A Community Built on Words: The Constitution in History and Politics - Softcover

Powell, H. Jefferson Jefferson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226677249 ISBN 13: 9780226677248

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2005

Synopsis

[ A Community Built on Words: The Constitution in History and Politics By ( Author ) Jun-2005 Paperback

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Review

"The Constitution is not an apolitical text; rather, from its beginning it has been more like a contested battlefield over which rival interpretations struggled. Such is the legal-philosophical point of Powell's powerful work.... A beautifully written text, and as an historical narrative it may well convince its readers, and convince them more powerfully, than a mere theoretical argument." - Virginia Quarterly Review"

Synopsis

H. Jefferson Powell offers a powerful new approach to one of the central issues in American constitutional thinking today: the many ways in which constitutional arguments and outcomes are shaped both by historical circumstances and by political goals - including those of judges. Brilliantly combining history and theory, Powell analyzes a series of constitutional controversies from 1790 to 1944 to demonstrate that constitutional law from its very beginning has involved politically charged and ideologically divisive arguments. Powell then takes his conclusions one step further, claiming that it is precisely this historical tradition of argument that has given American constitutional law a remarkable coherence and integrity over time. No matter what the particular political disputes of the day might be, constitutional argument has provided a shared language through which our political community has been able to fight out its battles without ultimately fracturing.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0226677249
• ISBN 13: 9780226677248
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 262