The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Constitution Readings

When intelligently discussing the Constitution, it is important to be knowledgeable about both the document and its history. Otherwise, you face the conundrum of:

“A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.”
- Alexander Pope - An Essay on Criticism

Much has been written about the Constitution and its history, and most of what has been written has been conflicting. Legal Scholars, historians, and politicians disagree with each other about the history, meaning, and intent of the Constitution. These disagreements are important for a fuller understanding of the Constitution, but these disagreements need to be intellectually grounded to be important. Unfortunately, much that has been written or said about the Constitution is nonsense and unreasonable, and much of this nonsense is spouted for personal or political agenda purposes. The last persons you should heed about the Constitution is the politicians, for they are adept in twisting and turning of the Constitution to achieve their policy goals and agendas. Even legal scholars and historians have agendas, although they are more adept at disguising their agenda with tortuous and convoluted reasoning, twisted language, and sometimes improper “Reasoning”.

The following are some of the many books that I have read about the Constitution. These books, I believe, provide a good foundation for understating the history and meaning of the Constitution:

“A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution” by Carol Berkin is an excellent introduction to the invention of the American Constitution. Though the American Revolution is widely recognized as our nation’s founding story, the years immediately following the war—when our government was a disaster and the country was in a terrible crisis—were, in fact, the most crucial in establishing the country’s independence. The group of men who traveled to Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 had no idea what kind of history their meeting would make. But all their ideas, arguments, and compromises—from the creation of the Constitution itself, article by article, to the insistence that it remains a living, evolving document—laid the foundation for a government that has surpassed the founders’ greatest hopes. Revisiting all the original historical documents of the period and drawing from her deep knowledge of eighteenth-century politics, Carol Berkin opens up the hearts and minds of America’s founders, revealing the issues they faced, the times they lived in, and their humble expectations of success.

“The Federalist & The Anti-Federalist Papers: Complete Collection: Including the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Important Documents by the Founding Fathers & more” is a collection that contains the crucial decisions and arguments of the Founding Fathers which shaped the America we know today. Along with the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the various Amendments, this book is sure to help you understand the basic tenets of American democracy.

“The Constitution: An Introduction” by Michael Stokes Paulsen, Luke Paulsen is the definitive modern primer on the US Constitution. Michael Stokes Paulsen, one of the nation’s most provocative and accomplished scholars of the Constitution, and his son Luke Paulsen, a gifted young writer and lay scholar, have combined to write a lively introduction to the supreme law of the United States, covering the Constitution’s history and meaning in clear, accessible terms.

Beginning with the Constitution’s birth in 1787, Paulsen and Paulsen offer a grand tour of its provisions, principles, and interpretation, introducing readers to the characters and controversies that have shaped the Constitution in the 200-plus years since its creation. Along the way, the authors provide correctives to the shallow myths and partial truths that pervade so much popular treatment of the Constitution, from school textbooks to media accounts of today’s controversies, and offer powerful insights into the Constitution’s true meaning.

A lucid and engaging guide, The Constitution: An Introduction provides readers with the tools to think critically and independently about constitutional issues -- a skill that is ever more essential to the continued flourishing of American democracy.

“The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison” by James Madison,  Edward J. Larson, Michael P. Winship is an interesting historical perspective by one of the most influential delegates to the Constitutional Convention. In 1787, the American union was in disarray. The incompatible demands of the separate states threatened its existence; some states were even in danger of turning into the kind of tyranny they had so recently deposed. A truly national government was needed, one that could raise money, regulate commerce, and defend the states against foreign threats–without becoming as overbearing as England. So thirty-six-year-old James Madison believed. That summer, the Virginian was instrumental in organizing the Constitutional Convention, in which one of the world’s greatest documents would be debated, created, and signed. Inspired by a sense of history in the making, he kept the most extensive notes of any attendee. Now two esteemed scholars have made these minutes accessible to everyone. Presented with modern punctuation and spelling, judicious cuts, and helpful notes–plus fascinating background information on every delegate and an overview of the tumultuous times–here is the great drama of how the Constitution came to be, from the opening statements to the final votes. This Modern Library Paperback Classic also includes an Introduction and appendices from the authors.

“The Heritage Guide to the Constitution” by David F. Forte is an indispensable reference to the U.S. Constitution as outlined on its back dust jacket:

“A landmark work of more than one hundred scholars, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution is a unique line-by-line analysis explaining every clause of America’s founding charter and its contemporary meaning.

In this fully revised second edition, leading scholars in law, history, and public policy offer more than two hundred updated and incisive essays on every clause of the Constitution.

From the stirring words of the Preamble to the Twenty-seventh Amendment, you will gain new insights into the ideas that made America, important debates that continue from our Founding, and the Constitution’s true meaning for our nation.”

The book “The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant” 3rd Edition by Robert G. Natelson is a very interesting and informative book that is full of information that even many experts don’t know. From it, you will learn; The Constitution’s hidden meanings. Many of its words and phrases meant something different in the 18th century than they do today. How the founders wanted the Constitution interpreted. Is it really a “living” document? How the original Constitution protected your rights. What a privilege is, and how it is different from a right. How the framers were ahead of their time in respecting women and minorities.

This book is in contrast to Akhil Reed Amar’s arguments in his book, “America’s Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By”, in which he has written that the Constitution does not enumerate all of the rules and rights, principles, and procedures that actually govern modern America. Many modern scholars of a ‘Living, breathing Constitution’ espouse the viewpoints in this book, along with the viewpoints of the many other books that Akhil Reed Amar has written. A fine article “The Text, the Whole Text, and Nothing but the Text, So Help Me God: Un-Writing Amar’s Unwritten Constitution” by Michael Stokes Paulsen is a good refutation of Akhil Reed Amar’s arguments, which in summary states:

“No, no, no! America has no “unwritten constitution”! Ours is a system of written constitutionalism. There are only sound conclusions and inferences—or unsound ones—from the text itself. The text—the whole text, of course, including the relationships and interactions among differing provisions, the structures of government it creates, the logic of its arrangements, and the inferences that fairly can be drawn from its provisions—is the sole object of constitutional interpretation. The text of course must be understood in terms of the original public meaning of its words and phrases, in the linguistic, social, and political contexts in which they were written: history and context illuminate textual meaning; so does constitutional structure; so can precedent, at least sometimes. But ultimately, it is the objective meaning of the words of the written constitutional text that is the whole ball game. If what one is doing is interpreting and applying the Constitution as authoritative written law—as opposed to engaging in some other interesting project—then one looks to understand the meaning of the text, the whole text, and nothing but the text. And if one’s sworn duty is to faithfully interpret and apply the Constitution—if one is a judge or other public official who has sworn an oath to support the Constitution, or to preserve, protect, and defend it (as opposed to a mere law professor who has sworn no such thing)—one cannot do anything else without violating one’s oath.”

While these books provide a deep dive into the Constitution, this dive will allow you to become more knowledgeable in the history and meaning of our American Constitution.