Though the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788, its impact on our lives is as recent as today's news. Claims and counterclaims about the constitutionality of governmental actions are a habit of American politics. This document, which its framers designed to limit power, often has made political conflict inevitable. It also has accommodated and legitimized the political and social changes of a vibrant, powerful democratic nation. A product of history's first modern revolution, the Constitution embraced a new formula for government: it restrained power on behalf of liberty, but it also granted power to promote and protect liberty. The U.S. Constitution: A Very Short Introduction explores the major themes that have shaped American constitutional history-- federalism, the balance of powers, property, representation, equality, rights, and security. Informed by the latest scholarship, this book places constitutional history within the context of American political and social history. We do not operate today under the same Constitution created by our founding fathers or the Constitution as completed by the Bill of Rights in 1791 or even the one revised by the Reconstruction amendments. Nor are we the same nation. As our circumstances have changed, so has our Constitution. Today we face serious challenges to the nation's constitutional legacy. Endless wars, a sharply divided electorate and deadlocked government, economic inequality, immigration, cybersecurity and privacy, and foreign interference in the nation's democratic processes, among a host of other issues, have placed demands on government and on society that test our constitutional values. Understanding how the Constitution has evolved will help us adapt its principles to the challenges of our age.

About the Author
David J. Bodenhamer is the founding Executive Director of The Polis Center, Professor of History, and Adjunct Professor of Informatics at IUPUI. Bodenhamer is author or editor of twelve books in American legal and constitutional history and in the new field of spatial humanities, which applies geospatial technologies to humanities disciplines. He also is co-editor of two book series with Indiana University Press and is co-editor of the IJHAC: A Journal of the Digital Humanities.

Reviews
The Constitution and words like impeachment are bandied about frequently when administrations and individual presidents run into trouble, and those engaged in the debate would do well to take refresher courses. For the rest of the world, it is a very useful introduction to the subject, it does what it says on the can and much more besides. * Dr David Cowan, The Global Legal Post *



Book Information
ISBN 9780195378320
Author David J. Bodenhamer
Format Paperback
Page Count 168
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 129g
Dimensions(mm) 174mm * 111mm * 11mm