Publisher's Synopsis
A groundbreaking investigation into the ways that the American people govern themselves under a constitution more than two centuries old.
Constitutional Change on Trial shows exactly how alterations to our nation's fundamental law have occurred through three major methods-custom and usage, judicial interpretation, and amendment. Each method, as this unique reference reveals, has inevitably posed problems that have not only generated trials but have united the American people in national discussions about the strengths and weaknesses of their form of government.
Using election 2000 as a modern day example, other key developments, from the Bill of Rights and Dred Scott v. Sanford to Brown v. Board of Education and United States v. Nixonare used to illustrate how Americans have continued to adapt their Constitution to address new problems and changing times.
Includes a chronology of constitutional change, beginning with the framing and adoption of the U.S. Constitution and tracing the story of its development
Primary source documents include selected speeches from the Federal Convention of 1787 and ratifying conventions in 1787-1788; selected Federalist essays on how hard it is to make a constitution; and Thomas Jefferson's 1802 "wall of separation" letter
