Amending America
Subtitle: if we love the Constitution so much, why do we keep trying to change it?
By: Richard B. Bernstein with Jerome Agel.
Contributors: Agel, Jerome.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Times Books
Published: 1993
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 392
ISBN-13: 9780812920383
Copyright date: 1993
Subjects: Constitutional amendments -- United States -- History
Description: The Constitution is the mainspring of American public life. It guides how we govern ourselves and embodies our national ideals. We venerate the founding fathers for giving us a political and moral compass that retains its power two centuries hence, and many Americans stand with Abraham Lincoln in proclaiming our nation "the last best hope on earth." And yet, even as we marvel at the grandeur of our constitutional system, we can't resist tinkering with it. Amending America seeks to answer the enduring question, "If we love the Constitution so much, why do we keep trying to change it?" Richard B. Bernstein and Jerome Agel tell the dramatic story of how, over the past two hundred years, the American people have reshaped the Constitution to meet the country's changing needs. - Jacket flap.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: I. Devising the amending process.; title: Antecedents of Article V; title: An easy, regular, and constitutional way; title: The first fruits of Article V : the Bill of Rights; title: Setting the pattern : the Eleventh and Twelfth Amendments; title: II. The amending process and the development of the Constitution.; title: Take care of the Union; title: Redefining the Union : the Civil War amendments; title: Democratizing the Constitution : the progressive amendments; title: Testing the limits of democratization; title: The First Citizen : adjusting the presidency; title: Roads not taken : proposed amendments to the Constitution; title: The nation the amending process made; title: With all the coolness of philosophers : proposals to rewrite the Constitution; title: III. Implications of the amending process.; title: Riddles without answers : issues of the amending process; title: Amending America; title: Appendix A : The Constitution of the United States (literal text, with Amendments through 1992); title: Appendix B : Amendments proposed by Congress but not ratified by the states; title: Appendix C : Chronology of the Amendments