This document provides recommendations for reading materials about the U.S. Constitution, organized into different sections. It includes books, DVDs, and websites on topics such as the founding era, the drafting of the Constitution, interpretations of the Constitution, and debates around originalism versus a living Constitution. Contact information and online class resources are also provided. Key books recommended include The Birth of the Republic, Miracle at Philadelphia, America's Constitution, and The Forgotten Man. Websites like Cornell's annotated Constitution and Oyez are highlighted.

1. GENERAL
symbols: after a DVD, (N) = available from Netflix (L) after a book, = Ham Co Public
Library; # = number of copies at the Ham Co Public Library. Abe=AbeBooks.com;
followed by price
My “office hours” are 24/7 at e-Mail address: jbpowers@mac.com
You can review any session you miss at www.slideshare.net/jbpowers
You will also find some of the handouts there as free downloads
The PBS show “Constitution USA with Peter Sagal,” beginning 5/7/2013 is off to a good start
for objectivity. You can watch episodes at www.pbs.org.
The annotated Constitution describes how court cases have interpreted exactly what the language
means. It’s available here: www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/ At the end of these case reviews is a
series of links where you can see the entire text of the decision. Excellent bedtime reading. My
favorite is supreme.justitia.com (no www prefix)
Another great site for studying the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justices, and the decisions is
www.oyez.org The Oyez Project at ITT Chicago-Kent College of Law. Here’s how they
describe their resource: “Database on major constitutional cases heard by the United States
Supreme Court, with multimedia resources including digital audio of oral arguments
and …”
Hillsdale College has an clearly conservative series of on line classes on the Constitution.
Hillsdale is famous for refusing all federal funds so as to be free of the federal “strings” which
come with the money. The classes are at [no www.] online.hillsdale.edu The classes are free.
For a modest contribution to Hillsdale, you will receive The U.S. Constitution A Reader which
contains primary source material from Aristotle to Ronald Reagan. Also useful is Arnn, Larry.
The Founder’s Key. 2012. Abe $3.49
If you don’t already have a pocket Constitution they are available at various sites. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Constitution for a full list.. My favorite is from the Nat’l
Center for Constitutional Studies (www.nccs.net). This pamphlet has the text of the Declaration
as well. The address is: NCCS 37777 W. Juniper Rd. Malta, ID 83342. One copy is free. Just
send a SASE with 65¢ postage.

2. I. Rights of Englishmen
The literature on English and British colonial constitutional history is extensive. I would
recommend two classic books (below):
1776 DVD (N) 1972-166 min--Peter Stone's Pultizer Prize-winning musical (starring much of
the original Broadway cast) about the internecine congressional squabbling that led to the
signing of the Declaration of Independence makes a glorious transition to the big screen. William
Daniels is John Adams, Ken Howard is a statuesque Thomas Jefferson, and Howard Da Silva is
hilarious as wit-cracker Ben Franklin. A very funny -- and poignant -- history lesson with a great
score.
Nightmare in Jamestown DVD (N) 2005--51 min (available as an Instant view or as
a disk mailed to your home)--A National Geographic documentary exploring the
archaeological discoveries made in preparation for the 400th
anniversary of the settling of British
North America. You know about John Smith & Pocahontas. Or do you? How about
Bartholomew Gosnell? Nice combination of reenactors, animations and modern archaeologists.
The New World DVD (N) 2005--145 min (available only as a disk mailed to your
home)--Set in 1607 at the founding of the Jamestown Settlement, Terrence Malick's epic
adventure chronicles the extraordinary actions of explorer John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Native
American princess Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher). As English settlers and Native Americans
clash, Smith and Pocahontas find their worlds colliding and their hearts entwined, but ancestral
loyalty may tear them apart. Christian Bale and Christopher Plummer co-star.
Morgan, Edmund S. The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89 . 1992 L 2 ; Abe $3.49 &c..
This study leads into the period of our next class as well. A balanced and stirring account of this
crucial era for our country.
Webb, Stephen Saunders, 1676; The End of American Independence. Syracuse
University Press, 1995 L 2. A brilliant study of the earlier conditions which planted the seeds
of discontent which resulted, exactly a century later, in the Declaration of Independence. If
you’re feeling adventurous this book is on line as a Google eBook. When you do a Google
search for a name &c. you get Webb’s relevant text. You can read the whole book on your
computer if you care too. I like books you can mark up. AbeBooks.com has a ton, starting at
$4.45
If Webb’s book interests you in the American Indian side of things:
Jennings, Francis, The Invasion of America : Indians, colonialism and the cant of
conquest. Syracuse University Press, 1975 L 3, Abe $3.49. Warning, for all his scholarship,
Jennings has a chip on his shoulder that weighs a ton. His book is definitely in the “Red man
good, White man bad” camp. Still, he really gets into the weeds and makes an impressive case as
to where the blame should fall for the “irrepressible conflict” between the two. He makes a good
balance to my personal interpretation, guilt on both sides --”a curse on both [their] houses.”

3. Horn, James, A Land as God Made It; Jamestown and the Birth of America. Basic
Books, 2005 L 4. The 400th
anniversary of English colonial history in America (2007) inspired
many great studies. Although this one focuses on the first two decades and the Virginia
experience, the title is not an exaggeration. The roots of our Constitution lie here.
II. A More Perfect Union
Again, writing on the origins of our constitution is widespread. In addition to these hardbound
standard works, the library has Gordon Wood’s American Revolution as an electronic download.
Stretch a bit and learn how to do this! AudioBooks.com has a nice reading of the Federalist
Papers
Fiske, John, The Critical Period of American History, 1783-1789. 1916, L 6. The
seminal work which gave this period its name. Available @ Project Gutenberg :
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27430/27430-h/27430-h.htm. (HINT if you don’t want to type all
that just Google it and you’ll get a link to click)
Bowen, Catherine Drinker, Miracle at Philadelphia : the story of the Constitutional
Convention, May to September, 1787, Forward by Warren Burger. 1986. L 6 Abe
$3.49. a prize-winning narrative. A classic study of the process.
III. The Document (C2 )
For this session we will use your pocket constitution as the reading.
IV. The Interpretation (C3 )
When I taught American Government I had the library order the CRS (Congressional Reference
Service of the Library of Congress) Annotated Constitution from the Govt Printing Office. It is a
ponderous book with a line by line description of how the US Supreme Court has developed the
interpretation through case law. Today this analysis is available on line at:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/
Amar, Akhil Reed, America’s Constitution : A Biography. 2005. L 7 Abe $4.76. by a
celebrated Cal Berkeley scholar. As this session is, in effect, a history of the Constitution, 1803-
1920s, I’ve included this book as suggested reading. Here’s the TOC:
Contents In the beginning -- New rules for a new world -- Congressional powers -- America's
first officer -- Presidential powers -- Judges and juries -- States and territories --
The law of the land -- Making amends -- A new birth of freedom -- Progressive
reforms -- Modern moves.

4. Wiebe, Robert H., The Search for Order; 1877-1920. 1980. L 1 Abe $3.49. I read this
book in a seminar at Stanford. It is a terrific description of the transformation of America during
the Populist and Progressive era.
V. First Amendment
The Lovers DVD (N) 1958 (NR)--90 min --French drama film directed by Louis Malle and
starring Jeanne Moreau, Alain Cuny, and Jean-Marc Bory. The film is about a woman involved in adultery
who rediscovers human love. The Lovers was Malle's second feature film, made when he was 25 years
old. The film was a box office hit in France when released theatrically gaining 2,594,160 admissions in
France alone. The film was highly controversial for its depiction of allegedly obscene material when
released in the United States.--Wikipedia Cincinnatian Potter Stewart in in Jacobellis v. Ohio
(1964) made his famously subjective definition of hard-core pornography: "I know it when I see
it." (Stewart did not consider the film to be such.) This innocuous film will prove how far we’ve
been desensitized to graphic portrayals of sex on film. To think, poor Jacobeilis was charged for
showing this!
Sadly, my search of the Library’s holdings turned up mostly books categorized as
juvenile. Hence the sparse recommendations below
Clark II, Henry B, Freedom of Religion in America. 1981. L 2 The highlights from a
conference sponsored by The Annenberg School of Communications, U. of Southern CA, Apr
27-30, 1981. nice collection of papers pro & con the status of religion and politics after the
Reagan victory which shocked liberal America. Balanced (by including opposing “takes”)
discussion of the Moral Majority.
Harrison, Maureen & Steve Gilbert, eds., Freedom of the Press Decisions of the
United States Supreme Court. 1986. L 1. Treats fourteen cases from Near v. Minnesota in
1931 to “the X-Rated Cable Case” of 1996. Clear and readable introductions and excerpts from
the opinions.
Rembar, Charles, The End of Obscenity: The Trials of Lady Chatterley’s Lover,
Tropic of Cancer and Fanny Hill. 1986. L 2 Abe $3.75. The author’s niece was a high
school student of mine. Her uncle plead the three above cases at the USSC. He was gracious
enough to address my students. A Virginia patrician of impeccable manners and erudition. This
book reads like the man. It is a wonderful introduction to the law as well as its narrower but
compelling topic--no less that a primary cause of our country’s current culture.
http://www.aclu-tn.org/pdfs/briefer_religion_in_public_schools.pdf is an on line pamphlet by
the ACLU titled “Know Your Rights: Religion in Public Schools A Guide for Administrators
and Teachers” It contains a description of the major “Establishment” and “Free Exercise” cases
as they pertain to religion in the public schools.

5. VI. Second Amendment
Bellesiles, Michael, Arming America; The Origins of a National Gun Culture. © 2000.
Abe $3.98. Originally awarded the Bancroft Prize, this controversial book produced a firestorm
of criticism from the “pro-gun” lobby. Then serious historians began to examine Bellesisles’
scholarship. For the first time, the prize was withdrawn and Professor Bellesisles was let go from
Emory University. Nevertheless, the book has much that is worthwhile once you dismiss his
main thesis! I’ll explain in class.
Hawxhurst, Joan C.; introduction by Warren E. Burger, The Second Amendment.
1991. L 2 Abe $3.58. Contains both the history of firearms ownership and the legal history of
gun control laws and their utility/futility.
VII. Rights of the Accused
Griswold, Erwin N., Search and Seizure: A Dilemma of the Supreme Court. 19??. Abe
$3.58. Here’s Griswold’s vita from Wiki: an appellate attorney who argued many cases
before the U.S. Supreme Court. Griswold served as Solicitor General of the United States
(1967–1973) under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. He also served as
Dean of Harvard Law School for 21 years. Several times he was considered for appointment to
the U.S. Supreme Court. During a career that spanned more than six decades, he served as
member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and as President of the American Bar
Foundation.
Levy, Leonard W., Origins of the Fifth Amendment.. 1968. L 3 Abe $3.74. won the
1969 Pulitzer Prize for History. Here’s the Wiki stub: It followed in the wake of the 1966
United States Supreme Court Opinion Miranda v. Arizona. The book was reissued in 1986 and
1999.
VIII. Living Constitution vs. Original Intent
Brookheiser, Richard, What Would the Founders Do? (Our Questions Their
Answers). 2006. L 3 Abe $3.49. This conservative historian was impressed by the questions
he received at book talks: what would (X-some Founding Father) think about (Y-some current
question)? So he prepared this anthology about the opinions which he had come to know from
his research into their era.
Jaffa, Harry V., Original Intent and the Framers of the Constitution; A Disputed
Question. 1994. L 1 Abe $22.50 (ouch!). Another conservative take, an anthology of writings
collected by Jaffa, who wrote Barry Goldwater’s acceptance speech in 1964. The other
contributors are just as outstanding in their academic credentials.

6. Kirk, Russell, The “Original Intent” Controversy. 1987. L 1 Abe $3.75. The other side
by a founder of modern American conservatism. #138 in a published series of lectures sponsored
by The Heritage Foundation. In my opinion, he demolishes Levy’s 398 pp.of text plus another
125 pp. of notes, bibliography and index “tub thumping” (vide sub) in 11 pages.
Levy, Leonard W., Original Intent and the Framers’ Constitution.. 1988. L 2 Abe
$3.57. Here’s a review praising this liberal critique:Among its many legacies, the Reagan
administration will be remembered for its spirited defense of ``a jurisprudence of original intent' 'the simplistic
assertion that the Constitution has a fixed and unchanging meaning established by the founders. [This definition is
itself simplistic and inaccurate.--jbp] Levy, a noted constitutional scholar and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
Origins of the Fifth Amendment (1968) levels a biting critique at this doctrine. Focusing on such constitutional
provisions as presidential power, the contract clause, and the Bill of Rights, Levy claims that original intent lacks a
sufficient historical foundation. This rich, useful book is presented in terms of the ongoing debate about the
legitimate role of the judiciary generally and judicial review particularly. An excellent resource for constitutional
scholars. --Edward C. Dreyer, Univ. of Tulsa, Okla..
Murphy, Bruce Allen, The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection: The Secret Political
Activities of Two Supreme Court Justices. 1982.
L 2. Abe $6. This exposé stirred up a tempest in the social activist teapot. No less liberal
source that the NYT praised it. New Republic called it a “lynching” and found many points to
criticize Murphy’s scholarship. It stimulates many thoughts about judicial review and judicial
activism. Read and decide for yourself.
Shlaes, Amity, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. 2007.
L 12. Abe $3.57. Clever title uses the FDR slogan to counter his claim as the champion of
the underdog. Excellent history of the FDR years and how they prolonged rather than ended the
Depression. Shlaes is an editor of the Wall Street Journal but her venture into historical writing
was critically acclaimed.
The Hillsdale reader, mentioned above, addresses this issue extensively. There are many 21st
century political books, pro and con the subject of “Living Constitution.” Alas, so little time…
jbp
8/30/13

7. Kirk, Russell, The “Original Intent” Controversy. 1987. L 1 Abe $3.75. The other side
by a founder of modern American conservatism. #138 in a published series of lectures sponsored
by The Heritage Foundation. In my opinion, he demolishes Levy’s 398 pp.of text plus another
125 pp. of notes, bibliography and index “tub thumping” (vide sub) in 11 pages.
Levy, Leonard W., Original Intent and the Framers’ Constitution.. 1988. L 2 Abe
$3.57. Here’s a review praising this liberal critique:Among its many legacies, the Reagan
administration will be remembered for its spirited defense of ``a jurisprudence of original intent' 'the simplistic
assertion that the Constitution has a fixed and unchanging meaning established by the founders. [This definition is
itself simplistic and inaccurate.--jbp] Levy, a noted constitutional scholar and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
Origins of the Fifth Amendment (1968) levels a biting critique at this doctrine. Focusing on such constitutional
provisions as presidential power, the contract clause, and the Bill of Rights, Levy claims that original intent lacks a
sufficient historical foundation. This rich, useful book is presented in terms of the ongoing debate about the
legitimate role of the judiciary generally and judicial review particularly. An excellent resource for constitutional
scholars. --Edward C. Dreyer, Univ. of Tulsa, Okla..
Murphy, Bruce Allen, The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection: The Secret Political
Activities of Two Supreme Court Justices. 1982.
L 2. Abe $6. This exposé stirred up a tempest in the social activist teapot. No less liberal
source that the NYT praised it. New Republic called it a “lynching” and found many points to
criticize Murphy’s scholarship. It stimulates many thoughts about judicial review and judicial
activism. Read and decide for yourself.
Shlaes, Amity, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. 2007.
L 12. Abe $3.57. Clever title uses the FDR slogan to counter his claim as the champion of
the underdog. Excellent history of the FDR years and how they prolonged rather than ended the
Depression. Shlaes is an editor of the Wall Street Journal but her venture into historical writing
was critically acclaimed.
The Hillsdale reader, mentioned above, addresses this issue extensively. There are many 21st
century political books, pro and con the subject of “Living Constitution.” Alas, so little time…
jbp
8/30/13