Volume 1. Founding Era Constitutional Debates -- Virginia Declaration of Rights -- Letter on the Virginia Constitution -- Articles of Confederation -- Constitution of Massachusetts -- Notes on the State of Virginia -- Account of Shays's Rebellion -- A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America -- Constitution of the United States -- Letters of a Countryman -- Federalist No. 10: "The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard against Domestic Faction and Insurrection" -- Federalist Nos. 24 and 25: "The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense" -- Federalist No. 35: "Concerning the General Power of Taxation" -- Federalist No. 46: "The Influence of the State and Federal Governments Compared" -- Federalist No. 51: "The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances between the Different Departments" -- Federalist No. 70: "The Executive Department Further Considered" -- Federalist No. 78: "The Judiciary Department" -- Patrick Henry Speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention -- George Nicholas Speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention -- Federalist No. 84: "Certain...Objections to the Constitution Considered and Answered"-- Presidential Oath and Inauguration -- George Washington's First Inaugural Address -- The Bill of Rights -- First Draft of First Amendment Rights -- House of Representatives Debate on the Second Amendment -- An Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature in Pennsylvania, viz., the Court of the Press -- The Bill of Rights -- Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Constitutional Questions in the New Nation -- Alexander Hamilton: "Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States" -- Thomas Jefferson: "Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank" -- Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address -- Thomas Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists -- Marbury v. Madison -- The Dangers of American Liberty -- Fletcher v. Peck -- Martin v. Hunter's Lessee -- McCulloch v. Maryland -- Commerce, Labor, and Government Authority -- Gibbons v. Ogden -- Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge -- Slaughter-House Cases -- Lochner v. New York -- Muller v. Oregon -- Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Hammer v. Dagenhart -- Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- National Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp. -- United States v. Darby Lumber Co. -- Wickard v. Filburn -- United States v. Lopez -- National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. Volume 2. Federalism and the Separation of Powers -- Prigg v. Pennsylvania -- Texas v. White -- The Insular Cases: Downes v. Bidwell -- Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States -- United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corporation -- Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer -- United States v. Nixon -- Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha -- Morrison v. Olson -- Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency -- Arizona v. the United States -- New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn, Inc. v. Bruen -- West Virginia v. EPA -- Presidential Records Act and Trump Warrant Receipt -- Citizens, Government, and Society -- Habeas Corpus Suspension Act -- United States v. Cruikshank -- Gitlow v. New York -- Everson v. Board of Education -- Dennis v. United States -- Red Lion Broadcasting v. FCC -- City of Boerne v. Flores -- Excerpts from Obergefell v. Hodges -- Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization -- Voting, Elections, and Power -- Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution -- Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution --Guinn v. United States -- Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Twenty-Second Amendment -- Baker v. Carr -- Reynolds v. Sims -- Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- Twenty-Sixth Amendment -- Buckley v. Valeo -- Shaw v. Reno -- Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission -- Shelby County v. Holder -- Cooper v. Harris -- Rucho v. Common Cause.
Summary:
As the supreme law of the country, the Constitution delineates the nation's frame of government and was originally comprised of seven articles. The first three articles put forth the separation of powers (three branches of government), the next three embody the concepts of federalism (rights and responsibilities of the states in relationship to the federal government), and the last article established the procedure used by the then 13 states to ratify it. It has been amended 27 times to meet the needs of a nation that has undergone profound change. The first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights and were added at the insistence of Anti-Federalists who sought guarantees of personal freedoms and restrictions on government power. Various other amendments likewise relate to federal authority. The Constitution has remained in force for over two centuries due to the way the framers separated and balanced governmental powers. It is interpreted, supplemented, and implemented by a large body of federal constitutional law, and has influenced the constitutions of other nations. Documents examined in this two-volume set include: documents from the Constitutional Convention, Federalist Papers for and against ratification, Articles on the separation of powers, Amendments on voting and elections, debates about government's role in commerce, debates over the key Articles of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Amendments on federal authority and states' rights, Amendments safeguarding justice and criminal procedure, and Supreme Court cases testing Constitutional principles. Each in-depth chapter provides a thorough commentary and analysis of each primary source document, often reprinted in its entirety. Commentary includes a summary, overview, defining moment, author biography, detailed document analysis, and discussion of essential themes.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.