The lives of the constitution : ten exceptional minds that shaped America's supreme law / Joseph Tartakovsky.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tartakovsky, Joseph, 1981- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constitutional history--United States.

Constitutional history.

Constitutional law--United States.

Constitutional law.

United States--Politics and government.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Encounter Books, 2018.

Summary:

In a fascinating blend of biography and history, Joseph Tartakovsky tells the epic and unexpected story of our Constitution through the eyes of ten extraordinary individuals-some renowned, like Alexander Hamilton and Woodrow Wilson, and some forgotten, like James Wilson and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Tartakovsky brings to life their struggles over our supreme law from its origins in revolutionary America to the era of Obama and Trump. Sweeping from settings as diverse as Gold Rush California to the halls of Congress, and crowded with a vivid Dickensian cast, Tartakovsky shows how America's unique constitutional culture grapples with questions like democracy, racial and sexual equality, free speech, economic liberty, and the role of government. Joining the ranks of other great American storytellers, Tartakovsky chronicles how Daniel Webster sought to avert the Civil War; how Alexis de Tocqueville misunderstood America; how Robert Jackson balanced liberty and order in the battle against Nazism and Communism; and how Antonin Scalia died warning Americans about the ever-growing reach of the Supreme Court. From the 1787 Philadelphia Convention to the clash over gay marriage, this is a grand tour through two centuries of constitutional history as never told before, and an education in the principles that sustain America in the most astonishing experiment in government ever undertaken.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition

Overture: The Constitution’s Third Century

Builders 1765–1804

1 Alexander Hamilton: A War Ends and a Constitution Begins

2 James Wilson: The Philosopher of Philadelphia

Fighters 1814–1897

3 Daniel Webster: The First Generation after the Founders

4 Stephen Field: Civil War and Uncivil Justice

Interlude from ABROAD 1835–1888

5 Alexis de Tocqueville and James Bryce: Europe Visits at Mid-Century

Dreamers 1885–1931

6 Woodrow Wilson: The President of the Progressives

7 Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Rights after Reconstruction to the Jazz Age

Restorers 1934–2016

8 Robert H. Jackson: New Deals and World Wars

9 Antonin Scalia: The Dead Democracy

Finale: The Experiment Endures

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index Generated by AI.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Part of the metadata in this record was created by AI, based on the text of the resource.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781641770637

1641770635

OCLC:

1455134868