American Documents: The Constitution

by FINKELMAN, PAUL

• ISBN13: 9780792279754
• ISBN10: 0792279751
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-27
• Publisher: National Geographic Kids

Summary

This book describes in very straightforward and accurate text the story of how the U.S. Constitution came to be. It begins by showing how ineffective the Confederation government (the national government was established right after the war), was in dealing with the problems facing the newly independent republic: no uniform laws among states, no courts to settle arguments, no power to collect taxes. Then the reader sits in on the Constitutional Convention, where arguments about how to balance power between large and small states and how to count slaves as part of the population are among the key issues. They will learn about the Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan, the Connecticut Plan, and the Three-fifths Compromise and meet some of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists who argued the Constitution's pros and cons until it was finally ratified and became the law of the landEach part of the Constitution is examined: the Preamble, the Articles, and the Amendments. A chart outlines the three branches of government and lists the main responsibilities of each, while the text goes into more detail. Included is a discussion of how a system of checks and balances keeps any one branch from becoming too powerful and how a president is elected. Last but not least Amendments to the Constitution are addressed-the process for changing the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the other 17 amendments. A mix of archival images with present-day photographs help convey the message that the Constitution is a living document as relevant today as it was when it was written more than 200 years ago. The backmatter includes the full text of the Constitution and its Amendments.

Author Biography

Paul Finkelman is the Chapman Distinguished Professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law. He has been a fellow at Harvard Law School and has written more than 20 books on constitutional law in American history. He lives in Tulsa, OK.