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Author: George William Van Cleve
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781735548906
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
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: George William Van Cleve
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781735548906
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book
Book Description
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: 0812976843
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 546
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Book Description
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:
Category : Constitutional history
Languages : en
Pages : 738
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Book Description
Author: Alexander Hamilton
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1528785878
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 455
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Book Description
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 Sabato
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0802716830
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
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Book Description
The political book of the year, from the acclaimed founder and director of the Center for politics at the University of Virginia.
Author: Carol Berkin
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780156028721
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324
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Book Description
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: Jack N. Rakove
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307434516
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 464
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Book Description
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: John F. Kowal
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620975629
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 493
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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.
Author: Jeff Broadwater
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469651025
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 293
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Book Description
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.
Author: Akhil Reed Amar
Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
ISBN: 0465029574
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 644
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Book Description
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.
