Overview

""The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."" -- Ninth Amendment ""The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."" -- Tenth Amendment The Ninth and Tenth Amendments, often disregarded, have unexpected relevance today. The Ninth Amendment, based on the idea of ""pre-existing rights of nature"", addressed the fears of some framers that a national government would threaten states' aspirations to become independent sovereign nations. At the least it was drafted to protect ""the people"" from national government overreach. While the Ninth amendment is concerned with the people's rights, the Tenth Amendment reserves the people's power over government. And while we may question whether the distinction matters today, history does provide a distinction between expanding rights as opposed to limiting government power. That is the history recounted here by Robert McWhirter. Written for the interested citizen, as well as the civics student, this lively account pulls over along the way to examine some surprising, and interesting, diversions into how the events and personalities surrounding these Amendments have appeared in literature, film, sports and popular culture. This book was originally published as chapters nine and ten of Bills, Quills, and Stills: An Annotated, Illustrated, and Illuminated History of the Bill of Rights.

Full Product Details

9781945682094

Table of Contents

Reviews

Encyclopedic in its scope and presentation of the story behind the enactment of the Bill of Rights. From start to finish, Bob McWhirter shows himself to be an excellent guide for an enjoyable journey into the past. --George T Anagnost Arizona Attorney magazine A great book that appeals to all ages interested in an unbiased history of our country's founding fathers and their objectives. It has great coverage of famous British cases, whose outcome was abhorred by the American colonists and who, as a result, insisted that the constitution provided express safeguards prohibiting similar violations of individual rights in America. --Richard Coffinger Attorney-at-Law

Author Information

Robert McWhirter is an acknowledged authority on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights on which he has written and lectured widely both to academic and legal audiences as well as civic institutions. His earlier work was published by the American Bar Association. He appears regularly on Arizona Public Television's Horizon program explaining the legality and history surrounding the challenges to, and interpretation of, the Constitution. Robert also specializes in criminal law on which he has published widely. He presently practices as a criminal defense lawyer in Phoenix, Arizona.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available