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Title: The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction by Akhil Reed Amar ISBN: 0-300-08277-0 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.65 (20 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: So critical to understand
Comment: This book really dives deep into the swirling environment of the time the Bill of Rights was written and the book is written in a thoughtful way that gives insight into the intent of authorship.
The main premise is that the Bill of Rights was not the document of personal freedom and individualism as it has become but rather a document to protect the people from what the United States had freed itself from and that is an oppressive government. The document was never meant to be regarded in pieces but the totalitarism of articles.
Any well-researched historial book on the original intent of the Constitution's construction is a must read. Why? Because we hang onto every word with held breath for so many issues that culturally critical to us so to make an educated decision on the topic we have to be educated.
It's tough nut to crack because the document was born of independence and drunken optimism by many men who were brilliant scholars and men of pragmatic courage. Do they know how much head scratching they would conjure by leaving so much to the imagination?
I say these things tongue in cheek somewhat because I have no doubt they never imagined the society struggles we would have today and how we would look to answers in their authorship. However I honestly believe they regarded their words as no more than a springboard into the future and hoped that future generations would figure it out as we always do and freedom would still ring.
Rating: 5
Summary: Not a static constitution after all
Comment: American's conceive of the Bill of Rights as solely a protection of minority rights against a powerful majority. Amar presents a brillant reassessment of this understanding. He argues that the creation era Bill was dominated by structural concerns aimed at protecting localities from a dominering central state. After presenting a solid case for this view by examing the Bill clause by clause, Amar presents an arguement for a new conception of incorporation: refined incorporation. This view argues that the 14th amendment was intended to incorporate the Bill of rights, at least those clauses that were concerned with rights issues predominately. As a person distrustful of the dominate theories of incorporation, I found Amar's arguement to be refreshing. After presenting his theory Amar turns to an examination of how the Bill was reconstructed in the Antebellum and Civil War periods. It becomes clear that our present day individualistic reading of the bill of rights stems from the 1860s rather than the 1790s.
Amar's work represents a brillant new path of examination for understanding our complex constitutional history. His arguement demonstrates that believers in an unchanging, static constitution are mistaken. The Constitution shifts and changes over time and Amar presents a vivid account using one constitutional element.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Text, But The Proof is in The Endnotes!
Comment: Professor Amar has written an excellent analysis of the "original" understanding of the Bill of Rights and how that understanding was modified by the Civil War and the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.
My only criticisms are the following:
(1) Amar relies heavily on "legislative history," especially statements made by members of Congress and Senators during legislative debates. He does not, however, attempt to deal with the scholarly debate over the relevance and weight to be attached to such "evidence." As many have argued persuasively (especially Justice Scalia), how can we ever determine what the "intent" of a body as large as Congress is? And do the statements of a few legislators accurately reflect the views of their colleagues, especially when most speeches in Congress are made to almost empty chambers? And what about the more disturbing fact that many such "speeches" are actually prepared written statements inserted into the Congressional Record?
(2) Amar's tone, especially in the endnotes (I would have preferred the law-review style of footnotes), is less than civil when it comes to other scholars. His vitriol directed at the likes of Professors Fairman and Berger is astounding. Likewise, his comments on the quality of analysis and supporting evidence in other books and law review articles borders on plain meanness. This type of jousting is all too common in law review articles, especially the battles hidden in footnotes. I find this behavior uncalled for. Scholars can point out weaknesses in other people's work without (effectively) calling them idiots.
With these reservations in mind, I highly recommend this book to any serious student of the Constitution, or of American history in general.
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Title: Origins of the Bill of Rights by Leonard Williams Levy ISBN: 0300089015 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda R. Monk ISBN: 0786867205 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Original Meanings : Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution by Jack N. Rakove ISBN: 0679781218 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 27 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: For the People : What the Constitution Really Says About Your Rights by Alan R. Hirsch, Akhil Reed Amar ISBN: 0684871025 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 13 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Declaration of Independence by U.S. Constitution ISBN: 0553214829 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $2.95 |
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