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5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Outstanding! Excellent for Reports and Learning, June 5, 2006
This review is from: The Bill of Rights: A History in Documents (Pages from History) (Hardcover)
I was extremely impressed with this book is so many ways. First, it thoroughly explains the Bill of Rights in a way that is very easy to understand. The reading level is that of a mainstream magazine, such as Time, so anyone can understand this book. Yet it is thorough. I learned so much about the Bill of Rights by reading it.
The book teaches you by using original sources, such as the writings and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the actual Supreme Court opinions of important decisions, newspaper clippings, cartoons, and pictures. Some of the writings are moving at times. This is history and learning at its best. Highly recommended for learning about the Bill of Rights, understanding the Constitution, and school reports.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Great introduction to the bill of rights, October 29, 2011
This review is from: The Bill of Rights: A History in Documents (Pages from History) (Hardcover)
The Bill of Rights, A History in Documents by John J. Patrick, helps readers understand the sources of the three most important founding documents of the United States of America. All three can be seen at the National Archives in Washington, DC: the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the 1787 Constitution, and the 1791 Bill of Rights.
The Declaration of Independence embodied a shift in American thinking from the legal traditions of England to the concept of natural rights of mankind. The authors prominently display the link between the Declaration of Independence and the Second Treatise of Government by John Locke. The book also describes the impact of Cato's Letters by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon and the Discourses by Algernon Sidney. It would have been nice to see a summary of the ideas of John Harrington and David Hume, two other English philosophers who served as an inspiration to the New Philosophy of Rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence.
The Constitution empowered the federal government to maintain law and order for the safety and security of the people. It also limited the powers of the government with principles of separated powers, checks and balances, and federalism. We can see many of its antecedents, from the English Magna Carta to the colonial constitutions that John Adams had a big hand in shaping. James Madison focused on keeping tyranny of the masses at bay, while Adams was concerned with preventing executive tyranny. One unexplored source is the French political philosopher Montesquieu, who is mentioned in most other books as the genesis of separation and balance of powers among the three branches of government.
While the title of the book is the `Bill of Rights,' one can't understand it without understanding the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. It's why the omissions in the sources of these two documents are noteworthy, but not terribly detrimental to the utility of this book.
After all, many of the basic concepts of American constitutional law are tackled. It offers a way to understand the Bill of Rights beyond rote memorization of them. Understanding the nationalization of the Bill of Rights was the best way to learn them, because the rights were incorporated selectively under the substantive due process provision of the 14th Amendment. It's really amazing how often states violated individual rights until the Supreme Court began extending these rights to the states in the 1930s.
There are helpful details about the Supreme Court Cases that extended the first amendment of the Bill of Rights. It's no accident that a reader will remember the earlier cases that help established the Incorporation Doctrine: Gitlow vs. New York, Stromberg vs. California, Near vs. Minnesota, DeJong vs. Oregon, and Emerson vs. the Board of Education of Ewing Twp. The later cases, which established incorporation to the 5th and 6th Amendments, are only mentioned in a table with the right that was nationalized by the Supreme Court decision.
While one would probably find this book in the legal section of the Dewey Decimal System in your local library, The Bill of Rights: A History in Documents is an essential book for students of U.S. History. These topics may be tested on the NYS Regents exam for U.S. History, and may be found on the A.P. Exam for U.S. History as well. Nearly everyone who feels maligned may say, `I have my rights,' but you really have to read a book like this to understand better if they really have a legal leg to stand on.
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