We the People
A History of the U.S. Constitution
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The U.S. Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world but also one of the most difficult to amend. Jill Lepore, Harvard professor of history and law, explains why in We the People, the most original history of the Constitution in decades--and an essential companion to her landmark history of the United States, These Truths. Published on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding--the anniversary, too, of the first state constitutions--We the People offers a wholly new history of the Constitution. "One of the Constitution's founding purposes was to prevent change," Lepore writes. "Another was to allow for change without violence." Relying on the extraordinary database she has assembled at the Amendments Project, Lepore recounts centuries of attempts, mostly by ordinary Americans, to realize the promise of the Constitution. Yet nearly all those efforts have failed. Although nearly twelve thousand amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789, and thousands more have been proposed outside its doors, only twenty-seven have ever been ratified. More troubling, the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971. Without recourse to amendment, she argues, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential or judicial fiat. Challenging both the Supreme Court's monopoly on constitutional interpretation and the flawed theory of "originalism," Lepore contends in this "gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past" that the philosophy of amendment is foundational to American constitutionalism. The framers never intended for the Constitution to be preserved, like a butterfly, under glass, Lepore argues, but expected that future generations would be forever tinkering with it, hoping to mend America by amending its Constitution through an orderly deliberative and democratic process. Lepore's remarkable history seeks, too, to rekindle a sense of constitutional possibility. Congressman Jamie Raskin writes that Lepore "has thrown us a lifeline, a way of seeing the Constitution neither as an authoritarian straitjacket nor a foolproof magic amulet but as the arena of fierce, logical, passionate, and often deadly struggle for a more perfect union." At a time when the Constitution's vulnerability is all too evident, and the risk of political violence all too real, We the People, with its shimmering prose and pioneering research, hints at the prospects for a better constitutional future, an amended America.
About this Author
Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and professor of law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her many books include the international bestseller These Truths: A History of the United States. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Reviews
"It is impossible to imagine a more instructive text on a more timely subject by a more accomplished historian."
"The noted historian advances the cause of an aggressively, and progressively, malleable set of rules for government . . . With the Constitution under daily threat, Lepore's outstanding book makes for urgent reading."
"...a galvanizing and paradigm-shifting take on America's slow descent into plutocracy."
"A comprehensive, inclusive history of the creation of the United States Constitution and its subsequent journey as an amendable document. Lepore mostly discusses the document's revision, updating, and improvement, which keeps the narrative focused. The research presents a refreshing context for the political battles that propel amendments forward; the rights of women, enslaved people, and Confederates are handled with equal care. The section showcasing the history of Hawai'i feels revelatory, as it's not usually included in conversations about the Constitution. The definitions for understanding the difference between a federalist versus an antifederalist are clear, and the definitive tone carries through the coverage of suffrage, changes for child labor, and the influence of Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. The charts listing when amendments were proposed and by whom is a concise way to understand each era being examined. The history of the Equal Rights Amendment and FDR's attempts to restructure the Supreme Court will be of keen interest to modern readers. Essential reading for all Americans; a great fit for public library collections."
"Not only an historian with prodigious powers of original research and integrative genius, not only a spellbinding writer with a golden pen, Jill Lepore is a preacher at an open-air American revival meeting: she will tell you a gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past that destroys your complacency and makes you reimagine what is possible for the secular miracle that is America."
"An extraordinary and inspiring achievement. Lepore offers a whole new understanding of constitutional change. It's a triumph of the head and the heart."
"In this remarkably engaging and deeply researched work, one of America's most important living historians illuminates the most vital quality of our Constitution: its capacity for renewal."
"A pulsating, at times astonishing journey through Americans' never-ending efforts to form a more perfect union. We the People is essential reading for anyone who cares about self-government under the Constitution."
"Jill Lepore's lyrical journey through the history of the Constitution brings its eminently amendable state to life in vivid and inspiring detail and delivers it to us, the living, for further repairs and improvements."
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