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Start giftingThe Bill of Rights
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Learn moreRevered today for articulating America's founding principles, the first ten amendments—the Bill of Rights—were in fact a political stratagem executed by James Madison to preserve the Constitution, the federal government, and the latter's authority over the states.
In 1789, the young nation faced a great ideological divide around a question still unanswered today: Should broad power and authority reside in the federal government, or should it reside in state governments? The Bill of Rights was a political ploy first and matter of principle second. How and why Madison came to devise this plan, the divisive debates it fostered in the Congress, and its ultimate success in defeating antifederalist counterplans to severely restrict the powers of the federal government is more engrossing than any of the myths that shroud our national beginnings.
The debate over the founding fathers' original intent continues to this day. By pulling back the curtain on the political, shortsighted, and self-interested intentions of the founding fathers in passing the Bill of Rights, Carol Berkin reveals the inherent weakness in these arguments and what it means for our country today.
Carol Berkin is the author of numerous books, including Wondrous Beauty: The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, The History Handbook, and Civil War Wives. She is the Presidential Professor of History at Baruch College and a member of the history faculty of the Graduate Center of CUNY, Emerita, where she taught early American and women's history. She has worked as a consultant on several PBS and History Channel documentaries, including one on the "Scottsboro Boys," which was nominated for an Academy Award as the best documentary of 2000.
Pam Ward has had many incarnations, including private detective, classical musician, television talk-show host, and actress, having performed in dinner theater, summer stock, and Off-Broadway, as well as in commercials, radio, and film. But she found her true calling reading books for the blind and physically handicapped for the Library of Congress Talking Books program, for which she received the prestigious Alexander Scourby Award from the American Foundation for the Blind. An AudioFile Earphones Award winner, her many audiobooks include Dancing in the Streets by Barbara Ehrenreich, Breaking Free by Lauraine Snelling, The Second Journey by Joan Anderson, and Lion in the White House by Aida D. Donald. She now records from her studio amidst the beauty of the Southern Oregon mountains.