Book Review – The Making of America
This 800-page book is not recommended for individuals with heart conditions, pregnant women, or short people.
That said, The Making of America should be on the bookshelf of everyone who calls himself a student of American history and every citizen who cares what’s going on in American politics today.
I spent part of my vacation reading MOA mainly because it will form the basis of the next Tampa 9-12 Project study course, which I will help to teach this fall. It’s written by the same man who wrote The 5,000 Year Leap: W. Cleon Skousen. Like a commentary on the Bible, MOA is a line-by-line explanation of the entire U.S. Constitution, including – and this is the best part! – copious notes and quotes from James Madison’s journal record of the Constitutional Convention. You actually get to read who was for or against each of the provisions, and why they either prevailed or failed. If you have ever wondered about the meaning of such obscure terms as “habeus corpus” of “ex post facto laws,” MOA will enlighten you. If you have ever glossed over such throwaway provisions as “bills of attainder” or “letters of marquee and reprisal,” MOA might cause you to take a second look. Everything – everything – in the Constitution is there for a reason, and many legal protections we now take for granted were things under which they themselves had suffered and vowed to change for posterity’s sake. We are the posterity for whom they suffered and labored.
When I finished MOA, I went back and read through the Constitution. I felt that I understood it for the very first time.
MOA has some fascinating and little-known information about the background, meaning, and applications of the various provisions in the Constitution. For instance, did you know…
- …that the states offered 189 amendments, that Madison reduced them to 17, that Congress approved 12, and that the states ratified only the 10 we now call the Bill of Rights?
- …that the 14-year residency requirement for presidential candidates might very well have prevented Benjamin Franklin from becoming president?
- …that the convention considered a provision in the Constitution requiring 3 presidents from different sections of the country?
- …that there is a second preamble in the Constitution (before the Amendments!) that is rarely printed in copies today?
Another value of MOA is that it demonstrates the close conceptual ties between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. I had never realized how many of the “long train of abuses” listed in the Declaration against King George were legislated against in this new country: bills of attainder, quartering troops, titles of nobility, the legislative branch of government (e.g., a parliament) essentially neutered by the executive branch (a king), and many, many more. I had also never realized how the worldview of the Declaration, including the “laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and the “unalienable rights…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” laid the groundwork for the Constitution. In other words, not just in an historical sense, but also in a political philosophical sense, without the Declaration, there would be no Constitution.
From the “So what?” department, it’s more important than ever for American citizens to have a working knowledge of this foundational document…
- …when Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan declares that she has no knowledge of any natural rights outside of the Constitution itself (i.e., that aren’t granted by the government)…
- …when the Congress passes a law that requires American citizens to enter into private contracts with health insurance companies…
- …when the House Majority Whip James Clyburn announces that Congress is just making up the rules as it goes along…
- …when President Obama announces on national television, “Tomorrow I will meet with BP officials and inform them that they will set aside a fund for the victims of the Gulf Coast oil spill…”
- …when the Department of Justice brings a lawsuit against Arizona for enforcing federal immigration laws, but ignores sanctuary cities for violating those same laws…
- …when the federal government enforces a 6-month shutdown of a private industry (i.e., oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico)…
- …when the Department of Justice drops a lawsuit against voter intimidation by the New Black Panthers in Philadelphia and instructs its attorneys not to bring any more suits against minorities…
- …when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi responds to the question about where the Constitution allows Congress to do certain things, “Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?”
Perhaps the most important feature of MOA is how it highlights the fact that this precise form of federal republic was (at that time) new, radically innovative, and unique among nations in the history of the world. It was truly “the American experiment.” The liberty and prosperity that we count our birthright is rare in history, and even in the world today. The founding fathers themselves were astounded at what came out of the convention, and they considered it a miracle of the first order. James Madison observed: “They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. They have reared the fabrics of government which have no model on the face of the globe…which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate.”
The torch of American liberty has now been passed to us, and only time will tell whether future generations will bless us or curse us for our actions or our inaction. I dare say that most of us don’t value our freedom nearly enough, or appreciate the high price our ancestors paid to provide it for us, or what it will take for us to keep the torch burning – but I can think of few books more important or more helpful than The Making of America to open our eyes to the preciousness of our past heritage, the precariousness of our future legacy, and the urgency of our present task.