Politically Incorrect Guide To The Constitution (Politically Incorrect Guides)
Read Politically Incorrect Guide To The Constitution (Politically Incorrect Guides) Online
Authors: Kevin R. C. Gutzman
to
to
Kevin R. C. Gutzman, J.D., Ph.D.
To Lorie,
Who makes all things new again,
and everything seem possible.
Chapter 1:
What Made the Constitution: Revolution and Confederation
1
The trouble begins ...
"If this be treason, make the most of it"
Jefferson stakes out America's rights
Jefferson's view of the British Empire: A federation of independent states
Gunsmoke-and fear of domestic tyranny
A state is a state is a. . .country
Chapter 2:
Federalism vs. Nationalism at the Philadelphia Convention
15
A constitution for the "United States"
Reforming the Confederation
A vision of national government: The Virginia Plan
Monarchists and nationalists and federalists-oh my!
Chapter 3:
Selling the Constitution
29
A rocky road
Federalists battle Republicans over the Bill of Rights
It all comes down to Virginia
But what about The Federalist?
The question of sovereignty: Never really explained
Who ratified the Constitution: "The American people" or the sovereign states?
Chapter 4:
Judges: Power-Hungry from the Beginning
49
Judging the judges
The Court's first steps
The Eleventh Amendment: Protecting the states from the Supreme Court
Finally, a Bill of Rights!
The Washington factor
The trouble with France
Washington crusades for a whiskey tax
Jay's Treaty sparks controversy
Breaking the law is ... against the law
The Federalists' secret weapon: Judges
Jefferson and Madison argue for states' rights
Chapter 5:
The Imperial Judiciary: It Started with Marshall
75
High crimes and misdemeanors abound
Impeaching Justice Chase
The Supreme Court's march through Georgia (and Virginia)
Madison's banking flip-flops
"The wolf by the ear"
The Dartmouth review
The "great Lama of the mountains" vs. Marshall
Marshall finds the elastic in the Commerce Clause
Marshall nullifies the Declaration of Independence
State sovereignty? Never heard of it
Marshall finally gets one right
Chapter 6:
Undoing Marshall-and Undoing the Union
105
"The object and end of all government"
Taney tackles the Commerce and Contracts Clauses
The War for Southern Independence
All men are (not really) born free and equal
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Chapter 7:
The War for Southern Independence as a Constitutional Crisis
121
Taney examines "the very definition of tyranny"
The Emancipation Proclamation
The "reconstruction" of the Constitution
Chapter 8:
The Pro-Segregation Supreme Court
139
"Instrumentalities of the state"? Sounds like socialism to me
Segregation is in the eye of the beholder
Supreme logic: A corporation is like a freed slave
It depends on your definition of "is"
The income tax was unconstitutional
Chapter 9:
The Court vs. FDR
155
Uncle Sam wants YOU!
Can you put that protest on hold until after the war?
The political platform of the Supreme Court: Pro-war, pro-child labor
The Supreme Court vs. the Roosevelt Democrats
Chapter 10:
The Grand Wizard's Imperial Court
167
"Updating" the framers
How the Constitution got "incorporated" rather than interpreted
How the Ku Klux Klan separated church from state
The Supreme Court vs. Christianity
Chapter 11:
The Court on Pornography, Crime, and Race
185
The "inarticulate roars" of the Court
Freedom of pornography
The Supremes and criminal law
Cruel and unusual punishment
Brown v. Board of Education and its offspring
The civil rights legislation of the 1960s
Chapter 12:
The Court's Brave New World:
201