Written by a renowned expert on the American Founding period, this book examines selections of key documents from 1215 through 1791 that were instrumental to the development of the U.S. Constitution and the American political tradition. The latest addition to ABC-CLIO's popular Documents Decoded series, John R. Vile's Founding Documents of America presents historic documents key to the foundations of our nation's government accompanied by introductions that supply background information and analysis that highlights key provisions and provide historical context. The coverage extends beyond the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights to provide contextual understanding of a wide range of other documents, such as private diary entries and political polemics, that will further readers' understanding of the United States' founding and early political development. The documents are organized chronologically into four sections: constitutional antecedents; the revolutionary and confederal periods; calling and convening the Constitutional Convention; and debating, ratifying, implementing, and amending the new Constitution. Through its more than 50 primary source documents—from the Magna Carta of 1215 through the Bill of Rights, which was adopted in 1791—this book will serve high school and college students seeking to understand the documents that laid the foundations for the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, and provide opportunities for student readers to build critical thinking skills.

Build literacy skills and social studies content-area knowledge with this nonfiction title! This 6-Pack offers an integrated English language arts approach that specifically addresses California content standards for history-social science, as well as reading, writing, and English language development standards. This informative title examines the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution - the important documents that have helped build a powerful nation. Breathe life into textbook pages with primary source materials. Students will gain a better understanding as they think about past events more critically with these historical snapshots of what life was like. This 6-Pack includes six copies of this title and a lesson plan that aligns to California's History-Social Science Content Standards.

Renowned scholars examine the core precepts that guided the American Founding, looking at the Founders' intellectual groundings from philosophy of law to architecture.

Land looks at the separation of church and state--what it is, what it isn't, and why it matters for the future of religion in America.

Christian nationalism, a worldview rooted in un-Christian ideas about power, race, and property, has taken over large swaths of the United States. Introducing the basics of Christian nationalism and its talking points, pastor Caleb Campbell equips Christians to confront these claims with compassion and the truth of the good news of Jesus.

A comprehensive, chronological overview of American literature in three scholarly and authoritative volumes A Companion to American Literature traces the history and development of American literature from its early origins in Native American oral tradition to 21st century digital literature. This comprehensive three-volume set brings together contributions from a diverse international team of accomplished young scholars and established figures in the field. Contributors explore a broad range of topics in historical, cultural, political, geographic, and technological contexts, engaging the work of both well-known and non-canonical writers of every period. Volume One is an inclusive and geographically expansive examination of early American literature, applying a range of cultural and historical approaches and theoretical models to a dramatically expanded canon of texts. Volume Two covers American literature between 1820 and 1914, focusing on the development of print culture and the literary marketplace, the emergence of various literary movements, and the impact of social and historical events on writers and writings of the period. Spanning the 20th and early 21st centuries, Volume Three studies traditional areas of American literature as well as the literature from previously marginalized groups and contemporary writers often overlooked by scholars. This inclusive and comprehensive study of American literature: Examines the influences of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and disability on American literature Discusses the role of technology in book production and circulation, the rise of literacy, and changing reading practices and literary forms Explores a wide range of writings in multiple genres, including novels, short stories, dramas, and a variety of poetic forms, as well as autobiographies, essays, lectures, diaries, journals, letters, sermons, histories, and graphic narratives. Provides a thematic index that groups chapters by contexts and illustrates their links across different traditional chronological boundaries A Companion to American Literature is a valuable resource for students coming to the subject for the first time or preparing for field examinations, instructors in American literature courses, and scholars with more specialized interests in specific authors, genres, movements, or periods.

The world is currently plagued by polarization, hyper-partisanship, authoritarianism, Majoritarian Democracy, Identity Politics, zero-sum politics and economics, inequality, racism, sexism, populism, Nativism, and dystopian societies. There is a desperate cry for solutions to these problems. This book is dedicated to solving these problems. This book identifies the extent of the problems as they are manifested in America. Then, this book takes the novel approach of operationalizing Justice as Fairness as the foundation of it uses the myriad works of John Rawls to devise solutions to these problems. Specifically, it uses Rawls’ “Justice as Fairness” as the foundation of a revolutionary set of solutions to these global problems.) This book is at once observational, diagnostic, prophylactic, and prognostic in its focus. This book takes an observational, diagnostic, and prophylactic approach to solve the problems above. According to Rawls, “Justice as Fairness” is an exercise in “ideal (metaphysical) theory.” This book goes beyond the metaphysical, by rendering Justice as Fairness into the realm of “nonideal (real world) theory.” It does this by first deciphering and explaining Justice as Fairness’ challenging concepts using ideas borrowed from many disciplines. The book then moves on to develop a Justice as Fairness Logic Model which identifies the structures, mechanics, and dynamics of Justice as Fairness. Then, this book operationalizes Justice as Fairness through the creation of a revolutionary management system, “Equity Management,” and a companion license-fee-free web-based software system, “Plato.” Equity Management-Plato was developed using Justice as Fairness, Systems Theory, program evaluation techniques, the judicial principle “strict scrutiny,” and Environmental Scanning and Forecasting. Finally, this book outlines how Equity Management-Plato can be used to manage six public sector environments ultimately creating a level playing field and just, fair, and inclusive circumstances for all Americans. The historical, political, social, and economic contexts of this book derive from the American experience. However, the problems and solutions identified in this book are universal. Therefore, the prognosis for countries adopting Equity Management-Plato is the development of new social contracts the adoption of Representative Consensus Democracy; justice, fairness, inclusion, reconciliation, and the realization of E Pluribus Unum. If affirmatively adopted and implemented, the solutions proposed in this book will result in the creation of Rawls’ “realistic utopias,” the saving of liberal democracy worldwide, and ultimately the creation of a “better world.” Author_Bio: Charles A. Washington is currently the President of Washington & Associates, Inc. which specializes in software design, development, and related consulting. Previously, he was President of Washington & Rice, LLC that was responsible for developing and disseminating contract compliance software named “Champ” and “Champ-Web” which was sold into four states. He spent eight years working for government agencies as a Grants Manager and as a Contract Compliance Manager. He received a BA degree (double major in Political Science and Black Studies), a MA degree, and a Ph.D., all from Indiana University-Bloomington. He taught at Cleveland State University, Jackson State University, Cuyahoga County Community College, and Lakeland Community College. He is married and has two children. He currently lives in Ohio. Keywords: John Rawls, Justice As Fairness, Social Contract, Equity Management-Plato, Representative Consensus Democracy; Justice, Fairness, Inclusion, Positive-Sum Politics And Economics, Reconciliation

The America we love is under siege from the Marxist-based progressive movement. Progressives want to destroy traditional American values and banish our Constitution in order to turn America into a Marxist-based society and achieve power and control. Epilogue II is a continuation of my original book titled One Americans Opinion: For Patriots Who Love Their Country and analyzes the progressive onslaught against the Trump administration to stop their efforts in reinstating traditional American values and respect for the Constitution. Progressives use social justice to pit our society against itself in order to weaken opposition to their diabolical efforts. Political correctness was originally called Critical Theory. It was founded by Marxists in Frankfort, Germany, in the 1930s as a tool to implement Marxist ideology in Western civilization. Although these efforts have been in America for some time, they only became successful during Obamas presidency. America has provided the most opportunity, the most freedom, and the best standard of living in the world. Why would Americans allow the progressives to take that away? Because of Americas success, America has become a spoiled society and the promise of a Marxist utopia provides the impetus for progressives to achieve their goal.

Were America's Founders Christians or deists? Conservatives and secularists have taken each position respectively, mustering evidence to insist just how tall the wall separating church and state should be. Now Gregg Frazer puts their arguments to rest in the first comprehensive analysis of the Founders' beliefs as they themselves expressed them-showing that today's political right and left are both wrong. Going beyond church attendance or public pronouncements made for political ends, Frazer scrutinizes the Founders' candid declarations regarding religion found in their private writings. Distilling decades of research, he contends that these men were neither Christian nor deist but rather adherents of a system he labels "theistic rationalism," a hybrid belief system that combined elements of natural religion, Protestantism, and reason-with reason the decisive element. Frazer explains how this theological middle ground developed, what its core beliefs were, and how they were reflected in the thought of eight Founders: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington. He argues convincingly that Congregationalist Adams is the clearest example of theistic rationalism; that presumed deists Jefferson and Franklin are less secular than supposed; and that even the famously taciturn Washington adheres to this theology. He also shows that the Founders held genuinely religious beliefs that aligned with morality, republican government, natural rights, science, and progress. Frazer's careful explication helps readers better understand the case for revolutionary recruitment, the religious references in the Declaration of Independence, and the religious elements-and lack thereof-in the Constitution. He also reveals how influential clergymen, backing their theology of theistic rationalism with reinterpreted Scripture, preached and published liberal democratic theory to justify rebellion. Deftly blending history, religion, and political thought, Frazer succeeds in showing that the American experiment was neither a wholly secular venture nor an attempt to create a Christian nation founded on biblical principles. By showcasing the actual approach taken by these key Founders, he suggests a viable solution to the twenty-first-century standoff over the relationship between church and state-and challenges partisans on both sides to articulate their visions for America on their own merits without holding the Founders hostage to positions they never held.

Winner of the 2010 Book Award from the New England Historical Association American constitutionalism represents this country’s greatest gift to human freedom, yet its story remains largely untold. For over two hundred years, its ideals, ideas, and institutions influenced different peoples in different lands at different times. American constitutionalism and the revolutionary republican documents on which it is based affected countless countries by helping them develop their own constitutional democracies. Western constitutionalism—of which America was a part along with Britain and France—reached a major turning point in global history in 1989, when the forces of democracy exceeded the forces of autocracy for the first time. Historian George Athan Billias traces the spread of American constitutionalism—from Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean region, to Asia and Africa—beginning chronologically with the American Revolution and the fateful "shot heard round the world" and ending with the conclusion of the Cold War in 1989. The American model contributed significantly by spearheading the drive to greater democracy throughout the Western world, and Billias’s landmark study tells a story that will change the way readers view the important role American constitutionalism played during this era.