The Lives of the Constitution

Joseph Tartakovsky tells the epic story of our Constitution through the eyes of ten extraordinary individuals. The Constitution's history is made entertaining, vivid, and deeply human in a fresh and revealing work of biographical portraiture. He covers the grand sweep of U.S. history—opening with Alexander Hamilton and the causes behind the Constitution's drafting, and ending with Antonin Scalia and today's questions of federalism, court power, and social controversy.
Through original research and lively storytelling, Tartakovsky presents a colorful gallery of fascinating figures that include Woodrow Wilson, Ida Wells-Barnett, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Robert Jackson. He relates the surprising ways in which each helped create, preserve, or challenge our national charter. He describes James Wilson and his forgotten formulation of America's political philosophy and Daniel Webster and his far-reaching contribution to questions of commerce and slavery. Along the...