Constitution

About: Constitution is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 37828 publications have been published within this topic receiving 435603 citations.

English Society, 1660–1832: Religion, Ideology and Politics during the Ancien Régime

Abstract: Introduction: the nature of the Old Order 1. From restoration to reconciliation, 1660-1760 2. The social and ideological premises of the old order 3. National identity: the matrix of Church and State 4. Before radicalism: the religious origins of disaffection, 1688-1800 5. The old order on the eve of its demise: slow erosion 6. The end of the Protestant constitution, 1800-1832: sudden collapse.

A Machine That Would Go of Itself: The Constitution in American Culture

Abstract: MICHAEL KAMMEN, a prolific and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, seeks to trace the course of \"popular constitutionalism\" from 1787 to recent times. Instead of reinterpreting familiar legalistic themes, he attempts to describe the place of constitutionahsm \"in the public consciousness and symbolic life of the American people\" and to sketch what ordinary people have felt, believed, understood, and misunderstood about the broad framework of their government. Ironically, nonspecialists may become lost in what, of necessity, becomes a rapid journey through two centuries of ideas, attitudes, and imagery; but Kammen offers numerous points at which anyone can stop and savor his storytelling. How many already know that \"the sacred charter\" of 1787 remained invisible to the public throughout most of its own early history? (In 1882 a curious historian found it \"folded up in a little tin box in the lower part of a closet\" in the State Department.) And how many non-Trekkies are aware that the cult-classic TV series. Star Trek, once aired a sci-fi parable (entitled \"Omega Glory\") on American constitutionalism? Brief gems such as these, drawn from a wide range of sources, continually brighten the sprawling, analytical narrative. Kammen, for example, uses popular histories, themes submitted for student-essay contests, and ceremonial addresses to bolster his argument that the \"cult\" of Constitution worship emerged slowly, gaining momentum in the late 19th century and becoming a widely popular civil religion only after World War I. The author of People of Paradox (1972), Kammen finds popular constitutionalism awash in anomalies. For instance, he argues that \"Americans have taken too much pride and proportionately too little interest in their frame of government\"; that even specialists wrongly tend to conflate the narrower \"history of the Constitution itself\" with the broader story of \"constitutionalism in American culture\"; and— Warren Burger, take heed!—that orchestrated celebrations, such as the Centennial of 1887, have always produced less interest and constitutional edification than have spontaneous social-political conflicts.

The American Constitution;: Its Origins and Development

Abstract: The hallmarks of this authoritative text have been strengthened throughout: its clear exposition of judicial rulings and their significance, its even-handed discussion of larger trends in American constitutional history, and a broad approach that brings politics and social developments to bear on constitutional cases. The Seventh Edition also takes account of the major constitutional developments of the 1980s: the constitutional implications of divided government-situation in which rival parties respectively control the presidency and the Congress; the controversies over abortion, affirmative action, and issues of free speech; the general debate over original intent and constitutional change.