The United States Constitution

- Click here for the wiki.

In short order the founders of the nation went through a couple different constitutions. The first was established a confederacy - which is a loose collection of independently sovereign entities. The second was a federal system with sovereign authority split between a national government and several - well, 13 - component parts. Under the British system, the colonies were under a unitary system of government, with sovereignty help solely by the national government.

The purpose of this section is to walk through the process that resulted in the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. This will involve a look at the political controversies that existed at the time and how these were - more or less - resolved. The section contains a walk through the document as well as a look at the question about how the document should be interpreted. Was it intended to be interpreted narrowly, or was there an expectation that it would change over time to respond to shifts in public morays and technology.

Here are some blog posts on these topics:

- Constitutional Convention.
- Living Constitution.
- Loose Construction.
- Original Intent.
- Strict Construction.
- The United States Constitution.