The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840

Product Description

Go on a literary journey with preeminent legal scholar Akhil Reed Amar! In his 800+ page book, The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840, Amar covers the history of the American Constitution's formative decades. 

When the US Constitution won popular approval in 1788, it was the culmination of thirty years of passionate argument over the nature of government. But ratification hardly ended the conversation. For the next half century, ordinary Americans and statesmen alike continued to wrestle with weighty questions in the halls of government and in the pages of newspapers. Should the nation’s borders be expanded? Should America allow slavery to spread westward? What rights should Indian nations hold? What was the proper role of the judicial branch?

In The Words that Made Us, Akhil Reed Amar unites history and law in a vivid narrative of the biggest constitutional questions early Americans confronted, and he expertly assesses the answers they offered. His account of the document’s origins and consolidation is a guide for anyone seeking to properly understand America’s Constitution today.

Hardcover. 832 pages. 6.5"W x 2.5"D x 9.55"H.

About the Author

Akhil Reed Amar is the Sterling professor of law and political science at Yale University and the author of several books on constitutional law and history, including America's Constitution: A Biography and America's Unwritten Constitution. He lives in Woodbridge, Connecticut.