Preface to the fifth edition Acknowledgments 1. The background and purposes of the Constitution The colonial setting The Declaration of Independence The background of the Declaration The purpose of the document The idea of equality of human rights The purpose of government The right of revolution Charges against the English King Indictments against the King and the Parliament War atrocities and slavery Recapitulation of earlier petitions Conclusion The Articles of Confederation The background The principles and structures The achievements and problems Prelude to the Constitutional Convention The Constitutional Convention The delegates The rules The Virginia Plan The New Jersey Plan Prominent convention issues and compromises Ratification of the Constitution The Preamble The purposes of the Constitution References and suggestions for further study

2. Article I : the Legislative Branch The outline of the Constitution and separation of powers The priority of the Legislative Branch Bicameralism The U.S. House of Representatives Terms of office and qualifications for voters Qualifications for the House Representation and taxation The three-fifths clause Initial state representation House vacancies The Speaker of the House The power of impeachment The U.S. Senate Representation, voting, and terms Staggered Senate terms and vacancies Qualifications for the Senate The legislative role of the Vice President Other Senate officers Trials of impeachment The consequences of impeachment Other matters involving Congressional operations Elections for Congress Housekeeping provisions Congressional compensation Congressional privilege The Emoluments Clause Article I, Section 7Procedures for passing laws The Origination Clause Procedures for lawmaking and presidential vetoes The Presentment Clause Article I, Section 8Powers Granted to Congress The power of the purse Power to regulate commerce A note on Native Americans Power over naturalization and bankruptcies Coining money and establishing uniform standards Establishing a post office and promoting scientific advances Establishing lower courts War powers Calling the militia Governing the District of Columbia Implied powers Congressional investigations Article I, Section 9Limits on Congressional powers Slave importation The suspension clause and the writ of habeas corpus Bills of attainder and ex post facto laws Economic protections for the states The appropriation of money Titles of nobility Article I, Section 10-Limits on the states Powers reserved to the national government The contract clause Other economic limits on the states References and suggestions for further study

3. Article II : the Executive Branch A single executive The Presidential term Presidential selection and the electoral college Presidential qualifications The Vice President and Presidential disability The Presidential salary The Presidential oath Presidential duties Commander in Chief Getting advice from the Cabinet Power to pardon and reprieve Negotiation and ratification of treaties Presidential appointment and removal powers Interim Presidential appointments The State of the Union Address Power to convene and adjourn Congress The President as chief diplomat Power to execute the laws and executive privilege Commissioning of military officers Presidential impeachment References and suggestions for further study 4. Article III : the Judicial Branch Organization and guidelines The U.S. Supreme Court and other inferior courts Judicial tenure Judicial qualifications Judicial compensation The number of Justices Supreme Court decisions Jurisdiction Cases based on subject matter and parties to the suit Cases of original and appellate jurisdiction Limits on the Judicial Branch The Political Questions Doctrine Judicial powers Statutory interpretation and Judicial review Marbury v. Madison Judicial review in practice The exceptions clause Protections Trial by jury Treason The nature of Article III References and suggestions for further study 5. Article IV : the Federal System Three forms of government Layer cake or marble cake? Obligations of states to one another The full faith and credit clause The privileges and immunities clause Extradition The fugitive slave clause The admission of new states Governing the territories Obligations of the nation to the states The guarantee clause Rejected doctrines of federalism Interposition Nullification Secession The status of local governments References and suggestions for further study

6. Articles V-VII : the Amending Provision and miscellaneous matters Amending procedures The most common route for proposal and ratification The unused convention mechanism Rescissions and time limits Is the amending process exclusive? Unamendable provisions The history of amendments in the United States Article VI The continuing validity of debts The supremacy clause Oaths of office and prohibition of religious tests Article VII Ratification of the Constitution The attestation clause References and suggestions for further study 7. The Bill of RightsThe First Amendment Background Application of the Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights : a floor or a ceiling? The idea of rights The placement of the First Amendment The establishment and free exercise clauses The three-part lemon test and the wall of separation Application of the establishment clause To schools In other contexts The free exercise clause and the belief/practice dichotomy Application of the free exercise clause Justifications for Freedom of Speech Tests for subversive speech Subsidiary principles Obscenity Symbolic speech Fighting words and true threats Libel Commercial speech Campaign contributions Freedom of the press and prior restraint Other issues Assembly and petition References and suggestions for further study

8. The Bill of Rights : of Arms and MenAmendments 2-3 The right to bear arms The prohibition against quartering troops References and suggestions for further study 9. The Bill of Rights and the Rights of the Accused and the ConvictedAmendments 4-8 Searches and seizures An Amendment in two parts The reasonableness requirement Warrant requirements Administrative searches The Exclusionary Rule Indictment by Grand Jury The double jeopardy provision Protection against self-incrimination Real evidence versus testimonial evidence The due process clause The takings clause Speedy and public trials Right to a petit jury The rights of notification, confrontation, and compulsory process The right to counsel Petit juries in common law cases The Eighth Amendment Bail and fines Capital punishment Recidivism laws and proportionality concerns References and suggestions for further study 10. The Bill of Rights, the Rights of the States (Amendments 9-10), and Amendments 11 and 12 The Ninth Amendment and the right to privacy Two prominent views of the Amendment Birth control and abortion Other privacy issues The Tenth Amendment and states' rights The Eleventh Amendment and suits against the state The Twelfth Amendment and the electoral college Postscript to the election of 2000 References and suggestions for further study

11. The Post-Civil War Amendments

Amendments 13-15

Background

The Thirteenth Amendment and the end of slavery

Citizenship provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment

Three important guarantees

Supreme Court decisions limiting the impact of the Fourteenth Amendment

Brown and the rebirth of the Fourteenth Amendment

School busing and affirmative action programs

Equal protection and gender-based classifications

Equal protection and other classifications

Equal protection and legislative apportionment

A rebirth of the due process clause?

Reversing the three-fifths clause

Restrictions on former rebels

Valid and invalid public debts

Enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment

The Fifteenth Amendment

The lesson of the postwar Amendments

References and suggestions for further study

12. The Progressive Era Amendments

Amendments 16-19

The Sixteenth Amendment and the national income tax

The Seventeenth Amendment and the election of U.S. Senators

The Eighteenth Amendment and the national prohibition of alcohol

The Nineteenth Amendment and women's suffrage

References and suggestions for further study

13. The Recent Amendments

Amendments 20-27

The Lame-Duck Amendment

Presidential vacancies

The repeal of national alcohol prohibition

A limit on Presidential terms of office

Electoral votes for the District of Columbia

The prohibition of poll taxes

Vacancies and Disabilities

Vacancies in the Vice Presidency

Cases of presidential disability

Eighteen year-olds and the right to vote

A Twenty-seventh Amendment?

Author's postscript on the American future

References and suggestions for further study

Reading Supreme Court decisions

Locating cases and understanding citations

Briefing cases

Fifty case names and decisions

Glossary

Highlights if Constitutional history

Us. Supreme Court Justices

Appendix 1. The Constitution of the United States

Appendix 2. The Declaration of Independence

Appendix 3: The Articles of Confederation

Index.