The Heritage Guide to the Constitution

[6], ix, 475, [5] pages. DJ has some wear, soiling, and small edge tear at bottom spine. This guide is the first of its kind, and presents the U.S. Constitution as never before, including a clause-by-clause analysis of the document, each amendment and relevant court case, and the documents that serve as the foundation of the Constitution. Includes sections of Contributors; The Meaning of the Constitution by Edwin Meese III; The Formation of the Constitution by Matthew Spalding; The Originalist Perspective by David F. Forte; the text of The Constitution; The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (Preamble, Articles I to VII, and Amendments); Appendix A: Table of Cases; Appendix B: Recommended Reading; About the Editors; and Index. Edwin Meese III, Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Board, served as the 75th Attorney General of the United States. Meese holds a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He held the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Matthew Spalding is the Vice President for American Studies and Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics. Spalding holds a Ph.D. from The Claremont Graduate School. An Adjunct Fellow of the Claremont Institute, he is co-author of A Sacred Union of Citizens: Washington's Farewell Address and the American Character. David F. Forte is the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.-Calfee Halter & Griswold Professor of Law at Cleveland State University. Forte holds a law degree from Columbia University. A former Chief Counsel to the United States Delegation to the United Nations. The Heritage Guide to the Constitution is intended to provide a brief and accurate explanation of each clause of the Constitution as envisioned by the Framers and as applied in contemporary law. Its particular aim is to provide lawmakers with a means to defend their role and to fulfill their responsibilities in our constitutional order. Yet while the Guide will provide a reliable reference for lawmakers and policy-makers, and be especially useful for the trained jurist, it is written to be explanatory and educational, accessible and helpful for informed citizens and students of the Constitution generally. To create such a unique line-by-line analysis of our supreme law, we set about finding an expert to write on each clause identified in the Constitution, from the Preamble to the Twenty-seventh Amendment. Each contributor was asked to write a brief essay on a particular clause, with two objectives. First, provide a description of the original understanding of the clause, as far as it can be determined. If within the standard of original understanding there are credible and differing interpretations, they were to be noted and explained. (The concept of "originalism" is discussed in the introductory essay, "The Originalist Perspective.") Second, the article was to provide an explanation of the current state of the law regarding the clause and, where appropriate, to give brief explanations of the historical development of current doctrine. At the end of each essay, the authors have added cross-references to other clauses in the Constitution, suggestions for further research, and a listing of significant cases concerning that clause. (A complete index of cases referenced throughout the Guide is provided in Appendix A.) In addition to the text of the Constitution itself, and as reflected by extensive references throughout the Guide, we have taken three widely recognized sources to be especially authoritative in this project. First, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, the definitive collection of the records and debates of the Constitutional Convention, written by participants of the Convention, including in particular the extensive notes taken by James Madison. Second, The Federalist Papers, the great series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in 1787 and 1788 to defend the Constitution during the debates over the document's r.…