The United States Constitution : one document, many choices /
"The U.S. Constitution: One Document, Many Choices is designed to provide an understanding of the document both by explaining its origins in Western political thought and by describing the institutions it created. It further compares these institutions to possible alternatives (e.g., how Congre...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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New York, NY :
Palgrave Macmillan,
[2015]
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| Online Access: | Cover image |
Table of Contents:
- Institutional choices and the Preamble : it's a real-world document, not a utopian blueprint
- The Legislative Branch : it's a congress, not a parliament
- The Executive Branch : it's headed by an accountable elected official, not a king or a dictator
- The Judicial Branch : it's a group of lawyers, not platonic guardians
- The nation and the states : the arrangement is federal, not confederal or unitary
- The constitutional amending process : it's difficult because it's designed to preserve the Constitution as fundamental law
- The Bill of Rights, and freedom of belief and expression : they provide for liberty, not license
- The Bill of Rights, the right to security, and the rights of the accused and the convicted : they protect the guilty in order to protect the innocent
- Equality and the Thirteenth through Fifteenth Amendments : it's an equality of opportunity, not a guarantee of equal results
- Postscript : a time for reflection.