Table of Contents

1. 1787: An Introduction
2. 1825
3. 1863
4. 1903
5. 1953
6. 2022

About the Author

Beau Breslin holds the Joseph C. Palamountain Jr. Chair in Government Professor at Skidmore College. He is the author of From Words to Worlds (2009) and The Communitarian Constitution (2004, 2006).

Reviews

"A fascinating work of counterfactual history. Breslin offers consistently fruitful insights that are not only stimulating, but also edifying about the political controversies that have raised deep questions about the adequacy of the existing Constitution."
—Sanford Levinson, coauthor of Fault Lines in the Constitution "This remarkably creative and daring book is a work of deep scholarship and imagination. The result is an illuminating and thought-provoking survey of American constitutional history and ideas. A pleasure to read, and a rewarding exploration of the constitutional words that have been and that might have been."
—Keith E. Whittington, Princeton University "A lively, riveting act of political imagination. In telling of an alternative American constitution-making process, one in which sequential constitutional conventions had addressed national disputes over issues such as slavery, suffrage, and labor rights, Breslin ably contends that the current reverence for – coupled with a near-total disengagement from – the founding document has it all wrong. And in bringing to life two centuries of constitutional actors and debates, he boldly invites us to step in and reclaim a process and core values that are anything but imaginary."
—Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Legal Correspondent, Slate "Beau Breslin takes readers on a fascinating, richly informed, and highly instructive thought experiment. What if Americans had rewritten their constitution every generation, as Jefferson suggested they should? Imagining what might have been can help all to see more clearly what might yet be today."
—Rogers M. Smith, University of Pennsylvania "Entertaining, instructive, and learned, Breslin's creative narratives brim with analytical and historical detail that explain the workings of the U.S. Constitution and Constitutional framing. His work will educate and excite readers at every level who are interested in the Constitution's force, function, and future."—Thomas J. Davis, Library Journal starred review