Explicit and Authentic Acts

by Kyvig, David E.

• ISBN13: 9780700607921
• ISBN10: 0700607927
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-10-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas

Summary

"This book could not be more timely. Kyvig provides a rich and comprehensive history of the politics and operation of the amending process. It deserves the attention of not only historians, political scientists, and legal scholars, but also those concerned with public affairs". -- david M. O'Brien, author of Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics. "A lively challenge to traditional views". -- William Leuchtenburg, author of The Supreme Court Reborn.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix	(10)
Acknowledgments	xix
1. "HERE SHALL BE THY BOUNDS" The Rise of Constitutionalism	1	(18)
2. "TO RECTIFY THE ERRORS THAT WILL CREEP IN" The Emergence of the Amending Corollary	19	(23)
3. "A PEACEABLE PROCESS OF CURE" Devising the American Amending System	42	(24)
4. "A REMEDY IN THE SYSTEM ITSELF" Amending and the Adoption of the Constitution	66	(21)
5. "THE MOST SATISFACTORY PROVISIONS FOR ALL ESSENTIAL RIGHTS" Immediate Amendment as the Constitution's Price and Proof	87	(23)
6. "TOO TICKLISH TO BE UNNECESSARILY MULTIPLIED" Amendments and the Judicial Review Alternative	110	(24)
7. "IN PURSUIT OF AN IMPRACTICABLE THEORY" States' Rights and Constitutional Amendment	134	(20)
8. "CONSUMMATED AMID FIERY PASSIONS" The Second American Constitutional Revolution	154	(34)
9. "NO FORCE LESS THAN THE FORCE OF REVOLUTION" Resurrecting the Amending Remedy	188	(28)
10. "JUST AS FAR AS PUBLIC SENTIMENT WOULD JUSTIFY" An Era of Constitutional Activity and Faith	216	(24)
11. "LIKE THE RATCHET ON A COG WHEEL" Second Thoughts About Amendment	240	(28)
12. "WHERE THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES EXPRESS THEIR WILL" Altering Established Constitutional Provisions and Practices	268	(21)
13. "THE DANGER OF TINKERING" Forgoing Amendment in the Third American Constitutional Revolution	289	(26)
14. "THE SHARP ANGER OF A MOMENT" Attempted Counterrevolution by Amendment	315	(34)
15. "NOT PERFECT, BUT BETTER THAN NO SOLUTION" Amendments to Solve Immediate Problems	349	(21)
16. "TO SET OUT ON A VAST UNCHARTED SEA" Failed Quests to Alter Original Agreements	370	(24)
17. "THEY THOUGHT THAT JUST BEING RIGHT WOULD BE ENOUGH" Amendments as Tests of National Consensus	394	(32)
18. "TO MANIPULATE THE SYMBOL OF NATIONAL PURPOSE" Amendment Politics in a Conservative Era	426	(35)
19. "THE OFFSPRING OF OUR OWN CHOICE" Amendments in Constitutional Thought and Practice	461	(28)
Notes	489	(58)
Bibliography	547	(40)
Index	587