The Constitution (Cornerstones of Freedom)

Rating:
Summary: A brief look at the history of the original Constitution
Review: This Cornerstones of Freedom volume on "The Constitution" focuses on how the need arose to replace the Articles of Confederation that originally bound the states together. Marilyn Prolman focuses more on the personalities involved at the Constitutional Convention rather than getting into details on the various issues that were debated. After explaining the seven articles of the Constitution, the rest of the book quickly covers the ratification of the document and the adoption of the Bill of Rights. Those first ten amendments and the other 17 adopted since 1791 are outlined on three pages. The book is illustrated with both historic illustrations and contemporary pictures. While this volume certainly gets beyond what little you can find about the adoption of the Constitution in your standard American History textbook, there is really too much to cover in thirty pages. After all, lots of textbooks have a copy of the Constitution in the back, so it is the debate between the Founding Fathers and the circumstances that led to the adoption of each amendment that are going to be most interesting and useful to teachers and students.

Rating:
Summary: A brief look at the history of the original Constitution
Review: This Cornerstones of Freedom volume on "The Constitution" focuses on how the need arose to replace the Articles of Confederation that originally bound the states together. Marilyn Prolman focuses more on the personalities involved at the Constitutional Convention rather than getting into details on the various issues that were debated. After explaining the seven articles of the Constitution, the rest of the book quickly covers the ratification of the document and the adoption of the Bill of Rights. Those first ten amendments and the other 17 adopted since 1791 are outlined on three pages. The book is illustrated with both historic illustrations and contemporary pictures. While this volume certainly gets beyond what little you can find about the adoption of the Constitution in your standard American History textbook, there is really too much to cover in thirty pages. After all, lots of textbooks have a copy of the Constitution in the back, so it is the debate between the Founding Fathers and the circumstances that led to the adoption of each amendment that are going to be most interesting and useful to teachers and students.