Customer Reviews:
Excellent Service!.......2007-05-10
Excellent service and turnaround time! Would definitely deal with this seller again!
Please get this book!.......2000-03-20
This is an excellent book.
Mr. Young devotes only a few pages of this thick volume to his own opinions, mostly just allowing those alive back in Constitution-making days to speak for themselves about the Second Amendment. And speak they do. Truthfully, I've never read the whole book straight through, but every time I crack it open to some random page I am amazed at the attitudes people had back then. How different from our modern sheep-like mentality, or the version of history we're fed by today's pop culture.
This book ought to be in every public library and on every citizen's bookshelf.
An outstanding collection of primary sources........1997-07-04
The book reprints approximately 500 documents from the period surrounding the introduction and ratification of the Second Amendment. Included are newspaper articles, pamphlets, letters to the editor, debates from the federal Constitutional convention, debates from the state ratifying conventions, and Congressional debates.
Author David Young has brought together, for the first time, all of the original source material regarding what the Second Amendment meant to the nation which enacted it. The book opens in the summer of 1787 with the federal Constitutional Convention debating Congressional powers regarding the militia.
One of the final major documents of the book is a January 29, 1791 article in the Independent Gazetteer (a Philadelphia newspaper), in which the author, who identifies himself only as "A Farmer" warns: "Under every government the dernier [last] resort of the people, is an appeal to the sword; whether to defend themselves against the open attacks of a foreign enemy, or to check the insidious encroachments of domestic foes."
In between the first and last documents are a treasure trove of American history. Leafing through these pages, you encounter the great men who founded our Republic, and whose words speak to us today. Wrote Tench Coxe, James Madison's friend, in the Feb. 20, 1778 Freeman's Journal: "Who are the militia? are they not our selves...Their swords, and ever other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American."
Hear Patrick Henry thundering from the June 5, 1788 Virginia ratifying convention: "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force you are inevitably ruined."
The men who speak to us through The Origin of the Second Amendment harbor no fear that government would interfere with "sporting" guns or hunting. They express the greatest apprehension of select, uniformed military forces, such as the standing army.
As The Origin of the Second Amendment makes unmistakably clear, the great object of the Second Amendment was to preserve liberty by ensuring that the American people would have in their individual hands the weapons with which to resist federal tyranny. The "well-regulated militia" included almost every able-bodied free male.
In addition to collecting an excellent selection of documents, author David Young also provides a good introductory essay summarizing the historical context of the debate and ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as well as an appendix giving the full text of all state Bill of Rights from 1787-89, and a very detailed index.
Besides supplying many hours of pleasure to anyone interested in American history, the book would also make an excellent gift to a local library
Book Description
* Reprint of the third edition, by E.H. Bennett. Arguably the most important American constitutional work after The Federalist. "Taking the Federalist as the basis of his Commentaries, he advocates a liberal construction of the palladium of our liberties." Marvin, Legal Bibliography 669, citing first edition. "The Commentaries were tremendous achievements, and evidence immense industry and legal knowledge, and themselves entitled him to be ranked as a jurist of the first rank." Walker, Oxford Companion to Law 1192. Apart from James Kent, no legal scholar has had greater influence on American law than Justice Story [1779-1845], who was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1811. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 403. Catalogue of the Library at Harvard Law School II:669.
Customer Reviews:
Part of Intro came out immediately.......2007-03-09
Part of the Introduction came out immediately as if it were never attached. This shouldn't happen on a "Like New" book. I enjoy the book but the condition is wholly unacceptable. No other pages have fallen out, however.
The Consolidationist.......2006-05-02
While Joseph Story is commonly acknowledged as a constitutional expert, he advanced some very flawed theories on the Constitution, which ran counter to the what the founders put into place, and ran directly against the limited federal government that was essential to the concept of federalism.
In Story's historically incorrect assertion, the national government pre-dated the states, which later gave rise to the dimution of states' rights and the utter destruction of the Constitutional Republic, replaced by the consolidated mess we have today. The truth, of course, is that the states were sovereign in their own territory, and only delegated away certain powers (clearly deliniated in Article 1, Section 9).
While there is much in this volume that is useful from a historical perspective, the underlying theory that Story holds of the origin of the Constitution (and thereby, the Constitutional Republic) is deeply flawed, which adversely affects what he writes about the document.
Historically Significant, But Contains False Theories of the Constitution.......2005-10-02
Joseph Story began his political career as a Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican in a New England State dominated by Hamiltonian Federalists. When he was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President James Madison, it was under the impression that Mr. Story would serve as a counter-weight to the nationalistic-minded Chief Justice John Marshall. Yet, after his appointment, Justice Story made a conversion to the Hamiltonian Federalist mentality, and became the protege of the Chief Justice. (In fact, he dedicated his Commentaries on the Constitution to Chief Justice Marshall.) While serving on the Supreme Court, Justice Story also served as a law professor at Harvard University, a position in which he was encouraged to produce works espousing the nationalistic point of view (in opposition to the States' Rights school of thought that emphasized the federal nature of our system of government).
Within the Commentaries, Justice Story bended the truth to suit his purposes, as, for example, in his explanation of the adoption of the Constitution of 1787. According to Justice Story, the Constitution was adopted by the American people as a single sovereign Nation over the States. The wording of the Preamble, "We the people of the United States," for instance, was offered to sustain this view, despite the fact that, in the Constitutional Convention, the Preamble had been worded as, "We the people of the States of," followed by the names of the thirteen sovereign States. The Convention's Committee of Style modified it to read "We the people of the United States" only because it was not known whether all 13 States would actually ratify it. Justice Story chose to ignore this historical fact in presenting his view of the Constitution, because the fact did not support his conclusion.
The fact that the Constitution was ratified by the States, as States, with each State being bound only by its own act of ratification, was deemed irrelevant by Justice Story. The ratification of the compact by States was simply a matter of convenience in his opinion. So, too, was the fact that the new government under the Constitution was inaugurated before North Carolina and Rhode Island had ratified the compact, and those two States were not even members of the Union when Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States. In fact, President Washington's first term was nearly half completed before Rhode Island finally ratified the Constitution and joined the Union. Nonetheless, Justice Story insisted that the Constitution was adopted by a single, consolidated Nation of Americans, because such a contention was requisite to sustain his theory that the States are not sovereign and had little or nothing to do with the establishment of our current political system.
Justice Story's Commentaries on the Constitution contributed significantly toward the developing Consolidating School of Thought that originated with Alexander Hamilton and was transmitted by Daniel Webster and other Whig politicians. That school of thought ultimately gave rise to the doctrines espoused by Abraham Lincoln and the Radical Republicans that the States of our Union are not sovereign and cannot resist the supremacy of the centralized power or secede from the Union.
Considering the historical significance of Justice Story's Commentaries on the Constitution, I would recommend it to all serious students of constitutional history and political science. However, at the same time, I strongly recommend that the reader have alternative explanations of the Constitution available for reference and comparison. In particular, I recommend "A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States," by Alexander H. Stephens, and "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," by Jefferson Davis. In both of these books, the most glaring fallacies of Justice Story are identified and corrected by superior reasoning and historical fact.
Excellent source for those interested in the Constitution.......2000-05-10
Joseph Story wrote some of the most important Supreme Court decisions during the early days of the country. This book explores, in detail, his views of the Constitution and it provides a fascinating view of how the Constitution was viewed in the early nineteenth century. Story borrows, liberally at some points, from the federalist papers and early Court opinions to back up his contentions. Each section is very carefully laid out, and the entire book is constructed to explain the Constitution passage by passage. The logical order and a good index make this book essential for Constitutional scholars and provide ease of use for the casual historian. Whether you are looking for the meaning of a single passage in the Constitution or if you just want to get a broad understanding of its meaning as a whole, I highly recommend this book.
Book Description
The series of essays that comprise
The Federalist constitutes one of the key texts of the American Revolution and the democratic system created in the wake of independence. Written in 1787 and 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to promote the ratification of the proposed Constitution, these papers stand as perhaps the most eloquent testimonial to democracy that exists. They describe the ideas behind the American system of government: the separation of powers; the organization of Congress; the respective positions of the executive, legislative, and judiciary; and much more.
The Federalist remains essential reading for anyone interested in politics and government, and indeed for anyone seeking a foundational statement about democracy and America.
This new edition of The Federalist is edited by Robert Scigliano, a professor in the political science department at Boston College. His substantive Introduction sheds clarifying new light on the historical context and meaning of
The Federalist. Scigliano also provides a fresh and definitive analysis of the disputed authorship of several sections of this crucial work.
Customer Reviews:
A fine edition in a carefully chosed text from authoritative sources.......2007-01-17
"The Federalist" is a most important collection of articles that were (mostly) published serially in New York City newspapers beginning in 1787 as part of the public debate surrounding the creation and adoption of our Constitution. They were written under pseudonym Publius and this has caused some consternation over the centuries as to which articles were written by Hamilton, which by Madison, and which by Jay. While much debate is settled, there remain a few whose authorship continues to be debated.
It was later that these articles were collected and bound as "The Federalist". On two occasions, Hamilton made hundreds of emendations for new editions of the work. Later Madison made a list of the articles he thought he had written and this list is considered imperfect by most scholars. There were also other editions with changes introduced by those editors and then there were other editions that tried to combine different editions into a new edition. How the articles were selected from the various previous editions is not known.
This edition was edited by Robert Scigliano of Boston College. He provides an article on the debate about authorship with his own views on the subject and a note on the various source texts and why this edition incorporates "the McLean, the Gideon, and at least most of the Hopkins revisions". While this text is different in some small ways from many traditional texts, I believe that in this version the thought and argument of each article is clearer and quite readable.
"The Federalist" is a very important document for understanding the debate surrounding the Constitution considering the importance of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay in creating the document. Because of what they address they also give us a strong insight into the opposing views of the time and alternative views that had some impact on the final form of our most fundamental document.
However, it is important to not see these articles as somehow more authoritative than they are. While they certainly help us see into the thinking of those on one side of the debate, it is also clear that not everyone agreed with these views (not even all those who eventually signed the Constitution). Still, it is not possible to consider oneself sufficiently informed about our Constitution without reading these articles.
This is a nicely presented edition that I recommend.
Required reading.......2006-02-25
This should be required reading for all students. As the centuries go by, it is easy to forget the intent of the founders. In this day and age, we rely upon what others think or what is published. To read the words written by Jay, Madison, and Hamilton, one can better realize the genius of the instrument and thus be more aware of our history.
Nice package, but might contain errors?.......2003-04-14
This hardcover version of The Federalist (papers) comes is a nice package so to speak. The end of the book contains both the Declartion of Indepenence and the Constitution. Unlike most other Federalist papers books which are written as paperbacks using cheap newsprint paper, this uses a higher quality and brighter paper. The nice part about this book, unlike alotof others is that it contains the dates for each paper... alot of reproductions don't have this.
After reading the book however, I became quite concerned
because I noticed immediately that the author (intentionally or unintentionally) changed many of the words in the The Federalist!! This annoys me to no end. It's extremely bad practice for purposes of history, to change words in historical documents, because those "translated" words might accidentally get passed to future generations without aknowledgement that that wasn't what the founding fathers actualy wrote. I noticed at least a dozen changed words... there are probably thousands of errors for all I know.. This is bad, bad, bad.
Heres an example from Federalist Paper #1: (pg. 3)
This book writes: "After a full experience of the insufficiency of the existing federal government, you are invited to deliberate upon a new Constitution for the United States of America..."
Every other book in existence writes: "AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America...."
Notice the subtle, yet immensely importance difference in words.
Now what gives this dumb author the right as a scholarly academian to change the words of our founding fathers. In fact, I don't even know which version is truly correct?? (I assume the majority rules, so this book comes out the loser.)
And these errors continue right through Federalist paper #1, and several others that I noticed... Maybe even all of them!
Also, the author has a nasty habit of decapitalising words which should be capitalized in historical conext. Our founding fathers, as was customary grammar at the time, capitalized many words in the middle of the sentance. I don't fully understand the details of antiquated English, however, when I buy a book on historical figures, I expect, nay, I demand, that the reproduction be produced in exactly the manner in which it was presented by our founding fathers. It can be difficult to understand antiquated English, especially some of the stuff written by James Madison, however, I'd rather do the mental translation myself.
It's a nice book, but I cannot in good conscience give this
anything above 2 stars. In fact, I think it deserves no stars.
NOTE: After researching the matter a little bit, it occurs to me that there are actually two common distinct "translations" and this book presents just one of them.... so I take back blaming the editor. I'm not sure of the origin of these modern translations... but it does seem that this version is much less popular than what is presented in other Federalist Paper repros.
I still claim that this version is error.
A Wonderful Edition of American Political History.......2001-12-31
This is a very nice edition of the Federalist's Papers. An idea which was inaugurated by James Hamilton to help abate the opposition which was expected toward the newly written constitution.
This Modern Library edition has several features which sets it apart from other editions. First, the editor's introduction (by Robert Scigliano of Boston College) is quite informative and helpful for those who are just getting started in their study and research of American history. And yet it is detailed enough to be informative for those who have a stronger background in American Revolutionary history. Second, the appendices include The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the U.S. along with the amendments. Third, the book has a short but nice bibliography, as well as a nice and very useful index. All these features helped to set this particular edition apart from other editions that I have owned or read.
Of course, the Federalist writings are some of the key writings in American Revolutionary history. Every American should be required to read them since they were written with the intent of promoting the ratification of the constitution. These writings contain the ideas and development of the American system of government, the separation of powers, how congress is to be organized, and the positions of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government. This work provides its reader with the thoughts, inspirations, and brilliance behind the American Constitution and development of American government.
I highly recommend this edition of the Federalists.
Book Description
Published in 1966. The Stuart Constitution at once established itself as the standard documentary textbook for courses in English seventeenth-century history in schools (A-level), polytechnics, and universities, and one which at the same time offered an individual revisionist outlook on many of the problems involved. For the second edition Professor Kenyon has entirely rewritten his commentary to take account of the latest research in this field; he has thoroughly revised the structure of the book, and he has also strengthened the documentation in several important areas, notably the Interregnum, 1649-1660.
The book is divided into four parts, the first three of which are devoted to the periods 1603-1640, 1640-1660 and 1660-1688 respectively. The fourth part deals with some of the general issues of government, at both central and local level, throughout the seventeenth century. One hundred and forty-six documents are included in all, and to aid the student reader spelling and punctuation have been modernised.
This volume forms a companion to the second edition of Professor Elton's The Tudor Constitution, and is likewise available in both hard and paper covers.
Book Description
A companion to the widely acclaimed The Constitution of 1787, this new book by eminent constitutional scholar George Anastaplo examines the nature and effects of the twenty-seven amendments to the U.S. Constitution. For Anastaplo, these amendments implement the equality, liberty, and rule of law principles that are fundamental to the American system of government. His appendixes of critical documents and his reflections on the Bill of Rights and on the Emancipation Proclamation set this volume apart from other treatises on the amendments to the Constitution.Praise for George Anastaplo's The Constitution of 1787:"Those desiring to engage in the enterprise of 'thinking about the Constitution' in the company of a resourceful and knowledgeable guide will find this book quite interesting and enjoyable." -- Judge Edward Dumbauld, Journal of American History"A marvelous instrument for introducing citizens to their Constitution." -- Mortimer J. Adler
Book Description
1796. An abridged version of Blackstone's Commentaries. Sir William Blackstone, Professor of Common Law, Oxford University, was an eminent, prolific English authority on common law. His book, Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, considered to be the bible of American lawyers, has been the most influential book in English on our legal system and has nourished the American renaissance of the common law ever since its publication. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.
Book Description
Though the first edition of this book (1960) rapidly established itself as a sound collection of source material and a comprehensive analysis of the government of England in the sixteenth century, the astonishing amount of work done, by many hands including the author's, in the last twenty years has rendered a revision very necessary. Thc scope of these changes is indicated by the fact that in the list of books cited some 180 make a first appearance while some 70 have been discarded. In the upshot, no single section has remained unaltered and several (especially on the Church, on Parliament and on the Law) have had to be entirely rewritten. While there was room for the addition of only a few documents, they have been chosen with an eye to topics especially alive in the researches of the present day. One such issue -- patronage and faction -- while not amenable to documentation in a book of this kind has not been forgotten in the commentary.
Book Description
Tucker, St. George. Blackstone's Commentaries. With Notes of Reference to the Constitution and Laws, of the Federal Government of the United States, and of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In Five Volumes, with an Appendix to Each volume, Containing Short Tracts upon Such Subjects As Appeared Necessary to Form a Connected View of the Laws of Virginia As a Member of the Federal Union. Philadelphia: William Young Birch and Abraham Small, 1803. Five volumes. Reprinted 1996 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. With a New Critical Introduction by Paul Finkelman and David Cobin. LCCN 96-12566. ISBN 1-886363-15-3. Cloth. $450. The first extended treatment of the subject, Tucker's Blackstone is a key resource for understanding how Americans viewed English common law in the years following the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Based on his lectures at the College of William and Mary, Tucker interprets Blackstone's often antidemocratic viewpoint in the American context. A strong proponent of the First Amendment, he elaborates a theory of freedom of speech and press that is more expansive than in the English tradition. "Tucker's Blackstone became a standard reference work for many American lawyers unable to consult a law library, especially those on the frontier. It is impossible to measure its impact on American law, but it is clear that sales were strongest in Virginia, as could be expected; it was also widely used in Pennsylvania and South Carolina." Bryson, The Virginia Law Reporter Before 1800 102. Tucker's Blackstone has been cited in numerous cases by the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to discern the original intent of the Constitution. Eller, The William Blackstone Collection in the Yale Law Library 87. Sabin, A Dictionary of Books relating to America 5696. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 5318. A monumental work of continuing relevance, this reprint edition is prefaced by a new critical introduction by Professors Paul Finkelman and David Cobin.
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To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right
Gun Control and the Constitution: Sources and Explorations on the Second Amendment
Supreme Court Gun Cases
Armed America: The Remarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie
Death by "Gun Control": The Human Cost of Victim Disarmament
