The Genius of America: How the Constitution Saved Our Country--And Why It Can Again - Publisher's Marketing: "An inspiring and revelatory look at the document that has made our country the longest surviving democracy in the history of civilization: The Constitution of the United States.
The history of democracy is a history of failure. The United States holds the record at 230 years, yet the document at the nation's center is one that we take for granted. Due to a combination of heightened frustration, moves to skirt the constitutional process, and a widespread disconnect between the people and their constitutional "conscience," Lane and Oreskes warn us our system is at risk.
"The Genius of America" looks at the Constitution's history relative to this current crisis. Starting with the eleven years between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution's adoption, they show how our near failure to create a loosely knit nation led the framers to devise a system that takes human nature into account. Next they provide examples of how we have weathered crises in the past, from early attempts at political tyranny to the Civil War. Finally they turn to two periods, one of great consensus (from Roosevelt's New Deal through Johnson's Great Society) and another of division (from Reagan through George W. Bush), both of which demonstrate the Constitution's effectiveness.
In the final assessment, Lane and Oreskes challenge us to let this great document work as it was designed--in times of change and stasis. They hold our leaders accountable, calling on them to stop fanning the flames of division. And while evenhanded in its presentation, "The Genius of America" reminds us the Constitution is our national glue."

Call number: SAC - KF4541 .L35 2007

Our Constitution: What It Says, What It Means - Publisher's Marketing: "An in-depth look at the entire text of the U. S. Constitution, annotated with detailed explanations of its terms and contents. Each Amendment and Article is accompanied by sidebar material on the history of its application, including profiles of important Supreme Court cases, texts of related primary source documents, and contemporary news articles. Double page timelines for several of the Articles and all the Amendments highlight important events and legal cases. Visually stunning, with facsimile reproductions of primary source documents, paintings, phots, and historical artifacts, Our Constitution is perfect for history students."

Call number: PAL - KF4550.Z9 R57 2006

A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution - Publisher's Marketing: "We know--and love--the story of the American Revolution, from the Declaration of Independence to Cornwallis's defeat. But our first government was a disaster and the country was in a terrible crisis. So when a group of men traveled to Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 to save a nation in danger of collapse, they had no great expectations for the meeting that would make history. But all the ideas, arguments, and compromises led to a great thing: a constitution and a government were born that have surpassed the founders' greatest hopes.
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."

Call number: SAC - E3030 .B47 2003 c.2

Colonial Origins of the American Constitution - Publisher's Marketing: "This landmark collection of eighty documents created by the American colonists--and not English officials--is the genesis of American fundamental law and constitutionalism. Included are all documents attempting to unite the colonies, beginning with the New England Confederation of 1643."

Call number: SAC - KF4502 .C58 1998

Call number: PAL - KF4502 .C58 1998

Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution - Publisher's Marketing: "What did the U.S. Constitution originally mean, and who has understood its meaning best? Do we look to the intentions of its framers at the Federal Convention of 1787, or to those of its ratifiers in the states? Or should we trust our own judgment in deciding whether the original meaning of the Constitution should still guide its later interpretation? These are the recurring questions in the ongoing process of analyzing and resolving constitutional issues, but they are also questions about the distant events of the eighteenth century. In this book, Jack Rakove approaches the debates surrounding the framing and ratification of the Constitution from the vantage point of history, examining the range of concerns that shaped the politics of constitution-making in the late 1780s, and which illuminate the debate about the role that "originalism" should play in constitutional interpretation. In answering these questions, Rakove reexamines the classic issues that the framers of the Constitution had to solve: federalism, representation, executive power, rights, and the idea that a constitution somehow embodied supreme law. In each of these cases, Original Meanings suggests that Americans of the early Republic held a spectrum of positions, some drawn from the controversial legacy of Anglo-American politics, others reflecting the course of events since 1776, the politics of the Federal Convention, or the spirited public debate that followed."

Call number: OPC - KF4541 .R35 1997

Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 - Publisher's Marketing: "During the Revolutionary era, American political theory underwent a fundamental transformation that carried the nation out of a basically classical and medieval world of political discussion into a milieu that was recognizably modern. This classic work is a study of that transformation. Gordon Wood describes in rich detail the evolution of political thought from the Declaration of Independence to the ratification of the Constitution and in the process greatly illuminates the origins of the present American political system. In a new preface, Wood discusses the debate over republicanism that has developed since - and as a result of - the book's original publication in 1969."

Call number: OPC - JA84.U5 W6 1998

We the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution

Call number: OPC - JK146 .M274 1991

Call number: PAL - JK146 .M274 1991

The Constitution and the States: The Role of the Original Thirteen in Framing and Adoption of the Federal Constitution - Publisher's Marketing: "In thirteen essays--one on each state--noted historians provide a fascinating picture of the political process by which competing interests and ideas formed the Constitution."

Call number: SAC - KF4541 .C585 1988

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation - Publisher's Marketing: "An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic--John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.
During the 1790s, which Ellis calls the most decisive decade in our nation's history, the greatest statesmen of their generation--and perhaps any--came together to define the new republic and direct its course for the coming centuries. Ellis focuses on six discrete moments that exemplify the most crucial issues facing the fragile new nation: Burr and Hamilton's deadly duel, and what may have really happened; Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison's secret dinner, during which the seat of the permanent capital was determined in exchange for passage of Hamilton's financial plan; Franklin's petition to end the "peculiar institution" of slavery--his last public act--and Madison's efforts to quash it; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address, announcing his retirement from public office and offering his country some final advice; Adams's difficult term as Washington's successor and his alleged scheme to pass the presidency on to his son; and finally, Adams and Jefferson's renewed correspondence at the end of their lives, in which they compared their different views of the Revolution and its legacy.
In a lively and engaging narrative, Ellis recounts the sometimes collaborative, sometimes archly antagonistic interactions between these men, and shows us the private characters behind the public personas: Adams, the ever-combative iconoclast, whose closest political collaborator was his wife, Abigail; Burr, crafty, smooth, and one of the most despised public figures of his time; Hamilton, whose audacious manner and deep economic savvy masked his humble origins; Jefferson, renowned for his eloquence, but so reclusive and taciturn that he rarely spoke more than a few sentences in public; Madison, small, sickly, and paralyzingly shy, yet one of the most effective debaters of his generation; and the stiffly formal Washington, the ultimate realist, larger-than-life, and America's only truly indispensable figure.
Ellis argues that the checks and balances that permitted the infant American republic to endure were not primarily legal, constitutional, or institutional, but intensely personal, rooted in the dynamic interaction of leaders with quite different visions and values. Revisiting the old-fashioned idea that character matters, Founding Brothers informs our understanding of American politics--then and now--and gives us a new perspective on the unpredictable forces that shape history."

Call number: SAC - E302.5 .E45 2004

Witnesses at the Creation: Hamilton, Madison, Jay, and the Constitution - Publisher's Marketing: "The American Constitution has endured longer than any other written constitution of the modern age. The safeguard of our liberties, it established a government of laws, not people. This popular work of history focuses on the creation and ratification of our constitution, examining how The Federalist, the series of newspaper letters by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison became the greatest classic of political science ever written, and how their reasoned defense helped sway public opinion in favor of adapting the law of the land."

Call number: SAC - E 303 .M887 1985

Child of Fortune: A Correspondent's Report on the Ratification of the U. S. Constitution and the Battle for a Bill of Rights - Publisher's Marketing: "With his simulated day-by-day reportage, prize-winning journalist-historian Jeffrey St. John makes you an eyewitness to the 1787-1788 political battle to ratify the U.S. Constitution. He also provides a thorough analysis of the Constitution & of the way it was perceived by Americans at the time. Vastly entertaining, based on documented & newly-available sources, this book is both a popular history & an important contribution to the study of the founding of the American Republic; for students, academics, & general readers. Foreword by Former Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Warren Burger."

Call number: PAL - 342.73 S143 1990

Originally titled: Constitutional Journal: A Correspondent's Report from the Convention of 1787

Call number: OPC - JK146 .S23 1987

Decision in Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention of 1787 - Publisher's Marketing: "Includes a complete copy of the Constitution.
Fifty-five men met in Philadelphia in 1787 to write a document that would create a country and change a world. Here is a remarkable rendering of that fateful time, told with humanity and humor. "The best popular history of the Constitutional Convention available." --Library Journal"

Call number: SAC - KF4520 .C65

Essays on the Making of the Constitution - Publisher's Marketing: "Historians have engaged in a prolonged debate, that perhaps defies resolution, over the making of the Constitution. Were the framers enlightened, disinterested statesmen seeking to rescue a nation then drifting dangerously toward anarchy? Were they conspiratorial representatives of a rising financial and industrial capitalism? Was the Constitution primarily an economic or a political document? This collection of essays, by such renowned scholars as Charles Beard, Andrew C. McLaughlin, and John P. Roche, addresses the myriad questions that surround the creation of the principal document of the American governmental system. With a revised introduction and conclusion, the second edition is an indispensable and timely tool for courses in American government and constitutional history."

Call number: OPC - KF4541 .E88 1987

American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation - Publisher's Marketing: "The American Gospel-literally, the good news about America-is that religion shapes our public life without controlling it. In this vivid book, New York Times bestselling author Jon Meacham tells the human story of how the Founding Fathers viewed faith, and how they ultimately created a nation in which belief in God is a matter of choice.
At a time when our country seems divided by extremism, American Gospel draws on the past to offer a new perspective. Meacham re-creates the fascinating history of a nation grappling with religion and politics-from John Winthrop's "city on a hill" sermon to Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence; from the Revolution to the Civil War; from a proposed nineteenth-century Christian Amendment to the Constitution to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for civil rights; from George Washington to Ronald Reagan.
Debates about religion and politics are often more divisive than illuminating. Secularists point to a "wall of separation between church and state," while many conservatives act as though the Founding Fathers were apostles in knee britches. As Meacham shows in this brisk narrative, neither extreme has it right. At the heart of the American experiment lies the God of what Benjamin Franklin called "public religion," a God who invests all human beings with inalienable rights while protecting private religion from government interference. It is a great American balancing act, and it has served us well.
Meacham has written and spoken extensively about religion and politics, and he brings historical authority and a sense of hope to the issue. American Gospel makes it compellingly clear that the nation's best chance of summoning what Lincolncalled "the better angels of our nature" lies in recovering the spirit and sense of the Founding. In looking back, we may find the light to lead us forward.
"In his American Gospel, Jon Meacham provides a refreshingly clear, balanced, and wise historical portrait of religion and American politics at exactly the moment when such fairness and understanding are much needed. Anyone who doubts the relevance of history to our own time has only to read this exceptional book."-David McCullough, author of 1776"

Call number: SAC - BL2525 .M423 2006

Novus Ordo Seclorum - Publisher's Marketing: "McDonald deftly re-creates the intellectual dimension of the amazing 55 men whose genius and passion gave us the United States Constitution."

Call number: OPC - JA84.U5 M43 1985

Signers of the Constitution of the United States

Call number: SAC - E302.5 .Q55 1987

Call number: OPC - E302.5 .Q55 1987

Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Convention to Form the U. S. Constitution Philadelphia 1787

Call number: OPC - KF4510 .U55 1987

Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity - Publisher's Marketing: "The focus of 'Beyond Confederation' is the Constitution of the United States in its own era. The authors scrutinize the ideological background of the Constitution, the rigors of its writing and ratification, and the problems it both faced and provoked immediately after ratification. The essays question much of the heritage of eighteenth-century constitutional thought and suggest that many of the commonly debated issues have led us away from the truly germane questions."

Call number: OPC - E303 .B49 1987

Liberty's Blueprint: How Madison and Jefferson Wrote the Federalist Papers, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World - Publisher's Marketing: "Aside from the Constitution itself, there is no more important document in American politics and law than "The Federalist"-the series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to explain the proposed Constitution to the American people and persuade them to ratify it. Today, amid angry debate over what the Constitution means and what the framers' "original intent" was, "The Federalist" is more important than ever, offering the best insight into how the framers thought about the most troubling issues of American government and how the various clauses of the Constitution were meant to be understood. Michael Meyerson's "Liberty's Blueprint" provides a fascinating window into the fleeting, and ultimately doomed, friendship between Hamilton and Madison, as well as a much-needed introduction to understanding how the lessons of "The Federalist" are relevant for resolving contemporary constitutional issues from medical marijuana to the war on terrorism. This book shows that, when properly read, "The Federalist" is not a "conservative" manifesto but a document that rightfully belongs to all Americans across the political spectrum."

Call number: OPC - KF4520 .M49 2008

Call number: SAC - coming soon

Federalists and Antifederalists: The Debate Over the Ratification of the Constitution - Publisher's Marketing: "Through a selection of essential documents from 1787 and 1788, this book gives readers the flavor and immediacy of the great debate in all its political intensity. This updated edition contains an entirely new section on the debate over class structure, property rights, and the economy under the proposed Constitution--an ideal introduction to a debate still meaningful today."

Call number: SAC - KF4515 .F44 1998

Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788-1828 - Publisher's Marketing: "Reconsiders the role that Anti-Federalists played during the debate over ratification of the Constitution and traces their political legacy in the half-century that followed."

Call number: OPC - E310 .C79 1999

What the Anti-Federalists Were for: The Political Thought of the Opponents of the Constitution - Publisher's Marketing: " The Anti-Federalists, in Herbert J. Storing's view, are somewhat paradoxically entitled to be counted among the Founding Fathers and to share in the honor and study devoted to the founding. "If the foundations of the American polity was laid by the Federalists," he writes, "the Anti-Federalist reservations echo through American history; and it is in the dialogue, not merely in the Federalist victory, that the country's principles are to be discovered." It was largely through their efforts, he reminds us, that the Constitution was so quickly amended to include a bill of rights.
Storing here offers a brilliant introduction to the thought and principles of the Anti-Federalists as they were understood by themselves and by other men and women of their time. His comprehensive exposition restores to our understanding the Anti-Federalist share in the founding its effect on some of the enduring themes and tensions of American political life. The concern with big government and infringement of personal liberty one finds in the writings of these neglected Founders strikes a remarkably timely note."

Call number: OPC - JK116 .S8 1981

The Federalist

Call number: SAC - KF4515 .F45 1996

Constitution of the United States: Published for the Bicentennial of Its Adoption in 1787

Call number: OPC - KF4525 1987

Constitution of the United States of America: Bicennial Keepsake

Call number: OPC - KF4550 .C59 1987

Framing of the Federal Constitution

Call number: OPC - KF4520 .M67 1986

Bicentennial Conference on the Constitution : A Report to the Academy

Call number: PAL - H1 .A4 1976

Development of the American Constitution, 1877-1917

Call number: PAL - 342.73 B562

Call number: OPC - KF4541 .B45 1971

Key Constitutional Concepts

Call number: SAC - KF5130.S9 K3 2006 DVD

Call number: PAL - KF5130.S9 K3 2006 DVD

Call number: OPC - KF5130.S9 K3 2006 DVD

Constitutional Conversation

Call number: SAC - KF4549 .C66 2005 DVD

Call number: PAL - KF4549 .C66 2005 DVD

Call number: OPC - KF4549 .C66 2005 DVD

Our Constitution

Call number: SAC - KF5130.S9 O9 2005 DVD

Call number: OPC - KF5130.S9 O9 2005 DVD

Call number: PAL - KF5130.S9 K3 2006 DVD

The Words We Live By

Call number: OPC - KF4549 .W67 2005 DVD

Call number: PAL - KF4549 .W67 2005 DVD