Studying the Constitution

I am a big fan of Akhil Reed Amar.
His books about the Constitution are rich in vivid historical detail and careful logical analysis.
Amar gives us beautiful models of exactly how we should study and think about the Constitution.
Whether we agree or disagree with him we cannot help but learn from Amar's great books.
I link to one of his books right here:

https://amzn.to/43oyZvp

This is a great book about the US Constitution. Agree or disagree, I always learn from Amar.
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McClanahan's conservative book about the Constitution is also useful.
I read through it in about two days.

I recommend it for the interesting information on some of the debates about the Constitution that occurred during the Convention in Philadelphia and then during the state ratifying conventions.
The author includes many quotes so you can really get a feel for the many different ideas there were floating around back then in 1787-1788.

When it comes to proving his thesis though, the author struggles.

He says in the introduction "We know how the founding generation interpreted the various provisions of the Constitution because we can read what they said."
That sounds simple enough but it comes right after "...the founding generation vigorously debated the meaning of the Constitution...." and "...a clear consensus can be gleaned from these debates."

Now, as a general rule, if you have a consensus you don't have a vigorous debate, and if you have a vigorous debate you don't have a clear consensus, so we'll have to look closely at how this argument works out through the book.

Maybe this author is simply wrong, and we CANNOT know how the founding generation reached a consensus on the meaning of the Constitution because there WAS no consensus; maybe there was disagreement then, just as there has been disagreement ever since.

I've read the book once, thinking about it kind of easy, and I think I saw some logical loose threads in the tapestry. Now I'm going to read it again, thinking about it kind of hard, and PULLING on those threads to see what unravels.

Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

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Good book on the Constitution. If you are a conservative you will probably like it. If you are a moderate or a liberal you might not like it but you will learn from it.

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https://amzn.to/3Tn9ciu