Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 24, 1993 TAG: 9310240193
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by PRESTON BRYANT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most American children are required to commit some part of the U.S. Constitution to memory by about the sixth grade, usually its first ten amendments. And they are generally taught that it is the might of the Constitution that holds our nation together.
But is this right? Is it its might or its elasticity that holds us together?
Richard Bernstein and Jerome Agel argue in "Amending America" that while the Constitution provides the unshakable structure of our republican form of government, it is its flexibility in the winds of change that accounts for our nation's steadfastness and our people's unity.
"Amending America" is a complete history of the U.S. Constitution, from the original 1787 document signed by Washington, Franklin, Madison, and others in Philadelphia, through its 27 amendments, the last being ratified in 1992.
From the Bill of Rights to today's on-going debate over a proposed balanced budget amendment, the Constitution's evolution has mirrored our life and times. Our propensity to change it is directly proportional to our reverence for it. We forever want it to fit.
In its earliest days, the constitution defined not only the structure and responsibilities of a burgeoning government, but the equally important protections of its citizens. And over the last century-and-a-half, Bernstein and Agel note, its changes have been reflective of the social growth of our nation.
After the Civil War, for example, the 13th Amendment outlawed slavery. Amid the turn-of-the-century push for temperance, the 18th Amendment was adopted authorizing prohibition, and upon realizing its fallacy, the 21st Amendment repealed it. And the civil rights era's 24th Amendment effectively extinguished the discriminatory poll tax. In keeping with this reflective trend, therefore, it would not be unreasonable to expect the much-talked-about balanced budget amendment eventually to be adopted as Americans yell increasingly louder for a more fiscally-responsible government.
In "Amending America," Bernstein and Agel have provided a unique history of the United States. They tell her story by recounting the evolution of the Constitution, and they do so with as much subtle infusion of sociology as intelligent talk of history and politics.
\ Preston Bryant is an aide to Del. Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst.
by CNB