Book Description

Excerpt from The Story of the Constitution of the United States The story of the Constitution is of truth stranger than fie tion. It is natural to attribute to an institution throughout its history that reputation which it bears in our own day. Many men are yet living who remember with startling dis tinctness a time when the Constitution seemed merely a piece of parchment; when the fate of the nation was as uncertain as the course of battle; when stern necessity compelled so liberal an interpretation of the supreme law of the land that states men refrained from forming conclusions on the tendency Of national administration, and, looking hopefully forward, sought new meanings in events where before they had sought interpretation by a construction Of words. Then, and not till then, in our history was the Constitution of the United States understood in its spirit as being the expression of the nation's mind, Whatever that mind might be. But no man now living can remember the angry days when the Constitu tion was yet a hope or a proposition debated between jealous States and still more jealous political leaders. NO one can re member the living opinions which, at the close of the eight eenth century, so nearly triumphed, and whose triumph would have dissolved a feeble union of States and encouraged the horrors of an anarchy only possible in a democracy. When the Opinions on national government in America to-day and opinions Of a century ago are contrasted, it is difficult to be lieve that we are the children of our fathers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.