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Like its counterparts “How to Read Classic Texts” and “How to Read Religious Texts as Literature,” this course is designed to help students improve their reading skills. In this case, by learning how to read the United States Constitution as “literature” rather than as “law” — and thereby discover new layers of meaning in what often seems like an old chestnut.

Texts

• United States Constitution (1787)
• Adam Rose, “Impeachment in the Constitutional Sense” (2020) [Excerpt]
• George Anastaplo, “The United States Constitution of 1787:
  A Commentary” (1986)
• Garry Wills, “The Words that Remade America” (1992)
• Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address” (1863)
• English Bill of Rights (1689)
• Declaration of Independence (1776)
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The Theory of Legal Interpretation” (1899)
• William Crosskey, “Our Unknown Constitution” (1953)
• William Jeffrey, “The Constitution of 1787: An Introductory Review” (1980)
• Articles of Association (1774)
• Articles of Confederation (1781)
• Northwest Ordinance (1787)
• Robert Ferguson, “The Constitution as Literary Text” (1987)
• Robert Power, “Review of Anastaplo, The Constitution of 1787” (1990)
• United States Constitution of 1787
• Adam Rose, United States Constitution Preamble as Poetry
• Edward Hartnett, “A ‘Uniform and Entire’ Constitution” (1998)
• Convention Resolution of Transmittal (17 Sep 1787)
• Convention Letter of Transmittal (17 Sep 1787)
• Congressional Resolution of Transmittal (28 Sep 1787)

TAUGHT: AUTUMN 2023