Full Description
This book tells the story of each Constitutional Amendment and the role that the Amendments have played in shaping the American experience. Based on solid research, it is written in an engaging style that is easy to comprehend and enjoyable to read. The Amendments guarantee the fundamental rights and liberties that Americans enjoy and should be understood by every citizen. They tell America's story from its founding to the present day. The Amendments play a vital role in the quest for gender and racial equity, and the continuing struggle to achieve social justice. They are the result of the American people's continuing efforts to perfect our Constitution, first through Acts of Congress, then through ratifications by State Legislatures, and finally by judicial review and interpretation. The Amendments are too important to be treated as afterthoughts, and this book seeks to rectify that by giving them the attention they deserve.
Contents
Acknowledgments; About the Author; Introduction; THE BILL OF RIGHTS; CHAPTER 1 Fundamental Rights: The First Amendment; CHAPTER 2 Bearing Arms: The Second Amendment; CHAPTER 3 Innocent until Proven Guilty: The Third through Eighth Amendments; CHAPTER 4 This and No More: The Ninth and Tenth Amendments; AMENDMENTS ELEVEN TO TWENTY-SEVEN; CHAPTER 5 What Federal Courts Cannot Do: The Eleventh Amendment ; CHAPTER 6 The President and Vice President: The Twelfth, Twentieth, Twenty-Second, and Twenty-Fifth Amendments; CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction, Slavery to Civil Rights: The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Twenty-Fourth Amendments; CHAPTER 8 Money Makes the World Go Round: The Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Twenty-Seventh Amendments; CHAPTER 9 To Drink or Not to Drink, that is the Question: The Eighteenth and Twenty-First Amendments; CHAPTER 10 New Voters: The Nineteenth, Twenty-Third, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments; Afterword: Looking Back and Going Forward
