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Who Killed the Constitution?: The Federal Government vs. American Liberty from World War I to Barack Obama

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There's a reason that our federal constitution is short. It was so the average American could be intimately familiar with it. It was also because the federal government was supposed to be small. As James Madison described in the Federalist No. 45:

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State."

So what changed? Woods and Gutzman persuasively document a selected array of federal power plays and Supreme Court decisions over the course of the 20th century that radically reshaped the federal government in ways the Framers of the U.S. Constitution never imagined nor the Constitution's Ratifiers ever intended.

From the unconstitutional persecution against World War I dissenters by the Wilson administration; through Harry Truman's attempted 1952 power grab, the phony case for broad presidential war powers, and the startlingly perverse use of presidential signing statements by the Bush administration to undermine the rule of law; to the tragic consequences of Commerce Clause jurisprudence run amok beginning with the New Deal and continuing to this very day: "Who Killed the Constitution?" serves as an eye-opening guide to how exactly, and how far away, we've managed to stray from the limited-government vision of our forefathers bestowed upon us in the Constitution. Woods and Gutzman cite several Founding Era authorities to prove exactly this.

Hopefully the abuses of the past administration, and the continuation of those abuses by the new one, will awaken Americans to explore their own constitutional heritage and incite them to start demanding their government adhere to the supreme law of the land: the Constitution of the United States.

What amazes me about this book is that there have been only three reviews to date. Obviously, this book is not getting the attention it deserves.

This is perhaps the most important and depressing book I have read in the last twelve months. The question is not "Who is killing the Constitution," but rather "Who killed the Constitution." For truly, the Constitution as originally written in dead and buried. The question that is not asked in this work, but should be uppermost in the reader's mind is, "Can the Constitution be resurrected and the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution be restored?"

Clearly the answer from extending the litany of constitutional abuses and re-interpretations contained in this work would be "No." That's why it is so depressing. In fact, this work makes clear the fact that the Constitution is being ignored and subverted by Congress, the President and the Federal Bureaucracy, and not the least, by the Supreme Court and Judiciary, with ever increasing frequency, openness, contempt and disdain. Since Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement at the end of the 19th century, the Constitution had been shredded by precisely those individuals who have taken an oath to protect and preserve it.

The book starts with President Wilson who was arguably the most evil (although well-intended) President in U.S. history, although some might wish to put more recent Presidents before him. Unfortunately, the authors ignore Lincoln who was the first President to completely ignore the Constitution in meeting an emergency situation. Apologists for Lincoln cite his measures as being necessary -- a refrain to be repeated as an excuse by Congress, the President and the Judiciary every time they further disembowel the Constitution. Teddy Roosevelt, who once said "The Constitution is what I say it is," is also mentioned only in passing.
Lincoln and Roosevelt were used as precedents later by Progressive Presidents like FDR and every subsequent President with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan.

What may come as a shock to many readers is the presentation of many actions, bills, and judicial decisions that readers may feel were good that were also clearly unconstitutional. That is a measure on how thoroughly citizens have been conditioned through the massive Progressive propaganda campaign since the 1890s in our schools and media, and most particularly, since the end of World War II. Today, the Constitution is only invoked politically by one party or the other when their ideological opponents do something unconstitutional to which they are opposed. Unfortunately, both sides commit unconstitutional treason almost daily and whatever moral high ground might have been present under Harding or Cooledge is long gone. Equally unfortunately, there is no longer any check on these activities other than the grinding certainty that a catastrophic collapse is nearly upon us and our government will fall into chaos. Maybe at that time the Constitution can be re-instituted, but history indicates that a dictatorship is more likely.

The authors indicate that Obama, our current Congress and Supreme Court may be the most egregious offenders, but only because the groundwork has been so thorough. Yes, we have seen the tipping point where State sovereignty guaranteed by the 10th Amendment was gutted, and all rights to citizens not expressly granted in the Constitution are now denied. State sovereignty indeed disappeared in 1936 in the case of "United States vs. Belmont." Presidential power increased dramatically under Teddy Roosevelt through "Executive Orders" having the same effect as a law passed by Congress, and this was further increased through George W. Bush's use of "signing statements" to make law. Barack Obama has followed Bush's lead and used signing statement to circumvent Congress, but more importantly, to hide his unconstitutional actions from the American citizenry.

Perhaps the most interesting case discussed by the authors is that of the Supreme Court when it decided to discriminate against some to stop discrimination against others. Once the Court went down that road and assumed executive powers for the enforcement of its rulings, the system of checks and balances was completely neutralized. Congress got into the act through micro-legislating with "riders" and "earmarks" to increase their own power as executives. With all three branches now legislating and all three exercising executive powers, the Federal Government has become truly dysfunctional and the Constitution altogether meaningless.

That's where we are today. Read and weep. This book is a terrfying litany of cases and examples of how the Constitution was destroyed as a meaningful basis for American law. Progressives have truly brought change to American, and they have done it by increments over the last 120 years. To those who sit by silent or merely gripe, this book should be an eye-opener. The tipping point we have already passed is readily visible, and one way or another, a massive change is coming.

Absolutely recommended to all.

Its death was ingloriously slow that only a few men know to cry. Thomas E. Woods Jr, Senior Fellow of the Mises Institute and Kevin R. C. Gutzman, Professor History Western Connecticut State University, lay out the evidence in a remarkably easy to read book proving once an for all that the United States Constitution is dead. The authors offer no finger pointing at Democrats or Republicans, left or right, they provide twelve "The Dirty Dozen" examples of Supreme Court decisions (Judicial Branch), Presidential abuses (Executive Branch), and Congressional excess (Legislative Branch), that "bear no resemblance to what the Constitution's ratifiers intended, and in fact run directly counter to the plain text of the Constitution". This they argue is the key to understanding that the United States Constitution is dead.

Messrs Woods and Gutzman note that the death of the Constitution is not partisan. The authors point out that the great Virginian John Taylor of Caroline noted,

"the problem is not the character of members of one party or the other, one section of the country or the other, but the effect of power on the human ego, regardless of party or section. People in power exercise all the power they can get, even after they have howled in the wilderness against legislating judges, imperial president, and the death of states' rights."

The spectre of the United States Constitution can still be of value. The authors suggest that we call attention to the Constitution and alert our friends, family, and the young people how dramatically their fundamental rights have been betrayed.

This book is fascinating, well written, and academic. It should interest anyone with a keen interest in Constitutional history and good ole fashioned Who Dunnit's.

I read this book in less than 24 hours-- that's how simple the authors make some exceedingly complicated issues. Not to say that by making the arguments "simple" takes anything away from them-- because it doesn't. The authors simply choose 12 specific issues they feel have had an enormous impact on modern constitutional law and break them down for the layperson (which I imagine most people would find quite helpful, since the 9 men in black in D.C. purposefully make their opinions so incomprehensible so as to distract people from the fact their reasoning has no sound basis in the constitution itself).

If you are someone who knows that the federal government is out of control, and has been out of control for some time now, then I highly recommend this book. It won't take long to read, and you may even learn something you're not supposed to know. I'd also recommend Professor Gutzman's Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution if you're at all interested in the Supreme Court, or American jurisprudence at all (I'm in law school, so I found both of these books to be a refreshing departure from the ridiculously liberal and pro-big government crap I hear everyday at school). The authors plainly explain that modern constitutional law has almost nothing to do with the constitution that was ratified so long ago, nor with any original understanding of the document.

What the authors have to say is unfortunately the cold hard truth. Don't let establishment apologists turn you off from learning something you're not supposed to know and read this book.

This book will give you a true understanding of how the Constitution is being ignored and reinterpreted. And how this adversely affects your life as an American. This book will make you angry at our government...it needs to be reined in.

I was pleased with this book. I learned a lot. This is one I'll be keeping for reference. I'll also be looking to read more from these authors on the constitution.

I'm almost finished with this book---I read it over a short vacation---and cannot stop thinking about the truly complex but mesmerizing issues covered therein. Each chapter is very thought provoking, and has caused a paradigm shift for me in my libertarian thinking, and in what went wrong in this country, and what the priorities are moving forward. I have studied Constitutional Law and political philosophy for decades, first in college, then law school, then as a hobby. This book has changed my way of thinking about where and how we went wrong in this country. I thought my libertarian epistomology was fairly fixed by now; For nigh a decade or so I've firmly followed the "central power libertarian" school of thought, thanks to books such as "Grassroots Tyranny" by the Institute for Justice/Clint Bollick, which espouses the Federal Government (Supreme Court) using the 14th Amendment as a cudgel in enforcing individual rights against the States' own tyranny in eroding liberty. Reading this book, and other recent works and articles by Gene Healy and others, help me realize that the 14th Amendment is the Federal Government's avenue to eroding States' Rights as contained in the 10th Amendment. This book helped solidify my realization that far more urgent than seeking a fairy-tale worlds where all individual rights are protected at all levels of government---federal, state, county, city---is the pressing need to again achieve the Founders' goal of true Federalism as opposed to a national government---that is, enumerated and separated powers of the Federal government, with the checks and balances afforded as well by States Rights. But this book isn't solely describing situations where States' rights were trampled by the Federal Government; it also covers cases where the Supreme Court simply supported and validated instances of over-reaching and tyranny by other branches of the federal government, and otherwise act no better than cheerleaders cheering for the "home team" (i.e., strengthening their "team's" own power---that of the Federal government).
The book also has many, many useful footnotes, which will doubtless provide many useful sources for additional reading materials. The only negative flowing from this book is that after you read it, you will realize that our Constitution is dead, that it failed to perform as intended, and as such, it must have been a flawed document. You will feel rudderless and directionless for a time, not knowing what, if anything, can be done from here, to save our Federalist traditions and safeguards to liberty---and to avoid our continued existence as "just another self-regulating European State" awash in faux positive rights foisted upon us by do-gooder, busy bodies....

I thought this provided some great examples of where the US has gone wrong with the Constitution in the 20th century. They are essentially highlights of things that would bear further reading. If you're looking for something to help with a general understanding of the legal aspects of where the Constitution is failing, this is it.

In this brilliant, informative book, Tom Woods and Kevin Gutzman take a look at the constitution and the treatment it has received from politicians and Supreme Court justices. Unfortunately, as Woods and Gutzman reveal, the constitution isn't receiving a lot of attention today. Sure, all politicians claim to uphold the constitution - they swear to defend it. But what does their alleged support of it amount to in practice? Nothing.

Our authors give us quite a few examples of the Federal government's abuse of its own power. Starting with the sedition acts passed during World War I and going to the present day, the violations of the constitution are discussed in great detail. Some of the instances discussed will be quite familiar, such as Brown v. Board of Education, while others will be comparatively obscure. Each case offers irrefutable evidence for the idea that the constitution is no longer given even the slightest respect. A real bonus here is the complete constitution, which is in the back of the book. I found it very handy to flip back and see exactly what the constitution had to say on the subject I was reading about.

For example, the authors discuss the subject of conscription. While today most people accept it as a necessary evil, this was not always so. Daniel Webster said the following when conscription was being considered during the War of 1812: "Is this, Sir, consistent with the character of a free Government? Is this civil liberty? Is this the real character of our Constitution? No, Sir, indeed it is not. The Constitution is libeled, foully libeled. The people of this country have not established themselves such a fabric of despotism." This statement is especially intriguing considering the fact that Webster would go on to become the leading spokesman for a highly centralized Federal government. Our authors then go on to discuss Lincoln's violent abuse of the Constitution when calling for volunteers without congressional approval. The World Wars in relation to the draft are then discussed. Woods and Gutzman conclude by stating that, while the draft is not in place today, we are in danger of once again being subjugated to it.

This issue, and many others are discussed in great detail. The reader is sure to go away distressed by the current situation, but glad for the persuasive warning. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand the constitution and the treatment it's been receiving.

This is an excellent resource to understand why our politicians no longer pay attention to the US Constitution. Every American should read this book and then read Thomas Woods' Nullification next to know what to do about this problem.