impossibility of truly divining original intent, the difficulty of adapting eighteenth-century understandings to the modern world, and the pointlessness of chaining ourselves to decisions made centuries ago. David Strauss is one of our leading authorities on Constitutional law--one with practical knowledge as well, having served as Assistant Solicitor General of the United States and argued eighteen cases before the United States Supreme Court. Now he offers a profound new understanding of how the Constitution can remain vital to life in the twenty-first century.

The Federalist Papers

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Publisher : Read Books Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1528785878
Total Pages : 420 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (287 download)

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Book Synopsis The Federalist Papers by : Alexander Hamilton

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 420 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.

Tea Party Patriots

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Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
ISBN 13 : 142994269X
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis Tea Party Patriots by : Mark Meckler

Download or read book Tea Party Patriots written by Mark Meckler and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2012-02-14 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive history of one of the most radical, revolutionary movements the country has ever seen, from those who started it all In 2009, an unemployed mother of two and a politically inexperienced northern California attorney met on a conference call that would end up starting one of the largest grassroots political organizations in American history, the Tea Party Patriots. Fueled by the fires of passion and patriotism, Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin have become the faces of the most powerful political movement in the country, empowering their more than twenty million members by using both high-tech advances and the time-tested American tradition of rallying in public. Promoting the basic principles of the Tea Party Movement—free market, limited government, and fiscal responsiblity—the Tea Party Patriots have become the largest tea party organization in the world. With unparalleled access to the inner workings of the movement, Meckler and Martin hope to explain how the Tea Party came to be, what it is and is not, and perhaps most important, provide the first comprehensive, forward-looking document outlining a plan to restore America to its prior greatness. Never before has there been such an audience for this material. Americans of all political stripes have been waiting for a thorough and informative account of this movement. Straight from the co-founders themselves, Tea Party Patriots promises to be the definitive source for a political revolution.

Oregon Blue Book

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (319 download)

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Book Synopsis Oregon Blue Book by : Oregon. Office of the Secretary of State

Download or read book Oregon Blue Book written by Oregon. Office of the Secretary of State and published by . This book was released on 1895 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Constitutional Brinksmanship

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195345282
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

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Book Synopsis Constitutional Brinksmanship by : Russell L. Caplan

Download or read book Constitutional Brinksmanship written by Russell L. Caplan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1988-12-08 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this first systematic study of the legal problems relating to the convention clause, Russell Caplan shows that repeated constitutional crises have given rise to state drives for a national convention nearly every twenty years since the Constitution was enacted. He deftly examines the politics of constitutional brinksmanship between Congress and the states to reveal the ongoing tension between state and federal rights and constitutional tradition and reform.

The Liberty Amendments

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451606397
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis The Liberty Amendments by : Mark R. Levin

Download or read book The Liberty Amendments written by Mark R. Levin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-08-13 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark R. Levin has made the case, in numerous bestselling books that the principles undergirding our society and governmental system are unraveling. In The Liberty Amendments, he turns to the founding fathers and the constitution itself for guidance in restoring the American republic. The delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and the delegates to each state’s ratification convention foresaw a time when the Federal government might breach the Constitution’s limits and begin oppressing the people. Agencies such as the IRS and EPA and programs such as Obamacare demonstrate that the Framers’ fear was prescient. Therefore, the Framers provided two methods for amending the Constitution. The second was intended for our current circumstances—empowering the states to bypass Congress and call a convention for the purpose of amending the Constitution. Levin argues that we, the people, can avoid a perilous outcome by seeking recourse, using the method called for in the Constitution itself. The Framers adopted ten constitutional amendments, called the Bill of Rights, that would preserve individual rights and state authority. Levin lays forth eleven specific prescriptions for restoring our founding principles, ones that are consistent with the Framers’ design. His proposals—such as term limits for members of Congress and Supreme Court justices and limits on federal taxing and spending—are pure common sense, ideas shared by many. They draw on the wisdom of the Founding Fathers—including James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and numerous lesser-known but crucially important men—in their content and in the method for applying them to the current state of the nation. Now is the time for the American people to take the first step toward reclaiming what belongs to them. The task is daunting, but it is imperative if we are to be truly free.

Responding to Imperfection

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400821630
Total Pages : 341 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Responding to Imperfection by : Sanford Levinson

Download or read book Responding to Imperfection written by Sanford Levinson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1995-01-24 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An increasing number of constitutional theorists, within both the legal academy and university departments of government, are focusing on the conceptual and political problems attached to the notion of constitutional amendment. Amendments are, among other things, recognitions of the imperfection of existing schemes of government. The relative ease or difficulty of amendment has significant implications for the ways that governments respond to problems that call either for new structures of governance or new powers for already established structures. This book brings together essays by leading legal authorities and political scientists on a range of questions from whether the U.S. Constitution is subject to amendment by procedures other than those authorized by Article V to how significant change is conceptualized within classical rabbinic Judaism. Though the essays are concerned for the most part with the American experience, other constitutional traditions are considered as well. The contributors include Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Reed Amar, Mark E. Brandon, David R. Dow, Stephen M. Griffin, Stephen Holmes and Cass R. Sunstein, Sanford Levinson, Donald Lutz, Walter Murphy, Frederick Schauer, John R. Vile, and Noam J. Zohar.

Conventional Wisdom

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Publisher : University of Georgia Press
ISBN 13 : 0820349003
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (23 download)

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Book Synopsis Conventional Wisdom by : John R. Vile

Download or read book Conventional Wisdom written by John R. Vile and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vile surveys more than two centuries of scholarship on Article V and concludes that the weight of the evidence indicates that states and Congress have the legal right to limit the scope of such conventions to a single subject and that political considerations would make a runaway convention unlikely.

The Heritage Guide to the Constitution

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1621573524
Total Pages : 644 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (215 download)

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Book Synopsis The Heritage Guide to the Constitution by : David F. Forte

Download or read book The Heritage Guide to the Constitution written by David F. Forte and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A landmark work of more than one hundred scholars, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution is a unique line-by-line analysis explaining every clause of America's founding charter and its contemporary meaning. In this fully revised second edition, leading scholars in law, history, and public policy offer more than two hundred updated and incisive essays on every clause of the Constitution. From the stirring words of the Preamble to the Twenty-seventh Amendment, you will gain new insights into the ideas that made America, important debates that continue from our Founding, and the Constitution's true meaning for our nation

The People’s Constitution

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Publisher : The New Press
ISBN 13 : 1620975629
Total Pages : 493 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis The People’s Constitution by : John F. Kowal

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.

Constitution

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 66 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (321 download)

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Book Synopsis Constitution by : United States

Download or read book Constitution written by United States and published by . This book was released on 1893 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Constitution in Jeopardy

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Author :
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 1541701542
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (417 download)

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Book Synopsis The Constitution in Jeopardy by : Russ Feingold

Download or read book The Constitution in Jeopardy written by Russ Feingold and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2022-08-30 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former U.S. senator joins a legal scholar to examine a hushed effort to radically change our Constitution, offering a warning and a way forward. Over the last two decades, a fringe plan to call a convention under the Constitution's amendment mechanism—the nation's first ever—has inched through statehouses. Delegates, like those in Philadelphia two centuries ago, would exercise nearly unlimited authority to draft changes to our fundamental law, potentially altering anything from voting and free speech rights to regulatory and foreign policy powers. Such a watershed moment would present great danger, and for some, great power. In this important book, Feingold and Prindiville distill extensive legal and historical research and examine the grave risks inherent in this effort. But they also consider the role of constitutional amendment in modern life. Though many focus solely on judicial and electoral avenues for change, such an approach is at odds with a cornerstone ideal of the Founding: that the People make constitutional law, directly. In an era defined by faction and rejection of long-held norms, The Constitution in Jeopardy examines the nature of constitutional change and asks urgent questions about what American democracy is, and should be.

Our Undemocratic Constitution

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195365577
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

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Book Synopsis Our Undemocratic Constitution by : Sanford Levinson

Download or read book Our Undemocratic Constitution written by Sanford Levinson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Levinson here argues that too many of our Constitution's provisions promote either unjust or ineffective government. Under the existing blueprint, we can neither rid ourselves of incompetent presidents nor assure continuity of government following catastrophic attacks. Worse, our Constitution is the most difficult to amend or update in the world. Levinson boldly challenges the Americans to undertake a long overdue public discussion on how they might best reform this most hallowed document and construct a constitution adequate to our democratic values.

Our Constitution

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Our Constitution by : Donald A. Ritchie

Download or read book Our Constitution written by Donald A. Ritchie and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2006 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WHY WAS THE CONSTITUTION NECESSARY?--WHAT KIND OF GOVERNMENT DID THE CONSTITUTION CREATE?--HOW IS THE CONSTITUTION INTERPRETED?