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In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America's Bill of Rights
Provides a detailed look at the history and purpose of the Bill of Rights as the first Congress wrote them along with a look at how they apply to American citizens in today's modern world.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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101 people want to read
About the author
Russell Freedman
90 books132 followersRussell A. Freedman was an American biographer and the author of nearly 50 books for young people. He may be known best for winning the 1988 Newbery Medal with his work Lincoln: A Photobiography.
He grew up in San Francisco and attended the University of California, Berkeley, and then worked as a reporter and editor for the Associated Press and as a publicity writer. His nonfiction books ranged in subject from the lives and behaviors of animals to people in history. Freeedman's work has earned him several awards, including a Newbery Honor each for Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery in 1994 and The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane in 1992, and a Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal.
Freedman traveled extensively throughout the world to gather information and inspiration for his books. His book, Confucius: The Golden Rule was inspired by his extensive travels through Mainland China, where he visited Confucius' hometown in modern day QuFu, in the Shantung Province.
He grew up in San Francisco and attended the University of California, Berkeley, and then worked as a reporter and editor for the Associated Press and as a publicity writer. His nonfiction books ranged in subject from the lives and behaviors of animals to people in history. Freeedman's work has earned him several awards, including a Newbery Honor each for Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery in 1994 and The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane in 1992, and a Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal.
Freedman traveled extensively throughout the world to gather information and inspiration for his books. His book, Confucius: The Golden Rule was inspired by his extensive travels through Mainland China, where he visited Confucius' hometown in modern day QuFu, in the Shantung Province.
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February 25, 2019
25 June 2003 IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY: THE STORY OF AMERICA'S BILL OF RIGHTS by Russell Freedman, Holiday House, October 2003, ISBN 0-8234-1585-6
On April 23, 2003, William Baue reported in SocialFunds.com:
"Today, the US Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in the Nike v. Kasky case. Nike appealed the California Supreme Court decision in favor of social advocate Marc Kasky, who claimed that Nike's statements about its sweatshop labor practices were commercial speech and that Nike broke a state law against false advertising. Nike argued that its statements, which were not made in advertisements but in press releases and letters to editors and college sports administrators, contributed to the public debate on globalization and should be protected by First Amendment free speech rights. Nike defined its speech as political, not commercial."
The Court is expected to issue its ruling on this case at any moment. How DO they make a decision regarding such an issue?
While we were in Toronto this past week, attending the American Library Association's annual convention, the Supreme Court ruled against the ALA's challenge to the Internet Children's Protection Act. The Act requires libraries receiving federal funding to maintain removable Internet content filters on the computers patrons access. As reported in the Kansas City Star, "The Supreme Court majority upheld the law, in part, because it determined that the statute was not too burdensome on users because of the [content filter] disabling option available to adult patrons. The majority also determined that the blocking technology does not violate the First Amendment even though it shuts off some legitimate, informational Web sites."
What makes it permissible for the American Library Association to then freely and publicly denounce the Supreme Court's decision without government retaliation?
In another pair of landmark rulings issued while we were in Toronto, the Supreme Court upheld the use of race in college admissions decisions. The legitimacy of using race in admissions decisions has been unclear since the Court's decision twenty-five years ago inRegents of the University of California v. Bakke when the justices specifically decided that California's policy of admission quotas--16 out of 100 seats in the entering class were reserved for members of designated racial and ethnic minority groups--was unconstitutional.
However, as a CNN legal analysis just published today explains,
"There is another issue that has dogged the lower courts since Bakke: Do universities serve a 'compelling interest' (the kind of interest necessary to permit a racial classification) when they attempt to assemble a racially diverse student body? And if so, what exactly is that interest? In Bakke, Justice Powell said they did -- and the interest was the First Amendment interest in promoting the expression of diverse viewpoints on campus. He reasoned that such expression in a university was part of academic freedom; that academic freedom is itself a constitutional value under the First Amendment; that viewpoint and background are connected (though not perfectly so); and thus that universities could use race as one factor among others in their efforts to compose a diverse student body. But controversy remained as to whether Powell's individual view [in Bakke] was also that of the current Court."
That controversy was resolved with last week's decision, when "in her majority opinion on the law school's program, Justice O'Connor formally and unambiguously endorsed Justice Powell's position."
But what if O'Connor retires? Overhanging all of these cases is a campaign now underway--with television ads already being aired--in which both sides of the political spectrum hope to sway American opinion about the candidates who MAY be nominated for the Supreme Court by President Bush IF one or two of the older Justices decide to announce their retirement next week following the conclusion of the Court's current session. Since a Bush-appointed justice could be serving on the Court for the next thirty or forty years--the remainder of many Boomers' lifetimes--this campaign could hold the biggest of stakes for many of us.
IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY: THE STORY OF AMERICA'S BILL OF RIGHTS is first a brief history of the formulation of the US Bill of Rights. It is also a look at how the black-robed trustees of the "462 words written two centuries ago" which "promise the basic civil liberties that all Americans enjoy as their birthright" have not always kept that promise for all Americans, and it examines how these words are interpreted and reinterpreted as the group of individuals serving on the Supreme Court change, as society, technology, and other factors change, and as new circumstances and new laws come into play.
Interpretation of new laws in relationship to the Constitution is called judicial review. When it comes to the Bill of Rights, judicial review constantly reveals those 462 words to be a living, enduring organism that is relevant today, no matter what day today is. It causes many of us to be forever amazed by the genius of the Founding Fathers in gathering these words/ideas/ideals (particularly when they and their progeny were such jerks in keeping those sacred rights to themselves and their white male moneyed Protestant slave-owning counterparts for so damned long).
None of the three current Supreme Court cases I present above can be included in IN DEFENSE OF HISTORY which is already being printed and will be released in October. Thus, in one sense, such a book becomes outdated in the scarce months it takes to edit and publish it. For such a book to have some lasting value to a reader and to a library collection, it must illuminate the beginnings and flow of Constitutional history in such a way that readers can understand the process and utilize that understanding as a stepping stone for future exploration as the Bill of Rights continues evolving through new justices and new Court cases.
Russell Freedman's book does just that. It shows how times change and decisions change. It provides juicy, sometimes gross examples of behavior that resulted in the promulgation of the English Common Law, the English Bill of Rights and how those rights and American colonial-period behaviors all contributed to these first ten Amendments to the US Constitution.
Freedman presents many historic decisions--later "corrected" by more-recent Justices--that (hopefully) all of us would agree in retrospect were unfair. Some early examples are a result of a Supreme Court ruling in the early 1800s that the Bill of Rights applied only to the national government. Thus (besides the slaves, the Native Americans, and the boorish treatment of women) you had other situations I wasn't aware of such as:
"In New Jersey, non-Protestants weren't granted full civil rights until 1844. In New Hampshire, Catholics couldn't vote until 1851."
But the vast proportion of the information and cases that Russell Freedman presents involve issues that are relevant and vital to today's teens. Discussion of Japanese Internment is followed by a look at the treatment and roundups of Muslim and Arab men in America following September 11th. Freedman explores many other hot-button issues such as reproductive freedom, high-tech snooping, random drug testing, the Internet, and the Death Penalty. I found his presentation of the modern issues and historic precedents surrounding the Second Amendment to be especially thought-provoking. (I'd love to see classroom discussion of that chapter coupled with a viewing of Bowling for Columbine.)
Accompanying both the historic and current issues are great tie-in photos and other illustrations. For instance, back in February we discussed with our students Bretton Barber, the Michigan kid who was kicked out of school for wearing a shirt with a printed photo of the President captioned "International Terrorist." Barber--who along with the ACLU has a lawsuit pending against the school district--invoked the Tinker v. Des Moines case from the 1960s in asserting his right to wear that shirt. Not only does this book include discussion of the Tinker case, it has a great photo of the two Tinker kids holding their black armbands emblazoned with peace symbols. (In ruling for the Tinker siblings, the Court decreed that constitutional protections "are not shed at the school house gate.")
The more sophisticated history students will consume this book quickly and be hungry for more. They will be able to dig into the extensive bibliographical sources that Freedman provides us, the majority of which have been published within the last decade. But the typical eighth-grade American History student will find this book in itself a wealth of information and a doorway to the beauty and enduring nature of our country's most precious of documents.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
On April 23, 2003, William Baue reported in SocialFunds.com:
"Today, the US Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in the Nike v. Kasky case. Nike appealed the California Supreme Court decision in favor of social advocate Marc Kasky, who claimed that Nike's statements about its sweatshop labor practices were commercial speech and that Nike broke a state law against false advertising. Nike argued that its statements, which were not made in advertisements but in press releases and letters to editors and college sports administrators, contributed to the public debate on globalization and should be protected by First Amendment free speech rights. Nike defined its speech as political, not commercial."
The Court is expected to issue its ruling on this case at any moment. How DO they make a decision regarding such an issue?
While we were in Toronto this past week, attending the American Library Association's annual convention, the Supreme Court ruled against the ALA's challenge to the Internet Children's Protection Act. The Act requires libraries receiving federal funding to maintain removable Internet content filters on the computers patrons access. As reported in the Kansas City Star, "The Supreme Court majority upheld the law, in part, because it determined that the statute was not too burdensome on users because of the [content filter] disabling option available to adult patrons. The majority also determined that the blocking technology does not violate the First Amendment even though it shuts off some legitimate, informational Web sites."
What makes it permissible for the American Library Association to then freely and publicly denounce the Supreme Court's decision without government retaliation?
In another pair of landmark rulings issued while we were in Toronto, the Supreme Court upheld the use of race in college admissions decisions. The legitimacy of using race in admissions decisions has been unclear since the Court's decision twenty-five years ago inRegents of the University of California v. Bakke when the justices specifically decided that California's policy of admission quotas--16 out of 100 seats in the entering class were reserved for members of designated racial and ethnic minority groups--was unconstitutional.
However, as a CNN legal analysis just published today explains,
"There is another issue that has dogged the lower courts since Bakke: Do universities serve a 'compelling interest' (the kind of interest necessary to permit a racial classification) when they attempt to assemble a racially diverse student body? And if so, what exactly is that interest? In Bakke, Justice Powell said they did -- and the interest was the First Amendment interest in promoting the expression of diverse viewpoints on campus. He reasoned that such expression in a university was part of academic freedom; that academic freedom is itself a constitutional value under the First Amendment; that viewpoint and background are connected (though not perfectly so); and thus that universities could use race as one factor among others in their efforts to compose a diverse student body. But controversy remained as to whether Powell's individual view [in Bakke] was also that of the current Court."
That controversy was resolved with last week's decision, when "in her majority opinion on the law school's program, Justice O'Connor formally and unambiguously endorsed Justice Powell's position."
But what if O'Connor retires? Overhanging all of these cases is a campaign now underway--with television ads already being aired--in which both sides of the political spectrum hope to sway American opinion about the candidates who MAY be nominated for the Supreme Court by President Bush IF one or two of the older Justices decide to announce their retirement next week following the conclusion of the Court's current session. Since a Bush-appointed justice could be serving on the Court for the next thirty or forty years--the remainder of many Boomers' lifetimes--this campaign could hold the biggest of stakes for many of us.
IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY: THE STORY OF AMERICA'S BILL OF RIGHTS is first a brief history of the formulation of the US Bill of Rights. It is also a look at how the black-robed trustees of the "462 words written two centuries ago" which "promise the basic civil liberties that all Americans enjoy as their birthright" have not always kept that promise for all Americans, and it examines how these words are interpreted and reinterpreted as the group of individuals serving on the Supreme Court change, as society, technology, and other factors change, and as new circumstances and new laws come into play.
Interpretation of new laws in relationship to the Constitution is called judicial review. When it comes to the Bill of Rights, judicial review constantly reveals those 462 words to be a living, enduring organism that is relevant today, no matter what day today is. It causes many of us to be forever amazed by the genius of the Founding Fathers in gathering these words/ideas/ideals (particularly when they and their progeny were such jerks in keeping those sacred rights to themselves and their white male moneyed Protestant slave-owning counterparts for so damned long).
None of the three current Supreme Court cases I present above can be included in IN DEFENSE OF HISTORY which is already being printed and will be released in October. Thus, in one sense, such a book becomes outdated in the scarce months it takes to edit and publish it. For such a book to have some lasting value to a reader and to a library collection, it must illuminate the beginnings and flow of Constitutional history in such a way that readers can understand the process and utilize that understanding as a stepping stone for future exploration as the Bill of Rights continues evolving through new justices and new Court cases.
Russell Freedman's book does just that. It shows how times change and decisions change. It provides juicy, sometimes gross examples of behavior that resulted in the promulgation of the English Common Law, the English Bill of Rights and how those rights and American colonial-period behaviors all contributed to these first ten Amendments to the US Constitution.
Freedman presents many historic decisions--later "corrected" by more-recent Justices--that (hopefully) all of us would agree in retrospect were unfair. Some early examples are a result of a Supreme Court ruling in the early 1800s that the Bill of Rights applied only to the national government. Thus (besides the slaves, the Native Americans, and the boorish treatment of women) you had other situations I wasn't aware of such as:
"In New Jersey, non-Protestants weren't granted full civil rights until 1844. In New Hampshire, Catholics couldn't vote until 1851."
But the vast proportion of the information and cases that Russell Freedman presents involve issues that are relevant and vital to today's teens. Discussion of Japanese Internment is followed by a look at the treatment and roundups of Muslim and Arab men in America following September 11th. Freedman explores many other hot-button issues such as reproductive freedom, high-tech snooping, random drug testing, the Internet, and the Death Penalty. I found his presentation of the modern issues and historic precedents surrounding the Second Amendment to be especially thought-provoking. (I'd love to see classroom discussion of that chapter coupled with a viewing of Bowling for Columbine.)
Accompanying both the historic and current issues are great tie-in photos and other illustrations. For instance, back in February we discussed with our students Bretton Barber, the Michigan kid who was kicked out of school for wearing a shirt with a printed photo of the President captioned "International Terrorist." Barber--who along with the ACLU has a lawsuit pending against the school district--invoked the Tinker v. Des Moines case from the 1960s in asserting his right to wear that shirt. Not only does this book include discussion of the Tinker case, it has a great photo of the two Tinker kids holding their black armbands emblazoned with peace symbols. (In ruling for the Tinker siblings, the Court decreed that constitutional protections "are not shed at the school house gate.")
The more sophisticated history students will consume this book quickly and be hungry for more. They will be able to dig into the extensive bibliographical sources that Freedman provides us, the majority of which have been published within the last decade. But the typical eighth-grade American History student will find this book in itself a wealth of information and a doorway to the beauty and enduring nature of our country's most precious of documents.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
March 9, 2018
I read the book In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America's Bill of Rights. The book was written by Russell Freedman. I really enjoyed reading this book. The main reason why I enjoyed this is because of the fact that I always want to know more about the Bill of Rights. When reading this book I found out about protests that had happened. I also learned about court cases related to the first ten amendments. I would definitely recommend this book to people that want to learn about the Bill of Rights and the first ten amendments. I would also recommended this to people that are at least in high school because the book talks about old punishments for crimes. Overall I think this is great book.
June 14, 2019
I give a defense of Liberty by Russell Freedman 2/5 stars because it was not a good book. The way that the author described the information was very unnecessary. For example, the author would talk about the amendment and everything about it going too much into detail instead of giving a straight forward response. But it did talk about a lot of necessary information but too much detail. So I give In defense of Liberty a 2/5 star rating.
June 8, 2019
Another great book by Russell Freedman. Best for age 13 and up, use discretion if handing this book to young or sensitive readers, the chapter “Cruel and Unusual Punishment” includes some graphic and harsh realities.
May 31, 2020
Russell Freedman knows how to write great nonfiction for kids. Freedman does a great job of not only explaining the purpose behind the Bill of Rights [including each individual one] but how the Constitution is a true living document. I would love to see a 2020 edition of this!
Read
April 4, 2020Describes the origins, applications of, and challenges to the ten amendments to the United States Constitution.
November 17, 2016
In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America’s Bill of Rights by Russell Freedman is a very good book to use when working on a paper about the Bill of Rights and the history of how they came about. This book explains the first ten amendments that the founding father made to protect individual rights for all men in the United States of America. These rights consist of, Freedom of speech (1st Amendment), The Right to Bear Arms (2nd Amendment), and Pleading the fifth (5th Amendment). It also gives modern day examples on how all of these protect us today.
I recommend In Defense of Liberty to young adults that would like to know more about their rights and why they were originally given to us. I also recommend this to college students that are trying to write a history paper over the Bill of Rights. I liked this book because it described how each of the ten amendments got put into place. It also shows some cases that dealt with each amendment. I found that this book was a fast read because i got hooked on learning what each amendment was and I wanted to keep reading to understand each one of them.
I think this was a good book but you have to be wanting to know or interested to like it. If you just grab and book to read something you might not like it. It will become a slow read if you read it just to read. If you love history or want some background on the amendments for school, this is the book for you.
I recommend In Defense of Liberty to young adults that would like to know more about their rights and why they were originally given to us. I also recommend this to college students that are trying to write a history paper over the Bill of Rights. I liked this book because it described how each of the ten amendments got put into place. It also shows some cases that dealt with each amendment. I found that this book was a fast read because i got hooked on learning what each amendment was and I wanted to keep reading to understand each one of them.
I think this was a good book but you have to be wanting to know or interested to like it. If you just grab and book to read something you might not like it. It will become a slow read if you read it just to read. If you love history or want some background on the amendments for school, this is the book for you.
April 27, 2015
Freedman, R. (2003). In defense of liberty: The story of America's Bill of Rights. United States of America.
In the book “In Defense of Liberty” the main idea behind it is talking about the story of Americas Bill of Rights. When the delegates signed the constitution they knew that it was not going to be perfect at first but wanted to start making some rules. They then created the 10 amendments and it got voted in. these rules were to preserve and product the rights of the citizens. To this day the United States citizens have continued to follow this document and defend the liberties, such as religion, age, gender, and race. Each chapter goes deeper into each amendment and has great quotes and pictures to go along with it. This would be a good book to use in a classroom because it is going back to what are nation is based on. The chapters go by amendment and you could make a good activity with each one.
In the book “In Defense of Liberty” the main idea behind it is talking about the story of Americas Bill of Rights. When the delegates signed the constitution they knew that it was not going to be perfect at first but wanted to start making some rules. They then created the 10 amendments and it got voted in. these rules were to preserve and product the rights of the citizens. To this day the United States citizens have continued to follow this document and defend the liberties, such as religion, age, gender, and race. Each chapter goes deeper into each amendment and has great quotes and pictures to go along with it. This would be a good book to use in a classroom because it is going back to what are nation is based on. The chapters go by amendment and you could make a good activity with each one.
June 15, 2012
This book was great! It explained all of the amendments in the Bill of Rights with the historical context to make them make sense.
October 23, 2013
Simple yet very interesting.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews