Our Republican Constitution, Randy E. Barnett
Our Republican Constitution, Randy E. Barnett
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Our Republican Constitution
Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People

Author: Randy E. Barnett

Narrator: Barry Abrams

Unabridged: 9 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/19/2016

Synopsis

The Constitution of the United States begins with the words: "We the People." But from the earliest days of the American republic, there have been two competing notions of "the People," which lead to two very different visions of the Constitution.

Those who view "We the People" collectively think popular sovereignty resides in the people as a group, which leads them to favor a "democratic" constitution that allows the "will of the people" to be expressed by majority rule. In contrast, those who think popular sovereignty resides in the people as individuals contend that a "republican" constitution is needed to secure the pre-existing inalienable rights of "We the People," each and every one, against abuses by the majority.

In Our Republican Constitution, renowned legal scholar Randy E. Barnett tells the fascinating story of how this debate arose shortly after the Revolution, leading to the adoption of a new and innovative "republican" constitution; and how the struggle over slavery led to its completion by a newly formed Republican Party.

About Randy E. Barnett

Randy E. Barnett is the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center. A Guggenheim Fellow and Supreme Court advocate, he is the author of The Structure of Liberty, Restoring the Lost Constitution, and Our Republican Constitution.

Reviews

Goodreads review by William on September 18, 2016

The driving thesis in Randy Barnett's latest is that there are basically two ways of reading our founding document. Barnett categorizes under the heading of "the Democratic Constitution" any interpretation that defers to the majoritarian outcome of the political process and as "the Republican Consti......more

Goodreads review by Luke on February 19, 2023

The concept behind this book is mildly interesting, and the majority of the book is a bashing of progressive Supreme Court opinions. This is certainly right and just, but I wasn’t blown away until the penultimate chapter on irrational and arbitrary laws that has genuinely caused me to re-think how I......more

Goodreads review by Susan on May 19, 2017

I had originally started reading this book and felt the first couple chapters themselves justified the price of the book. It seemed very helpful to explain what the heck is going on in this country! (America) It can be rather hard to understand at times, discussing law cases from history, and I ende......more

Goodreads review by Fred on November 15, 2017

Understanding our founding documents This book is a great resource for helping to remind us of our founding documents the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States as a police officer and police trainer the history of these documents are often neglected in training for sta......more

Goodreads review by Samara on May 02, 2021

This book made me pretty sure that I don’t want to be a lawyer. I found the premise initially interesting, but forgot what the book was about, midway through. Some of the arguments are laden with legal jargon and are difficult to understand.......more

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