Description
Book SynopsisAmericans widely believe that the U.S. Constitution was almost wholly created when it was drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788. Jonathan Gienapp recovers the unknown story of the Constitution’s second creation in the decade after its adoption—a story with explosive implications for current debates over constitutional originalism and interpretation.
Trade ReviewFocuses on many of the structural and institutional issues that continue to consume us—including presidential powers, the role of Congress, and the use and abuse of originalist approaches to the Constitution—and in so doing raises questions that shine a light on today’s national debates…Gienapp’s study—intellectual history as textual exegesis at its best—offers a convincing and invaluable examination of the words and ideas that marked the evolution of the American constitutional imagination. -- Karen J. Greenberg * The Nation *
Sophisticated…throws a wrench in the logic of judicial originalism by demonstrating the flexibility of the Constitution’s meaning during its first years. -- Nick Burns * The Spectator *
The greatest innovation of the American Revolution was the idea of a written constitution as supreme fundamental law. But another truly significant development immediately followed the ratification of the Constitution: the equally innovative but deeply controversial invention of modes of constitutional interpretation. Jonathan Gienapp explores how this process unfolded, brilliantly explaining the search for the original meaning of the Constitution. -- Jack N. Rakove, author of
A Politician Thinking: The Creative Mind of James MadisonThe Second Creation is a brilliant and timely intervention in American constitutional history. By showing how ‘original intentions’ originated in congressional debates about what the framers and ratifiers originally intended, Jonathan Gienapp forces us to take another long look at what we understand the Constitution to be. His innovative and persuasive study will revolutionize the way lawyers as well as scholars interpret the Founding era. -- Peter S. Onuf, coauthor of
“Most Blessed of the Patriarchs”: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the ImaginationGienapp focuses our attention on the first decade of controversy over the remarkable new invention, a national constitution. His fascinating and provocative story—how these debates created and imagined the Constitution—is told with great mastery and drama. -- Mary Sarah Bilder, author of
Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional ConventionGienapp’s elegant reconstruction of the contested terrain of early American constitutional interpretation has wide-ranging implications for how we understand the earliest debates over the Constitution’s meaning. Gienapp offers fresh and thoughtful reinterpretations of several of the most important debates of this formative period of American constitutional development. -- Saul Cornell, author of
A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America
