The Start of a New Textbook!

Wednesday February 8, 2012

    Unfortunately I was sick with the flu during the, so I was not able to attend class today.  However, chapter one of “Major Problems in American Constitutional History” was quite interesting to me.  So far, I think this book is a great follow up to Daniel Farber’s book.  I liked how in the introduction that the book explained some of the different ways that the U.S. Constitution is studied:
-Political Scientists focus on the relationship among government institutions, the allocation of powers, and the development of doctrine.
-Law professors seek historical support for a specific side in a current debate (mainly to help prove their own point).   
-Historians study the past to gain a greater insight and study the changes over time.
    I thought that essay #1 had a good point in debating how the Federalists focused on protecting property above other things while establishing the new republic.  They believed that civil rights needed to be kept separate from public rights, which I agree with. 
    The main thing that I got out of essay #2 is that early America had no sense of nationalism.  America was a new country and the people that made it up came from many different backgrounds, nationalities, religions, etc.  Because of this great diversity America could not be created based on specific things, like religion.  Instead, Americans defined themselves with ideas and beliefs, such as liberty, equality, and a republican government.  I believe this was a good idea because the founding fathers knew that America was a diverse nation, and it was only going to become more diverse.  So by establishing the country based on ideals rather than a common ethnicity or religion was an intelligent idea.  This also made every immigrant feel welcomed because at the time there was no “perfect American” because everyone was free to express their own beliefs.
    The last (#4) essay was my favorite!  I always find it funny when I liked to read things that talk about the differences in gender.  It always seems that women and minorities can focus on gender and racial inequality better than the common “white man.”  Only when certain rights and liberties are withheld do people realize and understand the inequalities.  America has come far since the beginning, but there are still inequalities.  Ha, there is even a poster at my job that shows a one dollar bill and next to it 73 cents.  The poster says that for every dollar a man makes a women doing the same job only makes 73 cents.  The poster is meant to make people aware of unequal pay for the same job.  This essay discusses several problems of inequality, such as immigration, sex discrimination, and what the “gender role” is for men and women.  Even regarding the issue of children, it is the man who gets to make the decision if he wants to claim them or not.  What is that?!  A man (or parent) should be responsible for their child no matter what!  This is one of the biggest problems in America now, and I can only imagine how it was in early days…you know when slave owners had “illegitimate” children with their slaves, or when Indian women were taken in as “second wives” because there were more men than women!  Over the years, I am sure, there have been countless thousand court cases such as Nguyen v. Immigration and Naturalization Service!  And, since I started following the news a few years ago, it seems that court rulings can greatly differ for cases that seem quite similar.  Court decisions are all made based on how the people interpret the laws and Constitution, so I guess that is why they can differ. 
    All in all, this book has good arguments in it.  I like how there are several different essays in each chapter, each essay shows a different perspective.  This kind of book really helps me to see an issue from several different perspectives and makes me think of things that I never would have thought of!