Preface

Acknowledgments

1. "HERE SHALL BE THY BOUNDS" The Rise of Constitutionalism

2. "TO RECTIFY THE ERRORS THAT WILL CREEP IN" The Emergence of the Amending Corollary

3. "A PEACEABLE PROCESS OF CURE" Devising the American Amending System

4. "A REMEDY IN THE SYSTEM ITSELF" Amending and the Adoption of the Constitution

5. "THE MOST SATISFACTORY PROVISIONS FOR ALL ESSENTIAL RIGHTS" Immediate Amendment as the Constitution's Price and Proof

6. "TOO TICKLISH TO BE UNNECESSARILY MULTIPLIED" Amendments and the Judicial Review Alternative

7. "IN PURSUIT OF AN IMPRACTICABLE THEORY" States' Rights and Constitutional Amendment

8. "CONSUMMATED AMID FIERY PASSIONS" The Second American Constitutional Revolution

9. "NO FORCE LESS THAN THE FORCE OF REVOLUTION" Resurrecting the Amending Remedy

10. "JUST AS FAR AS PUBLIC SENTIMENT WOULD JUSTIFY" An Era of Constitutional Activity and Faith

11. "LIKE THE RATCHET ON A COG WHEEL" Second Thoughts About Amendment

12. "WHERE THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES EXPRESS THEIR WILL" Altering Established Constitutional Provisions and Practices

13. "THE DANGER OF TINKERING" Forgoing Amendment in the Third American Constitutional Revolution

14. "THE SHARP ANGER OF A MOMENT" Attempted Counterrevolution by Amendment

15. "NOT PERFECT, BUT BETTER THAN NO SOLUTION" Amendments to Solve Immediate Problems

16. "TO SET OUT ON A VAST UNCHARTED SEA" Failed Quests to Alter Original Agreements

17. "THEY THOUGHT THAT JUST BEING RIGHT WOULD BE ENOUGH" Amendments as Tests of National Consensus

18. "TO MANIPULATE THE SYMBOL OF NATIONAL PURPOSE" Amendment Politics in a Conservative Era

19. "THE OFFSPRING OF OUR OWN CHOICE" Amendments in Constitutional Thought and Practice

Notes

Bibliography

Index