U.S. Constitution Self-Study Materials

Constitution Topics

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  Topic 1: The Divinely Inspired Constitution

  Readings

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  Topic 2: Equal Justice

  Readings

  Study Questions
  

  1. Gordon reading:
     
     1. Does Gordon actually believe that no men are naturally better than others?
     2. What does he mean when he says there is nothing moral in blood, but action and the causes that produce them are moral?
  2. Adams Letters:
     
     1. What is Abigail’s ultimate aims? Does she want women ruling? Voting? Something else?
     2. What does John mean by masculine systems being “little more than theory”? Is there any significance there?
  3. Virginia Declaration of Rights:
     
     1. What rights stand out to you?
     2. Why would a provision (no. 5) relating to separation of powers be included in a declaration of rights?

  4. Declaration of Independence:

     1. What rights are inalienable?
     2. Why must one act prudently in determining that a dissolution of political bonds is necessary?
  5. A Dissertation on Slavery:
     
     1. How does inequality make a people unfit for equality? What are the pathologies of slavery?
     2. Can one reconcile Tucker’s notion that an equal, natural-rights-based society can exclude persons for arbitrary reasons, such as race?
  6. What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?:
     
     1. Why did Douglass have so much scorn for Americans in the 19th century over the question of slavery and yet, in the same breath, express respect for the Founding Fathers?
  7. Thomas G. West reading:
     
     1. Was Mansfield correct that “a regime based on the self-evident half-truth that all men are created equal will eventually founder because of its disregard of the many ways in which mean are created unequal”?
     2. How does the American regime attempt to maintain the tension between equality and inequality?
  8. Herbert Croly reading:
     
     1. Does the Square Deal inevitably fall apart?
     2. Is it possible to have a government that does not discriminate between persons?
     3. Does a natural-rights-based regime inevitably lead to oppression? Is a pure democratic regime self-defeating?

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  Topic 3: Popular Sovereignty

  Readings

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  Topic 4: Federalism

  Readings

  Study Questions
  

  1. Where did federalism come from?
  2. Why was James Madison so opposed to state power?
  3. Is there a coherent theory of federalism that emerges from the Constitutional Convention?
  4. What does federalism do well in American politics and history? Where does it fare poorly?
  5. Why would President Oaks list it as a key and inspired element of the Constitution?
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  Topic 5: Separation of Powers

  Readings

  Study Questions
  

  1. Reading One, The Founders’ Constitution, ch. 10, Introduction, P. Kurland and R. Lerner, eds., Univ. of Chicago Press (online at https://presspubs.uchicago.edu/founders/print_documents/v1ch10I.html) -- The authors state that Anti Federalists thought not enough had been done to separate the powers of the newly proposed federal government but that James Madison,
     in The Federalist, had “admonished his readers to cease worrying about the dangers of yesteryear--the overbearing abuses of a hereditary king in collusion with a hereditary nobility--and guard instead against the dangers of today and tomorrow--the enterprising ambition of an assembly flush with a confidence derived from its base of popular support.” In other words, Madison was more worried about Congress exercising too much power than the executive branch doing so. Is that still a valid concern today? Were the Anti-Federalists onto something in their heightened concern about an overbearing executive branch? See also, Reading Six (excerpt from James Madison, Federalist No. 47); Reading Seven (excerpt from James Madison, Federalist No. 48); Reading Eight (excerpt from James Madison, Federalist No. 51); Reading Nine (excerpt from Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 71)
     
  2. Reading Two, The Founders’ Constitution, ch. 10, Document 3 (excerpt from John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government) – Locke declares that “the Legislative [branch] must needs be the Supream, and all other Powers in any Members or parts of the Society, derived from and subordinate to it.” How would you characterize the position of Congress today in relation to the other branches of government?
     
  3. Reading Three, The Founders’ Constitution, ch. 10, Document 6 (excerpt from William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England) – Blackstone extols the benefits and importance of an independent judiciary, saying, “[i]n this distinct and separate existence of the judicial power, in a peculiar body of men, nominated indeed, but not removeable at pleasure, by the crown, consists one main preservative of the public liberty, which cannot subsist long in any state, unless the administration of common justice be in some degree separated both from the legislative and also from the executive power.” Does colonial American experience bear that out? When Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence not long after the first edition of Blackstone’s great treatise was published sometime between 1765 and 1769, he included an indictment of King George for having “made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.” Is an independent judiciary still a bulwark of liberty?
     
  4. Reading Ten, What the Anti-Federalist Were For, H. Storing, Univ. of Chicago Press – The author notes that the Anti-Federalist polemicist Centinel was unpersuaded by one of the Constitution’s basic premises, namely that the self-interest of various government actors would check the reaching for power by other actors and lead to a safe and satisfying balance of power. Centinel said, “If the administrators of every government are actuated by views of private interest and ambition, how is the welfare and happiness of the community to be the result of such jarring adverse interests?” Does that criticism have merit? Centinel went on to say, “I believe it will be found that the form of government, which holds those entrusted with power, in the greatest responsibility to their constituents, the best calculated for freemen.” Is that “hold them responsible” approach inconsistent with the checks and balances proposed by the Constitution’s framers or can it be viewed as subsumed within the design of the Constitution?
     
  5. Reading Twelve, America’s Constitution, A Biography, A. Amar, Random House (excerpt from ch. “New Rules for A New World”) – Professor Amar writes that, “[a]lthough many modern Americans have been taught that the Constitution’s intricate machinery of multiple decision points was designed to minimize the number of federal laws, savvy eighteenth-century Americans understood that a bicameral legislature might well produce more statutes than would a unicameral body.” Do we have too many laws being passed by Congress today? Is it the number of statutes or rather the type and generality of statutes that cause you greater concern, if they are of concern at all?
     
  6. Readings Sixteen and Seventeen, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 144 S.Ct. 2244 (2024) (excerpts from the majority and dissenting opinions) – In June, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a much-anticipated decision
     addressing Chevron deference, a doctrine of statutory interpretation requiring federal courts to defer to federal agencies on the meaning and application of statutes within the purview of an agency’s expertise. While the majority opinion focuses on whether Chevron deference is consistent the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, the case has obvious constitutional ramifications. See Loper Bright, 144 S.Ct. at 2273-75 (Thomas, J., concurring), and 2275-95 (Gorsuch, J., concurring); see also Reading 15, Egan v. Delaware River Port Auth., 851 F.3d 263, 278-83 (3d Cir. 2017) (Jordan, J., concurring in the judgment). After considering the views of the majority and the dissent, are you persuaded that Chevron deference cannot be squared with the declaration of Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison that “[i]t is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is”, 1 Cranch 137, 177, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803)?
     

  Separation of Powers

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  Topic 6: The Role of a Judge

  Readings

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  Topic 7: Bill of Rights

  Readings

  Study Questions
  

  1. D&C 134: What are the principles of a just government according to D&C 134?
  2. Our Divine Constitution: How was God's hand evident in the work of the founding fathers?
  3. Rights, Introduction: What arguments are there that a Bill of Rights is superfluous versus necessary?
  4. What the Anti-Federalist Were For: Who do we thank for the Constitution and who do we thank for the Bill of Rights?
  5. America's Constitution: A Biography: How is the 9th Amendment an articulation of the source of power in the Bill of Rights?
  6. E Pluribus Unum: What was Madison's view of the Bill of Rights?
  7. A Government of Laws: How does the Bill of Rights demonstrate that half a loaf of bread is better than no bread?
  8. Federal Farmer No. 16: Can all rights be articulated and enumerated?
  9. We Still Hold These Trusts: How does the Bill of Rights encapsulate the theory of the Constitution?

  Bill of Rights

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  Topic 8: Religious Liberty

  Readings

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  Topic 9: Rule of Law

  Readings

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  Topic 10: Civic Charity

  Readings

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  Topic 11: How to Support and Defend the Constitution

  Readings