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Product Description: Book by Kmiec, Douglas W., Presser, Stephen B. (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

The Third Edition of Individual Rights and the American Constitution is designed for a two- or three-semester-hour course on the intellectual sources of and cases dealing with individual human rights, including especially religion, speech, and economic liberties, as well as the concepts of due process and equality. This book explores how government power is expressly or impliedly limited to protect individual interests in religious exercise, speech, the freedom from irrational discrimination, and autonomy, as well as economic liberty. It is designed to meet the needs of professors of political science, government, history, and public policy by supplying a casebook that is at once accessible to study by virtue of generous chapter overviews, skillful case selection and editing, and extended introductions and following notes and questions. In addition, out of abundant respect for the rich intellectual tradition that exists within the university, this book fully reflects that Supreme Court cases emerge from history, and history itself reflects centuries of political and philosophical understanding. The coverage of Individual Rights and the American Constitution includes:   Chapter 1: The Declaration and Its Constitution   Chapter 2: A Government Respectful of Individual Conscience   Chapter 3: A Fair Government   Chapter 4A Government Commitment to Freedom   Chapter 5: A Government Commitment to Equality   Chapter 6: A Government of Imperfect KnowledgeOf Inkblots, Liberty, and Life Itself.

Originally published in 1980, this text was the first casebook in the field of American legal history. It encouraged the formation of the modern discipline of American legal history, sought to create a canon for the field, and is now regarded as a classic compilation. There are two main alterations or additions to this edition. The first is a reworking of the slavery materials in Chapter Four, substituting the testimony of the slaves themselves. The second major change in the book is the addition of materials regarding the impeachment and trial of President Clinton.