Showing titles in Constitutions

The Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are more than historical documents—they are the cornerstone of American freedom, justice, and democracy. This book provides a clear and insightful guide to the texts that define America.

When the states ratified the Bill of Rights in the 18th century, the Fourth Amendment seemed straightforward. It requires that government respect the right of citizens to be "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." Of course, "papers and effects" are now digital and thus more vulnerable to government spying. But the biggest threat may be our own weakening resolve to preserve our privacy.

Revered today for articulating America's founding principles, the first 10 amendments - the Bill of Rights - were in fact a political stratagem executed by James Madison to preserve the Constitution, the federal government, and the latter's authority over the states.

Noch nie gab es in der Bundesrepublik so viele und so strenge Gesetze zur Regulierung und Einschränkung der Meinungsfreiheit wie heute. In den vergangenen zehn Jahren ist eine Vielzahl neuer Paragrafen hinzugekommen, um bestimmte Äußerungen zu verbieten. Ronen Steinke zeigt auf, wo neuerdings die Grenzen der Meinungsfreiheit verlaufen, auch im digitalen Raum. Gerade in der gegenwärtigen volatilen Lage, so argumentiert der promovierte Jurist, sollte das Land mehr Meinungsfreiheit wagen, anstatt zu glauben, man überzeuge Menschen, indem man ihnen den Mund verbietet.

Written by fifty-five of the richest white men, and signed by only thirty-nine of them, the US constitution is the sacred text of American nationalism. Popular perceptions of it are mired in idolatry, myth, and misinformation—many Americans have opinions on the constitution but have little idea what it says. This book examines the constitution for what it is—a rule book for elites to protect capitalism from democracy.

This program includes an introduction read by the author. A radical case for the repeal of the 2nd Amendment as the only way to control gun violence in America. There's an average of one mass shooting per day in the United States. Given the ineffectiveness of the gun control lobby, it's time for...

Told through the lenses of specific people who both influenced the process and were impacted by the results, The Electoral College looks at how the Electoral College has changed US history and why it endures.

Originally published in 2000, The Right to Vote was widely hailed as a magisterial account of the evolution of suffrage from the American Revolution to the end of the 20th century. In this revised and updated edition, Keyssar carries the story forward, from the disputed presidential contest of 2000 through the 2008 campaign and the election of Barack Obama. The Right to Vote is a sweeping reinterpretation of American political history as well as a meditation on the meaning of democracy in contemporary American life.

Too many Americans have been disenfranchised or faced needless barriers to vote. Part of the blame falls on the Constitution, which does not contain an affirmative right to vote. The Supreme Court has made matters worse by failing to protect voting rights and limiting Congress's ability to do so. The time has come for voters to take action and push for an amendment to the Constitution that would guarantee this right for all. Richard Hasen argues that American democracy can and should do better in assuring that all eligible voters can cast a meaningful vote that will be fairly counted.

With the Supreme Court likely to reverse Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision, American debate appears fixated on clashing rights. The first comprehensive legal history of a vital period, Abortion and the Law in America illuminates an entirely different and unexpected shift in the terms of debate. Drawing on unexplored records and interviews with key participants, Ziegler complicates the view that the Supreme Court is responsible for the escalation of the conflict.

Signing Their Rights Away chronicles a moment in American history when our elected officials knew how to compromise - and put aside personal gain for the greater good of the nation. These men were just as quirky and flawed as the elected officials we have today: Hugh Williamson believed in aliens, Robert Morris went to prison, Jonathan Dayton stole $18,000 from Congress, and Thomas Mifflin was ruined by alcohol. Yet somehow these imperfect men managed to craft the world’s most perfect Constitution.

This book is another important contribution by Halbrook to the scholarship concerning the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment’s right to bear and carry arms.

Has American democracy's long, ambitious run come to an end? Possibly yes. As William G. Howell and Terry M. Moe argue in this trenchant new analysis of modern politics, the United States faces a historic crisis that threatens our system of self-government - and if democracy is to be saved, the causes of the crisis must be understood and defused.

A powerful debunking of First Amendment orthodoxy that critiques "reckless speech," which endangers vulnerable groups, and elevates "fearless speech," which seeks to advance equality and democracy. Freedom of speech has never been more important—or more controversial. From debates about what's...

What Is to Be Done? by Vladimir Lenin is a seminal work that outlines the revolutionary strategy and organizational principles for the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Written in 1902, this influential text serves as a cornerstone in the development of Leninist thought. Lenin addresses the challenges facing the working class movement, particularly the lack of revolutionary consciousness among the proletariat. He argues for the necessity of a vanguard party composed of professional revolutionaries who possess the political knowledge to guide the working class towards socialist revolution.

Throughout her long career of “afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted,” the cause closest to Molly Ivins’s heart was working to protect the freedoms we all value. Sadly, today we’re living in a time when dissent is equated with giving aid to terrorists, when any of us...

Americans today are confronted by a barrage of questions relating to their free-speech freedoms. While citizens are grappling with these questions, they generally have nowhere to turn to learn about the extent of their First Amendment rights. The Fight for Free Speech answers this call with an accessible, engaging user’s guide to free speech. Media lawyer Ian Rosenberg distills the spectrum of free speech law down to 10 critical issues.

The United States Constitution was a concerted response to an age of tyrannical kings and highly centralized government. As history reveals, such political authority had to be challenged directly – by local units and causes – to preserve liberty and ensure public happiness. Compact of the Republic demonstrates that the Constitution did not impose a nationalist, superlative central government, and was not ratified by “one American people” in the aggregate. Instead, the document was the product of a multi-party arrangement, where the states remained the masters of their own creation ...

Early Americans were suspicious of centralized authority and executive power. Casting away the yoke of England and its king, the founding fathers shared in this distrust as they set out to pen the Constitution. Weighing a need for consolidated leadership with a demand for states' rights, they established a large federal republic with limited dominion over the states. This Very Short Introduction audiobook provides a concise overview of federalism, from its origins and evolution to the key events and constitutional decisions that have defined its framework.

For the first time ever, a retired Supreme Court Justice offers a manifesto on how the Constitution needs to change. By the time of his retirement in June 2010, John Paul Stevens had become the second longest serving Justice in the history of the Supreme Court. Now he draws upon his more than...