We the People

A History of the US Constitution

De: Jill Lepore

Narrado por: Jill Lepore

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A THE ECONOMIST AND HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR

On the 250th anniversary of America's founding - a landmark history of the US Constitution for a troubling new era.

The US Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world - and one of the most difficult to amend. Although nearly twelve thousand amendments have been proposed since 1789, only twenty-seven have ever been ratified. Tellingly, the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971. Without amendment, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential power.

Leading Harvard historian Jill Lepore captures the stories of generations of ordinary people who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights, hoping to mend their nation. Recounting the history of America through centuries of efforts to realize the promise of the Constitution, we witness how nearly all those bids have failed.

We the People is the sweeping account of a struggle, arguing that the Constitution was never intended to be preserved, but was expected to be gradually altered. At a time when the risk of political violence is all too real, it hints at the prospects for a better, amended America.©2025 Jill Lepore

Reseñas de la Crítica

It is impossible to imagine a more instructive text on a more timely subject by a more accomplished historian (Timothy Snyder)

An arresting chronicle of Americans striving - if sometimes failing - to remake their republic (The Economist)

We the People contains compelling accounts of the constitutional convention . . . As ever, Lepore writes with literary flair, offering striking character studies, often of Americans who fought for change but are now largely forgotten (Guardian)

In her characteristically lively history of the US Constitution, Lepore argues that the document's capacity for amendment was not only central to the founders' political thinking but essential to its ratification . . . Lepore's passionate denunciation of this theory of constitutional interpretation paints it as one of the "stranger paradoxes" of American constitutional history (Foreign Affairs)

Startling and innovative . . . A vivid portrait of mostly unfamiliar voices of constitutional demurral from this archive and beyond . . . Left hanging in the air at the end of this rewarding book is a dark question: At what cost have we abandoned amendment? (New York Times Book Review)

We the People is most illuminating when it unearths long-ignored but prescient provisions that sprang from groups excluded from the body politic . . . a compelling case for the need to institute constitutional reforms and steer away from a system heavily reliant on the actions of a hyper-politicized Supreme Court (Washington Post)

Lepore's sweeping new history of efforts to amend the constitution is so relevant . . . thoughtful and engaging (Irish Times)

A gifted storyteller (TLS)

Traces the history of constitutional amendment and the significance of the constitutional tradition to the American state (History Today, Books of the Year)

Offers an arresting chronicle of Americans striving - if sometimes failing - to remake their republic (The Economist, Books of the Year)

Jaw drop

Way back, more than 60 years ago, I studied the Revolutionary War (which we Brits insist in still calling the War of Independence) in my School history classes. While most of the facts that I learned about that time have long escaped me, we never progressed further to study the American Constitution. Until I read this book I was under the misguided juvenile assumption that it was the product of a few weeks debate back in 1787. Even ChatGPT gives the false impression that it was conceived over a few months. Jill Lepore revealed that it was in fact the product of decades of debate and wrangling, and centuries for amendments to reach its current form. Even way back in the 1770s, when citizen and voting rights were restricted landowning educated white males, there were still significant (but ignored) petitions from every sector about such things as universal suffrage.

I wonder how long it will take the USA to regain the justice that was established over those long developing years? How long before the Trump years will become an aberration in America's history?

For now, the constitution is merely an ancient piece of historical parchment since Virtue as espoused by James Madison has been abandoned by majorities of the 3 elements of govt, Congress, Executive, & the courts. It will be a fascinating story of how "we the people" regained their place and role.

Today it appears to me that 2025's Trump regime shows itself to be fundamentally more dangerous that the preceding 250 years. Then it appeared that all parties recognised the rule of law, not withstanding the still many injustices present in it. (Sure the Civil War at first glance opposes Federal law but they replaced it with their own Confederate law). Trump fundamentally rejects that basis. His raison d'etre is his own personal and transient whims. With a largely compliant executive, House, Senate and SCOTUS there appears to be no body willing to oppose, notwithstanding "we the people". And today I noted a short YouTube video where Lepore recognised that today The Constitution effectively means whatever the transient whims of Trump has recently expressed, largely totally ignoring anything the last 250 years worth of lawmakers had struggled over.

The Constitution: never conceived by the many opposing framers to be an unalterable parchment frozen in time or ossified into some democratic representation of geological time like the Jurassic period, but to be a living document much like Darwin’s evolution. So they enshrined in article 5 the means of amendment. Thus, in my perspective, its original meaning and intent was never conceived as having biblical permanence or authority but as a marker of the current state of democratic understanding.

The subsequent reality has been a tortured dance between amendment, judicial review and legislation. That the current SCOTUS constantly refers back to original intent completely misses the point of the first framers. It was a starting point, not a destination.

But there have been failures. 250 years of thousands working for Equal Rights Amendment to guarantee women equal rights STILL HAS NOT BEEN RATIFIED. Shame on you America. What's wrong with you?
And you elect someone who has twice sworn to protect the constitution but then does not even know what's in it and publicly declares his opposition to it AND is supported by a SCOTUS that doesn't even know that no-one is above the law??? Oh God!!!

Yet I'm so indebted to Lepore for revealing the long and sometimes tortured history of its development which also reveals so much of American history. As such, I'm left in Jaw-dropping Awe at what the last 250 years has achieved. Her book is a long (720pp) but fascinating read. Highly recommended. My disappointment lies in my poor memory of all the details!

Long live "We the People".