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Changing the Constitution
ways in which all of us can help to keep American life worth living. The
recognition of difficulties ought not to make us despair.
For the American republic is only two centuries old—young for a nation. The old Roman civilization endured for a thousand years; the Byzantine civilization, centered at Constantinople, for another thousand. English civilization is nine centuries old, at least; Italian and French and
Spanish and Germanic civilization, older still.
So there is good reason to expect that the American Republic will endure for many more centuries—supposing enough of us are willing to
confront our national difficulties and work intelligently at renewal of our
civilization. In Shakespeare’s line, we must ‘‘take arms against a sea of
troubles, and by opposing end them.’’
How do we commence this work of renewal and reinvigoration? One
of the better ways is to light what Patrick Henry called ‘‘the lamp of experience,’’ to peer into the future by the light of the past. America’s political past is best apprehended by tracing the development of the Constitution of the United States, from its roots in the ancient world and
British institutions, all the way to the constitutional controversies that are
so lively today.
What we have offered you in this book is the basic structure of America’s constitutional order. It is up to you to preserve and improve that
structure; and you have a lifetime in which to work at it.
sugge st e d re a di ng
American Bar Association, Amendment of the Constitution by the Convention Method Under Article V (Chicago: ABA, 1974).
Herman V. Ames, Proposed Amendments to the Constitution of the United States During
the First Century of Its History (New York: Burt Franklin, 1970).
Richard Bernstein, with Jerome Agel, Amending America (New York: Random House,
1993).
Judith Best, The Case Against Direct Election of the President: A Defense of the Electoral College (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1971).