Battle for the Constitution: Week of May 3rd, 2021 Roundup
Below is a round-up of the latest from the Battle for the Constitution: a special project on the constitutional debates in American life, in partnership with The Atlantic.
The Year That Changed Everything
By Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University
Akhil Reed Amar argues that Charles Beard and other historians who wrote that the Founders created the Constitution to solidify their wealth and power fail to appreciate the great democratic thrust of the document and the true Founders’ motives, but notes that those who wrote the Constitution did make a tragic mistake: accepting slavery.
Don’t Fall for the D.C. Retrocession ‘Okey-Doke’
By Chris Myers Asch, Visiting Instructor, Colby College and George Derek Musgrove, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Chris Myers Asch and George Derek Musgrove write that people should not accept the idea, posited by some Republicans, that the District of Columbia should once again become part of Maryland as a way to give people living their representation in Congress, but should instead continue to insist on full statehood.
By Paul Rosenzweig, Principal, Red Branch Consulting
Paul Rosenzweig contends that Facebook should ban Donald Trump from the platform forever, because Trump has not shown contrition, because it will generally deter other nefarious politicians around the world, and it will prohibit Trump from continuing to spread falsehoods on Facebook.