Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Order your copy today!

Order a copy for your elected official

“The Constitution,” pledged George Washington, “is the guide which I will never abandon.” Can we say the same today?

Under the leadership of former Attorney General Edwin Meese, and in conjunction with the nation’s preeminent think tank—The Heritage Foundation—The Heritage Guide to the Constitution brings together more than 100 of the nation’s best legal experts to provide the first ever line-by-line examination of the framers’ Constitution and its contemporary meaning.

Stressing the original intent of the Framers as the authoritative standard of constitutional interpretation, and never straying from the Constitution and the definitive writings of the Framers—especially the invaluable notes taken at the Constitutional Convention by James Madison, the widely-recognized analysis in The Federalist Papers, Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story’s 1833 classic, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States—this volume is unique, comprehensive and authoritative.

Edited by David Forte and Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution is written not only to provide lawmakers and trained jurists with a reliable reference, but also to be explanatory, educational, and accessible for informed citizens and all students of the Constitution.

No document is more central or more important to securing “the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” than the United States Constitution, and no guide to the Constitution is more thorough, more enlightening, and more useful than The Heritage Guide to the Constitution.

Download ad for the book (PDF)

A Clause-by-Clause Analysis of the Constitution!
Explore the contents of the book and download select chapters.

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Preamble
  Forrest McDonald, Distinguished University Professor
  University of Alabama
• Article I, Section I - Legislative Vesting Clause
  Douglass Ginsburg, Chief Judge
  United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
• Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 - Obligation of Contract
  Richard A. Epstein, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law
  The University of Chicago Law School
• Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 - Appointments Clause
  John McGinnis, Class of 1940 Research Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law 
• Article I Section 10 Clause 3 – Compact Clause
  Michael S. Greve, John G. Searle Scholar
  American Enterprise Institute 
• Article VI, Clause 2 - Supremacy Clause
  Gary Lawson, Professor of Law
  Boston University School of Law
• Article VII, Clause 1 - Ratification Clause
  Charles Kesler, Professor of Government
  Claremont McKenna College
• Amendment 1 - Freedom of Speech and of the Press
  Eugene Volokh, Professor of Law
  University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
• Amendment 5 -Takings Clause
  Douglass W. Kmiec, Professor of Constitutional Law
  Pepperdine University School of Law 
• Amendment 13 - Abolition of Slavery
  Herman Belz, Professor of History
  University of Maryland
• Amendment 9
• Amendment 10 
• Index 

108 of the Greatest Legal Minds from Around the United States
Review the biographies of our contributors.

Meet the Editors

Schedule an interview
To schedule Edwin Meese, David Forte or Matthew Spalding for a media appearance or speaking engagement, contact:

Elizabeth Fulk, Publicist
Regnery Publishing, Inc.
One Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
Tel: 202-216-0601 ext. 412
efulk@eaglepub.com

What others are saying!

Scholarly framework
Mark R. Levin, November 15, 2005

Inside the Constitution
Bill Steigerwald, October 29, 2005

Contribute to the Effort
Find out ways to advance the cause.