The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution

by Linda R. Monk

Overview

Updated now for the first time, The Words We Live By continues to take an entertaining and informative look at America's most important historical document, now with discussions on new rulings on hot button issues such as immigration, gay marriage, and affirmative action.

In The Words We Live By, Linda Monk probes the idea that the Constitution may seem to offer cut-and-dried answers to questions regarding personal rights, but the interpretations of this hallowed document are nearly infinite. For example, in the debate over gun control, does "the right of the people to bear arms" as stated in the Second Amendment pertain to individual citizens or regulated militias? What do scholars say? Should the Internet be regulated and censored, or does this impinge on the freedom of speech as defined in the First Amendment? These and other issues vary depending on the interpretation of the Constitution.

Through entertaining and informative annotations, The Words We Live By offers a new way of looking at the Constitution. Its pages reflect a critical, respectful and appreciative look at one of history's greatest documents. The Words We Live By is filled with a rich and engaging historical perspective along with enough surprises and fascinating facts and illustrations to prove that your Constitution is a living--and entertaining--document.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786886203
Publisher:	Hyperion
Publication date:	02/18/2004
Series:	Stonesong Press Books
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	28,002
Product dimensions:	8.92(w) x 7.02(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	1340L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Linda R. Monk is a constitutional scholar, journalist, and award-winning author. She has twice won the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award, its highest honor for public education about law. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Monk has written numerous articles for newspapers nationwide including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune. She also served as series advisor for the PBS program "Constitution USA."

Table of Contents

	The Constitution as conversation	9
Pt. I	The Constitution of the United States	10
	The Preamble : we the people	11
	Article I : the legislative branch	18
	Article II : the executive branch	62
	Article III : the judicial branch	89
	Article IV : full faith and credit	104
	Article V : amendments	112
	Article VI : the supreme law of the land	118
	Article VII : ratification	121
Pt. II	Amendments to the Constitution of the United States	126
	The first amendment : freedom of expression	127
	The second amendment : the right to bear arms	151
	The third amendment : quartering of troops	154
	The fourth amendment : unreasonable searches and seizures	157
	The fifth amendment : due process of law	164
	The sixth amendment : the right to a fair trial	173
	The seventh amendment : trial by jury in civil cases	181
	The eighth amendment : cruel and unusual punishment	184
	The ninth amendment : unenumerated rights	190
	The tenth amendment : states' rights	194
	The eleventh amendment : lawsuits against states	199
	The twelfth amendment : choosing the executive	201
	The thirteenth amendment : abolishing slavery	205
	The fourteenth amendment : equal protection of the laws	212
	The fifteenth amendment : suffrage for black men	229
	The sixteenth amendment : income taxes	233
	The seventeenth amendment : direct election of senators	234
	The eighteenth amendment : prohibition	236
	The nineteenth amendment : women's suffrage	238
	The twentieth amendment : lame ducks	242
	The twenty-first amendment : repealing prohibition	246
	The twenty-second amendment : presidential term limits	249
	The twenty-third amendment : electoral votes for the District of Columbia	251
	The twenty-fourth amendment : banning the poll tax	253
	The twenty-fifth amendment : presidential succession and disability	255
	The twenty-sixth amendment : suffrage for young people	260
	The twenty-seventh amendment : limiting congressional pay raises	261
	To decide for ourselves what freedom is	263

Editorial Reviews

"In The Words We Live By, Linda Monk has created a treasure--a wonderfully accessible yet deeply insightful guide to our Constitution which should be read and enjoyed by a wide audience of old and young alike."—Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

"Linda Monk takes us on a lively and learned exploration of the document that underlies not only how we Americans govern ourselves but how we make sense of the world. Anyone reading The Words We Live By will finish it with a greater understanding of the Constitution and a new respect for how it has secured freedom and self-government for the last two centuries."—Steve Chapman, syndicated columnist, Chicago Tribune

"Linda Monk has brought the Constitution to life with a book that is authoritative, compelling and even entertaining. She captures just the right blend of history and current events to help us understand why the Constitution is America's cornerstone of freedom."—Charles Overby, Chairman of the Freedom Forum and Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper editor

From the Publisher

The U.S. Constitution gets a comprehensive overview in this engaging blend of history and commentary. Monk, author of The Bill of Rights: A User's Guide, traces the history and consequences of each part of this vital document in a line-by-line analysis of the original seven articles and the 27 amendments. Drawing on the writings of constitutional scholars, Supreme Court Justices and concerned citizens like Charlton Heston, playwright Arthur Miller and rock star Ted Nugent, she also gives even-handed but lively accounts of the debates over such Constitutional controversies as the right to bear arms, the right to privacy, church-state separation and capital punishment. The portrait of the Constitution that emerges is a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous. Some parts, like the Civil War amendments that defined citizenship and equality in granting them to African-Americans, are terse milestones in our evolving understanding of freedom, while elsewhere the Constitution seems like a scratch-pad for ill-considered ideas like the hastily repealed Prohibition Amendment. Monk avoids comparisons with other countries' charters that might have illuminated the Constitution's idiosyncrasies, and skirts deeper critiques, like Daniel Lazare's argument that the Constitution's overall structure of states' rights, separation of powers and checks and balances hobbles rather than effectuates the will of the people. Still, this is a fine introduction to Constitutional history for a general readership laid out rather like a good social studies textbook. Illus. (Feb.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Law school graduate and ABA prize winner Linda Monk has produced an amazingly informative and entertaining handbook on the Constitution. Here the reader will find first the complete text of the Constitution; secondly, a phrase-by-phrase explanation of the intention and history of the document complete with vocabulary in the side margin; and thirdly, inset pictures and quotations across more than 200 years of reaction and commentary ranging from Benjamin Franklin to Charlton Heston, from John Marshall to Sandra Day O'Connor, from Herblock to Boondocks. Here too is a history of the court cases which, since the beginning, have shaped our interpretation of the Constitution, each considered in the context of the article to which it relates. The page layout is excellent. Altogether, a useful reference work that could also be a text. KLIATT Codes: JSA*—Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2003, Hyperion, 288p. notes. bibliog. index., Ages 12 to adult.
—Pat Moore

KLIATT