Here in a beautifully bound cloth gift edition are the two foundingdocuments of the United States of America the Declaration of Independence1776 our great revol... » 

Here in a beautifully bound cloth gift edition are the two foundingdocuments of the United States of America the Declaration of Independence1776 our great revolutionary manifesto and the Constitution 178788 inwhich We the People forged a new nation and built the framework for ourfederal republic. Together with the Bill of Rights and the Civil Waramendments these documents constitute what James Madison called our politicalscriptures and have come to define us as a people. Now a Pulitzer Prizewinning historian serves as a guide to these texts providing historicalcontexts and offering interpretive commentary. In an introductory essaywritten for the general reader Jack N. Rakove provides a narrative politicalaccount of how these documents came to be written. In his commentary on theDeclaration of Independence Rakove sets the historical context for a fullerappreciation of the important preamble and the list of charges leveled againstthe Crown. When he glosses the Constitution the Bill of Rights and thesubsequent amendments Rakove once again provides helpful historicalbackground targets language that has proven particularly difficult orcontroversial and cites leading Supreme Court cases. A chronology of eventsprovides a framework for understanding the road to Philadelphia. The generalreader will not find a better more helpful guide to our founding documentsthan Jack N. Rakove. «