The Second Creation

The Second Creation
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 465
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780674989528
ISBN-13 : 067498952X
Rating : 4/5 (52X Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Second Creation by : Jonathan Gienapp

Download or read book The Second Creation written by Jonathan Gienapp and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning revision of our founding document’s evolving history that forces us to confront anew the question that animated the founders so long ago: What is our Constitution? Americans widely believe that the United States Constitution was created when it was drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788. But in a shrewd rereading of the Founding era, Jonathan Gienapp upends this long-held assumption, recovering the unknown story of American constitutional creation in the decade after its adoption—a story with explosive implications for current debates over constitutional originalism and interpretation. When the Constitution first appeared, it was shrouded in uncertainty. Not only was its meaning unclear, but so too was its essential nature. Was the American Constitution a written text, or something else? Was it a legal text? Was it finished or unfinished? What rules would guide its interpretation? Who would adjudicate competing readings? As political leaders put the Constitution to work, none of these questions had answers. Through vigorous debates they confronted the document’s uncertainty, and—over time—how these leaders imagined the Constitution radically changed. They had begun trying to fix, or resolve, an imperfect document, but they ended up fixing, or cementing, a very particular notion of the Constitution as a distinctively textual and historical artifact circumscribed in space and time. This means that some of the Constitution’s most definitive characteristics, ones which are often treated as innate, were only added later and were thus contingent and optional.


The Second Creation Related Books

The Second Creation
Language: en
Pages: 465
Authors: Jonathan Gienapp
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-10-09 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A stunning revision of our founding document’s evolving history that forces us to confront anew the question that animated the founders so long ago: What is o
The Federalist Papers
Language: en
Pages: 420
Authors: Alexander Hamilton
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-08-20 - Publisher: Read Books Ltd

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Classic Books Library presents this brand new edition of “The Federalist Papers”, a collection of separate essays and articles compiled in 1788 by Alexander
The Creation of the U.S. Constitution
Language: en
Pages: 42
Authors: Michael Burgan
Categories: Juvenile Nonfiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006-07 - Publisher: Capstone

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this fascinating graphic novel, witness the real-life debates, disagreements, and compromises that led to the formation of the U.S. Constitution during the C
A More Perfect Union
Language: en
Pages: 40
Authors:
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 1986 - Publisher: National Archives & Records Administration

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Reprint. Originally published : Washington, D.C. : National Archives Trust Fund Board, 1978.
From Independence to the U.S. Constitution
Language: en
Pages: 348
Authors: Douglas Bradburn
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022-03-31 - Publisher: University of Virginia Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The "Critical Period" of American history—the years between the end of the American Revolution in 1783 and the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789�