"Beau Breslin imagines what constitutions would have looked like throughout America's history if Thomas Jefferson's call for a new constitution every generation had been followed. Though based on the underlying and competing philosophies of the Jefferson and Madison debates, the main focus of this book is a creative yet historically-grounded imagining of various generations' Constitutional Conventions. Breslin works through US history, drawing on state constitutional debates to consider what could have happened on the federal level at various periods in America. He then turns to the future, and outlines what a constitutional convention of the next generation could potentially reveal, where we've been, and where we're going as nation. Reflecting on the meaning and importance of the Constitution, Breslin's manuscript reveals a broader and more important conversation about whether now is the time to scrap the Constitutional experiment and start all over"-- Provided by publisher.
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.