From a preeminent legal scholar, a “fascinating” and “masterful” (Wall Street Journal) history of the American Constitution's formative decades
When the US Constitution won popular approval in 1788, it was the culmination of thirty years of passionate argument over the nature of government. But ratification hardly ended the conversation. For the next half century, ordinary Americans and statesmen alike continued to wrestle with weighty questions in the halls of government and in the pages of newspapers. Should the nation's borders be expanded? Should America allow slavery to spread westward? What rights should Indian nations hold? What was the proper role of the judicial branch?
InThe Words That Made Us,Akhil Reed Amar unites history and law in a vivid narrative of the biggest constitutional questions early Americans confronted, and he expertly assesses the answers they offered. His account of the document's origins and consolidation is a guide for anyone seeking to properly understand America's Constitution today.
Akhil Reed Amaris the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University and the author of several books on constitutional law and history, including
America's Constitution: A Biographyand
America's Unwritten Constitution. He lives in Woodbridge, Connecticut.“Deeply probing, highly readable… insightful, and at times surprising… Amar strongly suggests that America as a whole—through its great national conversation—did more to draft the Declaration of Independence than Jefferson, and more to write the Constitution than Madison… In addition to educating Americans engaged in discussion about their rich constitutional legacy, the book has a generous spirit that can be a much-needed balm in these troubled times.”
New York Times“The raresl³*
![The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840 [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/3/0/0/2_4475903.jpg "The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840 [Hardcover]")