POLS 210G: American Constitutional Law: U.S. Constitution

This book offers a clear, accessible introduction to the history and meaning of the historic document.

This guide to citizenship and the American government takes an even-handed approach to controversial issues and explores various points of view. It sheds light on the differing and changing interpretations of the many broadly worded key phrases in the Constitution. You'll learn how the Constitution has been adapted to different times and various situations. You'll learn what it does -- and does not -- promise U.S. citizens. Richly illustrated, it also has a helpful bibliography, glossary, and extensive index. This invaluable resource is designed to help you understand the power and strength of the U.S. Constitution.

An encyclopedia of the people, procedures, politics, and primary documents associated with the 27 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The first edition, available in print, is located in the Stacks at call number KF 4557 .G76 2012 (Bethlehem).

Contains Supreme Court decisions grouped by legal topic, such as "separation of powers."

This is the 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: 55 men in Philadelphia in 1787. But much of the Constitution was actually written later, in a series of 27 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. This book 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, this 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.

This book describes the Constitution as a series of choices among alternative governmental institutions that are designed to provide national security and secure ordered liberty.

This book covers each article, section, and amendment, explaining how each change over history affects earlier parts of the document.

Topics covered in this book include the origin of the Marbury v. Madison decision.

This book takes readers through the Constitution, line by line, to help explain the language used by our Founding Fathers.